Seeing Zero's puzzled expression, Cario smiled. The instructor sat down on his own chair, then pointed to the chair in front of the desk, motioning for Zero to sit down. Cario said with a smile: "Look, recruits for Doomhammer are not recruited all the time. After all, there are not many recruits whose average level is above the third level. So in a year, the training camp like you have stayed Drive it once or twice. But the rest of the time the damn bourgeois doesn't let me idle, so I have to work as a task dispatcher when I have time."
If Valkyrie is here, he will definitely be dissatisfied with Cario's statement. The responsibility assigned to him by Asgard is not a simple task officer, but a first-level strategic staff officer. The task release of the command is only a small part of his work, and Cario's main job is to be responsible for the strategic planning and scheduling of the entire Asgard. In the headquarters, he has a very high right to speak.
Naturally, Zero didn't know about this. So he just nodded and asked: "Instructor, your injury..."
"It's okay, Angie Gullit is not qualified to kill me. I can heal this small injury by myself without entering the training tank." Cario said very stiffly, followed him as if thinking of something, and waved it angrily. Start, as if to sweep away the topic of discussion between the two. He said: "Let's get down to business, the golden cat called you up this time because there is a mission to take advantage of you."
The word cheap made Zero's nerves jump slightly, based on his understanding of Cario. The chief instructor's so-called cheap things are usually linked to the difficulty.
Kario continuously input some commands on the light keys on the corner of the desk, and the blackout curtains were automatically lowered following the windows of the office. And the wall behind Kario also flipped out a light screen, which displayed the topographic map west of the Julian Mountains. On this 5,000-kilometer-long topographic map, a blue band of light extends from Asgard towards the western tundra plateau. On this strip of light, there are red and green light spots flickering.
Cario explained: "The light spots of these two colors represent the alien races we have discovered so far. The green light spots represent friendship, and the red light naturally represents the hostile relationship..."
There are seven red and green light spots on the blue light band. While they were blinking, suddenly a green light spot went out and turned gray.
"This is your task." Cario said, pointing at the gray light spot: "The Aaron race is a foreign race that looks like a half-human bird. They retain the ability of birds to fly and have the intelligence equivalent to adult humans. , have begun to use simple weapons."
While talking, a three-dimensional model of a half-human bird appeared on the light screen. It has a human-like upright body, but its arms are connected to the sides of its body like a pterodactyl. This model of Aaron is holding a spear and doing some automatic stabbing moves. The movements are simple but very refined, which is an effective battlefield fighting technique.
"This gray spot of light is the village of the sub-clan. The village is not big, and there are hundreds of Aarons living there. In these friendly alien territories, we have installed life monitors. Just a few days ago, we set up The life monitor in the Aaron village shows that all life in the village has disappeared. It is not an invasion, but an extinction, and there is no life response." Cario said while smoking a cigarette: "The headquarters issued a series of orders to this , including investigating the cause of death of the Aaron tribe, and annihilating them if foreign enemies invade. Originally, this order was to be sent out in the morning, but I just saw you come back, so I asked you to carry it out. This is D1-level mission, if it weren’t for me, according to your team’s rating, I wouldn’t have the authority to accept this mission.”
The headquarters grades the tasks according to the difficulty, from low to high are E, D, C, B, A, and S grades. Among them, each level is divided into three levels from 1 to 3. With Zero's team only at E level, naturally they can't accept D-level tasks, so they directly throw the unreleased tasks to Zero. It can be said that Cario has taken good care of him.
Zero naturally has no reason to refuse.
"Go ahead, finish it beautifully. Then, treat me to dinner!" Cario smiled.
Nodding his head in agreement, he bid farewell and left. After he left, Kario's smile gradually disappeared, and he even became a little solemn.
The reason for the extinction of the Aaron tribe is not simple. These half-bird adult individuals all have the third-level strength and agility abilities equivalent to human ability users. Coupled with the simple and practical stabbing technique, it is not a pleasant thing to be fought by them in close quarters. It is not difficult to kill one or two half-bird people, but it is not easy to kill the entire Aaron tribe.
