The frost moon is at the end, and the cold winter has arrived in the northern continents.

The cold north wind whistled across the city streets, and sharp whistle sounded between the gaps in the buildings. The snow on the roof was blown off by the wind and flew into a hazy curtain in the air, as if it were a new one. Snowfall is coming.

And all this is blocked by thick walls, laminated crystal glass and heating system.

Gao Wen sat in the study, looking through a pastime reading about the northern continent's ghosts, while holding the dip pen in his other hand, he randomly sketched some pictures and inspirations emerging from his mind on the draft paper. The wind sound was filtered by the glass, and there were only a few weak reverberations when it was transmitted into the room. This reverberation was combined with the low and gentle music sounds from the magic device in the corner of the room, but it became more calm.

Betty stood quietly at the desk, folded her hands on the apron of the maid's suit, lowered her head and nodded her head, making a slight snoring noise.

Gao Wen glanced at the dozing Betty, could not help but shook his head with a smile, and refocused on the freehand outline, but his hand holding the dip pen suddenly felt a strange touch, accompanied by " There was a squeak, and when he looked down, he saw that the tip of the dip pen that had been used for a long time was cracking, and the leaked ink was falling down the paper along the crack, spreading a stain.

Gao Wen frowned, and put the broken dipping pen aside, watching the lines drawn on the paper—the winding river flows quietly, there are antique brick houses on the river bank, and the small stone bridge spans On the river, the setting sun sets, and the rays of light fall along the eaves of the people on the water.

The scattered ink spread on the small stone bridge, as if gradually consuming this picture.

Gao Wen rubbed the draft paper into a ball and tossed it aside, the study door opened almost at the same time, and Amber pushed in the door and walked in.

The snoring Betty suddenly woke up and stood upright, but after seeing who the caller was, she yawned and relaxed.

Gao Wen looked up at the half-elf lady who came in, and couldn't help turning her lips up: "... it's really cold."

"... Ah?" He heard such a sentence before he even spoke, and suddenly couldn't react, "Why suddenly say this?"

Gao Wen pointed to the window: "This season, you won't even go through the window."

When Amber heard this, she suddenly folded her arms and stared: "Nonsense! This cold day is still blowing the wind. I climb the windows on the second floor against the wind and snow, and I risk being locked out by you. I'm not neurotic! "

Speaking of it, she saw a paper ball on Gao Wen's desk-as we all know, amber is a very curious species-so she couldn't help but curiously gathered up, judging from Gao Wen's eyes that this was not After the secret, she opened the paper ball at will, but saw that it was just a weird picture.

"What is this place ... Is the Gondor Empire? Is the sun smaller?" Amber blinked. "It's a strange architectural style that looks weird ... but judging by the shape of the building, it should not be possible Is it the northern region? Where do you plan to promote? "

"It just drew it by hand, it's my imagination," Gao Wen flicked the paper in Amber's hand with his fingers, and the painting depicting the landscape of the outside world was silently turned into dust, "First not Having said that, is there anything wrong? "

"Hey, don't ruin it. It's a shame ..." Amber called out subconsciously before he squirked his lips. "It's not a big deal, but recently news has come that Tifeng's border troops have begun to equip magic guided vehicles. ... faster than we expected. "

After hearing Amber's words, Gao Wen squeezed his chin gently, and after a moment of groan, he just smiled slightly: "Sooner or later, this is the general trend. It is better to inform the Changfeng Fortress and stay alert."

"Understood. Also, when he came here, Hetty asked me to remind you," Amber continued. "Imperial College will be put into use next month. Scholars from all over the country will also arrive at the end of this month. Have you set a specific opening time? "

"Imperial College ... is finally ready," Gao Wen said, and nodded. "The open day is set for the first rest day of the next month, and the rest of the schedule will not be changed."

"Okay, I wrote it down."

Gao Wen gave a whistle, and after a pause he asked casually, "Yes, what is that Bud doing now?"

