Sword of Daybreaker

In the next few days, the post-war meeting began to proceed smoothly in accordance with the scheduled process. One by one bills were thrown out, and one bill was discussed. Most of the content was actually formulated for various post-war economic recovery. , Transnational aid plans, and as the meeting deepened, various issues related to the division of post-war wasteland and development rights have gradually been brought to the table.

These are extremely sensitive "cake splitting" issues, but they proceed in a surprisingly smooth manner. As many people have realized, on this issue involving the basic order of the alliance, the three empires actually The tone has already been set privately.

Whether it’s Typhon or Cecil, or Silver located in the extreme south of the continent, any empire does not want the alliance to mess up. Under this premise, all the problems that may cause the alliance to mess up were officially announced at the Talash Conference. Before the start, the "ventilation" was conducted. It is the so-called small meetings for major events. The issues that really involve the tone of the minor events will not be put on the big negotiation table. What can be discussed at the conference is destined to be only those from the three empires. The remaining "details" after finalizing the general direction.

Belsetia Morningstar stood on the high terrace, quietly watching the night sky over the Tarash Plain. From this position overlooking the earth, one could see one after another light beams being excited from the dark earth. , Extending far away like a continuous chain, and at the roots of these beams, you can see sparse artificial lights, those lights are faint and scarce compared with the fairy king, but in this area is darkened In the land that has been shrouded for seven hundred years, even the faint light seems precious.

The sound of footsteps came from behind, and the Queen Silver slowly spoke without turning her head: "Today we finally finalized the food aid plan for the Gaoling Kingdom and the Ogure tribe. The Alliance Food Committee should be busy soon."

"The weather has begun to cool down, but the southern and western regions of the continent most severely damaged by the war have lost half of their grain-producing areas," Elaine said from the side, "although the pollution caused by chaotic magic has subsided. , But the destroyed fertile fields cannot grow again until the next planting season. Many areas will face severe ration pressure. I am worried about whether the Grain Commission can really solve such a big problem. After all... Gaoling Kingdom I used to be one of the largest food-producing countries in the alliance."

"Yes, the pressure is really great, especially since the Loren nations have already taken a large amount of food reserves to support Tarrond. At that time, no one expected that the next food shortage would come like this," Bersetia shook He shook his head, "But listening to Uncle Gao Wen's meaning, the situation does not seem to be as serious as imagined. It is mainly due to the Solin Tree Sea that has spread to the northern area of ​​Talash. The remaining biomass remains and converted into edible parts, which is enough to relieve part of the food pressure."

"The fruits bred in the sea of ​​trees..." Elaine's expression suddenly became strange. "I heard that the sea of ​​Thorin trees feeds on the remains of biochemical beasts and dark roots. The food transformed in this way...Although knows that it is non-toxic , But it still feels weird."

"But the hungry victims will not think about this," Bersetia glanced at Elaine. "In the face of life and death, they don't care whether the food in their hands grows from the corpses of monsters. What's more, the land itself is the return of life. In the place of death, we have already buried many weird things under every piece of land we cultivate, so don't care about such details."

"It's exactly as you said," Elaine nodded, and then was a little curious, "but I heard that the output of Thorin's fruit is actually not high. Relying on the fruits of that sea of ​​trees can really alleviate the food faced by the entire continent. Is it stressful?"

Belsetia thought for a while, and slowly said: "It is said that the newly grown leaves and part of the rhizomes of the Thorin giant tree have begun to become edible. Before the arrival of this winter, more than 70% of the newly born parts of her It can be transformed into a safe food by a specific processing method and can even be used as a staple food."

Elaine listened, her eyes widened a little bit, until finally she couldn't help but exclaimed: "Convert the body into food?! This...this is not the fruit that grows... Sister Bertila..."

"She's still the same as before," Bersetia shook her head slightly and interrupted Elaine. "You know, when we know this news, it must have been her decision. Sister Bertila has been Think she has some kind of...responsibility for the mess that everything will die, even though the branch in this wasteland has nothing to do with her. In this regard, she is even a little bit paranoid."

"...We can't make decisions for her, nor can we make decisions for the victims," ​​Elaine sighed softly, "If Uncle Gao Wen agrees to this matter, then we are even less qualified to say anything."

"Yes, Uncle Gao Wen agreed," Bersetia nodded, and then her expression became slightly serious, "Speaking of which, what do you think of the'plan' proposed by Uncle Gao Wen? About the Deep Blue Netway. Those rune stones..."

Elaine frowned slightly, and said with some uncertainty: "I don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing in the end, but as the Princess Ophelia said, this is something that must be done. There, when it cannot be dismantled, we can only choose to make it from an uncontrolled bomb to a controlled one. But if we really find a way to control this'planetary transformation system', no one can say no. Perhaps this will be another'wasteland crisis' in the future. After all, people's hearts are unpredictable, and most humans do not have the full foresight and firm beliefs like Uncle Gao Wen."

Bersetia held the railing on the edge of the terrace with her hands, and stared at the darkness in the distance: "From a human point of view, it may be too early to think about these things, but from an elf point of view, there are many'it's too early' questions. In the not-too-distant future, it is impossible for Uncle Gao Wen to fail to think of this, but he still chose to start this plan. This can only show that the benefits of this matter outweigh the risks, or that... under the circumstance that the risks are doomed, he did so. The risk is relatively small."

"Well, sometimes when I think about it, this world is really malicious to us," Elaine sighed helplessly. "The doomsday always seems to follow us, but most of us really just want to survive in peace."

"Every extra day we survive, we are a little luckier than those civilizations that died early," Belcetia raised her head, looking up at the starry night sky, over this light-poor land, the sky that had just been purified. It seems clearer than anywhere on the Loren Continent, and there are more stars than anywhere, and among the twinkling stars, some kind of imagination of the distance is attracting the eyes of the Silver Queen, "So sometimes I am also very Curious, the civilization that is constantly sending us signals... Do they face the malice of this world all the time like we do, and carefully maintain their existence every day?"