The reason why the headquarters issued this mission is to find out that the cause of the extinction of the Aaron tribe was disease? Or a conflict of species? Or is it intentional? If the former two are fine, if the latter, then Asgard must consider updating the monitoring model and strengthening the monitoring force.
When thinking of this question, Kario naturally thought of what happened in the Cossacks military base. After he and Valkyrie woke up, they immediately reported to Ben that the command issuing system of the headquarters had been exploited. Ben naturally attached great importance to this matter, and asked the two to investigate it secretly. But to this day, the two still have no clue.
The behind-the-scenes method is clever and clean, and there is no relevant clue at all. Cario is very clear that this investigation should not be completed in a short period of time. The chief instructor is not a patient person, so Kario has already handed over this work to Valkyrie.
He turned his head and looked at the virtual sky outside the window, feeling very complicated. Beneath the peaceful surface, Kario felt a strong sense of unease. Anxiety is like an undercurrent, surging against the peaceful reef of Asgard.
When Kario's old man was ill and was worried about the safety of Asgard, the city of the kingdom of God, Ling, who had always only wanted to make money, called Shangfeng and the others to drive the off-road vehicle that was also rented and set out on the road. Drive out of Asgard along the north-south main road, pass through the long and dark passage, when the hydraulic gate is opened, the two sides of the mountain wall used for concealment are divided equally, and a world of ice and snow appears in the In the eyes of the four of them.
The front fender of the super off-road vehicle was removed, and a snow blower had been installed because of the need to walk on the snow. The snow blower is a peripheral part of the car, and its shape is a rectangular steel channel. There is a slit at the front of the steel channel, and a powerful suction device is installed in the slit, which will generate a great suction force for the space in front. The snowdrifts in front of the car were sucked into the steel trough in this way, and then ground into powder by thousands of steel wheels hidden in it, and finally sprayed out by the hole-shaped snow blowers on both sides.
As thick white smoke spewed out from both ends of the car, the car drove forward at a constant speed of forty kilometers per hour, and gradually drove into the snow-covered western wilderness. The speed of the off-road vehicle is not fast, but in an environment where snow piles are piled up to a height of three meters, such a speed is already rare. Today's weather is not bad, no wind and no snow, the red sky is full of ice crystals in the radiation clouds, reflecting magnificent colors.
The colors are very magical, but it is difficult for people nowadays to appreciate them. It is not easy to live, and it is difficult to have the mood to see the scenery.
According to the instructions of the electronic map, the car drove past the periphery of the Cossacks military base. This land seemed to have been plowed all over again, exposing the bare stratum, and even the wind and snow had no time to completely bury it. From a distance, nearly half of the buildings on the surface of the base were in a state of damage. From the other side, it was not difficult to see the intensity of the battle that day. However, the distance is less than one month, but it makes people feel far away.
Continuing westward, there is an endless tundra. There is a flat river, and there are protrusions in the middle, which are old trees that have been frozen into pillars of frost. Life is rare on the tundra, and occasionally a few Fenli wolves rush past. This kind of magic wolf is extremely vigilant, and when the car is at least 300 meters away from them, they have already spotted these uninvited guests. Their blue eyes with golden threads glanced at the off-road vehicle, then let go of their four hooves, galloped like flying, and quickly left the sight of Zero.
Seeing this scene, Feng was overwhelmed with embarrassment, so he had to take down the sniper rifle he borrowed from Ling. He was going to shoot these demon wolves, after all, the fur of Fenli wolf is very popular among the nobles. The fur can be made into fur coats, or fur collars can be decorated on the coats to show their aristocratic atmosphere. A complete fur is worth at least 300 points in terms of merit points!
