Wasteland Echoer

Zine Empire, Old Uko Province, Abandoned Outpost in Silent Highlands.

"Name? Please...please tell me your full name." A young voice with a bit of hoarseness and high and low tones came from in front of Brett.

He was like a tethered polar bear, his tall body tied with hemp rope to a sturdy metal seat stained with brown rust and dark red blood. His unstructured silver-white hair hung in front of his ears and forehead. His face was covered with dirt, and there were many new small wounds that were about to scab.

"Brett...Brett Klein." Brett responded weakly.

"I heard from the boss that from the source, the humans of the Klein family are the hybrid products of gods and humans. Your blood is naturally filled with a substance called 'divine nature'. To be honest, I envy you, brother , your behavior of killing the strong 'Wolf Head Wu Xinren' is admired by us team members. But we also have to follow the boss's order. After all, the 'Lone Wolf Society' has abandoned us, and we need to survive." The voice-changing voice There was obvious admiration and deep apology in the young man's tone.

For the strong, whether it is the first era when dragons rule, the second era when humans dominate, the third era when steam machinery begins to flourish, or the current fourth era where the unintentional and the lost are raging, They are all worthy of admiration.

For humans, especially ordinary humans, there are many regrets that are beyond their capabilities, or a yearning for some kind of difficult behavior.

When one's own strength cannot touch those regrets, and there is a person who can easily break those regrets, people tend to rush over like ducks to pay respect and worship.

"I can understand you...after all...everything is for survival." Brett sighed softly and pleaded:

"But the attitude of the Empire...and...the Socra Committee...is something I can't predict. If...if...if I didn't die in the hands of the careless and...the lost, but...you... In the hands of someone abandoned by the Empire, I think...I want to ask you to do me a favor."

"No, Brother Brett, you will definitely not die. You don't have to be so desperate. The boss just wants some money and supplies. As long as the empire's 'redemption fee' is paid in full, plus ten tons of steel and a batch of There are not many standard 'Federal B-05' rifles that are about to be eliminated, only two hundred, and a batch of silver bullets. We will release you and follow you to the Imperial military camp south of Silent Highlands. By the way, brother... ..." The young man stood up from the old metal square table and asked with a smile on his face:

"Can we get to know each other? I just accepted Big Brother's order to question you, but now, I want to make you a friend."

"Of course." Brett suddenly felt that his mental fatigue was relieved a little. He slightly raised his head to look at the young man in front of him with interest, and joked in a hoarse voice:

"You are only about 15 years old, and you have learned how to deal with the world at a young age. I remember that the merchants from the Flame Empire in the east know this best, but you are...much more mature than many of your peers."

"I am a lost one, brother. With the [intuition] of an imperial soldier, you should be able to feel it." The young man responded, looking towards the cold and broken concrete floor with a strong emotion of "loss".

"Do you want to say that the age of the Lost is easily misjudged?" Brett shook his head vigorously, blew away the two pieces of hair scattered on his forehead with his mouth, and observed with his green eyes.

The young man in front of him who calls himself the Lost One has short, rich red hair, which is not long. It seems that it has just been trimmed, revealing some neat traces.

His face is very fair, indeed much whiter than normal humans.

In Brett's impression, in addition to those people who stay under the Socra Dome all year round, whose faces are generally white due to lack of sun exposure and lack of melanin formation, [soldiers] who have been fighting on the front line all year round, and people from all over the world. Many of the legion's superpowers have dry, even peeling and peeling skin. They are either waxy or wheat-colored, and some even look like black garlic.

In addition to his fair complexion, the young man in front of him has eyes, nose, and even cheekbones that are no different from ordinary Westerners. He is about 1.7 meters tall, dressed in military green, and does not wear any markings. There was not much difference between the Vovkosky he met at the Donusk ruins.

