Wasteland Echoer

"We're here, Luo Nie." Marco's slightly hoarse voice came into his right ear.

After getting rid of the psychedelic haziness and hangover-like drowsiness, Luo Nie took a deep breath, opened the left door, and stepped onto the solid, dry, and warm land.

He wasn't quite sure whether those things were just pure dreams, or whether the magic source power had inadvertently surged into them.

But as his consciousness and thinking gradually returned to consciousness, the residual memory of the "dream" just now quickly disappeared from his brain, as if it had never appeared.

"Where is this?" Luo Nie asked, looking at the bare ground and dry, twisted trees around him, as if carved by a hungover god.

"The base." Thalia and Marco replied in unison.

"Base? But there's nothing here?" Luo Nie looked around in confusion, trying to find some clues from the flat ground inside the field of vision and the slightly raised hills at the edge.

But after a closer look, he gave up.

This vast land without any ice or snow seems to be a plain, similar to the desolate area near the "big railway" in Crusted. There are no trees in sight, and the shadows of animals and plants are very rare.

However, such areas are not deserts. They still have a temperate continental climate, including extremely cold areas with human settlements. As soon as summer comes and the temperature rises, several seasonal rivers will reappear, bringing a rare and brief period of fertility and prosperity.

But something seems wrong here.

Luo Nie finally discovered the clue:

"Spring has only begun in the past two months, and there is still at least one month before summer. Even if the ice and snow here melt, there should be a lot of mud, which will not be so dry. Could it be that you have used some kind of magic source power skill? , or is the sequence monster covering up the base? Or...the entrance to the base? Like the Order of the Lost in the south?"

"Talent." Thalia praised without hesitation and raised her thumb.

"That's right, the Federal Council does not recognize the existence of our 'independent armed forces'. If it weren't for the threats from 'unintentional people' every day, they would be eager to drop those cannonballs on us." Talia explained:

“They have an aerospace force that is capable of patrolling the north, looking for the medium and large bases we have established, and those Lost Ones and ‘Heartless People’ also have ‘strange species’ that have evolved wings, threatening us at all times.

"Your guess is correct. Our base is built underground, just like several other 'independent armed forces'. However, most of our members are humans and weak superpowers. If there are no above-ground buildings at all, how can we survive without them?" It’s impossible to find an exact location on any road, in a wilderness with almost no settlements.”

Marco also stepped forward to add to the popular science of Luo Nie:

"With above-ground buildings, at least our members can better position themselves and find the entrance to the base. After all, we need to go to federal-controlled strongholds or recently abandoned settlements to search for supplies every once in a while. The output of underground agriculture is very limited, and Crops produced by ground agriculture require complex disinfection procedures, making it difficult to guarantee absolute supply.”

"But for the sake of safety, we cannot move the base further south. The Federal Council will not really accept us. The Lost always regard us as a threat."

"Marco." Luo Nie opened his sapphire eyes and stared at the empty area in front of him and asked:

"You have a unique way to see the buildings on the ground, right? I feel some fluctuations in the magic source power. If my experience and knowledge are correct, there should be a protective shield with concealment function here."

"Indeed, so far, your inferences are correct." Marco nodded, leaned close to Luo Jie's ear, and whispered:

"If people like you are not our comrades, then they must not become the lackeys of the Federation. To 'Big Brother', the unwinnable threat needs to be eliminated. I believe in your master, 'The Machine Master', Then maybe 'Big Brother' will take action himself."

After saying that, he touched his beard that was stained by dust and blood, and his blue eyes flashed sharply. While patting Luo Nie's shoulder with his bandaged left hand, he took out the glasses from his pocket and stuffed them into Luo Nie's hand.

"These are glasses independently made by 'Big Brother' himself. The lenses are made of crystals that can be mined everywhere in the north, but they need to be tempered with special emblems and magic potions to be effective." Marco explained to Luo Nie:

"We named this type of glasses the 'Mirror of Enlightenment'. You see, they are more like thicker explorer goggles. Even if they are not used to find the location of the base, they can effectively protect the eyes from wind, sand and dirt. .”

"It's indeed very heavy." Luo Nie weighed the "Mirror of Enlightenment", which was close to a small rectangular brick, and examined it carefully.

Its lens only occupies a small part of it, and the rest is a spliced ​​body of mechanical metal, which is full of a very inconsistent sense of technology brought about by the interweaving of steam civilization and future civilization.

After unzipping the leather strap and putting on his glasses, Luo Nie saw the huge protective cover hiding the building on the ground.

