The frost moon has come to an end, and the cold winter has arrived in the northern countries of the continent.

The cold north wind howled through the city streets, bringing a shrill whistle between the cracks of the buildings, and the snow on the roofs was blown off by the wind and flew into a hazy curtain in the air, as if another new snowfall was coming.

All of this is blocked by thick walls, laminated crystal glass, and the heating system.

Gawain sat in the study, flipping through a pastime book about the accounts of gods and monsters in the Northern Continent, holding a dipping pen in the other hand, casually sketching some pictures and inspirations in his mind on scratch paper, the sound of the wind whistling outside was filtered through the glass, and when it entered the room, only a faint aftersound remained, and the sound of the slow music from the magic guide device in the corner of the room was blended together, but it became more and more calming.

Betian stood quietly at her desk, her hands folded on the apron of her maid's dress, her head bowed and her head nodded slightly.

Gawain glanced at Betty, who was dozing off, couldn't help but smile and shook his head, and refocused his attention on the casual outline, but his hand holding the dipping pen suddenly felt a strange touch, accompanied by a soft "pop" sound, looking down, he saw that the tip of the dipping pen that had been used for a long time was cracked, and the leaking ink was falling on the paper along the crack, scattering a smudge.

Gawain frowned, put the broken dipping pen aside, and looked at the lines outlined on the paper—the winding river flowed quietly, with antique brick houses on the riverbank, and small stone bridges spanning the river, and the sun setting along the eaves of the houses on the water.

The scattered ink spread on the small stone bridge, as if it was gradually devouring the picture.

Gawain crumpled up the scratch paper and tossed it aside, and the door to the study opened almost simultaneously, and Amber pushed the door and walked in.

Betty, who was napping, woke up and stood up straight, but yawned again and relaxed when she saw who it was.

Gawain glanced up at Miss Half-Elf who pushed the door in, and couldn't help but upturn the corners of his mouth: "...... It's really cold. ”

“…… Yes? Amber heard this sentence before she could open her mouth, and she was a little overwhelmed, "Why did you say this suddenly?" ”

Gawain pointed to the window: "This season, even you don't go through the window." ”

Amber suddenly crossed her waist when she heard this, and glared: "Nonsense! It's still windy on this cold day, I climb your second-floor window in the wind and snow, and I have to risk being locked out by you, I'm not a psychopath! ”

As she spoke, she saw the paper ball on the high desk—as we all know, amber is a very curious species—so she couldn't help but come up curiously, and after judging from Gawain's eyes that it was not a secret, she casually opened the paper ball, only to see that it was just a strange picture.

"What kind of place is this...... The Gondor Empire? Isn't the sun too small...... Amber blinked, "It's a strange architectural style, it looks weird...... However, judging from the shape of the building, it should not be the northern region, right? Where do you plan to promote? ”

"It's just a casual drawing, just think it's my imagination," Gawain flicked his finger at the paper in Amber's hand, and the drawing depicting the otherworldly landscape immediately turned into dust silently, "Let's not talk about this, what's the situation?" ”

"Hey, don't ruin it, it's a pity......" Amber subconsciously screamed before pouting, "It's not a big deal, but recently there was news that Typhon's border troops have begun to equip the Wizard Vehicle...... Sooner than we expected. ”

Hearing Amber's words, Gawain pinched his chin slightly, and after a moment of silence, he only smiled slightly: "Sooner or later, this will be like this, this is the general trend." Inform the Wind Fortress and keep it on guard. ”

"Understood. Also, Hetty asked me to remind you when I came here," Amber continued, "Imperial College is going to open next month, and students from all over the world are arriving at the end of this month, have you set a specific opening time?" ”

"Imperial College...... This is finally ready," Gawain said, nodding, "The open day is set for the first day of the next month, and the rest of the schedule will not be changed." ”

"Okay, I'll make a note of it."

