Chapter 573 The Origin of Chaos (1/2)

A Viper transport plane landed on a bare field, and two soldiers wearing exoskeletons jumped from the side of the cabin.

The two were soldiers of the Guards Regiment.

There are missions where players are active, usually with them providing support and assistance.

These warriors are all elites selected from other corps. All of them have received injections of expression-inducing serum, and they are all awakened without exception.

There is a saying on the forum that they are the eyes of managers.

However, some players don't think so. After all, who can be more like the eyes of managers than the hard-working "task masters" themselves?

Looking at the plane with arc light spraying from its tail, Kong Lingkai's eyes were filled with greed, and he thought to himself that it would be great if he could just buy one.

This thing is definitely more comfortable to sit on than his old piece of wood.

The two soldiers ignored the guy. One of them walked directly to the body of the prosthetic mutant that was thrown on the ground, and the other walked to Lao Bai and gave a military salute.

"We came under the orders of the administrator to recover the body of the mutant 'Og'."

His right fist struck the breastplate, and Lao Bai spoke concisely.

"I already saw it in the mission briefing, I'll leave the rest to you."

"learn!"

The soldier nodded and was about to turn around when Lao Bai suddenly thought of something and said.

"By the way, are you going back to Dawn City directly?"

"Yes."

Seeing the soldier nodding, Lao Bai quickly asked.

"Can I take a ride? There are a few of us here who want to go back."

The soldier was stunned for a moment, then said after hesitating for a moment.

"I have to ask the manager for instructions..."

After saying that, he turned back to the plane, connected to the communication base station at the outpost at the border of the provinces through the airborne radio, and made contact with the shelter.

After a while, he came back.

"The manager said yes."

"Great." Lao Bai smiled and nodded, looking at Xinghe who was standing aside, "Friend, what's your mission?"

Xinghe was stunned.

"Ah?! Is this...ok?"

"What's so good about this? Anyway, there are so many empty seats, five or six people can still sit down." Looking at Xinghe who was still hesitating, Lao Bai patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "The managers have agreed. You’re welcome.”

As he spoke, he looked at the farmer who had woken up and was sitting next to the Mosquito attack plane.

"By the way, do you have any objection to letting me go?"

Unexpectedly, the man wearing iron trousers would talk to him. Kong Lingkai was startled when he came back to his senses. He shook his head quickly, for fear of neglecting him for a second.

"No, no!"

"He has no objection," Lao Bai looked at the confused Xinghe and Luo Yu, and said with a smile, "Hurry and pick them up, don't waste time."

Xinghe took the farmer back to the Hope Farm. Kong Lingkai did not dare to neglect at all and sent the family out like a plague god.

It can be seen that Kong Lingkai is not very willing to give up these cash cows, but he is really afraid if he is afraid. He had no doubt that it would take less than half an hour for these people to kill him...

"Are you really not considering it? I'll give you... five hundred thousand silver coins, as long as you bring that guy over." Looking at Xinghe who was about to leave, Kong Lingkai's face was full of reluctance.

Except for the newly weaned child, Zhou Nan's family members all had frightened expressions on their faces after hearing these words.

They knew that if the young man nodded, they would be dead.

But their worries were obviously unnecessary.

Looking at Master Kong with a hopeful look on his face, Xinghe smiled and said.

"You're overthinking it. Let alone five hundred thousand silver coins. Even if you give me one million silver coins, I won't be able to do it for you."

Kong Ling was in a hurry.

"Isn't the money enough? I'll pay -"

"It has nothing to do with money," Xinghe sighed, "We have things more expensive than silver coins here."

Such as gaming helmets.

But the NPC obviously didn't understand, and said after a pause.

"Something more expensive than... silver coins?"

Xinghe said casually: "Yes, in the alliance, honor and dignity cannot be traded. We must build an equal society...what the manager said."

After hearing this, Kong Lingkai knew that it was useless to say anything.

He suddenly felt like a deflated rubber ball. He was sulking in his heart, but he didn't dare to get angry, so he could only point fingers and curse in a low voice.

