In the soul space, Dieng projected fragments of his memories on the big screen of the institute in the form of a film.

"Our convoy, having crossed the border line, entered the territory of the Holy Acropolis and found out that the actual situation there was even worse than they said. The picture on the screen is constantly changing with Dieng's thinking.

In the white snow, dead bodies can be seen everywhere.

Dion pointed to the screen and said to the officials present: "These people heard that there was an endless supply of food in Dusk, so they took their families and fled to the west, they escaped the pursuit of the sentinels, avoided the attack of the beasts, and finally froze to death or starved to death near the border. ”

Todd turned to Cumberland and asked, "How many refugees from the Holy Acropolis are housed at our border post?"

After thinking about it, the latter gave an answer: "Less than a thousand, according to the accounts of those who fled, I am afraid that 20,000 people fled to the western border, and less than 10% of them are alive." ”

Todd was silent for a moment, then turned his gaze to Joe, who was in charge of farming, "Is there enough food in Twilight City?"

The monk scratched the Mediterranean Sea above his head and said to the king, "The food stocks in Dusk City have to meet the needs of four places at once, namely Dusk City itself, the Silver Ring City under reconstruction, the Holy Acropolis that has agreed to provide aid to it, and the barbarian camp in the north. Judging from the stock figures, it can only be said that it is barely enough......"

Dion suddenly said at this time: "Your Majesty, with all due respect, the food aid provided by Twilight City is completely a drop in the bucket for the Holy Acropolis. In addition, after we entered Overwatch, control of all convoys was handed over to the Holy Acropolis, so there was a conflict in Overwatch. ”

Everyone turned their attention to the big screen again, and Dieng's memory film continued to play.

The watch town on the screen has long been covered by heavy snow. The hungry and cold people of the Holy Acropolis huddled in their homes, slowly waiting for death by the light of firewood.

When the convoy from Twilight City entered the town, the news that "the grain is coming" spread like wings to every household.

Ragged men, women, and children, with the largest pots and pots in the house, rushed to the grain convoy driven by the soldiers of the Holy Acropolis, stretched out their bony hands, and begged for even a mouthful of food at the driver.

Seeing this, Todd recalled the happy and rich Watch Town he had set foot in the past, and asked Dion with a frown: "If I remember correctly, Watch Town is located in the choke point of the Falling Star Mountains, and because of its tourism and food, it is famous throughout the continent, how can it fall to this point?"

Dieng replied, "Your Majesty, the town of Watch does have unique geographical advantages and tourism resources, but it also depends on whether the people who manage the town have the ability to take advantage of it. ”

Emerson added at this time: "The people of the Holy Acropolis do have a very high level in terms of military and equipment, but when it comes to the management of the kingdom and the economic development, they are like a bunch of unbridled madmen. Take Overwatch Town, for example, where they tax all the properties in the town heavily and charge high tolls at various checkpoints. This method did make a lot of money in a short period of time, but it completely hit the economy of Overwatch. No tourists want to visit there anymore, and even traders from the north prefer to make a detour of dozens of kilometers from the North Quarry into the Yuexi Plain. ”

The words "kill the chicken and take the eggs" suddenly came to Todd's mind.

Dieng gritted his teeth: "Your Majesty, please keep watching." ”

The picture from the first perspective has changed.

The refugees, who were too hungry, saw that the people in the convoy were indifferent, so they plucked up their courage and reached for the grain pile on the car.

One of the commanders of the Holy Acropolis, wielding his sword and cutting off the arm of a refugee, shouted, "These are the food to be brought to the royal city!

Seeing the indignation of the people, Dieng, who was in the first place, drove his horse to Gordon, the head of the Acropolis Mission, and said to him, "We should leave some food and distribute it to these civilians." ”

Gordon touched his beard and said in embarrassment: "Those nobles in the royal city have specially written a letter, asking us to bring a portion of the food to the Holy Acropolis. In the letter, he even used the phrase "kill anyone who wants to get their hands on this batch of grain." ”

Dion said anxiously: "Then you can't look at this group of people, just starve to death......"

Before the words fell, the scene gradually spiraled out of control.

When they learned that all this food was aided by the city of Twilight, but all of it was swallowed by the nobles of the Holy Acropolis, the refugees, carried away by hunger and anger, burst out with infinite courage and strength in the face of the bright swords and guns in front of them. They grabbed everything they could use as weapons, rushed into the wagon, attacked the soldiers of the Holy Acropolis, and dragged bags of grain out of the wagon.

