[Infrastructure] After being mistaken for a god

"18:33:20"

Although a new day came, the thin clouds in the sky still did not disperse.The sun shone on Uruk rather bleakly, and a vague mist hung over the Euphrates.

The witch of Uruk rummaged through her hut and gathered everything of value: the gems she loved to play with, the precious purple robes, and the spices and balms she had always cherished.

Just when Wu consciously cleaned up, out of the corner of her eye, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a figure in the room.

"what--"

Witch frightened herself out of her wits at first, and then took a closer look, and found that the person entering the room was the trainee priestess Gashti who was serving her personally.

"It's you," Wu covered his heart, "Why didn't you make a sound when you came in."

She herself felt hot on her face——

It was said that the Eridians' rafts covered the Euphrates, and she, who said she was a witch with power, was packing her bags to flee.

But she couldn't do it if she wanted her to run away without packing up her things. She has lived in Uruk for more than 20 years, and she is used to living a pampered life. If she is asked to go to another place directly and start a new life with nothing, Wu Zi believes that she is absolutely unwilling.

Unexpectedly, Gashti didn't even look at the things packed by the witch. He just closed his eyes, bowed and asked, "Do you have any orders?"

The witch felt at ease: Even if she was a witch who was about to pack up and flee, she still had loyal subordinates.

"How are the high-level priests collecting civilian weapons?"

Gashti still lowered his eyes, expressionless on his face: "They have all been sent to the temple's treasury."

Wu held his heart in his hands and sighed "ah".

She also didn't want the people of Uruk to face the Eridu with their bare hands—but she had to make sure she could get out safely.

Wu had ordered all kinds of weapons in Uruk to be cleared early in the morning. This order was even before she heard that the Eridu people were going upstream to trouble the Uruk people.

And now, she didn't want to change her words: after all, the most urgent thing is to let herself leave Uruk safely and smoothly.

Wu then changed his gentle tone: "Gashti, how have I treated you all these years?"

Gashti raised his head in surprise, glanced at Wu, then lowered his head again, and said in a low voice, "You've been taken care of."

Wu was very satisfied, and continued to ask: "Will you accompany me, leave Uruk, go to a new place, and build a new city?"

If Gashti was not surprised at this time, he seemed abnormal.She stared at Wu with her round eyes open, and asked in a trembling voice:

"Even you want to leave Uruk? Uruk...is it hopeless?"

Wu nodded, indicating that she had received God's "revelation" from various channels: "With the fall of Venus, everything in Uruk is over. We must leave here to have the opportunity to create a new city and bring us back to the city." Everything I know, the astronomy and calculations I know, the method of sensing gods...through you, through your next generation of witches, will be passed down forever."

Gashti asked hesitantly, "The fetish left behind by wizard Dan?... Didn't it mean that it could save Uruk?"

Wu: "Oh, I almost forgot about it."

Gashti: ...

Wu hurriedly said: "You go and notify everyone for me, so that they can all gather in front of the temple before evening."

Gashti nodded, and asked about the scope of "everyone", referring to all residents of Uruk, all apprentice priests, and all priests with positions.

"Will you announce your departure from Uruk at that time?" Gashti asked calmly.

Wu immediately glared at her: "Why are you so stupid, kid?"

"If we don't gather them all in front of the temple and let everyone hope that the fetish left by Wizard Dan can save Uruk, then how can we have a chance to leave in time?"

Gashti: ...!

"Understood." She folded her arms and bowed to Wu, ready to take orders and leave.

"Remember, keep this a secret, and you will get benefits from me that you never imagined—"

When Wu left, he took Gashti's hand, and at the same time swiped the other hand behind her: show Gashti the precious stones, robes and ointment she packed. "These are mine now, and they will all be yours in the future."

Gashti has been taught by witches for many years, and he has already had a temper that is neither flattered nor humiliated.After she saluted the witch, she walked backwards and left the witch's residence. She walked calmly and kept her pace the same as before.