Gawain snorted, paused for a moment and then casually asked, "By the way, what is that Bard doing now?" ”

"At the Druid Institute of the Giant Tree of Thorin, where I worked as a researcher and special advisor. Reports from the watchmen say that he is doing well, actively cooperating with various operations, and assisting the staff there to transfer a large number of dangerous samples from the dungeon," Amber reported, "Now that the transfer of those dangerous samples is almost over, Bard's next job is to work with the druid and the scholars to study the photosynthesis of the Thorin giant trees in the winter - they hope this part of the research will help improve the crops." ”

"Well, that's good," Gawain nodded, and asked again, "What is Bertila doing?" ”

"Photosynthesis."

Gawain: "...... Yes? ”

Amber couldn't help but roll her eyes: "Otherwise, what else do you expect her to do?" ”

Gao Wen was stunned for a second, and covered his head with his hand: "...... It's true, she's a plant after all, and she's usually ......."

In the midst of his sigh, a peculiar fluctuation from the depths of his spirit suddenly emerged, causing Gao Wen to stop in the second half of his sentence.

Amber cast a curious look across the table: "What's wrong?" ”

"Wait a minute, Daniel seems to have something looking for me," Gawain waved his hand, "You're watching from the sidelines, I need to meditate." Betty, you go to the door and don't let people in. ”

Amber easily agreed, and the little maid ran out of the door with a clatter, and Gawain no longer delayed his time, and quickly concentrated his mind, diving his consciousness into the level of the psychic network little by little.

After a brief period of dizziness and the illusion of space displacement, the scene in front of him has changed to the endless and calm blue water and blue sky of the origin space, with huge geometric patterns and gear-like structures running quietly in the sky, and metal platforms erected on the vast water surface without wind and waves—but unlike when this space was first born, those metal platforms are no longer empty at this moment, but are furnished with various experimental devices, forming an experimental environment that does not interfere with each other.

There was a flickering light on a metal platform in the distance, and it was clear that some group was connecting to the cyberspace through the immersion chamber at this very moment, conducting some kind of experiment.

The open area in the center of the Origin Space, which is forever undisturbed by those experimental environments, still has a white round table with a circle of empty seats next to it, Daniel is standing in front of one of the chairs, and when he sees Gawain appear, the old mage immediately bends down respectfully: "My lord, I'm sorry to disturb you suddenly." ”

"No formality," Gawain waved his hand and sat down in his own high-backed chair, "what's going on?" ”

Daniel immediately replied, "My lord, there has been something strange about the psychic network lately, and I think it is necessary to report it to you. ”

"Oh?" Gawain raised his eyelids, "Tell me more." ”

"That's it......"

Daniel talked about the rumors that had appeared in the Eternal Sleeper's psychic network in the recent past, and talked about the clues he had investigated through his connections and forces, and he did not dare to report them in the slightest concealment.

“…… Although the Supreme Bishopric has said that these are all rumors, and my investigation has not found any evidence of the above-mentioned anomalous phenomena for the time being, judging from the frequency and scope of the occurrence of 'sighting reports', and the information I have heard from the bishops' community, the situation may not be so simple.

"I'm afraid that there are indeed some problems with the operation of the psychic network, the stability of some virtual spaces is declining, and some of the Eternal Sleepers who have been connected to the network for a long time must also be in trouble - I found some hidden distress messages in the deep database, but for some reason, when I found the cultists who had sent messages for help, they didn't know anything about these things.

"Three areas on the edge of Dream City have recently been cordoned down, and the Supreme Bishopric is talking about data restructuring and necessary repairs...... It is a very normal operation in itself, and it is not the first time that the temporary lockdown of the edge area has happened, but it is still suspicious that this kind of thing happened during this time period. ”

Daniel talked about the information he had gathered, and Gawain's brow furrowed the more he listened.

The anomaly was already very obvious, and perhaps ordinary Christians were still blinded by the words of the Supreme Bishopric and the Pope of the Eternal Sleepers, but Daniel, as a bishop, had gathered enough information to confirm that something was indeed wrong with the psychic network.

