Wasteland Echoer

It was September 3rd, 557th year of the New Lunar Calendar, 18 days after Yatuo woke up.

Krusted Federation, Arctic Special Zone, Q Zone (Old Cold Arctic Zone), about 150 kilometers southeast of Pveginsk, "independent armed" settlement and trading settlement, Hermosk.

After walking in the desolate ice and snow wasteland for more than a week, "Future" patted his shoulder, shook his body a few times, swept away the dust and snow attached to his clothes, and stopped in a settlement that still had the breath of life. The outer perimeter, a few hundred meters away from the fence and the main road into the settlement.

The burning sun hung high in the sky, dispersing the surrounding black clouds one by one, allowing the haze-shrouded northern area of ​​Crusted to finally reveal a rare warmth and soothing atmosphere.

Half a month ago, seeing that Yato had completely controlled the "Chaos Group" and some members of the "Comprehensive Cult" and could not change the fact, he had no choice but to go south, preparing to go south along several strongholds and roads that were not heavily defended by the Federation. The plan is to return to Binglin City first and meet the "New God", the supreme leader of the "Order Society".

Therefore, along the way, "Future" travels through inaccessible ice fields. During this period, except for a few long-abandoned settlements littered with bones, corpses, and broken walls, today was the first time he smelled the human scent that rushed into his nose.

On the road leading here from the "man-made lake", if it were a human being, he would go crazy and die in the biting cold wind, biting air currents, shortage of food, and tortured by the endless ice field.

But the Lost have more abilities to survive in dangerous environments than humans, and most of them can control their perception of pain.

If they remain fully vigilant in order to fight and in dangerous environments, the Lost will turn on the pain switch, allowing even a weak touch or disturbance in the air to be felt.

And if they want to avoid mental torture in the cold environment and last as long as possible in the battle, they will completely turn off the pain switch and become a machine that only knows how to kill and charge.

Of course, "Future" is not an "unintentional person". As the "leader" of the "Order Society" and a lost person who has lived and competed with human beings for so many years, he naturally knows the formal and informal organizations of human beings. various explicit or implicit rules.

Stopping at the outskirts of the settlement, he still tried his best to hide his alienated right arm. He hid the already much thinner arm under the thick, torn, and dirt-covered cotton clothes, and raised it in the "chaos." The left arm mechanical prosthesis installed when setting up the camp, he groped for a long time in various pockets of his jacket, found a few wrinkled new rubles and old coins, and a few new ducats, put them in his pockets, and settled here. Click to go.

There are not too many security forces set up at the gates of the settlements. On the one hand, the "independent armed forces" do not have the ability to mobilize resources like the federation. On the other hand, as the war continues, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to ensure that the size of the team increases. .

Walking to the gate of the settlement, "Future" subconsciously put on a warm army-green military cotton hat with droopy rabbit ears on the sides, and followed the still barely crowded crowd of people with different clothes and weapons to cross the wooden fence. The "gate" made of barbed wire was successfully sneaked into the settlement under the watch of the security soldiers belonging to the "independent armed forces" who turned a blind eye.

As soon as he entered, "Future" went straight to the market where all kinds of domestic and military supplies were exchanged. He squatted down near a stall selling various types of unprocessed sugar and looked at the half-open door in front of him. Jaggery in the sack asked:

"How are these candies sold?"

"Thirty-five yuan, new rubles, 300 grams." The stall owner wearing a blue semi-tattered cotton coat stood up and quoted.

"Is this candy made of gold or silver? Good guy, 300 grams of jaggery is worth the price of a gold coin." "Future" complained, looking up at the stall owner.

It was a very haggard, slightly withered face. Because he had been living in the wilderness of ice and snow all year round, traveling around various strongholds selling scarce supplies, his face not only had many scratches formed during battles, but also scars that could not be healed for a long time. Scratches, and two hexagonal scars that were infected and extremely difficult to remove.

Of course, although this face is rather dark and sallow, it is wearing a snow cap with a full style of the nomadic people from the east. The large gray-yellow cotton coat on the body seems to have a little bit of a Crusader officer. The style is just very dirty, with a few obvious patches and damage, as well as stains of gasoline and blood, making it look sloppy.

Moreover, key parts of this cotton-padded coat, such as the parts that should be embroidered with the federal emblem and rank stars, were deliberately cut off, as if to hide the military attributes of this coat.

Seeing that "Future" questioned the price of jaggery and seemed a little ignorant, the stall owner just pointed at the bag of goods, half-sitting and lying down lazily, and said:

"This price, thirty-five new rubles, or a new ducat is already very cheap here. Boy, it looks like you came from a place where you can't get hungry. This place in the Extreme Cold Zone, in the 'Relic Hunter' Under the management of the "tourist group", only the worthless people at the bottom who have been abandoned and disgusted by the Federation have so little living space.

