The military boots were pulled out with difficulty from the knee-deep snowdrift, then fell forward in a predetermined manner, and dug deep into the snowdrift again, performing endless repetitive movements like a machine.
Zero looked ahead.
What lies ahead is the sky full of wind and snow. At the moment when the land in the east has melted the ice and snow, the tundra in the west is still howling with cold wind and the scene of snow and ice. Looking around, there is a scene of silver makeup everywhere, even the woods are covered with a layer of silver frost, and there is no greenness to be seen. Yes, there is only endless coldness, and the whiteness that stretches to the sky!
Looking behind, the team dragged on for a long time. In the silver snow, people become black dots. The black dots are not neatly lined up, they are swaying here and there, as if they will be blown away by the snowstorm at any time.
Three days have passed since meeting Ademili.
For three days, they descended the mountain and traveled westward under the guidance of Ademili. After going downhill, the originally tall mountain range quickly submerged into this endless snow field like an ice knife slanted towards the ground. Only a faint black line remained in the distant forest, and most of the trees were submerged. On the vast snow field. Occasionally, a few old-era electric towers suddenly appeared on the snow, and their leeward sides were already covered with snow. The steel supports were overwhelmed and bent under the weight of snow. The iron structure has been frozen very fragile by the perennial low temperature, and it will be crushed and collapsed by the snow at any time.
It can be said that after entering the snowfield, the zero-level talents really set foot on the land of the western tundra. The harsh and difficult environment here is beyond anyone's imagination, and it will be very difficult for both animals and humans to survive in this environment. As a standard soldier, Ren's face has never been relaxed since he stepped into the snow field. For the aliens who can still take root and survive under such harsh conditions, their soldiers must be frighteningly resolute.
After three days, more than a dozen servants have become ice sculptures on the snow field forever. The harsh climate and environment made it impossible for these low-ability soldiers to bear, and with the deepening of the snow field, a small number of soldiers have suffered from frostbite to varying degrees. The cold weather combined with the presence of large amounts of radiant snow made the march on foot a grueling race.
A race with the Grim Reaper!
"Our soldiers won't last long. For God's sake, tell me how long it will take to get to that damned Mobystone Bazaar?" Ryan pushed away a few murloc warriors and went straight to the Grignia Asked loudly in front of Ademili who was regarded as a goddess.
Ademili stretched out her arms straight in the cloak and pointed to a certain direction to the west: "Keep going forward, if you use the human measurement unit to convert. There are still about 120 kilometers, and we will see Mount Zambes." There is a hidden tunnel there, which remains from the old days. Through the tunnel, we can reach the market of Mobystone, which is protected from the cold wind and snow by the Zambes Mountain, and we can rest there. "
"Okay, 120 kilometers!" Ren stepped back and shouted at the soldiers behind him: "Did you hear that, boys? There are still more than 100 kilometers left, hold on to me. When we arrive at the market, we will There is wine to drink and meat to eat. Tell me, can you still hold on?"
"Yes!" the servants shouted, looking excited.
"He seems a little too excited. Has he forgotten that our dear murloc friend said that Mobystone Market is far from being a friendly place, especially for us humans." Tully walked beside Zero and said softly, and shook the bottle to signal to Zero: "Have some?"
Zero was not polite, and took a big sip from Starley's wine bottle. Seeing that Staley was both distressed and happy, Kan Ling finally put down the wine bottle, Staley snatched it quickly, and took a big gulp for himself.
The spicy alcohol flows into the body through the esophagus, followed by all the calories in the wine being absorbed by Zero's body, and then converted into energy to supplement the body. During the entire conversion process, the loss of energy is basically controlled at less than 1%. If Zero's body is regarded as an energy converter, then he is definitely the most efficient machine.
Experiencing the process of transforming spirits into energy, Zero recalled the words that Ademilia described the Mobystone Bazaar to them before they set off.
It was a bazaar, a bazaar of alien races.
