Chapter 859 — The Narrator Project

Of course, "devouring a god" sounded wonderful, but Gaoyang estimated he could pull off such an operation only once—if he had not happened to be within the world of consciousness formed by the mental network, if he had not happened to encounter an "Upper Narrator," a mind-body god whom he countered so thoroughly, and if the devoured party had not been inexperienced and relatively weak, he could never have succeeded.

The perfect conditions required for this process were so stringent that it was not reproducible—in the end, those sea demons were still somewhat more impressive when it came to "devouring gods" on the physical plane.

A flurry of thoughts flashed past in an instant. Gaoyun cleared his throat twice, then looked at Naretiel and broke the silence once more. "So what I wanted to tell you then was that I had a better way—but you didn't listen and just ran off. I nearly didn't have time to 'drag' you back."

The giant spider's long limbs scraped unconsciously at the ground twice, and Naretiel's gentle voice passed directly into everyone's minds: "At the time... I was very anxious."

"I know," Gaorong said with a smile. "Understandable."

"Your Majesty," Semle finally found his chance to speak. The stern middle-aged man could not help stepping forward two paces, glancing nervously at the giant white spider as he spoke. "You 'preserved' the Upper Narrator... surely you don't intend to...?"

As Semle spoke, the attention of both Naretiel and Duvalt fell upon Gaoyang as well, and Duvalt voiced the same confusion directly: "You kept us. What do you want to do?"

"I want to conduct some follow-up research," Gaoyang said frankly. "We here have a delicate relationship with the gods. We are deeply curious about their power and their weaknesses, so we need the 'Upper Narrator.' And I also want to verify some personal conjectures—a 'god' stripped of most divine traits; your very form of existence fascinates me."

He spoke of his thoughts with a calm, candid demeanor, gazing steadily at Naretiel and Duvalt, not in the least concealing the curiosity and inquiry in his eyes.

The "Upper Narrator" was the most precious treasure he had rescued from the mental network—a unique divine specimen, containing the entire cycle of a god's birth, demise, and rebirth, and possessing irreproducible traits: divinity and humanity stripped away, spiritual contamination eliminated, safe and controllable. That was why Gaoyang had gone to such lengths to keep "Him"—and had even named the nascent Empire's computational network the "Narrator Neural Network."

Faced with Gaosong's answer, Naretiel drew in some of her limbs with a touch of unease, her colossal body swaying gently, and said with a sigh, "So this is yet another new 'experimental project'?"

"It is indeed an experimental project," Gaoyan nodded, "but not all 'experimental projects' are bad. There are experiments both parties approve and volunteer for, harmless experiments, mutually beneficial experiments..."

"I know," Naretiel interrupted Gaosong. "This knowledge... I still understand it."

Gaoyang raised an eyebrow. "Then what is your opinion?"

Duvalt closed his eyes slightly, and after several seconds of silence Naretiel said softly, "What meaning does this have for us? We are individuals who should have perished—as you once said, there is no place for us in the real world. Of course, if you insist on doing this, then do it..."

"But I would rather see all of this built on fair cooperation than on coercion," Gao Yang said with a shake of his head. "The Church of the Long Night that once was no longer exists. This is Cecil, and Cecil's order prevails here—I have no wish to force your hand."

Duvalt opened his eyes. "We need a reason."

Gao Yang regarded him in silence, and only after several seconds did he speak slowly. "Call it a way to remember the people who once lived in Sandbox One."

Narratil shifted her long, segmented limbs.

"The history of Sandbox One is over, and the residents who once dwelt within it exist no more. When a person in the real world dies, there are family and friends to remember him, neighbors to remember him; and even if no one remembers him, his bones at least remain in the world. But the personalities simulated in those sandboxes—no one in the real world remembers them, and the network holds no remains of theirs," Gao Yang said evenly. "Narratil, Duvalt, you—you are the last things they left behind.

"I have no intention of holding your thoughts hostage with such words, but I hope you will consider this: the 'Upper Narrator' is already the last memory of the entire sandbox world. If you are willing to stay here as citizens of Cecil, then for the people who once lived in Sandbox One, this too might count as a kind of continuation."

Narratil and Duvalt fell silent as if by common accord. Seeing this, Gao Yang gave them no pause to dwell on it and pressed on. "Beyond that, if you are willing to stay, I promise you a way to make contact with the 'real world.'

"You are now situated in a new kind of network, one distinct from the Mind Network. There is no sandbox system here, and new terminal technology can let you interact with the true reality to a certain degree—I can give you the relevant materials, so that you may know I am not making empty claims.

"In exchange, I hope you will become part of this new network. Naturally, you will be subject to the rules of the network—rules meant chiefly to protect the network's nodes. I can promise you that they are harmless to you.

"As for how to weigh the matter, judge for yourselves."