Embers Ad Infinitum

Bai Chen immediately slowed down the speed of the heavy motorcycle, looked up and looked ahead.

A hundred meters away, there is a reddish-brown wall, which extends to both sides as far as possible, and turns to the rear at the end of Baichen's line of sight, as if to enclose them together.

Most of the bricks of this wall are mottled and old, but there are also a few that look very new, as if they were fired in the last year.

There are rusty barbed wire fences on the top and outside of the wall, and there is only one road to pass through.

Between the barbed wire and the wall, and on several wooden racks erected behind the wall, there are guards with dirty clothes and messy styles patrolling with guns.

The one who warned Bai Chen was the guard standing on the tallest wooden frame. He was wearing a yellowed and stiff shirt inside, and was wrapped in navy blue, padded jacket-like, bulky clothes that looked very fluffy.

The guard was carrying an automatic rifle and a black object like a pen in his hand.

The object emitted red light, which shone in front of Bai Chen, forming a small dot.

Bai Chen stopped the motorcycle, took off the helmet, and tried to push back the short hair that just passed the ears.

She is deliberately showing her identity as a woman.

This is not to charm or seduce anyone, but to make the other party relax and less nervous.

She is very clear that on the dusty soil, where there is not much order, even if guns can bring the dangers of men and women to the same level, they cannot really bridge the gap between the two sides in this respect.

Men are more dangerous than women, both physically and aggressively.

A stranger who is a man is far more intimidating than a woman.

During those years when Bai Chen wandered in the wilderness, she always showed two different states: when she needed to explore ruins, go hunting in the wild, pass through more dangerous areas, and trade with certain bandit groups, she would hide her long hair, Darken her face, change her attire, and make herself look like a man; when she is close to a settlement with a certain order, or dealing with relic hunters from big forces who care more about intelligence and old world data, she will show her identity as a woman.

When she was absorbed by the "Pangaea" and gained confidence, she could finally have a haircut that matched her ears, neither long nor short, according to her liking.

After placing the helmet in front of him, Bai Chen let the heavy motorcycle continue to move forward slowly.

During this process, the red spot of light kept swaying in front of her, landing on her motorcycle from time to time. This means that the opponent has aimed and is not careless.

When the distance between the two sides was reduced to 30 meters, Bai Chen tilted the motorcycle, put one foot on the ground, and shouted loudly:

"I'm here to find Mayor Tian Er Hetian!"

She repeated it twice, stopped talking, and waited patiently.

One of the guards on the wooden frame was separated, and it pedaled down along the slanted wooden board.

Five or six minutes later, an old man appeared on the wall.

He wore a furry dark blue hat, as if a bowl had been turned upside down on his head.

He has very obvious white hair at the sideburns, sunken eye sockets, thin face, and wrinkles where there are wrinkles, making him look very old.

However, his dark brown eyes are still bright, and his spirit is hale and hearty. It is Tian Erhe, the mayor of this settlement.

He was wearing a white and yellow T-shirt, a crumpled suit full of patches, and an army green overcoat that was too big and too long for his figure.

The lower part of his body is dark yellow woolen pants, and he doesn't know how many other pairs of pants are stuffed inside, which looks very bloated.

Tian Erhe looked at Bai Chen, carefully distinguishing for a few seconds.

"Ah..." He seemed to recognize the other party, but when he wanted to say hello, he found that Bai Chen was too far away, and he couldn't shout as casually as before.

He turned his head quickly, angrily said to the guard next to him:

"Give me my horn!

"Really, not smart at all!"

The guard responded aggrievedly:

"Your speaker has been out of battery for a long time, and the same type of battery cannot be replaced recently.

"I, I can call for you..."

Tian Erhe thought for a while and said:

"Shout for me: Bai girl, where did you die this year? I thought you were eaten by wild beasts!"

"Bai girl..." The guard suddenly realized, "Is it the Bai Chen who used to come here often?"

"Who else could it be if it wasn't her? I'm in my seventies, and my eyesight is getting worse and worse, so I can recognize it. You, a guy in your early twenties, why are you acting like a blind man?" Tian Erhe glanced at the guard. , cursed a few words.

Everyone in this settlement is used to Tian Erhe's temper, the guard didn't care about the scolding just now, and just muttered a few words:

"She looks much better than before...you can't recognize her unless you look carefully..."

Before Tian Erhe could stare at him, the guard opened his throat and shouted loudly:

"Girl Bai, where did you die this year? I thought you were eaten by wild beasts!"

Bai Chen's expression softened unknowingly, and she responded loudly:

"Go somewhere else.

"Mayor, let me change something!"

This place is called "Shuiwei Town". Bai Chen heard from Tian Erhe that the name of the town came from before the destruction of the old world, and it got its name because it was surrounded by four rivers.

After the destruction of the old world, long-term melee, and multiple geological disasters, the nearby water flow has become a part of the Great Swamp, which provides a natural defensive wall for Shuiwei Town and brings enough concealment.

