[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

In the temple of Uruk, Wu spent another afternoon doing nothing.

The "Holy Maiden" has gone to Eridu, and there is no news of it yet—this often makes the witch secretly happy: in the city of Uruk, she is still the one who holds authority and everyone wants to listen to her.

But the problem is... Now in Uruk, not many people are willing to listen to her.

From ordinary residents to trainee priests, those low-status people who have never been worth mentioning have now straightened their backs and gained confidence-they probably think that whenever they answer a question, they will be led by a "saint" They solve it without worrying at all.

Thinking of this, Wu couldn't help but frowned, feeling uneasy in his heart: The "Holy Maiden" went to Eridu in Enki, and now she might not be able to protect herself. Why do everyone in the city believe her so much?

This "Holy Maiden" of Uruk was born at the New Year's ceremony, and within a few days she solved the shell coin problem neatly. After that, she went to Eridu quietly.

But she has already left the city, and there are still many people working for her in Uruk, saying that they want to transform the "temple" into a place where young people from all over the world can come to "learn".

This is really a big joke: Goddess Inanna bestowed the precious wealth on Uruk, those stargazing, calendar, counting... How can ordinary people of ordinary backgrounds get their hands on it at will?Would the temple still be considered "sacred" in that case?

But all the trainee priests, and even a small number of low-level and middle-level priests, no longer obeyed the orders of the witch and high-level priests.They didn't know where they got the order from. Some of them continued to maintain the daily order of Uruk and the temple, while others sent news to the villages around Uruk step by step.

Wu sees it in her eyes, and she is angry in her heart - in this way, she can hardly feel the meaning of "Wu"'s existence.

The people around her were also gradually changing, and the way the high priest looked at her also changed, and even asked her more and more questions.Wu vaguely felt that the high priest was also considering challenging her authority.

The only thing that makes Wu feel caring is the trainee priestess Gashti beside her.She remained silent as usual, but she would complete all the witch's orders properly.

It's just that sometimes Gashti needs to take a break.

Wu was able to understand this girl—after all, Gashti often accompanied her to watch the stars at night and stayed up all night.

Wu has passed the age when she needs enough sleep, and she can't fall asleep even if she falls asleep on a day when she can't watch the stars.But young people are understandably eager to rest.She also let Gashti go to rest by himself, and when the afternoon passed, when night fell again, Gashti would reappear by her side full of energy.

So, this is another boring day - Wu thought so, and came to the steps in front of the temple, ready to watch the sunset.Here is an excellent angle to watch the sunset. On a fine day, you can see a round red sun slowly sinking into the western horizon.

And Venus, the goddess, is about to rise in that direction.

The same is true today, the clouds in the sky have been dyed a warm golden color, but the sunlight has become less dazzling.A round of orange-red, gentle red sun slowly sank towards the horizon.

Wu has seen such beautiful scenery countless times, and it is difficult for such a sunset to stimulate her senses.She just walked casually, looking casually, waiting, waiting for the night to come and the sky to be filled with stars.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, something suddenly grabbed Wu's gaze and pinned her feet, causing her to stand still, frowning, and stare closely at the red sun.

In that round of red sun, an obvious black spot appeared.

This black spot is definitely not a flying bird, but looks like a mole on the surface of the sun.

But if you look closely, this is definitely not a "red sun mole". The black spot moves steadily and slowly, and draws a trace on the surface of the red sun in an unusually straight way.

Wu suddenly stretched out his hand to cover his mouth——

God, this trajectory... Isn't it that she is used to seeing the world every morning and evening, Venus?

The surface of the red sun seemed to be burning with flames, while Venus was moving abnormally straight at this moment, faintly showing the tendency to fall, Wu was very worried that it would suddenly fall.

Although it is the sunset, the eyes feel a little uncomfortable after looking at it for a long time.Wu was terrified and felt his eyes were sore and swollen, so he quickly lowered his head and rubbed his eyes vigorously with his hands.

When she raised her head again, the red sun had gradually sunk below the horizon, and the black dot, no, the Venus representing the goddess Inanna had also disappeared.

Wu was shocked, she quickly took a few steps forward, ran to the high steps, and looked around as much as she could.

Her eyes searched the entire sky—there was no sign of Venus anywhere.

When Gashti found Wu, Wu was kneeling in front of the steps and crying.

Gashti was extremely surprised—she grew up in Uruk and stayed with Wu for more than ten years.She had never seen Wu lose his composure, explode and cry like this.

Gashti hurried up to help Wu, only to see that Wu's eyes were red and swollen, whether it was from crying or for some other reason. For those who didn't know, he thought Wu was about to go blind.

"Venus, Venus has fallen—"

"Our goddess, she..."

Wu tugged on Gashti's robe, crying hoarsely.