"Actually, for the lost, life is long and lonely. Indeed, I look like a 15 or 6-year-old youth from the outside, but in fact I have existed in this miserable world for much longer. My name is Oliver El Yaruko, who was previously a member of the Empire's Remote Area Legion and the non-staff cooperative organization 'Lone Wolf Society', was arranged by his elder brother Pusev to serve as a special operations team for the Socra Outer Area Legion in [Hunter] Atwood. Undercover.”

"The empire has wanted to attack all the forces in the city of Socra very early on, through some private and non-public means. After all, Socra is now the nominal capital of the empire. The imperial prime minister is also the leader of the Socra City Committee. Holly is very concerned about the situation in the empire. He often points his fingers and refuses to obey many of the Crown Prince's orders, so Crown Prince Ivant chooses to rely on the 'Lone Wolf Society' to do some private things." Oliver introduced himself.

"I heard from Wofkoski before that the 'Lone Wolf Society' had defected to the empire, so you guys... have been in private contact with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for a long time?" Brett asked doubtfully.

"That's right." Oliver nodded and said:

"It was private before. After Vladimirski, the leader of the blood clan, was injured by the crown prince himself some time ago, the elder brother simply officially surrendered to the empire. Now they are regarded as a legion directly under the royal family, and their title has not changed. They are still called 'Lone Wolf' Yes, it can be regarded as... I have officially become a full-time employee from a non-staff. Of course, my previous task as an undercover agent was to find an opportunity to execute Atwood, that ambitious, but stupid, selfish, crazy, and willful lunatic. As [ The twins] were able to control two bodies and easily killed him with a dagger stained with Wu Xin's blood while he was at his most proud."

"It's pitiful. He also killed several innocent semi-lost children before meeting the Lord. However, I didn't want to stay there for too long, so I returned directly to the team. Just in time, I met my elder brother outside Donusk. , he told me about the changes in the 'Lone Wolf Society' and asked me to make a choice."

"You chose to turn your back on Big Brother, the leader of the 'Lone Wolf Society', Pusev, known as the 'Wolf of the Odyssey', right? You chose the man now known as the 'Lone Wolf', Vovk Sky. But I want to talk about other topics. Judging from your last name... and the names of the people in your team, your ancestors are related to the Crusted Empire." Brett guessed .

"Well, that's right. The Yaruko family was once an important family in the Eventele region of the old Crusted Empire. It used to be Queen Lelita I during the Eventre period, and there was also Relita after that. Serving the Second World. To be honest, the cultural roots of Eventelei, Crusted, and the Zine Empire are the same. If the situation gets worse, I also want to try my luck in the Crusted Federation. , or follow the big railway to the Aventale Icefield further east to find other members of our family.

But all this depends on what the empire's "Silence Comes" military operation can achieve. "Olivier stood up, looked up and looked around the surrounding environment, which was similar to an abandoned factory. He looked up at the top with a little light seeping through it, and continued:

"This is the abandoned outpost area of ​​Silent Highlands. It should be Outpost K. In my impression, the empire has established 26 outposts. This operation has been planned for at least four or five years. As the captain of the Sugra Guards, Akatsuchi As a junior officer of 2, you should know these things very well."

"Of course." Brett's slightly weak tone contained a hint of pride:

"Outposts A-G were built along Route 65, while K-Z were built surrounding the Silent Highlands. However, after a series of... battles... battles during this period, only A, B, and B are still functioning. There are four Z and K. The first two are controlled by the Sokra Committee, and K is nominally managed by Chekavsk, but the actual controller is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince himself. As for Z, I had something to say when I was in Chekavsk. I heard that His Highness transformed it into a weapons production camp for the battle."

"It should be right. The information I obtained is similar to yours. By the way, we are now on the edge of the Silent Highlands battlefield. However, my brother communicated with the Socra Committee through telegrams. Relying on the technology of the current empire, We can't effectively track telegraph signals, we can only determine the general location. But no one would have thought that we are now in the abandoned stronghold. Brother Brett, do you want to know how this stronghold was destroyed?"