So, under Feng's remorseful voice, the journey turned from the plains into the frosty forest. The dense forest composed of coniferous trees covers an area of tens of thousands of square kilometers, and has become a natural barrier to isolate human civilization. There are dozens, even hundreds of species of indescribable alien intelligent life forms inhabiting this dense forest and the land behind the dense forest. As for the expeditionary force sent by Asgard, the Golden Tomahawk's journey only passed through the frosty forest and reached the Screaming Canyon 300 kilometers behind.
Frost Jungle, these coniferous members are much taller and taller than their old-time counterparts. They usually need ten people to hold them together, and they can reach a height of more than 300 meters. What's more, it is nearly 500 meters tall. This kind of giant tree is covered with long needle-like leaves, the leaves are fat and thick, and the energy of the giant tree is stored so that it will not be lost too quickly. When the cold winter comes, these needles become the indispensable food for the life inhabiting this forest.
Sufficient water in the plump needles, and plant fiber that can satisfy the hunger. Although every coniferous tree is covered with frost, the thick bark insulates from the cold of frost and snow and preserves the rich nutrients in the leaves.
When the off-road vehicle drove into this forest, Zero felt as if he had entered the kingdom of giants. The tall trees are like the pillars supporting the world, presenting a strange world in the eyes of a few people. Although it is cold winter, there are still traces of life activities in the forest. The most common one is a strange creature that is only the size of a fox but looks like a wolf.
These mutated creatures, known as jackals, have two large, shaggy tails that allow them to glide briefly through the air. Jackals feed on needles, and after eating this food, a special organ in their body digests part of it and turns it into a poisonous gas. When needed, jackals emit poisonous gas like skunks. The poisonous gas they release will not spread with the wind, but will permeate in a certain range and last for a long time, and use it to defend against the attacks of other mutant beasts.
Besides the jackal, there are several other abnormal creatures active. They chase in front of giant trees, snatch food, or even fight to fight for their own territory. But no matter what they were doing, as soon as they heard the sound of the off-road vehicle engine, they would scatter in all directions, leaving Zero and the others to see only strange figures.
The Yaren village is in the dense forest. It seems that there is no electronic map to guide them. It is not easy to find this half-bird village in a place like a sea of trees. A few people also went around in the dense forest, and finally found the village of the Aaron tribe. Apparently, a vacant land that was cut down and cleared became the place where the Aaron people built their village. From a distance, there are stretches of thatched huts on the open space. The construction methods are very simple, and the materials of the houses are also obtained locally. This half-bird village allows a few people to experience the original style.
According to Asgard's records, the Aaronian society is currently equivalent to the primitive age of mankind. They were matriarchal societies, with the matrilineal Aaronians occupying the headship of the village. The male Aaronians are responsible for hunting, building, and all other heavy work. According to the records, not only the Aaron race, but other intelligent races have a longer reproductive cycle than the mutant beasts, and are closer to the human reproductive cycle in the old age.
However, during the years-long reproductive period, the born offspring still died in a very high proportion. Were it not so, humans might not be able to hold onto the entire circle of civilization that occupies the coastline. From the appearance of the first generation of Aaron tribe to the present, three generations of breeding have passed, but their ethnic group has only grown from more than 20 people at the beginning to a population of more than a hundred now. But even so, the Aaron race is already considered to be a race with a large population among the foreign races recorded in Asgard.
The off-road vehicle stopped at the entrance of the Yaren village. It was said to be the entrance, but a wooden stake was erected as a sign. There are three skulls nailed to the wooden stake. Judging from the appearance, they are human beings, jackals, and a relatively rare mutant beast, the megalodon. Apparently, this wooden stake is not only a symbol of the village, but also a warning. Just judging from the current situation, this kind of warning is not very effective.