Wu watched Gashti leave, and heaved a sigh of relief: she was used to being pampered, and it seemed that she really couldn't do without this well-behaved maid, so she was bound to drag her along.

Gashti just went to inform the high-ranking priests with a blank face, and they would make arrangements and summon the residents of the entire city of Uruk to the temple.

After Gashti explained everything, she turned around and was about to leave when a tall high priest suddenly stopped her.

"... Excuse me, what is the witch doing?" The man in the dark blue robe stared at Gashti sullenly.

Gashti blurted out: "Naturally, we are preparing for the ceremony tonight."

According to her notification just now, the witches will hold a grand ceremony in the temple that night to sacrifice to the wizard Dan who laid the foundation of Uruk more than 1000 years ago, and pray that the heroic spirit of this great wizard can continue to protect the city.

"Don't fool me," the high-ranking priest suddenly took a step forward, approaching Gashti, and whispered in a threatening tone, "If the witch hadn't planned otherwise, she would have taken all the weapons of the people in the city with such great fanfare. Put it away for what?"

"Honestly, is she going to find a chance to take you away with her?"

"Wu can't do without you, you must know her details."

Gashti blinked, knowing what the other person was thinking, and immediately pretended to be afraid, bowed his waist and said, "Then, then you might as well go to see the witch and ask her yourself..."

The high-ranking priest choked suddenly, but after thinking about it, he probably felt that this was also a solution.

"I, I just find an excuse to hide in the warehouse of the temple. There is no one else in the garden behind the temple. You just went to see..."

The senior priest was finally satisfied, nodded, and said, "Hurry up!"

Gashti bowed his head meekly, turned his back, and left quickly along the steps in front of the temple, and indeed went to the warehouse of the temple.

She quickly arrived at the warehouse of the temple. A middle-level priest along the way saw her and asked about it. Gashti always said that it was the order of the high-ranking priest just now.

Events are happening right now in Uruk - so anything can happen.Even the self-defense weapons owned by the residents of the city were confiscated by the temple into the warehouse. No one cared about why Gashti suddenly appeared near the warehouse.

Gashti sat near the warehouse, met Kuxin, said hello, and chatted casually.

Ku Xin was not a talkative person either, so he went about his own business when he heard that there would be a festival at night.

Gashti calculated that it was about the same time, so he walked slowly back to the temple. On the way, he met the high priest from earlier, who nodded to Gashti with a happy face.

It has been a whole night and a morning since Dumuzi cast the world's first "copper" boomerang in the pottery workshop.The weather in the afternoon gradually improved, and the thin clouds in the sky were dissipating.The light screen on Yinan's watch displayed: "12:41:20".

The atmosphere in Uruk was quite tense: it was said that the Eridians’ rafts had already moored on the banks of the Euphrates River, and a large group of Eridians were approaching Uruk.

Most of the Uruk people are full of resentment.

On the street, the aunt in the bakery was cursing loudly - yesterday the priests came and took away the two rolling pins she used to roll the dough as "weapons".Today this aunt can't even make bread.

Livestock in sheepfolds and cowsheds escaped the catastrophe for a short time—slaughtering workshops also said that they were empty-handed, and what did they use for slaughtering? Do they use their teeth?

"If this continues, Uruk will really be doomed." The people of Uruk said angrily.

"But the shaman said that we will preside over the ceremony at night to sacrifice to the shaman Dan, why don't we ask her together to ask her to return the weapon to us." Someone suggested, "Even the goddess or the shaman Dan can't protect our city, we... Can't you fight back?"

"That's the truth!"

"Everyone go, together!"

"..."

There was great excitement in the streets, and people made appointments to formally present their petitions to the witch in an evening ceremony.

Unexpectedly, a young man in a natural-colored linen robe walked into the middle of the crowd.He looked dull, coughed lightly, and said to the people on the street: "You won't see witches at night."

The young man's voice was not loud, and only a few people around him heard it.But this sentence, along with people's surprise and suspicion, spread faster than sound waves.

"What? We won't see Wu at night."

