Chapter 942 Bachelor

As guests who came to help, Hao Ren and his party were entertained in Hearth City - although the castle governor looked like a serious and rigid man, he was still polite when entertaining guests. However, in view of the desolate and decadent current situation of the world, no matter how hard they try to entertain them, they will not be very comfortable: Hao Ren and the others, led by Willy, arrived at the castle—that is, on the ground floor of the old factory, along the outer wall. There is a row of small rooms prepared for guests. These rooms are enclosed by iron sheets and compression-plastic boards. They have some simple furniture, are shabby and cramped, and have a faint smell, but they are already quite good guest rooms in Hearth City.

As long as he saw how many holes there were in the iron stilts in the civilian area outside, Hao Ren knew that his group was actually treated to a very high standard.

This also shows that although the castle governor had a harsh attitude towards Willy, he actually still valued his son in his heart, otherwise he would not have entertained the people who rescued his son so wholeheartedly.

Willy went to invite the famous "Scholar Oro", while Hao Ren and the others crowded into a room to exchange their opinions. After seeing the absurd and bizarre current situation of this ship city, everyone has a lot of guesses and ideas, and now they urgently need to talk.

"Anyway, their inheritance is obviously broken," Vivian said while looking out the window. From here, you can see the scene in the square. On the streets piled up with scrap iron plates and plastic blocks, there are A group of dirty children were running around, "Civilization has regressed back to the age of cold weapons."

Nangong Wuyue muttered: "The social structure has returned to the feudal kingdom period."

"The social form has really not changed much. According to the previous findings on the 'Qunluan', these Ark residents were also monarchs in the high-tech era." Hao Ren waved his hand, "I am curious about what is going to happen here. Only then can the entire society regress so neatly. These people don’t seem to know the concept of a spaceship at all. They don’t even know what it means to have an abnormal gravity system. Terminal, analyze it.”

The data terminal was in Hao Ren's pocket, but he transmitted his voice directly to the minds of everyone present: "A huge reduction in population or a complete collapse of the industrial base may lead to a significant regression in the level of civilization. But it shouldn’t be as thorough as here - even if technology is discontinued, people should at least know that their ancestors have been rich. Their current situation is that they have no concept of their own world, just like..."

Lily couldn't hold back her curiosity: "Like what?"

"It's like an entire generation has died," the data terminal said lightly. "Unless their entire generation is cut off at the same time, resulting in the next generation not receiving any systematic education at all or only receiving very little education, this will lead to civilization. A root rupture. Or a memory purge, where all knowledge disappears for everyone at the same time, and they can’t find a way to fix it afterwards.”

"As far as we know now, the Ark fleet suffered constant breakdowns in the second half of its voyage, and each spacecraft had to rely on patchwork to continue operating. But this kind of crisis will not lead to what we see here. situation," Vivian rubbed her brows. She was well-informed, but her knowledge was really of no use at this time. "Ark's malfunctions and accidents are a gradual process and will not interrupt an entire generation. "

Hao Ren was thinking silently, and his eyes inadvertently glanced outside the window, just in time to see three men in coarse short robes maintaining the lighting equipment on the street in the dirty alley outside. One of the older-looking men climbed up to the light pole, carefully removed the broken lamp and replaced it with a new one. Then he got down from the light pole, and together with the other two, bowed to the light and wiring and turned it on. Lower the switch. When the new lightbulb came on, the children watching nearby cheered, and some even started to sing, praising the "electric elf" who brought light.

"They still have electricity and new light bulbs to replace, and these people know how to install these things - although they don't know the principles," Hao Ren pointed out the window, "Some of the functions of this ark are still running, such as generating electricity. Machines and factories, since these factories are still in use, it means that it was not the failure of the life support system that caused the cessation of civilization here."

"Isn't it a spaceship malfunction?" Nangong Sanba frowned, "Is it just because of the civil war? Is it a sudden transition from spaceship civilization to primitive feudalism?"