Oliver said, sitting back on the broken leather chair near the metal square table, and picked up a half-cut pencil that was placed on the table, as if it had been gnawed by a dog, and a white white paper produced by the Imperial Factory. Special paper for recording telegraph messages.

Brett looked up and saw that there was nothing special about the table, but the leather used in the chair did not seem to have the texture of common animal leather. Instead, it seemed to be taken from the body of some kind of creature infected with the mutation of the Wuxin virus. Having fought against the Heartless and the Lost for many years, he has an experiential sixth sense for such items that reveal "extraordinary aura".

"I actually don't want to. I want to know what happened to that vampire child... Miyou. He must not have the value of me, and he is not familiar with me. I think you should let him go. He definitely won't I will go to the Imperial Legion to recruit a savior for me." Brett said with a wry smile.

"Brother, what is your value? The Socra Committee gave 5,000 new coins the day before yesterday. I think as a [warrior] favored by the committee, you have this much compared to your personal assets. Judging from the previous two transactions , that mid-level escort regiment, the unshaven uncle, the committee offered a price of 1,500 new dollars, and there was also a young man with a strong fighting ability, the committee offered 2,000 new dollars. Someone who can make the committee value so much, the eldest brother wants to open it to S$20,000.”

"You know, the rare [Wind] ore, which has strong magic source power and can be used to refine magic source potions, costs only 35-55 Singapore dollars each, and a high-end inner scroll flower only costs 1-3 Singapore dollars. Even the Silent Python that wanders around rivers and vegetation in the central part of Silent Highlands only costs SGD 300-500 each.”

"After all, this kind of python is difficult to catch, and its fur, heart, blood, etc. are of great use. It can be used to obtain the magic source power of mid-level professionals such as [Shapeshifter], [Yuan Yuan], and [Songer] , and the improvement of the order will help." Oliver explained, his voice began to sound a little hoarse.

"Why do these 'extraordinary' items you just mentioned sound familiar to me?" Brett wondered.

He vaguely remembered that he seemed to have heard her mention these materials during the battle with "Mad Body" and Melinal when he was at the Donusk ruins.

No, it should be the content written on the paper picked up from his side after defeating Kayas the Lost who was blocking the road behind the Migov Church.

"It is the refining material of the 'Conversion A-01' potion, which can 'safely' transform humans into lost ones. However, I have deliberately observed you and 'tasted' your blood. You are a complete A person, a pure person." Oliver said, staring at Brett's body with a wicked smile.

"I have seen this recipe on a piece of paper. If I remember correctly, the required materials should be mint, butter, vampire heart, [wind] ore, violet petals, lavender essence, and water magic power. Specifically. I should still remember a little bit about the refining method, but now I’m so dizzy, I feel like those words are in my mind and I just can’t extract them.”

When Brett saw him telling the story, Oliver's eyes became more and more curious, and he deliberately blurred a lot of the content.

"Brother Brett, why don't you think about it carefully. I heard that this potion was developed by Kayas, the [Shapeshifter] of the Church of Hope. It has the effect I just mentioned for humans, and for the lost. , as long as the infused magic source power is different, it can be turned into a potion that can be used to advance to the next level.

Having said that, I am also a member of the Church of Hope. I think, brother, if there is something that can help you recall and think better, I would rather bypass him and help you complete it. "Oliver deliberately lowered his voice and said carefully.

But even so, there were still many echoes in the empty and abandoned factory-like area, which forced him to cautiously glance around, paying special attention to the position of a raised metal cover in the corner.

"Miyou." After a few seconds of silence, Brett raised the corners of his mouth slightly and said firmly:

"If Miyou's safety can be ensured and he is released, I think my dizziness will be effectively alleviated and it will be more helpful for my memory."

"That good-for-nothing boy who possesses the three breaths of vampires, lost ones, and humans? Let me think about it..." Oliver held his chin in thought.