Wasteland Echoer

"Your beliefs... are really strange. I remember that Brett believed in the Lord of Dark Night, and I believed in the Goddess of Light. In my mind, the Old Ones do not belong to the sequence of sequential gods, but are independent of "The General History of Socra" A system outside of this recorded sequence." Wright said while looking at Moros, who had beads of sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Yes, it is independent of all god systems. The existing magic system was summarized and established after humans completely defeated the dragon clan in the Second Age. Emperor Leto I of the Psius Empire once published a book called "Preface to the Gods" ". It contains information about the first one hundred kinds of sequential gods, including the appearance of gods seen by magicians in dreams." Moros explained.

"What I want to ask is, is there any difference between this and the god system of the old rulers?" Wright asked curiously.

"Most of the gods of magic exist in the divine domain. As long as you reach a certain level, you usually obtain the seven sequence cores. Once you reach the level of demigod, you can easily access them. I heard that the goddess of light is a cute girl and the lord of the night is a little girl with a sweet voice. Boy. But the old gods belong to darker existences, generally existing in the deep sea, underground and dark realms. And most of the extraordinary people who record them are crazy. As long as you really come into contact with such gods, you will definitely fall into madness, so Only by faith can they maintain spiritual stability as much as possible," Moros continued to explain.

His lips always trembled unconsciously when he spoke of "Old Gods."

He looked up at the sky where the "red sun" just passed by. Although everything was blue instead of all the scarlet, a few "birds" that were unknown whether they were infected with the virus passed by among the fluttering white clouds, which seemed to be quite healthy. It outlines some of the comfort and comfort that belong to human emotions.

And it seems that not many people saw the horrific scene just now. No, not many people should be touched.

After all, people born in the wasteland world, especially those in the Sune Empire who are currently fighting against the Lost and the Heartless for years and trying to reconstruct the order of the Steam Era, have probably experienced the influence of blood and fire, and have experienced strange and strange things in their hearts. Compared with "Red Sun", the incident is only more bizarre, not the most bizarre.

After taking a few deep breaths to soothe the remaining panic, confusion, confusion, weirdness, fear and horror in his heart, Moros heard the morning shouts and noisy curses of soldiers from various corps in the early morning. The sound seemed like they were angry because of their exhaustion and lack of rest last night.

After a few minutes of silence, trying to relieve the fatigue caused by just setting up the antenna, Wright subconsciously stroked the short black hair on the back of his head, trying to relieve the tense atmosphere and said:

"Speaking of Brett and Moros, we should drive to the ruins at noon. I've heard you say there are 'ruin hunters' there before, can you tell us about them? I'm curious about what kind of existence they are."

"Oh, 'Ruins Hunter'?" Brett came out of his daze, grabbed the string of silver hair on his forehead, and said in his own rich voice:

"They are just a bunch of greedy clowns. The empire has a free rein on the semi-official explorer associations in various places. As long as they do not kill each other and maintain a certain order, they will not interfere. And as long as the groups participating in the empire's combat missions not only distribute supplies and weapons, but also There are a lot of subsidies. But those 'site hunters' do things that are completely inconsistent with the moral education that our soldiers receive." Moros said with a look of disdain.

"Well, you guys chat first. I think the telegraph machine should be ready for use. I'll try to debug it first. It should be eight o'clock now, and it's still a few hours before Brett drives to the ruins with us. , contacting the channel of the Socratic Committee is the only thing I have to do.”

Moros briefly interrupted the chat between Wright and Brett, yawned and pointed at the "Military F-01" telegraph machine next to him, which was glowing with silver and dark green intertwined reflected light. He waved his hand and walked quickly.

"Okay." Wright nodded, then he turned his head and asked Brett:

"We were just talking about moral education, right, Brett."

"Yes. Although many people think that teaching morality to military personnel, especially those responsible for war and killing tasks, is a stupid thing. Just like the empire has been trying to popularize lower education in every stronghold city some time ago, It was also criticized as a foolish move. But education, knowledge education, general education, combat education and moral education are the foundation for restoring order in the empire." Brett casually moved two small mats from the side and handed them to Wright One said:

"Sit down and talk."