Gashti came a step late and didn't see the sunset just now. She didn't know what to do at the moment, so she could only pat Wu on the shoulder lightly, hoping to quickly stabilize his mood.

What Venus is falling, don't it be that this witch is getting dizzy because of his age? — Gashti thought to himself.

At this time, footsteps sounded on the steps, and two ordinary residents of Uruk stumbled to the temple with panicked faces.

Gashti pulled his face, and was just about to ask what they were here for.

Unexpectedly, when they saw Wu like this, they also shed tears.

"We just, just took a look and found that Venus was rushing into the sunset - just wanted to ask..."

"Really, did something happen to our goddess?"

The residents of Uruk seem to be very concerned about their main god: "I saw the saint in this city during the New Year... but I haven't seen her for a few days..."

Wu was so out of breath from crying that he couldn't speak a word.

Gashti could only answer in embarrassment: "I heard that the saint went to Eridu recently."

"Oh--"

The tears of these two ordinary people immediately fell. "It's not about the 'battle of the Lord God' with Eridu, is it?"

"No, I don't believe it. The goddess Inanna is the main god of Uruk, and nothing can defeat her."

Wu raised his upper body with difficulty, and looked at the person in front of him with tears in his eyes: "But... you also saw it..."

——You have also seen the star rushing straight into the red sun, and you have also witnessed such a heart-wrenching fall.

"Yes……"

Ordinary people in Uruk also wept together, kneeling directly on the steps of the temple.Even if they believed in their gods and their saints again, they couldn't help but disbelieve everything in the face of the strange celestial phenomena they had seen with their own eyes, and seeing the witch crying like this now.

The news spread quickly, and before the sky completely darkened, half of the people in Uruk had heard about it.

Many people held their lights high and came to the temple in groups, looking anxiously towards the west.They still hope that Venus will appear in the low western sky as usual.

But the more lights gathered in front of the temple, the dimmer the stars on the sky became, elusive, as if unwilling to be seen clearly.

People waited until late at night and were finally disappointed.The cries in front of the temple rang out, and the atmosphere of the whole city suddenly reached its lowest ebb since the New Year.

Wu used up his last tear in front of the temple, and now he was sitting paralyzed in front of Gashti, unable to cry at all.

Unexpectedly, in the midst of crying, Wu didn't know where the strength came from, Gulu stood up and came to the front of the temple steps.

The night wind made her purple robe rustle in the wind.Wu suddenly stretched out his hands to the stars in the sky, as if he could ride the wind and fly up.

She shouted loudly: "People of Uruk, our goddess has left us. But she left us one thing, as long as this thing is still there, Uruk still has power .”

What the shamanism refers to is naturally controlled by the shamans of the past dynasties, and the fetish handed down from the hand of the shaman Dan-it is said that the power that can keep Uruk prosperous comes from this.

This sentence did not bring much comfort to people—at this juncture, everyone was immersed in mourning and nostalgia for the goddess. People were sad for the goddess, but they really didn't care about what would happen to Uruk in the future.

No one cares about witches at all.

Seeing that her words had no appeal at all, Wu was also very discouraged. After a while, she took a deep breath and regrouped.

"Grieving people, I understand your feelings. But Venus fell into the sunset, which is also true, and you have seen it with your own eyes."

"But we still have the artifact left by Wizard Dan."

"In the past 1000 years, Uruk has relied on this fetish to maintain prosperity and vitality. At least we can't let down the wizard Dan who laid the foundation for Uruk many years ago—"

"He is the greatest witch in the world!" Wu said hoarsely.

Amidst the cries in Uruk, someone raised his head because he heard the name of "Wizard Dan", and asked with tears in his eyes: "Wizard Dan... really left the secret to keep Uruk prosperous? "

Wu didn't know where the strength came from, turned around suddenly, and rushed directly into Inanna's temple, climbed up to the end of the temple, a pottery pillar that symbolized Inanna, and took out from a hidden compartment at the top of the pillar A box polished from hardwood.

Holding the casket in both hands, she raised it high above her head, came to the temple, and shouted to the Uruk people who were weeping because of the "celestial phenomenon":

"Look here, this is the sacred object left by the wizard Dan, the last remnant of the goddess Inanna in this world. With it, Uruk can continue to prosper."

The box held high in Wu's hand, and Wu's incomparably firm tone, finally touched the desperate and mourning Uruk people.

Many people bowed to the witch: "Respected witch, please follow the great decree left by the wizard Dan and continue to lead Uruk forward!"

"We, we only have you..."

"..."

That night, many people in Uruk stayed up all night.The same is true of witches.She comforted the inhabitants of Uruk long before the sanctuary of the temple of Inanna, giving them promises and assurances, until the day was about to break, when a clear light from the east struggled to illuminate the earth through the thin clouds of the sky, Only then did he return to his hut behind the temple.

