Gun of Ashes

The Queen pondered the past.

”And this is the main reason why humans have never been able to defeat Demons. Our knowledge simply cannot be passed on. Even if someone knows, they might trigger the information threshold and be killed by the descending Angels.”

”Maintain silence.”

Lorenzo suddenly said, realizing the state the world was now in.

”Humans live within a fence of ignorance. The Shepherd keeps the flock quiet to avoid being hunted by the hungry wolves outside the fence... Then what is the reason that necessitates the large-scale killing of the lambs? They know nothing, won’t trigger the information threshold, nor will they attract the attention of the hungry wolves.”

”Because the fence is no longer big enough, Mr. Holmes, we can only protect a fixed number of humans.”

The Queen revealed the astonishing secret.

”Based on the Nation-Builder’s centuries-long investigation, we’ve found that no matter how many Demons we slay, they continuously emerge. To be precise, this ’erosion’ epidemic continues to spread uncontrollably. Much like the detection by a Geiger Counter, erosion can be regarded as a kind of radiation. So there must be some kind of radiation source in this world spreading the epidemic.”

The Queen looked at Lorenzo and then asked.

”Your Demon Hunting Order has a similar concept, right? Just like the lie of the Night of the Holy Arrival, you’ve captured the source of the ’Demon’ concept.”

Lorenzo did not answer this question. In fact, now it seems the Demon Hunting Order may not have been wrong. The Silencers’ ethereal will and the ever-expanding nature of erosion align well with a walking ’Demon’ concept, but Lorenzo understood that as Shepherds, they should not be the source, at least not the main one.

Like a great river, they are merely an insignificant branch.

”Did you find the radiation source?” Lorenzo asked.

”No, but we’ve derived an interesting figure. It might not be entirely accurate, but much like breathing, every so often, Demons appear in large numbers. This means that uncertain radiation source will significantly spread the erosion, and this figure is related to the human population. Currently, the world’s population has surpassed the set value, and the next wave of Demon disaster is stirring.”

”A population control mechanism. When the human population reaches a certain figure, they come out for a harvest to ensure the human population remains stable,” Lorenzo said.

”More or less, but you made one mistake. The real population control mechanism is the Nation-Builder. We instigate various events to drastically reduce the population to prevent large-scale erosion spread.”

The Queen’s gaze turned to the surrounding darkness, continuing.

”Mr. Holmes, I know you still harbor doubts about me, but there’s nothing we can do. Knowledge has been contaminated. All we can do is ignorantly believe. Do you know of the Dunling Plan?”

She mentioned the Dunling Plan again. Lorenzo remembered it. On a clear day, the towering Dunling Tower could be seen clearly from anywhere in Old Dunling.

The Dunling Plan, spearheaded by the Perpetual Motion Pump, was a technological innovation that, if successful, would propel the world into the electrical age. But ultimately, it was halted, locked away in archives, with its only remnants existing in Old Dunling, serving the Purification Mechanism.

”In reality, the main reason the Dunling Plan was halted was due to the Nation-Builder’s will. It would bring prosperity, but also disaster. You might not understand this, but the disaster contingency of the Purification Mechanism explains it well.”

The Queen turned her head, looking at Arthur. Perhaps it was because he had learned too much today, his eyes were filled with bloodshot lines, making it difficult to describe his current feelings. The things he’d pursued for so long were already known by the Royal Family, yet they kept silent in the name of protection.

Arthur felt betrayed and felt that those who died did not deserve such an end. The faces of the deceased flashed before his eyes, too many names worth telling.

”I remember the contingency was called a technological disaster.

A hundred years ago, our communication relied on carriages and letters, clumsy and slow. But with technological innovation, the ever-advancing transport and communication technology made once unattainable areas at arm’s reach, and the world seemed to shrink for humanity. Map areas that were unknown were now clearly marked.

This should have been something to be happy about, but the Nation-Builder internally expressed concern. With the mimetic spread of erosion, we used to be able to quarantine it by simply burning a city to the ground and killing all the witnesses. But now, with the progress in communication, we need to do much more, even creating an Anti-Meme force, yet even so, it’s still challenging to suppress these incidents.

In the face of a large-scale erosion outbreak, technology would instead accelerate our demise.”

”So is that why the Dunling Plan was halted? Is it just that?”

Arthur questioned, feeling angry that the Queen had no understanding of how this conduct destroyed many people’s pursuit of knowledge.

”Sorry, this is all we can do. Compared to the safety of all humanity, such a price is too negligible,” the Queen continued, ”Under today’s transport and communication technology, once a large-scale erosion spread occurs, with its mimetic nature, we might not even be able to stop it in time and be completely overrun.”