Wasteland Echoer

"生" is pronounced as "sheng". In this hieroglyphic character that contains thousands of years of cultural deposits, except for the faint smell of salty fish and the sea breeze that seems to be blowing from the land of the dead, Luo Nie did not feel anything belonging to it. The breath of "raw".

In the culture of the Fire Empire, "生" can be understood as "life". The supreme mission given to mankind by the Creator is to live and then use "inspiration" to transform this continent as much as possible.

But it also has another meaning, that is, "survival", which corresponds to death. One is two extremes, the other is extreme.

Since becoming a human, Luo Nie has become more and more in awe of "life" and obsessed with "survival". The fear of death rooted deep in the human mind and soul is also quietly surrounding him, preventing him from completely resting.

Even from a rational point of view, "life" is the beginning and "death" is its destined and eternal end.

But if the meaning of "survival" is taken away, or if he is unable to reach the other side where the morning light of hope comes, he will eventually be like most human beings.

Either crazy, or mutated into a "careless person", completely releasing the animal nature condensed in the blood and genes and endowed by the "reason" of the Creator.

Luo Nie carefully observed this hexagonal stone coat of arms. The traces of age on it seemed to be more intense. The small alien space constructed by mechanical power obviously could not hinder the passage of time, but could only play a limited role in preserving freshness similar to an ice cellar. effect.

The cowardly eagle pattern originally carved on the front has been quietly smoothed away, and there are several shallow cracks running across the bodies of the unfinished rabbit and tiger on the back. Luo Nie estimates that after a while, the coat of arms will break. Completely damaged.

If we can't try to decipher its secrets and restart it within a month, maybe three months, there will probably never be a chance to touch its deep secrets again.

"Life, 'life', 'survival' and 'death'? Is the power behind it sadness? What a pity. If we can still contact the false god, we must have an answer." Luo Nie sighed.

He suddenly remembered that before leaving Xinfeng Town, preparations were being made for the "Spring of Winds" festival. He remembered that since the middle of the Second Era, the town in Binglin Province, which was built closest to the extreme cold area, had passed down the "Life" ” and the ceremony of celebrating “new life”.

In an age when natural forces are flourishing and magic is abundant, grinding leaves into powder and spreading them on your shoulders can send blessings to friends and prayers to the gods.

The power of vegetation is most rooted in nature and can best convey messages of communication with gods.

Even in the early Third Era, this ritual and foreign festivals such as the "Fire New Year" even surpassed the Orthodox Christmas and were popular in the vast territory from Koenig Province to Icefield Province in the old empire.

As he was staring at the coat of arms and thinking about it, a dark figure quickly passed by Luo Nie.

In just the blink of an eye, the crest in his hand was taken away.

"Who?" Luo Nie stood up angrily, took out the "Crazy Bear" pistol from his waist, and pointed it at the black figure in front of him.

"Don't... don't be so impulsive. Your name is Luo Nie, right? We met two days ago." The black figure said in a particularly hoarse, almost inhuman voice.

"This coat of arms is very important to me. No matter who you are, please return it to me. I don't want to fight with you here and embarrass Marco and the others." Luo Nie warned, raising the muzzle of the gun slightly and aiming The position of the shadow's head.

Whether it was because the lingering extraordinary mysterious power had faded or because the surrounding lights had been artificially brightened a little, the black shadow gradually faded away, revealing a man dressed very sloppily.

After looking up and down for a few seconds, Luo Nie suddenly remembered that this was the man who ate the meat of the "alien monster" in Marco's room!

He suddenly felt the acid in his stomach surging. Thinking of those weird, undercooked meats and the sight of men feasting, Luo Nie felt uncomfortable all over. It was very scary.

Of course, the man had no intention of fighting Luo Nie. He wiped away the food residue and blood stains from the corner of his mouth, put the coat of arms back into Luo Nie's palm, and introduced himself:

"I am a lost person, but Marco and Thalia agree that I am a semi-lost person. That old guy Marco definitely didn't say anything good about me to you, either because he said that I was mentally unstable or that my behavior was crazy. Of course, I won't deny it either.

"Well... you can call me Varvaf. I don't have a surname. To be honest, from the beginning of my memory, I only vaguely knew that I came from that great country in the east and was a wandering foreigner."

"Yanhuo... are you from the Empire?" Luo Nie's expression quickly changed to respect. The country that successfully blocked the "unintentional people" in the early days of the "New Yuan Crisis" attracted countless people from the Western Continent. Crusted Most people have some understanding of Eastern culture, and those who come from that mysterious, great, and vibrant country are worthy of respect.

