27
Lin Fan stood on the top of the bell tower, raised his gloved left hand in the air, and stood motionless for a long time.
When he took his hands back, the gloves were already covered with black and gray residue.
He took off his gloves and put them in a bag. After returning to the room in the bell tower, he closed the doors and windows, opened the bag again, took out the gloves, put them under his nose and smelled them carefully.
It was a very faint scent, and it was difficult for ordinary people to notice it, not to mention in a strong wind, even in a confined space.
This is the smell of ashes.
The sound of the captain's footsteps came from the stairs. Lin Fan shook his gloves and put them back in his pocket.
"Do you have time?" the team leader asked while standing outside the door.
"Yes," Lin Fan walked to the door, "What is it?"
"I'm going to the basement," the captain said, "you come with me."
Lin Fan stood there without moving.
"We're just looking around," the team leader said. "Recently, travelers on patrol have discovered something unusual several times, and they can't tell if it's the natives or the previous experimental subject."
"Where is Li Xiang?" Lin Fan asked.
"You are my deputy." The captain said, turned and walked down the stairs.
Lin Fan followed the leader silently, walking forward, passing through several shelters, following a string of dimly lit lanterns, all the way to the end of the road, then into the metal cemetery, walking through the shadows of various strangely shaped wastes.
The further you go outside, the stronger the wind becomes.
In addition to the sound of the wind and the occasional noise of debris colliding in the wind, I began to hear some faint sounds that seemed to be out of this world.
It was like a chaotic dream talk, or a trance laugh, and occasionally it sounded like the gentle scraping of a sharp object across the ground...
The wind in Tongue Bay is stronger than anywhere else, but it still can't blow through the darkness that covers the sky.
"You haven't been here for a long time, right?" the leader asked as they walked along the edge of the darkness.
"It's been a long time." Lin Fan said.
"You should come and check more often during this period," the team leader said. "We don't know when the car will arrive, so nothing can happen before we find Ning Gu."
"What to do after finding Ning Gu?" Lin Fan asked.
The captain turned and looked at him.
"You promised to keep Ning Valley safe." Lin Fan said.
The leader stared at him and said, "It was you who asked him to go back to the main city. Why are you telling me this now?"
"It may not be me who asked him to go," Lin Fan said, "but it's better to go earlier than later. I still stick to my original opinion. Don't hide it. Give him the opportunity to choose for himself."
"Then he will choose to seek death!" The captain glared at him.
Suddenly, a broken guttural sound came from the darkness on the right. It didn't sound like it came from the throat, but more like the vibration of a cavity in the body.
The head of the group made a cautious gesture.
Neither of them spoke or moved, carefully trying to identify the direction from which the sound came.
Then they attacked at the same time. The captain's attack caused the black fog to spin chaotically in the wind. Lin Fan leaned over and swung his hand violently, aiming at the target in the black fog and hitting a mass of something without even making the thing make any sound.
After all the noises around died down, the team leader walked over.
A grayish-white humanoid creature on the ground had begun to rot in just a few tens of seconds, its skin slowly separating from its skeleton and turning into black fragments that were quickly blown away by the wind.
Then the skeleton began to dissipate little by little.
After a few minutes, there was no trace left on the ground.
"It has been polluted." Lin Fan squatted down to take a look. "This is no longer a native. It has the self-destruct gene."
The captain didn't say anything, but just glanced into the depths of the black fog.
“We can’t let the main city send any more things over here.” Lin Fan said.
"No need." said the captain.
Lin Fan turned and looked at him.
"Do your own thing," the team leader turned around and walked back, "Don't stay in your room all day, come out and see the world, step by step, and see where you are going."
"No matter where we go, it's inevitable." Lin Fan stood up.
"There is no such thing as inevitability," the group leader said. "All inevitability is something we strive for ourselves."
"Are you hungry?" Ning Gu asked.
"Hungry." Lian Chuan replied.
"Then how can you just sit there like this?" Ning Gu looked at him.
"I feel hungrier if I move," Lian Chuan said.
"No," Ning Gu was a little speechless, "Go out and find something to eat!"
"Robbery? Or stealing?" Lian Chuan asked.
"Who cares?" Ning Gu stood up, hunched over. "At least change the hole? I can't even stand straight in this hole!"
There was no point in changing the hole. After entering, Lian Chuan still sat there like a robot with power turned off, and Ning Gu walked out of the second hole.
"I want to eat," he announced, standing at the entrance of the cave.
"Are you okay?" Lian Chuan asked.
Ning Gu was in a low mood until he announced that he was hungry.
"You have to eat whether you are well or not," Ning Gu said, "When I was in the ghost town, I was hung on the bell tower for several days, but I still ate without skipping a meal."
"How to eat it?" Lian Chuan asked.
"I need someone to throw the nails up for me," Ning Gu picked a random road and walked forward. It didn't matter now. He had already met the owner of Lost Valley. Even the leader might become a conspirator. "Travelers are not as useless as the people in the main city."
"The person you were with last time?" Lian Chuan asked.
"That's Hammer, the nail's brother," Ning Gu said, "I have a good relationship with him, but not as good as the nail. When I ran away this time, the nail cried..."
Ning Gu stopped halfway through his speech and did not continue.
After walking in silence for a while, he turned his head and glanced at Lian Chuan: "Have you ever cried?"
"No." Lian Chuan replied.
"It hurts so much," Ning Gu said, "Didn't you cry when you were that young?"
"No," Lian Chuan paused, "If you show weakness, you will die."
Ning Gu stopped and looked at him: "I understand."
Lianchuan continued to move forward.
"That person asked if the mental power could be lowered any further, and the other person said no, because the pain had reached a critical point," Ning Gu chased after him. "They used pain to lower your mental power, right? It was too strong and the experimental subjects couldn't bear it."
