People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

After all, if we disregard his own transmigration, and considering that this land was still mired in feudal lords who ruled by blood and the moral trap of empty philosophical talk, he was the only one who was truly using Laterano's international prestige accumulated over thousands of years to assemble a makeshift team for the first World Summit.

Although living in Lateran, a small country smaller than Sherag, and surrounded by an environment of isolation and conservatism, and receiving an education that clearly leaned towards self-preservation rather than helping others, King Ivangelista XI actually broke out of his own mental cocoon and wanted to create a completely new world for Lateran outside his comfort zone.

That alone was enough for Ernst to consider him one of the few true brothers among the anthropomorphic leaders!

"What did he say to you?"

Ernst frowned and asked.

Amiya paused for a moment, seemingly listening to something. After a long pause, she spoke in a serious tone:

"He said he was speaking to you in the Lateran Papal Palace."

He said your conversation was overheard by the law.

He asked you if you had eaten.

Ernst paused for a moment, then suddenly realized what was happening.

[Heavenly Pivot]?

Tell him he hasn't eaten yet.

"And how did he do that?"

Amiya closed her eyes, and after another brief silence, she replied:

"His Holiness the Pope said he didn't know either."

"But he hopes you will travel to Lateran as soon as possible."

He said

"The law revealed to it that Terra was no longer in its childhood, but had reached a point where it had no time to easily discuss the future—"

King Ivangelista XI looked at the [Law] before him.

Of those four lines of text whose meaning was unclear, the change in the text of the topmost line has now become clear.

The huge red "X" symbol disappeared, replaced by the number "10%".

Ivangelista XI may not have understood the meaning of those unknown characters, but he was not a fool.

Some things, even if they say nothing, can evoke people's imagination simply by being placed there.

For example, the knives in a slaughterhouse, the exam papers in an examination room, or the countdown timer on your retina.

Of course, this also includes a progress bar that slowly increases behind a string of completely incomprehensible text.

"Your Excellency Ernst."

"I await your arrival in Lateran."

P.S.: When someone uses the "First Originium," the Heavenly Pivot will react; this is a setting from the final part of the new story collection, "See You Tomorrow." Currently, it seems that the four survival projects should all have similar functions. They may be completely independent, but they have the ability to monitor each other's situations. Similar text appears when the Doctor wakes up from the sarcophagus, and in the survival storyline, Maritus also knows about the Originium Project, all of which corroborate this.

Chapter 999 Hardcore Ruthless Ed: I am human, I can only die standing up!

Rhode Island.

When Ernst found the doctor, the doctor was meditating.

This is one way he is trying to recover his lost memories.

Since waking up, he has been learning about his past, how he is seen by others, and the various deeds and experiences of Ernst, Kal'tsit, and little Amiya.

He was actually an exceptionally responsible person, and he wanted to do more, but his frail physique compared to the Terrans meant he was destined not to shine in combat. All he could do to help others was use his intellect.

But he also lost his precious memories.

Although the doctor didn't want to say it, he really wanted to slap his past self now—didn't you ever consider that you would wake up one day? How am I supposed to face this world? Am I even human?

Lacking physical strength and memories, his only asset is the "wisdom" that the people of Rhodes Island praise.

He certainly couldn't rashly advise Ernst on matters concerning the World Summit. Not to mention that he knew almost nothing about Terra, even if he had traveled all over Terra, he didn't think he was cut out for politics. In Ernst's words, his moral bottom line wasn't flexible enough, and his conventional default state was a bit too high.

This might be an advantage for an individual, but for a civil servant or politician, it's a real disadvantage.

So he could only stay in his room, trying to recover his lost memories and solve the puzzles that Precy had left for him and Ernst.

—After coming into contact with and using the [First Originium], what did you discover and feel? What question did you arrive at, and what answer did you get from that question?

The doctor has been thinking about this problem for three days.

But before Ernst walked into the room and gently tapped on the desk, waking him from his deep thought, he had to admit that he had no clue whatsoever.

“Originium is still too unfamiliar to you. The chances of getting results by thinking like this are very low. Why not do what Kal'tsit said and go to the places you’ve been before and see old acquaintances? Maybe you can recover some memories.”

Seeing the doctor's dejected face, Ernst offered words of comfort.

“Once we get back to Shelag, I can arrange for you to meet with Theresa to see if it will be helpful.”

The doctor opened his mouth.

He learned the name "Theresia" from others and knew that she was the culprit who erased his memories. But to be honest, he didn't resent Theresia. After all, without his consent at the time, Theresia wouldn't have had the opportunity to access the memories of a human from a prehistoric civilization.

But even though I don't hold a grudge, the feeling of meeting someone who, in a sense, "killed me once" is quite subtle.

"Don't you want to?"

Ernst seemed to see through the doctor's little scheme and asked.

The doctor immediately shook his head:

"No, let me see her. If I can remember more, maybe I can solve the mystery."

