The conversation between Daniel and the others caused Gawain to have some uncontrollable associations.

Ever since learning about the concept of the "upper narrator" and its associated beliefs in Sandbox One, he has been thinking about the nature of the gods in this world and the process of the various concepts associated with them, and he has been most concerned with two questions:

First, how did the gods of this world come about? Second, what role does the "system of precepts" that revolve around these gods play in the overall belief system?

In this world, many beliefs and the concept of corresponding gods originated from the "Eternal Slate", and according to Gawain's judgment, the effect of the Eternal Slate on mortals in the world should only be some kind of "guiding medium", it came from the god-killing fleet back then, for some temporary unknown reason, it carried the breath of the gods that were destroyed by it, and ordinary people in this world could not read the battle report records of the god-killing fleet from those ancient metals like him, but could only sense the residual power of those gods- Since the power of the gods often means the knowledge of the gods at the same time, the mortals who first came into contact with the Eternal Stone also indirectly learned the knowledge of the gods.

The knowledge of the gods has an irresistible corrosive assimilation effect on the minds of mortals.

On this basis, many religious beliefs in the world have been stimulated and gradually developed, which is obviously different from the "upper narrator faith" in Sandbox No. 1, which was completely created from scratch.

Gawain has always been very confused about this - in the real history of this world, this season of mortal civilization is a lot of religion that was born after coming into contact with the information fragments left by the ancient gods, and then mortals believe and worship according to their own understanding of this information, and in the process form a religious system belonging to this season's civilization, and get feedback from the gods, in this process, what is the position and state of those ancient gods?

It may be bold to speculate that they have been revived in the faith and behavior of the new season of civilization - and because the customs, historical trajectories and even the main races of civilization are very different in each season, these resurrected gods have long become completely different individuals from the gods of ancient times, but because of the information carried by the eternal stone tablets as a "basic guide", these "resurrection gods" must be inextricably linked with the "original gods" of the ancient era.

Do the gods themselves know this? Do they care about that?

Leaving a fragment of their own information in the Eternal Stone Tablet may be a means of self-preservation that they deliberately left behind when they were on the verge of destruction? Something that is not a solution, some kind of "resurrection" with huge flaws?

If all of the above speculations are true, what is the "system of precepts" that revolves around the gods and occupies an important place in the act of faith?

The precept system, which can also be regarded as the "dogma" and "clear rules" of various religions, is a series of rules used to regulate the daily words and deeds of believers. Every mortal who believes in a particular god needs to carefully follow the many precepts in order to maintain his connection with the gods, and from this point of view, the precept system seems to be a constraint formed by the gods on man.

But if the gods of this world were really born out of faith, or rose from faith, then the precept system ...... Is it really just God's "one-way restraint" on man?

The team of Eternal Sleepers began to explore the phantom town, led by Selena, Daniel and other archbishops, and the team of ten people first began to explore the silent square, Gawain silently followed behind them, thoughts fluctuating in his mind.

In the belief of the "upper narrator", there is such a "rule" that "you must not stay on the street on the day the bell rings, otherwise you will encounter 'deletion'", which is a very typical "commandment", according to the clues revealed by Archbishop Yuri, the origin of this precept is most likely due to the "regular reset" operation in the early days of Sandbox 1.

An ordinary technical operation, in the closed sandbox No. 1, has evolved into a part of the later Qing rules and precepts, and the inhabitants of the sandbox have completely forgotten the original reason for this "rule", or do not know the real reason for this rule, but since it is part of the "dogma", then they will religiously abide by it.

Even though, Sandbox 1 is now no longer reset every ten days......

Two Eternal Sleeper priests in owl masks finished their exploration of the nearby alleys, returned to Daniel, and bowed, "Nothing, Archbishop—this place looks like an ordinary uninhabited town right now. ”

Daniel nodded, and Archbishop Yuri, who was next to him, said casually, "It's the same in the nearby houses, everything is back to 'normal', and this time there are no bells ringing, and there are no lights that suddenly light up. ”

"Normal...... "Archbishop Magnum, with red hair and extra tall hair," muttered, "this kind of place, the more normal it is, the weirder it is. ”

Archbishop Yuri frowned slightly, as if talking to himself, and said: "I have a feeling that this town seems to have its own mind, this mind tried to influence us last time, tried to break through the blockade, but it failed, so this time it chose to close itself, close the deep 'truth' of this town, and no longer reveal any information to us......"

"You mean the town is 'alive'?" Archbishop Magnum raised his eyelids and suddenly showed an interested look, "Then if I give it a psychic storm, will it jump?" ”

Yuri glanced at the grumpy archbishop, "You can try." ”

Magnum was stunned for a moment and shrugged, "...... It's boring. ”

Gawain listened to the conversation of the Eternal Sleepers, and walked around casually to the center of the small square.

It used to be the site of the chapel, but now it is gone, leaving only a slightly potholed, old stone floor and a few spots of water on the ground.

He stopped beside one of the stagnant waters, his gaze swept casually, and landed on the stagnant water.

The water reflected what seemed to be business as usual: empty squares, extinguished street lamps, black houses, and Gawain's own calm face.

