People in Terra, governing a weird little country

Led by Evangelista XI, everyone stopped and a cluster of candles was lit, illuminating the suffocating darkness around them. Within the range of the candlelight, a towering door like the Wall of Sighs stood in front of Ernst and Andorn.

Evangelista XI looked more solemn than ever before. Ernst had seen that expression many times on the faces of Kjerag's fellow countrymen who made the pilgrimage to Manju Monastery.

That is true piety.

It is said that people in high positions will be less pious, but Ernst does not think that is entirely true.

The human heart is not a pie-shaped statistical chart. There is no saying that some areas have more and some areas have less. There is no clear distinction between piety and worldly desires. Just like the elder, his corruption has almost reached Ernst's stereotype of stubborn conservatives. But Ernst never said that he was not pious.

Even on the tribunal of the Holy Stone, when Ernst was communicating with Yelagund, he did not completely deny the Great Elder's philosophy - Yelagund must be respected. People have protected Kjerag for thousands of years. Kjerag is Him, and He is Kjerag. Without Him, there would be no Kjerag. How could he be kicked out just because Boss Silver said, "We have to go our own way"?

You want to smash the pot after eating, right? Only Yelagund is so magnanimous. If a beast with a smaller heart and a worse temper came, and Boss Yin dared to shout like that, he would dare to leave tomorrow and stab Kjerag twice more, as a way of "returning the natural disasters that have been blocked for thousands of years to you all", what can the Kjerag people say?

By then, let alone walking your own way, will you still have the legs to do it?

Fortunately, Ensioudis, who had witnessed part of Yelagund's divine power in the Duke of Caister's Palace, had undergone some changes, and he never mentioned the matter again.

He was also very considerate and took the initiative to bear all the construction costs of the Yelagund statue.

Good man! Yelagund will surely be very satisfied!

As for the fact that the great elder finally died by suicide, this was one of the few things that Ernst did not specifically investigate. Anyway, his contribution after death was greater than his lifetime, and Ernst did not care whether he really committed suicide out of shame after being exposed on the spot by the god he believed in for tampering with the Yelagund Oracle, or because he was discovered to have tampered with the Yelagund Oracle to judge the Son of God and was assassinated by other elders of the Manzhu House Elders Council who were afraid of being liquidated.

There is no difference, they are all the same.

Evangelista XI's reaction now made Ernst certain what the door in front of him represented.

[Where the law is].

The Laterans believed in laws and the gods who made them, just like the Kjeragers believed in Yelagund. To be honest, Evangelista XI had a lot in common with Ernst in terms of his identity, stance, and even some of his ideas. He could be called another me in the world.

But Ernst always felt a sense of disharmony.

Perhaps it was because Ernst did not see a motherly [Latlan God of Law] by the Pope's side?

But now, the question will soon have an answer.

What could be behind this door? A sleeping beast? An open book? A pager that can communicate with gods like the Yelagund stone? Or...

The image of Yaer's graceful figure flashed through Ernst's mind.

Or is it a giant beast-humanoid who seems to be very idle, so he disguises himself as a human and wanders around?

Ahem, that's a bit blasphemous. I can't say I'm very free. I should say I took time out of my busy schedule to make an incognito visit. Okamachi is great, no need to say more!

Considering that no one has ever seen the Lateran god, nor heard of any legends about him, this god might be quite different from Yelagund... a bit of a homebody, but very outgoing and optimistic?

It fits my stereotype of Rutland.jpg

"Andorn, Sir Ernst, are you ready?"

Evangelista XI spoke.

Andorn and Ernst, who had come to his senses, nodded. They watched Evangelista XI walk towards the gate, stretched out his hand, and inserted the papal scepter in his hand as a key into the hole above the gate.

The hole was very big and the stick was very small, so it couldn't fill it up. However, a sound of unlocking, like a sigh, still came from the hole.

The entire underground space was suddenly filled with blue.

