Wasteland Echoer

September 23rd, 557th year of the New Lunar Calendar.

Crusted Federation, Extreme Cold Special Zone, Q Area (Old Cold Extreme Area), "Beslunai" area, settlements outside the Wind Wall.

"Wulfya, I heard the call of the Echoer again." Duck woke up again from the dark, frightening, deep, depressing and cold nightmare, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and leaned weakly on the dust-filled , the smell of blood and the indescribable smell of "mourn" left by the thick fog on the seat.

"What? Did he come to see you again?" Wofya glanced at Duck in the rearview mirror of the car, leisurely held the lit "Anshen Uchiwa Hana Cigarette" between his two fingers, and sent it away. He took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of "second-hand smoke" that smelled of peace, and asked.

"I...I'm not sure." Dak shook his head and tried to struggle to sit up, but the deep hangover left in the dream made him feel dizzy. He felt extremely weak for a moment, so he simply stopped trying to get up and continued. Maintaining a lazy half-lying posture, he replied in a slightly weak voice:

"Ever since he showed me his 'Touch of Darkness' in the snowy 'Grey Dream', 'Echoer' has never shown his true face again. In the following dreams, , I could only see the empty altar and the disappearing tree in the center.”

"Trees?" Wofya asked curiously, holding the cigarette in his mouth, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands, and continued to steadily control the mechanical chariot modified by his hands, driving in the same empty place, covered with layers of light and deep. In a small area of ​​ice covered with snow.

Yes, this should be regarded as the deepest part of the entire extreme cold zone, and it can also be called the most desolate and lonely area in the Crusted region.

The "Wentnos" river originates from the depths of the wilderness. Before Ivan I arrived here, it belonged to a barbarian nation that had erased its historical traces and belonged to the ocean. This river is a seasonal river, and its middle section is due to extreme ice. closure, resulting in a shutdown period of several months. These water sources did not smoothly merge into the Northern Endless Ice Ocean, and did not flow into other locations. Instead, they seeped into the ground, perhaps entering the realm of the underworld.

Since defeating the monster incarnation of the "Lord of the Night", Dark and Wulfya took on the badge that Daniel valued most, and together with Thalia and "Future", they passed through the dense forests and valleys, along the After walking north of the Winternos River for a while, and paying attention to the ruins of the old empire that had been plundered by the "ruin hunters", they came to the current section, which is about 30 meters away from the settlement outside the wind wall. Not far away is a very desolate old road.

Due to inhaling too much "Shang" after coming out of the jungle, the consciousness of "Future" has been in a state of good and bad. Thalia simply stole a "Sword and Shield" belonging to the Vasilysk Legion of the Federation. The mechanical chariot pulled out the flags belonging to the Federation and the city one after another, and after destroying all the patterns, it drove the chariot, pulling the "Future" who had been sleeping all day, and followed closely behind the chariots occupied by Wulfya and Dark. , heading north.

Through the car window, looking at the bright and clear sky above, Duck replied:

"That's right. In yesterday's terrible... dream, I saw with my own eyes the towering tree... collapsed. Everything in the dream... was pure white. The Khitan Reese landscape, the paths and the altar were very quiet. .I could barely hear any sound except the slightest whisper of wind.

"But just when I focused on the towering tree, its dark, thick branches quickly withered, expelling black, brown and red sap, which combined with the snow and evaporated. But the tree turned into a pile of debris... just like... um... a pile of broken cardboard. "

"Is the Echoer conveying some message to you?" Wulfya asked, frowning.

"Maybe, maybe not, I'm not sure. But this dream made me feel even more tired and uneasy. In fact, this time, it was harder for me to wake up. When I realized that I was dreaming, I tried my best to think He wants to wake up, but no matter whether he concentrates his energy, activates the energy of the 'Silent Fang', or stabs his heart with sharp objects, he can't wake up." Dark's face was covered with cold sweat, and he looked at it unfocused. Ahead, replied:

"It's like gray dreams are reality, and the world I always want to return to is illusory. I even suspected that I was a general from the old empire who was invaded by miasma when he was on a mission to Gubin City in Khitanris. , causing me to hallucinate and enter a wasteland nightmare that lasted twenty years.

"Fortunately, I finally woke up confused. Wulfya, tell me... did I dream of the 'Echoer' in the gray dream, or did the 'Echoer' dream that He became me? ?”

