Wasteland Echoer

Xinyuanli 577, August 15th.

Crusted Federation, Extreme Cold Zone, Area A (Old Yashuang Area), "Chaos Group" new camp, old mines.

After resting in the new camp for almost half a month, "Future" and Luo Ka's physical condition has returned to the health, strength and strength they had before going to the "Bitter Relics Ruins".

In the first few days, "Future" would often dream of ancient gods taking him into the deep sea, talking to him about many profound philosophical topics that were difficult to understand, or reciting poems in a language that he could not understand at all.

Later, another purpose of using the "Prophet" ability in "Thunder Page" was to create an illusory space, allowing people to frequently experience things that are usually difficult to reach or face, thereby increasing mental distress. With the tolerance threshold reached, the mental problems of "Future" have also been fully alleviated, and the things he saw in his dreams no longer bother him.

Now, even in dreams, we still encounter scenes of "pleasant conversations" with the ancient gods. The "future" can also deal with it calmly, either trying to understand difficult topics as much as possible, or trying to sing the ancient gods' chants. The recited words were transcribed in Holy Roman letters and recorded in a blue notebook, waiting to be deciphered later when I went to Khitanris.

Lorca, on the other hand, under the guidance of Victor, continued to undergo physical training, as well as firearm use, weapon basics, fighting skills and assassination training, etc.

Under the arrangement of "Ice Blade", "Thunder Page" taught Lorca occult knowledge, as well as the correct control, extraction and use of magic power. Victor cultivated his combat ability, hoping that Lorca could play in "Ice Blade". "Before the day of death actually comes, train Lorca to be a qualified, responsible, capable, intelligent and responsible leader of the "Chaos Group".

The organization of the lost, whether it is the "Order Society", the "Chaos Group", the "Enlightenment Sect" or many parts such as the "Stealing Group", their personnel composition is actually very complex.

Some were organizations that originally opposed the Old Empire and continue to this day, with members who became the Lost continuing to oppose the Federation Council.

And more of them are people from a wide field and many professions who can hardly survive, and they are forced to be brought together by fate.

Some of them are former federal officers, federal [soldiers], as well as "ruin hunters" affiliated with independent armed forces, as well as semi-lost people who were expelled due to the "Successor Protection Regulations", or after the fall of the stronghold, The Lost Ones who have nowhere to go and cannot be fully accepted by the independent armed forces and other strongholds of the Federation because of their status as Lost Persons.

Some of these people are factory members, scholars and professors, mercenaries, wanderers, researchers, and even porters, masons, cleaners, and cooks.

Due to the complexity of the personnel composition, there is often a saying among the "Chaos Group":

"A general who cannot cook is not a good soldier."

After entering August, the climate in the northern part of Crusted further deteriorated. The "scorching sunshine" that could briefly enjoy the warmth at noon no longer existed, and was replaced by continuous snowfall.

Snow-capped and silver-covered, standing on a higher place overlooking the new camp and the "man-made lake", the lost will always lose their goals in the pure white.

It’s too white here, or it’s full of holy colors that don’t match the style of the dark world. The sky, lakes, ice, snow and campsite all show the same color, making people feel as if they have escaped into the real world. The palace of heaven, falling into the eternal, silent and lonely "angel realm".

The clear and faint light had just dispelled the loneliness, coldness and darkness of the long night. "Future" took advantage of the darkness and rushed to the old mine, a vertical mine dug by the old empire for the purpose of mining rare earth resources.

Opening his sleeves and enduring the howling wind, "Future" saw that the hour and minute hands under the small glass cover of the watch were in a vertical position at the moment, indicating that the current time was nine o'clock in the morning.

Beating the mechanical heart filled with burning liquid hard, "Future" tried to surge the dark magic power in the body to resist the cold, and at the same time, rely on the burning liquid flowing throughout the body to gain some rare warmth.

The old mine was not close to the "man-made lake", but like the camp, it was still in a low-lying area. Looking up, you could see the simple embankments built by the "Chaos Group" and several industrial buildings left over from the old empire.

