Chapter 502: Where Civilization First Collapsed

  Chapter 502: The Place Where Civilization First Collapsed

  The Great Desert is located to the west of Luoxia Province.

  Although it is named after the desert, it is not as “desolate” as most wastelanders imagine.

  The concrete buildings that have collapsed or been submerged by the yellow sand, as well as the rusty warehouses and factories, all indicate the past prosperity of this place. Even though the rolling yellow sand has been blowing for two centuries, it has not completely submerged this man-made miracle spanning thousands of kilometers.

  Not only that, because the underground ocean current transmission pipelines meet here, a large amount of desalinated seawater has infiltrated into the underground rock formations due to pipeline ruptures, forming a rich groundwater reservoir.

  Therefore, even though there are many meteorological disasters here, such as earthquakes, sandstorms, radioactive dust, and thunderstorms, the species active in this area are more prosperous than those in the neighboring Luoxia Province. The

  only blessing left to Luoxia Province in that era was a few oases, but the situation here is completely the opposite.

  The remaining favors are so much that they have overflowed…

  ”Damn… What the hell is that?”

  A giant snake as thick as an oil barrel slowly swam between two collapsed high-rise buildings. Its cracked skin was like dry yellow soil, lurking in the soft quicksand like a fallen giant tree.

  Looking at the giant snake that was dozens of meters long crawling forward in the quicksand, the soldier wearing an exoskeleton took two steps back with a tingling scalp.

  His name is Su Ming, and his position is a precision shooter. The number 26 printed on his chest armor and arms is the number of him and his brothers, and it is also the logo of the “Enterprise 26th Commando”.

  As one of the few ground forces of the enterprise that participated in the battle of Luoxia Province, they mainly performed vanguard, guerrilla and behind-the-enemy sabotage tasks in the war.

  Although most residents of Ideal City attributed the victory of the war to their allies, they actually participated in many battles.

  It’s just that it doesn’t sound so good when written in the press release.

  Walking to Su Ming’s side, Yunsong stared at the giant snake for a few seconds. The box in the tactical eyepiece locked it in the center, and the progress bar moved around the edge of the box.

  ”There is no record of it in the database… You found it first, why don’t you give it a name?”

  Su Ming touched the back of his head. ”

  Sandworm?

  ”

  Before Yunsong could speak, Gu Wei, who was wearing a power armor, laughed and teased.

  ”It’s too rustic, and there are already some in the desert next door, and they are completely different from this guy.” “Then… Earth dragon? Giant earthworm? Digging worm?”

  ”Let’s just digging worm… Don’t waste time.”

  Interrupting the conversation between the two, Yunsong stretched out his index finger and tapped twice in the air, operating the holographic window to archive the image data, and then switched to the tactical map.

  ”The target is about one kilometer ahead… Everyone be alert, and we will be able to pick up our employees home soon.”

  ”Oh!” Su Ming shouted weakly.

  They have been on duty for almost a whole year.

  Spanning thousands of kilometers of wasteland, he was even involved in the war in Luoxia Province… He couldn’t help thinking that the experience along the way could be used to make a movie when he returned.

  Under Yunsong’s order, the 26th Assault Team continued to move.

  Led by the bionic soldiers and drones, the team moved forward along the broken concrete road for a while, carefully avoiding large areas of quicksand and several areas with abnormal life signals.

  At this time, the signalman had new news, and Yunsong raised his right fist to signal the team members to stop at the door of an abandoned factory.

  So far, they were only the last 300 meters away from the mutant tribe. In the abandoned building in the distance, they could even see camouflaged bunkers piled with garbage and mutant sentinels standing guard with binoculars.

  ”…The mission status has been updated, which is good news. The Alliance has decided to send airships to support our operations before withdrawing.”

  Hearing this, many people breathed a sigh of relief.

  They did not bring everyone with them on this mission. More than 30 logistics personnel and more than 20 soldiers stayed at the camping site.

  With ten power armors, thirty exoskeletons and less than thirty bionic soldiers, it was still difficult to kill a mutant tribe that was more than ten times their size without heavy firepower support.

  Even if they could win, they would suffer considerable casualties.

  The mutants in the Great Desert did not only use iron rifles. These beasts had mastered semi-automatic and even fully automatic weapons through trades with the Legion and the Falcon Kingdom.

