Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 629 The White Night Archives (Part 2)
"Commander Shaneva, so you admit your strategy was wrong?" Wright stood to the side, a hint of sarcasm on his face.
“Mikhail just introduced me to that lost man with exceptionally accurate strategic judgment—no, he’s Olga, the superhuman. He hopes to use this to show me that the Federation Council is full of talent, that the current difficulties are only temporary, and that the Federation will soon be revived in your hands.”

"I... do not wish to deny your ambition, nor will I interfere with your actions. I simply want to remind you that Dak told me that the former administrator, Vasily, died from unbridled confidence, a confidence that had escalated into arrogance. This confidence destroyed his adeptness at caution and allowed the Federation to expand its reach, ultimately leading to disaster."

"What are you trying to say?" Shaneva asked in a serious tone, glaring at Wright.

However, Mikhail quickly leaned close to her ear and said, half warning and half advising:

"Right now, there are only the three of us in the 'White Night Archives.' As you've arranged, a large number of [Warriors] are stationed in the middle of the road leading here, so no one can get in. If you have a falling out with Wright here and he wants to make a move, we... can't beat him."

Upon hearing this, Shaneva quickly calmed down, and her expression softened from anger and confusion.

After all, as the leader of the Federal Council and the chief executive of half of Cruz's territory, he certainly has the ability to control his emotions.

“I’d like to hear your opinion, Wright,” Shaneva said gently.

“You should clearly see who your real enemy is: is it the so-called Nabrius rebels, or the Lost and the ‘Heartless’? If you can understand this, your strategy will not go wrong,” Wright further explained.

“Actually, back when Dark and I first entered Novayask, ‘Ray Page’, which is Anna, and ‘Fubing’ talked to us about the current situation in Eventre. At that time, we planned to replenish our weapons and supplies in Novayask and then cross the Eventre no-man’s-land with Adaloni, heading straight for the Banquet Empire, which you call Khitanris.”

“War is a complex situation, and besides, you and Dak, with your extraordinary strength, are the focus of any leader’s attention.” Shaneva tried to explain her purpose in forcing Wright to participate in the war.

She paused for a few seconds, coughed violently several times due to the dust in the air, and then continued to explain in a hoarse voice:
"Wherever you go, whether it's Crusad, Khitanris, the Zhrine Empire, the Central Empire... or even the now mostly destroyed Putoa Federation, as long as there is a leader who can control the situation, they will definitely try to recruit you to serve us."

“If you refuse or resist, you might face not just expulsion elsewhere, but being hunted down. Besides, the tentacles behind you and the ‘ancient power’ that cannot be hidden can’t be concealed from anyone. Wright, as the leader of Crusad, I know the destiny you must bear. If you don’t want to be used by others, there are only two ways.”

“It seems you’ve misunderstood me, but… that’s what I’d like to know, I’d like to hear the details.” Wright nodded slightly and looked at Shaneva.

"Either become an organization like the 'Chaos Group,' making a living through assassination, killing everyone who tries to use you. As long as the war continues, no leader will want to get their hands on this hot potato. Or become an officer, rise through the ranks, or through a series of coincidences, build your own organization, recruit an army, and become a leader." Shaneva presented Wright with a grand plan:

“I know you once hoped to become the human who would end the wasteland era, the creator of the star era, and the ‘Echoer’ whom everyone admires. Then you should find a way to become a leader, liberate all the territories occupied by the ‘Heartless’ and the Lost, and save the people who are suffering there.”

"In this way, you will become a leader even greater than Ivan XXII, and your great achievements will be engraved on steel plates, carved on meteorites, and printed in books, making you a great leader whom future generations will forever admire."

"So, what should I do first?" Wright asked a soul-searching question, looking at Shaneva with a barely perceptible sneer on his lips.