"My impression is yes." Valvar nodded and said:

"I remember a long time ago. Maybe the 'Heartless Man' virus hadn't broken out yet. I seemed to live in a small town on the border with the Aventrai Empire. Later, everything went crazy. People started going crazy for some reason. Man Attacking each other, the women began to bite the same kind of people like crazy. It seemed that... the surviving humans quickly obtained a batch of guns and took me to resist the mutated people."

"It's very similar to the scenes described in many documents or novels. Many people said that it was a period of complete chaos." Luo Nie said, put away the pistol, sat back on the steel chair, and made a speech to Varvav Please gesture.

After all, they had already met and it was Marco's guest again. Valvardao was not polite. He took off his shoes and sat cross-legged next to Luo Nie, maintaining his usual sloppy look.

With a sigh, Varvaf continued to tell his story:

"I still vaguely remember that I followed the survivors to resist for a long time, hiding here and there. When there was a shortage of supplies, we drove to the abandoned warehouse to pick up. When there was a shortage of food, they intercepted the passing refugees and plundered them regardless of whether they were alive or dead.

"It seems that more than ten years have passed like this. The south has become a lot calmer. I heard that Aventale in the north has become a hell on earth. It is full of 'unintentional people' who are wandering without consciousness. There are many Hunting the 'exotic monsters' formed by evolution."

"Varvaf, my impression is that since the 100th year of the New Year, the entire Western Continent has not received much news from Aventale. Although there have been occasional people living in remote villages in the past few hundred years, or people from Yan Travelers from the Fire Empire came across the continent, but there was no news about the cities and villages and strongholds." Luo Nie said regretfully.

"Actually..." Vallaw lowered his head and his tone became much darker, "I later learned that during the time when we were struggling to survive, there were almost no living humans in Aventelei. There were all The 'monsters' are killing each other, devouring each other and changing step by step.

"When we went north to search for resources, we encountered the earliest group of lost people. Unfortunately, they were closer to the lunatics detained in mental hospitals at that time. Although they were unwilling to attack the survivors, they were already insane and could not even complete a sentence. I can’t even speak anymore.”

"More like... some of the current 'alien mindless people' controlled by the Lost Ones, right?" Luo Nie asked.

"Perhaps," Valvav replied:

"However, without knowing it, we were constantly besieged by 'unintentional people' after we went north. I remember passing through the towns of Gu'ankou, Shamonta, and even reaching the outskirts of Bingqi City. But before I completely lost my human consciousness, We encountered a giant insect beast more than ten meters tall."

"Insect beast?" Luo Nie said while thinking:

"But it doesn't look that weird now. The armies of the Zine Empire and the Crusted Federation are attacking these 'exotic creatures' everywhere. With the current methods, it can only fire a few more artillery shells."

"But at that time we had no ability to resist at all." Valvar sighed:

"Its mouth is like a petal, like a cylindrical caterpillar growing out of the ground. It is more than 20 meters tall. It can spray out a lot of acidic mucus and extend countless filament-like tentacles, which can pierce our skin in just an instant. brain.

"I remember that at the end of the battle, the leader of our survivors destroyed a warehouse storing liquid nitrogen. Countless pouring liquids instantly froze half of the city. At this time, I was hit by rocks and passed out.

"I don't remember the rest of the time very clearly. Maybe I was infected. I seemed to have been wandering aimlessly along that big railway until I met 'Big Brother' decades ago. Under his demon Under the influence of Yuanli, I gradually regained consciousness, but now I often feel that everything around me is extremely unreal, so I will stimulate my senses through many extreme behaviors to pull 'self' out of the illusion as much as possible." After a pause, Varvaf suddenly raised his head, stared at Luo Nie with terrifying eyes, and asked slowly:

"By the way, Luo Nie, do you want to know the name of that insect beast?"

"Name..." Luo Nie swallowed and asked with a slightly trembling tone:

"What's the name...?"

"'Born.'" Varvaf replied.

"'born'?"

"That's right, it's pronounced 'sheng' in Khitanese language. So, when I saw the hieroglyphics of your coat of arms just now, I couldn't help but grab it, trying to see the pattern on it clearly." Varvaf As he spoke, he leaned forward suddenly and said almost close to Luo Nie's ear:

"I heard that the outbreak of the 'Heartless Man' virus did come from the war between Crusad and Eventele. The insect beast named 'Sheng' was the result of the first wave of 'virus' created. Infectious things.”

"So, Mr. Vallaw..." Luo Nie subconsciously sat back a little, trying his best to suppress the nauseating smell, and asked slightly embarrassed:

"Can you activate this emblem? It is very important to me, and, after the corrosion of time, it is almost completely damaged."