Wasteland Echoer

bump!

Boom, boom, boom...

The dark white figure in front of him skillfully closed the giant red leather door, and after deliberately pressing a square "button" with cyan fluorescence in the middle, he walked towards Wright with heavy steps.

Every step seemed so heavy, as if a body of hundreds of tons of steel was hitting the ground hard.

The outline of the dark white figure was vague at first, like a concept in consciousness, vaguely present.

If it weren't for those disgusting smells, Wright would have suspected that he had floaters, or was hallucinating due to being hypnotized, charmed, or seduced.

It wasn't until the slight vibration on the ground was caught by his body that he realized that the "creature" or "monster" in front of him really existed in front of him and in his field of vision.

As the dark white figure walked to the center of the hall, a round dark red carpet with neat gear-like patterns on the edge, he stopped and ended this uncomfortable, depressing, and frightening period. and trembling, abnormal vibrations.

"Who are you?" Wright asked with a dazed look and a sharp look in his eyes that he only had when facing an enemy, with the caution and sharp eyes gained from the muscle and mental memory accumulated in many years of fighting.

The person in front of him is about 2.3 to 2.5 meters tall. In Wright's opinion, its height is slightly lower than the [Shapeshifter] Kayas who fought behind the Migov Church that time, but slightly taller than just now. The wolf-headed lost person "Mad Body" who fought with him.

After a few seconds of silence, a human voice came out of the body of the huge monster in front of him!

"Time, space, past, future, up and down, left and right, four directions."

He did not answer Wright's question directly, but muttered some words composed of Zinian Empire language.

It seems to be related to orientation and philosophy, but in Wright's impression, these words are basic and ordinary, and even when combined together, it is difficult to understand the existence of their special meanings.

But the next words read by the "monster" made Wright feel a strong sense of hostility.

"Life, death, killing, burial."

"What on earth do you want to do?" Wright yelled slightly angrily.

He subconsciously put his hand on his waist, trying to take out the "Crazy Bear" pistol that had always followed him and had repeatedly achieved success in fighting the Heartless and the Lost.

However, when he grabbed the holster, he was surprised to find that except for the one with a brown background, stained by dirt and blood, and reluctant to throw it away, the holster, which had a black tone, was empty.

That silver-white "Crazy Bear" pistol has disappeared without a trace!

"What's going on? Did you throw it away when you entered here? Or, yes, it should have been thrown on the ground in desperation in order to use the magic source power to form spirits during the explosion. I thought, if I died because of this, There is no need to leave it to those 'ruin hunters' and the lost. If you resist the explosion, pick it up again. Now that I have neither returned to the Donusk ruins, but also entered the water, it should be an alien world created by monsters. . It seems that after escaping from here, I have to pick up the pistol. After all, buying another one will cost a lot of money."

Thinking of this, Wright shook his head violently.

"No, now is not the time to think about this. My magic source power seems to be overdrawn because of the previous shield. It can't be used now to fight the monster in front of me. Alas, remember that The 'mechanical manipulator' in the dream told me not to overdraw or bleed. I have violated the taboo many times, and I don't know what punishment I will receive in the future. But..." Wright confidently glanced at the monster in front of him, seeming to After uttering two sentences composed of incomprehensible words, he did not take any further action, but stayed in place blankly, waiting for his response.

"Maybe we can communicate?" Wright guessed.

After standing up slightly, with a straight, head-high attitude that was unique to military training, Wright pursed his lips and said:

"What do these words mean?"

"You...can you hear me...speak?" The monster actually used a doubtful tone.

When this sentence poured into Wright's ears, he realized something.

The voice of the monster in front of me was not a common male or female voice, nor was it the deep, roaring voice of the monster, but it had a slight echo.

It seemed like some kind of communication device was used for communication and placed in an empty room.

It seems that the huge, majestic dark white body of the monster in front of me is just a "shell", and there is another creature inside, or... a human?

Facing the monster in front of him, Wright was speechless for a moment, not knowing what words, what sentence patterns, what grammar, what fables and aphorisms to use to respond.

His mouth moved, and after hesitating for several minutes, he nodded and slowly uttered his first sentence from the heart:

"I...can hear it."

"You, oh, no, your Excellency, it seems that you are at least...a person in an upper-level profession, or have been exposed to the power of magic, right? Without the power of magic and the blessing...of the gods, anyone who falls into this lake will... ...will become like me." The monster responded.

"Looks like?" Wright stared at the monster in front of him doubtfully, staring at his huge dark white body.

The room around him seemed to sense his inner needs.

Just as Wright opened his mouth to continue communicating, in the dim hall around him, the oil lamp with a double-headed eagle pattern carved on the wall suddenly shone with a dim yellow light.

Immediately afterwards, he heard the intermittent sound of the wind, and what seemed to be the collision and friction of flints.

Just a second later, the oil lamps were lit starting from the first one near the door and going backwards.

Suddenly, a fairly bright, dark yellow-based light filled the entire hall, illuminating most of the space that Wright could see.

But above the room, on the stairs covered with worn red carpets, there was still darkness that constantly distorted the weak light, without any change.

However, under the illumination of the light, the full picture of the monster in front of him came into Wright's eyes, and he could see it extremely clearly.

The dark white outline is actually a "coat" of the monster. Rather than being a coat, it is more like a space suit or a thickened diving suit.

Behind the monster's wide feet are a pair of fish-like tail fins that can swim freely underwater.

His whole body has a strong sense of steampunk. Although the material of the "coat" is unknown, judging from the white background that has begun to darken, it must have been used underwater for a long time, and it looks extremely old and even dirty. There were a few cracks that were tightly sewn up.

He carried an oxygen tank on his back, which was painted black and had several pieces of skin peeled off and was stained with rust.

