Chapter 955
Page 955
Nilu closed her eyes slightly and continued humming the accompaniment: "La la... la la la la la..."
The darkness behind the curtain obscured most of Nel's face, allowing only a faint smile to be seen.
Her humming seemed to resonate with the dream, and gradually, the sound of a mandolin began to rise, the melody vaguely resembling the tune of "The Dance of the Flower Goddess".
Then, the sounds of the oud, sitar, balama, eagle bone flute, and dabuka drum rose in succession, as if an entire symphony orchestra were sitting beside her, accompanying her.
Han Fulai, who was on the float, heard the music.
Not only him, but also Ying, Naxida, and the people surrounding the "float" heard the music.
The music was so clear and so moving that it captivated everyone's ears.
At this moment, the curtain of the Zubair Theater opened.
Nilu took to the stage to the accompaniment of music.
With a warm and bright smile on her face, she said, "I'm sorry to have kept you waiting, everyone! Let me offer the 'Dance of the Flower Goddess' to the gods!"
Then, she lightly touched the floor with her toes, spun, and jumped.
The light blue skirt twirled in the air, like a beautiful water lily in bloom.
"Imagine you are part of the water, like jelly, crystal clear..."
Nilu silently recalled her teacher's teachings.
"The world ignores you, never lingering for a moment. As a dancer, you can rise gracefully, drawing... the gaze of millions!"
Among the audience, a woman wearing reading glasses exclaimed in surprise: "That's... the real Patishalan?"
Her eyes remained fixed on Nilu's jade-like feet.
Unlike the Patishalan born from Nasita's "flowers blooming with every step", the Patishalan born from Nilu's slender toes is a bright and dazzling purplish-red.
The old woman's name was Sahati, a renowned figure in the "Mystical School" of the Church, but she grew tired of the disputes within the Church over academics and status, and retired to live in seclusion in the Grand Bazaar.
As a scholar, Sahati was well aware of Patishalan's origins.
In ancient legends, the three gods of Mount Sumeru once formed an alliance: the "Red King" from the desert, the "Flower Goddess" from the oasis, and the "Tree King" from the rainforest.
During the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival," the Flower Goddess presents the "Flower Goddess Dance" to the Tree King, and the exquisitely beautiful dance gives birth to exquisitely beautiful flowers.
The beautiful flowers covered the earth, and people would collect the flower stamens and make them into incense to offer to the gods.
—The flower named after the goddess of flowers is this purplish-red Patysara.
This sacred and noble flower has very demanding requirements for its growing environment. Now that the three gods of Mount Sumeru have all passed away, the purplish-red Patissal orchid has long since disappeared.
The purple or white Patissa orchids that people see now are varieties artificially cultivated by scholars of the Church based on book records.
Human power cannot reproduce that vibrant purplish-red color; it is not a natural color, but a creation of the gods. Even the god of grass cannot replicate the miracle unique to the goddess of flowers.
But now, Sahadi is witnessing an ancient miracle once again.
Sahati's exclamation didn't cause much of a stir; it was quickly drowned out by even louder cheers.
The captivating dance, like water boiling, ranges from initial surprise to grand cheers.
Amid the cheers of the audience, Nilu's dance became even more enthusiastic.
"To bear the audience's passion, you must become that most intense splash!"
The Eye of God on the back of Nel's neck shone brightly, and the azure waves flowed with her dance steps. Her delicate toes lightly touched the water's surface, and the shimmering ripples were like the brilliance of the seven days.
Graceful dances linger, lotus blossoms reflected in the water.
With her graceful, swaying steps and swirling light, even the gods could not take their eyes off Nilu.
As the dance ended, Nel bowed slightly to the tiny deity on the "float" and uttered her curtain call lines:
"Even though we have never witnessed that distant dream, only this dance can still capture the dreamlike scene."
"Thank you for coming to my performance."
Narcida responded with a sweet smile: "Thank you, Miss Nilu, that was the most beautiful dance I've ever seen. Actually... I also have a surprise for you!"
The "Dance of the Flower Goddess" has ended, but the "Birth Festival of the Flower Goddess" is not over yet. As Nasita utters the word "surprise," a colorful rain of flowers falls from the sky.