The higher life forms living on the tundra in the west discovered this old town that survived in the Zambes Mountains at some point. There was no Möbystone Fair then, and the name of the fair was a later thing. This small town, sheltered from the wind and snow, was originally only used as a resting place for foreigners passing by near Zambes Mountain.
But later, some alien races simply moved to the small town and bought their things. From rare mutated beasts to all kinds of news and information, a market among alien races has been formed over time. Of course, there are occasional human adventurous merchants haunting it. It's just that there are few humans in the western tundra, so there are basically no humans in the Mobystone Market.
If humans appear, they are either adventurous merchants, or wilderness refugees who were captured by alien races from nowhere and used as slaves or food*.
Unlike humans, Möbystone Fair has a management hierarchy called mayors or committees. There are no rules at all in the bazaar composed of different races, and it is very common for people to resort to force if they disagree with each other.
It was a real lawless place.
Ademili chose to pass by this place, firstly to rest halfway, and secondly to meet the lost Balmore. When Betsy and Pedafini were attacked, the location of the attack was already near Mount Zambes. Therefore, as long as Balmore is not dead, it will wait for Ademili in the market according to the previous agreement. Of course, Ademili didn't mention this second reason to others, except Zero.
Out of inter-ethnic exclusion, and human beings are almost the natural enemies of all alien races. So it is not difficult to imagine that humans are not welcome in Mobystone Bazaar, especially fully armed warriors like Zero.
So in the evening, after marching more than a hundred kilometers on foot, when Ademili led the crowd to a tunnel left over from the old times, a dispute broke out.
Ren blushed and yelled at Ademili like an angry lion: "What? You want my soldiers to stay in the tunnel? It's impossible. If you can't give me a satisfactory answer, I reject!"
Or worried about Ademili's safety, several strong murloc warriors stood in front of it, holding the hilt of the epee tightly to prevent Ren from suddenly violently attacking others.
Ademili calmly said in human language: "I have already said the reason, Mobystone is not a human city. If you see so many humans at once, I am afraid it will cause unnecessary trouble. So I would like to invite You leave the soldiers here, and Mr. Ren and several captains will follow me into the market to buy supplies to supplement the journey."
Ren still wanted to say something, but Zero stopped him and said, "Captain Ren, don't forget our mission. Besides, Mobystone is the news distribution center for the entire western tundra, if something happens to us here , that obviously tells other alien races of our existence. Maybe you have the bravery to fight all the way to Gignia, but I will not accompany you."
Ren was speechless for a while, and his momentum was also weak. After a while, he waved his hand and said, "Then I won't go in, and I will leave the purchase of supplies to you and Captain Starley."
After Ren left, the murloc warriors lifted their guard. Ademili nodded towards Zero, thanking him for his rescue. Next is the deployment of personnel. The servants of the three teams were all left behind. As for the candidates to go to the market, apart from Staley and Zero, there are also Su, Feng and Liya. Others, including Brown, Berrien, and Yeliu, also stayed in the tunnel, so as not to attract the attention of foreigners due to the large number of people entering the market.
So when the remaining servants began to set up their marching tents, Ademili and a few others continued to go deeper along the tunnel. At the exit of the tunnel, you can still hear the wind and feel chilly. But as we walked deeper into the tunnel, the wind stopped and the chill gradually disappeared. A few people turned on their tactical lights to illuminate the dark tunnel. In the old days, there might have been a train passing through this tunnel. Walking through the front end covered by wind and snow, the further you go into the tunnel, the railroad tracks on the ground are clearly visible.
After ten minutes of walking, the exit is in sight. Going out from the exit is a hillside. The slopes are rocky, dry and free of snow, not even long grass. The hillside extends down, extending into the old town under the hillside.