"What's the point of this?"

"Who is this kid? Telling such nonsense on the street."

"Wait, I know this person. He is Kuxin, and he is a trainee priest of the temple—the last time I exchanged shells for wheat, he was the one who gave it to me."

Standing in the street, Cousin did not expect that his fame and reputation would be established during the last "Bincoin Crisis".

"Oh my God...I see! This is...the witch is going to run away. That's why she found an excuse to gather us together, and refused to give us weapons. So she sneaked away."

Kuxin nodded slightly, thankfully there are many quick-witted and sensible people in Uruk.

"Where is this going?"

The news shocked the residents of Uruk. More and more people poured into the streets. Fear and frustration, together with anger and incomprehension, enveloped everyone's hearts.

"Oh my god, Uruk is about to face a catastrophe. Where is the main god of this city right now? We need her protection!"

Some people are downcast and feel that they have stepped into a desperate situation with one foot.

"Witches can't be trusted, and sorcerer Dan can't be trusted... Who should we rely on at a time like this?"

At this moment, Kuxin stretched out his hand and pointed to his heart.

"you?"

"You mean, you?"

People are confused.

"How old are you, Cushing?"

"Why do you...?"

"And you!"

Kuxin pointed at the person in front of him again.

"And you, you... and you!"

Those who were pointed at were stunned on the spot.

But some people are gradually waking up.

"what do you mean……"

"We?"

Cousin has always been a dull young man, facing either barley or wheat, grain or clay tablets every day.He seldom deals with people, but when he speaks, he has always been straight and straightforward.

"I'm going to the warehouse of the temple now to extract all the weapons that were confiscated throughout last night. Is there anyone going with me?" Ku Xin asked directly.

Only then did the others smack over.

"Yeah, it's the critical moment. If we don't do anything to defend the house we live in, the cattle, sheep and wheat in the house, can we still wait for others to come to rescue us?"

"Cushin, are you going now? Go, we will follow you!"

Without saying a word, Kuxin turned around and raised his arms, and many Uruk people immediately followed behind him, advancing along the neat streets of Uruk.

There were also people who hesitated, but thinking that the Eridians would come to attack soon, it was better to hold a weapon than empty-handed anyway.Everyone doesn't care about 21, let's keep up first.

As the procession reached a crossroads, Cousin's party encountered another group of Uruks.It was the shepherd Dumuzi who led the team.

Dumuzi's team was mixed, including horse trainers, artisans who depended on crafts for a living, small hotel owners and buddies, ordinary farmers and herdsmen around Uruk...

When the two teams finally merged into the same mighty long dragon, the people of Uruk finally began to feel confident——

They are not alone.

There are many, many of them.

If this is not power, what is power?

"go together!"

People walked through the streets and alleys, calling their relatives and friends by the way.

"To the temple! Take our own weapons."

"Is there no one who is willing to protect Uruk? We are willing! Everyone is willing!"

Before the large group of people came to the warehouse of the temple, the low-level priests in charge of guarding the warehouse panicked.

In the past, whether it was an ordinary resident of Uruk or a trainee priest like Kuxin, they would be respectful and respectful when they saw priests of any level, and never dared to disobey them in the slightest.

But seeing the huge team rushing straight towards the warehouse in front of them at this moment, the two low-ranking priests were frightened.The two exchanged glances, and one of them slipped away to ask for help.Another remained in front of the barn door, blocking the residents of Uruk.

"I'm sorry, but you can't go in without the witch's order."

The low-ranking priest had a flattering smile on his face when he spoke. Those who didn't know it thought he was talking to the high-ranking priests.

"The men of Eridu are calling. Is it wrong for us to take back what is ours and defend the city?"

The crowd shouted so loudly that the people in front could only see the low-ranking priest opening his mouth, but couldn't hear what he was saying.

At this moment, Dumuzi stood up. He saw a stone pier just in front of the barn door, and immediately jumped on it, blowing a long whistle.

