Chapter 19 Before Leaving Stone City

Before leaving Stone City, Hao Ren curiously asked Gezer about the ancient city, "Do you know what this ruin is about?"

Based on Gezer's ritual in the ruins, he judged that the ancient city should have a special significance for the natives of this world. But since the city and population were still there, he couldn't understand why Gezer's people abandoned the magnificent and solid city and chose a hard nomadic life. Perhaps climate change in the underground world forced the people here to live as nomads, but he still wanted to hear Gezer's explanation.

Gezer's first reaction to the question was a bit strange: "The goddess knows everything, why do you ask about the ancient capital?"

He still firmly believed that Vivian was the "goddess" who created all things and knew everything. So, he found many of Hao Ren's questions inexplicable: the tribal warrior believed that those standing next to the goddess should also be omniscient.

This was a tricky question, and it could be difficult to explain the origins of their group and destroy the trust they had worked so hard to build. But Vivian came to the rescue, "The way God observes this world is different from yours. Tell us about the changes in this world according to human understanding."

Her words were profound and otherworldly. Hao Ren couldn't help but glance at her, whispering in Holleran, "Your acting skills have skyrocketed. How did you come up with that?"

Vivian smiled slightly, "Do you think I've met few people who pretend to be gods? Those old guys all talked like that ten thousand years ago."

Gezer deeply believed in Vivian's words and immediately heard the "greatness of God" in them. So, he pointed to the collapsed giant stone buildings around him and introduced, "This is the sacred ancient capital of Dorasil. Before the end of the Sun Dynasty, this great city enshrined the goddess's Holy Spirit, and even now this Holy Spirit still echoes in the shadows of Dorasil. The goddess has come here in person today, is it to check on the Holy Spirit's condition?"

"Why are you asking me?" Vivian waved her hand subconsciously, then quickly coughed twice, "Ahem, I mean, don't speculate about God's thoughts. I said that the way I observe the world is different from yours—look, I even have an avatar."

As Vivian spoke, she dragged Hesperide forward and pressed her head hard, making her nod in a convincing manner.

"Why was this city abandoned?" Hao Ren asked curiously, "And what about the Sun Dynasty?"

"After the firmament closed, the Sun Dynasty followed the goddess's teachings and ended an era," Gezer said without thinking, as if reciting a textbook. Obviously, he had studied these sentences for many years. "Now it is the 'Emerald Era,' the greatest and most peaceful era."

"The firmament closed… the Emerald Era…" Hao Ren looked thoughtfully at the black "crust" behind the clouds in the sky. Obviously, the natives of this world vaguely knew about the eldest son sealing the planet with the canopy, but that history had been distorted into a myth. The eldest son's growth activity was passed down as the goddess closing the firmament, and it was probably impossible to get the true history from Gezer. "Do you know what's above the firmament?"

Gezer's face suddenly showed a serious and fearful expression, "That is where the goddess exiles criminals. No one has ever dared to cross it."

"The sky is actually evil?" Hesperide couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "Then what about underground?"

Gezer looked honest, "Underground is where the goddess's glory lies."

Hesperide twitched the corner of her mouth, "The myths and legends of this planet are really strange, but they fit the worldview of the blood clan—I don't like the light either. It's quite comfortable living in a cave."

Vivian awkwardly turned her head away, "It's all because we didn't have money to live in houses and lived in caves all the time, leaving this kid with that problem."

"Ahem, thinking about the scene of another layer of crust overhead, I also agree with Gezer's statement," Hao Ren coughed, interrupting Vivian's recounting of her own hardships. Then he noticed that the group had already walked out of the walls of "Ancient Capital Dorasil." The vast and boundless prairie stretched out before them, but in this direction, there was no sign of a tribal settlement or a rideable vehicle. "Gezer, where is the tribal gathering place you mentioned?"

"In that direction," Gezer pointed to the towering giant tree at the end of the horizon. "At the foot of that eternal pillar, my people are temporarily staying. We are waiting for the arrival of the second Liufeng month. Under the guidance of the sacred wind, we will perform a worship ceremony with other tribes."

