[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

Saar carefully observed the wooden tube that Yi Nan handed over, only to find that it is tightly nested together by two wooden tubes, so it can expand and contract freely.

Saar probed to one end of the wooden tube, and saw that the wooden tube was glittering and translucent, as if there was a bright crystal embedded in it.

He carefully held the wooden tube, imitating Yi Nan's appearance just now, and brought one end of the wooden tube to his eyes——

My eyes were blurry, and I couldn't see anything clearly.

With a smile, Yinan hugged his arm and gently held his hands to help him adjust the length of the wooden cylinder.While adjusting, he asked in a low voice: "How is it, is it clearer?"

Saar really felt that there was a large area of ​​radiant royal blue in front of his eyes, mixed with golden luster in the middle.

As Yi Nan adjusted the lengths of both ends of the wooden barrel bit by bit, suddenly for a moment, a very clear picture appeared in front of Sal's eyes:

That is the Ishtar Gate on the back of the city of Babylon.The city walls there are covered with royal blue tiles, and between the tiles are golden collages.

For a moment, Sal only felt that the Ishtar Gate was close at hand, and he could clearly see the golden lion and bison walking dignifiedly on the city wall.

"how……"

Sal made a sound in surprise, and almost wanted to reach out and touch it.He hurriedly removed the wooden barrel from his eyes, and when he looked again, he saw that the Ishtar Gate was still far away, standing on the north side of Babylon City, bathed in the last moment of sunset, and the royal blue city gate closed with the twilight. It's getting deeper little by little.

"This, this is—"

Sal could hardly believe his eyes.He leaned up to watch again, adjusted the angle of the wooden barrel slightly, and he could see the soldiers guarding the Ishtar Gate yawned loudly.

Lifting the wooden barrel again, the scene in front of me became blurred again.He imitated Yi Nan's gesture again and adjusted the length of the wooden cylinder by himself.

This time, he saw the Euphrates in the distance.He saw the pier by the river.The fishermen returning with a full load are sending their nets and catches to the shore, and the merchants coming from upstream and downstream are telling the sailors and porters at the docks to handle their goods with care and gentleness...

And in the streets and alleys of Babylon, Sal can see the signs of the tavern, the waiters standing in front of the tavern, the customers happily attending the appointment...even the lovers who hide in the hiding place and secretly hug each other. .

Sal stood on the Tower of Babel holding this magical wooden tube as if he was holding a treasure, and looked around the entire city of Babylon from inside to outside.

The strong sense of novelty at the beginning had calmed down now, at least Thrall would no longer reach out and try to touch what he saw.

The more you look at it, the more amazing it is.

He turned around, looked at Yi Nan, and sighed sincerely: "This is you again, the amazing you. You can't really be sent to me by the gods, right?"

Yi Nan shook his hands, shrugged his shoulders, made a face at Sal, and said, "No!"

Instead, she felt she wasn't "magical" enough.

She originally wanted to make this monocular out of glass.However, the current glass workshops can make extremely exquisite glassware, but they are still a bit inferior in optical glass.

In the end, the convex and concave lenses in this monocular are all made of crystal grinding-although the effect is very good, it is not an industrial product after all.

This made Yinan lamented that the interlacing was like a mountain.She is not in this professional field, and the knowledge and technology are really far behind.

Now facing Sal's emotion, she just shook her head and denied it, and gently and delicately took the wooden tube in Sal's hand, and said: "There is still a little time before the sky is completely dark, come, sit down and eat something. "

It was just sunset and the sky was still bright.If you want to watch the stars, you really have to wait patiently for the sky to be completely dark.

Thrall looked around, and saw that Yi Nan had indeed made a lot of preparations.She had prepared a glass lamp on the top of the Tower of Babel in advance, which was also called "Death Wind", a large can of beer, and something wrapped in a blanket.

Yi Nan ran to spread out the blanket, which happened to be a small space where the two of them could sit side by side.

Inside the blanket were two neat packets wrapped in leaves.Yi Nan beckoned Sal to come over, asked him to sit down, handed him a small bag with a smile, and said, "Are you hungry? Eat something to fill your stomach first."

Only then did Sal know that the bread inside the leaves was food.

According to his words, he unwrapped the wide leaves wrapped around the outside, revealing the bread inside.

Sal was indeed hungry, so he took a big bite.It never occurred to him that after chewing twice, he found that the bread was stuffed with fresh vegetables, melons and fruits pickled with salt and vinegar, and two or three slices of bacon.

After such a sip, the taste is colorful, and Sarbet is more than satisfied.

