Chapter 433: The Oasis Under the Mountains and the Truth Behind the Legend
Chapter 433 The oasis under the mountains and the truth behind the legend
”A-choo–”
General McLen, who was standing at the door of the tent, sneezed, and accidentally lost his teeth and spurted the cigarette butt in his mouth into the sand.
Rubbing his sunburned nose, he glanced at the cigarette stuck on the ground and cursed.
”…Damn it.”
Although this was a perfect plan, McLen couldn’t help feeling aggrieved when he thought that he, a two-star captain and a noble “sky conqueror”, had fallen to being a contractor in the desert.
And he didn’t know why.
Since just now, he had a chill in his back. He
had had this feeling two or three months ago, and not long after that, the propeller of his beloved Iron Heart was swept into a hydrogen balloon that floated from nowhere.
Until now, he still couldn’t be sure which bastard had released the balloon…
”Increase patrols!” McLen looked at the newly promoted centurion on the side, and gave an order with a dark face, “Expand the search range from 3 kilometers to 5 kilometers, arrest anyone who approaches, and shoot anyone who resists!”
The officer on the side stood up straight, saluted at attention.
”Yes!”
Watching the officer trotting away, General McLen stamped out the cigarette butt with one foot, rolled it with his boots, and then walked to the north of the camp with his hands behind his back.
The runway of the airport is under construction.
There is no bulldozer, so we can only dig with a shovel, and use wheelbarrows and trucks to move earth.
The land here is seriously desertified, and in order to prevent the ground from collapsing when the plane lands, the runway must be strengthened.
More than 50 army soldiers patrolled the edge of the runway, while supervising the construction of the entourage.
More than a thousand entourages, bathing in the scorching sun, dug earth with their upper bodies naked.
Looking at the bare arms and shoulders, McLen cleared his throat and shouted in a louder voice.
”The sun in August is like a red-hot furnace. I know you are dizzy and tired now… But being baked here is better than being baked into charcoal by white phosphorus and burned to ashes by gasoline on the front line.”
”That’s what happened to your friendly troops. Your enemies will torture you in the most cruel way, so you must fight and move forward. This is the only way for you to survive. Thank you for showing you a clear way. You don’t have to be slaves of kings or puppets of enterprises. The suffering you endure today will be returned a hundredfold to our enemies tomorrow.” ”
They will repent in the flames, turn to ashes under the high temperature of tens of millions of degrees, and be crushed into slag by our anger!”
”Work harder!”
”Move!”
Seeing those people digging harder, McLen nodded with satisfaction and turned back to the barracks.
It would be perfect if he could have a bucket of ice cream at this time, and it would be best if Princess Theresa fed him… No, she was already dirty after being captured by the barbarians. It would be better to wait until the war was over and go to the old king’s harem for a tour.
He was not very interested in women, after all, that kind of thing was too easy for him to get.
Those ice creams, on the other hand, were rare products produced in the alpine pastures along the Solat River. Even tens of thousands of kilometers away, they were luxury goods specially supplied to the nobles.
With the unlucky Finod around, the natives should know its value.
I hope those bumpkins didn’t eat them all…
…
The sunset had already fallen to the horizon.
Under the shadow of the wooden wine barrel, a black and white cat yawned lazily and licked its paw.
At this time, a small dried fish swayed in front of it.
Smelling the salty fragrance, the cat narrowed its amber pupils and walked up with an elegant cat step.
It meowed politely at the dried fish. It was good at observing people’s expressions and saw that the “servant” did not object, so it moved its mouth unceremoniously.
Obviously, it has become accustomed to people feeding it… or offering it.
It seems that the old man named Bulma is right. People here like cats very much, so the cats here live a leisurely life and are not afraid of people at all.
”Mi Mi~”
Gently rubbing the back of the warm and fluffy head, listening to the comfortable snoring, Zhima Paste squatting on the ground smiled into crescents, cat ears swayed leisurely back and forth, and his face was full of satisfaction.
The burly white bear squatted beside her, looking at the little guy on the ground curiously.
”By the way, have all the cats in the wasteland come here?”
