Wasteland Echoer

Zine Empire, Silent Highlands "Sand Zone", Giant Church underground camp.

The empire's three-day intensive artillery bombardment caused the three major churches to adopt a passive defensive stance, especially the Church of Giants and the Church of Hope, which bore the brunt.

After all, no matter how powerful the extraordinary power of the Lost Ones is, and how strong the magic power is, they still seem to be struggling and at a loss when facing this kind of technological light and fire that far surpasses nature.

Just after stumbling from the ground that smelled of burning into a passage filled with metal pipes, the smell of rust, all kinds of messy equipment and the smell of medicine, "Ning Yuan", the chief cardinal of the Church of Giants, had no time to sort out the old machinery that did not fit him. The armor just relied on the mottled and damp bluestone wall to take a few deep breaths, and with the sporadic bombing sounds of fighter planes coming from outside, he walked quickly down the almost deserted stairs without stopping. .

The dim stairwell was illuminated only by a few dim gas lamps that flickered from time to time. After walking for an unknown amount of time, a giant steel door nearly ten meters high finally appeared directly in front of his field of vision.

After sorting out his demeanor a little, "Ning Yuan" began to surge the small amount of magic power in his body to help relieve his breathing.

After two or three seconds, his body finally calmed down, and he inserted the "Crazy Bear" series pistol into the holster at his waist, and took out a piece of gold from his arms, with a dazzling gleaming Chinese engraved on the front. triangular building blocks.

Looking at the huge door in front of him, which looked like a tall knight guarding the sacred place in the long night, "Ning Yuan" showed a long-lost smile of relief on his lips.

Immediately afterwards, he clenched his fist with his right hand, mustered up all his strength, and struck towards the iron door.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Excuse me, what's the explanation for confusion?" A young voice came from behind the door in response to the urgent and unceremonious knock on the door.

"The long night of searching for hope was fruitless, and I ended up staring crimson into the abyss." "Ning Yuan" blurted out without hesitation.

Immediately, an unbearable "stabbing" sound passed by, and the giant door was slowly pushed open.

Not long after, a young man wearing sheepskin, his face covered with dirt, and his whole body wrapped in shabby linen clothes appeared in front of him.

Before "Ning Yuan" could speak, the young man bowed to him first and said apologetically:

"Sir, please forgive me. The battle situation has changed too quickly recently. We have lost more than a dozen camps in succession. As a last resort, the Pope ordered the restoration of the previous code words. Of course, this is also for safety reasons."

"I understand." "Ning Yuan" did not blame him, but expressed his understanding and said:

"This is also the reason why several adults hurriedly called me over to attend the 'regular meeting of the Titans'. Originally, our Pope was particularly afraid of us cardinals and wished that we would die under human gunfire, but now...their ugly ' The giant monster' needs me."

"Cardinal... Your Majesty Cardinal, I'm afraid... I'm afraid it's inappropriate for you to comment on the leaders of the church like this. In order to resist human attacks, in addition to weapons such as the 'Fire of Punishment' that are not good for both sides, the Cardinal , Cardinal Ziyi has used all the power imaginable.

It's a pity that the empire has developed a lot of technology left over from the Crusted Empire, and we can't see the dawn of victory at all. "The young man said, lowering his head slightly, with a dark look in his brown eyes.

"Do you know what kind of power we have used?" "Ning Yuan" raised the corners of his mouth with a mocking smile, stretched out his hand to hold the young man's shoulders, and said bitterly.

"More than twenty item-type monsters, more than a dozen 'giant' evil souls, of course, we have also obtained a lot of basic firearms, small-caliber grenade guns, and mortars. The 'Empire- We are also equipped with new armors of the 03' and 'Empire-05' types." The young man replied seriously.

"What else?" "Ning Yuan" seemed to be dissatisfied with this and asked.

"More than two thousand 'Sequential Level 5' elite lost people, more than twenty mid-level professionals, and several high-level professionals who are superb at manipulating the power of magic." The young man continued to answer, but in "Condensing Wish" it seemed Under the gentle pressure, he did not dare to raise his head and look directly at that pale face and those resentful, sapphire-like eyes.