  Not to mention that they used scraps and garbage from the pre-war era to DIY their own weapons.

  Those things seemed unreliable, but it would be a big loss to underestimate them.

  For example, a mutant they had seen before, holding a hot melt ray gun made of the head and spine of a “Pioneer” robot, relied on a sneak attack to kill one of their power armors.

  These unexpected means of attack were hard to defend against.

  Hearing that the alliance’s support was on the way, Su Ming said excitedly.

  ”That 400mm heavy artillery?”

  Yun Song nodded.

  ”Yes… including ground troops and those unreliable gliders, but we need to confirm that there are no one of ours in the camp before we can decide whether to use an axe or a scalpel.”

  As he said this, he looked at the drone operator standing at the back of the team.

  ”I’ll leave the reconnaissance to you.”

  ”Got it.”

  A steady-looking man gestured, knocked his fist on his shoulder, and the drone backpack on his back popped open the hatch.

  A four-rotor drone was ejected like a crossbow arrow, and soared into the sky with a whistling sound.

  The screen was connected to the tactical eyepiece of the helmet.

  Although the signal was very poor, it was barely usable.

  Under the control of the drone operator, the four-rotor drone carefully avoided the eyes of the mutant sentinels, moved to the side of the building, passed through rows of twisted steel bars and concrete wreckage, and flew over the mutant tribe.

  The entire tribe is located in an abandoned factory building.

  The garbage-cobbled shacks and the half-collapsed factory buildings are integrated, and large iron sheds and drying animal skins block the twisted alleys.

  However, through the gaps in the cover, one can still see the coal-like bodies, bloodthirsty fangs and gnarled muscles.

  They are like orcs in fantasy movies.

  What is chilling is that these animals who eat raw meat and drink blood have developed cities like humans and even clarified the social division of labor…

  There are residential areas that smell of feces, arenas that vent violence and provide entertainment for mutants, blacksmiths and tool workshops filled with the sound of iron forging, plantations that grow unknown fruits, and ranches where various livestock are imprisoned… Looking down at this huge

  tribe through the drone lens, the drone operator felt his scalp tingling.

  Especially when he found his fellow imprisoned in cages in the ranch that looked like a garbage dump, his anger rushed to his head.

  ”Damn…”

  ”What’s wrong?” Hearing his low curse, Yunsong cast an inquiring look at him.

  The drone operator did not speak, but just stretched out his index finger and drew it in the air, turning the picture he saw to his teammates who were looking at him next to him. The

  drone lens zoomed in.

  I saw rows of iron baskets made of steel bars, with scarred and naked bodies locked up.

  Most people with bulging bellies are “lucky” because mutants usually don’t eat them, but those who fail to give birth to offspring for them are miserable. Many of them were tortured, not only their arms and legs were removed, but their wounds were already rotten and maggots were infested.

  Mutants have extremely strong recovery abilities, and they don’t need bandages or anti-inflammatory drugs, so they naturally won’t bandage the uneaten animals.

  Many people sat on the ground with lifeless eyes, and they didn’t even have the strength to drive away the mosquitoes and flies around them. Some people were motionless, and it was unknown whether they were dead.

  On the chopping board not far away, the bare-armed mutant priests were using primitive and rude methods to deliver babies to the humans handcuffed on the chopping board.

  They didn’t care whether those people would die in the process.

  Chaos believers never pick and choose their food, and their stomachs are as strong as their muscles and bones.

  Those slaves who were kept as animals may have come from the Falcon Kingdom, or from honey badgers or lions, or even been sent from farther away by slave traders… Few people would pay attention to where those who disappeared in the war ended up.

  Even though Su Ming had seen many hellish scenes during the march to the wasteland, his face still turned slightly pale.

  This is much more cruel than those imitating looters.

  The soldier not far from him couldn’t help but retching.

  ”These beasts!” Gu Wei clenched the heavy machine gun in his hand, wishing he could rush in and shoot them all.

  ”They are beasts to begin with. When did you think they were not?”

  Yun Song operated the holographic window expressionlessly, selecting part of the camp and marking the places where there might be living people.

  After doing all this, he signaled the signal soldiers to set up the signal enhancement device and roughly pointed it in the direction of the Iron Heart.