"The first step, of course, is to find a powerful platform. You know, this place is far from Qidanris, but close to Icefall City." After "persuading" her for a while, Shaneva finally revealed her true purpose, albeit somewhat awkwardly:
"The Khitans enjoyed more peaceful territory and time than any other people on the continent. The only reason they were able to maintain such a large, contiguous territory was because of the majestic snow-capped mountains of the Aventure Wasteland, the Western Desert, the Plateau Province, and the cage formed by the Eastern Sea."

"The 'New Yuan Crisis' and the 'Heartless Virus' originated from Crusde. By the time chaos erupted there and the 'virus' spread, the Khitans had enough time to build defenses and develop medicine. By the time the 'Heartless' actually appeared on the border, they had already transferred a large number of people and resources back to the core control area, which is why it became what people call 'paradise'."

“As you mentioned, it has enough resources and population, and therefore enough opportunity, ability and determination to expand outwards. If Dak and I could go to Khitanris and lead a few armies to launch an attack, it might be easier than facing the massive waves of ‘heartless people’ in Crusad.” Wright revealed half of his thoughts.

"But in all these years, have the Khitans expanded their living area?" Shaneva snorted coldly, looked at Wright, and answered her own question:

"The truth is, no. They were trapped in a so-called 'obsession with the land' from which they could not extricate themselves. Even during the population boom of the Third Age, when the land could no longer support so many people, they still did not follow the example of the Putoia and the Middle-earths in colonizing outwards."

"You should know that even the Crusad Empire, which is primarily land-based, has carried out overseas colonization and seized several ports and a territory from the Putoa in the province of Philica. The emperor of the Khitanris did not take any action at all throughout the Third Age."

Shaneva paused, glancing at Wright's reaction out of the corner of her eye. Seeing that he seemed somewhat dazed, she offered further advice:

“Even if you go to Khitanris and are quite familiar with their culture and fluent in their language, you will still be seen as an outsider, an alien and a ‘second-class subject’ in their eyes. You won’t get enough resources there to satisfy your primal, essential ambition, will you?”

“You know, I don’t belong to this world. I might actually be from the Flame Empire…” Wright tried to explain.

But Shaneva quickly interrupted him:
"I hope that the Church and those fools of the Geniuses have summoned you into this world, and once you have entered, there will be no way for you to leave. Unless you die, your body and soul will be inextricably linked to your destiny. This is the content of the 'reason' established by the Creator."

"Don't you believe me?" Shaneva said, taking a thick, old book with a black cover from Mikhail.

She stroked the lifelike, simple line drawing of a purple dragon on the cover, feeling the slightly smooth surface that had been deliberately cleaned, appreciating the book's weight, and skillfully turned to the back pages.

Immediately afterwards, she took out the bookmark engraved with the "Sun Ashes" emblem, put it in her pocket, and handed the book to Wright.

“Kruskal, since you can speak it, you should be able to understand it, right?” Shaneva pointed to a piece of handwritten, slightly messy Kruskal text and said:

"This was recorded around the 15th year of the New Era by a group of experts in the Old Empire who were well-versed in mysticism. They were either magicians, proficient in the use of magical energy, or even high-ranking professionals. After communicating with the Creator's avatar and the consciousness that remained in the world many times, they wrote this book, 'The Principle,' in Kruskal.

"Is this the specific content of the 'reason' that I've heard so many times since I came to this world?" Wright looked at Shaneva incredulously, trying to find any trace of deception in her eyes.

Unfortunately, whether it was the fluctuations in the red magical energy feedback or simply observing micro-expressions, Wright couldn't find even the slightest trace of deception. On the contrary, as a leader, especially a leader of the Crusaders who revered pure force and power...

Shaneva did not resort to those tiresome and criticized deceptions and schemes; her eyes revealed a profound sincerity.

“That’s right,” Shaneva explained further.

"If we follow the standards set by that now-defunct organization, this book, 'The Principle,' would qualify as a Ranked Monster. In fact, back in 213 AD, the Crusad branch of that organization did indeed list it as a Ranked Monster, MB-4001, making it one of the few newly added Ranked Monsters after the New Era."