These were lines of energy running through them, and at this moment, like long snakes shining with spiritual light, they climbed up every wall of the entire underground space and converged together on the core of the towering gate that served as the center of the entire space - the huge keyhole where the Pope's scepter was inserted.

Then, under the gazes of Ernst and Andorn, the door that was tightly closed and did not let in a single ray of light slowly opened, revealing everything inside to Ernst and Andorn.

There were no sleeping giant beasts, no optimistic homegirls who loved desserts, and no unspeakable concepts. There was only some giant object that was within the knowledge of Ernst and Andorn, but far beyond their imagination.

The sounds of parts moving together became like the roar of artillery fire. The speed of program refresh quickly surpassed the fleeting lightning. Words appeared one after another on the huge screen, as if revealing the truth of the world.

Evangelista XI and Andorn could not read the words, but they could understand what they meant. Sakota's empathic aura conveyed the will of the law, combining different languages ​​into one command after another, and presented it directly in their consciousness, so they did not need to recognize what it was, nor did they need to think about why it was like this, they only needed to complete the simplest operation - understand the order and obey it.

Ernst could read the words, but he couldn't understand their meaning. Although he didn't know every word, they were connected together, allowing Ernst to understand what they meant.

Programming code.

It was a gigantic machine, a giant computer, running a program beyond imagination?

As if to verify Ernst's conjecture, Evangelista XI stepped forward and responded to the will of this [Saint (Authority)]. The magnificent law showed its original form to the two outsiders.

[Latlan Canon] Chapter 1: God created the world.

The world is not a superficial, narrow, or local word like the earth, but a real world. Ernst had not heard or said this word for a long time.

And this is the origin of this word in the Lateran.

A simple greeting, a convention, a tradition followed by all programmers

——【Hello World!】

It was as if a bald-headed elder was saying "hello" cordially to a visitor who had come tens of thousands of years later and whose name, identity and purpose were unknown!

Chapter 234: Sakota will live forever, even if he disobeys the gods

Regret, in short, I regret it very much.

If Ernst had known that he would one day be tested on programming after traveling through time, he would have applied for the Computer Science Department without hesitation and studied hard for his second-level computer science degree, which he had just passed.

At least I won't waste my whole life studying politics and law and finally get a job, and then wake up one day and experience what it means to "regret not having studied enough when you need it" and be left staring at this big computer like Andorn and Evangelista XI.

just kidding.

Ernst certainly would not superficially regret his original choice. Rather, perhaps if he had persisted in learning programming in depth, he might have developed in a completely different direction, but that would be another future that he could not predict.

And now he can stand on the land of Terra, and stand in front of the machine of law with the two Sakotas, Evangelista XI and Andorn. This result can only be created by Ernst, who is "born in the political science and law department".

Obviously, fate played a humorous joke on Ernst. It revealed the "easter egg" buried by some unknown predecessor inadvertently, and through the hands of Evangelista XI, arranged it into a meaningful "truth" that was revealed at the climax of the story. In the end, it gave Ernst a ridiculous result - he could see it, but couldn't understand it.

Ernst was very sure that the so-called "First Page of the Law" shown by Evangelista XI did indeed begin with the human programmers' ceremonial and traditional "Hello, World!", but the programming method used was definitely not any of the ones Ernst remembered.

Is it a coincidence?

Ernst frowned and asked himself subconsciously.

Arknights is indeed a two-dimensional tower defense game developed by a programmer. If a programmer really wants to place one or two Easter eggs in the game to commemorate himself without violating the rules, a short sentence like "Hello, World!" that can be explained by other game content is indeed a good choice. It also fits Ernst's stereotype of programmers - there is a weird humor system that others can't understand.

Some people may find it surprising that this easter egg is buried here, thus creating the magical effect of [the romance between pioneers and successors], [the humor of seniors towards juniors], and [the programmer breaking the fourth wall towards players] in one sentence?

But he quickly dismissed the idea.

