Chapter 419: The Fall of Gods, Local Resistance and the Immortals

"Old Liu, go with them and have some rest first. Enjoy yourself for a while. It's obvious that their organization is rich." Lu Wenwu said.

Liu Linan had no objection and decisively followed the leader's instructions and followed the beautiful maid who was dressed in cool clothes to rest.

Lu Wenwu and Wang Banxian followed the old man to a building that looked like a hall.

The structure of this place is almost identical to the main hall in an ordinary Buddhist temple, except that the person sitting in the middle is not the Buddha, but a red-haired man with a human face, a snake body and a ferocious appearance.

The statue did not have the magnificence and grandeur of ordinary gods. Instead, it exuded a ferocious and evil aura, like a warrior ready to stand up and kill at any time.

"It really is Gonggong." Lu Wenwu had a complicated expression. "May I ask why your organization is called the Ran Deng Society, but you worship the ancient water god? Honestly, this is the first time in all these years I've seen someone believe in this as the sole deity."

"This is actually a historical issue." The old man smiled slightly. "As early as about three hundred years ago, the deity we worshipped was the Fire God Zhurong. His existence was like a guiding light, and we believers were those who burned with the light, hence the name Burning Lantern Festival."

"That makes sense." Lu Wenwu nodded slightly, "But why did you convert to Gonggong now?"

The old man said something shocking: "Because the gods have fallen."

Wang Banxian: “???”

Lu Wenwu: “???”

The three of them stopped in unison.

God has fallen?

If it's meant literally, then this is a serious matter.

Lu Wenwu, who has fought in the dungeon for many years, knows clearly that the well-known immortal gods in his memory are not all like those in his own universe who have super high moral qualities and sense of responsibility.

No one knows what the isotopes in other universes are like, or what their specific attitudes are toward humans and believers.

But what is certain is that the weakest equivalent of the ancient fire god Zhurong in another world must be a divine life above the first level of ascension.

How can I deal with the events or people that can cause the fall of such a level of existence with my current sealed strength?

Lu Wenwu sincerely hoped that this was just a myth.

Even if it's just a background story!

He looked at the old man intently, and when their eyes met, only silence filled the air.

"You mean that literally?" he asked carefully.

However, the old man shook his head like a rattle. "I'm sorry, Mr. Lu, but I don't know about this either. The ancient information that has been passed down to this day is already incomplete. I only heard this explanation from the previous president. I really don't know the specific reason."

"I only know that the reason we change our faith in gods is because the purpose of our existence in this world has changed, to the point where it completely contradicts the meaning of our past existence. Therefore, we choose to believe in the opposite of our former gods, which is also the inheritance of our past faith."

"The collection of books within the association is open to you two. Perhaps you two gentlemen can find some answers from your compatriots' last words. Some of the texts are limited by cultural limitations, so we cannot fully interpret them."

"Is the legacy of our past beliefs being passed down from generation to generation?" Wang Banxian murmured. "I remember the record in the Classic of Mountains and Seas: The Classic of the Seas - Xiqi gave birth to Zhurong, who descended into the river and gave birth to Gonggong. One of them is water, the other is fire, but Gonggong is Zhurong's son."

"Compared to this, I am more concerned about the current purpose of the Lantern Festival. In this city, the unwarranted preferential treatment makes me feel uneasy." Lu Wenwu said lightly.

"Overthrowing the rule of corporations and enterprises is just as countless predecessors and your compatriots have attempted," the old man said without hesitation. "Based on our experience, you and your compatriots, after arriving in this world, are naturally enemies of corporations and enterprises due to the existence of the [Main Quest]. Winning over you and your friends will help increase our chances of success."

"You have temporarily convinced me. We are indeed on the same front." Lu Wenwu nodded.

If there is a local team that has been fighting against oppression for many years to help, then the help is indeed significant, and it will be a huge improvement in both information and military strength.

The most intuitive way to solve his main mission [Breaking the Shackles] should be to break the oppression of the corporate groups on the people and reshape the social structure in this way.