It worked flawlessly, but ...... What is the reason?

Gao Wen subconsciously glanced at the surrounding origin space, and the gratuitous association arose, making the expression on his face couldn't help but be weird.

This origin space was secretly opened up by him from the bottom of the psychic network, rubbing the computing power of the eternal sleeper, borrowing the traffic of the psychic network, and recently due to the establishment of several new project teams on the side of the Magic Guiding Technology Research Institute, the frequency of use of the origin space seems to be getting higher and higher......

Mom, I'm afraid it's not that I'm too good at picking wool, so I'm going to kill this sheep......

Daniel couldn't guess what type of train the powerful extraterritorial wanderer was running in his mind at this time, he was just a little nervous because of Gawain's sudden silence: "My lord? ”

Gawain woke up from his contemplation and looked at Daniel, "You say...... Could the anomaly of the psychic network be related to the Origin Space? ”

“…… My lord, to be honest, I have doubted this direction too," Daniel thought for a moment and replied with a bowed head, "After all, the Origin Space is closely related to the operation of the Psychic Network, and it has been carrying out several large-scale projects recently, drawing a huge amount of computing power from the Psychic Network, but after careful examination, I think that the Origin Space is very unlikely to cause the Psychic Network to malfunction. ”

"Oh?"

"The computing power that the Origin Space extracts from the psychic network belongs to the 'redundant' part, in other words, the part of the computational power that is outside the backbone of the psychic network and does not affect the overall operation of the network," Daniel explained. Therefore, no matter how much the origin space expands and develops, it will not affect the ...... of the backbone network."

"Hmm......" Gao Wen touched his chin and said with a deep groan, "In this case, the abnormal fluctuations of the psychic network will not affect the origin space?" ”

"Theoretically, but we'd better strengthen the monitoring of the Origin Space in the near future," Daniel nodded and said, "After all, we haven't found out what the causes of those anomalies in the backbone network have just yet, and if there is a hidden danger in the infrastructure of the 'Psychic Network', then even if the Origin Space and the backbone network are isolated, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no problems." ”

"Are there any dangers for researchers working in the Origin Laboratory?" Gawain spoke out about his biggest concern at the moment.

"It doesn't seem like it is going to be," Daniel has obviously thought about this as well, and he replied quickly, "The abnormal connectors in the psychic network have one thing in common: they maintain a long-term state of networking, they have undergone deep brain nerve modification, they can hardly completely disconnect from the network, and they often engage in deep immersion, and the connection between the spirit and the network is too close - while the researchers in our Origin Lab are connected through immersion pods, there is a layer of real-world protection, and there is no deep immersion, At the same time, they also strictly enforce the working hours you have set for them, and they will not maintain a long connection time, so security can be guaranteed. ”

Gao Wen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this: "That's okay...... Still, we should be vigilant. I'll remind my researchers to be extra mindful of their mental state when they've been online lately, while you're going to keep an eye out for all the anomalies in the psychic network. ”

Daniel immediately bowed his head deeply: "Yes, my lord. ”

Gawain exhaled and looked up at the vast expanse of the sky above him.

Huge geometries and symbolic numbers still operate in the clear sky, and the invisible wall of data blocks the connection between this secret space and the backbone network, standing between the vast water and sky of the origin space, those who visit here will not even perceive that there is another much larger network running in sync with this space.

But after Gawain opened a higher authority, he could see more-

He could see a much larger cyber world parallel to the Origin Space, a magnificent dream city covered over this space, countless points of light flying and drifting in the void, the Eternal Sleeper cultists who were the nodes of computing power, the inhabitants of this online world.

And beneath his feet, under the vast and boundless "surface of the water", is a more chaotic and complex flow of light, which is the deeper foundation of the mental network, the darkest and deepest network "abyss" of this virtual world that has taken hundreds of years to build.

He frowned.

It doesn't seem that the sheep was killed by itself......

So why did it suddenly end up like this?