”Well, it’s really strange to say that I haven’t seen cats anywhere else…but I have seen dogs.” Zhima Paste said after careful recollection.
Seeing that the cat had food and drink and was served by someone, Rourou’s face showed an envious expression.
”Damn, I want to rub it too…”
”Okay, but you have to be careful, your claws are too big, don’t hurt it.” Zhimahu moved aside to make room for Rourou.
”Hehe, don’t worry, I’m very careful when I pet cats!” Rourou
rubbed her claws excitedly and carefully stretched out her bear claws.
However, before her claws were placed on the cat, the cat was frightened and made a sound of “hehe”.
Rourou was at a loss and quickly retracted her claws.
She was about to explain that she had no ill intentions, but the cat had no intention of listening at all. It bit the dried fish and hurriedly turned around and slipped into the shadow of the alley.
Looking at the cat disappearing in the alley, Rourou’s face was full of frustration and grievance.
”Well… am I too scary?”
Zhimahu didn’t know how to comfort her, but seeing her expression that was about to cry, it was not easy to leave her alone, so she could only clap her hands and stand up, laughing and crying. Touching the broad and furry shoulders.
”How could it be, Rourou is so cute… maybe it has never seen a talking bear.”
The people here are very superstitious, but their tolerance for unknown things is surprisingly high.
Even if they see a talking bear, their reaction is just “Your bear can actually talk”, instead of shouting “Monster!” and picking up a weapon to fight.
It may not only be because there are many strange things in the wasteland, but also because the locals often engage in trade activities, and they are no longer surprised by some strange things.
For example, the cactus hotel next to them.
The waiter at the front desk is an old-fashioned android, and he is so old that his skin has faded.
It is said that during the prosperous era, it worked as a receptionist at a resort hotel 20 kilometers away, and was later sent to a waste disposal center when it reached the end of its service life.
Before it was scrapped, the Doomsday War broke out, and it stayed on the assembly line of the abandoned factory for nearly two centuries. It was not until a few decades ago that it was picked up by the owner of this hotel and resumed its old business.
Its actual working time has far exceeded its designed service life, so that it always says strange things, occasionally offends guests, and always stares blankly from time to time, and stays blank for a long time.
Whenever this happens, the owner of the hotel will come out to register the guest’s information on its behalf.
”…I remember that I was 7 years old when I first saw it, and now I’m almost 47 years old. Think about how time flies.”
”Yes.” Sisi, who was waiting at the bar, nodded and casually replied.
47 years old.
This age is considered longevity in the wasteland.
She vaguely remembered hearing someone say that according to the settings in the game, the average life expectancy of NPCs in this world is only 35 years old, and most people will encounter accidents that they can’t survive in their 20s.
Flipping through the worn-out notebook, the boss rubbed his index finger on it, suddenly showing an embarrassed expression, and looked up with an apologetic look.
”Sorry, guest, there are a lot of people staying in the hotel recently, and there is only one double room left… How about changing one of the rooms to a double bed room?”
Before Sisi could answer, Wei Tail came over excitedly and raised his right hand with full enthusiasm.
”Oh! No problem! Wei Tail and Sisi will sleep together!”
Sisi coughed lightly.
”Then… one double room and one double bed room will be fine.”
As she said that, she put a few gold camel coins with a face value of 10 on the table. Just now, they exchanged some change with the spoils looted from the plunderers in the market. Now they have about 600 or 700 in savings.
It is enough for daily expenses.
It is still cheap to stay in the hotel, 9 gold camel coins per room, and even a large piece of rye bread for breakfast is included.
I heard that if you are not picky about the accommodation environment, there are even rooms for 2 gold camel coins a day, and the kind of utility room where servants sleep is also provided to guests.
As for renting a garage, it was a little more expensive, but it was only 15 gold camel coins a day, and only 300 for a monthly subscription.
This made Sisi feel cheated.
A roll of “Scenic Area Map” plus a travel brochure about local customs and practices was sold for the price of nine days’ room fees!
No wonder the boss didn’t even count it, and took the money bag she threw on the stall into his arms.
He made at least 40 gold camel coins out of 80!
Sloppy!
The key to the double room was given to Zhimahu and Rourou, and Sisi went upstairs with her tail.