He was amazed and gorged himself, but he didn’t forget to say: “When we were in the desert before, you didn’t know that every day everyone has a share of water, and we can’t drink more than a drop... we can only dry it. Bread and bacon..."

"...how can this be, come..."

He doesn't need to describe it, just by wolfing it down, you can see how much he appreciates this food.

"Give--"

Seeing that Sal solved a "sandwich" in a short time, Yinan smiled and handed over the leaf packet in his hand.

Sal thanked him while taking it, and ate half of it first, only to find that Yinan's hand was empty.

He stretched out his hand and scratched the back of his head: "Then you..."

Yi Nan shook his head: "I'm not hungry!"

It's not that she's not hungry, but that she's fine if she's hungry.Seeing that Sal was eating deliciously, she was happy to hold a clay cup and sip beer at the side—this is also "liquid bread" anyway.

Saar wanted to be modest, but his appetite was very honest, and another leaf bag that Yi Nan handed him also entered his stomach in an instant.He took another sip of beer before continuing to sigh: "If only the soldiers in the barracks could eat these in the army, it would be great..."

Judging by his expression, the food in the barracks of the Babylonian army should not be very particular.

Yinan immediately smiled and said, "That's easy! Find a group of cooks, ask them to be special 'cook soldiers', and give them the treatment of regular soldiers. Guaranteed that the food in your barracks will improve immediately."

She is taking the path of "professionalization" - as long as the cooking soldiers can be treated the same as ordinary soldiers, not just civilians who have come to labor, and are responsible for logistics, the food in the army will definitely improve .

Saar listened, and the more he thought about it, the more reasonable he felt, and he was eager to try it, thinking that he could try it when he returned to the barracks.

He turned his head, looked at Yi Nan and said with a smile: "Does this mean that the gods sent you to Babylon?"

"With you here, the entire Kingdom of Babylon will benefit from it. Doesn't it..." He almost wanted to reach out and touch that cute little forehead, "It's full of ideas, even the king will be willing to bow down!"

But Yi Nan said seriously, "No, I have nothing to do with any god."

"Really!" she said seriously.

Sal was stunned and didn't know what to say. Embarrassed, he could only raise his hand and took a sip of beer, but he choked, trying not to cough, but his face turned red.

"In fact, rather than believing that the gods are in charge of everything for us, I prefer to believe in myself." Yinan said in a low voice.

At this time, the sky was already very dim, and the dark blue dome covered the whole field, leaving only a faint light on the western horizon.

The glass lamp next to Yi Nan, known as "Qi Death Wind", cast a warm halo, softly reflecting on Yi Nan's face.She was looking at Sal with deep eyes.

"If people can't believe in themselves, they can't stimulate the infinite creativity that belongs to people."

"Actually, the fresh ideas I brought to Babylon were all thought up by 'people'. And everything in Babylon is created by the people here. But if they don't want to believe it, they just wait for the gods to give it to them , the country will stagnate.”

"That's why people need to believe in 'people', in the power of 'people' themselves."

Yi Nan spoke in a low voice, speaking very slowly, as if he was not sure whether Sal could listen to him or not.

"As I told you once..."

She and Sal spoke at the same time, and the two continued together: "Are you more willing to believe in the 'will' imposed on you by the gods than in your own feelings?"

Sal looked at her, paused, and said, "You've always wanted to get the answer to this question from me, right?"

Hearing that, Yinan suddenly felt a little nervous.

She put down the beer glass in her hand, hugged her knees with her hands, propped her chin on her knees, tilted her head slightly, and stared at Sal solemnly with her eyes.

Thrall looked over Inan's shoulder, and behind her, the bright Venus had risen from the western sky.He was startled, as if he felt that the scene in front of him had something to do with what happened today.

But Yi Nan's expectant eyes made him have no time to think about other things.At this moment, he only felt that the face of the woman in front of him would be a thousand times, ten thousand times more beautiful than the rising Venus.

So he continued: "My most respected and beautiful princess from Medes, please give me your hand..."

After a while, a small hand that seemed to be carved out of alabaster was handed over to him.Compared with Saar's big rough hand, which was used to holding the horse's rein and sword, this hand was too perfect and too weak.

Saar held it carefully, and knelt down in front of Yinan on one knee.But at this moment, he only felt that he was clumsy.Words can't express the sincerity in his heart at this moment, he only dared to look at Yinan - it would be great if human beings could express their feelings only by looking at them.

But Yi Nan could read his eyes.

"I would rather trust my own inner feelings than the will of God."

