Chapter 1119 — Undercurrents of the Wasteland
Blade of Dawn · Page 1 of 5
Gao Yang was taken aback for a moment. Then, with a grave expression, he slowly seated himself behind the desk. He raised his eyes to Verodai's, and saw that this ancient Defier's face was more solemn than he had ever seen it... solemn to the point of something close to oppression.
That gentle smile, which had always resembled a "mask," had at some point faded from her face. In this place where no outsiders existed, the true Ophelia Norton stood before Gao Yang.
"There are things you would rather not speak of, so I have never asked," Gao Yang said slowly, watching Verodai. "As an ancient Gondorian soul who has survived to this day, you have never explained in any detail how you lived through that great explosion in the imperial capital, nor how you exist now. And as a Defier wandering the human world, you have never explained where your intelligence on the wasteland comes from either."
Verodai stood quietly on the other side of the desk. After several seconds of silence, she spoke softly: "If you truly must know, I can now..."
"No. If you are unwilling to speak of it, I still will not force you," Gao Yang shook his head. "I only mean to say that I have given you sufficient trust and... tolerance, and that calls for a measure of equal candor. You have every right to keep secrets that touch upon your privacy or your own bottom line, but when it comes to things that might pose a threat to the nations beyond the barrier, I hope you can tell me plainly."
Verodai closed her eyes briefly. Then she suddenly bent forward slightly at the waist and bowed to Gao Yang with the utmost solemnity. Her voice was as soft and pleasant as ever, yet seemed to carry a trace more warmth than before: "Please forgive my making unilateral decisions in this matter. I did not mean to conceal anything; I am simply too accustomed to reasoning on the level of logic and data, and neglected the variability of ordinary human society in the course of its development. Now I will tell you everything I know, and as for how to respond specifically... that will be for you to judge."
Here she paused, as though searching for a fitting way to open the subject, then continued: "The Deep Blue Well... is in fact still running."
Gao Song's pupils contracted instantly. The stunning news set his heart pounding, but in the very next moment he recalled the anomaly he had observed once while looking down upon the Gondorian wasteland—though the entire wasteland was shrouded in a powerful energy field and heavy cloud cover, so that satellite surveillance could see almost no detail of that land, on one occasion when conditions were right he had indeed seen a fierce flash of light appear at the center of the wasteland. And that was precisely where the Deep Blue Well had once stood!
Those surveillance records from long ago were suddenly confirmed, and the shock in his heart quickly subsided. After a slight change of expression, Gao Song's face returned to calm. He fixed his eyes on Verodai's: "How did it survive? The great explosion seven hundred years ago... the Deep Blue Well should have been at the very core of the blast."
"You are calmer than I expected—is it because you have also come to grasp part of the information through some means?" Verodai looked at Gao Yang with some surprise, but wisely did not press further, and instead followed the thread of his question. "The Deep Blue Well was indeed the core of that great explosion, but the details of that blast differ from what later generations believe—this has to do with the 'essence' of the Deep Blue Well itself.
"In your impression, what is the Deep Blue Well?"