Wu entered the house, knelt down exhaustedly, and buried his face between his arms.

After a while, her shoulders began to shake, and the shaking became more and more intense.

Finally, Wu Yi raised his head and let out a frightening laugh, which was full of joy and pride.

What a coincidence, what a coincidence—she didn't even think of it!

When the "Holy Maiden" went to Eridu, a great event happened that Venus rushed to the setting sun and then fell.She bumped into such a good opportunity.

In fact, Wu didn't care about the life and death of the so-called "saint" at all, and she didn't even care whether the goddess Inanna had a "battle for the main god" with Enki—as long as Uruk's current situation and traditions, Wu It's good that everything in front of her can be safely passed down from her hands.

She was laughing and laughing, and suddenly the laugh stopped abruptly—she heard breathing behind her.

"It's been all night, you need to rest—"

It was Gashti's voice.Wu suddenly relaxed, turned around, and faced this young girl who had always been taciturn: "So it was you who surprised me."

Now Gashti is her most trusted person, and Wu has even made up his mind to pass on the identity of "Wu" from generation to generation to Gashti in the future.She didn't care a bit about revealing any of her true thoughts in front of Gashti.

Wu turned around and saw Gashti with a blank expression on his face, holding a small clay bowl in his hand, which contained barley porridge, the surface of the porridge was golden yellow, and it was the best honey near Uruk.

"You need something to eat, too."

Gash held the warm pottery bowl to Wu with both hands, and took two steps back, ready to leave.

"Gashti, you stay and sit with me for a while."

Wu kept Gashti, but left her aside, drank the bowl of well-warmed barley porridge by himself, closed his eyes slightly, and seemed to feel very comfortable.

"Gashti, do you want to know what Wizard Dan left behind?"

When she opened her eyes again, she had put away the pottery bowl and was playing with the wooden box polished from hardwood.

The box was probably made of walnut wood, with an extremely smooth surface—in the past 1000 years, it has passed through countless hands and rubbed countless times, and it has become what it is today.

Gashti stared at the box intently.She could feel that although Wu was in a relaxed state of mind, he was closely observing her every move at this moment, and would not let go of her expression.

After a while, Gashti said, "I don't want to."

This answer seemed to be both unexpected and expected, Wu smiled slightly and then asked, "Why?"

"Mystery is its true power." Gashti replied indifferently.

As long as the box is not opened, it will have power—once it is opened, the power will disappear.

Wu couldn't help laughing again: "Gashti, Gashti, you are so smart, so smart that I don't know whether I should be wary of you."

She took Gashti's hand and placed the slender hand on the surface of the box, feeling the thin calluses on the girl's hand.

It seems that this Gashti, from the humblest apprentice priest to today, has become the witch's confidant, and he has indeed suffered a lot.

Wu felt relieved: "Good girl, as long as the current difficulties are over, everything here will be yours in the future."

There was still no joy on Gashti's face. On the contrary, there was a little panic on her face, as if Wu's promise was too heavy for her, and she was afraid that she would not be able to bear it.

"Go and rest, you were too busy last night." Wu ordered wearily.

Gashti agreed, bid farewell to Wu solemnly, and left the house with an indifferent face, leaving Wu's residence.

She walked down the long steps in front of the temple and walked towards the temple storehouse.Before entering the warehouse, she turned her head quickly to see if anyone was following her.

Mourning city, lonely streets... No one paid attention to her, an ordinary trainee priest.

Gashti went into the storehouse of the temple, and called for Kusin, and asked him to extract the wheat and honey for the witch's daily diet.After Kusin counted the items, he took out the clay tablet and asked Gashti to sign it. Gashti took out the small pottery seal that belonged to the witch, poked it on the surface of the clay tablet, and said a few words to Kusin by the way. talk.

Kuxin was startled, nodded, turned around and put down the clay tablet, letting Gashti take the food away.

After Gashti left, Kuxin handed over the warehouse of the temple to a young man from the village of Tibila, put on a robe, left the warehouse of the temple, and went to the horse farm on the outskirts of Uruk.

There Cushing found a horse trainer and whispered something in his ear.

After hearing this, the horse trainer clenched his fist with his right hand, beat his chest vigorously, and said goodbye to Ku Xin with a sound of "dongdong".

Kusin turned his head and left. The horse trainer had already jumped on his horse. After identifying the way, he immediately galloped downstream along the Euphrates River.

Hearing the sound of hooves going away, Ku Xin couldn't help but close his eyes, and asked in his heart:

"Most respected goddess, are you okay now?"

Yi Nan also saw the scene of "Venus transiting the sun".

Inan was on his way back to Uruk from Eridu when the Transit of Venus occurred.

