Standing on the river bank made of metal, Hao Ren looked at the endless gray-white river surface in front of him. The viscous, slowly wriggling liquid, which reminds people of the blood of origin, carried a disturbing and dangerous atmosphere. All the mercenaries kept their distance from the river bank in fear, only he, Ulanov and Nolan stood at the front. Ulanov's hoarse voice came from inside the helmet: "The end of the world is only one step away."
"Is this a cluster of nanomachines?" Hao Ren pointed down at the viscous liquid in the Gray River, "It's so big... on a scale."
"Everyone knows that the Gray River is made up of nanocomputer clusters." Nolan glanced at Hao Ren. "You should cross one of the Gray Rivers when you escape from the natural city-state into the lawless zone. Haven't you noticed?"
"One of them?" Hao Ren frowned, and then changed the subject, "No, the situation was critical at the time, we were separated from the main force, and I didn't have much chance to pay attention to the surrounding situation. By the way, how do you plan to cross this river? Do you want to row a boat? ?”
"Wait for condensation," Nolan turned and walked away, and began to order loudly, "Everyone, rest in place, we will cross the river after dusk! Kim, Lorraine, make sure that the armored vehicles can be activated at any time, and I want all electromagnetic sleepers for 24 hours Power on—if anyone has a problem with their electromagnetic hibernator, report it immediately."
The mercenaries acted immediately under the order. They rested on the spot next to the armored vehicle, and took out the compressed dry food from the vehicle to replenish their physical strength. Karl walked around among the soldiers and reminded loudly: "Don't directly touch the soil with your hands. Keep an eye on your water bottles, and throw away any damaged ones immediately! Inject another anti-virus after half an hour, and inject double the dose if you feel a burning sensation in your breath!"
Ulanov swayed and walked towards the armored vehicle: "Ah, I don't need to use anti-virus to deal with the air here, my lungs are already dead."
"He's actually quite an optimistic guy," the unrestrained older mercenary lady passed by and said casually, "but he's quite a headache when he jokes with his internal organs. By the way, this good man—I heard you Came out of the shadows? Don't you plan to start a passionate relationship in a new environment?"
While talking, she rubbed towards Hao Ren, who turned slightly sideways, "Should I throw you into the gray river to calm down?"
"Tch, boring."
Wait for everyone else to go away. Hao Ren turned around and returned to the armored vehicle. He remembered that there was an on-board computer installed in it at all times. And the basic query function is open to everyone, and he has also seen how Nolan operates the terminal in the carriage. After tossing around for a while, he successfully connected to the network and began to search for information about the Gray River and the ruins of the Northland.
The situation of the ruins of the Northland does not need to be investigated carefully. It refers to the entire area that was destroyed after the nanomachine cluster went out of control sixty-five years ago. This area includes three dissolved cities and the vast wilderness between the cities. Hundreds of thousands of Square kilometers of land have been turned into forbidden places for life. The goal of everyone's trip: the Northland Ring Tower is located south of the center of this group of ruins. As for the Gray Rivers...they're remnants of the nanomachine clusters.
The Gray River is not a single river—Hao Ren has always misunderstood this point before. The real gray river refers to a large number of "rivers" that spread out like radial cracks around the ruins of the Northland. After excluding the smaller tributaries, the total number of large-scale gray rivers reaches hundreds. Like a spider web, the entire northern ruins were blocked layer by layer. Looking down from the air, the ruins of the Northland are like a bloodshot eyeball, and the Gray River is the bloodshot around the eyeball: if you want to go to the Ring Tower of the Northland, you must cross the Gray River.
And according to the rough map found on the Internet, several main routes between the natural person's city-state and the lawless zone also need to pass through the valley of one of the Gray Rivers—no wonder Nolan thinks that Hao Ren has seen the Gray River before.
Although the nanite swarms have eaten away everything in the area, they haven't completely covered the ruins of the Northlands. In fact, the surviving nanocomputer groups here are all concentrated in the countless "gray rivers", and the gray rivers are criss-crossed and divided into countless "isolated islands". These isolated islands are full of wreckage modified by nanomachines, and the soil is filled with toxic substances produced by the disorderly programming of the fleet. Those horrible off-white "slime" are everywhere in all directions, but in the ruins of the Northland. These islands are the only safe places to stay.
