Chapter 502 The Place Where Civilization First Collapsed (1/2)

The Great Desert is located in the west of Luoxia Province.

Although it is named after a desert, it is actually not as "deserted" as most wastelanders imagine.

The concrete buildings that either collapsed or were submerged in yellow sand, as well as the rusty warehouses and factories, all indicate the past prosperity of this place. Even though the rolling yellow sand has been blowing for two centuries, it still has not completely submerged this man-made miracle spanning thousands of kilometers.

Not only that, because the underground ocean current transportation pipelines intersect here, a large amount of desalinated seawater seeps into the underground rock formations due to pipeline rupture, forming a rich underground water reservoir.

Therefore, even though this area is filled with many meteorological disasters such as earthquakes, sandstorms, radioactive dust, and thunderstorms, the species active in this area are actually more prosperous than in the Luoxia Province next door.

At that time, the Luoxia Province was left with only a few oases, but the situation here was completely opposite.

The remaining favors are so much that they have overflowed...

"Damn...what is that?"

A giant snake as thick as an oil drum slowly swam between the two collapsed high-rise buildings. Its cracked skin was like dry yellow earth, lurking in the soft quicksand like a fallen giant tree.

Looking at the dozens of meters long giant snake squirming forward in the quicksand, the soldier wearing the exoskeleton took two steps back with his scalp numb.

His name is Su Ming, and his position is a precision shooter. The 26 printed on his breastplate and arms is his and his brothers' numbers, and it is also the logo of the "Enterprise Commando Team 26".

As one of the few ground troops of the company that participated in the battle of Luoxia Province, they mainly performed forward, guerrilla and sabotage missions behind enemy lines during the war.

Although most residents of Ideal City attribute all the credit for the victory of the war to their allies, they actually participated in many battles.

It just doesn’t sound that good when written in a press release.

Walking next to Su Ming, Yun Song stared at the giant snake twice. The box in the tactical eyepiece locked it in the center, and the progress bar walked along the edge of the box.

"There is no record of it in the database... You discovered it first, how about you give it a name?"

Su Ming touched the back of his head.

"Sandworm?"

Before Yun Song could say anything, Gu Wei, who was wearing power armor, smiled and teased.

"It's too rustic, and there's already one in the desert next door. It's completely different from this guy."

"Then...earth dragon? Giant earthworm? Digger?"

"Just digger...don't waste time."

Interrupting the conversation between the two, Yunsong stretched out his index finger and tapped twice in the air, operated the holographic window to save the image data, and then switched to the tactical map.

"The target is about one kilometer ahead... Everyone should be vigilant and we will be able to take our employees home soon."

"Oh!" Su Ming shouted feebly.

They have been on duty for almost a full year.

Spanning thousands of kilometers of wasteland, he even got involved in the war in Luoxia Province... He even couldn't help but think that his experiences along the way could be used to make a movie when he returned home.

Under Yunsong's order, the 26th Assault Team continued the operation.

Led by the android soldiers and drones, the group advanced along the dilapidated concrete road for a while, carefully avoiding large expanses of quicksand and several areas with abnormal life signals.

At this time, there was new news from the communications corps. Yun Song raised his right fist and signaled the team to stop at the entrance of an abandoned factory.

At this point, they were only the last three hundred meters away from the mutant tribe. On the abandoned building in the distance, they could even see a camouflage bunker piled with garbage, as well as mutant sentries standing guard with telescopes.

"...The mission status update is good news. The alliance has decided to send airships to support our operations before withdrawing its troops."

After hearing this, many people breathed a sigh of relief.

They did not take everyone with them on this mission. More than 30 logistics personnel and more than 20 soldiers stayed at the camp site.

With ten power armors, thirty sets of exoskeletons, and less than thirty bionic soldiers, it would still be difficult to kill a mutant tribe that was more than ten times their size without heavy fire support.

Even if they win, they will suffer a lot of casualties.

The mutants in the desert don't just use iron pipe rifles. These beasts have mastered semi-automatic or even fully automatic weapons through transactions with the Legion and the Falcon Kingdom.