Just like what Ernst said in the sci-fi movie Ready Player One, which was a fusion of countless classic movies, TV shows, and anime Easter eggs, the purpose of Easter eggs is to be discovered by people. It can be said that the content of Easter eggs itself is also part of the game content. In fact, the content of Easter eggs that need to be cracked in the game is directly related to the settings of the game itself.

In other words, the ultimate computer called "Law" by the Sakota, which is stored deep underground in Lateran, and the "Hello, World!" Easter egg saved on this computer, were also one of the props that were to be shown to the players at the time, triggering endless imagination.

This is not a coincidence, it was arranged long ago. As the game progresses, it will be hidden in the plot, something that flashes by but is crucial!

To express it with the pictures in the game, it is the CG picture when I came to Lateran and saw this machine. When everyone's attention was on the supercomputer, Evangelista XI, and Sakota's life experience, there were always one or two "small details" on the CG picture that Leeuwenhoek would notice.

Then these details will be made into a video [Small details you overlooked in the new Arknights event.avi] and posted on Bilibili, receiving a bunch of Leeuwenhoek-style exclamations like “What are you playing? I’m playing Arknights.”

And when the Terra world becomes real, there is no such thing as "process" in reality, so Ernst, the doctor who is not a "doctor", came here at this moment and became the first outsider to witness this thing.

However, the only problem is that in the setting of the "Doctor", perhaps he has the ability to understand and even operate this supercomputer, but Ernst obviously cannot.

Ernst can't program.

Programming is just like mathematics. Everything can deceive you except mathematics. If you don’t know how to do it, you just can’t do it. No matter how hard you try, you can’t do it.

Not to mention that this programming program was something Ernst had never seen before. It was obviously not the entry-level C language, or any other programming technology that Ernst had never heard of, but some higher-end, more advanced process. The only thing he could understand was the greeting that was preserved as a symbol of tradition.

This is really... embarrassing.

Perhaps it was Ernst's expression, which was very different from Andorn's, that caught the attention of Evangelista XI. The Pope asked curiously:

"Mr. Ernst, do you know anything about the law?"

Ernst shook his head decisively, without any hesitation or doubt, just like a college student who was asked whether he was confident about his final exam. His attitude was quite free and resolute!

Theoretically, the creator of this kind of advanced computer should have left behind some kind of intelligent recognition system. After all, Einstein once said, "I do not know with what weapons the Third World War will be fought, but I do know that in the Fourth World War, sticks and stones will be used." If a civilization experiences war and turmoil, then it is foreseeable that technology, history, and even a larger level of discontinuity and loss will occur. The programmer who left this computer behind should have considered the possibility that his descendants would re-train and create a "supercomputer system that even apes can use."

If he didn't, his boss would definitely make him work overtime.

But Ernst wasn't going to try, at least not yet.

Firstly, he didn't know the specific purpose of this machine, nor did he know how the creator of this machine relied on to identify humans. He was indeed a human, but now he was a real Flint cheese snow leopard from his external appearance to his internal physiological structure. Could this machine really recognize him?

Secondly, even if this machine has the advanced ability to confirm identity "through the soul" and can recognize him as a human, it is still unknown whether he, the human being who traveled through time, is exactly the same as the human being who left the computer. If he is purged because he is an illegal resident, it will be a loss.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the Law Machine is not ownerless now. There are two users standing next to Ernst.

If Ernst really passes the first two levels, what will happen next? Will Ernst have control over the Law Machine? Or will he just get a belated "Golden Finger System"? Or... as Mastema said, if the Law has the ability to influence the thinking of all the Sakotas with halos on their heads, does that mean that Ernst, who is recognized by the Law, has indirectly become a race-level... uh, hypnotist?

There are so many ways to play, but unfortunately, for some reason, the saktas are generally small and do not conform to Ernst's aesthetic concept of the human heart.

Ahem, I definitely don’t mean to secretly slander Xinteleya here!

