Magic Technology Research Institute, 2nd basement floor, confidential conference room.

Gawain, dressed in a dark blue coat, walked into the room, a tightly guarded and never open meeting room, where he saw all the attendees waiting.

Wright and Veronica were talking in a low voice, Pitman was pulling his beard a little absentmindedly, Carmel was floating at the conference table, the arcane light on his body was calm and blue, Hetty saw Gawain appear, and was the first to stand up and bow: "Ancestor." ”

The others also stopped their business and stood up to salute.

Gao Wen looked around the scene, and his eyes lingered slightly on an empty seat next to the long table: "At this time, there is no need to be invisible." ”

Amber's figure immediately emerged: "Get used to it, get used to it......"

Gao Wen shook his head, came to the head of the conference table, and said while sitting down: "Internal meeting, no need to be formal, today is mainly to exchange some information, as well as ...... I need some advice from several professionals on site. ”

Veronica raised her head and looked at the people at the scene, already knowing in her heart: "Something to do with the knowledge of the gods?" ”

"That's right," Gawain said, nodding, "Amber must have told you about the recent anomaly in the Eternal Sleeper's psychic network, right?" ”

"I just said that half an hour ago," Wright replied, "I didn't know that our infiltration of the Order of Eternal Sleep had reached this level. ”

"This matter has always been highly secrecy, and it has not crossed paths with the church, so it's normal that you don't know," Gawain said, his expression becoming serious, "but now things have changed a little, and some information has to be made public."

"In short, based on the information I have just received from my side, it is highly likely that a secret plan carried out by the Eternal Sleeper in the psychic network has accidentally touched the realm of the gods, and ...... They may have come into contact with the secrets of the birth of the gods. ”

Gawain got straight to the point, and the conference room was quiet in an instant, everyone's breathing seemed to be half a beat slower, even Kamel, who didn't need to breathe, dimmed for a moment, and after a few seconds, the corners of Pittman's mouth twitched, breaking the silence: "I said that something big must happen in this kind of urgent and confidential meeting, but this ...... It's also a little too exciting. ”

As he spoke, he lowered his head, looking at the several beards that he had accidentally pulled off just now, and after hesitating for a long time, he rubbed the beard back on his chin and carefully reconnected it with a spell.

Gawain, on the other hand, didn't care about Pittman's muttering, and after seeing that his bombshell news had successfully lifted everyone's spirits, he described in detail his previous experience in the psychic network and his exploration in that "Phantom Town".

Everyone at the scene listened attentively, and even Amber, who dozed off or wandered out of the world every time there was a meeting, pricked up her ears this time and listened intently.

“…… That's all that happened," after nearly twenty minutes of narration, Gawain exhaled and said in conclusion, "According to my guess, the worship of the 'upper narrator' should be the main reason for the loss of control of the sandbox, and what exactly did this 'upper narrator church' brew in the dream world, and does this 'thing' just belong to the conceptual product of the dream world...... will be the crux of the matter. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, Veronica, who was sitting in the second position on the left, broke the silence: "Are you suspicious...... The act of belief in the so-called 'upper narrator' is in the No. 1 sandbox of the psychic network...... Really made a god? ”

"There's no evidence yet, but I do suspect it," Gawain nodded, "The Eternal Sleeper hasn't found the 'way' for the gods to pollute Sandbox One, and there is no evidence or clue to show which god it was, how, and when it bypassed the protections of Sandbox One and entered the sandbox - we all know that the three dark sects are the ones that know the gods the most, but even the top researchers among them can't find any trace of the gods' invasion of the sandbox system...... Then we might as well make a bolder assumption: pollution is not invaded from the outside at all......"

……

In the central shrine of the Psychic Network, the highest level of secrecy, the archbishops sit around a round table depicting various symbols.

All the archbishops who attended the meeting were stripped of their disguises and used the real world as they really were—according to the Order's internal rules, which meant that the meeting was extremely secrecy and of high standard.

Archbishop Yuri, dressed in white robes, stood at the round table and said in a serious tone: "...... Based on the speculation of me and Archbishop Selena, the pollution ...... Perhaps it comes from inside Sandbox 1, and the so-called 'god erosion' should all come from the sect that worships the 'upper narrator'. ”

Opposite Yuri, a man in a black robe, with a relatively short stature, red hair standing on end, and a rather loud voice stood up and said loudly, "It's really unbelievable that the inhabitants of the dream world suddenly began to doubt the authenticity of their world, and then began to worship a 'high-level narrator' that they had made up of, and a god was really born?" And this god also caused Sandbox One to get out of control? Is this really a reason that is made up without being able to find out the cause? ”

Yuri looked helplessly at the red-haired man across from him—it was Archbishop Magnum, with a fiery temper and a notoriously loud voice, but he also knew that the loud voice of the gentleman here was not malicious, nor was it out of opinion of a certain person, it was due to his character—the thought came to his mind, and he said it naturally.

It's just that this gentleman's voice is so loud that it's hard to get used to, and then again...... In such a mental space, can't he turn down his "volume" a little?

