Wasteland Echoer

"I heard about this 'Vita Water' when I was in Kusha City, but it belongs to the category of myths and legends." Brett said with his hands on his hips and his head half lowered in thought.

"As for the 'Blood Night Ritual', we should all know that the Socra Committee wants to contact the power of the 'Daughter of the Mechanical Element' to activate the 'Raleye's Dream', leading all city residents into dreams and falling into eternal sleep. It's like consciousness uploading... Yes, it's something I learned about when I read the science fiction novel by the author of the Crusad Empire." Wright replied.

"Well, that's right." Moros nodded and said:

"And in the past few days, I have learned through some information brought by that vampire child, Miyu, that what really attracts the Socra Committee is not the realm of gods or the gods themselves, but his mechanical heart, which is what supports his power. A core.”

"This information is very novel. If it can be confirmed, the direction of our thinking may have to change." Wright analyzed.

"Yes, we have been thinking about the 'Blood Night Ritual' from the extraordinary realm of magic. Maybe we think of the committee members too mysteriously, or maybe we think of the gods too mysteriously. In fact, from some old Judging from the documents decrypted by Crusted, the 'Daughter of the Mechanical Element' should be at the lowest level in the order of gods, and may be a product of man-made creation. In this case, the Church of the Lost really needs to contact the category that is easiest to contact The gods come to obtain oracles and guidance, so as to obtain sequence cores in batches and obtain promotions in the sequence level." Moros explained seriously.

"I heard that the seven major levels of 'wisdom', 'inspiration', and 'pain' are the easiest to advance to, and they are also the common levels for the lost in the empire. But the acquisition of the order core above 'hope' requires contact with the gods. , if the three major churches succeed and let them mass-produce mid-to-high-level Lost Ones, then the war between the empire and them will probably be even more difficult." Brett took over Moros' words and explained.

"That's right. On the surface, or considering the overall interests, it is not necessarily a bad thing for the Socra Committee or the empire to obtain the 'Daughter of the Mechanical Element'. After all, what the empire's top brass and the royal family need is its mechanical core to provide They imitated many weird weapons designed at the end of the old Crusad Empire to provide energy, and also to restructure order and eliminate as much as possible the unintentional and hostile lost people flooding the empire. The Socra Committee is nothing more than trying to make an entire city Just lie down completely, they have always pursued this kind of policy." Moros said with a slight disdain.

"But," Moros said, while subconsciously looking at the uniform military watch that was stained with dirt and had a pitch black background, he said:

"It is unacceptable to construct a dream at the expense of millions or even more people and plunge everyone's consciousness into a 'paradise' state of nothingness. From a moral perspective, this is an organized killing; From a profit perspective, even the stupidest monarch in history would not have done this, sacrificing so much manpower for production and fighting!"

Brett could see Moros' teeth-gnashing anger, and from his slightly sunken brown eyes, Brett could read the violent emotions of pain, shock and rational restraint.

After sighing and looking at the blue sky and the white clouds that were gradually dissipating, Brett changed the topic and said:

"We are destined to stop the 'Blood Night Ritual', and it is best to contact the higher-ups of the empire. However, Moros, 'Vita Water' is also a topic worth discussing."

"Sorry, sorry, I was a little off topic." Moros said with an apologetic smile:

"Yes, the message in the message indicates that 'Vita's Water' is the key to entering the ruins. Speaking of 'Vita's Water', Brett, you just mentioned 'myth', right? Can you tell me what you know about it?" "

"Well, I remember reading a book when I was a kid in Kusha City. It was a black leather book with a giant dragon drawn on it. I read it as a storybook. It was interesting after all."

Wright noticed that Brett's green eyes actually revealed a sense of purity when he mentioned his childhood. His tone also became soothing, and he even felt embarrassed and subconsciously touched his silver-white hair. .

"It mentions the 'Floating Divine Realm', which is the ruler of the Eastern Fire Empire in the middle of the Steam Era. It seems that he was called the 'Mourner', or in their words the 'Spiritual Emperor'. Derived ruins excavated during the ceremony to summon the dragons to descend." Brett paused, subconsciously licked his dry lips, which even had small blood-red scars on some broken skin, and said:

"It is said that the Flame Empire is the country that imprisoned the most dragons. Their first emperor, 'Yanjun', was the one who combined with the dragons and multiplied the huge royal bloodline of the empire. Because he felt pity for the dragons who were bewitched by the Lord of the Night, he deliberately A large number of dragons are imprisoned in ruins all over the Fire Empire. These ruins connect different worlds in different planes, and the capital Yancheng is the largest one. Legend has it that the Lord of the Night was imprisoned once, and you know this Moros."