Not to mention that they are armed with scraps and junk from the pre-war era and DIY weapons.

Those things may seem unreliable, but if you underestimate them, you will suffer big losses.

For example, a mutant they had seen before, armed with a melt ray gun made from the head and spine of the "Pioneer" robot, even killed one of their powered armors with a sneak attack.

These unexpected attack methods make it difficult to guard against.

Su Ming said excitedly when he heard that alliance support was on the way.

"That 400mm heavy gun?"

Yunsong nodded.

"Yes... including ground troops and those unreliable gliders, but we need to confirm that there are no of our people in the camp before we can decide whether to use an ax or a scalpel."

As he spoke, he looked at the drone operator standing behind the team.

"I'll leave the investigation to you."

"receive."

A man with a steady expression made a gesture, tapped his fist on his shoulder, and the drone backpack behind him popped open the hatch.

A four-rotor drone ejected like a crossbow, roaring into the sky with a roar.

The screen is connected to the helmet's tactical eyepiece.

Although the signal is very poor, it can barely be used.

Under the control of the drone operator, the quadcopter drone carefully avoided the sight of the mutant sentries, moved to the side of the building, passed through the rows of twisted steel bars and concrete debris, and flew to the mutant tribe. above.

The entire tribe is located in an abandoned factory.

The shacks made from rubbish and half-collapsed factories merged into one, and large iron sheds and dried animal skins blocked the twisted alleys.

However, through the gaps in the shield, one can still see coal-like bodies, bloodthirsty fangs and knotted muscles.

They're like orcs from fantasy movies.

What is chilling is that these animals that feed on fur and drink blood actually imitated humans and developed cities, and even clarified the division of labor in society...

There are residential areas that reek of feces, arenas where violence is unleashed and mutants have fun, there are blacksmith departments and tool workshops filled with the sound of forging, there are plantations where unknown fruits are grown, and there are prisoners Pastures for various livestock…

Looking down at this huge tribe through the drone's lens, the drone operator only felt his scalp numb.

Especially when he found the same kind imprisoned in cages in the pasture that was like a garbage dump, anger rushed to his forehead.

"Oh shit……"

"What's wrong?" Hearing his curse, Yun Song cast a questioning look at him.

The drone operator did not speak, but stretched out his index finger and swiped in the air, transmitting what he saw to his teammates who were looking at him.

Drone footage zooms in.

Inside the iron baskets made of rows of steel bars, there were bodies covered with scars and missing parts.

Most of the people with bloated bellies are "lucky", as mutants usually don't eat them, but those who fail to bear children for them are in misery. Many of them were tortured so much that their arms and legs were removed, and their wounds were rotten and infested with maggots.

Mutants themselves have extremely strong resilience and do not need bandages or anti-inflammatory drugs at all. Naturally, they will not bandage animals that have not eaten.

Many people were sitting on the ground with their eyes blank, not even having the strength to drive away the mosquitoes and flies surrounding them. Some people were motionless, wondering if they were dead.

On the chopping board not far away, a mutant priest with bare arms was using a primitive and rude method to deliver a baby to a human handcuffed to the chopping board.

They don't care if those people die in the process.

Followers of Chaos are not picky eaters; their stomachs are as strong as their muscles and bones.

Those slaves who were kept as livestock may be from the Falcon Kingdom, honey badgers or lions, or even sent from further away by slave traders... few people will pay attention to those who disappeared in the war. Where did everyone go in the end.

Even though he had seen many hellish scenes during the march in the wasteland, Su Ming's face could not help but turn slightly pale.

This is much more cruel than those well-behaved predators.

The soldier not far from him couldn't help but retched.

"These beasts!" Gu Wei tightened his grip on the heavy machine gun in his hand, wishing he could rush in and shoot them all.

"They are beasts to begin with. When do you think they are not anymore?"

Yunsong expressionlessly operated on the holographic window, selecting parts of the camp and marking places where there might be living people.

After doing all this, he signaled the signal soldiers to set up a signal enhancement device, roughly pointing it in the direction of the Heart of Steel.