"As the leader of the Federation Council, I am willing to admit that 'The Reason' has become an ordinal monster. This is because those mystics foresaw that the 'New Era Crisis' would not only destroy the Empire but also the entire world. In extreme despair and panic, they completed this work with unwavering faith."

“If all of this is true, they have indeed paid a heavy price,” Wright remarked, flipping through the weighty book, “Reason.”

"What they sacrificed wasn't just magical energy, money, resources, and effort. It was their lives!" Shaneva's voice grew heavy, and she almost choked up as she spoke.

"Mortals who lack divinity will go mad when they see gods; magicians with a core of order will go insane when they see the seven first-order gods; and high-level professionals, those who are close to demigods, will also commit suicide due to unbearable mental torment after seeing the Creator, listening to His instructions, and receiving the information He bestows."

"In order to complete this almost unspeakable work, these occult experts faced the Creator with a death wish, trying their best to understand the knowledge and information He conveyed. They always hypnotized themselves as 'human beings' to avoid falling into the quagmire of 'prostrate worship' of cognitive collapse when they were trying to understand the truth of the universe, because of their worship of the vast and endless universe and their inferiority complex about their own humble identity."

“I understand. It’s like… you’ve been a rat living in the sewers for over a decade, and suddenly one day you meet a god who instills in you the concept of being human. Then you suddenly realize how nauseating it is to rummage through garbage for stinking food, and how devastating it is to feast on the bodies of your own kind and human limbs,” Wright said, “empathizing.”

After all, Wright wasn't a god, yet he possessed the absolutely extraordinary power of red magical energy, and he had to undertake the mission of the "Order Keeper," acting in a manner close to that of a god. All of this was passive, without any guidance, not much different from a rat "identifying with a personality."

In a daze, he actually believed that humans were as insignificant as ants. To experience the power of gods as an ant filled him with shame and an indescribable humiliation. The baseness of humanity disgusted him, the pain of being human tormented his soul, and a sense of weakness and helplessness surrounded his body.

However, he quickly awoke from his mistaken belief, looked at the book of reason in his hands, and asked:

"So, what happened to these mystics afterward?"

“They’re all dead. They sacrificed their bodies and souls to the Creator, the gods, and all the manifestations of the Creator’s consciousness. Because they glimpsed the ‘rules’ that originally belonged to the gods, they should pay the price with their mental collapse and their souls that eternally serve the gods.” Shaneva paused for a few seconds, lightly wiping the corners of her eyes, and continued:
"This book, 'The Principle,' is a monograph that introduces all the rules of the Creator. Its record of 'The Principle' is quite complete. However, there is one thing: it must never be transcribed in Middle Chinese, let alone read aloud in Khitan Lis.

"Why?" Wright asked, puzzled, looking up at Shaneva.

“The Central Language itself is a language for communicating with the gods, and the Khitan Ris language itself possesses divinity. Ordinary people who read more than three pages of this book, *The Book of Reason*, will go mad or die. Even upper-class professionals like you and me can only read a maximum of 13 pages at a time. To read it completely, besides possessing 'divinity,' one must also obtain divine permission,” Shaneva explained.
"Unfortunately, the gods of the Wasteland Era were either killed or went into hiding. If you really want to know everything about it, you can only go to the Lord of the Night."

“Oh, right, that ‘reason’ you mentioned is right here.” Shaneva pointed to the middle of the page.

"Here?" Wright glanced over and read aloud:
"Any intelligent being that comes into the world by appealing to the Creator cannot leave the world created by the Creator, unless the Creator dies or the intelligent being becomes a god. The Creator will bestow upon the summoned being a great mission until its death."

"So, whether you go to Khitanris to pursue your future or stay in Crusde as an officer is up to you, Wright Sogra." Shaneva's authoritative voice, befitting a leader, resonated in Wright's ears from behind.