  ”This is the 26th Commando. We have confirmed the location of the ‘Black Stone’ mutant tribe. The number of mutants is about 2,000, the same as the intelligence.”

  ”Survivors were found in the tribe… We can’t get closer. We are not sure if there are any of our people inside. I hope not.”

  After a burst of white noise of electricity.

  The answering voice came from the other end of the communication channel.

  ”Got it… We’ll arrive in half an hour. If it’s convenient, please help us lead them to a wider area.”

  Yunsong cast his eyes on two abandoned buildings close together not far away – the “earth digging worm” was passing through there.

  That was a good location.

  Whether it was a bombardment point

  or a grave for burying those beasts.

  ”Got it, leave it to us.”

  After ending the communication, he waved to the soldiers behind him.

  ”Get ready to work.”

  …

  At the same time, at the edge of the desert dozens of kilometers away, a huge steel airship was slowly pushing away the edge of the rolling yellow sand and heading towards the endless ruins.

  If Chu Guang was shocked by the endless yellow sand and rolling clouds when he first entered Luoxia Province,

  then the shock in his heart at this moment can be said to be no less than that time.

  Even more than that!

  ”Unbelievable… Was this a city before?” Chu Guang, standing in the bridge, overlooked the scenery outside the French window, with a look of surprise on his face.

  The 100-meter-wide road stretched straight forward, blending into the high-rise buildings on the horizon. Even if you stand on an airship thousands of meters high, you can’t see the end at a glance.

  The earth is divided into countless grids by the interlaced roads and track debris, half of which is densely packed with buildings and the other half is endless desert.

  Perhaps it will take hundreds of years, or even thousands of years, for this land to completely turn into the shape of Luoxia Province…

  Standing next to Chu Guang, Wu Changnian narrowed his eyes slightly, with not only shock on his face, but also a hint of melancholy.

  ”…I heard that in the prosperous era, that is, two centuries ago, the Great Desert was not called the Great Desert, but the four industrial divisions of the People’s Union.”

  Chu Guang glanced at him and asked in confusion.

  ”Four industrial divisions?”

  ”Yes.”

  Wu Changnian nodded, looking out the window as if he was trapped in the memory of a certain video material. After a pause, he slowly opened his mouth and continued.

  ”…The Western Industrial Zone is the starting point of all industrial chains. It is responsible for producing the most basic raw materials and rough processing of raw materials transported by the logistics network and space elevators, such as synthetic chemicals, catalysts, alloys, etc.” ”

  The Northern Industrial Zone is a logistics and warehousing center, responsible for storing logistics surpluses, distributing finished products, and transferring intermediate products and waste materials. It has the densest transportation network in the prosperous era, whether it is trackless transportation or rail transportation… In theory, as long as you choose the right means of transportation, you can go there directly from any corner of the planet. At the same time, it also has the highest density of office buildings.”

  ”The Eastern Industrial Zone is the end of the industrial chain. The huge, efficient and dense industrial chain is responsible for processing or assembling raw materials and intermediate products into final products.”

  ”As for the Southern Industrial Zone, it is mainly an energy hub. It is like a large charging plug, and its function is to receive energy produced by outer space power generation facilities.”

  ”With the space elevator, the four industrial zones surrounding the space elevator form a complete closed loop of the industrial chain.”

  Chu Guang said in surprise.

  ”Build an industrial center in the middle of the continent?”

  For him who came from another world, this sounded a bit counterintuitive.

  After all, in his hometown, industrial areas are mostly concentrated in the east, especially in the coastal areas. There are fewer industrial centers in the western inland areas, and they are relatively sparsely distributed.

  However, it seems to be a completely different story here.

  Wu Changnian nodded and continued.

  ”Yes, there are stable climate conditions here, far away from the junction of continental plates, no active earthquakes and volcanic activities, and unlike the sea or coastal areas, there are typhoons from time to time… There is no place more suitable for building the foundation of the space elevator than here.”

  As he spoke, his tone could not help but carry a trace of emotion.

  ”At first it was just an elevator, and then the dense transportation network began to extend to the low-Earth orbit, gradually turning into a tower, a mountain, and even a bigger mountain. Endless and rich resources poured from space to the surface, and the abundance was amazing… The prosperity of that era is hard to imagine in this era, and even the ideal city is just a restoration of its tip of the iceberg.”

