There is a conjecture that the Nezumi Prophet was actually the "mad poet" Azifu, and Shuge did not arise from the beginning.

When Hug first heard the prophecies of "fire" and "firelight" from the old priest, he simply assumed that the so-called Nezumi prophet had most likely met Azif, or perhaps was a learner of Azif's magic.

This is a very reasonable conjecture, after all, Azifu once traveled in the abyss for a long, long time, and in the "Poem of the Night", he also recorded a lot of his encounters and contacts with the creatures and tribes in the abyss.

However, after a lot of conversation with the old priest, he became skeptical about the identity of the so-called Nezumi prophet.

Shuge remembers very well that at the time when the belief in Mother Earth and the nezumi civilization were at their most prosperous, the nezumi were fully capable of confronting the clans of Caljon, the lord of the sea, and at that time, they and some other clans belonged to the "superior inhabitants" of the Van Grace, while races like humans would be labeled inferior and useless.

On the basis of this cognition, the eyes of rats towards humans are destined to be contemptuous and even contemptuous, and this attitude and opinion has been deeply engraved into their blood, and has become an instinct that is difficult to change easily.

This is a very different attitude from the attitude of the members of the Nezumi Hunting Team when they encounter Xiuge.

Not only did they not show any emotions associated with contempt or hostility, but they even showed some affection for Shuge, which can only be described as abnormal.

Not only that, but Xiuge also found that these nezumi obviously knew some lingua franca, at least they knew a lot of lingua franca vocabulary and would use them frequently, which was a serious contradiction with what the old priest said about the time when the nezumi army strayed into the Abyss Wasteland.

"There are all kinds of indications that a certain 'person' has brought knowledge and vocabulary to these nezumi tribes trapped in the wasteland that did not belong to their original era, and changed their inherent concepts and habits......"

Shug slowly spoke his reasoning, and he looked at the nezumi prophet in front of him: "The only one who can bring about this level of change is the prophet in the nezumi's mouth...... Only an individual who truly conforms to their beliefs and can represent Mother Earth in the abyss can truly change their mindset. ”

The Nezumi Prophet nodded, and it looked at Shug, "Anything else?" ”

So Shuge pointed to the magic stone slabs piled up in the corner of the room, then to the other furnishings in the room, and finally to the nezumi prophet in front of him: "The magic and rituals you have studied, your habits, the lingua franca you use, and the questions you have asked in the first place...... These are all strong clues that support my inference. ”

Speaking of this, Xiuge laughed generously: "Of course, none of them are actually enough to be conclusive evidence...... I'm just asking, and even if I guess wrong, I don't have anything to lose, right? ”

Hearing this, the Nezumi Prophet grinned, and it laughed, and the laughter was not good, but it was full of joy and joy.

It took a long time for the old rat to finally stop laughing, it took off its glasses, and wiped the corners of its eyes with its fingers: "I thought that I would rot in this world like this...... I didn't expect that the two sentences that I said casually before really happened, this is really, this is really ......"

Shug noticed that the Nezumi Prophet's mouth twitched slightly, but he couldn't get the word out.

Shuge succeeded in recognizing the shape of the other's mouth.

What it wants to say is "Mel is on top".

However, within the Abyss, the name of the goddess Mel is absolutely taboo that cannot be easily spoken, so the soul hidden in the shell of the mouse man can only express his true beliefs in this way.

"Yes, young man, I'm Azif, the mad Azif."

The hoarse voice continued: "You really have brought me infinite surprises...... I knew that anyone who could watch "Poetry of the Night" would never be bored. ”

"It's an honor to meet you."

Seeing that the other party finally admitted his true identity in person, Xiuge also changed his attitude in a timely manner, he restrained his smile and asked seriously: "Before, I didn't expect to have the opportunity to meet you at all, let alone in this form. ”

"Didn't expect me to be like this, did you?"

Azifu laughed twice: "Not only did I return to this terrible world as a nezumi, but I have lived until now, to be honest, I don't believe it myself." ”

"So, what the hell is going on?"

Hugg spread his hands: "At the end of the manuscript of the Poem of the Night, you were cornered by the hounds of the Abyss, how did you escape in that situation?" ”

The question from Shuge made Azifu a little dazed, and he tried to think and remember, and after going through his own accumulated memories, he finally touched the turning point of his own destiny again.

"yes...... I should have been torn apart by then, I had used all my magic, but I couldn't get rid of the mad dogs. ”

Azifu said slowly: "At that time, I was terrified, and every breath exuded my fear and panic, which made them feel satisfied...... So they didn't rush to kill me, but continued to surround me and torture me so that they could continue to draw nourishment from me. ”

"In desperation, I had to use 'Discord Wandering' to escape again."

"As a joke, this magic sent me to a ruin where I had been...... It is a ruin belonging to the belief of Mother Earth Goddess, and in that ruin, there is a Chosen Priest who has received the blessings and blessings of Mother Earth Goddess......"

Shuge saw that tears were constantly flowing from Azifu's eyes, and it was obvious that the memory made him feel unusually painful.

However, he did not stop, and the speed of his speech became faster and faster.