"This is the 26th Commando. We have confirmed the location of the 'Blackstone' mutant tribe. The number of mutants is around two thousand, which is the same as the intelligence."

"Survivors found in the tribe... We can't get any closer, not sure if there are any of our people inside, I hope not."

After a burst of electric white noise.

The answering voice came from the other end of the communication channel.

"Roger... We still have half an hour to arrive. If it's convenient, please help us lead them to an open area."

Yunsong turned his attention to two abandoned buildings that were close together not far away - where the "earth-digging worm" was passing through.

That's a nice location.

Either as an artillery landing point.

Or as a grave for those beasts.

"Got it, give it to us."

After ending the communication, he waved to the soldiers behind him.

"Get ready to work."

…

At the same time, dozens of kilometers away on the edge of the desert, a huge steel airship was slowly pushing away from the edge of the rolling yellow sand, heading towards the endless ruins.

If Chu Guang was shocked by the endless yellow sand and rolling clouds when he first entered Luoxia Province.

So the shock in his heart at this moment can be said to be no less than at that time.

Even worse!

"It's unbelievable... was this a city before?" Chu Guang, standing in the bridge, looked down at the scenery outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, with a look of surprise on his face.

The 100-meter-wide highway extends straight forward, blending with the tall buildings on the horizon. Even if you stand on an airship thousands of meters above the ground, you can't see the end at a glance.

The land is divided into countless grids by intertwined roads and track debris, half of which is densely packed buildings, and the other half is endless desert.

It may take hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, for this land to completely transform into the shape of the Luoxia Province...

Standing next to Chu Guang, Wu Changnian narrowed his eyes slightly, his face was not only shocked, but also a little melancholy.

"...I heard that in the prosperous era, that is, two centuries ago, the Great Desert was not called the Great Desert, but the four industrial zones of the People's Federation."

Chu Guang glanced at him and asked in confusion.

"Four industrial zones?"

"Yes."

Wu Changnian nodded, looking out the window as if he was lost in the memory of a certain video material. After a moment of pause, he slowly continued.

"...The Western Industrial Zone is the beginning of all industrial chains. It is responsible for the production of the most basic raw materials, as well as the rough processing of raw materials transported by the logistics network and space elevators, such as synthetic chemicals, catalysts, alloys, etc."

"The northern industrial area is a logistics and warehousing center, responsible for the storage of logistics surplus, the distribution of finished products, and the transfer of intermediate products and waste materials. It has the highest density of transportation networks in the prosperous era, whether it is trackless transportation or rail transportation... Theoretically, as long as you choose the right transportation, you can get there directly from anywhere on the planet, and it also has the highest density of office buildings there.”

"The Eastern Industrial Zone is the end of the industrial chain. The large, efficient and dense industrial chain is responsible for processing or assembling raw materials and intermediate products into final products."

"As for the southern industrial zone, it is mainly an energy hub. It is like a large charging plug, which is used to receive energy generated by power generation facilities in outer space."

"Coupled with the space elevator, the four industrial zones surrounding the space elevator form a complete closed loop of the industrial chain."

Chu Guang said in surprise.

"Build an industrial center in the middle of the mainland?"

To him from another world, this sounded counterintuitive.

After all, in his hometown, industrial areas are mostly concentrated in the east, especially in the coastal areas. There are fewer industrial centers in the inland west and their distribution is relatively sparse.

But here it seems to be a completely different story.

Wu Changnian nodded and continued.

"Yes, there are stable climate conditions here, far away from the junction of continental plates, there are no active earthquakes and volcanic activities, and unlike the sea or coast, typhoons blow from time to time... There is no place more suitable for building a space elevator base than here. ”

As he spoke, his tone couldn't help but contain a hint of emotion.

"At first, it was just an elevator. Later, the dense transportation network began to extend to low-Earth orbit, and gradually turned into a tower, a mountain, and even a bigger mountain. Endless and rich resources poured from space to the surface, and their abundance was astonishing. …The prosperity of that era is difficult to imagine in this era, and even the ideal city only restored the tip of the iceberg.”