Passing the corridor.
She saw a man with a beard and a woman with a sad face standing by the window on the second floor.
The man was wearing a gray linen shirt, and his temperament looked like he had been a soldier, or at least worked as a caravan guard, and he was the kind of leader.
The woman in front of him was wearing a beige dress, her brown hair was slightly curly, her face was pretty, and her slightly bulging belly looked like she had just gotten pregnant.
”…There will always be a way. I heard that someone in Silver Moon City is recruiting sailors. I can just go there and try my luck.”
”But…what about me and my child?” The woman’s eyes were filled with sorrow.
”…” The man remained silent, and it was obvious that he had no other options.
The woman hesitated for a while, and as if she had made up her mind, she took off the ring on her ring finger.
”Why don’t you take it and see if you can change it for something…”
The man quickly held her hand.
”Don’t be like this…let me think of another way.”
Sisi looked at the two people and estimated that they should have fled from Oasis No. 9 or Oasis No. 3, and had spent all their savings after arriving here.
While Sisi was looking at the two people, the man also noticed the two girls coming up the stairs, and after hesitating for a moment, he walked up to them.
”Ma’am, I’m very sorry to bother you. Excuse me…can I exchange some money with you?”
Sisi glanced at the purse in his hand, which contained a lot of Golden Lion coins, estimated to be about three or four hundred. These two people seemed to be from the Kingdom of Lions.
The man probably felt that this request was a bit abrupt, and he couldn’t help but take his hand back.
He knew very well that the currency of the defeated country was worthless.
If it was a few months ago, this bag of money could at least be exchanged for 400 gold camel coins.
But now, even if he removed two zeros, he couldn’t bear to let these two girls be the scapegoat.
However, Sisi still reached out and took the bag of money from him, and stuffed a bag of money into his hand.
”Deal, after this trip is over, we are planning to go to Oasis No. 9, and we won’t need to exchange money there.”
Looking at the bag of money handed over by the girl in front of him, the man was stunned and said guiltily.
”This… is too much.”
The heavy weight is at least 300 gold camel coins, which is enough to live for half a year if you save it.
You can even do some small business.
Sisi weighed the bag of money in his hand and said casually.
”Your country has not lost yet. Those who are still resisting are worthy of this price. Take it.”
The man’s Adam’s apple moved, and his expression was both grateful and a little ashamed.
After a brief silence, he took the purse and bowed deeply.
This was the only thing he could do at the moment.
”Thank you for your generosity. May the spirit of the sea of sand bless you on your journey. My name is Charlie… Although it is just an insignificant name and not worth remembering, if we meet again, I will repay your kindness to me and my wife.” Sis thought this
guy was quite interesting, and curled his lips.
”Don’t take it too seriously, it’s just a business deal, just be nice to your wife.”
Tail beside him also said with a smile.
”Oh! Thanks for your good wishes. I hope we can find a lot of treasures on the way back! Oh, yes, we are members of the White Bear Knights, and our leader is a talking white bear. Please spread our legend even more outrageously!”
The man looked at the two girls blankly, then bowed deeply again, returned to his wife and told her the good news.
With two pairs of grateful eyes watching, Sisi and Weiba walked to the room deep in the corridor.
Looking at Sisi who took out the key to open the door, Weiba stroked his chin and thought for a long time, and suddenly seemed to have discovered some incredible secret, and spoke seriously.
”Incredible, I didn’t expect Sisi to be soft-hearted. She didn’t even suspect that the couple might be scammers.”
Sisi replied casually, not quite frankly.
”No, I just thought that if I didn’t buy it now, I might not be able to buy it anymore, so I bought it as a souvenir… Oh, by the way, this expense can be deducted from my share of the income, after all, it’s my personal interest.”
Although everyone didn’t seem to care much, she thought it would be better to calculate it clearly.
She had seen too many guilds that were originally very close to each other but fell out because of an equipment that would be razed after two versions.
Wei looked at Sisi in surprise when he opened the door.
”Hey! Sisi wants to take the out-of-print gold coins for himself?”
Sisi was stunned, then smiled and stuffed the purse into her hand.