The Mobystone Market is located on a long and narrow depression. From a distance, the town where the market is located has only two main streets, east and west. East Street is facing the downhill direction, which is the entrance of the town. It passed through an open parking lot first. Of course, there are no intact cars in sight now. There are only car wrecks and other debris, which looks more like a garbage dump. Further ahead is an abandoned factory. The dilapidated factory buildings and broken chimneys still retain the color of the old era, but that's all.
Followed by rows of shops, there are grocery stores, gas stations, and even a bowling alley that still maintains its original appearance. This makes Zero feel unbelievable that after so many years of being occupied by foreign races, the town still maintains the appearance of the old days.
But this is also relative to the East Street, as the other street is the residential area of the town, which looks like a lot of large houses surrounded by terraces and sloping lawns. In the distance, there is a school that does not know whether it is a middle school or a high school, and many small houses are scattered here and there. There are also some buildings with unknown uses and strange shapes, surrounded by towering barbed wire.
The buildings on South Street show traces of remodeling everywhere, or the living habits of different races, so the appearance of the houses is not the same, and there is no plan at all. Looking from the hillside, it looks like an abstract painting with a weird style, which is so incompatible with the old-fashioned architectural style on East Street.
It was dusk, and the snow had stopped. The sky is dyed orange and bright red, with strong contrast and gradual spread. The light poured down from the sky, dragging the figures of Zero One outsiders on the ground for a long time.
"Let's go." Ademili said softly, and took the lead to walk downhill.
The Zeros were mixed among the murloc warriors. They wore the same one-piece cloaks as the Gignians, and covered their faces tightly with hoods and scarves, leaving only a pair of eyes exposed. There are not a few humanoid beings in the alien race, as long as the human face is not exposed, and the breath of the Grignia is used as a cover. If there is no accident, the identities of the few people will not be revealed.
As they walked towards the market, the sound of the noise in the market gradually reached everyone's ears. At the moment when night fell, the town was already lit up with lights of various colors. From the most primitive firelight to the energy halo emitted by the high-energy spar, coupled with all kinds of grotesque lives in the small town on the edge, it gives people a sense of weirdness.
Here is chaos, disorder, no rules at all. The market is filled with a large number of strange beings that humans have never seen or heard. Among these different lives, there are hermaphrodites, some look like overlord snails, but there are other lives living in their thick shells, some are as small as elves in fairy tales, and some are as huge as houses.
Some are timid, some are cowardly, some are violent, some are irritable... Different beings with various appearances and temperaments haunt every corner of the market. They occupy the shops of humans in the old days, and some of them sell some weird commodities on the street, which makes zero people overwhelmed. When walking past a building similar to a bar, a mantis man was suddenly thrown out, and fell in front of the zero people in embarrassment. Then the door of the shop slammed open, and a humanoid life with a rhinoceros head waved its iron fist and uttered a series of syllables with unknown meanings at the mantis man, as if warning him of something.
The mantis man got up from the ground with his head down, and a pair of compound eyes on his head looked at Ademili. Then he took a light breath as if he had discovered something, spread a pair of green wings behind his back and flapped it, turning into a blue trajectory and flying into the night sky, and quickly disappeared under everyone's eyes.
After the Mantis Man left, the Rhino Man took a deep look at Ademili. But as if not aware of it, he turned and walked into the bar, and closed the door forcefully. Ademili gestured for everyone to move on. Right now, the East Street is extremely crowded, and there are different beings passing by all the time. A few people could only lower their heads, trying not to attract the attention of these beings.
After walking for a while, Liya suddenly pulled the corner of La Ling's robe and said, "Look, it's a human being."
Zero looked up, and saw that the entrance of an alley was surrounded by all kinds of strange beings. And the ones surrounded by different beings were several naked [naked] people, including several men and a woman. These people looked sluggish, and had more or less scars on their bodies, which looked like they were caused by whipping. And standing in front of these humans was an octopus-like being.
From time to time, the octopus used its long tentacles to sweep over one of the humans, leaving a bloody scar like this, which made Leah turn her head away unbearably.