That's a long way off.

Ernst knew that Precys rarely kept things a secret from him, and the fact that he suddenly presented such a huge mystery to him and the Doctor meant that both the question and its answer were of paramount importance.

Judging from Precys's personality, this question probably involves the deepest aspects of Project Originium. Even if Theresa were to give him a complete explanation of Terra's worldview after just one meeting, he still might not be able to answer it.

After all, this concerns a major secret of the pre-civilization's survival plan, and the Doctor, according to Kal'tsit, has been sleeping on and off for tens of thousands of years, while Precys has been working all along; she may have already passed away before the Doctor.

Therefore, instead of completely expecting the Doctor to provide an answer, Ernst thought it would be better to take the Doctor to see Trevor Friston, the "Preserver," again after the World's Fair, to summarize and analyze the information, and ask him to help fill in any gaps. Perhaps they could arrive at a conjecture more quickly.

And

To be honest, Ernst had some unspoken suspicions, but it was just not convenient for him to talk about them with others.

After all, Ernst did have one piece of information that no one else had—Precys had directly stated his demands during the first "debate," wanting another part of his "essence."

He closed his eyes, took a breath, and when he opened them again, Ernst had put away the unrestrained divergent thoughts in his mind and looked at the Doctor:

"Alright, Doctor, let's not talk about this anymore. I came to ask you something else."

Dr. So raised his head, his pale gray eyes filled with a wealth of emotions.

Ernst asked:

Do you remember Ed?

The doctor thought about it carefully:

"In my memory, Ed was a tall man with a reddish-brown beard."

"He's a bit stubborn. Once he's made up his mind about something, he'll never change it rashly. He's also very traditional."

"What kind of tradition?"

Ernst interrupted.

The tradition the doctor talks about is so different from the tradition he has in mind that it's easy to misunderstand if you don't ask clearly.

Dr. San explained:

"He has the personality traits of humans in the early interstellar era: obedient to orders, stubborn, and once he accepts an order, he will do it even if he knows it is impossible to succeed, even if it means his death."

"Such people were rare in our time. After all, we were the ones who gave orders, not the ones who were given orders; we were the ones who enjoyed the fruits of others' labor, not the ones who sowed the seeds of those fruits. He, on the other hand, was more like one of those pioneers who opened up new territories. If we were to judge solely on the degree of traditionality in character and ideas, Mr. Friston was like a child born in a greenhouse compared to him."

Wu Ernst nodded.

This explains why Ed would build a weapon called "Heavenly Pivot" to deal with the "Observer".

The conclusion that the Observer cannot be observed or defeated in any physical form was told to Ernst by Precys, who had heard it from the prophet. In other words, this conclusion was essentially deduced by the prophet after observing a series of phenomena caused by the Observer.

The prophet was the overall person in charge of the survival plan, so almost everyone below him who was in charge of the survival plan accepted this conclusion by default. The focus of the plan began to shift from "killing the [Observer]" to "avoiding the [Observer]".

Ernst had always been curious about this. Almost all survival plans handed over the initiative to the enemy, using methods such as building the most solid underground bunkers to freeze life, creating life arks to carry seeds, or even escaping this universe to live forever in another internalized universe.

But the so-called "survival" means using camouflage and other means to avoid the detection of predators. Isn't directly killing the predator also a form of survival?

Why does everyone assume that the observer is invincible?

However, due to his own insufficient understanding of the previous civilization, Ernst never directly asked Precys and Trevor Friston this question.

It now seems that he wasn't the only one who had this confusion; Ed was in the same boat.

Perhaps he has also thought about this: Does your so-called invincibility mean that "all current attack methods are ineffective", or does it really mean that "all attack methods are ineffective"? Is the so-called unobservable really unobservable at the conceptual level?

The simplest example is that even if those uncivilized natives fired ten thousand crossbow bolts, they couldn't penetrate the protective field that an ordinary human is born with. Unless the human wanted to, they wouldn't even have the chance to observe the human. So, in the eyes of those planetary natives, aren't humans also "observers"?

Thus, Ed's traditional and stubborn nature led him to choose such a plan—he believed in the prophet's conclusion, but he still wanted to exhaust all possibilities to seek that "initiative" over the observer, and he would not turn back until he hit a wall!

His companions had all given up on fighting the Observers, but he couldn't. He was one of the last sparks of human civilization, and he felt that he could only die in battle!

Otherwise, even if they survive this calamity, what if, in the distant future, his descendants rebuild civilization and encounter the "Observer" again? Would they then have to disregard everything they have painstakingly built and the sacrifices of hundreds of millions of compatriots, just like now, and kneel down and beg for mercy from the "Observer," exchanging escape for a chance to survive?

Absolutely not! Soldiers should be ready to die for their country!

Even if he can't win, he has to gamble with all his might. He can only die in battle, not sit there like a cowardly clown and be wiped out like trash by the Observer!

