Chapter 302 Where Are We Going?

After the performance, the Emperor quickly disappeared from the theater. However, Morse could still sense his presence.

At this time, the Lord of Mankind was staying in the suburbs outside the city of Lokos. There was nothing around him, which made Morse wonder if the public performance just now had exhausted his ability to face the crowd. At this time, he had to return to the mountains and forests to enjoy the leisure of the mountain breeze and flowing water.

However, it was a good thing that the Emperor left, otherwise no one would listen to Kalifeng's farewell speech - the golden armored man only needed to exist to attract everyone's attention.

The Queen of the Olympia Planet and the Governor of the Olympia Cluster still wore her iconic gray robe embroidered with gold thread patterns today, with an iron crown on her head, and some gray hair tied up with a yellow and black headband.

In order to match her theatrical identity as the goddess of youth, a circle of olive branches was wrapped around the iron crown today.

She walked to the center of the stage with a cane and faced the audience. Although she was not young, she was still energetic. Today, this speech, drafted by Cariphon, Perturabo and Morse, will be broadcast throughout the star cluster.

"It is the time of the Lord of Mankind's glorious expedition. Everyone knows how urgent the time is and how scarce the resources are. In this cold and vast starry sky, mankind can only seize every minute and second, try its best, and spare no drop of precious blood to survive the various threats in the Milky Way."

"We have no chance and room for failure. Victory, only victory. When we wake up every day, we embrace the belief in victory, hear a new victory report at dusk every day, and obey the call of the Lord of Mankind. We are moving towards the future day by day. I have always thought so over the years."

"Every resident of the Olympia star cluster, and even all the people of the human empire, those who obey the call of the Emperor, and those who follow the flag of the Sky Eagle, hold this unchanging belief, construction, war, and victory. Fight, devotion, and even sacrifice. "

"That is why I was very surprised when the Lord of Steel Perturabo proposed the plan for the Olympic Games. At that time, I asked him if it was worth taking a month out of the limited time of the expedition to return to Olympia in person to host a sports meeting. Then, I received his message. This gave me an answer. "

"We are in an era immersed in war, an era where cruelty and ruthlessness are necessary, an era of looking forward to the end of darkness and the beginning of light, an era of sacrifice and bloodshed for faith, ideals and the future. "

"And we need all of this. There is no doubt. Because we are in an era where hope and fear coexist, ignorance and reason go hand in hand, truth and lies coexist, and no one knows what we can do. No matter how far we go, we can only keep moving forward. We may get real rewards and peace, but we must pay a price, and the price has already been paid. "

"The imperial machine has swallowed tens of millions of raw materials into its mouth, transformed them into raw materials for war, and invested them in the destruction of all enemies. Within the universe, all souls must already entrust enough loyalty to the expedition. "

"Under such a premise, do you really believe that we will have peace one day? "

"Will our great vision be realized? Will the golden light definitely come? Or will we still slide into the abyss in the end, fall into a darker and colder future, immerse in the eternal war that can never be escaped, and witness the death of hope, just like the human beings who once struggled in the era of strife? Or worse? "

"You say The answer given will be an affirmation of hope. You may even accuse me of being a minister of the Emperor, but I am here to spread rumors, ignore the facts, destroy our unshakable military spirit, and tarnish the reputation of the respected Emperor. "

"I accept all these questions and doubts, but I am not asking for myself, but for the lingering shadow hovering over all of us, for the hesitation that existed deep in our hearts, even if it was only for a moment. "

"I can confess to you that when I ask myself this question, I can't promise a victory. A beautiful world. A bright future. So why do we fight? "

"Because this is our only chance, the only chance to snatch our future from the hands of destiny, and it may never come again. After thousands of years of strife, we finally have a chance to face the dangers of space again and conquer everything we once had and lost. "

"We challenge fate, and we may not win. But if we don't challenge it, then victory will never come. "

"Then what? What kind of victory will we get? A richer victory? A more peaceful future? How is it better than our current life? Is it a future where thousands of worlds are reconnected, people are reunited, there may still be local crises, but we have food, water, clothes to cover our bodies, enough houses to live in, and basic rights as a human being, just like the old Terra era nearly 30,000 years ago as recorded in classical documents? "

"How many people have experienced such an era? It seems untouchable and unimaginable, although it is radiant, but its shape is vague. And it is impossible for all human beings to be willing to devote everything to a vague and unattainable thing. "

"Friends, take a look at where we are now, Olympia. In the past, the climate here was considered unique among many planets in the universe, but it also suffered from wars and slow development."