At this time, there was a soft "squeak" from the door, and Willy pushed the door open: "Uh... I'm sorry, I should have knocked, but the door was unlocked. I brought Bachelor Oro over."

A hunched old man walked in from behind Willy. He looked to be at least eighty years old, with only a ring around his head left. The wrinkles on his face almost spread to his neck. The old man was wearing a dirty thick cloth robe. The chest of the cloth robe was woven with a series of rings with colorful silk threads. There was a small metal object hanging on each ring. Hao Ren looked at it intently. , only to find that those things that looked like pendants were actually capacitors, fuses, copper wire connectors and the like: the bachelor regarded these electronic parts as decorations on his clothes.

Lily was the first to stand up and greet the old bachelor, looking very enthusiastic: "Hello, old man! Have you eaten?"

This strange way of greeting made the bachelor stunned for a moment, and then he laughed. While laughing, he said in a loud voice: "What a spirited little girl. I heard that a group of wandering warriors rescued Willy. I thought it was the same as those in the castle. He’s a rough guy like a martial artist, but he didn’t expect there to be a polite lady.”

Willy helped the old bachelor sit down on the creaky chair at the door. Although he was the son of the governor, he was as respectful as an apprentice: "Teacher, these people are very interested in your wisdom. They want to Listen to the stories you told me.”

"Oh? Oh...yes, those old stories," a trace of surprise flashed across the bachelor's face. Before he could hear more about Hao Ren and his party from Willy, he just thought that these people came from some remote place. At this time, he opened his cloudy eyes and took a closer look. He found that although the people in front of him were dressed in strange clothes, they were clean and clean. They were completely different from the embarrassed wanderers. "Are you interested in this kind of thing? These days Except for scholars, there are very few people who specialize in studying such boring legends."

"We happen to be interested," Hao Ren smiled, "'The cold winter is coming'. The signs appeared many years ago. Now it's time to pay attention to the warnings of the old people."

"Winter, winter is really coming..." The old bachelor subconsciously tightened his robe. When he heard this cold word, he looked serious, "It has been five years, it has been five years since the ancestors' furnace was extinguished. Years, this is much longer than the last time it slept. The world is getting colder day by day, half of the giant's nose that blows hot wind at the end of the world has frozen, and snowflakes have fallen on the land of Rutherwetan since last year... Cold winter , it’s been a really harsh winter.”

Hao Ren was almost certain that the "Ancestral Furnace" as the locals called it was the giant reactor and its control device - the central control station at the end of this closed space. While rushing on the Kingdom Avenue, he saw from a distance that the giant reactor was in quite bad condition. Although it was still running and seemed to be more energetic than the extinguished reactor of the Group, it was still more than half full. The grid is dull.

The life support system of this ark seems to have reached its limit, and its power source is about to shut down.

"How many times has winter come in total?" Nangong Sanba asked curiously.

"How many times? Oh...many times...it happens once or twice every century. Sometimes it only lasts for a year, sometimes it lasts for more than ten years." The old bachelor's head shook up and down, "It lasts for a whole year. The cold winter of every year will only bring some shocks, but the low temperature of ten years can kill one-third of the people. When there are too many dead, the recycling furnace will even be filled. It is a nightmare hell, it is really terrifying. People shudder.”

"But this winter doesn't seem to be that hard," Willy suddenly interjected, "It's not that cold. So far, wrapping yourself in a leather jacket can keep you warm."

"That's because you are in the warmest place in the world," the old maester gave Willie a reproachful look, "and the real cold is far from coming. The milder the winter comes, the more terrifying it is, because the slow cooling means that The slower the temperature rises, the longer winter will last."

The locals used their own way of understanding to explain the environmental changes in the city after the failure of the core power furnace. Their theories also seemed logical and self-justifying, but they were far from the truth of the world. In a limited knowledge system, people simply cannot understand that their world is supported by a huge machine.

(I went out to do errands today and was only home in the morning, so I updated it in advance.)