”…Then count it as Wei’s share.”
The room with 9 gold camel coins is much more spacious than the small single room with 3 gold camel coins. It not only has bright windows, soft big beds, but also has a separate bathroom.
Petra Fortress is not in the oasis, but it is the territory of the Hump Kingdom after all. Fresh water is just a little more expensive, but it is not scarce.
Moreover, Oasis No. 4 is different from other oases. Not all fresh water is supplied by the “river embankment”. The Zhuobar River, which flows from the mountains to Silver Moon Bay, also irrigates a large area of land.
In the local slang of the Camel Kingdom, the pronunciation of Zhuobar means great and mother, which is also one of the cultures formed after the Wasteland Era.
As soon as she threw down her luggage, Wei rushed into the bathroom like a gust of wind, and soon there was a sound of rushing water. She
hadn’t taken a shower for a month.
It made her feel suffocated.
Sisi walked to the window and sat down, listening to the shouting and hawking outside the window. She put the book “Oasis under the Zhuobar Mountains” bought with cash on her knees and read it carefully.
The author’s name is Bai Ge, which seems to be a pen name. He narrated his life story in a few strokes on the title page. He claimed to be from the Wandering Swamp. He was surprised to find this pearl hidden at the foot of the mountain in this desperate land, so he gave up his employer’s task, stayed there, married a fisherman’s daughter, and taught while writing.
This book, written in the 150th year of the Wasteland Era, is as famous as its author. It mainly records the geographical features and customs of Oasis No. 4 and the Hump Kingdom.
If the Dzobar Mountains are compared horizontally with the “Roof of the World” in the real world, the location of the Hump Kingdom is a bit like the otherworldly version of Bangladesh.
It’s just that its area is smaller, with a total of only 80,000 square kilometers and a population of only about 1.5 million, living in a total of twelve city-states including the “Petra Fortress”.
The king’s capital here is Camel City, where one-third of the population of the entire oasis lives, located in the southwest corner of the bay.
If you go through the Petra Fortress and walk south along the Dzobar River to the floodplain at the estuary, you can reach the most prosperous Silver Moon Bay in the entire oasis.
Silver Moon City, located on the floodplain, is the most prosperous port city in the Hump Kingdom. The scattered islands and rivers running between the buildings are its unique urban style.
Although the population is only 300,000, more than 70% of the kingdom’s fiscal revenue comes from there.
”…The locals trade with the archipelago in the south and Borneo in the southwest. The big-horned cattle in the desert were actually introduced from Borneo by Silver Moon Bay. It is said that there are fishmen with gills and big frogs that can spray acid… Incredible.”
”Oh! Poro! Can I see Poro there?” Rubbing her wet hair with a towel, Tail, who had just walked out of the bathroom, heard Sis mumbling to herself and immediately came over curiously. When
Sis saw her, her face suddenly turned red and she reached out to pull up the curtains.
”You… at least put on some clothes.”
Tail proudly put his hands on his waist and raised the corners of his mouth fearlessly.
”What does it matter! I heard that everyone living in the dormitory doesn’t wear clothes!”
Sis subtly looked away.
”…I may have gone to a fake university.”
Tail, who had been naughty for a while, finally found his integrity. He put on a T-shirt and sat obediently next to Sis, wrapping his hair with a towel, as if he was going to wait for it to dry naturally.
There are even androids here, but there are no hair dryers. It’s really a wasteland.
Tail, who was leaning next to the book, stared at the illustrations with shining eyes, hoping to find some clues to the new map from it, so that he could brag to everyone on the forum later.
Sisi coughed lightly and returned to the previous topic.
”It just happens that the pronunciation is very similar. The literal translation is the land south of the towering mountains. I prefer to directly transliterate it as ‘Bora’. It feels like the location of that province is a bit like a widened Italian peninsula. Our current fortress is like Innsbruck, Camel City is like Ravenna, and Silver Moon City is like Venice…if you only look at the geographical location.” The
Zhuobar Mountains extending to the southwest cut off the road traffic, so the only way to go from Oasis No. 4 to the Bora Province is by water.
According to the description in the book, there are also alien species in the ocean, and it is said that their combat power has reached the level of sea monsters.