"Yeah, okay." Wright took the Mazar, which was connected at both ends with cheap hemp rope and spliced ​​into a "fabric stool surface" of the bench, and sat near Brett, where he could just see the side of his face.

"Human beings in this world have been suffering for more than five hundred years. From birth to death, everyone has witnessed killings, cruelty, evil, conspiracies and painful events. There are also many weird aliens and terrifying viruses. , and there are many kinds of sequential monsters that can make you suffer from mental breakdown. So what people really long for is hope, peace, future, and light." Brett looked up at the clean and bright place, the gentle breeze, and was briefly enveloped by the light. The camp sky sighed.

"I don't know what courses you received when you entered the army, but I joined the army locally in Kusha. My teacher, Ms. Kamei, told me that the mission of military personnel and the moral bottom line that they need to abide by are 'people', right? The protection and salvation of 'humanity', as well as the annihilation and killing of 'unintentional people' and 'lost people'," Brett said.

Wright wanted to add something, but the messy memory fragments in his brain had never been completely pieced together to form a memory as a whole. After thinking for a few seconds, he just nodded slightly to express his approval.

"But those 'relic hunters' are like a pack of wolves, no, they are not even as good as a pack of wolves. They will do anything that is beneficial, like mountain kings, or robbers. The Order of the Lost has been robbed by them , the Donusk Army was also robbed by them, and even ordinary people in some villages struggling to survive in the suburbs were robbed and killed by them. They even had some unspeakable hobby for women and boys. But compared to some big shots Generally speaking, they are relatively straightforward. At least in this aspect, they will still pay, which is also a moral bottom line they abide by." Brett shook his head helplessly.

"Are there any Lost among them? Is it possible that we will encounter them?" Wright asked two extremely realistic questions.

"The larger group of 'ruin hunters' that existed before the Donusk ruins was separated from the 'Lone Wolf Society', the group of people led by [Guardian] Pusev, known as the 'Wolf of Odyssey' . Anyway, Pusev has defected to the empire now, and his second-in-command, I forgot the name of that man, it should be..." Brett held his chin and thought:

"By the way, the man whose title is 'Lone Wolf'. It is said that he is a lost person, and some people say that he should be counted as a person with powers. In short, we must be careful if we encounter the group of 'ruin hunters' led by him . Half of them are superpowers and lost people with mid-level professions. In addition to the common types of rifles, mortars, howitzers and armored fighting vehicles, their equipment may also include rockets and missiles. However, they do not have the empire. It's just a mature launch technology. Most of the technologies left over from the old Crusted Empire are not suitable for us, and may need to be developed before they can be used."

"It sounds very cool, but what interests me more is the technology of the Crusted Empire. If there had not been an outbreak of the Wuxin virus, would they have been able to leapfrog the steam civilization and directly enter a higher level of... electricity? Civilization, even information civilization?" Wright's mind recalled what he had read in the history textbooks of the previous world.

The first industrial revolution, the second industrial revolution, the third technological revolution and the subsequent post-industrial era.

The first two were brilliant, fundamental developments in civilization and technology. The third level is explosive. The sparks of technology completely set off a prairie fire, sweeping across the entire planet and bringing human civilization to its peak. But the era that followed was a silent era, an era that gradually became dim and depressed. People in that world had not yet truly entered the star civilization and touched the star era.

"Have you read any historical books about Crusted? That one, "The Afterglow of Crusted", and the two books "The Starry Future of the Empire" written by Gurji? I remember one is purely about One is historical and one is science fiction." Brett asked.

"I have actually read the first one. I finished it during the few days when Migov was recovering from his injury. Anyway, there is nothing to do. It happens that the content related to Silent Highlands requires some knowledge of the history of the old Crusted Empire. I have no impression of the second one. Yes, maybe I have read some fragments before." Wright explained, his tone calm and composed.

"It's okay to read more books. But Wright, I feel you are changing." Brett said with a worried look on his face and a slight frown.

"I also feel that I am constantly changing, but I can't say whether it is beneficial or harmful." Wright admitted generously.

After all, his body is getting stronger, and his ability to use the red magic source power is also strengthening, and he has also experienced several battles with the Lost People of the Church of Hope. It will be very difficult for him not to change.