She was in a very good mood: in the past few days, she instructed Enki to build the first real "ship", and the two exchanged very frank opinions and views on various shipbuilding materials.

As a result, Yinan also finalized a large order to purchase natural asphalt from Uruk.These orders can be handed over to villages like Tibila to complete, allowing local villagers to earn an extra income out of thin air.

In addition, Enki asked her for advice: asked her if she could solve the problem that the stone nails and wedges used to fix the ship's plank were too fragile and easy to break.

Inan smiled and said nothing, only telling Enki that her Uruk also faced this problem, but she should be able to find a solution soon.

Enji, the "old boy", was unhappy at the time, and he grabbed his white beard and accused Yi Nan of "stealth".How did he know that Yi Nan was waiting for Rahal's caravan to bring back the natural copper ore and hematite ore from afar for her.

When she has these materials in the future, the current age can easily overcome various obstacles, wave goodbye to the Stone Age, and stride into the "copper and stone age"-it is impossible to completely abandon stone tools at once, but metal The arrival will bring unprecedented opportunities to the field of shipbuilding and machinery.

Of course, when the people of Uruk knew how to smelt and use metals, Enki of Eridu, for his "great cause" of shipbuilding, had to be friendly and cooperate with Uruk for generations.

This is equivalent to that Yinan and Enki have finalized an "order" that belongs to the future.

In addition to these orders and "potential" orders, Yi Nan's tour group drove an ox cart, led a bay horse, and brought a shepherd dog, returning with a full load.

Their ox carts were loaded with all kinds of goods and merchandise that Enki sent them, far exceeding the value of those they had brought.Enki seemed to spare no expense, but also wanted Inan and the others to show the "best goods" of Eridu to the people of Uruk.

In addition to these tangible and intangible things, what makes Yi Nan most proud is that she has received a "promise" from Enki——while she starts to clean up the "long-standing abuses" in the Uruk Temple, Enki will not just stand idly by, Instead, support will be provided when necessary.

After all, Enki himself knew that once Inan solved Uruk's existing problems, it would only benefit Eridu, a neighbor.

When Yinan was so happy to anticipate the future of Uruk, she and her companions saw the spectacular scene of "Venus transiting the sun".

"Venus transits" rarely have the opportunity to be directly observed by the naked eye - after all, the period between each "Venus transit" is very long.Moreover, this "Venus transit" just happened at sunset when the sunlight is not strong enough, so that the eyes of people observing the surface of the sun will not be hurt.

Unexpectedly, when Yinan and Dumuzi were building an arbor together and staring at the sunset, the middle priest Guda suddenly cried and knelt down.

Gu Da cried extremely sadly holding his face, and said loudly: "This is a bad omen, this is a bad omen—"

"The Venus of the Goddess, the Venus of the Goddess is gone—"

Yi Nan just wanted to say that it was actually the shadow of Venus moving out of the line between the sun and the earth, and Venus was still orbiting in the sky perfectly at the moment.Unexpectedly, when she turned her head, she saw Hamti and Ak both looking at her in fear, as if she would disappear from her eyes in the next moment.

Only Dumuzi took a step forward and stood beside Yi Nan—this young man looked very calm, and he was more concerned about Yi Nan than worried.

Yi Nan lowered his head, and was suddenly a little thankful that he brought Gu Da on the road this time - Gu Da is a middle-level priest, so naturally he always adopts the way of thinking of witches and priests.Looking at Guda's reaction in front of her, she could already imagine what kind of chaos the city of Uruk would be in now.

So Yinan turned around, pulled Dumuzi to his side, said something to him, and finally stared into his eyes and asked, "Can you do it?"

Dumuzi listened intently to Yinan's words, obviously thinking quickly while memorizing.

Finally, he raised his head, looked at Yinan, and said, "I can."

He stretched out his arms, put his hands lightly on Yinan's shoulders, and asked in a deep voice, "So, Nan, where are you going?"

Yi Nan smiled: "Until you come back, I won't go anywhere. I'll just wait for you here."

Hearing this sentence, Dumuzi's eyes lit up, his hands sank, and his voice was full of pride: "Okay! I, Dumuzi, will definitely live up to my mission and will come back with good news."

After finishing speaking, Du Muzi brought the bay red horse, patted the horse's neck, turned over and jumped on the horse, turned the horse's head, and galloped away.

Yi Nan turned his head - Hamti and the others were looking at her with their mouths wide open.Her conversation with Dumuzi and Dumuzi's departure happened so fast that none of them could react.

Yi Nan sat down cross-leggedly, just as she promised Dumuzi, she would not go anywhere until the shepherd came back.

But in fact, Yinan has already started to play the last game of chess in Uruk.

She always likes to prepare all countermeasures before others start to manipulate her - this time is no exception.