Chapter 257 Blue Bird Pendant, the Goddess of Wind Appears

"you are……?"

The haze in the breathing station had not completely dissipated. The old woman could not open her eyes and did not recognize Li Lin's voice.

"I am Li Lin, a craftsman from the Gila Mann family." Li Lin quickly introduced himself.

"Ahem...it turns out you are my child." The old woman took a breath of haze and couldn't help coughing twice.

This was the name that was shouted in the lobby of the respiratory station just now.

Even though she had never heard of Li Lin, she still had a rough idea of ​​what kind of person he was.

However, the old woman's face showed a little loneliness, "I am a follower of Janna."

She showed Li Lin a wooden pendant she wore inside her worn coat.

It was a handmade bluebird pendant with a lifelike appearance.

The quality of the wood used for carving is not good, there are many mottled impurities on the pendant, and the color is relatively dull.

But Li Lin could tell that the old woman loved the blue bird pendant very much.

Even if her living conditions and environment were not good, she never let it get stained by the slightest dirt.

Li Lin stared at the pendant for a moment, "You should always pray to Janna, right?"

Talking about the issue of faith, the old woman suddenly became energetic, "Yes, child, since the beginning of this disaster, I have been praying like the goddess of wind..."

She paused for two seconds and sighed heavily, "Unfortunately, the goddess did not respond to me."

"Have you ever met Janna?" Li Lin was afraid that the old woman would misunderstand something, so he quickly explained: "Don't get me wrong, I didn't mean to offend your faith, I just wanted to know about the goddess of wind."

"Of course it's no problem!" Upon hearing this, the old woman immediately beamed with joy, "These days, there are not many young people who are willing to understand the Goddess of Wind..."

Li Lin nodded, what the old woman said was right.

When the Shurima Empire still existed, it was ordered to prohibit belief in "false gods", and all the statues of Janna were torn down.

But the warrior gods cannot protect the sailors from the storm.

There are policies and measures to counter.

Janna's believers did not change their faith, but began to wear blue bird amulets and continued to pray to her for protection.

The crisis of faith in Janna really began around the time when the Zaun people dug the Isthmus of Zaun into a canal.

People began to gradually reduce their dependence on the Storm Goddess and focus on their dreams in the design of their own mechanisms.

In addition to the "Great Collapse" incident when the canal was failed to be built, Janna, who saved thousands of people, seemed to have "reflected on the light" and gained a new faith.

But that incident also consumed most of her strength.

As time passed and the Hinanomon Sea Lock was successfully built, people began to pay attention to technology again.

Instead of recovering, Janna's power became increasingly weak, to the point where she was unable to even perform basic manifestations, almost to the point of dissipating.

This is what Li Lin learned about the Goddess of Wind based on his own and the legendary records in some previous books.

However, her devout followers may also know some unrecorded folk tales about this kind of thing.

Li Lin thought about it for a while.

Now that the source of the disaster has been controlled by mechanical engineers, engineer support from the college carrying rescue supplies will arrive soon.

Not to mention the assistance from Hilko and Fandel. After receiving the news, Heimerdinger and Karina will also mobilize the academy and other families to come to the rescue.

In other words, he doesn't need to be busy with other things now.

Of course, Li Lin had no hope for the group of people other than the Gila Mann, Myrdalda, and Philos families.

Gila Mann has always supported the construction of Zaun because of his promotion.

Myrdalda and Ferroth maintain a charitable fund to aid the poor of Zaun.

Although the relief funds invested each year are only a drop in the bucket compared to the profits they earn, at least they have done this.

As for other families, apart from building some relatively polluting factories in Zaun and hiring Zaun workers at very low prices, they have made almost no one or contribution to Zaun.

"You can tell it from the beginning. I have time now." Li Lin said in a pleading tone.

Then, the old woman began to tell the legend about Janna, the goddess of wind.

In very ancient times, people began to attempt to conquer the ocean.

It can be said that with the shipbuilding and navigation technology at that time, there were almost no ships, and no one could survive the ocean storm.

Gradually, people began to pray to the wind.

Not only the sailors who need to go to sea, but also the oppressed people who are oppressed by the powerful and long for change.

Therefore, the meaning of Janna's name as "Stormfury" is also to carry away the cruel rule of the tyrant with the winds of change.

This meaning was often used in the future to ridicule the Shurima Empire's ban on belief in Janna.

As people prayed, they were surprised to find that the wind occasionally answered them.

Sometimes it may be a sky-blue bluebird standing on the bow of the ship, followed by strong winds filling the sails.

Sometimes before a storm approaches, sailors preparing to go out to sea will hear a clear and sweet whistle warning.

In that era when people and gods coexisted, these strange events were spread by word of mouth, and the blue bird appeared more and more frequently.

Later, some people even saw it transform into a young and beautiful girl with long pointed ears and long silver hair flowing like the breeze, standing on the bow of the ship moving downwind, and then disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Gradually, people called her Jahn Alem, which was the original name of Janna, the goddess of wind.

In ancient Shurima, it means "guardian".

The old woman had a pious smile on her face and clutched the bluebird pendant tightly in her hand. She seemed to be praying while finishing the story about the birth of Naga.

Her story is not much different from Li Lin's impression.

But the old woman's next words surprised him: "I met Janna, but that was when I was 17 years old, forty or fifty years ago."

"Can you tell me in detail?!" Li Lin asked nervously.

