Chapter 823 The Last Cooling of the World

Death is dead - yes, Duncan certainly knew, not just Death, but also the Storm Goddess, the Everburning Fire, the God of Wisdom, and even every ancient god and evil god who had left their names or no names in history, every ancient king, they are all dead.

As early as the day of the Great Annihilation, when thousands of worlds suddenly turned into this burning and chaotic ashes, all the gods died, and what was left was only their rotting corpses, just the "inertia" of the old world.

But when the tall gatekeeper in front of him said the words "Death is dead", Duncan realized that the other party was referring to something else - not the "death of the gods" he knew, but to something that had just happened.

Not only Duncan, Agatha beside him also thought of this quickly. The expression on her face quickly changed from confusion to astonishment: "What happened?"

The tall gatekeeper turned around silently and took another step towards the distant wasteland. A few seconds later, his voice came slowly: "To buy time."

...

The world is cooling down, but it is not just the flames that are cooling down - something inherent and derived from the foundation of the world is dissipating, just like the last warm breath, which is irreversibly leaving the throat of the dying.

Now, the undead have begun to walk around the streets, the cold flames can no longer dispel the coldness in the world, the sea has long been stagnant, and the memory of the past time is dissipating from everyone's mind, or twisted into weird, broken but imperceptible fragments.

From the remote Phaeren to the prosperous Plander, from Frost to Light Wind Port, from Moko to the broken and continuous archipelagos in the eastern sea, in every known place, "cooling" and "weirdness" are spreading like an unstoppable frost, and gradually covering every civilized light.

Tirian came to the highest lighthouse in the southeast of Frost, and looked out at the dark sea outside the city-state from the observation tower. He saw the large fleet pulling the sun slowly approaching the shore. The cargo ships loaded with oil, cloth and grain were docked at the dock. Heavy loading machinery was running back and forth in the dark, unloading the materials from the cabin.

The dead were busy at the dock. The undead sailors of the Sea Fog Fleet now had many "kindred" around them. The dead corpses who died without knowing it operated the tireless machinery, and in accordance with the orders issued by the City Hall, they continued to maintain the function of the city as always.

On the other side of the city, you can see the towering chimneys and the brightest factory platform - the power plant is operating as usual, the steam hub emits a low roar, and the huge pipes extend from the factory, like blood vessels, constantly branching and spreading into the entire city, providing power and safety for the people living in this city.

In those factories, the huge steam core has actually cooled down. Even if more boiling gold catalysts are inserted, the flames in the container cannot be reheated - but the cold reactors are still hissing, the steam is constantly flowing, and the power in the pipelines is surging.

The "breathing" and "blood" needed for the operation of the city are still rushing in the pipeline network, without stopping for a moment.

In this way, the gas lamps in the city are still bright, the factories are still brightly lit, the machines are running non-stop, the guards are still patrolling every street and alley diligently, guarding against all extraordinary phenomena that do not conform to the "natural rules", and the sheriffs are maintaining the order of the city in the night, helping those citizens who are in trouble, and dealing with those public security cases that are gradually increasing due to pressure.

Yes, order is still in operation, and the lights of civilization have not been extinguished, but Tirian can still smell the smell that is constantly permeating the air... the cold, slightly rancid smell, as if it is coming from the depths of this city, from the bottom of the endless sea, from every breeze, every inch of the sky, and even every speck of dust.

Something is gradually collapsing, and the sinking of this world is crossing a "critical point". There are still many impressions of the past in his mind. He can sense that the whole world is now very wrong, and it is getting more and more wrong.

My father mentioned that this world will try to "correct" the mistakes that have already occurred during operation, but there is a limit to this correction. Now... it is probably approaching this limit rapidly.

A ripple suddenly appeared in his heart. Tirian felt the familiar breath approaching and immediately retracted his gaze from afar.

"Father," he turned around and looked at the burly figure wrapped in bandages and wearing a black coat, "Why are you here?"

"The cemetery no longer needs guards, and my incarnation now has a lot of free time," Duncan said, strolling to Tirian's side, his eyes looking across the night sky, looking at the direction Tirian had just looked at, "What do you think?"