"You keep talking about equality...is this fair to me? If I hadn't given this white-eyed wolf his freedom and lent him the capital to make a fortune, how could he have achieved what he has today!"

Looking at the guy who wanted to get angry but didn't dare, Xinghe shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't understand your business, and I'm not interested in understanding it. Maybe in his opinion, he has served you for so many years, which is enough to repay the debt he owes you. The planes, cement, machine guns... many of the things here are actually from us. Isn’t it produced there? Maybe it seems to you that these are far from enough, but that’s another question.”

"If you ask me, you should sign an agreement that stipulates ownership and interest sharing, and binds each other with things written in black and white, and we will protect the legitimate rights and interests of all partners. But use something as vague as 'favor' , you actually know that there will be controversy in the future, right? Otherwise, you wouldn’t take the whole family as a hostage.”

"Anyway, at least here, kidnapping is illegal, no matter the reason. You should be glad that this is not within the Alliance territory yet, otherwise the person coming here would not be a mercenary."

Not yet... What does it mean?

Looking at the group of people turning to leave, Kong Lingkai had a trace of panic in his eyes, while the private soldiers and servants standing around looked at each other...

…

On the bare fields.

Xinghe, who was sitting in the Viper transport plane, looked at Luo Yu who was watching him off and said with a look of shame.

"Good brother! I will come back to help you!"

They had agreed to help each other before, but he went back first, which made him somewhat embarrassed.

Luo Yu didn't care. He looked at the slowly rising transport plane and waved with a smile.

"Yeah! I remembered it, have a nice journey!"

Carrying the remains of the cybernetic mutant, as well as the entire family of Xinghe and Zhounan, the Viper transport plane dragged two arcs of light towards Dawn City, which was more than 800 kilometers away.

Withdrawing his gaze from the plane, Lao Bai looked at Luo Yu.

"Let's go back to town and discuss it."

"Yes!" Luo Yu nodded and said with a smile, "I just want to introduce the NPC who leads the team to you. He is a local here and knows more about the situation here than I do."

Fang Chang suddenly thought of something and said.

"He is your employer's man, or the farmer's man."

Luo Yu scratched his head.

"This...I don't know, but my employer said that he can be trusted. He is aware of the entrustment."

"That's it, that should be no problem." Fang Chang nodded, his face seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn't speak again.

Just as a group of people were walking towards Hope Town, the mayor of Hope Town and other important officials in the town had already come out to welcome them.

The expressions on everyone's faces varied. They ranged from feeling lucky to survive the disaster to being grateful for a thousand thanks, or alert and worried.

The leader bowed and said politely.

"I am Ma Hechang, the mayor here. Please allow me to represent the more than a thousand households in Hope Town and thank you for your help! If it weren't for you, I'm afraid not many people would survive tonight."

Looking at the mayor in front of him, Lao Bai said with a smile.

"You're welcome. If it's convenient, please prepare a hotel for us. We have to stay here for one night. Ah, of course, we will pay for it."

Seeing that this guy was about to pay, Ma Hechang said quickly.

"How are you so embarrassed? We will help you arrange accommodation. You warriors can stay as long as you want!"

Lao Bai said with a smile.

"We won't bother you here for too long. We will leave early tomorrow morning..."

Ma Hechang breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that he was leaving early tomorrow morning.

Although he didn't know why the mutants suddenly went crazy and came here, his intuition told him that it must be related to the people in front of him.

After all, they have joined the Torch Church family, and strictly speaking, that strange tribe must be considered their ally.

Obviously these outsiders angered the mutants, otherwise he couldn't think of any other reason why the mutants would take action against their own people.

It was the Iron Tower before, but now there is an alliance. These people seem to be in a daze... Why do they have to find trouble with mutants?

They can actually reach an agreement like civilized people.

I really hope they can be polite and don't bring their grudges into other people's homes.

But even though he was thinking this, he still had an expression of hospitality and regret on his face, and said hypocritically.

"If you need anything please let us know."

