Chapter 397 Macro narrative collapse
Chapter 397 · Macro narrative collapse
There is a theory in this world.
Collectives do not actually exist. All groups with more than a hundred members are essentially strangers bound together by some common narrative. Because human cognitive abilities have an upper limit, the number of relatives, friends, acquaintances—these places is actually limited. Once this limit is exceeded, they can only rely on some artificial common narrative to identify themselves until a stable... at least temporarily stable cluster structure is built.
This kind of narrative is very common, and they basically work by ‘finding similarities’. A piece of land is used to construct the narrative of "fellow hometown", and the same ancient celebrity who can be related is used to construct the narrative of "same clan". The same type of physical characteristics are used to construct the narrative of "the same race", and the same artificially compiled culture, or the history actually experienced, is used to construct the narrative of "compatriots".
They are all made up. In most of the world, there is no innate, absolute authoritative certification. Able to integrate more than a hundred intellectual individuals into a group. And they are also necessary, because it is difficult for human beings to survive independently in a world surrounded by enemies, so even if they use random methods, they must find a way to bring multiple human beings together and achieve mutual cooperation.
It is sacred and authoritative. Because humans need them to have authority. They cannot be refuted, because when the narrative collapses, the cluster becomes a mass of loose sand. The cohesive group will become a fragmented individual, and what will follow is failure.
Defeated in the face of natural disasters, defeated in the face of man-made disasters. Fallen in civil strife, lost in strife.
The members will all die miserably, unless another powerful narrative emerges, which can gain the recognition of these disintegrated people, or be forced to agree, so that the dawn of survival can be ushered in. Before that, all the weak will be annihilated. Only individuals who are strong enough can find a way to save their lives in this narrative collapse.
This rule works in many situations—it’s particularly effective in a creationist worldview.
Because gods do exist and interfere with the fate of all intellectual life forms on earth. Any narrative that attempts to ignore this objective existence of individuals will become the ravings of a madman, and similarly, the narrative that 'the gods created the world, and everyone in the world is the creation and people of the gods' will be particularly strong and stable, just like The laws of heaven and earth generally possess absolute authority. And any challenge that attempts to point it at it will be as fragile as a fly shaking a tree.
It is so stable that the intellectual life forms living in this world have no way of finding any comparable, or even comparable, substitute.
And this means that once it is exposed to the public eye, it will collapse irrefutably. Then, no matter how brave the warrior is, he will become a coward, and no matter how wise the sage is, he will become a fool. Because they are no longer a group that can cooperate and support each other. Instead, they are pitiful beings who are forced to fall into the darkness, isolated and helpless.
They were once the people of the gods. They believed that they would have a place to return to after death. They believed that the gods would provide guidance and even shelter when they were confused. And this was even a verifiable fact in the past.
And now, they are no longer.
…………………………
The sky is falling.
The sky is falling is not a descriptive field, but an objective fact. When the dark cracks in the sky collapsed, and the huge and majestic burning palace and the broken continent holding them fell from the cracks, all the intellectual individuals who could witness this terrifying celestial phenomenon had a vision in their minds. A clear understanding.
That was Valinor, the pure land beyond heaven where the gods lived.
But now, it is collapsing, it is falling in the abnormal permanent darkness, and it is falling in the unprecedented collapse of the great barrier.
The kingdom of the gods is falling - although I don't know why I can understand and reason about it. But all humans, elves, or trees who witnessed it knew at this moment that Valinor was falling.
It will arrive here in a few minutes at the latest, and it will completely wipe out Rivendell even to the dregs. And at this moment, there is not even a ray of light of the gods bursting out, and there is no evidence to prove that the falling Valinor will not annihilate and incinerate everything within a hundred miles.
The kingdom of God has fallen, what will happen to the gods in the kingdom?
A fate worse than being abandoned by the gods has come, that is, the gods are dead, and the kingdom and order of the gods have been destroyed. Because the former can still pray for atonement and wait for new hope, but the latter has no way to redeem it!
[You no longer have a place from where you came from, and you no longer have a place to return to. 】
[From now on, you will be lonely ghosts. You no longer have ancestors to pray to, no hope beyond life and death]
[The gods have reached their end, and you will not end up worse than them. 】
Here comes the irrefutable fact. Endless fear and despair immediately gathered into a tide. Even Nanya, the Ring of Fire operating at full power, could not suppress it, because even the holder of the Ring of Power, Gandalf, who always held optimism and hope, was here. For a moment, my heart was filled with despair!
The world is destroyed—and we are going to be destroyed too!
Once the terrifying consensus was formed, it was unstoppable - he almost watched helplessly as the coalition forces that were full of courage a moment ago collapsed into a ball of scattered sand in an instant. Seeing that the predator herd, which was already in danger and might lose all its morale points in the next moment and be completely defeated, gained hope of turning defeat into victory.
The coalition forces were retreating, and all fronts were falling apart. Many brave warriors were killed in an instant, and the several fourth-order behemoths that served as morale nodes also gained some time to breathe on the battlefield.
They are regrouping, they are retaking the battlefield - Gandalf was in a daze, and the powerful beast that had been suppressed by his sword and staff struggled out. The sharp and thick twisted arms struck his head with a powerful sweep.
He was able to block it easily - he should have been able to easily.
Like a dull old man, he witnessed the shadow approaching sharply. He saw the black shadow of death entangled him like 'fate'.
--What am I doing?
he thinks.
…………………………
--What am I doing?
Zheng Zha's brain is thinking - he shouldn't be thinking, but he is thinking.
He witnessed with his own eyes the creation and destruction of the three golden dragons, and the disintegration and fragmentation of the sky.
He was thinking - he couldn't take 'him'.