"Therefore, I ask you to be my only wife. Please don't laugh at the oath I broke, and please forgive me for my rudeness and hurt to you in the past. Because of me, I finally understand—"

"In this world, I would like to preach to the world that even though the gods are looking down on this world, 'people' are still great and still have the right to choose freely..."

Yi Nan interpreted all these wishes from these eyes, and she almost wanted to say loudly: "Say it out, please say it out—"

"I am not the only one in this world who needs to hear such a loud voice."

But she didn't.

Everything is silent communication between the two.

Yi Nan lowered her eyes, her heart was pounding with nervousness, she didn't even know whether she should encourage Sal to say this.Because once Saar's words are spoken, her last mission in the entire "Retrospecting Civilization Project" may be completely completed.

Free will of human beings! ——With Saar around, this idea will be like a seed, taking root and growing stronger.

Human beings will not lose their faith because of this, and it is impossible to become atheists-this is not the fundamental purpose of this mission.After all, having faith is an important difference between human beings and other intelligent creatures.

But human beings with free will can get rid of the fate of being a "god's marionette" and do something for themselves.

Some people may think that this "freedom" makes human beings more selfish, savage, and cruel-but those are just individuals.

For humanity as a whole, it can gain new impetus, be propelled, rise up, fly to higher heights, and all this will come from this time, this moment.

However, once the task is completed and the magnetic field is suspended, Yi Nan will return to modern times and bid farewell to these lovely people forever.The craftsmen full of wisdom, the hardworking female officials, the naive deputy... Saar.

Once Sal speaks out his thoughts, it means that she will leave him.

Yi Nan stared at him intently, seeing himself cast a small shadow in his eyes.

She loves him.

From the first moment she saw him, she realized that this man was different.She seemed to be able to follow him, seeing Herod, Gilgamesh, Dumuz, and Dan's shadow... If souls could be superimposed, they would appear in front of her at the same time; One and only in this world, Sal.

From then on, Yinan knew what it was like to hit it off: as soon as we met, we knew that we belonged to each other and were destined.

He also loves her.Yi Nan knew this better than anyone else.

But when he expressed his love to his mouth, it was the moment when she left him.

Her watch seemed to be counting down again: 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second...

There is nothing more cruel than this - she thought so, frowning slightly, with a little sadness in her eyes, waiting for this moment to come.

Sal didn't know anything about it. He seemed to be infected by her sadness, and suddenly he held her hand tightly and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

Yi Nan smiled tightly, shook his head and said, "I'm fine, you said..."

Sal bowed his head for a moment, and suddenly asked a question that he might not even have thought about: "Do you believe in fate?"

Yi Nan pulled his hand out of Thrall's hand abruptly.And he held it so tightly that her hand turned red, and there was a sharp pain in the back of her hand.

She never expected that Sal would ask herself such a question.

--Do you believe in fate?

who said it?

"All the things originally given to the gods will exist in another form in human society-that is fate."

"'Fate' sent you to my side!"①

Whose "sweet words" are still in his ears, but Yinan can't believe that he just thought of this thought: this damn fate!

Sal's amber eyes shone brightly in the night, he looked very puzzled, he didn't understand why Yi Nan pulled away his hand, why he was so shocked by this randomly chosen "prologue", as if he was frightened Live the same.

Yi Nan was really frightened.

She had just discovered that she actually believed in "fate" - another form of god.This kind of concept is entangled in her cognition, the cultural concept she has passed on, her view of love...

In this way, she is actually exactly the same as the ancients who lived in BC. Then, what qualifications does she have to encourage and demand that others have "free will"?And she, a modern scholar, is actually the same, bound by "fate"?

This is not possible.

There's no way she's going to do it.

Yi Nan stood up suddenly, and stumbled back a few steps.Her face was as pale as chalk, and her eyes were complicated and intertwined.At this moment, she had countless thoughts, and she really wanted to express all the thoughts in her heart to Sal.

But she must first understand herself.

Sal was dumbfounded.

He watched helplessly as the woman fled quickly from in front of him.Her back quickly disappeared at the end of Tazhou's spiral staircase.

At the top of the Tower of Babel, the wind is very strong and cool after nightfall.Sal stood still.The "magic" monocular was at his feet, rolling around until it reached the deepest recess on the top of the tower, and finally stopped.

She left him a back.

And this figure is so familiar.

Suddenly he fell to his knees, on all fours—as if overwhelmed by the sudden flood of memories.The sharp pain came suddenly, as if he had lost her.

He turned his head to look at the star hanging in the sky, Venus was hanging brightly on the sky - and the person he loved forever, slipped away in front of him again like this?

