The Mysterious World Under Steampunk

Facing the gloomy old hunter, the high-ranking members of the Blood Ax Gang who had been summoned by him for a meeting did not dare to speak out, for fear that the old hunter's anger would be spilled on him if he said something wrong.

The room became extremely silent, and even the sound of swallowing saliva because of nervousness became very clear.

"Boss Bober, it seems that your people are not very obedient?" Sitting on the left of the old hunter was a young man with a mustache who seemed out of place with everyone around him. He seemed not afraid of the old hunter at all. Putting his feet directly on the old hunter's table, he asked very casually.

Although the clothes on this man are no different from those around him, they are all hunter clothes, but a kind of aristocratic personal temperament is not something that these clothes can block, and it is this temperament that makes him in this place. There is a strange sense of standing out from the crowd among the crowd.

"Pierre is an impulsive idiot, but he is also an empathetic idiot." Faced with the very rude question of the young man, the old hunter did not give him a profound lesson according to his usual habits, but took a deep breath. He took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, turned his head, looked coldly at the mustache, and said, "Albert who died yesterday had saved Pierre's life more than once, that's why he was so impulsive and took people out to find that revenge."

Mustache still had a condescending tone, and said: "I don't care about hatred! I just want to know if the idiot you mentioned will affect our plan after taking away more than thirty people ?”

"Of course not." The old hunter replied very solemnly: "Except for the three old guys who have been with him all the year round, the people taken away by Pierre were all recruited in the town today. We will not be affected by them." Any influence. I have already sent someone to send invitations to those guys. They will come here at noon. At that time, we only need to put forward the planned conditions. It is impossible to refuse them with the wisdom of controlling the forces behind them. At most tomorrow noon, You can get the joint agreement you want."

"This is the best way, so that I don't have to rush on the road, and I can go to Miria City calmly." Mustache stretched his waist, pretending to be exhausted, and said, "I've been fighting all night, I'm really tired." , I want to go to rest, and I leave everything here to you. No problem, right? Your Excellency Bober."

"Please rest assured." The old hunter wished that the mustache would go away immediately, but he didn't show it on his face, imitating the other party's aristocratic style, and responded.

The old hunter's pretentious behavior made the mustache look even more disdainful towards him, but the mustache didn't show it either.

After getting up, when the mustache was about to leave, he stopped as if he had thought of something, turned around, and said to the old hunter very solemnly: "There is something I should remind you, the reason why you participated in this In the plan, it is entirely because of the strong recommendation of the general, you and that are good friends for many years, he has great trust in you, and I hope you will not live up to his trust. Because if you fail this Not only you will be punished, but the general will also be implicated by you, so..."

The old hunter frowned, and said in a deep voice, "I know the seriousness of the matter, so I don't need to remind you anymore."

"That's the best! I was talking too much." Mustache was not annoyed by the interruption of his words, and after saluting decently to the old hunter, he turned and walked out of the room.

After Mustache left, the old hunter closed his eyes and meditated, and the subordinates standing in front of him didn't dare to disturb him.

After a while, the old hunter suddenly opened his eyes, and said to the subordinate with a prosthetic leg, "Cripple, Pierre's territory is handed over to you."

After hearing this, the cripple was stunned for a moment, then showed ecstasy, and quickly patted his chest to ensure that he could manage the territory well, but he couldn't help but feel a little worried when he was excited, saying: "Boss, if Pierre comes back what to do?"

"Don't worry, he won't come back again!" The old hunter said very firmly.

Although they didn't understand why the old hunter said that, everyone present could not help but shudder.

At this time, the cripple said again: "Boss, when Pierre left, he also took away the three guns and thirty rounds of special bullets that you gave him last night. If I go to take over the site, I don't have these things... ..."

"You bastard! You'll cause me trouble if you leave." Before he finished speaking, the old hunter slapped the table vigorously, and finally couldn't hold back the anger accumulated before, cursing angrily. The people around had no doubt that if that Pierre was in front of the old hunter now, the old hunter would tear him alive.