"But even so, there are only two strongholds in these hundreds of kilometers until Demon Annihilation City. So boy, if you can get that piece of paper from the Federation, what is it called...what...that, yes, 'scarcity' "Material exchange coupons', then you can exchange it for white sugar without using any money, so why are you still buying it from me?"

"Me." "Future" was a little speechless after being scolded. Indeed, even as the "leader" of the "Order Society", he has performed tasks in many places in the extreme cold zone by virtue of his semi-official status.

But this was indeed the first time he came to the stronghold of the "independent armed forces" in a non-combatant manner. It can be said that he neither understood the rules nor the market.

Smiling awkwardly, "Future" took out four wrinkled banknotes from his arms, printed with the image of the former federal chief executive, Mekdev Chedanov, known as the "Silent One". Passed it to the stall owner.

After all, even if the Lost can control pain and avoid the discomfort caused by hunger, it is only temporary. If you don't want to rely on eating humanoids to obtain nutrients, sugar is undoubtedly an alternative.

After taking the banknote and putting it in his pocket, the stall owner wore an incomprehensible smile, took out an old iron box, scooped out a few spoonfuls of coarse sugar, put it on the scale and weighed it briefly. Handed to "Future".

Looking at Mirai weighing it carefully and trying to analyze whether the weight is enough for 300 grams, the stall owner smiled and said:

"Don't be afraid of missing something. The Wilderness Tourist Group will check it. Once the missing weight exceeds 15%, our heads will be in danger and our heads will fall to the ground."

"Wilderness tourist group?" "Future" asked with some confusion, "Have they all taken control here?"

"Of course, seeing that you still know a little bit about the Wilderness Tourist Group, and you don't look like a kid who can go hungry, could it be that you are a loser? Haha." The stall owner laughed for a while, then calmed down his breathing and continued said:

"It doesn't matter even if you are the Lost. There are everyone here, as long as you follow the established rules. This small-town-sized village is called 'Hermosk', which they established a month or two ago, but now Now, the number of people who have been executed for violating order is no less than forty or fifty."

"It seems that the 'Wilderness Tourist Group' really wants to establish a kingdom of [Order] in the north. This determination to reconstruct [Order] is indeed worthy of praise." "Future" commented.

"Yeah..." The stall owner sighed lightly, with a smile on his face, and continued:

"Far east, I have been to the federal trade point south of Hoptov several times near the railway line. There are some guys with guns who are said to maintain order, but there is no order in buying and selling. Go there. I was supposed to make a lot of money on this trip, but my dear, after including the costs and losses, I lost more than a dozen new ducats. In short, I vow not to go there again."

"What fee... is so expensive that it can make a profit-making industry like yours lose money?" "Future" asked casually while rummaging through a pile of randomly placed weapons.

His pistol fell into the dark pit of the mine when he left the "Old Mine". In such a tense and exciting situation, he was lucky to be able to escape while the slightly crazy Yato did not regret it. , "Future" naturally has no need to retrieve the pistol.

But now, since you see something for sale, it’s better to look around first. If you find something suitable, take it. If you don’t find something suitable, forget it.

"The expenses are too much, boy, you can't go hungry." Looking at the busy "Future" stall owner, he replied with a wry smile:

"For outsiders entering a federally controlled stronghold, even if they are not the Lost or the Supernatural, the physical examination fee of 35 new rubles is indispensable. If you want to trade, you have to pay a stall fee of 55 new rubles and a daily transaction fee of 10 new rubles. , and there is an order maintenance fee of 150 per month. Unless we have magic power or the ability to instantly kill 'unintentional people', and are recognized by the federation, we can naturally live and trade in various strongholds without paying any fees.

"Either you have to be born in a territory under federal jurisdiction, or live permanently in a certain stronghold, participate in arduous and backbreaking manual work, and become a worker who produces various materials for the front line. In short, if you want freedom, you have to lose money , if you want money and resources, you have to sacrifice freedom. When you can get both, then those people will also have half of the godhead."

After the stall owner finished speaking, he turned his head and glanced at "Future" who was still rummaging through the pile of weapons, and said:

"Boy, there's no need to search in that pile of weapons. Many of them are unusable and may contain viruses. We took those from the dead federal soldiers on the battlefield, and they don't need them anyway. Of course, Maybe something good if you can fix it.

"However, I suggest you buy some of the 'Anshen Neijuan Hua' I got from the Zinni people. I heard that there was a large fog over the 'lake' where the battle was taking place in the north. Many people passing by were poisoned. They were either Either crazy or dead. However, I heard that the soldiers who smoked cigarettes made from 'Anshin Uchiwa' were all safe.

"Even if you don't go to the north, you don't know how long it will take for the 'fatal thick fog' to rise in this large area of ​​​​the Extreme Cold Zone. I advise you to be prepared."

"Okay, how much is it?" "Future" stopped what he was doing and asked.

"It's not expensive, it only costs 1,000 new rubles."