A bird?

Duncan did think about where to begin explaining the truth about the Great Annihilation and the current state of the Deep Sea Age, after all, the impact and "incompatibility" of the world are such an abstract concept that not everyone can understand it all in a short time, but he had no idea that Luan would start the topic with a seemingly ordinary bird.

He looked up and saw that Morris beside him had a thoughtful look when he saw the "mad bird".

Luhn, on the other hand, placed the bird on the table in front of him under the gaze of curiosity, and his voice was smooth and clear, like a teacher full of patience in the classroom, interpreting the ultimate truth of this world to the bishops present—

"The black-feathered puffin, probably one of the oldest and most widespread birds in the world, lives on the shores of a city-state, on remote islands in treacherous environments, and even in some terrifying seas classified as 'anomalies'...... But only from the point of view of physiological structure and living habits, the black feather puffin actually does not have the slightest particularity, they are just a kind of hardy birds, nothing more.

"It wasn't until 1723 that scholars suddenly came up with an interesting, or rather creative, idea of what 'everything' looked like in the eyes of animals that lived with humans in this world, but had a different way of perceiving than humans?

"The first person who put forward this idea was the famous scholar of the School of Truth, Hypa Strong, who suddenly came up with this idea when he was playing with the family's pet dog - he looked into the eyes of his dog, and suddenly thought of the different eyes and brain structures of this animal and humans, and thought that such a special set of senses must know and understand the surrounding environment in a wonderful and different way from humans, and when this curiosity was so strong that it was irrepressible, he designed the famous 'Hypa experiment'-

Using a complex series of occult techniques, he connected his senses to animals, and the initial tests were conducted between him and his pet dog.

"The first experiment failed, and the dog nearly died in the experiment – subsequent examinations showed that the dog was subjected to tremendous mental stress at the moment the connection was established, which was completely beyond the limits of an animal.

So Hypa Strahm designed a second test, this time, he decided to choose a slightly 'inferior' creature with a simpler brain structure - he only needed to share the creature's senses, and he didn't want the latter to die early in the experiment because the brain was too complex to withstand the pressure, and finally made the ...... It's the black-feathered puffin.

"One afternoon in August 1726, Hypa Strahm had done all the preparations by placing the bird in a special cage so that the bird could see the sky outside, while he lay on the experimental bed next to the cage – the ritual was initiated.

An hour later, Hypa Stram died, screams of terror and a strange roar shattering all the windows of the lab, causing a spiritual howl from the scholar's broken soul at the time of his death, which was followed by twelve assistants and apprentices.

"Compared to many experimental accidents or extraordinary disasters that have caused more serious consequences, the human damage caused by the 'Hypa Incident' is actually not serious, but some of the ...... revealed in this experimental accident The chilling 'fact' has left a long shadow on the academic community, so much so that since that experiment, all attempts to establish perceptual sharing between different species have been listed as absolutely taboo -

"That's the 'facts' that came out of that experiment."

Lune said, reaching out and pulling something out of his robe—what seemed to be just a folded, unremarkable piece of paper.

He opened the paper—a dense pattern appeared in Duncan's eyes.

"A torn record was found next to Hypa's corpse, which had been badly twisted and deformed by the time it was discovered, and the flesh had been deformed into a horrific form as if it had been contaminated by the old gods, and the record was clutched in the scholar's only human form—the investigators judged that it must have been hastily drawn by the scholar's last sanity in his rapid descent into madness......

"Rest assured, this is just a 'copy' from the data, and the contaminating parts have been removed and are safe for everyone to view."

Lune held up the piece of paper and showed it to everyone in the room.

So what's on it? What did Hypa Strahm see on his deathbed?

Frankly speaking, even Duncan could not associate those abstract and chaotic lines with what Lune called the "Hypa Experiment", he only saw a large number of curved lines that seemed to twitch madly, trembling shadows covering a series of inexplicable geometric patterns, and countless eye-like or eerie hollow structures all over the paper, which gave the first impression when he looked at it...... Except for weirdness, it's chaos.