Wu Changnian had also heard that in the original plan, the People's Federation planned to use the space elevator as the center to radiate the city cluster to every corner of the Central Continent in another two centuries. Use the energy and alloys obtained from space mining to build the entire planet into a global city.

That blueprint is a collection of everyone's dreams throughout the prosperous era. Individual ideals, ambitions and imaginations will extend infinitely on this infinitely prosperous planet, and use it as a starting point to spread to more distant galaxies.

But it is a pity that a war that lasted only three years brought all dreams to naught.

While Wu Changnian was remembering the past, Chu Guang, who was standing next to him, had not yet recovered from the huge blueprint.

Although he couldn't brag about something that could be seen with the naked eye, he still couldn't figure out how this huge industrial center was placed in the middle of the continent.

"...What about industrial water? Where does the water come from?"

Wu Changnian was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect his focus to be here, and then he said with a smile.

"Isn't there an underground ocean current pipeline? What do you think the Great Rift Valley was used for before?"

Only then did Chu Guang suddenly come to his senses.

He seemed to have heard vaguely before that the Great Rift Valley existed to store the surplus energy generated by the controllable fusion power station, and the specific way to achieve this was to electrolyze seawater.

As for by-products such as surplus chlorine, sodium and various metal elements precipitated from seawater, they will be packaged and sent to the industrial zone for processing.

It turns out that the underground ocean current pipeline was not only built for the Great Rift Valley, but also for the purpose of transporting industrial water to the center of the continent!

The great power of that era was actually more terrifying than he imagined...

Chu Guang was shocked and his scalp was numb.

Especially when I think of all the cool things I pretended to be at the beginning, and the "cakes" I drew for Yin Fang, Heya, Vanus and other survivors...

How the hell can we return to the greatness of the Prosperity Era?

Mobilizing 7 billion players is not enough!

What's more, it's obvious that the Formation Field can't hold so many people... Otherwise, there would be no reason for the first-generation managers to set up numerous rules and "issue activation codes" to him in a planned way.

Not knowing what Chu Guang was thinking at this moment, Wu Changnian chuckled and continued.

"Of course, the solid hydrogen underground in the Great Rift Valley is a strategic reserve and will not be used normally. The main supply of industrial water is the southern industrial zone. It is not only an energy hub, but also responsible for seawater desalination and sewage recycling... too I don’t know much about it professionally. I just got a rough idea from the database. If you want to know more about how the whole system works, you have to ask an expert in this field.”

"In short, the four major industrial zones account for more than 60% of the People's Federation's GDP, and the peak is said to have reached 70%,"

"So remember, no one knows what will be in Vault 0. We'd better be careful and arrange the candidates carefully."

Listening to that cautious tone, Chu Guang also nodded seriously.

"I will assign a shelter resident with outstanding sensory abilities."

Wu Changnian nodded approvingly.

"So best."

He had heard about the number of awakened people per capita in Vault 404.

Although he believes more in AI and machines than in unstable biological factors such as awakening, in previous wars, the Alliance has proven that humans are not inferior to machines under certain circumstances, and can even create miracles that machines cannot achieve. Bringing two more reliable experts is never a bad thing.

And this is why he was able to convince the enterprise and the legion to help the alliance, which had "no experience in excavation of ruins," win two places.

There is only one access card.

According to the description of the employee named Luo Hua, the elevator they found leading to Vault 0 was not very big, and the number of people who could go down at one time was limited...

At this moment, the bridge door opened.

Vanus came in from the outside, gave a military salute, and said neatly.

"News came from the 26th Commando of the Enterprise. They have confirmed the coordinates of the 'Blackstone' mutant tribe, but they are not sure whether there are enterprise employees among the slaves imprisoned by the mutants."

"If you can't be sure whether it exists, then let's assume it exists." Turning to look at Vanus, Chu Guang said seriously, "Is there a new battle plan?"

Vanus nodded.

"The battle plan is a frontal attack. We have informed the 26th Commando that fire support will arrive in half an hour. They intend to launch an attack in half an hour and lure enemy units to their recommended artillery coordinates."

"Very good, just follow this plan," Chu Guang nodded, paused for a moment, and continued to order, "Let the airship's artillery positions prepare for firepower, and at the same time have the Burning Corps on standby below the deck, ready to support our allies."