"Archbishop Magnum," Yuri shook his head slightly, "everything I'm saying is really just speculation, and I know it's ridiculous, but don't forget that we're dealing with 'God', and God ...... It's unbelievable in itself. ”

A starlight polymer floated above the ornate round table, and its voice reached the ears of everyone present: "Is there any evidence now that the 'upper narrator' of the sect born in the dream world has some divine qualities?" ”

"Your Majesty," Archbishop Yuri immediately bowed his head, "there is no evidence yet, we still have too little information, and we can only confirm that such a sect has indeed appeared in Sandbox One, and its activities correspond to the time when Sandbox One is out of control." ”

Starlight Polymer Expands and Shrinks in mid-air: "Then as long as there is evidence to prove that the 'Upper Narrator Faith' in Sandbox 1 has actually produced a god, or something similar to a god, all the answers will be clear." ”

Yuri frowned: "But...... If that thing is really a god, what do we do about it? ”

"We don't know yet, but isn't that the answer and the secret we've been looking for?" Pope Megael III's voice echoed softly in everyone's mind, "We have been trying to dig up the secrets of the gods and find out the truth about their birth, and now, we may be infinitely closer to this truth......"

……

"The secret of the birth of the gods...... Maybe it's hidden in Sandbox No. 1," Gawain said in a deep voice, "If the shadow of the power of the gods really appears behind the 'Upper Narrator Church', then the concept of gods ...... will be most radically subverted. ”

"It wasn't the gods who created humans, but humans who created the gods......" Pitman muttered to himself, his hands suddenly shaking, and several whiskers were pulled off by him again.

Holding the platinum scepter in her hand and surrounded by a faint holy light, Veronica had been silent since just now, as if she had fallen into a long thought, and then suddenly raised her head: "This...... In fact, it is also one of the assumptions of the original disobedient plan. ”

"You've ever guessed this direction?" Gawain looked at Veronica in surprise, "Have you guessed that the gods were actually born in the course of human faith?" ”

"We didn't speculate so deeply, so directly, but we did guess that human beliefs—or a large number of common currents of thought among mortals—would influence the activities of the gods to some extent. But this conjecture is so shocking that it can neither be confirmed nor falsified, or it is so difficult to prove that it is almost impossible to achieve, so it remained a conjecture until the collapse of the Gondor Empire. ”

"But now the bold attempt of the Eternal Sleeper will probably prove your conjectures......," Wright said with a sigh, "I really can't imagine that the god that mortals feared and feared was essentially something created by mortals?" ”

"Don't jump to conclusions, let alone be blindly confident and underestimate the 'gods'," Veronica said gently, "The belief of billions of living beings has become gods in a dimension that we can't understand, and the changes that have occurred during this period have been beyond our comprehension...... Perhaps, we should think of it more as a terrifying, out of control, but inevitable 'natural phenomenon'. ”

"Natural phenomena ......" Gawain couldn't help but repeat the word in his mind, thinking in his heart.

Then he nodded: "Indeed, as Veronica said, maybe some kind of natural phenomenon, and...... It is a natural phenomenon that will inevitably occur. ”

Faith and religion can almost be said to be an inevitable stage of social activity.

Civilization will always have periods of weakness and powerlessness, mortals come from ignorance, face this mysterious, unknown and dangerous world, face the incomprehensible and unpredictable nature, as a wise and intelligent creature, they will inevitably have a fear or worship of nature, and fear or worship those inexplicable natural phenomena.

And in the process of moving from the unknown to the known, in the process of trying to know everything in the world, mortals must try to explain what they are afraid of, what they fear.

These explanations are ...... in a period when knowledge is insufficient, strength is weak, and civilization is still in its infancy. Eventually, it will inevitably point to gods, or something like that.

In that closed sandbox No. 1, in that man-made world that has been operating for thousands of years, the inhabitants of it must also be faced with the question: Where did we come from? Who created this world?

Perhaps a "prophet" accidentally spied the data flow behind the world, or an adventurer accidentally came to the border of the sandbox, and they were terrified by the vast and chaotic sea of minds beyond the world, and saw the scripts and instructions left behind the world.

So, they have an explanation for their world: it was the "upper narrator" who created all this.

Then, there really is the "upper narrator".

"The Eternal Sleepers are a group of outstanding soulological engineers and excellent researchers, but unfortunately they only focus on the technical field, but they don't understand how society works," Gao Wen shook his head, and his tone couldn't help but sigh a little, "If they have understood the mechanism of social operation and all aspects of the development of civilization, then even if they can't predict that the No. 1 sandbox will get out of control, at least they will expect that the 'religious activities' in the No. 1 sandbox is inevitable, and they will be vigilant and pre-planned." ”

There was some silence in the conference room for a while.

Although everyone here knows about the plan of disobedience, and even though everyone here is more or less involved in Gawain's plan to challenge the gods and "deviate from the scriptures", the impact of today's discussion is still too great for everyone.

Everybody is digesting it, everybody is re-validating all aspects of those hypotheses.

Pitman pressed his hand to his chin and said as he carefully repaired his beard, "Then if that's the case, a 'god' has been created in Sandbox One...... I'm afraid this matter will not end. We can still deal with the deer that will be created by the end of all things with cannon fire or the army of the Kraken, but how to deal with a god who runs in a dream? ”

"Don't be so pessimistic," Gawain said calmly, "even if that thing is really a god or a 'god-like', it has just been born and is trapped in a dream, and if we can figure out its mechanism, it will not be difficult to deal with - and the Eternal Sleeper will definitely do everything in his power to solve this crisis for its own survival." ”

Pitman's face was sad, and he couldn't help but twist his beard vigorously: "Alas...... I shouldn't have listened to Amber in the first place, and my old age was not peaceful at all......"

The exclamation fell, and the old druid looked down at the beard he had pulled down in his hand, and his face became even more sad.

"Don't pick it up," Wright, who was sitting across from him, said with some concern, "I don't think I can pick it up." ”

“…… Alas......"