Chapter 1118 Undercurrent of Wasteland

Gawain was startled for a moment, and then slowly sat down behind the desk with a serious expression. He raised his head and looked into Veronica's eyes, and saw that the expression of this ancient disobedient was more serious than ever... ...Even solemn to the point of depression.

The gentle smile that was similar to a "mask" had faded from her face at some point, and on this occasion where no outsiders existed, the real Ophelia Norton was standing in front of Gawain.

"There are some things that you don't want to talk about, so I haven't asked." Gawain stared at Veronica, and said slowly, "As an ancient Gondor soul who has survived to this day, you have never explained yourself in detail. How did you survive the big explosion in the imperial capital back then, nor did you explain how you exist now, and as a disobedient wandering in the human world, you also did not explain where your information about the wasteland came from."

Veronica stood quietly opposite the desk, and after a few seconds of silence, she spoke softly: "If you must know, now I can..."

"No, if you don't want to say it, I still won't force you to say it," Gao Wen shook his head, "I just want to say that I have given you enough trust and...tolerance, which requires some reciprocal honesty. You have You have the right to keep secrets that involve your own privacy or your own bottom line, but for those things that may pose a threat to countries outside the barrier, I hope you can tell them frankly."

Veronica closed her eyes slightly, then suddenly bent down slightly, and saluted Gao Wen very solemnly. Her voice was as soft and melodious as ever, but it seemed to be a little warmer than before: "Please forgive me before I did not intend to conceal the unauthorized decision in this regard, but I am too accustomed to logical and data-level deduction, but ignore the variability of ordinary human society in the development process. Now I will tell you everything I know, the specifics How to deal with it...is up to you to judge."

At this point, she paused, as if she was looking for a suitable topic to start, and then continued: "The deep blue well... is actually still in operation."

Gawain's pupils constricted for an instant. This shocking news made his heart pound, but then he remembered the vision he had observed when overlooking the wasteland of Gondor—even though the entire The wasteland was covered by a powerful energy field and thick clouds, and the monitoring angle of the satellite could hardly see any details on the land, but when the conditions were right, he did see a strong wave in the center of the wasteland. The flash of light appeared, that was the location of the former Deep Blue Well!

The surveillance record from a long time ago was suddenly confirmed, and the shock in his heart quickly calmed down. Gao Wen's expression changed slightly and he returned to calm? He stared into Veronica's eyes: "How did it survive? Seven hundred years The big bang before... The Deep Blue Well should be located at the core of the explosion."

"You are calmer than I imagined? Is it because you have obtained some information in some way?" Veronica looked at Gawain in surprise, but she wisely didn't ask further? Instead, she answered along the way The other party's question? "The Deep Blue Well was indeed the core of the big explosion,

But in fact, the details of the explosion are not the same as the cognition of later generations-this involves the "essence" of the Deep Blue Well itself.

"In your impression? What is the Deep Blue Well?"

Veronica suddenly asked a rhetorical question, which made Gawain think about it, and quickly gave the answer. It was also the answer that most people who knew the Gondor Empire could give: "That is the ancient Gondor Empire. The energy core, the largest magic power focus in history, consists of four reaction towers, four arcane return chambers, and a main magic power source spout..."

"This is indeed the public's perception, but in fact, these things including the reaction tower? Ancillary facilities' that's all," Veronica nodded, "Before the builders of the Gondor Empire built these things, the energy rift at the core of the Deep Blue Well had been gushing on this continent for many years—a history of more than Human civilization itself even exceeds the records of the silver elves. Is it a natural focus of magic power first? Then it is the extraction devices that people recognize, and the true scale of this focus of magic power...perhaps far exceeds that of everyone imagine.