Half of the thatched huts in the village were burnt to ashes, leaving only charred marks. And on the open ground of the village, there were even scorched marks left by the fire. The fire was probably very violent, and the fire temperature was so high that it turned the ground into glass. Seeing this scene, Zero Four frowned. In order for the natural flame to reach the high temperature of baking the ground into a glassy shape, a sealed environment needs to be continuously heated to do so. The village is ventilated on all sides, and the air flow is very obvious. Obviously, such an environment cannot achieve high temperature conditions.
Then the remaining possibilities are the actions of the ability users of the element domain. Utilizing certain abilities of the element domain, it is indeed possible to generate high-temperature energy destruction in an open environment. And the high-temperature energy that can crystallize the ground is at least fifth-order power. A fifth-level elemental domain ability user, no matter what type of elemental destruction he is proficient in, is a formidable opponent.
So several people immediately entered the state of battle, with Ling's Browning pistol, Su's alloy epee, and Feng's Tang knife in hand. Only Mapei's hands are empty, but the blood vessels under his skin are throbbing so that he can transform into an armored rhinoceros at any time.
The village was very quiet, eerily quiet. The source of the weirdness was that there were no corpses. A few people swept the village several times, but they did not find any Aaronian corpses. The only valuable thing found was a life sensor turned into a piece of black charcoal. Judging from the traces of destruction, it was also damaged by a high-temperature attack.
It's not a normal thing to have no corpses, although there are few scavengers like corpse wolves in the Frost Jungle. But now that it's the cold winter, dead bodies can stay fresh for a long time. Fresh meat is the favorite of many mutated beasts, especially intelligent life forms like the Aaron race. Their flesh and blood are like supplements to other mutated beasts.
But even if these wild beasts visited, the whole village could not even see the shadow of the corpse, and the mutant beasts with low intelligence could not make such clean hands and feet.
"Keep looking." Zero said lightly, and issued this simple order.
However, this time, the four of them searched almost all the corners of the village, not missing any traces. But whether they were willing to accept it or not, there was nothing suspicious in the village except for the traces of damage. It wasn't until the four of them expanded the range to within 500 meters around the village that they found messy battle traces in the east.
This is in the forest nearly 500 meters away from the village, and the corpses of sub-tribes can occasionally be seen on the nearby giant trees. On the ground and several tree trunks, there are large areas of charred marks, among which there are even a few charred corpses. In front of a huge tree, a ten-meter simple wooden gun was inserted obliquely. The sharp spear points pierced the ground, and a piece of leather was deeply pierced under the point of one of the battle guns.
The leather is dark red in color with ragged edges and signs of tearing. It can be inferred that at that time, the Aaronians must have attacked the ability user who destroyed their village with a group of attack methods of throwing spears. But it's a pity that so many spears only tore off a piece of the opponent's robe. Zero took the piece of leather out of the gun, and found that there was still a piece of metal coil in the interlayer. This is the defensive interlayer. The metal coil not only plays the role of blocking attacks, but also has a buffering effect because of its certain elasticity.
This kind of alloy coil used as a defensive interlayer is expensive, at least not everyone can afford it. It can be seen that the ability user who attacked the Aaron tribe has some origins.
The traces of the battle started from here, and then went into the dense forest in the southeast for nearly a thousand meters. During this journey, a few people found some Aaron corpses. Some of their bodies were severely burned, while others had been eaten by wild animals. The scene was a mess of flesh and blood. But these corpses add up to less than half, and at least 30 or so corpses are missing. And at the edge of the battlefield, there are some irregular traces extending towards a downhill, it looks like the murderer dragged the corpse in that direction.
So a few people followed the traces and walked forward, and the terrain gradually declined, forming a small curved slope. There is a vertical stone wall with a drop of ten meters at the curved slope, and there is a trench with a length of 100 meters and a width of about ten meters under the stone wall. This ditch is like a scar on the ground, and on the other side of the ditch, there is a dark cave. The drag marks from the uphill also appeared in the ditch and extended into the cave on the other side.
The entrance of the cave was pitch black, as if a giant beast had opened its mouth, waiting for its prey to come to its door by itself!