After leaving the town, Tianyang could no longer see roads in the normal sense, but the ground was still relatively flat and not difficult to walk on. There were no trees or rocks blocking the way, and it seemed more like a wilderness with no boundaries.
Occasionally they passed tall steel towers that were so corroded that many of them were bent so that the cables that hung from them hung down to the ground.
Yang Kun told Tianyang that these were "electric towers". When the city still existed in the past, such equipment could transmit energy called "electricity" to various places on the island.
These electric towers are like lonely guardians in the darkness. They are already crumbling, but still standing stubbornly, still guarding the wilderness.
There are also some plants in the wilderness that are equally tenacious, and even the natives cannot name them, because these things have mutated. They have strange shapes and distorted appearances, making it impossible to know what their prototypes are.
Although no illegal immigrants have been spotted for the time being, in places where light cannot reach and in depths that the sun cannot sense, it seems that countless unknown things are silently wriggling, emitting a strong sense of malice.
Perhaps because of heading towards the swamp, Tianyang noticed that the further he went, the more humid the air and the ground became. Although it had not yet reached the point of being stuffy, water droplets had already clearly condensed on his clothes.
After walking a little further, trees began to appear. The trees here were quite huge, each one towering up like an electric tower, with lush branches and leaves. Countless vines hung from the trees, some of them tangled together, and some even hung on nearby trees, forming one vine after another that looked like a spider web.
No matter the tree trunks, branches, leaves or vines, there have been some degree of mutation. The branches of the trees here have grown thick, scale-like armor, and the vines are covered with hard thorns like the fangs of wild beasts.
At first, such trees appeared only sporadically, but as the team moved forward, they became more and more numerous and eventually formed a forest.
The team also gradually slowed down their pace. Yang Kun, who was riding on a horse beast, whispered to remind them: "The Rotten Swamp is nearby. From here, it is said that there will be attacks from the Black People at any time. You have to be careful."
Tianyang nodded. In his black fog model, at the edge of the perception area, some figures did appear ready to move.
In addition, after going deep into the woods, Tianyang also discovered that the ground was no longer wet. Every step taken by the horses and beasts here would splash mud.
Finally, they stopped at an artificially built dock. Everyone dismounted. Panda and his companions began to unload supplies and equipment from the horses, while Yang Kun took Tianyang and others to the side to wait.
"The next area is no longer accessible to horses, but don't worry, they will prepare boats and we can row in."
According to the old man's introduction, Tianyang indeed saw that Panda's hunting team were moving boats covered with waterproof cloth and camouflaged with leaves and branches to the dock. Those boats were very small and slender, each with only two seats, and they did not seem to be able to be driven by machines and could only be rowed with oars.
After lowering the boat into the water, the hunting team members took something unknown and smeared it on the outside of the boat. Yang Kun explained: "What they are applying now is a gel extracted from plants. It does not dissolve in water.
Water, but it can emit a special smell. "
"That smell will make the demons in the swamp sleep deeper and won't attack us."
After a busy period, the bearded man waved to Tianyang and others and called out a few words in the local language.
Yang Kun laughed and said, "They are ready, come this way."
The old man then carried a metal box on his back. The box had a pipe connected to a thick gun that looked like a long black box. When he saw Tianyang looking at it, he said, "This is their technology."
"Unlike us who use star element weapons, they are relatively primitive and use live ammunition. The box behind me is a portable power generation device that converts rare earth into electrical energy to drive firearms, allowing them to explode with greater impact force than gunpowder."
"These things don't pollute anything, they're powerful, and they're quiet, but they're too heavy. Luckily I'm an Ascendant, otherwise, it would be really hard to use them at my age."
The old man squinted his eyes and walked towards the dock. Panda put his arm around Yang Kun's shoulder enthusiastically, as if they were communicating.
As Tian Yang walked over, the old man spread his hands and said, "As you can see, these boats have two seats, so you probably have to ride separately."
"If you don't mind sharing a ride with an old man, we can take that one." Yang Kun pointed to a small boat with its bow painted gray and white.
Tianyang also wanted to learn more about this place from him, so he nodded, and then made some arrangements, letting Chiying and Xun ride on the same boat, while Yueguang would team up with Qianhong.
So the six people, including Yang Kun, quickly divided into three boats and sat down. The hunting team was also divided into six boats. The extra Awu stayed at the dock to take care of the horses.