There was silence in the hall, the "Hypa Incident" was not a secret, but not everyone knew about these specialized matters as much as scholars, and many bishops from the Church of the Deep Sea, Death and Fire Bearers had indeed heard of these details for the first time, and the strange and suspicious parts of the incident had everyone lost their thoughts.

"This is what Hypa Stram saw on his deathbed through his 'shared senses,'" Luan's voice rang out in the silence of the room, "what you see is the 'world' through the eyes of the Black Feather Puffin—the stacked curves that seem to be trembling at the edge are Hypa Strahm herself." ”

There was an instant buzz of discussion, the bishops sitting at the edge of the hall whispered conversations, and some looked at the unremarkable-looking black seabird, still resting on the table, with bewilderment or thoughtfulness.

Seemingly frightened, the "mad bird" leaps and flaps its wings in its cage and emits a series of crisp, shrill calls.

Luan put the black cloth back on the cage.

"This is what has happened in our world, and it continues to happen in the 'underlying essence' of everything," he said, his gaze calmly sweeping across the hall, "The essence of 'pollution' stems from the 'incompatibility' of all things, and one thing in our perspective is deadly pollution and erosion under another perspective, or another set of 'rules......"

For the next time, Lune recounted what he had seen in the deepest part of the Nameless Dream.

About the nature of the Great Annihilation, about the truth about the impact of the world, about the reasons behind the many pollution and erosion phenomena in the deep sea age, and about the "eternal conflicts" that still remain in the underlying laws of the world.

“…… On the day of the Great Annihilation, many worlds 'collided' with each other, and we still don't know what the cause of this impact was, but the result was ...... It is a 'Hypa Incident' that spans many civilizations, many races, and many worlds, and in this collision, each world is each other's 'mad birds', and each other's 'Hypa Ström', and from the perspective of the 'basic rules of the world', the indescribable pollution erodes and distorts all things, and all the old order disappears, and the survivors ......."

Lune stopped, and he slowly got up, looking around at everyone here.

"We, and everything around us, and the entire age of the deep sea, are the scream of 'Hypa Strlum' on his deathbed, a scream that still reverberates today, but it is nearing its end."

The old man exhaled softly and slowly sat back in his seat.

"I'm done, is there anyone else you need to add next?"

As he spoke, his gaze fell on Duncan across from him.

"You're complete," Duncan said, "that's all we know about the Great Annihilation—and now let's talk about the gods, the conjectures about the nature of the gods, and what you've been doing lately, which is what I'm most concerned about. ”

The bishops around seemed to be in a slight commotion, and the four popes sitting across the table briefly exchanged glances after Duncan's words fell—and soon, the commotion quieted down, and the "Fire Bearer Pope," who was dressed in plain robes, had rock-skinned skin and was exceptionally tall, nodded slightly.

"Judging from the existing clues, what the gods represent should be the powerful or special individuals that remain after the destruction of each world in the Great Annihilation—like the 'scorched core' after incineration, carrying the ...... of a world Sunset. ”

Frem said in a low voice, raising his hand and outlining the firebearer's emblem on his chest, as if to repent of his offense in "judging the gods" at the moment, but he continued—

“…… The Great Annihilation destroyed everything in the Old World, and strictly speaking, the gods did not survive that catastrophe, and about that...... In fact, we have been aware of this for a long time. ”

Hearing Frem's words, Duncan's eyes widened slightly: "You guys already noticed it before this?" ”

At the same time, he noticed the stunned expressions on the faces of Maurice and Vanna beside him—it was clear that even as saints, it was the first time they had heard such words from the Pope.

This is a "secret" confined to the interior of the "Pilgrimage Ark"!

Frem nodded slightly.

"Yes, we already knew it—only now we don't know the reason for it.

"The gods are dead and have begun to enter the 'corruption phase'...... But only a few church leaders who patrolled the frontier with the Ark of Pilgrimage knew about this truth, and the other truth was ......"

Frem paused slightly, then raised his head and looked Duncan in the eye.

"The Ark of Pilgrimage was born to delay the 'decay' of the gods—and today, this 'delay' has basically reached its limit.

"The 'filth' of the corruption of the gods...... It's about to be immersed in the world. ”

(End of chapter)