Even if we can roll back capitalism from this sick structure, it would be better than this fucked up world.

Even if Lu Wenwu worked himself to death, he would not be able to liberate the world by his own efforts.

So, he does need help.

So, Lu Wenwu naturally asked, "Then, as a comrade who might be able to fight alongside you, I'd like to ask, what's the current progress of your resistance?"

The old man's smile stiffened at a speed visible to the naked eye, and gradually turned bitter.

Lu Wenwu's heart sank, and he asked tentatively, "At least, there should be strongholds and intelligence personnel in major cities around the world, right? How many troops are there? What's the status of their weapons and equipment?"

“.”

The old man remained silent.

Lu Wenwu's heart sank again. "Then at least they have liaisons in every major city? They have a small elite force that roams outside the sight of the companies and can mobilize the grassroots people at any time?"

“.”

The old man's head drooped further and further.

Lu Wenwu's face was as black as the bottom of a pot. "You're not going to tell me that your mass base is extremely poor, and you have very few combat personnel. So far, you can only fight underground guerrilla warfare?"

The old man himself felt a little bit exhausted, his face flushed as he muttered, "It's worse than that. Our activities are limited to Coconut Juice City, and we can only maintain some small-scale underground activities. We are seriously short of firepower and personnel."

Lu Wenwu couldn't hold it in any longer and said frantically, "No, buddy, where did you all spend your money? How could your Burning Light Club be this useless as those players before you? What's the difference between you and no development at all?"

"We...we've tried to revolt many times before! But we were always suppressed by Zulong and other groups," the old man said, trying to save face. "These failures have drained away a lot of talent and resources. Our resource reserves, knowledge, and personnel have also been dwindling under the joint suppression of the companies. We can only barely survive and avoid being completely wiped out."

"And then you're hiding in this luxurious underground city, amusing yourself, living a life of luxury, and living a life of drunkenness and debauchery, right?" Wang Banxian couldn't help but sarcastically said, "Look at your food and clothing expenses. This one or two ounces of tea can buy a year's worth of food for how many people? You say you're a revolutionary? You've spent all your credit points on pleasure, and you're planning to bring Zulong down with your eyes, right? I really..."

"Okay, Banxian, this is a bit unfair to me."

Lu Wenwu spoke up to stop Wang Banxian from continuing to speak.

"After staying here for over a year, your values ​​are almost assimilated by this city, and you forget that these things are supposed to be cheap. They grow their own tea and crops. I saw the eco-dome and greenhouses."

Wang Banxian was still a little unconvinced and shouted, "Fifth brother, but they..."

"But they are indeed trash, and that is an indisputable fact."

Lu Wenwu's merciless words were like a sharp sword, instantly piercing the old man's psychological defenses, and the words of gratitude that he had not yet had time to say were directly pierced through his mind.

"'The immortal gods dwell high above the heavens, overlooking the struggles and cycles of all things in the world.' Do you know the saying? Does it have any specific meaning?"

"I know this saying has been passed down from a long time ago. It's said that it was first said by a communicative digital ghost, but I don't understand its specific meaning. You should go to the library and look it up."

The old man had been somewhat numb from the shock.

Although their careers have indeed made no substantial progress over the years.

But it still hurts to be exposed so blatantly.

To be honest, Lu Wenwu also felt very heartbroken.

I originally thought that Ran Deng would be a big stick, and holding it in my hand would increase my fighting power.

At the very least, it's a baseball bat. At least it looks intimidating and is easy to swing.

Who would have thought it was a stick?

That's awesome.

Lu Wenwu said nothing more. After sighing, he followed the old man to the library, hoping that there would be some information for his reference.

The library of the Lantern Festival is not big.

After passing through several heavy alloy doors, he did not see the vast amount of books and files as he had imagined. Instead, there were only a dozen or so and a computer, which was not much different in size from a community reading room.

This computer is not used to store additional information, but to save electronic versions of these paper documents.

