Embers Ad Infinitum

Chapter 14: Black Marsh Wilderness

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It was not until the jeep drove out of the silver-white gate that Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong got used to the light outside, put down their right arms, opened their eyes wide, and looked out the window.

After the initial, indescribable and inexplicable fear, they saw a clear blue sky, white clouds of different shapes, a flock of birds that were changing formations, and a golden light shimmering in the sun. mountain wall.

"The sun... the sun!" Long Yuehong shouted at the huge orange-yellow fireball high in the sky.

He stared there, even though his eyes were stinging and tears were shed, he couldn't bear to look away.

"Don't look directly at the sun in this state, it hurts your eyes! If you really want to, here it is." While driving, Jiang Baimian rummaged through the armrest to find an item and handed it to Long Yuehong.

Long Yuehong, who was lying on the glass window, looked back and found that it was a pair of glasses with all black lenses.

"... Sunglasses!" He recalled what he had learned and found the corresponding noun.

"If you don't wear it, I will wear it." At this time, Shang Jianyao turned around and said.

Long Yuehong looked over and found that Shang Jianyao's eyes were red, as if tears would shed at any moment.

"Haha, are you staring at the sun too?" Long Yuehong laughed unbearably.

The next second, he saw Shang Jianyao grab the sunglasses and put them on the bridge of his nose.

"Hey..." He didn't know whether to be angry or reflect.

"There's another pair here." When Long Yuehong was about to pounce on Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, who was in the passenger seat, handed over a pair of sunglasses.

These sunglasses are more delicate than Jiang Baimian's pair, like two "hearts" strung together. The color of the lenses is not pure black, but a little rose red.

"Don't break it, I spent a lot of money in exchange for it." Bai Chen warned.

"Thank you." Long Yuehong sincerely thanked and put on the pair of sunglasses.

With this "equipment", he can finally look at the sun seriously and carefully and compare how it differs from the slideshow.

"This is the sun..." After some time, Long Yuehong sighed with emotion, took off her sunglasses, and returned them to Bai Chen.

Shang Jianyao also retracted his gaze, and thoughtfully put Jiang Baimian's sunglasses back in the armrest box.

"What are you thinking?" Long Yuehong glanced at her friend.

Shang Jianyao replied with a serious expression:

"I was wondering, where can I get sunglasses?"

People in the underground building don't need this thing at all, only a few project teams will use it, so neither the "material supply market" nor the small market in the "activity center" on the 495th floor, this thing has never appeared.

Jiang Baimian, who was driving, exhaled:

"I knew your focus was wrong."

Bai Chen smiled and said:

"When you pass by the place where the wanderers live in the wilderness, you can go in and have a look. Maybe a compressed biscuit can be replaced with a good pair of sunglasses."

"That's how I got mine!" Jiang Baimian echoed, "Why do you exchange a lot of things for yours?"

"I got it from a female relic hunter. At that time, she thought it was very beautiful, she wanted to use it herself, and there was no shortage of supplies." Bai Chen recalled the original situation.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong didn't listen carefully, and they both lay on their respective car windows, staring at the scene outside.

Whether it's the huge trees on the sides or the brown squirrels that run by by chance, they can all make them look at it with relish and exclaim in admiration.

"This is not the same as the dust environment I imagined..." After a long time, Long Yuehong sat upright and sighed.

"What do you imagine?" Jiang Baimian asked casually while letting the jeep jump on the bumpy road.

Long Yuehong tries hard to find adjectives:

"It's, it's..."

Shang Jianyao turned his head and helped him describe:

"Dim, cold, damp, oppressive, the sky is dusty, the sun can't penetrate the dark clouds, and it's gray everywhere."

"That's right! That's it!" Long Yuehong agreed completely.

Their textbooks did not describe the environment of the ash soil in detail, but only talked about the state, pollution, disease, and famine, which naturally gave them the impression that the environment on the ash soil was bad.

And those employees who have been to the surface, because of confidentiality regulations, can not say much, even if they occasionally mention that some places are sunny and the environment is good, they will be subconsciously ignored by the audience.

Jiang Baimian pressed his elbows on the steering wheel, looked ahead, and said with a smile:

"Maybe it was like that when the old world was destroyed, but it got better soon, and it's still in a similar state in some places."

"And that also means danger, it means pollution, disease and distortion." Bai Chen added beside him.

"That's it..." Long Yuehong pressed her face to the car window again, admiring the beautiful scenery of the mountains and forests bathed in sunlight.

The same is true for Shang Jian Yao.

Jiang Baimian saw this scene through the rearview mirror, laughed secretly, and pressed a button.

In the sound of beep, the glass windows on the four doors slammed down.

Long Yuehong was startled and straightened up:

"It, it...

"Can you put it away like this?"

"Let you all breathe the air outside." Jiang Baimian pretended that he was not playing a prank just now.

Shang Jianyao's posture has not changed in the slightest, and he seems to be enjoying the feeling of the glass window sliding across his face, which looks rather funny.

He then narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"How is it?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.

Shang Jianyao looked outside seriously:

"It smells of fresh shit."

