76
"Minister Chen, please leave the underground immediately," the subordinate pushed open the door of Chen Fei's office without knocking, "The temperature is already very high, there may be a crack under the City Affairs Hall."
Chen Fei stood up without saying anything and asked, "Where is Consul General Su?"
"We have sent someone there," the subordinate replied, "and will transfer him to the A-zone camp of Guangthorn."
"Have all the equipment and supplies been moved?" Chen Fei put on his coat and walked quickly outside the office towards the ground part of the City Affairs Office. "Take away the spare parts as well."
"Everything in the City Affairs Office's warehouse is under our control and is being transferred," the men followed him, "but the surveillance is out of order now, so we can't receive any movement from Liu Dong in the first place."
"Leave after the transfer," Chen Fei said, "Don't conflict with them. Preserve your strength and avoid internal friction."
The men said nothing.
Fade Chen glanced at him and asked, "What's wrong?"
"Under the current situation," the subordinate whispered, "will there be another foreign war?"
Chen Fei glanced out the window. The entire main city was surrounded by flames and thick smoke. He couldn't tell which was fog and which was smoke. The only thing that was clearly visible was the dewdrops hanging above.
The parking lot of the City Affairs Office was already in ruins, with all kinds of debris flying from nowhere scattered all over the ground. A car parked on the side saw Chen Fei coming and quickly opened the door.
"There's a bit of a mess in the camp," Captain Li of the city guards, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around to report to him, "Let's go around to..."
"What's the trouble?" Fade Chen asked after sitting down.
"The residents we received requested that supplies be given equally to all," said Captain Li. "Before, we had always reduced the number of injured, sick and children by half."
"When it comes to fighting and working, can the wounded and children do the same as others?" Chen Fei said, "Why didn't you say that we should be treated equally when we were stationed? You're still thinking about this nonsense at a time like this... Go to the camp, there's no need to go anywhere else."
Captain Li pressed the intercom: "They are clamoring to bring General Su out now."
"Send Commander Su to the safe house," Chen Fei said, "What's the point of him coming out? I'll go meet these people later."
"I'm afraid it's not safe." The subordinate said immediately.
"We need to let these people know that survival is no longer a certainty. Anyone who talks about fairness, justice, and rights and benefits should be sent out of Area A," Chen Fei said. "Also, we will open the restricted entrance to Area B and allow unarmed and healthy adult refugees to enter, but they will be strictly screened and those with no criminal records in the system will be given priority."
"Minister Chen?" Captain Li was a little surprised.
"We need people," Chen Fei said. "If destruction is inevitable, keep these people alive until the end. If there is still hope, what we need in the future are people who can produce and manufacture, rather than guarding a bunch of living weapons."
"They can rob." Captain Li sighed.
"Let's see how many people they can survive Luzhu's hands," Chen Fei said, "Ez has thousands of troops, but in the end, they can only be scrapped."
The car left the parking lot and drove towards the campsite.
Area A is relatively peaceful. Although there are no people on the streets, the buildings are basically kept the same, and it seems more hopeful than other places in the main city.
But when I walked through this street, the sadness and despair in my heart did not diminish even though the buildings were intact.
Perhaps these buildings will remain in this state after destruction.
What is recorded is the last scene of the lifeless world.
There was a loud bang from the side, the car shook a bit, and the driver steadied the car.
"The cracks are increasing," the subordinate said, "After the main crack broke through the city boundary, it has been branching continuously."
"This is going to cut the main city into small pieces," Chen Fei said softly, looking at the impenetrable sky outside, "What on earth is controlling all this?"
Another explosion was heard from the direction of the City Affairs Hall behind him.
The sound was not coming from the crack.
Fade Chen turned his head quickly.
"What's going on?" The men immediately began to contact the city guards who were transferring equipment at the City Affairs Hall.
After a few seconds, he turned his head and looked at Fade Chen: "Lian Chuan broke into the back building of the City Affairs Office and went to the basement."