The whistle was clear and long, and the excited people gradually became quiet after hearing it.

"Everyone, the warehouse of the temple has its original order—out of respect for the goddess, I think the original order needs to be respected, even if the situation is urgent now."

"Otherwise, if everyone can rush into the warehouse of the temple anytime and anywhere, our city will really be in chaos."

Dumuzi's voice seemed to have a natural power to comfort people's hearts, and what he said made some sense. The residents of Uruk who had crowded the temple warehouses were temporarily quiet and stopped urging them.

But someone asked: "Then how can we get those things that were looted by the priests last night?"

Dumuzi's eyes were majestic, and he turned to the low-ranking priest beside him.

The low-ranking priest said tremblingly, "I... I don't know either!"

What happened in Uruk recently is all extraordinary things, and the low-level priests are like headless chickens, being sent around by their superiors, and they have long forgotten what "order" is.

"What are the regulations for you to withdraw goods from the warehouse of the temple?" Dumuzi asked.

"Just..." The low-ranking priest was about to answer when he caught sight of Ku Xin.

"This guy knows best." The low-ranking priest quickly threw the "pot" out of his head.

In terms of familiarity with the temple warehouse, if Ku Xin dared to admit that he was second, no one would dare to admit that he was the first.

Kuxin said in a low voice, "A witch or a high priest's password is required to extract a large amount of inventory. If it is a shop or workshop that extracts according to the regulations, it also needs to have the workshop's seal."

Clearly, none of these people are available now.

"Yes, why don't you go to Wu, or any high-ranking priest, and ask for a password?" The low-ranking priest heard Kuxin's words, as if he had caught a straw, and his face was full of words. "Don't embarrass me" emoji.

At this time, another low-ranking priest also rushed back, sweating all over his head and said, "The higher-ups said, follow the old rules."

Obviously, his superiors were unwilling to step forward into this troubled water, and decisively chose to push everything to "rules" or "order", but this "order" itself was Dumuzi and his Companions are unwilling to destroy and trample at will.

After two clicks, he froze in place.

At this time, Kuxin spoke again, and he said in a calm voice: "There is another possibility."

"If you promise to sacrifice to the goddess, you can open the warehouse of the temple." Kuxin said a condition that even some high-ranking priests had forgotten.

The two low-level priests thought about it, and one of them said suspiciously: "It is true to say so, but a promise to sacrifice to the goddess requires a high-level priest to testify, which is... the same!"

The Uruk people present suddenly felt that they had entered a dead end, and they had just seen a ray of dawn and were immediately extinguished.

It's rare that they mustered up the courage to take up arms and protect their homeland, but they were stuck here.

Should they continue to move forward and frantically destroy the order and rules that Uruk has observed for thousands of years, or should they just give up and let their spontaneous efforts end up in the water of the Euphrates?

Resentment spewed out immediately, and people expressed all kinds of dissatisfaction with words.

The scene was tense and embarrassing, obviously like a pot of boiling oil, a drop of water was waiting eagerly by the side of the pot, but the fire under the pot could be extinguished at any time, and it would never be rekindled.

Unexpectedly, Kuxin took another step forward——

There seemed to be light in his eyes, and he said loudly to the low-ranking priest in front of him, and he seemed to be saying loudly to the most important god in his mind at the same time:

"To make an unchangeable and unbreakable oath does not necessarily require the presence of a high-ranking priest."

"I, Kuxin, can do it. I swear to sacrifice to the goddess Inanna. My oath cannot be changed or broken. This oath will pass the test of fire and be handed down to future generations. Soil, this oath also stands forever."

His words were resounding, and his momentum directly caused the two priests in blue robes in front of him to take a step back.One of them asked weakly: "Cu...Cushin, how...how did you do it?"

Kusin immediately turned around, facing the crowd and asked loudly, "Master of the pottery workshop, have you come here with the people of Uruk?"

"Have--"

Two owners of the pottery workshop, father and son, squeezed out from the crowd, one on the left and one on the right, and came to Ku Xin.

