The wind and frost are as sharp as a knife, carrying broken snow and ice flowers. The snow that spread all over the sky was like cotton wool, brushing against the faces that were already numb from the cold, and bit by bit pressing the luggage behind them. There were still the last fifty kilometers to the outpost in Hanzhong, and there was no time for them to rest before arriving.
Sentinels wearing cold-proof clothing walked beside the queue, scanning the vast white wilderness with vigilant eyes and muzzles. The machine gunner sitting on the top of the armored vehicle breathed in the white mist and leaned against the machine gun to pass the time.
They are an army and belong to the Northern United Region.
Standing behind them were the residents of the Northern United Region, the last batch of residents to move from Lanzhou to Hanzhong.
Unlike Wanghai City, winter here lasts for more than a month. Not only because of the latitude, but also because of the radiation clouds stuck in the sky. The accumulation of radioactive dust is like a quilt, but their function is not to retain heat, but to reflect sunlight into space.
Unusually for this year, even for the Northwest, winter started much earlier than usual.
But for the wasteland, abnormality itself is a kind of normality.
People may feel desperate, but they are definitely not surprised.
After harvesting the last batch of mutated fruits, these people had to brave the heavy snow and embark on the journey to Hanzhong. Maybe many people will die here, but if they don't leave, more people may die.
Unlike Wanghai City, there are not many zombie species here, but there are various powerful and cunning alien species entrenched here. And even in winter, they will not sleep when they are hungry, but lurk in dark corners, quietly waiting for a feast of blood.
For example, mutated jackals, they come like a gust of wind, their claws are faster than bullets, and when they leave, they often leave only corpses and broken bones behind. A lone migratory team once encountered them. Although everyone had guns in their hands, no one survived.
These fast and strong creatures would give regular troops a headache even if they encountered them.
In order to reduce the casualties among survivors, the commander of the joint command area ordered to take out precious nuclear fusion cores and artillery shells, and use armored troops to escort the migrating immigrants.
Although they inherited the arms of the pre-war regime, unfortunately, the lack of resources made it difficult for them to resume industrial production. They could only relieve the supply pressure of hundreds of thousands of troops through resource recycling and small workshop production models.
The situation they faced was worse than the Sixth District they faced three years ago. After all, NATO's Marine Corps had never set foot in the northwest of the Huaxia District. There was almost no battlefield here, and there were not many resources worth recycling.
Every bullet from the heavy machine gun is precious to them.
An assault vehicle painted in snow camouflage drove over from behind the team. When the assault vehicle passed by, although the soldiers did not stop, they raised their hands and performed an AC military salute, paying the highest respect to their leader.
In the back of the assault vehicle, a stern-looking man looked at the map without saying a word.
His name is Wei Bian. After Jiang Beihai, he serves as the commander of the joint command area, and his status is probably similar to the marshal of the NAC. Sitting next to him is his assistant, Luo Xugang, deputy commander of the joint command area. This is the last team to go to Hanzhong and the last team of survivors to move from Lanzhou.
When they withdrew, all that was left of the abandoned city were the ruins of the city and the wild beasts roaming the streets. Perhaps a few hundred years later, ivy will emerge from the cracks in the concrete pavement, and buds will emerge from the dead trees. Nature will use its own way to erase the evidence of human existence and dye the earth with its original color -
Savagery, and disorder.
"The snow this year is earlier than in previous years." Luo Xugang, who was sitting in the passenger seat, sighed and shook the almost burned out cigarette butt in the ashtray.
"Yes." Wei Bian said lightly.
"I'm so cold." Glancing at the commander from the corner of his eye, Luo Xugang had just burned out the last trace of nicotine on the cigarette butt and put it out in the ashtray.
"Want me to turn up the air conditioner?"
"No, no need, I have to be cold in another sense." Luo Xugang waved his hand, and took out another cigarette from his pocket with his rough fingers, holding it in his mouth.
"You're overtaxing your health."
As if he heard something funny, Luo Xugang suddenly laughed and blew out a smoke ring, "Fuck your health."
Wei Bian didn't answer, his frowning eyes still stayed on the paper map.
The silence lasted for a long time in the car, and the only sound that could be heard was the sound of wheels running through the snow. Luo Xugang squinted his eyes and silently smoked a cigarette made of mutated tobacco, feeling the spicy taste in his nasal cavity. I don't know since when, only this feeling can give him a sense of fulfillment that he is still alive.
Quite suddenly, Luo Xugang broke the silence.
"time is limited."
However, Wei Bian still had that indifferent expression.
"I know."
"I heard that a force called NAC has emerged in Wanghai City. Its full name seems to be New Pan-Asian Cooperation."
"I've heard about it."
"Those little guys seem to have been sent here by them. Although our missiles can deal with them, they are still a trouble... Do we really want to go to war with them?" Luo Xugang scratched his head.
"kindness."
The carriage fell into silence again.
After a while, it was Luo Xugang holding a cigarette in his mouth who broke the silence.
"To tell you the truth, I really fucking envy you."
When he heard these words, Wei Bian's eyes left the map in his hand for the first time and looked through the car window towards the white wilderness.
There, a sentry spotted a mutated jackal lurking in the snow and immediately raised his rifle. Soon, blood was sprinkled all over the white snow. However, when he took out his dagger and stepped forward to dig out the crystal, three jackals rushed up from the snow...
The gunfire rang out but soon stopped.
The medics carried the dying sentry onto the truck, but after resuscitation failed, he soon lay in a body bag. The corpses of the three jackals were carried onto a truck equipped with an organic conversion furnace. After digging out the subcrystals, they were refined there into a nutrient mixture. The team never stagnated from the beginning to the end, and the citizens who passed by the bloodstains never took their eyes away from the road under their feet for a moment.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Nature has decided who will die and who will live.
"You won't be envious." Wei Bian returned his gaze to the map and said calmly.
…
"Success!"
The cells in the test tube are still alive!
The girls cheered in the laboratory.
When he heard Lin Ling say these words, Jiang Chen didn't know how to describe the excitement in his heart at this moment.
According to Lin Ling, before placing the test tube in the freezer, she dropped 20ml of test solution mixed with human tissue cells into the test tube. After placing the test tube in a special freezing device to simulate a dormant environment, the living cells in the test tube successfully withstood the entropy reduction process when crossing the "gate".
The key to solving the problem of bringing living creatures through time lies in antimatter!
Lin Ling used a lot of mathematical and physical formulas to explain the reason to Jiang Chen. However, Jiang Chen was confused from beginning to end, not understanding what she was saying at all. Even though he repeatedly asked her to explain the principles in layman's language, she just reluctantly patted the whiteboard filled with writing, threw away the marker in her hand, and looked at Jiang Chen with caring eyes.
"give up."
At this time, snowflakes fell outside the window.
"Is it snowing already?" Sun Jiao looked out the window.
"Did it snow at this time in previous years?" Jiang Chen, who was distracted from the topic, also looked out the window.
"It's usually November." Yao Yao whispered.
"It seems that this year's winter is earlier than in previous years." Sun Xiaorou sighed. (.)