"That's right." Moros nodded, took over the words and added:

"After the 'birth' of the Second Era, the soul of the Lord of the Night was divided into five parts, which were imprisoned in the 'Steel Stone of Ori'. They were kept by the five leaders of the human empire and sealed in high altitude buildings built by the five countries. In the tower. However, the Lord of Darkness appeared in some scattered document records in the middle and late period of the Steam Era. The information about Him during that period was blank, and it is currently impossible to know what happened. However, during the First Era, Most of the "seven first-ranked gods" have long since fallen silent and have not been active in any subsequent period of history. Until the advent of the Wasteland Era today, even fewer people have the time and ability to actively explore them. "

"'Seven First List of Gods'? I remember there is no such description in "The General History of Socrates."" Wright asked doubtfully.

"What is the General History of Socrates? It's just something a bunch of [scholars] created to fool us. They don't dare to write truly extraordinary and mysterious history. After all, it is an act that will lead to execution." Moros was disdainful. said:

"But I can answer this question."

"Tell me?"

After raising his head and thinking silently for half a minute, Moros held up his chin, which had little stubble, and explained:

"The 'Seven First Gods' are the basic gods who built our continent, including the Creator. They include the Creator himself in order 1, the Lord of the Dark Night in order 2, the leader of the dragon clan in order 3, and the God of Eternal Life in order 4. Rank 5 Domainless Lord, Rank 6 Mechanical Lord, and Rank 7 Lord of the Earth. These seven gods do not have fixed miracles or divine domains. In other words, they can create miracles at any time. And 'Lord of the Night' ' and the 'head of the dragon clan' in the legend also like to personally participate in human affairs, or command the dragon clan and strange beasts to fight against humans, and even indulge in it, never tired of it, unable to extricate themselves. "

When he mentioned the "unique" fun of the gods, Moros actually raised the corners of his mouth and laughed out loud. He seemed to have inserted himself into the legends of the gods.

"Weren't we talking about 'Vita Water' just now? We're off topic again." Moros muttered, patted Moros on the shoulder, and continued:

"It was mentioned in that book that the little emperor 'The Sorrower' used two pieces of 'Auri's Steel Stone' to open the giant mechanical door leading to the realm of the imprisoned dragons. After the door above the ground was opened, the legendary 'Belonging to The people of the wind's floating divine realm will be summoned. And if you want to open the giant door in the floating divine realm, you must dive into the lake full of 'Vita Water' at the core of the divine realm."

"No more? That's all?" Moros asked, still unfinished.

"That's what I read. In short, maybe the realm of gods has this kind of liquid as protection. I don't know what it is, what its characteristics are, and its use. If you need more information, it's better to let Miyu bring it. Let's go to the Lost Ones and ask, as long as you don't mind conflict with them at any time." Brett waved his hand and said.

"I basically understand Brett's statement, but I will add something." Moros looked at Brett and Wright respectively and said:

"'Vita's Water' is actually a transliteration of the common language of the Western Continent. In the imperial language, it means 'Water of Life'. Legend has it that it has no mass or even volume, but it truly fills the entrance to the realm of gods. Just jump If you enter it and endure all the negative emotions lingering around your body, you can enter the divine realm and truly come into contact with the legendary sequential gods."

"Okay," Moros stretched out his hands with tactical gloves and patted Wright and Brett's shoulders at the same time and said:

"That's the end of the discussion. After Miyou comes back later, we can go through the camp to the temporary garage. Also coming with the 'Wenhuo No.' train is Brett. Isn't your 'Spider Brand' mechanical chariot?"

"Yes." Brett nodded and said:

"But we can no longer call it a 'Spider' tank. The day before yesterday, I went to the temporary garage to check and found out that my tank had been transformed beyond recognition by a master from Chekavsk.

But the good thing is that it can now store more supplies without affecting its sturdiness and speed. I think that as long as we are not targeted by those 'ruin hunters', it will only take us up to three days to reach the Area B camp. If everything goes well, two days will be enough. "

"Brett," Wright suddenly stared into Brett's green eyes and said helplessly:

“I suggest changing ‘As long as you don’t get targeted by ruin hunters’ to ‘You will definitely not get targeted by them’. What do you think?”