Lian Chuan said nothing.
"But you can't keep increasing the pain," Ning Gu said, "because if you refuse to show weakness, you might explode if it exceeds the critical point."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan finally responded.
"What is the critical point?" Ning Gu asked.
Lian Chuan felt a little unbelievable: "Didn't you already say it?"
"Oh," Ning Gu was a little confused, "Oh?"
The conversation did not go on. After walking for a while, people began to appear, bats, homeless people, wandering around aimlessly.
When passing by a small trading hall, Lian Chuan was just about to see if there was any food to exchange, but Ning Gu touched his arm and stopped.
"Is that a painting?" Ning Gu pointed at a pile of things on the ground.
Lian Chuan looked over and saw a piece of paper with some colorful lines on it under the messy pile of junk.
"That is..." Before Lian Chuan could finish his words, Ning Gu had already bent down, pushed everything aside, and picked up the piece of paper.
They are just a few random lines drawn with a colored pencil.
Ning Gu threw the paper back in disappointment.
"What kind of painting do you want?" Lian Chuan asked.
"A real painting," Ning Gu said, "has colors, and you can tell what it is... not just a bunch of random lines..."
"It won't exist in the Lost Valley." Lian Chuan said.
"Why?" Ning Gu frowned.
"That's the privilege of the main city, just like plants and animals," Lian Chuan said.
"Shameless." Ning Gu was a little angry, "A painting also needs privileges."
"Because no one knows how to draw anymore," said Lian Chuan.
Ning Gu was very disappointed, and the more disappointed he was, the hungrier he became.
"Over there," Lian Chuan suddenly looked towards a tunnel, "there's a tavern."
"Do you want to drink?" Ning Gu saw a big liquor sign, "I don't want to drink, it's too hard to drink, sweet water is okay."
"There's food in the pub." Lian Chuan walked over there.
"Do you have universal currency?" Ning Gu asked, "Didn't you say you didn't have any? You actually lied to me?"
"No." Lian Chuan said.
"Rob?" Ning Gu immediately became interested, and his depressed mood finally improved a little.
Lian Chuan didn't answer and walked straight into the pub.
Although Lian Chuan did not say how to rob, Ning Gu was quite experienced in robbing things. As long as Lian Chuan's speed could keep up, they would be invincible in robbing things in the Lost Valley.
"Is there anything to eat?" Lian Chuan stood in front of the bar.
This tavern was not as classy as the one where the poet met me before. The waiter was dressed like an ordinary bat, and the metal pieces on his face were a little rusty.
"Do you want rationed food or Lost Valley special?" asked the waiter.
"Ration, two portions." Lian Chuan said.
"Ten universal coins." The waiter looked at them.
"No." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu, who was standing at the back, almost wanted to throw Lian Chuan out of the tavern. He hadn't even taken out the thing yet and he had already told people he couldn't afford it, so how could he snatch it away
They will be kicked out in the next second!
What kind of hyena is this? His brain is not as solid as that of Jiuyi.
"Go tell Jiu Yi we're here," Lian Chuan said, "and he'll give you a reward."
The waiter stared at the two of them for ten seconds, turned around, took out two rations from the back, threw them in front of them, and then gestured behind them.
A bunch of bats appeared out of nowhere in the tavern, closed the door, and surrounded them.
"Okay," Ning Gu nodded, "Your way of robbing is more impressive. Call everyone here first and then rob."
"Eat." Lian Chuan took a ration and opened it.
The familiar forms of the food did not move him at all. Instead, thinking about those things day after day made him feel desperate.
"It's quite delicious," Ning Gu took a bite of it and said, "Let's go. The Nine Wings will really come soon. They are familiar with the road, and the Black Ring is very fast. It will be troublesome to fight them."
"Wait for Jiuyi to come." Lianchuan said.
"Forget it," Ning Gu said, "Don't go too far. It's enough to be bullied by Jiu Yi once."
"If you want to go out, you have to let him lead the way so that he knows which exit is safe to go out from." Lian Chuan said.
There was a flash of orange light in Li Liang's sight. It was the patrol team's weapon.
"Why is the patrol here?" He sent his coordinates.
The cleanup team received an order from Lei Yu, and personnel were deployed at several exits of the Lost Valley in the main city and at the Black Iron Wasteland passages. They took turns on duty during non-mission hours, and if Lian Chuan appeared, they had to be discovered as soon as possible.
But now the patrol team also appeared near the exit.
"Report the situation at all locations," Long Biao's voice came out, "The patrol team will not be in Area D at this time."
Several groups soon responded. Not only the patrol team, but also the city guards appeared near their ambush points.
"What do you mean?" Luo Pan asked, "Are you trying to rob people?"
Everyone knew that if Lian Chuan came out alone, it would mean that his mission had failed. Lian Chuan, who had never failed before, would fail in such a mission. No one could imagine the consequences.
Although the cleanup team has always been unpopular, and even the members themselves are not necessarily convinced of each other, protecting their teammates is a commandment they have kept in mind since the day they joined the cleanup team. This is also the reason why they can complete various dangerous mission targets.
They need to see Lianchuan as soon as possible. If Lianchuan's mission fails, they want to try their best to save their teammates if possible.
"That's too much," Jiang Xiaogan said, "Lian Chuan is a member of the cleanup team. No matter what the mission is, shouldn't he report it to the cleanup team first before taking any action?"
"Where is the cat?" Long Biao asked. "Lian Chuan and the cat have a communication device as a backup."
"How do you know?" Li Liang asked.
"What's there to not know?" Long Biao said unhappily, "Is he very profound? It's just a little trick."
"Go find the boss," Li Liang said, "and have him notify Lianchuan immediately that there are city guards and patrols outside."