"At the Druid Institute at Solin Giant Tree, he was a researcher and special adviser there. Reports from monitors said he was doing well and actively cooperated with various operations to assist staff there to move outward from the palace "A large number of dangerous samples," Amber reported, "Now that the transfer of those dangerous samples is basically over, Bard's next work is to cooperate with druids and scholars to study the photosynthesis of the giant tree Sorin in winter-they hope this part of the study Can help improve crops. "

"Well, good," Gao Wen nodded, and asked, "What is Bertila doing?"

"In photosynthesis."

Gao Wen: "... Ah?"

Amber could not help rolling his eyes. "Otherwise, what else can you expect her to do?"

Gao Wen froze for a second, covering his head with his hand: "... It's true, she is a plant after all, and usually ..."

In a sigh, a special wave suddenly emerged from the depths of the mind, causing Gao Wen to stop the second half of his sentence.

Across the table, Amber cast a curious look: "What's wrong?"

"Wait a minute, Daniel seems to be looking for me," Gawain waved his hand. "You are watching, I need to meditate. Betty, go to the door and don't let people in."

The amber lightly agreed, and the little maid darted out of the door. Gao Wen no longer delays time, quickly concentrated his mind, and submerged his consciousness into the level of the spiritual network.

After a brief dizziness and the illusion of space replacement, the sight in front of him has become the endless and calm blue water and blue sky of the origin space. The huge geometric patterns and gear-like structures run quietly in the sky, and there is no wind or waves on the vast water surface There are metal platforms erected-just different from when this space was first born, those metal platforms are no longer empty at this moment, but are equipped with a variety of experimental devices, forming one by one without interference. lab environment.

There was a flicker of light on the distant metal platform. Apparently at this moment, a group is connected to this cyberspace through the immersion cabin and is conducting some experiments.

The open area in the center of the origin space is never disturbed by those experimental environments. Here is still a white round table. There is a circle of empty chairs next to the round table. Daniel is standing in front of one of the seats and sees the high When the text appeared, the old mage immediately bowed down respectfully: "My lord, I'm sorry to interrupt you suddenly."

"No need to be polite," Gao Wen waved his hand and sat down on his own high-backed chair. "What happened?"

Daniel replied immediately: "My lord, the mind network has been a bit strange recently, and I think it is necessary to report to you."

"Oh?" Gao Wen raised his eyelids. "Details."

"That's the case ..."

Daniel spoke fiercely about the rumors that had appeared in the mind network of the Everlasting Man in recent days, and said that he had no clues about the clues that he had investigated through his contacts and forces, and did not dare to report them in the least.

"... Basically, these are the anomalies that have appeared in the psychic network in the recent past. Although the Supreme Bishops’ Council has stated that these are rumors, and my investigation has temporarily found no evidence of the above anomalies, but from the "witnesses" The frequency and scope of the report's judgement, coupled with the information I heard from the bishop community, is probably not that simple.

"I'm afraid that there are some problems with the operation of the spiritual network. The stability of some virtual spaces is declining. Some of the long-term sleepers who have been connected to the network should indeed be in trouble-I found some in the deep database. Hidden messages of help, but somehow, when I found the believers who had sent letters for help, they knew nothing about these things.

"Three areas of the fringe of the city of dreams have recently been blocked. The Supreme Bishop's statement is that data reconstruction and necessary repairs ... are normal operations in their own right, and temporary blockades in peripheral areas are not the first time. But this kind of thing happens during this time, it is inevitable that people will doubt it. "

Daniel talked about the information he had collected, and Gao Wen frowned as he listened.

The anomaly is already very obvious. Ordinary Christians may be blinded by the words of the Supreme Bishops and the Pope of the Sleeper, but as a bishop, the information he has collected is enough to prove that the mental network is indeed out of order.

It worked flawlessly, but ... what's the reason?