The Grand Bazaar is a town built underground, where there is no sun, no moon, no clouds, and of course, no rain.
But Nasita made the people of the Grand Bazaar see the rain falling from the sky.
No crop can do without rain; rain is the prelude to life.
Colorful petals fell with the raindrops, and someone unconsciously opened their mouth to lick the starry rain of petals, only to be astonished to find—
"Is rainwater sweet?"
Nasita smiled sweetly once more and continued singing her self-composed song: "The Flower Knights and their attendants have prepared a surprise for her, sweet candies, blooming around her like fireworks..."
Every petal, every drop of rain, is like sweet date and coconut sugar.
This is Nasita's favorite candy. Although she has only tasted the sweetness of date palm candy in her dreams, she believes that everyone would like this sweet taste.
Nilu held the date and coconut candy in her hands, slightly stunned. After a moment, she realized: "This is... Yalda candy?"
Although the Sumeru people haven't held a real "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" for five hundred years, Nil has learned from her elders what the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" looked like five hundred years ago.
The current "Flora of Flora" festival held in the Grand Bazaar is quite different from the traditional "Flora of Flora" festival. To be more specific, due to the interference of the Vatican, it had to be simplified and many traditional items that could not be realized were removed.
According to tradition, after the "Dance of the Flower Goddess" comes the most important part of the "Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival"—the "Float Parade".
Distributing candy is a staple of the "parade," and Yalda candy is the candy that the grass god distributes to the public during the "parade."
The Grass Goddess is the ruler of all of Sumeru, and her birthday should be blessed by all the people of Sumeru. The real "Float Parade" should be a grand celebration that tours the entire territory of Sumeru.
Wherever the "float" goes, local people sing and dance along the roadside to offer blessings to the grass god, who in turn gives them Yalda candy, symbolizing the bestowal of a happy and sweet life upon them.
Unfortunately, the Faculty of Education did not allow the "float parade" to leave the Grand Bazaar area, so the actors playing the "Knights of Flowers" could only ride bicycles in the Grand Bazaar to hand out Yalda candy to the children, which could barely be considered a "parade".
And now, it seems that this little auspicious grass king is preparing to start a real "parade of floats"?
As if to answer her question, the newly appointed "Knight of Flowers," Han Fulai, took the reins of the carriage.
Nasita's "flower carriage" had no horses pulling it, because it was driven not by the power of horses, but by her will. In her dreams, this "flower carriage" could carry her to the ends of the earth.
Although the "float" did not need a driver, Han Fulai, as the "Knight of the Flowers," took the initiative to assume the role of driver.
He whispered to Nasita, "It's time to set off, my god."
The Temple of Maya cannot be confined to the small Zuber Theater. They want to expand the Temple of Maya through the form of a "float parade" and bring all the people of Sumeru into the dream created by Nasita.
—At the same time, it also proclaims to all the people of Sumeru that their god has returned.
Nasita nodded vigorously: "Yes! Let's go, my knight!"
The float bounced and swayed, and Naxi Da opened her eyes.
She said it felt like a dream because she had never seen such a wonderful celebration.
Chapter 101 "The Exile" Zandik [4k]
"Di-"
"Di-"
"Di-"
The sharp, piercing sound kept ringing out, almost piercing people's eardrums.
Setare covered the "Void Terminal" in her ear with a pale face, cold sweat dripping down her forehead.
This is not a notification sound indicating the start of "harvesting," but rather an alarm generated by a program error.
On the screen in front of her was a "simulated universe" created by the "Void". At the center of the "simulated universe" was a "sun" conjured by the "Void", and among the planets revolving around the "sun", the largest planet was covered with dense red dots, each red dot representing a person's consciousness losing connection with the "Void Terminal".
Generally speaking, when the connection between a person in a dream and the "void terminal" is interrupted, it means that the person's main consciousness has fallen into a coma. If the "reincarnation of the Flower Goddess's Birthday Festival" continues, these comatose people will not receive timely treatment and will eventually die.
Setare looked hesitantly at the Great Sage who was resting with his eyes closed.
She had previously reported to Hazard when the signal node disappeared, and Hazard's response at the time was—
“Continue to ‘harvest,’ these are insignificant costs compared to the results.”
But what if this "insignificant" "cost" actually amounts to tens of thousands?