On the other side, Leo, who had already entered the edge of the Black Forest, didn't know that there was a team of people chasing after him, and he didn't know that the pursuit of this team caused a lot of trouble for the Blood Ax Gang. His strength and sight have been completely attracted by the forest in front of him.

Leo knew from his body's past memories that the trees in this world not only grow very fast, but also grow very tall.

Not to mention that the charcoal tree, which is regarded as an important resource by various countries, has a height of nearly 100 meters at the shortest after it matures. Even ordinary tree species grow to be more than 20 to 30 meters high, and all trees as long as they do not die , can grow infinitely.

I don't know whether it is because of the special environment of the Black Forest, or the tree species of the Black Forest itself. In short, the tree species of the Black Forest will grow some hard and ugly tree burrs during the growth process.

These burls are all over the trunk, distorting and deforming the trees, and few trees can grow straight. This also makes the trees in the Black Forest almost worthless. Even if they are cut down for firewood, they will be destroyed. People dislike the shortcomings of trees with too much water, too hard trunks, etc.

It is precisely because the trees in the Black Forest are worthless that you can see ancient trees that have grown for hundreds or thousands of years everywhere in the Black Forest. Even the trees on the periphery of the Black Forest are at least two or three hundred years old.

Because of the long growth time, the trees here are very tall, and the trunks caused by the burls are twisted, making the trees entangled with each other. Over time, these trees are woven together with extremely tall trunks along the edge of the Black Forest. A huge tree wall as high as 100 meters.

I don't know if it's because the Black Forest contains mysterious magic power like the legends of people in this world, or because of other unknown reasons. In short, these trees only grow in the Black Forest and will never extend outwards, so this huge door The tree wall has become a natural boundary demarcation mark of the Black Forest.

At first, Leo saw this giant wall not long after leaving Rabbit Skin Town.

However, at that time, he didn't see clearly that the tree wall was formed by the intertwining of trees. He thought it was a wall built by the French Empire to prevent the poisonous insects and beasts in the Black Forest from attacking the surrounding towns.

And when he saw this huge wall, he still admired the engineering and construction capabilities of the French Empire. After all, under the same conditions, it is impossible for the Earth Federation, which is already a civilization of the universe, to build such a wall that is hundreds of feet high and tens of thousands of kilometers long. long wall.

But when he got to the front, after seeing the constituent elements of the giant wall, he was completely shocked and unable to speak for a long time, and he could only sigh in his heart, it is worthy of the amazing work of nature.

Although in the Earth Federation and in the cosmic planets, there are countless strange things and magnificent wonders, but such a spectacle as the current giant wall of trees and seas has never been seen.

"It's shocking! Isn't it?" Nelson raised his head, trying to see the top of the tree clearly, and said to Jason and Leo next to him, "When I first saw this tree wall, I also I was so shocked that I couldn’t speak clearly, I stood outside the tree wall for a long time, and I didn’t even know that the hunter team hired as a guide had already entered, wasting a chance to enter the Black Forest.”

"Let's go! We still have a long way to go today, and it seems that this road is not easy to walk. Instead of standing here and feeling the greatness of this sea of ​​trees in the Black Forest, it is better to pray that we will not be in this sea of ​​trees. What trouble are you in?" Leo, who had recovered from the shock, mercilessly dragged Nelson back from his fantasy to reality, and then threw his emotions to the ground.

"What a boring person!" Nelson looked at Leo who was walking towards the entrance of the Black Forest speechlessly, curled his lips, and said.

"I think so too." Jason couldn't help but echoed.

The two looked at each other, because of the same concept, they both liked each other a lot.

The entrance that Leo found was the passage into the forest opened by the hunters and mercenaries of Rabbitskin Town. Because of the huge gap in proportion to the 100-meter giant wall, this entrance looks like a part of the wall from a distance. Rat Hole, and over time, Rat Hole became the common name for all Black Forest entrances.

After entering the rat hole for a distance of more than 20 meters, the road is still smooth. The hunters in Rabbit Skin Town cut down all the branches and shrubs on the road, dug out a thick layer of rot on the ground, and then covered it with a layer of quicklime. Lay gravel to deter plant growth.