"The time is approaching, isn't it?" Tirian looked at the night sky with a complicated look, "The 'time' you reminded me of... I originally thought that I would have to wait for at least a while."

The father was silent for a few seconds, and suddenly said: "...Death is dead."

Tirian was a little dazed for a moment, and seemed to have not yet reacted to the meaning of this sentence.

"The world is collapsing faster than we think, and its self-correction does not guarantee that all asylum residents will be 'alive,' or in other words, 'alive'... is a high-load unit because The conditions required to maintain 'life' are complex and sophisticated, and it is difficult for today's shelters to fully provide such survival conditions."

Duncan spoke in a low voice. He looked into the distance, but his eyes seemed to be focused on another, more distant place, looking at somewhere at the end of the world.

“This is the truth about the ‘resurrection of the dead’ and the no longer being born of newborns in various city-states not long ago - Bartok ended the death mechanism of this world in advance.

“His original decay process has not actually reached this stage.

“Now, the shelter doesn’t need the extra support of living people to operate.

"At the same time, the shutdown of the death mechanism also ensures that most people in this world can 'survive' as much as possible during the gradual collapse of shelters, even in twisted and grotesque postures, in the form of undead, even if It’s temporary—and it can survive.

"This is Bartók's time to buy the world."

Tirian listened dumbly. He seemed to want to say something, but couldn't think of how to say it in the confusion and shock.

Father's deep and hoarse voice came again——

"But this is probably the last time the Four Gods can buy this sanctuary."

Tirian finally spoke subconsciously: "Why?"

"Because the shutdown of the death mechanism itself is also a heavy blow to Sanctuary. After it, the countdown will officially come to an end, all order will enter the accelerated distortion stage, and the world's 'correction mechanism' will no longer function - and therefore , more and more people will begin to notice the distortions and distortions that were originally hidden from cognition.”

Duncan turned his head and stared deeply at Tirian.

Tirian stood there in a daze, the huge information washing over the mind of the "Iron Lieutenant General", a storm surged in his heart, and some "details" that had been forgotten or ignored by his subconscious suddenly appeared as if from a nightmare. surged up like a shadow!

He was thinking hard, understanding the astonishing information his father suddenly told him, and understanding the current situation of the world. After an unknown amount of time, he felt that the tearing dizziness in his head gradually faded away, and reason reappeared in him. From the bottom of my heart.

"So..." He opened his mouth and hesitated, "Ordinary people will soon..."

"You are influenced by me and can detect many things in advance. As time goes by, as the world's distortion and distortion increase and the shelter's correction mechanism completely fails, more and more people will notice it like you. The anomalies in this world - not all, it depends on the strength of the mind, the level of inspiration, and some...'luck'.

"For those who cannot be awakened, they will continue to maintain their daily lives in darkness and distortion. Even if that life gradually turns into a weird and terrifying state, they will not feel that anything has changed in the world.

“But for those who wake up... things are going to get ugly.

“Tirion, you must be prepared—and the other city-states must be prepared as well.

"The last and greatest chaos of the old world is coming."

…

Duncan and Agatha have been trekking on this "trail" for a long time, and they don't know when. The weird black and white grass around them gradually disappeared, replaced by endless white or dark gravel. and the occasional sparse and withered vegetation found in gravel beaches.

The dusk-like glow that permeated the entire wilderness gradually faded away, and the quiet night once again dominated the wilderness.

Agatha told Duncan in a low voice that this is the next stage of the "path of no return", a gesture deep in the wilderness of death - after passing the dusk that represents the "afterglow of life", the quiet night will welcome the arrival of the dead, everywhere The endless wasteland of gravel will erase the deceased's last trace of nostalgia for the world. As long as you successfully walk through this place, you will find the "door".

But now these symbols and procedures related to the "mechanism of death" have no meaning.

Duncan looked up into the distance. In the deepest part of the night, there seemed to be something vaguely large standing in the center of the wilderness.

And in the corner of his eye, he finally saw other figures.

They were the "gatekeepers" dressed in black robes, as if they were still shrouded in the dim light of dusk.

One after another, the gatekeepers walked silently on this boundless wasteland, heading in a common direction in silence, heading for the funeral.