The seemingly empty and flat ground was almost completely covered. I don't know if it was the effect of the glasses or something else. The protective cover took on the shape of a pure blue hemisphere. Only its existence could be glimpsed, and the inside could not be seen through it. any existence.

Immediately afterwards, Marco took Luo and took a few steps forward. Under the bright light emitted by Thalia's metal magic source, the blue protective cover revealed a door-shaped gap that could only accommodate one person.

As blue ripples flashed across his vision, an industrialized settlement finally appeared in front of Luo Nie.

Taking off the "Mirror of Enlightenment", Luo Nie first looked up at the sky. The protective cover was transparent, and its weak power could still be felt, but it didn't seem to exist.

The sun hanging in the bluish sky still radiates bright and warm light without any obstruction.

Following Marco and Thalia across the concrete streets, Ronie looked around.

There are not many ground-level buildings in this settlement. It should only be about the size of two or three blocks in an industrial city like Chekavsk.

From a distance, there are no residential buildings here, only four or five factories with billowing black smoke, two towering military observation towers, an area where trucks, mechanical combat vehicles and other military vehicles are parked, and a military equipment building. Storage point.

The whole place looks very clean and tidy, and has not been washed by the years. There are not many members of the "Wilderness Tourist Group" carrying supplies and patrolling around the streets, but they are all performing their tasks in an orderly manner, which is different from the general independent armed forces that Luo Nie remembers as being chaotically managed.

Entering it, Luo Nie still didn't see any plants. It may be that this time period is really not suitable for them to grow.

The style here is a mix of black, gray and dark white, and the buildings except for the observation deck do not exceed two floors. But overall, compared to the villages and towns controlled by the federation, there are no stains left over from the war and the times, and it is full of the sense of security and solidity brought by the military stronghold of steam civilization.

After passing two temporary checkpoints in succession and sending away the members standing guard, Thalia and Marco took Ronie into an inconspicuous two-story building and took the elevator to the underground.

Boom, boom, boom, boom... Ding!

As the Cagekeeper's elevator door opened, Luo Nie finally felt the strong breath of life.

Under Marco's introduction, Luo Nie learned that this was the underground level of the entire "Wild Tourist Group" base. It was a large square. Standing on the edge and looking around, Luo Nie felt as if he was in a place truly governed by human civilization. city ​​of.

The searchlight on the top continuously radiates light downwards, making the place not as bright as outside, but it doesn't seem to be under a dim dome.

Although the streets here are not tidy and filthy, they are lively enough.

Luo Nie knew that in the desolate ice fields and the wasteland world full of war and killing, bustle meant sobriety, while silence would lead to mania.

These two days are public holidays at the base, and many members who have just returned from missions are spending time with their families or relaxing in the square.

There was a small commercial street not far away. Standing at the junction with the square, Luo Nie found that there were not many shops open.

But fortunately, the majong is small and well-equipped. In addition to a restaurant that prepares oriental dishes, there are also several small shops selling machinery, materials, tools, daily necessities, as well as clothes, shoes and hats, but there are no shops related to the sale of weapons.

However, Marco and Thalia obviously did not intend to let Ronie relax now. They did not enter the commercial street, but walked to the center of the square, where a more than half-built mechanical statue was erected. When they walked below, it was flooded with dim light. The underground passage leads to the living area on the next floor.

After bypassing several residential areas, they finally arrived at the deepest point, the "manager-only dormitory building" where Marco lived.

The residential area in the underground base is slightly different from the above-ground area controlled by the federation. The top of the building here is connected to the top. Walking through it feels like you are on a grid line of planes. The building is very compact and has no three-dimensional sense.

Due to the internal regulations of the "Wilderness Tourist Group", women are not allowed to enter men's residential buildings unless they are couples who have taken an oath of marriage. Therefore, Thalia had to go to the "Comprehensive Management Area" two floors below, leaving Marco to settle down first.

Fortunately, there were not many people in the residential area at this time, only a few scattered ones. After entering the small building and walking into Marco's spacious room, what came into Luo Nie's field of vision was a strange man with slovenly clothes and unshaven beard. middle-aged man.

Next to him is a small dismembered "alien monster" body. Except for the mechanical heart and semi-metallic skeleton placed on the black mechanical table in front of him, the other parts that have been cut into pieces are being held in his hand with a small Flamethrower roasting.

As the "fragrance" of food filled the large room, seeing that the meat was already cooked, the sloppy man started to feast in front of the two of them.

While chewing, a scary "gurgling" sound came out of the throat.