Only the residents of Shuiwei Town and the guests they once invited can find those seemingly mud-covered roads in the Great Swamp and arrive here in the maze-like environment.

Compared with those settlements that often had to migrate, Shuiwei Town, which has clean water and a lot of arable land, has been here since the destruction of the old world.

Tian Erhe wanted to talk loudly, but before he could actually speak, his throat was already itchy, and he couldn't help coughing twice.

"Come in, come in." He waved his hands helplessly.

The guard next to him immediately shouted:

"Come in! Come in!

"Hand the gun to the man at the door!"

Snapped! Tian Erhe patted him:

"Who asked you to add the latter sentence?

"Bai girl is someone you can trust!"

"But she hasn't been here for a year." The guard responded with a stiff neck.

Tian Erhe was silent for two seconds, turned around and walked off the wooden frame without saying anything.

Bai Chen didn't resist, and handed over all the guns on his back, the pistol on his arm belt, and the heavy motorcycle to the guard at the gate.

The iron-black door opened to the opposite side.

Tian Erhe was already waiting there, looked Bai Chen up and down, and said with a smile:

"It seems that I have been doing well recently. I used to be a mud girl."

Bai Chen instinctively closed her eyes:

"A team took me in."

Tian Erhe nodded thoughtfully:

"Not bad."

He didn't continue the topic, and asked casually:

"Where's your robot? Call it, call it 35."

Bai Chen lowered his eyes slightly, and said after a second:

"broken."

Tian Erhe fell silent immediately.

After a few seconds, he took a breath and asked as if he hadn't exchanged anything just now:

"What do you want in exchange?"

"Some car parts..." Bai Chen replied with a normal expression.

"Stop! Don't tell me which ones they are, I don't understand them either, I'll take you to have a look and choose one." Tian Erhe interrupted Bai Chen's words with a smile.

He turned around and led Bai Chen to the depths of the town.

This town is not big, and it is completely different from the town in the old world concept.

When Bai Chen glanced, the first thing he saw were three three-story buildings in the distance. The buildings were not high, but they were very long, and each floor was separated by many rooms.

These three houses are not parallel, but are inverted and oblique "pin".

As far as Bai Chen knows, those who live here and have private or floor toilets are all members of the town guard and their families. At the same time, people with important skills can also be allocated rooms, for example, those who know how to repair firearms, For example, those who have mastered old world agricultural techniques.

On both sides of the word "Pin", there are two large public toilets, one vertical and one horizontal; in front of the word "Pin", there is a small square made of cement, and outside the small square are three small squares side by side with rammed earth as the bottom.

There is a row of bungalows on the left and right sides of the square. They are not far from the wall, and they belong to the original townspeople of Shuiwei Town. Based on the population base of Shuiwei Town, most of the townspeople’s homes have members of the town guard, otherwise it is not enough to maintain the town guard.

On the four squares, there are countless chaotically built houses standing there, including mud houses, brick houses, and tents.

These buildings come from the wilderness wanderers that Shuiwei Town has absorbed over the years, or those who have violated the law among the original members.

At this time, the sun was still in the sky, and evening was approaching far away. Some of the residents of Shuiwei Town were still working in the fields behind the town, and the other part went hunting in small groups. Only a few stayed in the town.

They walked out of the densely packed houses and cast their gazes from behind the windows. They have the same thing in common: their faces are not very clean, their hair is dry and greasy, their clothes are not matched, and they may not fit their body types, but their eyes are better than Bai Chen. The wilderness wanderers encountered in other places are more spiritual.

"Mayor, you, how is your health recently?" Bai Chen didn't care about other people's gazes, opened his mouth, and asked not too proficiently.

Tian Erhe laughed at himself and said:

"It's okay, but I'm getting more and more afraid of the cold. You see, winter hasn't arrived yet, so I have to wear so much. Heh, I don't know if I can survive this winter."

"It's definitely possible." Bai Chen followed Tian Erhe and walked along the road among the messy houses to the three buildings in the shape of a character.

She answered very firmly, but her tone was a little erratic.

"Don't comfort me." Tian Erhe touched his chin with white stubble, "I'm already seventy-seven! How many people who have experienced the destruction of the old world can live to this age? Besides, I My children are gone, even if I wait a few more years, I really found a new world, it doesn't mean much to me, hey, if Nannan is still alive, she should be about the same age as you..."

"...at least take a look at the new world." Bai Chen was silent for a while.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at the chaotic houses around them, and saw plastic bottles, glass bottles, old cardboard, buttons, rags, parts from nowhere, long or short cables piled up beside their doors and windows , Metal bottle caps, handles with incomplete buttons, cracked mirror cases, bullet casings, scopes, rusty spectacle frames, etc., are like garbage dumps and recycling bins.

Tian Erhe sighed with a "huh":

"The new world...who knows where...

"Young people can be trusted, at least they have hope, old guys like us, forget it."

PS: Ask for a recommendation ticket~