However, now, after thousands of years of wind, frost, and snow cover, except for some thick black tree trunks, the collapsed building remains have been completely covered in white. The hustle and bustle of the old industrial production has long disappeared, if it were not for recovery. Yato, I'm afraid even the last exhaust chimney that is sending out raging smoke will not be started.

In a pure white field, only such a touch of black became an "untimely" embellishment, making the "future" that has experienced countless long dark nights feel a little lost, until another point of moving black dotted the white field, in the pure white ice and snow A crooked "scar" was drawn in the world, and stopped in front of a broken, tall statue of the "Lord of Machinery" that he was leaning on.

As the roar of the mechanical chariot stopped suddenly, "Thunder Ye", Luo Ka, Victor and the young "person" wearing a black cloak stepped out of the car one after another and came to the "future".

"How long have you been waiting, 'Future'?" "Lei Ye" walked up to "Future" with a soft smile, patted his shoulder, and gave him a feeling of spring breeze.

"Not much, just three or four hours." "Future" smiled back and said:

"If it weren't for your [Speech Formation] ability and the 'Federal Potion No. 5' that helped me stabilize my mind, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to enjoy the comfortable sleep these days.

"Also, 'Thunder Page', thank you for your 'sleep-inducing emblem' which is really effective. After I activated it using magic power, I fell asleep at 5 or 6 pm yesterday and stayed until 2:30 in the morning. I really didn't have any sleep." Since I’m sleepy, I’ll come over first.”

"You're welcome, 'Future'." "Lei Ye" said, walked behind "Future", put his mouth to his ear, and whispered:

"Whether it is 'Yin Min' who has died or your brother 'Feng Kuang' who is about to die, they are all very concerned about you, the youngest and most suffering 'leader' in the 'Order Society'. They both You have given me a commission. Once something happens to them, I will take care of you and help you until I die.

"Actually, the day before yesterday, the leader of the 'New Life' secretly conveyed a message to me, mentioning that the cooperation between the 'Order Society' and the Federal Council may not last long. Vasily is indeed a selfish enough existence for the sake of mankind. I believe that It won't be long before either the Federal Council is submerged in the sunlight brought by the 'Universal Energy Evolution Platform', or we fall under laser weapons that are powerful enough to cut the heart of a machine."

"So, he wants me to go back?" Future speculated.

"That's right." "Lei Ye" nodded and said:

"We have lost 'Yinmin', 'Fengye', 'Ruwen' and 'Yanxi', and 'Fubing' has completely surrendered to the devil Vasily. If you leave here again and go to Khitanris, 'Order' Will' will have to merge with the 'Chaos Group' in order to confront the Federation."

"Wait until this war is over, until the 'Sorrow of Deep Bitterness' comes to an end, 'Thunder Page', I will give you an answer." "Future" whispered.

After hearing "Future"'s statement, "Lei Ye" stopped saying anything, and instead put on an excited and slightly playful tone. He pulled Luo Ka over and brought him to "Future" and Victor. said:

"Then again, Victor, this boy from Lorca is very good at learning fighting skills and using weapons, and he is very good at it. Why did I teach him several common financial calculations, as well as our financial data? You can’t figure it out even for a long time? You know, you can’t manage an organization well just by knowing how to fight. Lorca, please tell your brother Victor how much money we have left, and how much we can get by going to the human stronghold privately. Supplies?”

"Here, and 300 new rubles... can I exchange for a gun?" Lorca replied hesitantly.

"I really have a headache." "Lei Ye" slapped his head several times and complained:

"There are 300 left? Then we will all starve to death. If that day comes, I will definitely escape before you and eat those 'unintentional people' and federal [soldiers].

"Remember, we now have 1,253,718 new rubles in cash, 65,000 new ducats, and all food, weapons and supplies are worth 3 million new rubles in total! Remember, the supplies add up to 3 million ruble."

"Thunder Ye" said while nodding Luo Ka's head.

"It hurts, Aunt Lei Ye." Luo Ka covered her head and pretended to be innocent.

Seeing that "Lei Ye" was about to get angry again because of the word "auntie", Victor quickly stood up, pulled "Lei Ye" aside and dissuaded him:

"Lorka is still young. He is proficient in weapons and fighting, which is enough in the current situation. We don't want to imitate the "Wild Tourist Group" to take over abandoned cities. Why are we so proficient in those things?"