The "mirrors" in the dream world often have special meanings, so Gawain was also a little curious about the possible reflections on the surface of the water, but he looked at it for a few seconds, and he didn't see "classic" visions such as the strange blinking of his eyes in the reflection and the appearance of an extra human figure.

This made him smile and shake his head, only to feel that he was thinking too much, and the supernatural things he had seen in his previous life entered his mind.

But just as he was about to look away, the reflection in the water really changed—

In the reflected town, the street lights suddenly began to turn on, and warm and soft lights suddenly appeared in those black houses!

Gawain was slightly stunned, and almost at the same time as the town changed in the reflection of the water, he heard a melodious bell suddenly ring in the town!

The sudden ringing of the bell made him subconsciously look up and look around, and Daniel and the others near him reacted almost at the same time - obviously, Gawain was not the only one who heard the bell.

"It's the bell...... Selena frowned, the light of the lantern in her hand faintly brightened, "still coming from nowhere......"

"I said there was no bell ringing," Yuri said with a hint of self-deprecation and confusion in his tone, "but there was only a bell, no lights on, which was different from last time." ”

As he said, in the quiet and deserted town, only the strange and melodious bells rang, but the surrounding street lamps and the doors of the houses did not shine with warm and soft lights like last time.

However, Gawain's gaze swept over the stagnant water in the square, and he clearly saw that in the reflected town, the lights were turning on one by one, and they were rapidly spreading in this direction!

Suddenly, he seemed to guess what the malicious mind lurking in this town wanted to do, but before he could give a warning, he saw Archbishop Yuri, who was still talking just now, disappear in front of him out of thin air.

Then came the high-ranking priests wearing owl masks who didn't seem to react, then Daniel and Archbishop Magnum, who had just reacted and wanted to cast a spell to protect their minds, and finally Selena Gelfen, who raised her lantern and seemed to want to dispel the darkness and illuminate the hidden mind nearby.

Everyone disappeared in front of Gawain in just an instant, as if they had been "deleted".

They were removed for violating the precept of "not staying in the streets on the day the bell rings", and by the "rules of the gods" that the "upper narrator" sect believes in!

Gao Wen stood quietly in the middle of the square, looking at the still empty Phantom Town, his face calm.

I was actually a little panicked.

He himself didn't seem to be affected, but ...... He wasn't sure if he had been "deleted" either.

After all, he doesn't know the nature of this "deletion" yet, and he can't find an additional observer to confirm his current state.

However, these changes in his mentality did not affect Gao Wen's next actions, he quickly calmed down his mind, and first reduced the "strength" of his access to the mental network in a sober and calm state, confirming that he was still in a state where he could interrupt the network connection at any time and return to the real world.

This seems to indicate that he has not been affected by the strange forces of the town, and his mind is still free to come and go in the network.

Subsequently, he began to try to sense Daniel's mental frequency, trying to use a certain "secret port" to establish contact with the other party.

Daniel disappeared along with the other priests, but Gawain didn't think that this weird town could directly "obliterate" so many powerful transcendents so easily, it was just a projection of the No. 1 sandbox after all, and even if it really had some weird powers, it should be limited.

As early as when they secretly reformed the psychic network, Gawain and Daniel considered what to do in case of an unexpected situation and the main ports of the network were blocked and blocked, so they set up a large number of secret ports and unmonitored "dark lines" in the deep network for emergency contact.

It's just that Gawain originally envisioned the unexpected scenario that the Pope of the Eternal Sleeper and the Supreme Bishopric would sense the invasion of the "extraterritorial wanderers" and block the network, but he did not expect that these secret links would come in handy as they are now.

Consciousness precipitation, spiritual cohesion, and secret psychic connections were established in an instant, and Gawain soon sensed the familiar fluctuations coming from the depths of his consciousness, and heard Daniel's voice ringing in his head: "My lord, how is the situation on your side?" ”

Gawain breathed a sigh of relief in his heart.

"I'm not affected," Gawain said in a deep voice after a little calm, "where are you now?" ”

Hearing that Gawain was unaffected, Daniel's side seemed not surprised at all, as if he felt that this was the proper performance of an extraterritorial wanderer, and then he reported the situation around him: "My lord, I don't know where this is—it is dark all around me, and I can only see shadowy fog churning, which seem to block my senses and seal my mind. ”

Gawain frowned slightly, from Daniel's description, he couldn't tell what kind of state the other party was in now.

But one thing he knew for sure was that he really didn't seem to be affected by the strange powers of this phantom town.

Daniel is currently in a dim and hazy environment, surrounded by fog that shields his perception, while Gawain is a normal phantom town in his sight, and his mind can also perceive his surroundings normally, and he can get out of here at any time, the situation is obviously different.

Why aren't you affected?

Because Sandbox No. 1 can't identify the soul of its own "extraterritorial wanderer"? Or is it because I don't use the standard port of the Sleeper to access the psychic network, but the "vulnerability port"?

Gawain analyzed it for a short time, but now was not the time to dwell on this matter, he could only put aside his doubts about this for the time being and began to think about ways to help Daniel get out of trouble.