Tianyang sat in the boat, using the oars to gently paddle the black water where suspicious duckweed was floating. The plants floating on the water were dark in color and abnormally thick, secreting a silent, transparent but sticky liquid on their surface. They were connected together and spread on the water surface, like a dark green carpet, extending into the depths of the swamp.
A leather lantern filled with star crystal grass was hung on the bow of each boat. One by one, the boats left the man-made dock and began to sink into the swamp. Here, people no longer talked loudly, but mostly used gestures instead of language.
Panda led the way in front. He gestured for the ships to disperse in order to avoid being caught by the monsters.
Tianyang and the old man followed the instructions and paddled in one direction at the same time, moving the boat to the left and keeping a distance of three or four meters from other boats.
The swamp was very quiet. Trees emerged from the water, their trunks extremely twisted, like evil figures with bared fangs and claws. In the drifting black fog, above everyone's heads, the branches were entangled and intertwined, with thorny vines hanging down.
This means that when traveling through the swamp, one must be extra careful with the vines to avoid getting caught on them.
The old man also said, "Those vines are very evil. Once you scratch them and see blood, they will entangle you madly until they suck you dry and then hang your body on the tree for display, just like that."
He pointed to a patch of vines not far to the left. Under the light, Tianyang saw a pile of mummies hanging there. Only the upper half of the corpses were left, and their bodies were entangled with the vines, revealing pale faces, gray hair, black mouths and yellowed and broken teeth inside.
Soon after, Tianyang saw some buildings, pillars, and facades.
The broken walls were as high above the water as the trees here. When passing a half-collapsed building, Tianyang saw a room half submerged in water through the moss-covered, broken and cracked stone walls.
The table and chairs can still be seen in that room, and the picture frames of various sizes can still be seen hanging on one wall. Unfortunately, those things are either covered with moss, or the photos have long been blurred into an abstract block of color.
But from this room, it is not difficult to feel the atmosphere of life that once existed here.
After the fleet passed several stone pillars, Panda gestured to stop the ships. At this time, Tianyang saw that the stone pillars were tied with strips of khaki cloth, which seemed to be some kind of mark.
"These are the marks made by the hunting team on the areas they have explored. Different colors are used to mark the danger level of the area ahead."
"The khaki color is the sign of the lowest danger. Let me think about it. Awu said that the yellow area in the swamp represents the presence of swamp worms nearby." Yang Kun pulled down a pair of windproof goggles, stood up, began to check the guns, and turned on a switch on the metal box. The box immediately made a slight sound.
The old man has entered combat mode, and so have the others. Even in the lowest level danger zone, they dare not take it lightly.
While Yang Kun was explaining, Tian Yang had already realized that through the model he constructed through the black fog, he had "seen" the vast swamp in front of him, and the water surface began to "boil".
On the water surface, there were worms as thick as fingers. Their skins were slippery, and their lengths ranged from a dozen centimeters to several meters. There were so many of them that they seemed to have sensed the approach of humans. They began to wriggle, which had been motionless, causing bubbles to appear in the black water of the swamp.
Panda made a gesture to the team members behind him, and they took out some bottles and threw them out with force. Panda waved his arms quickly, and Tianyang saw him shoot out several throwing knives, hitting the bottles.
The bottle exploded, spilling a gray powder that fell onto the water and stuck to the wriggling bugs.
At this time, Panda took out a small piece of rare earth, lit it and threw it over.
boom!
In an instant, large flames rose from the swamp in front, and the temperature rose at a visible rate. Even at a distance, Tianyang could still feel the astonishing heat.
You can imagine how high the temperature in the sea of fire is.
The flames came and went quickly, and in just a moment, they were extinguished. In the model constructed by the black fog, large groups of worms had stopped moving, and they were almost all burned.
Only after the fire on the swamp was completely extinguished did Panda make a gesture to continue the action. During the whole process, Tianyang did not move a single finger.
"It can be seen that they are very experienced and have targeted and mature strategies for specific monsters." Tianyang smiled.
The old man then sat down and wiped his forehead. Although he did not make a move, he looked nervous.
He looked at Tianyang and smiled: "I am really old. I get nervous as soon as there is any disturbance."
Then Yang Kun began to row the boat, together with Tian Yang, to catch up with the fleet in front.
At the same time, deep in the darkness, at the bottom of the swamp, a string of bubbles suddenly rose up...