"I will..." Lao Bai nodded, suddenly thought of something, and continued, "By the way, can you take me to visit the priest in the town?"

Ma Hechang was stunned for a moment.

"You mean..."

Lao Bai went straight to the point and said.

"I heard there is a church of the Torch Church here."

A look of surprise appeared on Ma Hechang's face, he nodded quickly and said.

"Okay, I'll take you there."

…

The town was quiet.

After the mutants were dealt with, many caravans dismantled the roadblocks at the door and ran north with their people without any explanation, for fear that if they stayed here one more night, they would be killed by the mutants.

The militiamen in the town did not dare to force them to stay and could only watch those people walk away.

After what happened, those people may never come here again. But people are more worried about the present than what will happen in the future.

Why are those mutants back here?

They suffered such a big loss, will they come back again...

Not to mention those foreigners.

Some locals who were born and raised here are also hesitating whether to pack up their belongings and run away and leave this place of right and wrong completely.

After entering the town, the players were divided into two teams.

Fang Chang and Luo Yu went to the hotel and contacted the leader of the Pinecone Farm caravan to see if they could find an opportunity to sneak into the farm.

Lao Bai, Ye Shi, Kuang Feng and the others followed the mayor to the Torch Church's church.

The church was in the center of the town. It was a steeple house with a roof covered with tiles. It didn't look grand, but it wasn't shabby either.

The main entrance is engraved with the emblem of the Torch Church - a torch made of two inverted triangles.

Seeing the man in power armor looking thoughtfully at the sign, Ma Hechang coughed lightly and said.

"This is the church we built for the Holy Son...it was just built some time ago."

Lao Bai said casually.

"It seems that you quite love that Holy Son."

Ma Hechang said with a smile.

"Of course, he did bring us the gospel."

"In which way?"

"Which aspect? There are simply too many..." Ma Hechang was stunned for a moment, and then started talking about the treasures, "For example, Naguo. In the past, there would be fights every now and then, those who herded cattle, those who farmed, those who cut trees, and those who hunted. All the guys seemed to have taken a shot, but since the emerald trees were planted in the town, those people who did the manual work were as honest as sheep, and they finally looked like they should. ”

Lao Bai suddenly asked curiously.

"Do you eat that stuff too?"

"Of course," Ma Hechang continued with a smile, "I had a severe cold before, but I got better after eating Naguo."

Lao Bai puzzled.

"Then why aren't you like them?"

He knew that the holy water could exempt him from the negative effects of "fugue travel", but he couldn't take injections every day, right?

Moreover, holy water is only immune to negative effects and cannot prevent the "fugue" state itself. Being immersed in the illusion of happiness is not a good thing.

Feelings of pleasure in pain, listening to other people's voices...these effects cannot be eliminated by holy water.

Ma Hechang smiled sheepishly and said.

"Of course it's because of the gospel of the Holy Son... As long as we donate a little tax, we can retain our true heart in his gospel. To put it simply, we can avoid entering a fugue state."

Seeing the confused look on the man's face, Ma Hechang took out a small medicine bottle.

"That's it. Its name is 'Gospel'. Just take one tablet every morning. It's like a mild holy water, but not so strong. It's just enough to keep people healthy and awake."

After staring at the small medicine bottle for a while, Lao Bai asked with interest.

"How did you sell this?"

Ma Hechang said quickly.

"This is not for sale. It is a favor to the devout. As long as you obey the will of the Holy Son, you will be favored by the gospel..."

"What is His will?"

"Build a church for the Holy Son to spread the faith, and then regularly donate a small amount of property to support the clergy."

The so-called not much here should mean that it is not much for people with money and strength. Obviously this "gospel" comes at a cost, and it is not cheap enough that anyone can afford it.

But where did this thing come from?

Seemingly thinking of something, Lao Bai took out ten silver coins from his pocket and placed them in the mayor's hand.

"Can you give me one?"

The mayor hesitated for a moment, but when he saw the weapons in these people's hands, he nodded and obediently took out a pill and handed it to Lao Bai.