He watched helplessly as Haotian entered the mode of falling from the sky, and the trauma caused by the 'Comb of Hundreds of Soldiers' that he struggled to unfold could only be said to be neither painful nor itchy.
No pain or itching - Li Yan should have more powerful power. However, at this moment, he was unable to knock down the opponent in front of him.
The devil's ax is breaking.
The evil dragon's blood armor was full of cracks, and Onyxia's dragon soul was roaring in pain.
After gaining the power of falling from the sky, Haotian's whole body was filled with dark energy and light. They mixed with Levadin, who represented disaster and destruction, and exploded with unprecedented power.
--I'm dying.
The power of the Fallen Heaven extended on Levadin's blade, turning into a dark red light knife that spread for miles. Everything where it passed withered, and even though it was hundreds of meters away, all materials - whether it was wood, stone or steel, were burning violently.
Zheng Zha blocked the first sword, his battle ax was full of cracks, and the weapon in his hand was about to leave it.
Zheng Zha dodged the second sword, and his armor melted under the heat of the dark red light blade. Although there was no direct blow from the first sword, the damage he suffered was greater than before.
Why is this happening?
Why did he suffer even more serious injuries despite successfully evading it?
Is it because you are trying to escape instead of facing it head-on? Or... am I just being objective and destined to be defeated?
——What on earth am I doing?
Zheng Zha thought. The world slowed before his eyes as if dipped in amber. Nothing escapes his observation.
However, in this slow world, the huge and sharp dark red light blade wrapped in the Sword of Disaster was slashing towards his eyebrows at a speed that exceeded expectations.
My own perception could no longer catch up with the sword blade in front of me. My body has been unable to successfully avoid it. All he could do was to gather all his strength and try his best to block the light blade in front of him. Or be defeated by the light blade.
——I can take this sword.
Zheng Zha tried hard to raise the battle ax.
——I... won't be easily killed by this kind of thing.
The death river in his body was boiling, and countless lives surged in his heart. Like armor, guarding him like a legion. He felt as if he could successfully resist the destructive power in front of him. Even if he couldn't, the death river in his body could offset the trauma this time.
It should be like this.
The light blade is about to touch the giant axe, but before it reaches it, the axe blade is melting.
There seemed to be calls from my companions in the distance, which seemed anxious and panicked. But there is no help that can be most useful.
Should it be like this...?
The blood armor's gauntlets were shattering, and the flesh and blood wrapping the bones was evaporating. The number of 'lives' used to offset the trauma was reduced by thousands in an instant. However, even after reaching this point, the fatal light blade has not completely lowered!
Zheng Zha saw a vision - he saw himself dying under the blade of disaster. See the fall of the sky accompanied by the defeat of the indigenous coalition. I saw my companions dying one by one, and I saw the Zhongzhou team completely losing this battlefield.
Zheng Zha saw another illusion - he saw himself surviving by chance after consuming all the 'life' in the river of death. Seeing the fourth sword fall, Jiang Yu, who was struggling with another powerful enemy, glowed all over. Jiang Yu unlocked the fourth-level genetic lock and saved part of the battlefield. However, the coalition forces were still destroyed, and the Lord of the Rings was also lost. The powerful Central-Continent team had to leave miserably in blood and paid a heavy price before barely getting out of despair.
Zheng Zha saw another illusion - he survived, but Jiang Yu failed to break through the power. The companions managed to break out of this quagmire at a huge cost. Many familiar faces left him, but the enemy's pursuit never stopped. There are fewer and fewer people around me, and my condition is getting worse and worse. And in the end, there were only a few people left who could still struggle hard, and even if there were only a few people, there were still some chips that couldn't even pay for the team's negative points - when he finally returned to the main god space, twenty teleportation light beams In the middle, only one hangs down.
He saw a lot.
He saw his own failures and the ripple effects of his own failures.
He didn't know whether these things were prophecies or his own delirium fantasies. He only knew that the light blade was about to fall, and while he might be able to block it now, he would definitely not be able to escape.
Why is this happening?
There is no answer in my mind, but some fragments emerge. He recalled his sudden outburst when fighting the Balrog in the dark underworld of Moria. I recalled myself at that time and the thoughts that came to my mind.
[Freedom] - At that time, my mind was filled with such thoughts.
The meaning of freedom is to be carefree and unfettered. In other words, not being beneath everything.
If it is not below, it is above. The thing that drives this mood can be called jealousy, but it can also be expressed by the word enterprising. Of course, if you choose a more neutral word, you can also choose self-esteem or ambition. However, no matter what method he uses to modify or explain it, its inner true meaning will clearly emerge in his thinking.
——I am not satisfied with my current position. I hope for a better and more suitable place.
——"Exactly."
The light blade cut off the demon battle ax and tore the dragon's blood armor. The arm that the man subconsciously raised to block was severed and then evaporated. More than ninety percent of the 'life' accumulated in the dead river was lost in an instant.
It will reach Zheng Zha's eyebrows, and death may be in the next microsecond.
The world finally came to a complete standstill.
Everything in front of Zheng Zha turned into nothingness, and then was reconstructed into a huge circular conference venue. There were trillions of people attending the meeting, and every participant looked like him.
"You have finally begun to face your true nature, Zheng Zha, who is hosting this body for us." The trillions of participants all stared at him. He knows at this moment that the number of participants is the total number of cells in his body.
"You hope for a more suitable position, and it just so happens that we have the same idea."
The participants had a common will and at the same time turned into chaos.
Because each cell is no longer content with the status quo, and no longer believes that it is necessary to continue to perform its old responsibilities before it reaches its appropriate position.
The narrative collapses.
Individuals no longer obey the group, and the concept of "us" is forcibly erased at this moment.