"He's looking for equipment." Fade Chen frowned. "He's alone?"
"And that traveler, Ning Gu," the subordinate said, "Ning Gu's ability was too strong, so we couldn't stop him."
Before Chen Fei could say anything, Captain Li's intercom rang. He simply hummed a few times and turned his head: "The cleanup team and the travelers have occupied eight bridges in the southern part of the city... Why are they occupying the bridges at this time? The cars from the ghost town haven't come yet..."
"They want to rob the construction vehicle," Chen Fei reacted immediately and waved his hand, "Turn around and go back to the City Affairs Office."
"Go back?" Captain Li was stunned. "It's too dangerous!"
"There's no place safer than there," Chen Fei said, "I want to see Lian Chuan later."
"The temperature down here is also quite high," Ning Gu touched the walls on both sides of the basement passage, "There are cracks either underneath or beside it."
"Hmm," Lian Chuan also touched the wall, "There's an energy depot in front. I guess everything has been packed and moved. We'll find as much as we can."
"We can rush to the camp in area A and rob it." Ning Gu said.
"There are spares on the engineering vehicle," Lian Chuan said, "We can remove some of them to be used by the cleanup team for a while. We'll see what happens next."
"Yeah." Ning Gu patted the big bag on his back, "Anyway, I just wanted two sets of clothes at first."
Most of the warehouses were empty, even the office supply warehouse was mostly empty. Walking between several warehouses, there was debris everywhere and dead silence everywhere, giving me the illusion of post-apocalyptic life.
A rustling sound came from the loudspeaker in the corridor.
Lian Chuan and Ning Gu stopped.
"Lian Chuan," Chen Fei's voice came from the loudspeaker, "I am Chen Fei. I am going into the warehouse alone now. Let's talk."
"What does he want to do!" Ning Gu lowered his voice. He had no good feelings towards any leader of the main city.
"He probably knows about the cleanup team and the travelers trying to steal the construction vehicle," Lian Chuan walked into a nearby warehouse and looked at a communicator hanging on the wall. "It could be a threat, or it could be cooperation."
"Cooperation?" Ning Gu frowned.
"Liu Dong and Xiao Lin have teamed up, and he is now isolated," Lian Chuan said, "General Su... has probably given up. If he doesn't want to give up in the end, he can only come to us."
"Let him give up." Ning Gu was disdainful.
"Warehouse No. 3." Lian Chuan pressed the intercom.
Ning Gu looked at him and said, "Aren't you afraid that he will hurt you again? I won't let such a person live even a day in the ghost town."
"We need supplies," Lian Chuan said, "and all kinds of things in the main city database, maps, entrances to passages, all information. We can't get close to Area A, so we need someone to work with us from the inside and outside."
"I understand the logic," Ning Gu turned his head away, "I just feel unhappy."
"I'm unhappy too." Lian Chuan said.
Chen Fei walked into Warehouse No. 3 alone, without any weapons or even a walkie-talkie.
Lian Chuan looked at him and said nothing.
"What equipment are you looking for?" Chen Fei asked.
Lian Chuan kicked the protective clothing box at his feet.
"Do you need anything else?" Chen Fei said, "I don't have much on hand. Most of the equipment is in the Internal Defense Department, and the City Affairs Department has a small stock."
Lian Chuan still didn't speak.
"Okay, I'll be frank," Chen Fei nodded, "I know what you want the construction vehicle for. What are your plans for the next step? I can help you."
"What do you want?" Lian Chuan asked.
"If possible, a powerful new main city." Chen Fei said.
"It's impossible." Lian Chuan asked again.
"Then there's nothing to think about," Chen Fei said, "I'm not like Liu Dong. Even if he's the only one left alive, he'd do it at all costs. I don't want to be a god."
"Communications, weapons, energy, and equipment," Lian Chuan said, "the cleanup team needs these."
"Okay," Chen Fei said, "Anything else?"
"I want a three-dimensional map of the main city including the Black Iron Wasteland, a detailed distribution map of the molten fire pipes, and the interface locations." Lian Chuan said.