"...Logically speaking, we cannot give it to anyone other than believers, but Mr. Apostle did not say what would happen if we did."

"Thank you." Lao Bai smiled lightly and handed the pills to Ye Shi, who stuffed them into his tactical backpack and kept them.

This stuff is valuable research material.

The white-haired girl from the Institute of Biology should be interested.

When he reached the door of the church, Mayor Ma pushed the wooden door open without knocking.

The priest in gray robe stood behind the wooden pulpit, mumbling some prayers.

Hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, he was so frightened that he immediately raised his head and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it wasn't a mutant coming in.

"Um...Mr. Wei, the crisis outside has been resolved! I forgot to tell you just now, sorry."

Seeing the middle-aged pastor looking directly at him, Mayor Ma coughed, winked at him vigorously, and continued.

"...These friends who have come from afar are very interested in our faith. Please answer their confusion."

Lao Bai noticed that although Mayor Ma looked pious when talking about the Holy Son, he did not have much respect for the servant of God in the church.

That sentence sounds polite, but it mostly means asking for help.

Eighty percent of the time it was because he had recently converted, and the pastor was a local in the town.

Looking into the pastor's eyes, Lao Bai said with a smile.

"Excuse me, is it convenient to sit here?"

The middle-aged pastor said nervously.

"As you please."

Lao Bai nodded, sat down on the bench in the front row, and then looked back at Mayor Ma.

"We have something we want to talk to him about alone."

After understanding the meaning of these words, the mayor immediately laughed and said haha.

"Okay! Then I'll go do other things first."

With that said, he turned around and left the church, and thoughtfully closed the door for everyone.

The church fell silent.

Being looked at by pairs of eyes, the priest swallowed and said nervously.

"My name is Wei Ming. I am the pastor here. I wonder if you... what do you want to ask me?"

His intuition told him that these people didn't like him.

There is clearly evil intention written in these eyes.

"Are you from this town?"

The pastor named Wei Ming nodded nervously.

"Yes……"

Lao Bai then asked.

"How did you know that Zhang Zhengyang?"

The tone of the interrogation made Wei Ming feel a little unhappy, but he did not dare to complain at all in the face of this group of ruthless people.

The exoskeletons of those guys were still hung with minced meat and blood, and a ferocious blood-red mark was printed on them, which was enough to be a deterrent even without saying a word.

Swallowing, he replied nervously.

"...Two years ago, that apostle came here, and that's when I saw him."

Having heard about this from the Iron Tower Organization, Lao Bai was not surprised and continued to ask.

"Naguo was also brought here at that time?"

Wei Ming nodded.

"Yes... but it was different then and now. The original fruit was not mature and could only grow in a hot environment. I also heard that it is a tropical crop, and it is said that it was introduced from several small islands in the south. of."

Although the Jinchuan Province is far south enough compared to the River Valley Province, it is far from tropical and can only be regarded as being on the edge of the subtropical zone.

In the cold winter, it will still snow.

Lao Bai asked with a frown.

“They improved crops?”

"Well..." Wei Ming nodded and glanced in the direction of the backyard, "There was no church here at the time, it was just a warehouse. The apostle rented a piece of land in the town and hired some people to help him try to grow those Special crops.”

Lao Bai stared at him and asked.

"Why did he ask you for help?"

Wei Ming answered truthfully.

"I'm the town doctor...and I know a little bit about biology. He told me that if his plan goes well, there won't be a need for a clinic in the future, and if I'm willing to help him, he can Give me a higher reward."

"Anyone else besides you?"

"Yes."

Lao Bai asked immediately.

"Are they still in town?"

Wei Ming smiled bitterly and shook his head.

"Those people were serfs bought from nearby farms. To put it mildly, they were both coolies and experimental subjects. The apostle made them eat the fruits they grew. In addition to preaching, my job is also Record their clinical responses... After the first phase of the experiment, I have never seen those people again, but I can probably guess where they went. "

Lao Bai: "Where have you gone?"

