Alone in the depths of the vault—Hao Ren couldn't imagine what it was like, but he could see everywhere in this small room the traces left by the old man over the past nine hundred years, and he could get a glimpse of his life. He had forced himself with discipline and will to keep watch according to the plan, for he had been the best in this ark; At one point, he had given up on himself, squandering his time and supplies in this room, because he was just an ordinary human being; He also woke up from the false self-discipline and meaningless profligacy, and spent the last decades of his life here to leave all the history he knew, because he was the last "parent" left by this civilization.

"I only came to my senses in the second half of my life, so I had to make up for the wasted time with a double effort," the old man muttered in a low voice, "the only thing to be thankful for is that I am really healthy, the doctors are right, I can live a long time in good health, which should have been used for reconstruction, but I am trapped in this room - so I have spent nearly twenty years leaving those things behind." Our history, our culture, our traditions, where we came from and why we left our homeland...... It was the longest time I was awake, and I worked day and night, terrified at every gray hair I found. I almost went crazy, but I didn't dare to go back to the dormant chamber because I didn't know if I would be able to get up again...... I'm getting older, and in the last few years I've spent half of my day by that window......"

The old man trembled and raised a finger to the side of the door, where there was a small window that was the only way he could see the outside world during the days he had been awake on and off.

"I look out and sometimes hallucinate. Seeing some of the hibernation pods suddenly open, the children jumped out of them, healthy and full of energy. But sometimes you can see terrible things...... The dormant pods fell on the bridge, and blood oozed out of them. I've done my last bit of work in this state, and it's time to rest. The old man's cloudy eyes looked into the corner of the room, where he had been lying for hundreds of years, "and I went back inside, and this time there was no time set for wake-up—my flesh. The body is one hundred and three years old, and there is no need to wake up again. ”

This was the life of the last "parent" of the Ark.

When the ignorant children panicked and ran into the vault city, their "parents" were still asleep, and while the children were trying to survive in the empty city, their "parents" could only watch over the empty hibernation pods. The first settlements appeared in the Vault City, and the first new generation appeared. The first kingdom appeared, the first division appeared, the first malfunction, the first power outage, the first winter, the first artificial gravity shutdown...... The last guardian of civilization can only be trapped here, helpless, afraid. Annoyed, and finally perked up. The history of the entire race is carved on the wall, from youth to middle age, and from middle age to old age......

And the children and their descendants in the city of Vault slowly forgot everything in the struggle to survive for 800 years, and finally forgot where they came from. The only thing that could connect them to the Warden in the vault was probably the name of the reactor at the end of the world: the Ancestral Furnace.

"Why do you write these things on paper and carve them on the wall?" Lily asked curiously, "Don't you have any other textbooks prepared?" ”

"Because it lasts longer." The corners of the old man's mouth twitched, and a difficult smile appeared, "The equipment outside has not been maintained for hundreds of years, and they will always break, but what is written on paper can be preserved for a thousand years." What is carved into the wall can last for 10,000 years, as long as the place remains closed, or even longer...... I've always believed that the kids are still alive, but that something is wrong with waking them up, and that if they wake up and I'm long dead, they'll be able to find my manuscript. ”

The old man was silent for a long time after saying this, and finally he looked at Hao Ren and broke the silence again: "I want to ask again, are they all still alive?" ”

"Their descendants are still alive." Hao Ren replied cautiously.

"Oh, really...... So many generations have passed......" The old man nodded slowly, already having a premonition in his heart, but he still asked, "Is our culture and tradition still alive?" ”

Everyone looked at each other until Vivien broke the embarrassment: "Many generations have passed...... You know what happens. ”

The old man was silent, and slowly walked to the long table where the manuscripts were stacked, he refused Hao Ren's support and Nangong May's help, but silently sorted out the manuscripts by himself, piled them up in order, and then he tried to move those things - but he no longer had the strength.

"I'll help you," Lily rushed forward and grabbed the thick stack of manuscripts without saying a word, "where to move?" ”

"Take me to see it...... The offspring of those children. The old man looked up at Hao Ren, his eyes were calm, and there was no sadness or joy.

"You're going to be disappointed." Vivien said from the side.

The old man had only one reply: "I'm dying." ”

Hao Ren nodded, took out a life support collar from his personal space and handed it over: "Put it on." We'll pass through a place full of radiation, and this thing will keep you safe. ”

For the first time in nine hundred years, the old man left his room, and the moment he stepped out of the door, his body obviously trembled violently, but he waved his hand and refused Nangong May's support, and muttered almost stubbornly: "I want to see them myself." ”

In front of the gate of the ancestor Honglu, the crowd has become more and more.

The alarm from the blood servants alarmed everyone in the royal city, and then strange rumors such as "Ice Flame Witch" spread among the soldiers and civilians, and all the princes and nobles were alarmed, and the scholars also ran between the library and the ancient altar in search of answers, and the crowd poured out of the royal city, gathering in groups in the open space in front of the ancestral furnace.

The traces left by the frost and plasma flames on the earth made these superstitious and ignorant people awe-inspiring, and the strange movements that kept coming from the ancestral furnace made them even more suspicious.

As Hao Ren led the old man out of the exit of another control station on high ground, he saw a crowd of people, and the residents of the shelter crowded into the "plain" below, arguing, worshipping, and praying as if they were believers waiting for the revelation.

The giant generator set in the Ancestral Flood Furnace had been repaired, and the autonomous machinery was waiting for the next order, so Hao Ren sent a start signal to the generator set, and a low roar immediately came from the depths of the Ancestor Furnace.

The roar grew louder and louder, and then gradually became calmer, and the inhabitants of the Vault who were waiting in the clearing were startled by the sudden sound of movement, and began to make noise, and then they saw that the lights that had been quite dim in all directions suddenly returned to light, and the entire enclosed space followed suit, and the two huge iron wheels on the distant royal city slowly began to spin, and these people finally realized what had happened: the heart of the world began to beat again.

So everyone knelt down, including the generals and ministers, and all knelt reverently in front of the ancestral furnace, and sang in unison for the coming of light and warmth.

Beside Hao Ren, the old man looked at all this in amazement: "They ...... What are you doing? ”

"Praise the heart of this world for starting to beat again, praise for the favor of the gods," Hao Ren sighed softly, "Vivien said that you will be disappointed - these people are completely unaware of the affairs of the Ark, their whole world is this more than 100 kilometers of spherical shell space, these people have lived here for generations, and now they have returned to the wilderness. They split into four kingdoms and fought with each other, they thought that their world was created by God, that outside the ark was a sea of water, and that they even thought that their world was a giant turtle......"

"Turtle...... We used this phrase to comfort the children, we said that the ark was like a tortoise shell, it would protect everyone from harm," the old man said in a low voice, "and they at least remember this." ”

Hao Ren was silent for a few seconds, and he had to make a final conclusion from the position of a censor: "Although it is a pity, your civilization has been interrupted. ”

The old man did not answer, he just quietly watched the situation below, listening intently to the voices of the inhabitants of the Ark who were dressed in tattered clothes and primitive in words and deeds, and finally he suddenly smiled, happy like a child: "They still speak the language of their ancestors, don't they?" (To be continued.) )