"I was dazed, I could already hear the hounds, crawling out of the nooks and crannies of the ruins, and pressing me with their claws against the stone slab in the middle of the ruins, and they tore open my flesh and tore out my entrails and flesh...... Paint me all over the floor. ”

Azifu blinked: "I thought I was dead, but I woke up again, in this tattered, old body...... Then I saw my own body, which had been torn to pieces, and the thick fog left behind by the death of the hounds...... And those cracks they left behind. ”

He sighed, "There must be some kind of broken sacrificial ritual engraved in that ruin, and the process of my being killed by the hound may have met the conditions for the ritual to be activated...... That's it, anyway. ”

"So you, in the end, chose to go through those cracks? Why not choose to stay in Vann? ”

Azifu shook his head dryly: "The facts tell me that there is no way to escape the hunt of the hounds if I stay in the Vane, I have spied too many secrets of the abyss, and there are countless conspicuous traces left in my soul...... Instead, it was a chaotic and chaotic wasteland, and it was my best choice to hide myself. ”

After saying this, Azifu sighed heavily, it slowly wiped its reading glasses, and then put them back on: "That's it about my past, and you should have guessed about what happened later...... Anyway, with all that magic and this body, it wasn't hard to become the de facto ruler of a weak nezumi tribe, but it took me a lot of effort to change their thinking and habits. ”

"Okay, okay, I'm done talking, young man...... It's time to talk about you. ”

After the end of the tragic and painful memory, Azifu instantly became energetic, and he looked at Shug eagerly: "Come, tell me about yourself, and also, about the current Vann!" You've used my magic in the wasteland before, so many people in Van En are reading the Night Verse now? ”

"Although for a long time Van has called you a 'mad poet,' I am just one of the more people who are paying attention to the secrets you have hidden in the Poetry of the Night," he replied. ”

"That's not a good thing."

Azifu shook his head: "It is only when things get out of hand that people turn to the absurd knowledge that they have rejected in the past...... Come on, let's talk about it from the beginning, I'm very old now, as a young man, you have to help me organize my thoughts, anyway, after coming here, the last thing you lack should be time. ”

As he spoke, Azifu beckoned to the corner of the room, and a stone slab flew over, and he picked up a carving knife made of dark green crystals, as if he was about to start a long note.

Seeing this, Xiuge had no other way, he breathed a sigh of relief, adjusted his sitting posture, quickly sorted out his thoughts, and slowly began to narrate according to his understanding of Fan's current situation.

……

"Bang! Bang bang! ”

Sporadic gunfire rang out in the night sky.

In the past, this sound was enough to alarm and worry a small half of the city.

However, for the devastated City of Overwatch, this level of noise was no longer enough to attract too much attention.

A muffled rumble came from afar.

It was the sound of shelling, the clumsy dance of a blindfolded Grim Reaper across the vast north.

This "dance" has been going on for two weeks, and every moment, every minute, all the shells dragging strange trajectories are streaking across the sky and hitting at every possible location.

In such an environment, the occasional shooting is really a little insignificant.

In a normal house on the edge of Overwatch, Mayer glanced twice in the direction the sound was coming from, then left the window and returned to the somewhat shaky desk.

After nearly a month of fighting, the coalition forces finally succeeded in breaking through the two important lines of defense set up by the Kingdom of St. Steele at the front of Overwatch, and the Dawn Order finally seized the opportunity to achieve the primary goal of the operation with several successful large-scale assaults and advances.

Now, the border hub of the Kingdom of St. Steele's Empire is now under the control of the Dawn Society, and with the arrival of the Miner Legion and the Sword of Dawn, the search and cleansing of the remaining threats within the city has begun.

The gunfire just now was actually a signal of the beginning of a certain round of clean-up work.

"This letter is addressed to all those who are following the progress on the front lines."

"Thanks to the sacrifices of our great comrades-in-arms, in this large-scale offensive along the lines of Overwatch, we have succeeded in avoiding many of the terrible losses that would have occurred, and have succeeded in striking our enemies and achieving the desired goal."

"Here, I should have expressed my respect and gratitude to many specific people, but unfortunately, the war has only just begun, and our enemies are very active, so I cannot mention their names, and can only refer to them in general terms as heroes—the heroes of the Dawn Society, the heroes of the people of the North, and the heroes of Vann."

"Until the moment I write these words, the fighting is still going on, our heroic 'Creeper' fighters are doing everything they can to disrupt the enemy's logistical routes, the artillery bombardment led by the Wattel allies is non-stop, and the Black Sun Cancer hiding in the corners of the North is constantly trying to infiltrate and wreak havoc on us."

"However, I am not writing this to tell you how difficult it is on the front line, but to convey our determination to everyone......"

"Tuk! Tuk Tuk! ”

A quick, rhythmic knock at the door interrupted Meyer's train of thought, and he looked up and shouted, "Please come in!" ”

So the door opened, and Felix, accompanied by an elven mage of the Dawn Society, entered the study.

Felix looked noticeably different today than usual, he was not wearing an overcoat and was covered in some mud and blood.

"Felix, what are you...... You're not hurt, are you? ”

"Thank you for your concern, sir."

Felix thanked him as he leaned over to his desk, stretched out his hands and shook them twice in front of the glowing magic lamp, and said, "Just now, we caught a couple of members of the Black Sun Society in the city trying to escape. ”

"Oh? It's good, are our people hurt? ”

"There are two minor injuries, but both are okay and are already being dealt with."

Felix said as he roasted his hands: "These guys are not simple, the leader is a female mage of the river valley level, but well, our snipers are better......"

"What are these people going to do hiding in the city?"

"It's still under trial, but we found one from them...... Something important. ”

(End of chapter)