However, I don't know if it's because the manpower and material resources invested in this way are too large, and the gains outweigh the losses, so the road stopped after only more than 20 meters of repair, and the road after that was tree roots, shrubs, vines and various broad leaves. A jungle path made of plants.

At the end of the road, Nelson signaled to stop, then took out the insect repellent purchased yesterday from his backpack, put three of them into a small cloth bag connected with a rope, and motioned for Leo and Jason to hang them around their necks, and then He took out three of them, put them in the spherical smoker prepared yesterday and lit them, and hung them on the belt around his waist.

Afterwards, he took out some gloves and a scarf, and signaled them to put them on, so that there were not too many gaps on his body. He also tied the legs, feet and boots tightly with bandages. As for the exposed face and hair, he made them last night. A salve is applied.

Jason felt very impatient with Nelson's series of cumbersome protective measures, especially the way of wearing gloves and wearing a scarf made him very uncomfortable. Even though spring is only halfway through outside, the weather is still cold, but the cold is completely isolated from the Black Forest.

In the Black Forest, the climate is completely different from the outside. It is humid and hot, and it is even more breathless after putting on gloves and a scarf.

On the other hand, Leo has no aversion to these uncomfortable protective measures. He who often fights in unfamiliar environments knows very well that when he doesn't know the details of the surrounding environment, the best thing to do is not to be smart and follow the arrangements of experienced people honestly.

Although he didn't know how effective Nelson's protection would be, he was very clear about the difference between having a layer of protection and no protection, so he took every measure seriously, even more than Nelson. serious.

After taking good protection, Leo led the way. At this time, there was no thick fog in the forest that made the people in Rabbitskin Town talk about it. Therefore, he did not use spiritual power, but followed the conventional method, through the body, The data collected from the line of sight and other parts constructs a relatively rough travel map.

Although the path Leo chose was as easy as possible, it was still very difficult for people like Nelson and Jason who didn't often walk in the jungle. In addition, the branches and leaves of the trees completely blocked the light from the sky, making the Black Forest a veritable name. Even though Nelson had already prepared a few lanterns, it was still difficult to see the road clearly, and bumps and bumps often happened.

Fortunately, both of them have good adaptability. Under Leo's constant guidance, they quickly mastered the skills of walking in the jungle. At the same time, their eyes gradually adapted to the darkness of the forest, and their walking speed became much faster.

After walking for a certain distance, Leo found that the insect repellent on his body was indeed effective. The poisonous insects that grew in the jungle all the year round fled away as if they had encountered a natural enemy before he approached. Fortunately, the escape process of these poisonous insects was covered by the rotten leaves and dead branches on the ground. Unless Leo had extraordinary eyesight, it would be possible to see the creepy scenes clearly, otherwise, he would only be like Jason. Like Nelson, he heard some rustling sounds from around him.

Because the trees in the Black Forest are very huge and heavy, coupled with the distortion and deformation during growth, the center of gravity of the trunk is completely shifted. If there is no strong root system, I am afraid that these huge trees will be top-heavy in the early stages of growth. , collapsed down.

Although the tree will find a new support point because of the entanglement with the branches, leaves and trunks of other trees after the initial stage of growth, the roots of the tree will not stop growing because of this, but will continue to grow in the original way go down.

These tree roots are entangled on the ground and intertwined with each other. As the trees age and die, the roots decay and become land, which provides nutrients for new roots.

The rotten soil of these trees was ignored in the past, but as the national academies of sciences discovered that the rotten soil can make the barren land fertile, the rotten soil has great value. Every year, a large number of diggers and hunters enter together. Black Forest digs mulch.

Although it seems that it is just a simple digging of some rotten soil on the ground, it does not feel any danger, but in fact, the danger of this industry is much higher than that of the Black Forest hunter, because there are a lot of poisonous insects under the rotten soil. A bite can be fatal.

The easy path Leo chose coincided with the excavation routes of these diggers, which made him hardly need to rely on the sub-brain system for careful comparison and analysis, and directly searched for the corpses left by the diggers, and he could clearly Discover a path deep into the Black Forest.