Therefore, he created the "Heavenly Pivot," a weapon that, in the words of Priscilla, Trevor Friston, and even Mark Max, was too "radical," "military-oriented," and "idealistic," and absolutely impossible to work.

Ernst took a deep breath.

He cannot say that Ed's path is wrong.

He never presumptuously judged any survival plan, not even Trevor Friston's hasty "Preserver Project," which was an experiment to preserve the spark of human civilization.

Moreover, to some extent, the person Ernst first spoke with in this life was not Friston or Precys, but Ed.

His words to Ernst through the law, "I respect all your decisions, and the glory of mankind will live on forever!" remain vivid in his memory to this day.

He looked at the doctor again and asked the most crucial question:

"Doctor, if we follow the plan of the Heaven's Pivot Project..."

Is Ed still alive?

Chapter 1000: Of course, we're going to see Mr. Ernst, what else?

April 14, 1094, Lateran, at the World's Fair.

Today is the first day of the World's Fair, and also a special exhibition day for representatives from various countries to visit the exhibition area.

Beneath the dome, the dazzling pavilions unfold like a constellation of stars. The surging crowds, accompanied by gasps of amazement and the hum of machinery, flowed back and forth among the lateran-style carved marble columns, as if civilization and ambition were taking on a tangible form at this moment.

Colombia's pure white pavilion resembled a prism floating in mid-air. They creatively utilized Nasti's anti-gravity technology in their exhibition area, demonstrating a more sophisticated version than before. The pavilion displayed a series of war artifacts from Colombia's War of Independence onwards, as well as key inventions from crucial historical moments in Colombia's rapid development since then. From the first new-type Originium-powered reactor established in the Mark Maxtie district to the neural-connected drones invented with official Colombian investment, Colombia's pavilion undoubtedly represented Terra's latest and most eye-catching technological advancements.

Like twins with contrasting personalities, the Victorian pavilion showcases the nation's proudest history of conquest. Their leaders, clearly haunted by the devastation of the Battle of Londinium, have hung tens of thousands of Originium crystal irises from the dome of their pavilion. Each petal of these beautiful artifacts encapsulates a piece of the Victorian Empire's conquest history, from the merging of a tribe to the vassalage of an independent, mobile city-state. The conquest of Gaul during the War of the Four Emperors, depicted with the most vivid strokes, is naturally that of the iris—the most dazzling piece in the Victorian pavilion, hanging prominently at the center, displayed to all visitors in the most conspicuous manner.

Is this shocking? It certainly is. But compared to Brother…

After all, the fall of Gaul was a thing of the past, many years ago. Of the nations that participated in the War of the Four Emperors, only the Victorians still cling tightly to this history. The Letanian pavilion displays their story of resisting the Witch-King and seeking freedom, while the Ursus pavilion showcases their glorious achievements during the Great Conquest, when they single-handedly swept across most of Terra, and the painful lessons learned from the near-collapse of their nation during the subsequent Great Rebellion.

The Victorians should have had as much to say as they did, or even more. After all, the biggest beneficiary of that war was neither Letania, which was drawn into it first, nor Ursus, which joined later but was forced to withdraw due to distance and marginalization, but rather the Victorian Empire.

After that, Victoria gained hegemony over all of Terra, maintaining a hegemonic system centered on herself for over sixty years, until it was replaced by the World Expo system in the last two years. But ironically, in this World Expo themed "War and Peace," all they can boast about now is the war between four nations and the annihilation of Gaul.

Even the commander who led their army to conquer Gaul had died in the Battle of Lentinium at the end of last year.

An Ursus Empire officer visiting the Victoria pavilion even bluntly told his companion:

"Ha! How ridiculous! The Duke of Wellington didn't die on the road to conquering enemy countries, but in the war to liberate his own capital. And his descendants are still boasting about a battle that he commanded decades ago, because they have nothing else to say!"

"The new generation of Victorians are truly a bunch of good-for-nothings. I wonder what the original Victorians would think if they saw the current Victorian Empire—they probably still thought that the Empire's rise to hegemony was just the beginning, but they didn't expect this to be the empire's peak. If it were me, I would definitely want to pick up a knife and chop all these unworthy descendants to pieces!"

"Oh, wait a minute, it seems quite a few of them are still alive."

"Thinking about it that way makes it even more humorous, doesn't it?"

To be fair, lies don't hurt people, but the truth is the sharpest knife. To be honest, this statement is indeed a bit too hurtful.

So much so that when the officer heard his speech, the Ursus ambassador to Laterano was so frightened that almost every hair on his body stood on end. He hurriedly reached out to cover the officer's mouth, but it was too late.

The person in charge of the Victoria Pavilion was nearby, and upon hearing this, he couldn't hold back any longer. He immediately retorted:

“What this gentleman said makes sense. I also find your country’s winter of 1074 particularly humorous.”