As long as he can see Janna, according to his original vision, combined with today's events, a win-win situation can be achieved in advance.

The old woman sighed, "Rather than seeing her face with my own eyes, it's better to say that she appeared intentionally to encourage me..."

She paused for a few seconds, as if she was preparing words: "My life was not satisfactory at that time. My father, who raised me up, died in a mining accident. The leader of the mine bullied me because I was young, and even refused to give me the last pension left by my father. .

"Later, because I had no money to renew the lease, my landlord kicked me out and didn't even let me clean up... even though I only had some shabby clothes.

“I wandered in the lower city of the mid-rise square, fighting for moldy sandwiches in garbage dumps with ferocious plague rats. I only had a few damp cardboards to protect me from the cold when I slept at night. I even ended up on the street in a ditch.

"Just when I lost hope of living and was about to fall into the arms of the sheep spirit, the only relic my father left for me, which was the blue bird pendant he carved in his spare time, made me give up this idea."

"I started praying to Janna like my father did, every day, and this became the motivation to keep me alive."

As she spoke, the old woman showed a nostalgic expression on her face, "Later, I encountered a group of gangsters. They forbade me from picking up trash in the neighborhood where I had been wandering for several months, saying that it was their territory and that this was a homeless person. and the daily life of orphans.

"I didn't listen to them, and when I was caught by them for the second time, the leader of the gang wanted to teach me a lesson.

"I prayed to the wind again, and luckily, the wind answered me this time... She is a beautiful goddess like the legend, but only I can see her!

"She waved her hand casually, and a fierce gust of wind blew away the stunned gangsters and threw them heavily into the stinking ditch, scaring them so much that they fled.

"She kissed me on the cheek, 'Everything will be fine', 'I will always be by your side', these are the words she said to me, and I still remember them freshly today."

When she said the last two sentences, the old woman's voice was choked with sobs, and tears fell down her cheeks that were ravaged by time.

Her story not only attracted Li Lin, but even the refugees who crowded around and could hear her experience fell silent. Many people shed tears along with her.

Li Lin took a deep breath, feeling very uncomfortable.

"Sorry kid, I'm a little emotional."

The old woman wiped her face with her dirty sleeve.

"I believe that what happened today is not that Janna is unwilling to appear, but that she is really powerless... Now, not to mention those who believe in Janna, there are fewer and fewer people who even know about her.

"If she still has supernatural powers, such haze will not be a problem for her at all.

"Perhaps the reason why she didn't respond to my request was because she wasted her energy on helping those who need help more than me."

Li Lin nodded, "You are right."

The old woman seemed surprised by his reaction, "You actually..."

"I actually think what you said is true?" Li Lin smiled and said what she wanted to express next.

The old woman was silent for a moment, "Forgive me for being rude, I thought that no one among young people these days believes in gods anymore."

"The gods... I have also seen that in Shurima, they call themselves the warriors of the gods."

Li Lin stared at the old woman and said seriously, "I witnessed with my own eyes the resurrection and rise of the Desert Emperor. The desert city rose from under the 'golden ocean'."

Not only the old woman, but also everyone around them had shocked expressions when they heard Li Lin's words.

The rumors of God-Emperor Azir and the City of the Sun have not spread even to the continent of Shurima.

Not to mention the poor people in Zu'an who have no money to buy newspapers and are struggling to make a living. They have no sources of information and will not pay attention to these mythical legends.

"Can I see your blue bird pendant?" Li Lin noticed the slight hesitation on the old woman's face, "Don't worry, I promise I won't break it... Of course, it doesn't matter if you don't want to."

Most of the haze in the breathing station has been filtered out, and it has reached a level that they can accept.

The old woman opened her eyes and saw Li Lin clearly in front of her in battle armor, with a hint of surprise on her face again.

The demigods who can see Shurima must also be favored by the gods...

She thought for a moment, then stretched out her thin and calloused hand and handed the pendant to Li Lin.

"Thanks."

Li Lin thanked him and immediately started "digital thinking" and took a look at the properties of the pendant.

An ordinary pendant, but it has the property of "the favor of the Goddess of Wind".

It seems that this devout believer in the goddess of wind has been blessed by Janna.

Li Lin took a deep breath, imitating the way he looked when he first saw the old woman, holding the blue bird pendant in both hands, and silently recited in his heart:

Janna, if you can hear my voice and respond to me, I can help you regain your faith.

Facing the mixed emotions in the eyes of the old woman and the people around him, he repeated this sentence many times.

Unfortunately, the miracle didn't happen.

Even devout believers cannot win Janna's mercy again, and Li Lin, a person with no faith at all, is even less likely to call her.

What the hell am I doing...

He laughed helplessly to himself and handed the blue bird pendant back to the old woman.

"It's always good to have faith, Lord Li Lin." A middle-aged man next to him who seemed to be a Janna believer comforted him.

The man was also protecting a little girl about seven or eight years old who looked very thin and somewhat malnourished. She must be his daughter.

"After all, with spiritual sustenance, we have the motivation to live."

"Thanks."

Li Lin nodded to him and was about to consider making a large air filter to purify Zaun's toxic air.

But before he could start the plasma thruster and take off, the old woman suddenly stopped him: "My child, the goddess of wind... I feel her!"

At the same time, even though he was wearing battle armor, Li Lin still felt a gentle cool breeze.

Immediately afterwards, a faint, ethereal and weak voice shouted in the depths of his mind: "What are your conditions?"