"For thousands of years, our civilization has stagnated, always a poor imitation of the old era, a shadow of something long gone. Our political systems have continued to iterate, and our economic models have changed repeatedly, but in the end we have returned to a tyrannical system. Underneath, it has shrunk for thousands of years. This is a microcosm, a piece of ashes from the past.”

"Perturabo, Lord of Olympia, changed everything. He brought new technology, new ideas, new peace, and new government. He personally brought his ideals to our land."

"Since we are all in this theater, let's look up and take a look at this theatre! Take a look at the water conservancy facilities, road traffic, green spaces and communication networks painted on the columns, and take a look at the work in the murals "

"Olympia is the city the Iron Lord reshaped, the great achievements he made, and a template for his vision for the future. Perturabo was an architect, and Olympia was the drawing he drew stroke by stroke. It is not a A vague dream, but a real exhibit, an utopia that everyone can touch, understand, and experience for themselves. It depicts the image of our future and goes further than the old Terra.”

"The reason why this games can be held is not because we are idle, but because we are busy. We are so busy immersed in the hesitation and endless war that we don't have much time to think about where we are going."

"Perturabo understands this, so we don't have to continue to take time out to think in busy moments, we just need to take a month here, during the Centennial Expedition, to experience it all. From this, we know that our dreams has entered reality.”

"You can see it, touch it, feel its existence, its breathing, and every pulse of it. This is not the future I can promise, but this is the future I hope everyone can get. "

"It may actually come within thirty years, maybe fifty years, or one hundred years. But even if it takes a thousand years, in our entire thirty thousand years of human history, it will only be equivalent to the arrival today." tomorrow."

"In ancient legends, in the birthplace of the Olympia Games, city-states often fought against each other. Years of war made the people tired, and they generally longed for recuperation. Therefore, three important city-states reached an agreement to hold an annual games and stop wars during the period. , allowing athletes from all over to compete, this is the famous Olympic Holy Truce.”

"From that moment on, about two thousand years later, humans in the old land were once again plunged into war. Dark clouds hung over the continent of Europa, and war was on the verge of breaking out. In 1912, an ancient sage proposed to imitate the ancient sacred truce. , held a sports meeting in Berlin, the source of the war, in order to eliminate the disaster. However, his wish was not realized. A fuse was lit that burned the idea of ​​​​the truce, and the Berlin Games was cancelled.

"A few years after that day, time came to the end of the second millennium. In 1994, athletes from a war-torn country received special approval and were invited to participate in the games at that time. Because of this initiative, that The fighting in the country temporarily stopped, and the two sides temporarily ceased fighting, and the peaceful intervention was effective. After that, hundreds of countries in Old Terra at the time jointly signed a new Olympic Truce, starting a week before the opening of each Games and ending at the end. One week later, stop the war.”

"Tens of thousands of years later, in the year 843 of the 30th millennium, in the same land called Olympia, we were fortunate enough to restart this long-lost agreement. In just this short month, we regained our understanding of each other. Respect for human emotions and protection of human rights. Let us put aside our fatigue and forget our worries and live in an ideal city as we already live in a more peaceful and better world.”

"Here, players from the most remote and backward planets can also have the opportunity to win a competition; former enemies within the star cluster can also have a happy chat after the game."

"Here, we know that the future is around us, and the future we will fight for with our hands is exactly like this."

“So when the games end and the war resumes and we set off, we will know who we are, where we came from, and where we are going in the longest, most dangerous, and greatest war in history. "

"thank you all."

The applause she received was long and sincere. A few seconds later, the first bouquet of flowers was thrown at the Queen's feet. This was like an order to announce the start. More flowers and silks were sent to the center of the stage of the theater from all directions. , and soon a fragrant heap formed at the feet of Callifon.