The soldiers quickly counterattacked, swords severing the heads of civilians, axes slicing open chests, and screams echoed through the convoy, staining the white earth with bright red blood.

When she saw a sharp spear piercing a mother with a baby in her arms, Mary, who was pale, put down the coffee cup in her hand, stood up tremblingly, and whispered to Todd, "Sorry, Your Majesty, I need to go out for a while......"

Todd nodded lightly at her.

Mary stumbled open the door to the conference room and walked out without looking back.

The picture on the screen continues.

"Stop!" Dieng, who was in the first perspective, drove the war horse under him, picked out a spear with his bayonet sword, and shouted to the Holy Acropolis soldiers on the convoy: "Are you crazy?!"

With the intervention of Gordon and the Knights of the Twilight, the massacre against the riot was stopped in time, but more than twenty civilians had died.

Dion looked at the top officials of Twilight City and said in a deep voice, "All of you here, I saw this scene that night when I was patrolling the outer perimeter of the Mission's camp. ”

The picture in my memory changed again, and as night fell, the victims of the day were gathered in the town square and burned.

Taking advantage of the darkness of the night, a group of civilians sneaked to the crematorium, dragged the burning corpse out of the fire with a sickle, and then dismembered the corpse with a firewood knife and looted it.

Listening to the sound of people gasping around him, Todd stared at the picture and asked in disbelief, "Is this?!"

Cumberland closed his eyes: "Hunger can turn humans into demons. ”

Monk Joe wiped his face: "I know the pain of hunger, it is definitely the cruelest punishment God has given to this world!"

Dion closed his memory screen and said to the crowd in a pleading tone, "Ladies and gentlemen, as you can see, Overwatch has become a hell on earth due to lack of food, and without the food of Twilight, these civilians can only wait for death, if possible, maybe we ......"

There was a loud bang.

Emerson slammed his fist on the table and shouted, "Dion, find out your identity! You are the head of the mission of the Twilight City, no matter when and where, you represent the will of the Twilight Kingdom, and you should protect the interests of the Twilight Kingdom!"

Emerson got up from his chair, walked up to Dion, looked at the petite and stubborn young man, and said in a stern tone that he had never seen before: "Your power is given by the king, and your power comes from the people of the kingdom! If you want to use the power in your hands, if you want to use this power, you must think about everything from the perspective of the Twilight Kingdom! Remember to me all the time, if it were not for the Twilight Kingdom, you would not even have the opportunity to stand here and make a request!"

Monk Joe looked at the frozen picture on the screen, shook his head slightly and said to Dion: "I understand your feelings, but we have no reason and no ability to take care of these civilians. We have just implemented our agricultural development plan this year, and food has been in a tight state. You should also know that even if enough food is sent to Overwatch now, what about the rest of the entire Guardian Kingdom? Could it be that we are going to intercept the food that belongs to Twilight West and send it to all those people?"

Todd sighed heavily and said quietly, "Dion, your duty is to establish and coordinate diplomatic relations between Twilight City and the Holy Acropolis, which is your most important task. ”

Dion took one last look at the tragic scene in the picture, turned his head and bowed to the king, saying, "Your Majesty, please forgive me for my momentary confusion, I am wrong in this matter. ”

Todd waved his hand: "Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if we send food to the Holy Acropolis now, do you think those nobles will distribute the food to the watch town? ”

Seeing a room full of people fall silent, Cumberland looked at the map in front of his computer and suddenly asked Dion, "When are you going to leave for the Holy Acropolis?"

Dejected, Dion whispered, "The mission will stay in the Watch Town for a few days to wait for the blizzard to stop. In addition, all the weapons and armor promised by the Holy Acropolis to our country and the eliminated war horses will also be transported to the watch town in these two days and handed over to us. ”

Todd nodded: "Dieng, when these materials are handed over, remember to inform me of the time in advance at the meeting." ”

Seeing that the others were no longer in trouble, Todd closed the soul space and returned to the real-world dormitory.

Huggins, who was standing on the side, saw Todd open his eyes and asked softly, "Your Majesty, the meeting is over?"

"Hmm. ”

Todd got up from his chair, moved his head, neck and arms, and asked Huggins, "Have they arrived?"

The latter nodded, "Master Terrence has taken Wayne and is waiting in the audience hall. ”

"Did I bring the report I asked them to write?"

"Yes, that scholar named Wayne has been sorting out the data related to that 'soul experiment' for the past few days. According to his account, this experiment is of great academic value, and if continued, it can even reveal the nature of the material and spiritual worlds. ”