  Wu Changnian had also heard that in the initial plan, the Human Union planned to use another two centuries to radiate the city cluster to all corners of the Central Continent with the space elevator as the center. Use the energy and alloys obtained from space mining to build the entire planet into a universal city.

  That blueprint is a collection of the dreams of everyone in the entire prosperous era. Personal ideals, ambitions and imagination will extend infinitely on this infinitely prosperous planet, and spread to the more distant galaxy with it as the starting point.

  Unfortunately, a war that lasted only three years turned all the dreams into nothing.

  While Wu Changnian was reminiscing about the past, Chu Guang, who was standing next to him, had not yet recovered from the huge blueprint.

  Although what he could see with his naked eyes was not bragging, he still couldn’t figure out how this huge industrial center was placed in the center of the continent.

  ”…What about industrial water? Where does the water come from?”

  Wu Changnian was stunned. He didn’t expect that his focus would be here, and then he laughed and said.

  ”Isn’t there an underground ocean current pipeline? What do you think the Great Rift Valley was used for before?”

  Chu Guang suddenly came to his senses.

  He seemed to have heard vaguely before that the Great Rift Valley existed to store the surplus energy generated by the controlled fusion power station, and the specific way to achieve it was to electrolyze seawater.

  As for the surplus chlorine, sodium, and various metal elements precipitated from seawater and other by-products, they will be packaged and sent to the industrial zone for processing.

  It turns out that the underground ocean current pipeline was not only built for the Great Rift Valley, but also for the purpose of transporting industrial water to the center of the continent!

  The power of that era was even more terrifying than he had imagined…

  Chu Guang was shocked, and his scalp was numb.

  Especially when he thought of the pretense he had put on, and the “pie” he had drawn for Yin Fang, Heya, Vanus, and other survivors…

  How the hell can we return to the greatness of the prosperous era? Mobilizing

  seven billion players is not enough!

  What’s more, it is obvious that the morphogenetic field cannot accommodate so many people… Otherwise, it would not make sense for the first generation of managers to set up so many rules and “send him the activation code” in a planned way.

  Not knowing what Chu Guang was thinking at the moment, Wu Changnian laughed and continued.

  ”Of course, the solid hydrogen underground in the Great Rift Valley is a strategic reserve and is not used normally. The main industrial water supply is to the southern industrial zone. It is not only an energy hub, but also responsible for seawater desalination and sewage recycling… I don’t understand too much professional knowledge, I just looked at it from the database. If you want to know more about how the entire system works, you have to ask experts in this field.”

  ”In short, the four major industrial zones account for more than 60% of the GDP of the People’s Federation, and the peak is said to have reached 70%.”

  ”So remember, no one knows what will be in Shelter No. 0. We’d better be careful and arrange the candidates carefully.”

  Hearing the cautious tone, Chu Guang also nodded with a serious expression.

  ”I will arrange a resident of the shelter with outstanding perception ability.”

  Wu Changnian nodded approvingly.

  ”That’s the best.”

  He had heard about the average awakened person per capita in Shelter No. 404.

  Although he believed in AI and machines more than awakening, an unstable biological factor, in the previous war, the Alliance had proved that humans were not inferior to machines under certain circumstances, and could even create miracles that machines could not achieve. It was never a bad thing to bring two more reliable masters.

  This was also the reason why he was able to convince the Enterprise and the Legion to help the Alliance, which “had no experience in ruins excavation”, to win two places.

  There was only one access card.

  According to the description of the employee named Luo Hua, the elevator they found that led to Shelter 0 was not very large, and the number of people who could go down at one time was limited…

  Just then, the door of the bridge was pushed open.

  Vanus walked in from outside, saluted, and said neatly.

  ”The 26th Commando of the Enterprise has received news that they have confirmed the coordinates of the ‘Black Stone’ mutant tribe, but they are not sure whether there are Enterprise employees among the slaves imprisoned by the mutants.”

  ”If we can’t be sure whether it exists, then assume it exists,” Chu Guang said seriously, turning to look at Vanus, “Are there any new battle plans?”

  Vanus nodded.

  ”The battle plan is a frontal attack. We have informed the 26th Commando that fire support will arrive in half an hour. They plan to launch an attack in half an hour and lure the enemy units to the bombardment coordinates they recommend.”