Kalifon smiled helplessly, accepted the applause and praise, and decided to wait for people to throw away the flowers in their hands before announcing the successful conclusion of the closing ceremony. She had already seen small civilian drones starting to fly in the distance. It seemed that not only people in the theater, but also people in the city decided to send the flowers they prepared to the stage.

Amid the flowers and brocade, a red-haired singer came to the stage, her voice gentle and full of respect: "Dear Queen, please allow me to pay tribute to you with my song? Although this gift is insignificant, it is unique in the vast universe. I want to use this song to praise your respectable heart and let my song stir up waves about beautiful things."

"I am willing to accept," said Kalifeng, allowing the singer to come to her side.

The singer nodded nervously, took a deep breath, and then another breath, and sang the unaccompanied song alone. Her voice was like a spring breeze blowing over dead branches, gently blending with the other noises in the golden theater.

The song began with a delicate and trembling melody, which jumped in the air, full of the desire for endless exploration of life, like the first bud in the arms of Mother Earth, twisting and turning, exploring endlessly. Then, the melody gradually opened up, like rain falling, moistening the earth, and urging the growth and hope of all things.

This song is not only the flow of sound, but also the manifestation of life force. It is like the whisper of the soul, awakening the resonance of the listener's inner life, and almost reawakening every vitality of life at the cellular level. The song gradually sublimated, and the surrounding noise seemed to be purified, and the air was filled with the joy of new life and the harmony of life.

The singer's face was shining with brilliance. The afterglow left by the brief fusion of the power of the goddess of life once again shone on her face, blooming the spark of life from the depths of the soul. Shanadore praised the vitality with her singing, and the melody soared in the score of creation. Endless potential was interwoven into a picture of seeking dissemination and prosperity.

Then, an unexpected afterglow of the brilliant power left by the Lord of Humanity, mobilized and pulled by the psychic field, began to be constantly collected and gathered again. As the notes jumped, the cold psychic energy flowed into the sea like a river, and finally merged into the singer's singing.

The singer felt a slight pain, but she continued to sing, a golden tear sliding down her cheek.

The sky was gradually covered with soft gold. As the singing rose, the golden light condensed into drops, turning into golden raindrops, slowly falling from the sky. Before the golden rain fell to the ground, it jumped and flickered in the air, like a joyful dance of life, echoing above the city of Lokos.

The rain touched the land, and every plant and every creature was nourished by the rain. The withered flowers regained vitality in the rain, and the withered branches of the trees began to sprout new buds, and the people around them also felt that the pain subsided, the spirit was nourished, and the body was instantly comfortable.

As the golden raindrops fell, the spiritual energy continued to gather on the queen who was listening to the singing, and it seemed that a faint vortex of light formed around her, where the essence of life and the essence of time solidified.

In full view of the public, the years flowed back on Kaliphon's face.

Wrinkles and traces of time gradually disappeared from her body, replaced by smooth and delicate skin. Her figure changed quietly, and her back gradually straightened. The half-gray silver hair turned into shiny black silk strands, shining brightly. Her eyes became bright and energetic again, flashing with the youthful light like dewdrops.

Not only did her body become younger, but Kalifeng's aura also became stronger and brighter, as if she was filled with a powerful life force, a power that was both ancient and new, like a microcosm of time, a convergence of history and the future.

The tip of the olive branch on her head began to drip golden morning dew, shining in the sun, and each drop was like the solidified essence of the sun. The golden dewdrops slowly slid down, along the queen's hair, and dripped into her collar.

And the iron-plated wooden crutch, in the queen's hand, began to sprout again. Tiny green leaves squeezed out from the solid wood grain, and tender green branches spread out. It was no longer a simple tool to support the body, but had transformed into the source of life.

The buds on the cane grew more and more luxuriantly, and soon they blossomed into small flowers, emitting a faint fragrance, as if it was a foreshadowing of the rebirth of Kaliphon herself and the whole world, promising a future full of vitality.

The goddess of youth let go of the cane and bowed to the world.

"We come from the past," she declared powerfully, "in the present era, and heading towards the future."