"..." Jiang Baimian admitted that Shang Jianyao had a keen sense of smell, but did not want to pay attention to him.

Bai Chen, who watched the whole process of Jiang Baimian opening the car window, interjected thoughtfully:

"Team leader, what year were you born?"

"The 23rd year of the new calendar, what's wrong?" Jiang Baimian replied casually.

"You are three years younger than me..." Bai Chen was a little shocked.

Long Yuehong was even more surprised:

"Team leader, are you only two years older than us

"You're already D6!"

"This is the advantage of working in the security department. The danger is danger, and the promotion is really fast. After all, your boss, such as me, will die at some point." Jiang Baimian made a joke.

She paused, then added casually:

"Also, I've made some contributions before.

"Ah, I forgot to remind you that it is important to observe the color of the air, and sometimes you must put on a gas mask in advance."

For the next half hour, the jeep stumbled through the mountains and forests. Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong were still like children, watching the scenery outside intently, curious about everything.

Seeing that the soil in front was gradually turning black, the surrounding trees began to sparse, and the road was no longer rugged, Long Yuehong suddenly frowned slightly and said:

"I always feel that the outside environment is not right, something is missing..."

Shang Jianyao has sat up straight, and said in a deep but not low voice:

"nobody."

Nobody... Right! Long Yuehong slapped her thigh and said:

"Yeah, except for people in a few outposts along the way, no humans have ever appeared!"

And the people in the post are undoubtedly employees of the company.

"The people nearby were either absorbed by the company, or wandered to places where there was food, or..." Jiang Baimian said, "When you pass the outpost in front and really enter the black marsh wilderness, you will have a chance to meet humans. ."

"But that's not necessarily what you want..." Bai Chen added in a low voice without looking back.

"What did you say?" Jiang Baimian asked sideways.

"Team leader, concentrate on driving!" Bai Chen restrained his emotions and shouted with a smile.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong fell silent, looking at the increasingly open scene outside the window from time to time.

After an unknown time, Long Yuehong suddenly asked:

"Team leader, I haven't told my family to go out for training, and I won't be going home soon, what should I do?"

"Someone will be notified from above." Jiang Baimian looked at the road ahead and gently pulled the steering wheel.

Long Yuehong closed her mouth.

Inside the jeep, there was another long silence.

After passing the edge outpost of "Pangu Creature", the terrain ahead became more and more flat.

The soil here is gray-black and relatively soft, with various traces criss-crossed clearly on it, some belong to wheels, some come from animals, and some originate from humans.

The trees around the road are more sparse, and one can see the black swamp in the distance.

The trunks of these trees are all black, and the leaves are dark green. Some of them are tall, about 20 to 30 meters tall, and some are very low, about the height of a person. The common point is that their posture is twisted and strange, like a dead monster. , looks dark under the sun.

"At the edge of the big swamp, you don't need to be too careful. After you go deep, you must slow down and always pay attention to whether the road ahead has been swallowed by the swamp. If you do drive in, then resolutely abandon the car and retreat." Bai Chen took the opportunity to give a lecture, "Team leader, there is a clean water source over there."

Jiang Baimian nodded:

"Okay, take a rest over there and add some water.

"Then, while the terrain is open, it's not dangerous, change businessmen, see Yao and Long Yuehong.

"Hope you can learn it today."

She turned the steering wheel and let the Jeep steer into a sparse woodland in the wilderness.

An underground river drilled out of the surface here, flowed several hundred meters, and returned to the ground.

Jiang Baimian took the solar charging panel mounted on the top of the jeep and the hot water bottle with a large capacity, walked to the river, and said to Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong:

"This kind of flowing groundwater is generally not a problem, but there are two things to watch.

"One is whether the nearby plants have obvious distortions, and the other is whether the creatures in the water appear strange compared to their counterparts.

"Then, if possible, boil it and put it in the water bladder. If it doesn't work, put a 'biological cleaning tablet'."

After observing for a while, Jiang Baimian squatted by the river and filled a pot of water.

She then placed the kettle on the charged solar pad and plugged it in.

During this process, she took out a milky white plastic bottle, poured a white tablet the size of a pinky fingernail from it, and threw it into the water.

This is the "biological cleaning tablet" special product of "Pangu Biology".

Long Yuehong watched with interest from the side, as if she wanted to try it herself.

For him, who needs to go to the "material supply market" to get hot water every day, this kind of thing is quite new - his family has a relatively large population, the children's energy ration is limited, and the hot water bottle is not cheap, so he can only use it. Put on the thermos and go to the hot water room that supplies the market to turn on the water.

After Jiang Baimian finished his work, he stood up, glanced at Long Yuehong, and scolded with a smile:

"What you should do at this time is to take out the 'ice moss' to prevent any creatures from attacking us or robbing us of supplies.

"It goes without saying that Bai Chen is very sophisticated. You see, Shang Jianyao is also on guard around him."

Shang Jianyao, who pulled out the "Ice Moss" pistol and looked at the "source" of the river, suddenly said:

"Team leader, someone flashes over there!"