Wei Ming was silent for a long time this time.

After a moment, he spoke.

"I have no evidence...but I feel like he was sent to the mutants."

Lao Bai was stunned for a moment.

"Send to the mutants?"

Wei Ming had a bitter expression on his face and shook his head.

"There is no way, they are already dying. Naguo at that time couldn't survive the winter at all. The withdrawal reaction lasted for a whole winter. There were not enough antibiotics to help those people get through it... The apostle said to get rid of them, but I think It shouldn’t be a simple matter. Those people have had business dealings with mutants a long time ago. I even heard that——”

Looking at Wei Ming who suddenly stopped talking, Lao Bai asked immediately.

"What did you hear?"

Wei Ming was silent for a while and then slowly spoke.

"I heard that they would buy some slaves from nearby farms with dinars or Cr and send them to the mutant tribe in the city... They seemed to have reached some kind of contract. The mutants would do things for the church and ensure the parish's Safe, but relatively, the church has to provide them with some people on a regular basis.”

Ye Shi couldn't help but cursed in a low voice.

"These scumbags."

Wei Ming couldn't understand what he was saying, but he could feel the anger in his tone, and he couldn't help but shrink his neck.

Lao Bai stared into his eyes.

"Since you are a doctor...you should be able to see that that thing called Naguo will destroy you."

Wei Ming's Adam's apple moved and he smiled bitterly.

"Sir... destruction is inevitable for us living in this wasteland sooner or later. The difference is only today or tomorrow."

Lao Bai fell into silence.

He suddenly felt sympathy for this guy.

At this time, Kuangfeng suddenly spoke.

"This doesn't make sense... Listen to what you mean, the group of mutants in the city let you go because they reached an agreement with the Torch Church, but why the version I heard is that they rarely harassed the neighborhood more than a century ago village.”

Wei Ming sighed and said.

"This is actually not a contradiction. More than a century ago... It can even be said that until twenty years ago, when I was young, the 'odd' tribe was relatively restrained towards us. It was only in recent years that it suddenly became violent. Something.”

Ye Shi: "Why?"

"I also heard what my grandfather said," Wei Ming said slowly, seeing the expressions of people sitting here listening attentively, "It is said that a long time ago, there was a building that was not inferior to the one in the urban area of ​​Jinhe City. There are several settlements in Boulder City, which may be larger than Boulder City at that time, with hundreds of thousands of people..."

His eyes seemed to be lost in the previous meeting. After thinking for a moment, he continued.

"The Post-War Reconstruction Committee was managing it at that time. The settlement seemed to be called Singularity City or something...if I remember correctly."

"Then around fifty years into the Wasteland Era, that is, a century and a half ago, some conflicts occurred within that committee... and they said they wanted to separate."

Lao Bai nodded.

"I've heard about this too. Around the 50th year of the Wasteland Era, the Post-War Reconstruction Committee officially announced its dissolution."

Wei Ming was stunned for a moment.

"Is this true? Actually, it doesn't matter. I heard that the committee existed in name only a long time ago, but that's not the point... The point is that at that time, a group of green-skinned guys ran over from the east."

"Those people claimed to be researchers from a certain facility, from the East Coast, and were persecuted by the Production Department. In order to preserve their research results and escape from the pursuit of the Production Department, they had to turn themselves into a half-human, half-ghost appearance."

When Ye Shi heard this, he was shocked.

"Good guy... The ancestors of mutants?!"

Wei Ming nodded.

"Almost, that's how the earliest mutants in the rumors came from... They were transformed from humans. Those guys are still human in nature, so they naturally can't eat humans. They are even more polite than humans, and get along well with the residents of Singularity City."

Ye Shi squeezed out half a sentence from his throat with difficulty.

"But why..."

"Why are they eating people now?" Wei Ming's face was full of complicated expressions, "To be honest, I don't know. I only heard what my grandfather said..."

"But if you let me guess."

He swallowed and answered in an uncertain voice.

"Maybe...the earliest mutants thought they were still human, but their children didn't think so."