"Hahaha……"

The shabby, narrow courtyard with only low bungalows and cement brick walls was suddenly filled with a joyful atmosphere.

…

Ignoring the simple "telegraph signal station" he had just built with great effort, Moros carried the important and valuable "Military F-01" small telegraph machine back to the room, and packed it with other clothes into the small telegraph machine with his thin body. Among the military backpacks that don't quite match.

Wright, on the other hand, followed Brett's example. After sorting out his neatly dressed silver-white Guards uniform a few times, he packed the daily clothes that he carried from the dilapidated mahogany wardrobe in the three-storey rented building in Scotland into the most economical items. The way of space was wrapped in a rustic yellow military backpack.

Immediately afterwards, he confirmed that the remaining S$500 that Mr. George had given him before was still safe and sound in the mezzanine, and stuffed seven or eight boxes of canned "cultured meat" that was almost enough for him to eat for three days. into it.

And he also specially put on a small can of more than 500 grams of sugar, as well as a lighter, matches and some equipment needed for survival in the wild.

Although there are still many contents about combat and wild survival in Wright's memory fragments, after all, this is the first time since he came to this world that he has truly separated from the city and the army, and entered the wild world in a semi-independent state. He is still prepared. Complete ones are better.

After glancing around the dim, shabby bungalow that smelled of mold and rot where he had lived for two days to see if anything had been left behind, Wright put the "Bear Bear" pistol that had been following him around his waist. After putting the gun in the holster and slinging another "Zhouyuan Brand" rifle that he bought for 200 SGD before leaving the city of Sogra, he simply pushed open the wooden door and stood in the middle of the courtyard waiting for the busy Brett.

Ten minutes later, fully armed Brett and Moros finally appeared in front of him.

"What about the kid, Miyou?" Wright looked around, but never found Miyou.

"He said he wanted to buy some blood from the underground market in the corner of the camp. You know, for him, a child with dual identities of a vampire and a lost person, the blood of an unintentional person cannot be sucked, otherwise he will fall into the curse of 'cannibalism'. He will degenerate into a careless person. And he is unwilling to suck the blood of our 'human comrades', so he has no choice but to go to the underground market to buy it. I think if he cannot replenish blood in time, he will definitely fall into the blood war. In the madness of desire," Moros explained.

"Then let's go, right? Our 'Silence Investigation Team' should have to pass through the busiest trading area in the center of the camp to reach the temporary garage on the edge, right?" Wright confirmed.

"Yes."

"Yes."

The two armed men answered in unison.

…

The general style of the camp in Area A of the Donusk Ruins is a mixture of an imperial town stronghold and a village.

The three Wrights walked along the brick-paved road in the trading area for half an hour. Along the way, in addition to the military personnel setting up various stalls on the street, and some "field traders" who were tacitly allowed to come in, there were There were only some wild cats and dogs with messy hair and covered in red, brown, green and even purple dirt.

After marching to the second half of the trading area, an area of ​​low-rise, fairly white-painted bungalows with not many people in them, the three Wrights suddenly heard shrill cries.

First there was a faint female shrill cry for help, then there was the dull sound of fists hitting the fleshy wall, then there was the sharp cry of felines, and finally there were a few men speaking in the dialect of the northern district of the Zine Empire. The sound of curses.

Not long after, a short woman with long messy brown hair, ragged clothes, covered with a little flesh and blood, and wounds flowing with scarlet liquid stumbled toward the fully armed and neatly dressed woman, revealing some of her military power. Three unique and handsome people came running.

"Help, brother of the Legion, Mr. Legion, no no, adults of the Legion, help. You must be members of the Imperial Legion, help!" The woman's voice was hoarse and she begged in fluent Zine Empire dialect.

Before the three of them could react to the "emergency incident," the woman cried and took Wright's hand and hid behind him.

Just as he turned his head to look at the brown-haired woman behind him in confusion, wondering whether she was a lost person, whether she had encountered some kind of misfortune, or whether she had an abnormal purpose.

As a dark figure flashed past, a fist wearing a pure black semi-iron tactical glove, with the sound of whistling wind, struck directly towards his chin.