"The 'Magic Fountain' that spewed out in the old capital of Gondor? In essence, it should be just a branch of the Deep Blue Well exposed to the material world. We don't know how far it extends in the depths of this world, but what is certain? It is part of the structure of our planet? And it is a large part? And for a As far as a planet is concerned, even if the kingdom on it is destroyed countless times, even if its ecological circle is reset countless times, the planet itself will not be damaged at all.

"So the big explosion of the Deep Blue Well destroyed only those man-made extraction devices. As the body of the 'well', the energy rift at its core can be said to be intact after completing an unprecedented release of magic energy—more than 700 years ago , I noticed the abnormality of the Deep Blue Well and its real structure at the last moment, and tried my best to use its own huge underlying structure to buffer and channel the magic energy that had nowhere to be released. On the whole, I failed, The chaotic mana spewing out of the well formed the fel tide shock, which in today's opinion formed the 'little fel tide' and destroyed the entire empire, but in fact I still succeeded in a small part..."

Gao Wen frowned slightly: "A small part?"

"I kept my research base and the main director of the Deep Blue Well," Veronica said, "it's right under the Deep Blue Well."

Gao Wen suddenly realized that the broad imagination accumulated in the previous life and the many experiences in this life allowed him to quickly deduce a lot of things. He stared at Veronica: "So, you are actually still in that research base now?!"

Veronica showed a somewhat surprised expression again, she looked at Gao Wen: "Actually, I...well, yes, I'm still in that research base."

As she spoke, she showed a slight smile: "I really didn't expect that you would immediately think of this level. This does not conform to my perception of you, nor does it conform to the way of thinking of ordinary people... Your keen insight is really just a little Is it from wisdom?"

"It's just a flash of light," Gao Wen said casually, and then asked, "Is that research base still operating? What else is there?"

Veronica nodded slightly and replied: "There is still an Iron Man Corps still in service—on this basis, I have spent several centuries repairing and rebuilding the production and maintenance facilities of the Iron Man Corps, and transforming the Deep Blue Well. The above-ground structure that dominates, from which the magic is drawn to keep all facilities running."

Gao Wen was dumbfounded: "You said there is an Iron Man Corps in operation deep in the wasteland?! And you have repaired the relevant production and maintenance facilities, and even partially restored the operation of the Deep Blue Well?!"

"Yes—but you don't have to be so excited, they're all small, smaller than you think."

"So all these years, while you've been doing these things in the depths of the wasteland, you've somehow projected your own spirit into the human world beyond the wasteland, looking out like 'Veronica' right now The world has changed," Gao Wen looked serious, but at the same time he couldn't help sighing, "A troop of iron men... To be honest, if I hadn't heard what you said, I couldn't believe it was true. How did they escape? Was it impacted by such a strong magic energy back then?"

"I created a large-scale anti-magic shield in the underground facility - supported by the main tube of the Deep Blue Well itself, which allowed it to resist the powerful impact of magic energy at that time," Veronica replied, " In fact, even so, only a small part of the iron men survived. At that time, there were a total of sixteen iron man regiments stationed near my research base as a garrison. I set up independent anti-magic shields for each place, and the result Fifteen of the garrison points failed to withstand the impact, and only one survived."

Gawain rubbed his brows, digesting the explosive information that suddenly came to him, and while his thoughts gradually straightened out, he looked up at Veronica: "So you are actually trapped in the deepest part of the wasteland now— —Although you have repaired a base as your refuge, and there is a running iron guard, these things are obviously not enough for you to retreat from the center of the wasteland to the outside of the magnificent wall..."

"I didn't think about evacuating there... Although in a sense, I was indeed trapped in the center of the wasteland," Veronica shook her head lightly, "I still have tasks to complete, including continuing to research The structure of the Deep Blue Well and the observation of the changes in the wasteland, and by devoting myself to the gods, I can also be active in the outside world like now, so it is not important for me to evacuate there."