"Victor, let me ask you." "Lei Ye" turned around, crossed his hands on his chest, and asked Victor:

"According to your logic, with so many Crusaders managed by the Federal Council, it is enough to just learn how to hunt 'unintentional people' and knock us down. Why do we need to learn the scientific knowledge of the old empire? Why do we need to pay attention to education? Invest?”

"This..." Victor was blushing at this sentence, and he had no choice but to say:

"Things are different, okay."

"It's different? You know it too." "Lei Ye" continued to explain:

"After all, the Federal Council's ideas cannot end the Wasteland Era. In the future, we can only rely on us lost people and our alliance with more forces to truly eliminate the 'unintentional people' and end the war. But we can't learn, and we don't have the strength. Learn from Ivan XXII and rebuild the empire after creating ruins.

"We will definitely take over the city in the future, and we will also control more cities, connect them into one piece, compete with the Federation, and win the final victory. If, as the leader of the 'Chaos Group', he has such a basic If we don't have clear financial knowledge and can't even figure out the number of resources in the camp, what's the difference between us and those bandits, those 'ruin hunters' and 'mercenary groups'?

"You must know that gods will not directly give us knowledge. They will only improve our ability to comprehend knowledge and information. We still need to learn the specific content ourselves."

"Lei Ye" said, turned to look at Luo Ka again and asked:

"I just taught you yesterday, Lorca, what is the relationship between demand and supply? How to understand and calculate marginal revenue? Answer me now."

"I... don't know." Although Luo Ka's tone was coy and submissive, he was very honest, but his eyes kept looking towards the "future", trying to ask for help.

Seeing this, "Lei Ye" sighed, took Luo Ka's hand, suppressed his anger, and barely maintained a smile and said:

"Go back and copy it ten times. Do you understand?"

"Okay...ok."

Seeing that "Thunder Page" had finally taught Luo Ka a lesson, "Victor" standing aside urged:

"Let's talk about business first. The leader of the 'Ice Blade' is waiting for us under the old mine. Today, we must start the remaining half of the 'prayer to the gods' ritual and erase the last six types of 'device limit' devices. To exist, twelve chips must be embedded into Yato's brain to initially revive him.

"You also know, 'Lei Ye', whether today's mission goes well or not is related to whether we can reverse the unfavorable war situation. The specific operations of each subsequent step are very complicated and require extreme caution. Otherwise, the 'dark weapon' in Yato's body will The driving core' will be stimulated and riot, destroying the entire body."

"I understand." "Leiye" turned around and said to the remaining people:

"Let's go down into the mine first, but it may be more strenuous. I don't know what the scientists in the old empire thought. After the rare earth excavation was almost complete, they changed the mine passage to vertical downwards. We don't have enough now. We have the manpower and resources to repair the elevator next to it, so we can only climb down the ladder.”

…

Fortunately, the people who entered the mine together were all experienced and strong losers. Although the process of climbing down was very slow and troublesome, it was not easy to jump directly because the specific depth of the mine was not yet known. , and had to climb slowly along the only narrow passage.

About thirty minutes later, a few people finally saw the solid concrete floor that had been splashed with water.

After confirming that they had arrived at the platform in the middle of the mine, "Thunder Page" and Victor followed the previous prompts of "Ice Blade" and led several people along the cement corridor to imprison Yato and "Plamini Ax". "The giant experimental site.

While walking, "Future" discovered that beyond the guardrail on the left side of the corridor was a vertical, giant cylindrical patio leading to the ground. Unfortunately, the walls were either covered with smooth cement or rusty metal. Apart from a few steel cables that seemed to be connected to the elevator, there was no place to climb.

As for this corridor, the top is occupied by winding metal pipes and exposed wires. Only a "weak" electric light is placed in a pitiful position in the middle, emitting a weak dim yellow light.

On the whole, half of the corridor is close to the wall of the cylindrical patio, and the other half goes straight into the wall, leading to a deeper, broader, more mysterious, dangerous, and important area.