"These are definitely not enough, but I can't share the specific data with you. I think you are at most a believer and a monk. You are blood red and have a bit of a fishy smell. Aren't you afraid of attracting flies?" "Ningyuan" said with a bad smile. , patted the young man's shoulder hard, and then put his hand down.

"Flies, flies..." the young man murmured. Looking at "Ning Yuan" walking slowly past him, he sighed, raised his head and said in a slightly hoarse voice with tears in his eyes:

"It would be nice if there were flies hovering here. In this case, those 'loess vultures', 'silent vultures', 'careless cockroaches', and even the 'silent werewolves' that haunt the dark realm at night would not eat my teammates. body. You are right, Lord Cardinal, I am only a monk. I understand what you mean. With my level, I am not qualified to play the role of gatekeeper in the underground camp. But now, except for those high-ranking people who can come down from the battlefield, Dear 'adults', I am of the highest rank."

"What!" "Ning Yuan" exclaimed. He immediately turned around and stared at the young man with strange, angry and unbelievable eyes. Immediately, he grabbed the collar of the young man's linen shirt with both hands and asked:

"You didn't lie to me, right? You can't lie to me, right? When I left a few days ago, we were still expanding in Silent Highlands and occupied more than a dozen human strongholds in succession. Everything is developing in a direction that is beneficial to us. . I lost a 'front camp', but it was just a tentative counterattack by mankind. Moreover, I also rescued the compatriots of the Church of Dark Night, and captured the man who the three major churches have always dreamed of winning over. 'Red Magic Source Power' young man."

"Why? Why? Why? It's only been a few days? Have all our middle-grade compatriots died in battle?"

"There's no reason, it's a fact." Faced with the hysterical "Ning Yuan", the young man calmed down, "We didn't get the 'Magic Shield' skill of the Hope Church, and it was too late, and most of our ground strongholds were established Being near a road without bunkers will naturally become the empire’s primary target.”

"On the first day, we lost more than 1,000 lost people, on the second day it was almost 800, and on the third day, we lost a total of more than 1,500 people. Fortunately, half of us withdrew to the 'Shazhong District' yesterday, here Not only did we have our underground fortress, but the ground was covered by sandstorms. The bombing effect of the imperial artillery and fighter jets was not obvious, so we lost more than 200 people. Perhaps, Cardinal, if you come back later, I am afraid that our Giant Church will attack you three times in a row. Not a single percent of our compatriots will be left.”

"So tragic..." After hearing the death number, "Ning Yuan" froze on the spot. He took off his hands numbly, took half a step back, and looked at the strangely calm young man in front of him with disbelief.

One of his eyes quickly turned red, and he felt that a rich flame was about to burst out of his abdomen. The fangs in his mouth grew rapidly, and his hands were covered in dark mist.

His mouth moved, wanting to roar something angrily. His body swelled up, as if he was about to burst out of the restraints of the armor.

But a few seconds later, the golden triangular building block in his hand emitted a dazzling light.

Immediately afterwards, countless tiny silver-white "little snakes" with electric tails appeared, hovering above the head of "Ning Yuan", like confused mosquitoes that could not find their target to suck blood.

Rotating around the top of his head, the speed of the "little snake" became faster and faster. After another two or three seconds, they actually got into the nasal cavity of "Ning Yuan", making him quickly stabilized.

"It's tragic. Although it's tragic, we should look forward. If traditional magic and extraordinary power can't compete with human technology, we still have gods." "Ningyuan" sighed and slapped the somewhat chaotic thing. head.

As the light brought by the "little snake" disappeared, his body suddenly returned to its previous state, as if all the states before the "mutation" were just a manic hallucination, which seemed very unreal.

After feeling his mind clear, "Ning Yuan" did not get too entangled with the young man in front of him, and walked directly deeper into the camp.