The bad thing about a society with highly developed Internet technology is that the safest way to preserve confidential information is in paper form. Any information stored in electronic devices is likely to be stolen and destroyed.

The old man did not stay for long. After giving a few instructions, he retreated without any sign of being on guard.

Lu Wenwu and Wang Banxian looked at each other and began to act separately.

The former went straight to the bookshelf, while the latter went straight to the computer, pulled out the data cable from his arm and connected it to it, ready to copy the data.

I read non-stop for seven days.

With Lu Wenwu's thinking and reading speed, simple reading would not take that long.

But if you add information integration and thinking, the speed slows down.

By reading the classics stored in the Lantern Festival, Lu Wenwu finally came into contact with information that did not exist on the outside world network.

For example, the history of Coconut Milk City.

Even if it's only been in the last three hundred years.

The Lantern Festival in history was indeed not as weak as it is now. They carried out organized and premeditated resistance plans five times, and the shadow of "Players" was behind four of them.

Unfortunately, all five attempts ended in failure.

Every time the Ran Deng Society launched a rebellion plan, it was when they had come up with some epoch-making new achievements and were ready to use them to overthrow the corporate cartel's rule.

But they would fail every time due to various reasons, and the remaining members of the Lantern Society were forced to split up and flee in order to keep the fire.

A large amount of technology and achievements were plundered and divided up by enterprises and groups, and new giant enterprises were born one after another.

In the past, the Coconut Juice City was ruled by the Zulong Group, the only super enterprise.

In today's Coconut Milk City, in addition to the Zulong Group, there are five other super enterprises, which compete with the Zulong Company in five different fields, and at the same time join forces with it to exploit all the people.

This is the saddest part.

The dragon slayer failed to slay the dragon and instead became the new evil dragon.

Failures again and again dealt a heavy blow to the Ran Deng Society, which was already unable to operate openly.

Although the once glorious underground city still exists today, its glorious past and spirit have long since vanished without a trace, leaving only two or three cats of varying sizes that have inherited its shell.

The current Lantern Festival is no longer able to spark another resistance.

It is only surviving with the help of six super companies and barely hanging on to life.

The only thing they can do is probably to provide some financial and information support.

As for the use of force, let’s not talk about it.

[The immortal gods are high above the heavens, overlooking the struggles and reincarnations of all things in the world]

After reading a lot of information, Lu Wenwu had a completely new understanding of this sentence.

A key piece of information was revealed in the classics of the Lantern Festival.

There are immortals in Zulong Company.

In other words, it's not just Zulong, there is at least one immortal in every super enterprise.

Lu Wenwu was not sure whether the news was true or whether several companies had really mastered the technology of immortality.

However, with the technological level demonstrated by Coconut Juice City, creating immortals would certainly not be a problem.

If those rulers can easily live for three to five hundred years, wouldn't that be like being like an immortal god to ordinary people?

They sat on top of a building high above the clouds, overlooking the entire city as people struggled to survive.

Others offer their own blood and flesh as tribute to these "gods" who can live forever and control the human world.

The "gods" watched with a smile as one newcomer after another came forward and raised the banner of resistance with their passion.

In the end, it ended in tragedy and he became one of the "gods".

Are immortals equivalent to gods?

Lu Wenwu wasn't sure.

But this is the guess that is closest to the facts, and it is even very likely that there are rebels from previous generations among them.

Wang Banxian’s main mission, the secret hidden in Zulong Company, is most likely this one.

Judging from the information left behind by those failed players, this is indeed a place without any spirits. There is no trace of any supernatural power except for the digitized vengeful ghosts.

The local myths and legends are even more nonsense, and there is not even a single word or phrase that can be called a word.

Apart from those vague speculations that seem to be true, the only things that can be called true and passed down are two words.

fire.

water.

Even the names Gonggong and Zhurong were given by the players who had come here before, giving the names from their hometown mythology to the illusory water god and fire god.

Therefore, after learning about a large number of speculations by "predecessors" about the background of this place, it was difficult for Lu Wenwu not to equate the immortals with gods.

(End of this chapter)