Gao Wen subconsciously glanced at the surrounding space of origin. Unreasonable associations sprang up spontaneously, making the expression on his face unbearable and weird.

This origin space was developed by him from the bottom secret of the spiritual network, which stunned the computing power of the eternal dormant and borrowed the traffic of the spiritual network. Recently, due to the magic technology research institute, several new project groups have been established. The frequency of origin space seems to be getting higher and higher ...

Mom, I ’m afraid it ’s not too bad for you to slap the wool, so slap this sheep ...

Daniel could not guess what type of train was running in his mind at this time. He was only a little nervous because of Gao Wen's sudden silence: "My lord?"

Gao Wen awoke from meditation and looked at Daniel: "You said ... Could the abnormal situation of the spiritual network be related to the space of origin?"

"... My lord, to be honest, I have doubted this direction," Daniel pondered for a moment, and bowed his head and replied, "After all, Origin Space is closely related to the operation of the Mind Network, and it has recently executed several large-scale projects. A huge amount of computing power is drawn from the network, but after careful inspection, I think the probability of the origin space causing a malfunction of the mind network is very low. "

"Oh?"

"The computing power that Origin Space draws from the mental network are all" redundant ". In other words, it is the part of the computing power that is outside the backbone of the mental network and does not affect the overall operation of the network," explained Daniel. The network resource management method originally designed by the Ever Sleepers is very simple and rude, and there is a lot of wasted computing power. After I restructured their management mechanism, this part of the wasted computing power was hidden by me, and it was specifically used to maintain Origin space, so no matter how the origin space expands in theory, it will not affect the backbone network ... "

"Hmm ..." Gao Wen groaned and said, groaning. "So, will the abnormal fluctuations of the mind network not affect the space of origin?"

"Theoretically this is the case, but we'd better strengthen the monitoring of the origin space in the near future," Daniel nodded. "After all, it's not yet clear why the visions of the backbone network originated, in case it's the" psychic network 'There is a hidden danger in the infrastructure of this thing, so even if the origin space and the backbone network are isolated, there is no guarantee that there will be no problems.'

"Is there any danger for researchers working in Origin Labs?" Gao Wen said what he was most worried about at the moment.

"It doesn't seem to be right now," Daniel apparently has already thought about this question, and he answered quickly, "The abnormal state of the mind network has a common point: they maintain a long-term network state, accept Overly deep-level brain and nerve reconstruction can hardly completely disconnect the network, and they often perform deep immersion, and the connection between the spirit and the network is too close-and the researchers in our origin laboratory are immersed in the cabin network, and there is a layer of reality The protection of the world, there is no deep immersion, and they also strictly enforce the working time system you have specified, will not maintain long-term connections, and security can be guaranteed. "

Gao Wenwen said a little sigh of relief: "That's okay ... but you should still be vigilant. I will remind researchers here to pay special attention to your own mental state when you are connected to the Internet recently, and you will continue to pay attention to all abnormalities of the mental network."

Daniel immediately bowed his head deeply, "Yes, my lord."

Gao Wen exhaled, looking up at the vast sky above his head.

The huge geometric structure and symbolic numbers are still moving in the clear sky. The invisible wall of data blocks the connection between this secret space and the backbone network. Standing between the water and sky with a vast space of origin, the people who visit here are basically You will not feel that there is another larger network running in synchronization with this space.

But after Gao Wen turned on more advanced permissions, he could see more--

He can see that a larger network world exists in parallel with the space of origin. A magnificent city of dreams covers this space, and countless light spots are dancing and drifting in the void, which are used as computing power nodes. Eternal sleepers, they are the inhabitants of this online world.

Under his feet, under the vast "water surface", there is a more chaotic and more complex light flow, which is the deeper foundation of the spiritual network, the darkest and deepest of this virtual world that has been established for hundreds of years. Network "Abyss".

He frowned.

This sheep doesn't seem to be strangled by himself ...

So why did it suddenly happen?