"...They have developed to a level where they can send signals to the opposite side of the Xinghai Sea. It may be a civilization that is much stronger than ours," Elaine answered the empress's casual emotions very seriously, "but advanced does not necessarily mean friendly, who It is also uncertain whether this civilization that is constantly sending signals is friendly, although judging from the content they are sending now, this civilization has not shown any malice to the outside world..."

Bersetia nodded slightly: "The issue of alien signals is already being discussed within the Alliance. Tomorrow, the further "Xinghai Project" will be put on the table, even though we have not yet done a good job directly stepping into the starry sky. However, this continuous signal and the discovery at the Verpland Observatory have pushed the vast starry sky in front of everyone... There are other civilizations in the starry sky, and the pioneers among us have already paid a lot of effort to crack the alien civilization. We can’t turn a blind eye to the facts of the “password” of communication.”

Maid Elaine seemed to be thinking about this topic. She didn't speak for a few seconds. Bersetia couldn't help laughing when she saw this: "What are you thinking, Elaine?"

"I'm thinking... At the Talash Conference, which is based on heavy and serious topics such as the food crisis, medical assistance, and the division of post-war interests, such a topic about the starry sky seems to be the'only romance' in the heavy atmosphere," Elaine smiled, "Maybe Uncle Gao Wen added the'Xinghai Project' to the meeting agenda temporarily for this purpose, right?"

"...Although this sounds good, I always think he didn't think so much at all. He should have thought of it all of a sudden and then added it," the Queen Silver sighed slightly. "Uncle Gao Wen is a pragmatist, his We can't understand romance."

…

"Just send it here." Diana turned her head and said to the guards who came with her.

Several Typhon extraordinary men bowed their heads and walked back silently, while Diana retracted her gaze from them. She turned her head to look forward and saw that the corridor with the distinctive Gondor style seemed to extend infinitely in her vision. A row of faint lights illuminates the underground space directly under the deep blue well. At the end of the corridor stands a very heavy door, and on both sides of the corridor, the alloy walls are The metal gates were neatly arranged one after another.

When Diana's eyes fell on the neatly arranged metal gates, the light above one of the doors suddenly lit up, and a bright indicative trajectory appeared on the floor. A mechanically synthesized sound was in the open underground. A sound from the space: "Soldier, your repair slot is ready, follow the indicated track, room number R-635."

How long have you not heard this tone?

This familiar and unfamiliar system prompt made Diana's mental core a little hot, and those ancient memories still remained in her storage. However, even with the artificial mind of the iron man, it seemed to be panic when recalling these pictures. With the fading brown and yellow, she stepped forward and walked towards one of the rooms along the flowing light. Amid the slight friction of the mechanical device, the alloy gate slid open in front of her, and a small restoration room appeared in front of her.

Diana stepped in and saw seven or eight "repair slots" neatly lined up in this small repair room. It was a metal with a silver-white coating, the size of a single bed, and a depression in the center. On the platform, you can see all kinds of maintenance equipment that are on standby at the edge of each platform. At this moment, all the repair slots in the room are empty. prepare for.

"Soldier, remove the clothes and come forward, your repair slot is marked."

The reminder sounded in her ears, Diana calmed down, temporarily suppressed some messy thoughts in her heart, and prepared according to the sound of the system prompts, and in the process, she could always feel that there was a "will". "Will" is here, in this room, in this base, in this entire area of ​​the Deep Blue Well.

Diana knew that this was "she" looking at herself. Long, long ago, she was a node under the control of this "consciousness", but now she is no longer, and this consciousness is now looking at her own eyes... it seems Somewhat curious.

This restoration facility is located at the edge of the ironman production and maintenance array. It is in the "shallow area" of the Deep Blue Fortress as a whole. Between it and the deepest Ophelia matrix, there are still thousands of meters of mud, rock, steel and cement. But this barrier of thousands of meters can't stop Ophelia Norton's "gaze" transmitted by countless data links and sensing devices.

Diana lay down in the repair slot assigned to her, and her bionic skin was stimulated by the cold but with a strange sense of peace of mind. She felt that her mental core had gradually returned to running smoothly, and those arranged around the repair slot The working machinery of the company is making a slight buzzing sound one by one. The equipment here is inspecting an unrecognizable body that has been transformed and repaired after 700 years, and is trying to work out a feasible "recovery" plan. This must not be simple.

There seemed to be some free time before the equipment was ready. Diana focused on the ceiling. She saw a ring structure directly above the repair slot, and many cables and dormant robotic arms were hovering. At the edge of this ring structure, and in the center of the ring structure, you can see a device emitting a dark red gleam. The edge of the device is shining slightly, like a strange eye.

It was indeed an eye, and Diana quickly understood it. It was Ophelia Norton’s eye. Long, long ago, Princess Gondor, who was in charge of the Ironman Corps, passed many such things. Or a similar magic device to monitor the iron man soldiers. Every production array, every maintenance unit, every storage or transfer facility, and even every iron man soldier has an "extension unit" connected to this system. The iron people were accustomed to this, and even felt very kind, but at the moment Diana looked at that eye, but suddenly felt...a bit awkward.

As if he had sensed the anxiety of the iron man soldier, Ophelia Norton's voice rang in the room: "You look a little nervous, Diana."

"...I'm sorry," Diana replied softly, "I haven't lain in the repair slot for many years."

"Maybe it's not just because of this," Ophelia's voice sounded warm and flat, "but it doesn't matter. I have to fix your body that is already on the verge of a limit."

"...Yes, thank you very much."