Fade Chen looked at him and was silent for a while: "Okay."
"Remove the limiter." Lian Chuan said.
"We need a laboratory environment," Chen Fei said, "I can give you authorization and let Chun San come back to operate it."
"Then don't worry about it," Lianchuan said, "disperse the ez that you can control and place them near the cracks."
"Is there anything special about the crack?" Chen Fei said.
"Not sure yet." Lian Chuan replied.
After a long while, Fade Chen nodded: "Okay."
Lian Chuan had never seen a complete 3D map of the main city. Every time he went deep underground, whether it was the Internal Defense Department of the City Affairs Office or the Training Department, he could only rely on his own judgment to remember the general idea.
The map that Chen Fei gave to Lian Chuan was drawn by the system, the most complete map, which neither Chun San nor Lei Yu had seen. The map included part of the Black Iron Wasteland around the main city, but not all of it, so the boundary of the main city was unknown, just like the ghost town.
There are more people in the cleanup team's headquarters tent than usual. This map information may be helpful to them when the scavengers launch an attack, so the team leader and Li Xiang also gathered in the tent.
The map was a three-dimensional image projected from a small storage device. While waiting to be loaded, no one spoke.
The map is displayed bit by bit from top to bottom. The golden part is the ground building, the blue part is the underground building, and the red part marks the molten fire pipes and the former molten fire layer.
Lian Chuan noticed that the part of the core area of the main city that went deep underground was much deeper than he had previously judged, while other parts of the main city were not completely solid underneath.
Deeper inside some underground buildings, there are huge hollows with no entrances or exits marked.
"Where are these places?" Lei Yu stretched out his hand and gently touched the projection in the air, and the map slowly rotated.
"It looks like a naturally formed bubble cavity," Chun San walked to the front of the map, "like the Lost Valley, which is suspended in mid-air."
The Lost Valley, which is as complex as a tangled nest, is actually in a huge cave. Except for the exit on the ground, there is no place connected to the cave wall on all sides.
Lian Chuan remembered the map of the Lost Valley.
Although Jiuyi might not tell them who left the map to him, they can almost guess now that it was left by Sun Yi.
Why did Sun Yi leave a map of the Lost Valley for Jiuyi
And it seems that the part of Lost Valley on the map in front of us is far less detailed than the Lost Valley itself.
"I discovered," the team leader began, "if you look at the map this way... Lost Valley is the center of the entire map. I always thought that Area A in the main city was the center."
"Indeed," Chun took a few steps back and looked at the map. "Like a bearing, if the Lost Valley is indeed what is left of the previous main city, what is the meaning of its existence?"
"If the main city is destroyed and the entrances to Lost Valley are disconnected from the main city," Li Xiang said, "will it mean that the people inside can survive?"
"That's possible, but what about the people inside?" Chun San looked at him, "There are no people from the previous main city in Lost Valley."
"Conscious." Lian Chuan said.
Chun San looked at him: "Consciousness?"
"According to E, a poet is a container that constantly absorbs consciousness," Lian Chuan said.
"What about consciousness?" Ning Gu asked.
"No one knows when the main city began. The first person, the first building, the first technology, the first step of development, was it a person or consciousness?" Lian Chuan said, "The main city has no starting point, like a book. Once you turn a page, no one can see the previous page. And this page has no beginning and no end."
As they walked out of the tent, Ning Gu followed behind Lian Chuan and whispered, "According to Ye Xi, destruction means disappearance."
"Yeah." Lian Chuan nodded.
"If it was like his world, stopped at the last second," Ning Gu said, "it would be like turning over the pages of a book, which no one would ever see again. A new page would start again... Where would it start? Would it still be here?"
"This place no longer exists," Lian Chuan said.
"Do you think the end of the world will be the next page?" Ning Gu said.
"Maybe it's the previous page." Lian Chuan said.
"Who cares? I can't read anyway." Ning Gu waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Go to Lost Valley." Lianchuan said.