However, these alien species are usually only active in the deep sea and are very sensitive to smell.
The locals found that these alien species hated the smell of black ironwood, so they would use black ironwood to make wooden steamships for long-distance trade. In the relatively shallow offshore, they would also use iron sheets to make boats.
The author, whose pen name is White Dove, has a very rigorous narrative style. He might be a researcher at the academy.
Sisi thought to herself, holding her chin with both hands and staring at the illustration of Tail, and suddenly sighed.
”I didn’t expect the world to be so big!”
”Yes…”
”Across the sea…” Touching his chin, Tail suddenly looked serious, “Is it an enemy?”
Sisi was slightly stunned, and then burst out laughing.
”…I’m out of place, Tail.”
”Hehe…”
Tail scratched the back of his head a little embarrassedly.
At this time, she suddenly saw the scroll on the bedside table, and then she remembered the treasure map, so she stood up and hugged it.
Looking at the map unfolded on the ground, Sisi raised her eyebrows in surprise.
”Oh, it’s quite big.”
It’s not too bad to say so.
”Oh! Si! There’s a red cross on the map! It’s really a treasure map!”
”Anyone with a pen can draw that kind of mark.”
Looking at the startled Ah Wei, Si Si replied casually, her eyes stayed on the map for a moment, and suddenly frowned slightly.
Her index finger subconsciously turned the pages and found the description of the Lost Valley.
This relic has a profound impact on the kingdom on this oasis, whether in a materialistic or idealistic sense.
Therefore, the book also describes it at great length.
”… According to local word of mouth, the god of the sky fell there, and the burning scepter turned the plain into a valley. That is undoubtedly Oasis No. 7. According to known documents, I suspect that there are radioactive substances and mutant slime molds… or should I say the remnants of the curse.”
”I should go there to have a look, but my body can no longer withstand the torment. For the sake of my lovely son, I can only give up the urge to take risks. Maybe one day in the future, when I have nothing to worry about, I will go there to have a look. If I can repair it, it will be perfect, although I don’t have any hope.”
”A century and a half ago, they were living gods. It is more reliable to light a candle and pray than to use wrenches and screwdrivers to solve the problems of gods.”
After reading this, Sisi can basically be sure that the author with the pen name White Dove is a researcher of the academy – or an explorer.
That pessimistic and self-deprecating tone is exactly the same as that of a researcher obsessed with coffee machines.
”The more you know, the more pessimistic you are. Fortunately, you have an optimistic manager. If it were me, I would have given up on treatment long ago.” This is the line that the NPC often says. His eyes fixed
on a certain line in the book. Sis combined the context and barely explained it with limited vocabulary.
”…Titan.”
Tail raised his head excitedly, his eyes shining with excitement.
”Titan?”
It was indeed a hidden mission!
Sis nodded, his eyes moved on the page, and said after a little thought.
”Well… The author collected rumors about the God of the Sky. Referring to the description of the locals, he believed that it should be some kind of large land combat equipment with frigate specifications, equipped with a mobile reactor, heavy firepower and starship-level shields.”
The machine wielding the holy fire wrestled with the evil spirits waving countless long whips, and finally burned under the scepter that fell from the sky… It sounds like Transformers fighting tentacle monsters.
If the tentacle monster is understood as the mother nest, then the machine wielding the holy fire can be easily explained. It
is probably similar to the Doomsday Mech in “Civilization 6” or the Iron Lump in “Titanfall”.
This does not seem to be a battle that took place during the Three Years War, but rather a battle that took place during the Committee period.
”Well, maybe there is something incredible there, but–”
But it is better not to make things complicated at this time.
After all, compared to the unknown difficulty and benefits of the ruins, the million-dollar goods in hand are of course more important.
However–
when meeting the expectant eyes, the smart face still showed a helpless smile.
Closing the book in his hand, Sisi put it aside, patted the dust and stood up from the ground.
”…It would be a pity if I don’t go and take a look.”
The tail jumped up excitedly.
”Oh! Go!”
——
(Thanks to “xX Daidai Senior Brother Xx” for the leader’s reward!!!)
(End of this chapter)