And his face is actually an old helmet with a mottled atmosphere. Although the eyes are made of glass, and the mouth is connected to an oxygen bottle with a pipe leading to the back, but if you look closely, you can see that there is chaos inside the glass. .

In other words, it is impossible to determine whether there is a real human being inside, a group of energy bodies, or simply a monster that relies on the power of magic to survive.

Just when Wright carefully looked at the body of the monster in front of him, the monster took a slight step back, squatted down its huge body, and sat cross-legged directly in front of Wright.

"You managed to enter here by mistake and didn't become my kind, then you must be very powerful, Your Excellency. By the way, I have been wandering in this lake for nearly two hundred years. The sequence monsters that exist here make it impossible for us to touch. Imprisonment that cannot be reached. Once we try to float from here, we will fall into coma and sink to the bottom of the lake again." The monster paused for a few seconds. Seeing that Wright did not raise any questions or make any comments, he could only continue to talk on his own. :

"I should look like a monster now, right? It is true, that's right, and the number of similar people living in this lake like me, or in this plane, has been increasing, but in the past ten years, more and more people have not enough."

"This is the ruins of Donusk. The 'Lonely Light' military operation more than two hundred years ago only allowed the empire to briefly recover the city. Later, it was completely abandoned decades ago because it was difficult to control and the material transportation losses were too great. Now, except for the remaining railways and roads that the military must pass through, not many people are willing to enter here. Moreover, the lake in the center of the city is surrounded by a steel wall, making it difficult for anyone to stray into it." Wright. Relying on the historical content that Brett and Moros told him, he "quickly answered".

"Well, this vibrant city has been abandoned." The monster's tone was obviously disappointed:

“I remember that when Peter XV, the Empire and City Council wanted to use Donusk as a base to expand the empire’s territory eastward.

If my memory had not been muddied by time and extraordinary power, I would have remembered that there was an uninhabited desert to the north of the city, and the Sleeping Mountains hundreds of kilometers to the east.

Beyond the mountains is Shanlin City, a group of imperial citizens who ran away for the 'Utopia'. They want to build a 'paradise' of their own in a place where there are no unintentional people, lost people and humans. But they don't know what's going on now. . "

"It should be...a failure. I have basically never heard of the existence of this city." Wright made a standard shrug to express regret.

"What about the cities built by the empire near the desert in the Eastern District? And what about the strongholds in the easternmost part of the territory, near the Central Federation?" The monster asked eagerly, supporting the ground with both hands and leaning forward.

"Well... I really haven't heard of the Empire taking any action east of the Silent Highlands, at least not in the past few decades. Maybe I'm ignorant, or maybe the east side has an attitude of being left alone.

Now the eyes of the empire's capital city, the crown prince, and many high-ranking officials are focused on the Silent Highlands, the place where the gods exist. We are about to have a crucial decisive battle with the Lost Ones. Perhaps after victory in this war, our empire can completely eliminate all the unintentional people and the lost, and completely build our own order and future. "

Wright heard a strong feeling of loss from the monster's tone, but he could also guess that the person in front of him was an imperial soldier before he turned into a monster. This is a feeling, a feeling that can quickly locate the same kind.

It is the product of experience and experience, as well as experience that is formed over a long period of time and cannot be deliberately learned.

Therefore, Wright's answer is no longer dominated by disappointment and despair, but contains a kind of hope.

A hope for the future that he himself doesn't quite believe in, but is willing to believe in.

"That's it, we are almost victorious, hahaha." A hearty and happy laughter came from the monster's body.

Immediately afterwards, he moved his body slightly and said in a soft tone, mixed with a bit of embarrassment:

"I haven't seen a living person for a long time, so I talk a bit too much, please forgive me.

But you should have heard that the sequence monsters here will kill everyone who breaks in, but they will not really kill us. It turns us into something between life and death. But we ourselves don’t know whether we are dead or not. "

"To be honest, I don't know much about it. I just heard a lost person mention a little bit about this lake. In fact, I entered here by mistake because of the battle. And even if there was no battle, under the guidance of the goddess of fate, I We should also arrive here. But having said that, the Lost One mentioned that there are not only sequential monsters in this lake, but also connected to other world planes, and there is even a... coat of arms?" Wright recalled.

"Indeed, let's not talk about monsters and emblems. At least for us, this is a different world. Because except for the ruins of the old city, this is indeed a closed space.

Maybe there is a way to escape from here, but at least for me, after listening to the inexplicable whispers and understanding that I exist here for nearly two hundred years, I actually already know that I have become a monster that cannot escape from here. By the way, I was so busy chatting that I forgot to introduce myself. Ha ha. "The monster laughed apologetically and then said:

"My name is Wende, I should be considered a member of the Zhinetsk Legion, the captain of the 'Wind Team'. I remember that a few decades ago when I came down, a boy like me said that now the capital of the empire has become Socra. I remember when I was still a human being, Zhnetsk was still a great city, our capital. And at that time, the capital army was called the 'Imperial Army', the predecessor of the Zhnetsk Army. Times have changed Yes."

"Wend? My name is Wright, an ordinary member of the Socra Guard. If I remember correctly, my rank should be Silver Blade 5." Wright introduced himself with a smile.

"I think you are only in your early 20s, and you are already considered a superpower. Alas, at that time, the empire was discriminating against superpowers, thinking that you are not human at all. I remember superpowers People's lives generally exceed one hundred years, and they will maintain their youthful vitality for a long time, and will enter the aging state after a long time.

If order in the empire is restored, you'll have a long hard time ahead. But," Wende paused, raised his helmet-like head, "looked" at Wright, and said:

"If you don't count the two hundred years I spent here becoming a monster, you should actually call me brother."