"Well, this is your choice, and to be honest, I can't help you much now," Gawain nodded, and at the same time he did not forget what the topic was at the beginning, "Now I have a general understanding of your Circumstances and the truth about the Deep Blue Well—we can talk about the cultists lurking around in the wasteland. Do those cultists have anything to do with what we just talked about? Are they planning on the Deep Blue Well?"

"It's not just about to move, I suspect that they are already taking some kind of action," Veronica said with a serious expression, "Recently, there have been some abnormal signs in the core area of ​​the wasteland, and I have lost some iron soldiers. During the patrolling process, some soldiers found that the energy conduits near the base border had been damaged or remodeled—the technique was very superb, and it could not be the work of those wandering deformed bodies or mindless mana spirits .”

Gawain frowned slightly, he tapped his fingers on the table unconsciously, and asked casually, "Didn't you see something directly?"

"...for some reason, I can only stay in the core of the base deep underground," Veronica replied, "I understand the iron soldiers patrolling the surface and the few sensing and monitoring devices near the energy conduits. The only channel to the external environment. It may be a bit ironic to say... In that harsh environment, my understanding of the things around me was no better than my understanding of the city of Cecil, which was thousands of miles away. Because compared to the restricted body, this interactive medium named 'Veronica' at least has complete freedom of action and can touch the real world."

Gao Wen couldn't help being very curious about the current real state of Veronica/Ophelia's "main body", but he knew that this matter had already involved privacy, and it seemed that the other party probably didn't want to talk about it. He didn't take the initiative to ask further questions. He quickly turned his attention back to those cultists: "According to the information we got from Belterra, the branch of the End of All Things Society inside the magnificent wall should have been active in the wasteland of Gondor for a long time... ...For so many years, have you never caught them? Haven't you dealt with them head-on?"

"As I said, my...'territory' in the wasteland is actually very limited. The Iron Man Corps can only operate in the ruins of the old imperial capital and the narrow areas on the edge of the ruins. Operate within this range," Veronica said with some regret, "Compared with the entire wasteland, my perception range is extremely small, and those cultists should have been operating near the magnificent wall before, where my Blind area of ​​vision. In fact, if you didn’t uproot everything, I wouldn’t even know that there is another force hiding outside my shelter.”

"This sounds really scary," Gawain stopped tapping on the table, and he pinched his chin thoughtfully, "You don't know them, but those cultists obviously know you, at least They know that the Deep Blue Well is still in operation - they have been peaceful with the Deep Blue Well for the past few centuries, as if they are deliberately moving around you, but recently they have suddenly become emboldened and even steal your Soldier, stealing your energy... there must be a reason for it."

"Steal... yes, they are indeed thieves," Veronica said in a deep voice, but there was no anger in her tone. In fact, most of the time her mood swings were extremely indifferent, just like her human body. Emotions have been wiped away by hundreds of years of work, and the gentle and friendly appearance on weekdays is just a mask simulated by experience, "I can't think of why they suddenly took action recently, but maybe this is different from the grand Everything outside the wall will eventually die and be wiped out."

"Half of them have been wiped out, and the other half have started to adopt a backup plan," Gawain thought, and the wind of unrest in late spring came from the open window, "It seems that this matter needs to be discussed with Bertila. Just to make sure... But I don't think she can be of much help. The Doomsday Cultists operating in the wasteland are too secretive, and there are many secrets that are even hidden from the sight of the original Grand Priest Franken. Besides... if there is any 'backup plan', Beltira should have reported it long ago."

He shook his head, put this matter down for the time being, and then asked: "Do you have any ideas about the purpose of those cultists? They are clearly planning the Deep Blue Well... Do you think they need such a huge amount of energy?" What are you going to do?"

"There are too many directions to guess, and too little exact information, so it is impossible to draw conclusions with reference value," Veronica said, "The energy of the Deep Blue Well can really do too many things. Those who can control it gain power second only to gods, and can also use it to reshape the environment or destroy specific things. For those cultists entrenched in the wasteland, each of these things is worth their risk reason."