Setare struggled internally for a long time, but in the end, her remaining conscience prevailed: "Great Sage, the 'Void' monitoring has shown an anomaly. The number of victims is increasing rapidly. Should we consider stopping the 'Reincarnation'?"
Hazard opened his eyes slightly and stared at Setare, without replying.
Setare continued, forcing herself to speak, "So far, more than 13,000 signals have been lost, and that number is still growing..."
“I didn’t ask you for numbers, Setare.” Hazard’s voice was like an ancient well, without a trace of emotion. “Don’t forget why I specially recruited you, who came from the desert, into the Order of the Church.”
Setare shut her mouth instantly.
Why did Hazard recruit her into the Faculty? Was it because of her academic genius?
joke.
The Faculty of Law is never short of geniuses, and in this academy teeming with talent, Setare is merely an inconspicuous one. Within the "Minglun faction" alone, there are countless students far more gifted than her, such as that perpetually sleepy-looking girl, Lyra…
The only reason she was able to rise to a high position in the Order of the Church, and even become the assistant to the Great Sage, was that she was a subject of the "Red King".
She brought to the Church the secret that the descendants of the "Red King" had kept for a thousand years—"Golden Dreamland".
The plan for "mass production of dreams" and "harvesting" was provided to Hazard by her. It can be said that her arrival gave Hazard the final piece of the puzzle for the "god-making plan".
“You are a desert dweller, you know best how vulnerable humanity is.” Hazard gazed at Setare, “'Dark Calamity,' 'Demon Scale Disease'... In the face of these calamities, mortals are utterly powerless.”
"Only the gods, only the omniscient and omnipotent 'God of Wisdom'... can hold this power in their hands and rewrite the fate of destruction!"
"The 'God-Making Plan' is our last hope. Before the plan succeeds, the deaths of 10,000 people are just numbers, and the deaths of 100,000 people are also just numbers."
"Continue to 'harvest'."
After saying this, Hazard closed his eyelids again.
It was the early hours of the morning in real time, and as an elderly man, he desperately needed rest.
Setare silently turned her head and stared blankly at the screen in front of her.
The flashing red dots on the screen were alarming, like drops of bright red blood.
She suddenly realized that she didn't actually have the awareness to kill others.
No matter how much she tried to convince herself that she was carrying out a great mission to save the world, she could not deny one fact: those who died in the "reincarnation" all died because of this "god-making plan," and she was one of the main culprits, the executioner who massacred the people of Sumeru.
For the rest of her life, she could never wash away the bloodstains on her hands.
Time passed by, and before we knew it, the sky outside the window was already turning white.
Setare kept her eyes glued to the screen. On the "Void Terminal" screen, the planet representing Sumeru City was mostly covered in bright red.
This indicates that at least half of the residents of Sumeru City lost their lives in the "reincarnation".
Perhaps among them are her former teachers, her classmates from the academy, her friends from the city, and countless others she had crossed paths with... Just a day ago, these people were all vibrant lives, but now...
Setare felt as if she were in quicksand, and even with her eyes closed, countless unseen hands were pulling at her ankles, making her sink deeper and deeper.
She thought of her family and friends back home, and the letters the children there had written to her—they had heard that after she was admitted to the Faculty of Education, the villagers were very proud of her, and the children in her hometown looked up to her and begged her to teach them how to study…
However, Setare never responded to those letters, not a single one.
She once saw cutting off communication as a farewell to her past self, but now it seems that it was just an escape, an escape from the inescapable guilt in her heart.
No one can escape their own inner self.
She was certain that she would never have the right to dream again.
Every time she wakes up in the middle of the night, the crimson bloodstains before her eyes become nightmares, haunting and judging her until the end of her life.
Just then, she heard a long "beep" sound, followed by a sudden flash of green light on the screen.
The green light resembled a circular palace, enveloping the entire city of Sumeru.
The city of Sumeru in the dream has vanished.
Setare was stunned for a moment, then suddenly cried out, "Lord Hazard!"
Hazard, who was feigning sleep, shuddered. Setare's panicked voice made him sense something unusual.
"What happened?"
Setare did not answer, but simply showed him the screen.
Hazard's pupils contracted, his face filled with disbelief.