"I don't know if you've noticed that since you left Sugra until now, your spirit has not been affected in so many battles and incidents. Of course, I can regard the nightmare as a sequelae of the ritual in the lost swamp. But Your spiritual power is a bit weird, just like the 'Red Sun' just now. I feel that your heart is as calm as water, without any flutter. This kind of powerful spiritual power will naturally help you fight against the Lost, and even follow the rules The committee ordered to explore the realm of gods, but I still have to remind you, Wright." Brett said solemnly:

"Don't become a machine-like cold product, otherwise you will forget your human identity."

"Me," Wright suddenly felt a chill on his back, as if the back half of his body was suddenly plunged into Crusted's ice field.

After almost half a minute, he felt the slightly warm wind around him again. He smiled and pretended to be relaxed and quoted some occult and science fiction novels he had read:

"Don't worry, Brett. How can a human become a machine? The product of the Lord of Machines is nothing more than a legend, and uploading human consciousness to machines is nothing more than science fiction."

"Come on, Brett, come on, record it for me, the information is transmitted a bit fast." Moros anxiously interrupted the chat between Wright and Brett with a sharp voice.

"Here it comes, wait a minute, right now!" Brett responded with the common delay "three times in a row", but his actions were not "delayed" at all.

He hurriedly entered the room and took out a "Zooyuan Brand" pencil from a dusty drawer, as well as a piece of paper with "Sogra Military Materials Production Factory" printed on it, which was used to record telegram information.

Then, he jogged all the way and stopped in front of Moros. He looked at Moros who was wearing earphones and pressing the telegraph transmit button with his right hand for signal communication, and asked:

"Does the committee have new instructions? Or does it add to the mission?"

"There are instructions and supplements. Now I am responsible for the battlefield inspection of your 'Z' team, Brett. They know that I am with you, but the order is still given directly to you. Your exclusive telegraph signal code is really strange and complicated. , and I haven’t had much contact with such a signal.” Moros complained.

"After all, it is a mixture of Western Continent Common, Zine Empire, and Old Krus German. The escorts participating in 'The Coming of Silence' this time all have special missions, and they are all taken seriously. This is normal, but... "

When Brett was still about to explain, Moros interrupted him directly. Listening to the signal sounds of varying lengths, either rapid or with intervals, coming from the earphones, he shouted:

"Record, maybe the signal can only be connected this time."

"Okay." Brett agreed.

"3001, 4001, 5002, 6001, 8001, 8002, 9001, 10001, 11003, 12001..." Moros clearly reported a direct message composed of numbers.

When the signal in the earphones no longer transmitted information, but turned into a long "beep" sound that lasted for more than a minute, he breathed a sigh of relief, took off the earphones that were full of noisy and messy sounds, and looked relaxed. said:

"It's finally done. Let's translate it, Brett. I remember that deciphering the message requires a poem, which was given to you when I issued the new "Safety Code" to you."

"It should be the poem 'Dream of Silence' by Gurji. Let me translate it." Brett said, taking the paper with the numbers back into the house.

A few minutes later, with sweat all over his head, he handed the translated content to Moros and said with a serious face:

"Just take a look. It's estimated that the content still requires us to go to the core location of Silent Highlands. It even specifically mentions important information about finding the entrance to the realm of gods. I estimate that the other 25 escort teams have similar tasks. In short, this is very dangerous. Especially at this critical moment when we are about to start a battle with the three major orders of the Lost. The committee estimates that we will be like a mouse, or a sharp blade, avoiding the strong 'body' and going straight into the core position that the enemy also wants to touch."

Ignoring the long analysis of the big man Brett, Moros pieced together the words that Brett translated and wrote, and said in a coherent language:

"The blood night ritual must be carried out. We need to explore the gods of Silent Highlands. The place where Vita Water exists is the key to entering the ruins. After we enter Silent Highlands, we need to wait for further orders. That's pretty much it."

After speaking, he habitually tore the paper with the telegram translation into pieces and stuffed it into the pocket of his army green jacket.

After stroking the metal sheet on his chest that indicated his identity, and thinking unfocused for a few seconds, he suddenly asked with a confused and solemn expression on his face:

"Wright, Brett, what do you two think about the two points about the 'Blood Night Ritual' and 'Vita Water' in this new command message?"