"Yes!" With a clean military salute, Vanus turned and walked out of the bridge.

Looking away from his back, Wu Changnian looked at Chu Guang with grateful eyes.

"Thank you for the importance you place on our employees."

Chu Guang smiled slightly and said.

"You're welcome. The crew of the Pioneer are not only our friends, but they are also kind to us."

Without that epoch-making machine tool, subsequent industrialization would not have progressed so smoothly. No matter how big the imaginations of young players are, they still have to have something to turn their ideas into reality.

Although it was a deal where everyone got what they needed, he knew very well that the other party actually took good care of them, otherwise he would not have acquiesced in allowing them to harvest so much wool.

When he parted with Captain Lu Yang, he said that he would remember this favor, and now is the time to return the favor.

"...But speaking of which, was that person from Weiland just now?" Wu Changnian suddenly asked as if he thought of something.

"um, yes."

Seeing Chu Guang's reaction was so bland, Wu Changnian couldn't help but ask.

"Is it really okay?"

He had just reminded the young leader that he must be careful about every Willant person.

Looking at the slightly concerned look, Chu Guang said nonchalantly.

"He stayed voluntarily."

Before going to Luoxia Province, Chu Guang had discussed this issue with Vanus. If he felt embarrassed to fight with the Legion, he could stay in Qingquan City. He would not force anyone to participate in a war that he did not want to participate in.

Objectively speaking, the officers Vanus trained for the alliance and contributed to the establishment of the alliance's command system in the early stages of the business are enough to repay his "debt."

After the war is over, he can be returned to his hometown as a prisoner of war exchange like other prisoners of war, and no one will know that he has served the Union.

However, after hearing his proposal, Vanus not only decisively rejected this only opportunity to go home, but even stood magnanimously in front of Finold and McClun, the two prisoners who were destined to be exchanged back, as a sign of gratitude. own loyalty to the alliance.

The reason he gave made Chu Guang silent for a long time.

"...I spent a year thinking about the meaning of this war, but we seemed to get nothing except hatred and death. My troops were wiped out in the south for no reason. My commander and he His subordinates were wiped out in the north. At the moment of failure, I didn’t have any regrets, but felt a little relieved.”

"I don't think His Majesty the Marshal is wrong, nor do I think General Klass is stupid. Perhaps by continuing along their path, we can really lead to a better future, but we don't understand it at the moment."

"As General Krass often said, we are extremely vicious criminals. All of us will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history by future generations, but they will thank us for leaving them a vast world. In that world, there are only the Weilants, and the Weilants will not hate the Weilants. The tragedy that happened before... whether it was two hundred years ago or in the distant past, will never happen again."

"But in you, I see another possibility that we have never imagined. Maybe there is a unity beyond blood in this world... As you said, we are all survivors, whether we are residents of the shelter or wastelanders outside. What should be eliminated is not one of us, but the barbarism that is raging in the wasteland."

"War is a job for me. Unfortunately, this is the only thing I can do. But if it can become a little bit meaningful here, please let me follow you and continue to move forward."

At the same time, on the lower deck, the flashing signal lights have conveyed the order to fight.

One by one, the eager players have put on their exoskeletons, picked up the most elite equipment, and brought sufficient ammunition.

This time we are going to take an old friend home.

And it is an open military operation under the joint supervision of the three forces of the Legion, the Enterprise, and the Academy.

Everyone is ready to show off in front of those old guys, to show the new Governor of the Weilant whether their defeat is unfair or not.

"Brothers! This time our opponents are mutants! Back then on Street 76, our friends on the East Coast helped us, this time it's our turn to help them."

Walked in front of a group of good brothers.

Old White, wearing the Dragoon power armor, looked around at the brothers who were full of vigor, and said loudly in a loud voice.

"There is only one purpose for the action-"

"Don't leave any alive!"

A deafening shout came from the hatch leading to the deck, and even the alloy floor was shaking violently under the burning fighting spirit.

"Oh oh oh!"

"Kill all those beasts!"