"Actually... There is a small pottery kiln next to the warehouse of the temple. We trainee priests often used it a while ago, but maybe no one uses it today. You guys, can light up the kiln of that pottery kiln for me. ?"

No one can understand the connection between the pottery kiln of the temple and the unchangeable and unbreakable oath.

But the owner of the pottery workshop didn't ask anything, and really went to order the kiln of the pottery kiln.

At this time, Cushing took out a clay tablet from his coat—this is an improved clay tablet, unlike those he used to record the entry and exit of grain, this clay tablet is very small, only about two As big as the combined palms, they are made of clay from the banks of the Euphrates River and left to dry in the shade.

This kind of clay tablet is light and smart, easy to carry around, and even the vertical and horizontal latitude and longitude are drawn with thin lines on the surface of the clay tablet.

Seeing this, some trainee priests in the crowd already understood what Kuxin was going to do.

Kusin took out a sun-dried reed stalk from his pocket. The reed was in the shape of a triangle. Kusin held it in his palm and scratched a line on the surface of the clay board. Immediately, there appeared a reed with a wide head. , a wedge-shaped depression at the other end.

Kuxin was extremely proficient in using reeds, and quickly drew a figure with complex strokes on the clay tablet.

"This is my name, Kusin." Kusin held up the clay tablet in his hand and showed it to the Uruk man in front of him, "The apprentice priests who work in the warehouse can testify for me. This mark refers to the person Cusin—this is the appearance of Cusin on the clay tablet."

Immediately afterwards, he continued to draw a group of complicated figures on the clay tablet.

"I, Kusin, swear to sacrifice to Goddess Inanna—"

Each group of graphics he drew has an independent meaning, and can be roughly classified into three groups: "Oath", "Goddess Inanna", and "Sacrifice".

These three groups of graphics are often used by the trainee priests working in the temple warehouse, and the two low-ranking priests beside Kuxin have also seen them—but at this time, they did not expect that Kuxin would actually draw a picture on the clay tablet. Putting these symbols on, thus making an oath of "unchangeable, unbreakable", and even "indelible", everyone was stunned.

Cousin didn't finish yet, he continued to draw on the clay tablet, and drew a symbol he had just created not long ago:

"lifetime--"

I, Kusin, swear to sacrifice to the great goddess Inanna, to work for her, to fulfill her wishes, even if this long sacrifice will consume my life.

Kuxin made the last stroke, threw away the reed in his hand, and raised the clay tablet high for all the Uruk people in front of him to see.

"Everyone, you all saw it!"

"This is the vow I, Kuxin, made to sacrifice to the goddess, and it will be sent to the kiln for firing."

"In the kiln, this clay tablet will no longer be soft, it will be as hard as the clay cups, plates, and pots we use every day, and the oath engraved on it will never be changed."

"Everyone, although this clay tablet will only have that characteristic after being fired..."

As Kuxin said loudly, two lines of tears flowed down his cheeks uncontrollably.

"But my heart has already passed this stage. It has become more firm and loyal than pottery. No matter what happens, I, Kuxin, have made up my mind to show my loyalty to Goddess Inanna in this life—"

——No matter whether Venus has fallen or not, no matter whether the goddess has already left this world.

When did he come up with this idea?

Was it when I first saw that extremely beautiful girl?Is it when she needs to take care of her and comfort her with gentle words, or when she needs to solve problems and take care of her?Or is it when she is entrusted with a heavy responsibility and can show her fists?

Kuxin suddenly laughed. He still clearly remembers the girl sitting on the steps in front of the temple, propping her chin and saying, "Actually, God wants you to think more about yourself."

It was also at that moment that Cousin had already made this vow that he would keep throughout his life—this is exactly what he believed in.

"Yes, an unchangeable, unbreakable, and indelible oath!"

All the Uruks, the Uruks who stood in front of the barn, were instantly moved by the passion and unshakable faith of this taciturn novice priest.

They burst into frenzied cries: "Open, open!"

"—Open this door!"