After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 3

Xiu Si spent the entire night, finally finishing the history book, and then the next day, he went to the “Hero Memorial Hall”.

On non-working days, he didn’t need to mind the shop, and he was very grateful for the care of Priest Xilin.

****

In the morning, heavy snow was falling, and everything was blanketed in white. Compared to yesterday, the temperature had noticeably risen, so there were more pedestrians on the road.

Some people were travel-worn, with sharp eyes and faces full of hardship. Just by their footsteps, one could tell their levels were not low.

“The Third Legion has returned to the city, shall we go and see?”

“The Third Legion that has ventured into the subspace for exploration seven times? The light of humanity! Of course, we should go!”

Upon hearing about the Third Legion, some young people’s eyes were full of longing, and in the blink of an eye, they ran off.

Xiu Si passed them by, blinked, and also looked towards the west.

A huge airship was parked in the dark sky, it was too conspicuous, and anyone in the Imperial City could see it.

The western part of the Imperial City was all military area, with frequent movements of military weapons and equipment, which was not strange to the people. What people were interested in was the “Third Legion”, a large legion that had a very close relationship with the abyss demons.

Xiu Si stopped by the roadside, looked far away, fell into thought, and muttered to himself.

“Abyss demons, huh? In my memory, the monsters of the abyss are all twisted and crazy, with no rationality to speak of, how could they make a pact with humans?”

Could it be that after his death, the monsters of the abyss had finally evolved rationality over a long period of time?

Regarding this, the history book he read did not have a detailed explanation. Humans’ understanding of the abyss was extremely limited. The abyss demons made a pact with humans, lending their power to humans for so many years, but humans still didn’t quite understand their motives.

And today, it seemed that the honeymoon period between humans and the abyss was about to come to an end.

Without listening carefully, Xiu Si could hear some street discussions.

“It seems that the Abyss Lord is reluctant to lend power to humans.”

“Really? But doesn’t half of the Empire’s armaments rely on the abyss demons?”

“I heard that they are going to the subspace collectively.”

The discussants showed worry on their faces.

Over the years, humans had undoubtedly made progress, but compared to the vastness of the universe and those more brilliant divine civilizations, they still seemed like toddlers learning to walk. If the Abyss Lord were to leave, humans would inevitably lose a major protective force.

Someone asked, “Is there no way?”

“For thousands of years, even the wise ones don’t know what They are thinking.”

“Perhaps, only the rumored Lord of the Abyss can control Them.”

Xiu Si was thoughtful, wondering in his mind, “What is the ‘Lord of the Abyss’? Back in the day, I didn’t see any Lord of the Abyss in the abyss.”

He just thought for a moment, he had important things to do, how could he waste time. Xiu Si turned his head and looked at the Hero Memorial Hall.

****

The snow had stopped.

On the Hero Memorial Square, some children were walking around, referring to this or that statue.

There were seven statues on the square, from left to right, they were the seven heroes.

The most important hero stood in the middle, while those on the edges were not so important heroes.

As for the one on the far right, he was even more inconspicuous.

The names in front of the statues were all blurred, as if even the sculptor didn’t know what his name was.

His human statue was also the roughest of all the hero statues, as if it was not carefully carved at all, just to make up the numbers. The north wind was biting, the snow hit the statue, the temperature rose, and water droplets seeped down.

People all went to admire the hero statue in the middle, but in front of this inconspicuous statue, there stood an old man with white hair.

The old man obviously had traces of the passage of time on his body, wrinkles on his face, deep vicissitudes in his eyes, and an overly calm expression.

He looked at the statue, his eyes showing a faint nostalgia, as if the past years were just yesterday, and thousands of years of time were just a sleep away.

Next to the old man stood a child, who didn’t look like the old man at all. The old man had an ordinary appearance, with plain features, while this child had delicate and beautiful features, dressed in elegant and noble clothes, and exuded the unique upper-class aura of the nobility all over his body.

However, next to this old man, the child dared not be presumptuous, just a little puzzled about the old man’s nostalgia for this statue.

The child also looked up, staring at the statue for a while, rummaging through his memory in his mind, but couldn’t find any achievements about this hero.

The confusion in the child’s eyes became more obvious, not understanding why the old man cared about this hero, rather than other heroes.

The old man seemed to notice the child’s confusion, slowly turned his head, and said in a deep voice, “Don’t understand why?”

The child paused, his big eyes sparkling, and honestly said, “I have a photographic memory, I have read many history books, all remembered in my mind, but about the achievements of this hero, I can hardly find, why do you miss him more?”

Children’s words were innocent, honesty was commendable.

The old man smiled, his eyes slightly squinted, and said, “What is recorded in the history books is not all of history.”

The child was suddenly enlightened, his spirit of seeking knowledge came up, and asked, “So does he have a significant contribution that is unknown?”

The old man stroked his chin, the corners of his eyes curved, and said lightly, “It’s not really the brilliant contribution that history books like to record.”

The child didn’t understand.

After all, he was young, although smart, but didn’t have much worldly experience, so he couldn’t figure it out.