"Looking for Jiuyi?" Ning Gu asked.
"I saw on the map that Lost Valley has no connection to the main city except for the entrance and exit," Lian Chuan said, "but on Jiuyi's map, are there any passages that continue to extend along the edge? Where do those passages lead to? Will they be like cracks? Can they lead to the other side?"
"Will Jiuyi tell me..." Ning Gu felt depressed when he thought of the new Jiuyi in Lost Valley, "What if he turns back into the madman who would rather live than be destroyed..."
As I reached the entrance, a strong light suddenly appeared in the direction of the main city behind me.
The light instantly turned the surroundings white, and even the shadows of the two people on the ground were almost invisible.
When Ning Gu turned around, everything in his sight was white and a blurry shadow.
After a few seconds, the strong light slowly disappeared, and the surrounding objects gradually reappeared in sight.
"What's going on!" The crowd around was a little confused.
"It's dewdrops." Lian Chuan said.
Ning Gu looked towards the sky above the main city and saw that the dewdrops had changed.
A circle of small bubbles appeared around the huge bubble, arranged one by one like a necklace.
"Prepare for battle." The leader gave orders to the travelers.
The order was carried all the way along with the traveler's howl.
Then all the members of the cleanup team were in place, with a blue light behind them. Although Chen Fei agreed to establish communications and provide energy supplies and weapons to the cleanup team, it was impossible for them to be in place in such a short time. If a battle was fought, the cleanup team's military strength would probably be exhausted after this time.
"Where is the traveler closest to the dewdrops?" Lian Chuan asked the team leader.
"Entrance B3 of Area C," the team leader said, "Li Xiang is there. I'll be there soon."
"Let's go first." Lian Chuan pulled Ning Gu and rushed out.
Travelers are a group full of uncertainty. When the leader is not around and a sudden battle appears, they might rush out to die just for the sake of "cool"...
Ning Gu's ears were filled with the sound of wind, mixed with the buzzing sound of raging flames. All he could see under his feet were ruins. The main city that he had once envied was now almost completely destroyed.
Lian Chuan was moving very fast. After a while, he could see many travelers running towards the direction of the dew.
The necklaces around Dewdrop suddenly exploded when they rushed over the border of Area C.
The orange light emitted from the small bubbles made Lian Chuan stop suddenly and land on the rooftop of a dilapidated building.
"This light..." Ning Gu looked ahead in shock.
"This is the light of the patrol team's weapons." Lian Chuan, who could remain calm in the face of any situation, sounded surprised.
"The patrol team went in? What does Dew have to do with them?" Ning Gu felt like he couldn't think straight.
Then the small bubbles exploded again, and a series of shots emitted red light.
"Dew is replicating," Lian Chuan kicked his legs hard and rushed out again, "Tell the traveler not to attack yet! I don't know if Dew can replicate abilities..."
Ning Gu let out a high-pitched whistle, and then heard a response.
Lian Chuan turned his head and glanced at him.
"What's wrong?" Ning Gu asked.
"You scared me." Lian Chuan said.
"Find cover!" Li Xiang shouted, "Don't reveal your abilities!"
The travelers around him quickly dispersed and disappeared among the various ruins.
"What's in the bubbles?" Sister Qi leaned against the wall next to him and poked her head out to look over there. "Isn't it the bubbles that are attacking? Is it the main city that is attacking? What does replication mean?"
"From what I've seen..." Li Xiang glanced at her, "The troops that came out of the bubbles are the same as those in the main city. The bubbles copied the troops in the main city."
"What are those?" Liu Dong suddenly jumped up from in front of the screen and pointed at the images transmitted back on the screen. "What are those?"
The door of the command vehicle was flung open, and a city guard rushed in, panting heavily: "Dew... has attacked, and they are all people like us... "
In the picture on the screen, troops wearing the main city uniforms were constantly emerging from the small bubbles around the dewdrops.
Holding the weapons of the city guards and patrolmen, they lined up and pressed forward.