Crossing a narrow pontoon bridge suspended above an underground river that smelled of rust, walking on a stone brick path covered with slimy moss, and walking along a very uneven mud road that stretched up and down for nearly ten minutes, "Condensation" Yuan" finally saw the very familiar "core sentry".

The size of the underground camp of the Giant Church is not small, and the interior is very close to the rivers and lakes in the central area of ​​Silent Highlands.

The big men who built the camp back then were unwilling to dig deeper after digging into the underground river. After all, the central area of ​​​​the highlands is closer to the divine domain of the "Daughter of Tool Yuan", and humans or the lost who have not been fully prepared can suddenly touch it. With the power of gods, if someone is not chosen by nature, they will immediately fall into madness and end their lives.

Unfortunately, with the permission of the Giant Pope, the underground camp was restricted to the area dug into the underground river, and would not be expanded later.

The road leading from the ground to the giant gate in "Ningyuan" is called the "Path to Darkness". The giant steel gate has no name and is usually called the "First Sentinel".

Deeper, the outposts in the offices, residences, and weapon storage areas of the members of the Church of the Giants are called "core outposts". There are three of them, and they are particularly important because they touch the real core area.

After the "Core-A" sentry post is an open area surrounded by cement walls. It is usually used for training and combat testing of the lost ones of the Giant Church. Although many areas are divided, the boundaries between the areas are not clear after being placed for a long time. It is clear, but over time no one cares about it.

Behind the "Core-B" sentry post is the living area for the members of the Giant Church. During the dozen or so seconds that "Ningyuan" took the simple "iron cage" elevator to "climb" upwards, he turned towards the grid-style rooms and entered and exited them. The missing people were sparse and few could be seen, which seemed to confirm the statement of the young man at the door.

After passing the "Core-C" sentry with iron gates that restricted entry and exit, "Ning Yuan" took a more comfortable, wide rectangular elevator that looked like a large beast imprisoned. After half a minute, he finally arrived at the highest point in the entire Giant Church. The core area - "Sublimation Office Area".

It is said that this place was originally a cave. After being transformed and expanded by a young man using cement, masonry and other materials, it formed a core area that is difficult to be attacked by artillery fire and is secretive enough.

Because that young man had an extraordinary "sublimation gene" and was not adapted to the damp, dark, and depressing underground environment, he died here three months after the "office area" was built. In order to commemorate him, the Giant Pope named him "Sublimation". "Name it here.

After checking the last code and confirming the identity of the "right cardinal", Ning Yuan passed through the corridor filled with lost people, pushed the door and walked into a room that was quite spacious and neatly repaired.

He stood behind all kinds of huge crowds with different appearances, and through the gaps he noticed the giant pope sitting on the silver throne not far away, wearing a gold-trimmed patterned robe.

With a heavy sigh, his eyes were attracted by a tall "monster" to the left of the Pope.

Adjusting his position, "Ning Yuan" looked through the larger gap. He saw that the man was almost three meters tall and looked very restrained in the crowded room.

His body was covered by a black cloak that was dragged to the ground, and his exposed giant hands were covered in dense cracks with a dark red background, resembling hot lava divided into several pieces.

Looking up, the red head not covered by the cloak and hoodie has four pairs of "horns" arranged randomly and staggered. The top of his head is covered with hair, but if you look closely, the hair is thicker than that of humans. There are quite a few on them, similar to a hemp rope that has been braided.

At the same time, his ears are very pointed, resembling the legendary elves who were one of the eighteen races active on the mainland in the first era.

He is the Cardinal, a "Wu Sheng" whose status is much higher than that of "Ning Yuan". His huge body and red and hard skin give him strong vitality.

There is a motto that belongs to him in the Church of Giants: "'Inanimate' will not encounter death, he himself is death."

After pacing back and forth and holding his chin in thought for a few minutes, Wu Sheng looked at the Giant Pope and said in a rich, trembling voice:

"Lord Pope, the situation of the war is not optimistic. The empire has launched a general attack on us from four directions in the 'Shazhong District' and 'Shahu District'..."