The old man turned his gaze, continuing to look at the statue, and said meaningfully, “You just need to know that in a certain sense, he is the greatest contributor to the rise of humanity, and he alone deserves the title of the savior of humanity.”

The child was taken aback, even more incredulous.

The old man stopped speaking, his eyes complex, as if recalling the past.

People liked those moments of defeating the big boss, saving humanity from danger, etc., this “hero” almost had none, so why was he so important?

Luo Jie’s lips curved upward, and it seemed as if fragments of memories from that year appeared in his eyes.

They, as players, started playing games together at first, naturally, they didn’t have much to worry about, it was just entertainment outside of work and life.

But after that day, they woke up one after another, knowing that this was the real world, and at the same time, they couldn’t go back.

For this, many of them were angry at first, thinking that this was the kingdom’s use and betrayal of them.

They were furious, first wanting to deal with the person who brought them here, but the magician who presided over the summoning magic also didn’t know why this happened, kept apologizing, but apologies couldn’t solve the problem, only made them more irritable.

Among them, one even wanted to destroy humanity.

But in the end, he didn’t do it.

Why?

It was because of that person.

That person was the oldest among them, gentle in temperament, a kind-hearted person, who often sent them resources when playing games.

For this “accident”, that person must have been uncomfortable in his heart, but he comforted them at the first moment.

Among them were middle school students and college students, some were irritable and some were eccentric, all were quite difficult to deal with.

But under that person’s day and night hard persuasion, they finally accepted it.

—“They don’t mean any harm, isn’t the most important thing right now to find a way back?”

That person, in order to comfort them, had a private conversation, tried every means to enlighten them, clearly he himself was not sure if there was a way back, but he insisted that there would be, as long as they completed the game tasks, there would definitely be a way back.

Was it a bad check? Yes. (TL: empty promise)

But for them at that time, that sentence was so important, it almost became their spiritual pillar of struggle.

So, in this sense, that person undoubtedly saved the situation.

Without that person, there would be no them later.

It’s just a pity that the history books won’t record these trivial matters, and pay more attention to those grand and historic events.

And…..that person fell early before dawn. (TL: prelude to change)

Luo Jie’s eyes dimmed, every time he thought of that abyss adventure, he regretted it. Since then, he had also gone deep into the abyss many times to find people, but unfortunately, he couldn’t find them at all, the most likely was that they were swallowed by the irrational abyss monsters at that time.

Unlike them, the other party was a profession with no combat ability at all, a person falling into the abyss, it could be said that there was absolutely no vitality. Although he still couldn’t believe it to this day, he insisted on going to the abyss to find people every year.

“….…”

Luo Jie muttered silently, looking at that statue, his face somewhat complex.

The child next to him seemed to still be digesting the words just now, his innocent eyes had a few points of mature thinking that did not match his age.

As the first prince of the Aust Empire, Torila had the royal duty to constantly improve himself.

The surroundings were noisy, the tutor was introducing historical figures to the children. After the introduction, he took them to visit the Hero Memorial Hall.

Torila glanced at the noisy children of his age, seemingly dissatisfied with their behavior. At the same time, a black-haired youth walked straight past in his field of vision.

There were really many people who came to the Hero Memorial Hall today. Torila scanned around and found that the youth stopped and looked at the statue on his side.

Torila couldn’t understand the look in the youth’s eyes.

It carried a bit of nostalgia, but it seemed more like concern and worry.

This might not be a strange look, it’s just that the object was a bit off.

Who would miss the heroes? Torila’s mind turned, and he instantly thought that the other party might not be simple.

But the youth just glanced at them, didn’t see them, quickly turned his head, and walked straight into the Hero Memorial Hall, talking with a woman at the door.

Torila glanced at Luo Jie, who was immersed in memories, and then turned his gaze to follow the youth.

At this time, Xiu Si was talking to someone.

“Hello, can these be seen in history books?”

“Of course, the library of the Hero Memorial Hall is open to all citizens.”

“Can non-citizens of the Aust Empire also?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you.”

Xiu Si successfully entered the Hero Memorial Hall, not noticing Torila’s gaze behind him.

Xiu Si’s idea was simple, he wanted to restart the game system, so he went to find the person who understood the game system the most. The great magician of that year had long been buried, and it was useless to find him. So the target naturally became “they” who were also players.

They lived longer than him, experienced more, knew more, and perhaps they had encountered this kind of thing?

He had a clear goal, so he quickly found the biography of the heroes and started reading it on the spot.

The biography was indeed more detailed as expected, with more and more detailed events. He said that other people couldn’t have no deeds at all, and it also emphasized the background of the Demon Era, not just the individual story of the hero.

So Xiu Si knew that the abyss demons had fought a lot among themselves, each time causing a huge upheaval, and every time it was recorded by the historian.

The historical record of the Demon Era was which demons fought every few years, and which demons conflicted every few years.

After the great demon signed a contract with the human country, the struggle between the great demons even became a struggle between countries.

Seeing this, Xiu Si frowned, “They all come from the abyss, why don’t they live in harmony?”

****

At the same time, Aelioge landed in human form, his green eyes staring straight in the direction of the Hero Memorial Hall.