Nolan seems to know the best route, which should be a series of continuous land, and only need to cross a few gray rivers to reach the ring tower ruins.
"Don't you think this is inconsistent?" The voice of the data terminal rang in Hao Ren's mind, "All the documents mention the out-of-control of the nanocomputer cluster, but none of the documents mention how they were controlled. The...these things could have destroyed the whole world, but why did they stop in the Gray River?"
"I can't find it online, maybe it was erased by someone," Hao Ren turned off the computer, turned and left the car. "I'll go talk to Nolan. By the way, how do you feel staying in the portable space?"
"It's not too bad, this machine has found the place where you put the gravity generator. Now I have built a standard ground of 1.0G, and I am practicing walking forward." The voice of the data terminal is very pleasant, "This machine feels that this body is just like this Now, walking is still like a cerebral thrombosis, and the effect of training will not be seen, probably the compatibility has encountered a bottleneck.”
"... Well, as long as you are happy, just don't mess with my arsenal."
Hao Ren found Nolan, who was standing alone on the river bank at the moment. Facing the darkening sky, the figure of the gray-haired girl appeared extremely thin in the dim sky. He leaned over from behind, and saw Nolan's ears move slightly when he was still more than ten meters away: he is really a mercenary leader with frightening vigilance.
When the other party turned his head, Hao Ren waved his hand: "Why don't you stay with everyone?"
"The Gray River is about to freeze," Nolan pointed at the river with his chin. The flow of the viscous liquid is getting slower and slower, and there are signs that it is about to freeze. It becomes a plane like an alloy block, which is enough to carry armored vehicles through. Of course, the premise is that the electromagnetic dormancy device does not shut down, otherwise these things will wake up in an instant, and a group of my people died like this."
Nolan seems to be in a good mood now, or a little excited. She is not as indifferent and distant as before, but patiently explains Hao Ren's question. The latter thinks this is a good time to ask a question: "Say six How did humans stop these out-of-control nanomachines 15 years ago?"
"Stop?" Nolan shook his head faintly, "No one stopped them at all, the fleet stopped spreading by itself. At that time, many people thought that the world was about to be destroyed, and all countermeasures and safety devices were ineffective. People here are waiting to die, and the nanomachines stopped suddenly and spared human life. See these river banks-"
Nolan stomped his feet and stepped hard on the metal ground. The shape of these "river banks" is like natural rocks, but the material is metal.
"These seemingly barriers are not man-made, but made by the nano-machine cluster itself. They have delineated the range of activities for themselves, so that human beings can survive and continue to fight outside the territory of the cluster. Originally, the nano-machine cluster should cover the entire world. , multiplied, and devoured until the planet was turned into a mass of mud... but they themselves created a complex container in which to hold themselves."
Hao Ren stared: "Why is this happening?"
"Who knows? Scientists can't tell." Nolan's mouth slightly turned up. "You should ask Ulanov. He is an expert in this field, but I guess he won't like this topic."
"Ah, since I've come here, I don't mind talking to you guys about this," Ulanov's voice suddenly came from the side. The calmer the Gray River, "Some people speculate that the 'master' computer successfully sent the last control signal before it went down, stopping the multiplication of the cluster, and some people suspect that the 'master' computer is still running, and they are buried deep in the ground. Powered by a nuclear reactor, theoretically it can indeed run up to now—if it is considered that it controls the nanomachine group to do maintenance for itself underground, it may run forever.”
Ulanov paused when he said this, and continued in a mocking tone: "There are even wilder conjectures. The mutants who call themselves Rangers believe that nanomachines have evolved intelligence, and they are based on some kind of superhuman intelligence and intelligence. Logic made the decision to keep this world, just to observe the evolution of human beings. The rangers regard the nanomachine group as the new master of this world. They demonstrate their evolutionary superiority by attacking other humans indiscriminately, and think that Can gain a place in the new world when Judgment Day comes. There are a lot of things like that..."
(Running outside all day, this chapter can be regarded as being out at night. In addition, I am idle anyway, so ask for a monthly ticket by the way = . =) (to be continued~^~)