  ”Very good, follow this plan,” Chu Guang nodded, paused for a moment, and continued to order, “Let the airships prepare for firepower, and let the Burning Corps stand by on the lower deck to support our allies.”

  ”Yes!” After a neat military salute, Vanus turned and walked out of the bridge.

  Retracting his gaze from his back, Wu Changnian looked at Chu Guang with a grateful look.

  ”Thank you for your attention to our employees.”

  Chu Guang smiled faintly and said.

  ”You’re welcome. The crew of the Pioneer is not only our friends, but also a favor to us.”

  Without that epoch-making machine tool, the subsequent industrialization would not have progressed so smoothly. Even if the little players have big imaginations, they have to have something to turn their ideas into reality.

  Although it was a deal where both sides got what they wanted, he knew very well that the other party actually took good care of them, otherwise they would not have allowed them to take advantage of them so much.

  When he said goodbye to Captain Lu Yang, he said that he would remember this favor, and now was the time to repay it.

  ”…But then again, was that man just now a Willant?” Wu Changnian suddenly mentioned it as if he had thought of something.

  ”Well, yes.”

  Seeing Chu Guang’s reaction so indifferent, Wu Changnian could not help asking.

  ”Is it really okay?”

  He had just reminded the young leader to be careful of every Willant.

  Looking at the slightly concerned gaze, Chu Guang said indifferently.

  ”He stayed voluntarily.”

  Long before going to Luoxia Province, Chu Guang had discussed this issue with Vanus. If he felt embarrassed to fight the Legion, he could stay in Qingquan City. He would not force a person to participate in a war he did not want to participate in.

  Objectively speaking, the officers that Vanus trained for the Alliance and the contribution he made to the Alliance’s command system in the early days of the business were enough to repay his “debt”.

  After the war, he could return to his hometown as a prisoner of war exchanged like other prisoners, and no one would know that he had served the Alliance.

  However, after hearing his proposal, Vanus not only decisively rejected the only opportunity to go home, but also stood in front of Finod and McLen, the two prisoners who were destined to be exchanged back, to show his loyalty to the Alliance.

  The reason he gave made Chu Guang silent for a long time.

  ”…I spent a year thinking about the meaning of this war, but it seems that we have gained nothing except hatred and death. My troops were wiped out meaninglessly in the south, and my superior and his subordinates were wiped out in the north. At the moment of failure, I had no regrets, but a sense of relief.”

  ”I don’t think His Majesty the Marshal is wrong, nor do I think General Kras is stupid. Perhaps if we continue along their path, we can really move towards a bright future, but we don’t understand it at the moment.”

  ”As General Kras often said, we are vicious criminals, and all of us will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history by future generations, but they will be grateful that we have left them a vast world. In that world, there are only the Willant people, and the Willant people will not hate the Willant people. The tragedies that have happened before… whether it was two hundred years ago or in the more distant past, will never happen again.”

  ”But in you, I see another possibility that we have never imagined. Maybe there is a unity beyond blood in this world… Just as you said, we are all survivors, whether we are residents of the shelter or wastelanders outside. What should be eliminated is not one of us, but the barbarism that is raging in the wasteland.”

  ”War is a job for me. Unfortunately, this is the only thing I can do. But if it can become a little bit meaningful here, please let me continue to move forward beside you.” At the

  same time, on the lower deck, the flashing signal lights have conveyed the order of the battle.

  Players who are eager to try have already put on their exoskeletons, picked up the most elite equipment, and brought sufficient ammunition.

  This time they are going to pick up old friends home.

  And it is an open military operation under the joint watch of the three forces of the Legion, the Enterprise, and the Academy.

  Everyone is ready to show off in front of those old guys and show the new Governor of the Willant whether their loss is unfair or not.

  ”Brothers! This time our opponents are mutants! Back on 76th Street, our friends on the East Coast helped us, this time it’s our turn to help them.”

  He walked in front of his good brothers.

  Old White, wearing the Dragoon power armor, looked around at his brothers who were full of vigor and said loudly in a resounding voice.

  ”There is only one purpose for the operation-”

  ”Don’t spare any!”

  A deafening shout came from the hatch leading to the deck, and even the alloy floor was shaking violently under the burning fighting spirit.

  ”Oh oh oh!”

  ”Kill all those beasts!”

  (End of this chapter)