"'Zhuang Zhou Mengdie'?" Wofya chuckled and said:

"This is just an interesting philosophical topic raised by the Khitanlis. If according to the ungrateful patriarchs of the Orthodox Bishops, the Orthodox Lord created all things, He will also create dreams. Reality is a world, and dreams are just another world. It's just a world of one plane, but the dream is half a dimension more than reality.

"However, from my point of view, your dream this time is neither good nor bad. The collapse of the giant tree symbolizes the destruction of the old [order] and the arrival of the new [order]. If I remember correctly If so, it is mentioned in the documents held by the Federal Council that the 'Echoer's' occupation is an upper-level [Order]. This dream may indicate that he no longer needs the 'Gray Dream' for the time being, and his body may be slowing down. He is recovering slowly, and his spirit may have already recovered. However, he does not have enough strength to escape from the bondage yet, and he is waiting for our rescue.”

"Maybe." Dak replied perfunctorily, continued to sit in a reclining posture, and began to close his eyes and rest.

The mechanical chariot driven by Wulfya and the "Sword and Shield" brand mechanical chariot driven by Talia followed closely continued to move along this small area of ​​​​ice, leaving behind a trail that seemed to last forever. Erasable, continuous marks.

After driving forward for about an hour, as the surrounding bare and straight poplar trees began to "grow", the vague outlines of human settlement houses finally appeared in the distance, shining and wriggling under the sun. The dark phantom.

The water vapor in the air began to gradually increase, and the originally bright and blue sky began to be covered with a deep layer of gray, like an old man sitting in a dark, dirty fireplace that exuded the pungent smell of burned dust. Next to it, a bleaker purple-covered book opens, telling a horrific story that tortures the human spirit.

Soon, a burst of unusual white light flashed through the black-based sky, as if a piece of white as bright as heaven had been mistakenly connected to a video tape that was all gray and black.

About half a minute later, a huge roar echoed throughout the desolate area belonging to the Crusaders.

"Boom!"

The sound of thunder seemed to penetrate the powerful armored mechanical chariot and penetrate directly into Dark's heart. Although it stopped his heartbeat for a second, it also seemed to shatter the "fatigue" lingering in his mental realm. "The shackles of.

He finally recovered from his hangover-like state, temporarily leaving behind the horror, resentment, and desolate dreams, and sat up from his semi-lying state.

"Where are you? Wulfya." Dak pointed at a row of messy buildings not far ahead and asked.

"Well, it seems to be a settlement in the 'Beslunai' area." Wofya analyzed:

"We just walked along the most desolate old road for a while. Not far away there should be a section of the middle of the Winternoss River that has stopped flowing. We should still be some distance away from 'Ice Creek No. 1'. According to my I understand, there should be some settlements here. If I had come here half a year ago, I would have told you without hesitation that those settlements belong to our federation. But now, I can’t say.”

"Why?" Duck asked confused.

"When the former Chief Executive Viking ruled Crusted, he had a plan to operate an extreme cold zone, and also repaired a short section of the road going north. He paid special attention to the 'Belunai' area where miracles are buried, and tried every means to do so. A number of official settlements have been established. This is why Chief Vasily can always get information from the federal army and the Order of the Red Swing in this area," Wofya explained:

"Just three months ago, in order to completely win the Battle of Deep Sorrow, the Federation was forced to transfer all the elite [soldiers] here to the south, which resulted in many independent armed forces and people from the Lost Organization settling in. You may know that outside the core areas controlled by the federation, if you want to establish long-term and effective ties with them, you must allow them to partially operate outside of the federal control.

"To be clear, the institutions that run these settlements, such as the 'Belunai Regional Development Committee' and the 'Arctic Zone Development Committee' may be directly controlled by Chief Vasily at the beginning, but in the end, they are often Evolved into a semi-independent 'liberal' organization. They will not only accept [soldiers] to station in accordance with federal orders, but will also allow independently armed 'ruin hunters' to rest here because of financial and resource benefits.

"Actually, these organizations that have official ties but do not exclude independent armed forces and the Lost are the norm in the Wasteland Era. However, Vasily is a great enough figure. We who have survived in the federal control zone for too long, There will always be an illusion that the federation governs everything.”