Hao Ren glanced at the magnificent black giant pillar that ran through the sky and the earth, and couldn't help but click his tongue, "I'll go… how did you get here? By horse?"

"Walked here," Gezer smiled proudly, and the patterns painted on his face with oil blossomed. "It took many days. The messenger who is ordered to light the incense cannot ride livestock into Dorasil. We must come on foot, otherwise the ancestors will not respond to the call after the incense is lit."

Hao Ren still needed to do some mental gymnastics to understand the religious vocabulary Gezer mentioned. The "incense" he mentioned should be the herbs burned on the stone platform before, and this warrior seemed to be here today to do the "unsealing," or rather the preliminary work, for another more important religious ceremony several days later. The people of this world followed strict religious rules. Although it was not yet clear how they specifically interpreted the existence of the "Creator Goddess," there was no doubt that their faith was extremely devout.

Even if the world had undergone earth-shattering changes, even if they had become refugees in the fragments of space drifting in another world, their faith in the goddess remained the same.

"It's not a matter of a day or two to walk there," Hao Ren stretched his feet and looked into the distance. "Speaking of which, your taboos only say that you can't ride livestock into the capital, but didn't say anything about what's required on the way back, right?"

Gezer nodded blankly.

Hao Ren conveniently threw his private car out of his dimensional pocket: "That's settled then, get in!"

After a moment of愣怔, Gezer decided to take it as a miracle.

Hao Ren's BMW, apart from its relatively ugly appearance, had impeccable performance. Other than not being able to transform into Optimus Prime on the spot, it could basically do anything. He was still driving with the intention of paying attention to the surrounding scenery, but even so, it didn't take long before he arrived at the foot of the towering giant tree. He drove the car onto a hill near the giant tree (the hill itself was part of one of the giant tree's roots that had surfaced). From here, overlooking, he saw Gezer's tribe.

He saw a gurgling stream running through the valley between two mountain ridges. The stream flowed out from the root of the giant tree and extended deep into the grassland. On both sides of the stream, there were many scattered huts. They were oval-shaped houses like tents, covered with thick mats woven from grass and animal skins. Around the houses, there were many wooden poles, with blue and green decorative cloth strips tied on the poles. They looked primitive and simple, but they also had an indescribable harmony and beauty. This was the settlement of the "West Wind Hanu Tribe," said to be one of the largest tribes.

However, judging from the size and number of the houses, the population of this "largest tribe" probably did not exceed one or two thousand people. This was almost a dangerous signal in Hao Ren's eyes: how many humans were left in the whole world?

But Gezer's people probably wouldn't worry about these distant and ethereal things like Hao Ren. The settlement in the valley seemed peaceful and tranquil. The men, women, old and young walking between the houses all had tranquil expressions. And downstream of the settlement, you could see a large number of strange livestock drinking water: they were the valuable property of the settlement. The probes Hao Ren sent out also found wild animals similar to those livestock in other parts of the grassland, but they were obviously not domesticated.

Lily stared blankly at the quiet and peaceful nomadic tribe in the valley, then suddenly looked up at the black rock ceiling behind the clouds: if she didn't do this, she would probably forget what kind of place this was.

Gezer had just recovered from the lightning speed of the journey. He didn't expect to see the settlement so soon, so he couldn't help but pat his cheeks to try to get back into shape. Then he looked at Hao Ren and Vivian with excitement and anxiety, "I don't know how to tell the elders about the goddess's descent… is there anything I need to pay attention to?"

Vivian had only learned a few pretentious words from her old friends, and didn't understand anything else. So, she subconsciously poked Hao Ren's arm, "You explain, you're kind of like a pope."

Hao Ren gave a sound, looked at Vivian, then at Hesperide, and nodded slightly to Gezer, "Just say that the goddess took her alt account to the mortal world for a low-key private visit…"

Then he looked at the others, "Well, and brought a work team along."

Lily secretly poked Vivian in the back and whispered, "Bat, do you really think it's reliable to let the landlord arrange this?"

Vivian gritted her back teeth, "I'm regretting it right now!"