Jokes aside, let’s get back to the point. Ernst didn’t have the ability or the desire to take on that kind of responsibility.

What kind of changes would obtaining the law bring to Lateran and the Sakota clan? Ernst didn't dare to think about it, nor did he dare to try.

There are so many things involved! It’s so huge!

Ernst has never thought about how powerful he is or how wise he is. From the time he became prime minister until now, he has been doing one thing all the time, and that is taking advantage of the situation!

With the help of Windermere, Columbia, Yelagund and Rhine Life, cooperation has always been his action program. He is far from being able to carry the future of an entire race on his own.

Not to mention, if it was just this, it would be fine. But who doesn't understand the principle that a man is innocent but guilty of possessing a treasure?

If the secret of the law were to be leaked, Ernst would have to seriously consider the safety of Kjerag and Lateran.

A machine that can control an entire race is controlled by the leader of a small country. This will cause much more terrible trouble than if ordinary people hold the Heshi Bi in their hands.

So, Ernst wisely remained silent.

Holding this card, Ernst is one of the people who understands Lateran's deepest secrets. It is equivalent to directly getting Lateran's handle, and he has a reason to advance and retreat.

The bomb is most intimidating when it is held in the hand. At least, Ernst can use this incident to achieve his goal of letting Kjerag take the lead.

Evangelista XI nodded slightly and felt a little relieved.

In his opinion, it was an indisputable fact that Ernst had some knowledge of the law, otherwise he would not have been able to directly convince Andorn and let him skip the stage of questioning the fairness of the law and fast forward to the stage of questioning the nature and necessity of the law.

And the unique expression on Ernst's face when he saw the law with his own eyes just now indeed confirmed Evangelista XI's guess.

He did know something.

But fortunately, not many people know about it.

Moreover, Ernst was very measured. After achieving his goal and forcing Lateran to hand over the evidence, he took a step back and gave Lateran some face.

This was a formidable opponent. If it came to scheming, Evangelista XI had to admit that he was far inferior to him.

However, Evangelista XI also felt somewhat relieved and proud.

Because, perhaps Ernst had never expected that Rutland was not really so determined to "seize the initiative" and did not think it was necessary.

Evangelista XI believed that it would be a good thing if the Summit of Nations could be initiated by Lateran, as it would enhance Lateran's international status and consolidate the holy city's transcendent political significance.

But losing this position is not unacceptable.

Because they are Shakota, because they obey the Law, and because they have only one ultimate goal - [survival].

Fame, wealth, status, and even the holy city and the country itself are all illusions!

Even if it means sacrificing everything and disobeying the gods, Sakota will live forever!

Chapter 235 We exhibit the "future"

Ernst didn't know what Evangelista XI said to Andorn in the underground secret room. This was Lateran's business, and Ernst couldn't interfere.

It can only be said that this group of outgoing Sakotas did leave a deep impression on him. If one of them was missing, Ernst's ordinary visit would not have led to such a wonderful development that was completely beyond his expectations.

A normal diplomatic visit: the two delegations sit at the negotiating table behind closed doors and engage in heated arguments, refusing to give in; but once the doors are opened, they are all smiling, have in-depth exchanges, reach consensus, put aside disputes, and work together vigorously.

A Lateran-style diplomatic visit: The Pope and the Prime Minister sat in the lounge, eating fruit tarts and chatting. They talked about national affairs and the situation on Terra. In the end, they got so excited that they went directly to the tomb of their ancestors to do some on-site archaeological work and finalized the matter by pledging to the Great Mechanic Bodhisattva.

I can only say that it has a very Rutland-style feel. It is strange yet natural, so natural that it doesn't feel strange. No matter what it is, if it sounds outrageous and is done outrageously, but if it happens in Rutland, everything becomes normal.

Ernst smiled with relief.

Anyway, although four twos and one king were thrown at the beginning, the process was a mess and it led to a bigger mystery, but at least the final result was good.

winwin, win-win.