No no no no.If he sat back and watched him go away like this, he wouldn't be Thrall anymore.

He waited for this day, waiting for a lifetime.

And he has been guarding against this day, and he has been guarding against it all his life.

Saar took a deep breath, unexpectedly calmly put away the monocular, pinned it to his waist, and then quickly left the Tower of Babel along the spiral staircase.

As soon as he reached the bottom of the tower, he asked the craftsmen sitting nearby: "Did you see the princess?"

The craftsmen looked at each other and kept silent.I'm afraid she once left a message, don't tell Sal her whereabouts.

Once it became quiet, Sal heard the crisp sound of hooves, and was quickly moving away.

Unexpectedly, all the craftsmen stretched out their hands at this time, pointing to a certain road and a certain direction at the same time.

Saar nodded excitedly to everyone, expressing that he would definitely chase her back, love and take care of her from now on, and never give her the chance to leave everything behind like this.

The guard of the royal court had already led another good horse, and said respectfully: "My king!"

Sal got on the horse, took a deep breath, and lifted the reins.

"May the king bring the queen back," said the guard.

Immediately afterwards, various languages ​​rang out from the Tower of Babel, all with the same meaning: "May the king and queen come back as soon as possible!"

The artisans wished Saar good luck together.They probably all understood: this is a match made in heaven.Letting anyone alone in this world is a disaster for the world.

Saar waved to the people, thanked them for their blessings, then raised the rein and galloped away in the direction pointed by the people.

Not long after, the new king of Babylon arrived at the gate of Ishtar.The guards who guarded the city confirmed that not long ago, the princess of Medes, no, the future queen had just left the city.The way was dark, so the guard at the gate lent her a torch.

Saar nodded, lightly picked up the rein of the horse and left the city.When he passed the gate tower of Ishtar Gate, he raised his head and glanced upwards—the stone tablet with inscriptions left by Herod, the regent, was placed right above the gate tower.

Sal raised his head, but he was meditating in his heart: ... Needless to say, I understand everything.

He pulled out the wooden barrel from his waist, first observed calmly with the naked eye, and after keenly capturing a fast-moving bright spot, Saar let the end of the monocular close to him while carefully adjusting the length of the wooden barrel.

Soon the bright spots in the distance turned into clear silhouettes in the lens barrel.Sal put away the wooden barrel, and said to the city gate guard beside him, "I see, it's her."

City gate guard: Such a thick night, so far away... Wang can see and recognize people.

"Great King of Babylon, I wish you good luck!" The gate guard also sent blessings.

Sal has already spurred his horses and embarked on the chase.Looking at the direction she was going, she should be going to the Summer Palace known as the "Sky Garden".

Saar is very familiar with this path - he has recalled countless times the feast in the summer palace before leaving.It was there that he finally realized that he was in fact already in love.

Thinking of this, Saar smiled wryly: Is there anyone more stupid than him in this world?

The person he insisted on waiting for all his life turned out to be the marriage partner whom he rejected from the very beginning.

"Can you still forgive me?" He asked anxiously in his heart.

The horse under him seemed to feel the urgency, and it galloped with all its strength.He rushed to the sound of the whistling wind passing by his ears, and he even remembered that once he tried his best to drive the night road like this, and almost missed her on the side of the road——

So he reined in his horse abruptly, and the outline and shape of the summer palace gradually appeared in front of him in the night.

In front of the gate of the Summer Palace, a female official waited anxiously holding a torch.When they saw Sal rushing towards him, they all pointed out: "It's on there!"

Sal looked up, and sure enough she was standing on the top floor of the Hanging Garden.The night wind blew her sleeves, as if the wind wanted to take her away.

Saar knew that there was no need to delay, so he quickly rushed up the stairs to the high platform.He never knew how he identified those complicated stairs and paths, but this time he didn't even think about it, relying on instinct, he found the path to that floor accurately, jumped, and stepped on it. off that platform.

He approached slowly.from behind her.

He wanted to quietly create a bond for her.

So that she would no longer be able to leave so freely, leaving him alone behind.

Unexpectedly, just after he arrived, she heard the soft breathing behind her ears.

She turned around, looked at Sal, pointed to the night sky, and said softly, "The starry sky is beautiful."

She was shocked, flustered, and evaded, but she got rid of all those negative emotions.She is still Yinan.

Now facing Saar, she still has the grace and calmness of a goddess.

Sal just stretched out his hand to her: it was enough for him to look at her——

There is a whole galaxy in her eyes.