Another five days passed.
During these five days, the team advanced westward at a constant speed of 400 kilometers per day. If Zero is on the road alone, the speed can be at least doubled. But in this team, except for a few high-ranking members of the zero class, no one else could go any faster regardless of their speed or physical fitness. Four hundred kilometers per day is already the limit, and after walking out of the Zambes Mountains, there is an endless frozen plain. The forest stretches across it. Unlike the desolate and quiet primeval forests of the old era, the forests of the new era appear to be more mysterious. The towering giant trees with intertwined skins and horizontal roots stood like ferocious demon trees.
As soon as you enter the forest, you will feel the creepy feeling.
In the primeval forest of the new era, the danger is not only from the various mutant beasts entrenched in the forest, but also from these terrifying trees.
Of course, the scenery along the way is far more than just the forest. The team passed through snow-filled mountains, over dangerous primeval forests, through quiet and beautiful natural lakes, and through deep and dark underground tunnels. After five days, these people who lived in the eastern plain finally saw the danger and wonder of the western tundra.
And as the tundra deepens towards the west, the climate becomes colder and colder. Even when marching during the day, the temperature of only twenty degrees below zero would be unbearably cold. This kind of temperature is quite common to the Gognians like Ademili, and even compared with the real winter, this kind of temperature can still be called warm. But the servants in the team can't do it. Even if these surviving fighters have an average level of three ranks, the low temperature and strong radiation test their physique all the time.
This is the cruel side of nature. If you can't stand the test, you will end up sleeping in a corner of the tundra. And something like this has happened twice. There were not many servants in the first place, but now there are only 13 left. Among the dozen or so people, ten belonged to Zero's team, and the remaining three were Staley's subordinates. It's just that Staley doesn't care about the life and death of the servants. Like many high-ranking powerhouses, in Staley's heart, the role of the servants is more to transport supplies, serve as cannon fodder and decoration.
In this regard, Zero can't blame anything, after all, this is a common problem of the strong in this era.
Five days passed, and the team advanced westward for about 2,000 kilometers. That evening, when the team walked out of a forest covered in silver frost, another rolling mountain range lay across their path. The mountains are steep, like a knife, a typical tundra style. It is the result of years of wind and snow attack on the mountain. The mountain extends from south to north, and its altitude also increases from low to high. From a distance, it looks like a slide.
The Gognians call it Tulash Mountain, and in the language of their Green City, Tulash means "stairway to heaven".
It was night, and the team camped and rested at the edge of the forest. The servants and murloc guards cleared a large expanse of snow, and then set up marching tents on the snow-free ground. Then the murloc guards picked up dead branches near the forest and started a bonfire. Compared to their more primitive methods, the servants used marching stoves and solid fuels to start heating clean water and cooking food.
Zero and Starley also killed a blizzard bear in the forest, and took this big guy as dinner for everyone tonight. The appearance of the blizzard bear is very similar to the polar bear of the old era, the difference is that its claws are translucent spar bodies, which contain extremely strong ice energy. The prey caught by the blizzard bear will coagulate in a very short period of time and cannot move, so that it becomes the food of the blizzard bear.
It's just that this violent bear was very unfortunate tonight, and was targeted by Zero and Staley, thus changing from a hunter to a prey. Coming all the way to the west, Ling and the others also noticed that it seems that affected by the natural environment of the western tundra, the mutant beasts here more or less have the ability to be compatible with ice elements. This ability makes them more resistant to severe cold, while being able to use one or more ice-type abilities.
Or, like a blizzard bear, directly store the ice energy in a certain organ or limb of the body, so as to inflict ice energy damage on the prey while attacking.
Naturally, the handling of the food didn't need to bother Zero or Starley. When the bear was thrown on the ground of the camp, the servants skillfully pulled out the fur of the bear. If this bear skin can be found at Mobystone Fair, it may fetch a good price. And even in a place like Asgard, which can already be called rich, bear skins as white as snow are luxury items that nobles compete to collect.
And now, after it was washed off the blood, it became Leah's cloak and blanket.
Next, it was the claws of the violent bear. These spar-like claws contain extremely pure ice energy, and they can be used as energy spars. Energy crystals have a wide range of uses, and pure energy stones like this are even more premium. Now even if the violent bear is dead, they still absorb the cold air of the surrounding environment all the time and seal it up, and then gradually transform it into ice energy.
The servants originally took out these crystal claws and handed them to Zero after washing them, but Zero gave them to these soldiers again. It's just that the number of crystal claws is limited, and only a few people with weaker physiques are assigned to crystal claws. Bringing this crystal claw on the body can somewhat slow down the damage caused by the severe cold of the tundra to the servants.
As for the rest of the bear, it is far less valuable than its fur and claws. So the servants dismembered the whole violent bear, cut off the bear meat and roasted it on the marching stove or murloc campfire. After a while, when the bear meat was roasted golden, the rich meaty aroma began to waft over the camp.
A violent bear looks like it has a lot of meat, but when it is actually divided, each person's portion is also very limited. And for the more advanced ability users, getting energy through food like animal meat is a very inefficient method. Not every ability user is like Zero, who completely consumes energy by burning food. Like Staley, after the food is eaten by him, only the protein in the food will be completely absorbed, and other things will be wasted in the process of digestion.
If they just ate ordinary food, the appetite of a high-level ability user would have to be measured by the ton. So they usually come with compressed foods like Nutrients, which, while bad in taste, taste even worse. But it contains very rich energy, which is enough to supplement the daily needs of the capable person, and save the capable person from the food pile.
Before setting off, a few high-ranking members were given enough nutrients. Now, after Staley ate two pieces of bear meat, he took out a sip of nutrients, and dinner was considered finished.
The bonfire on the Gognian's side was burning brightly, and the flames flickered on the faces of the murlocs. Their meat was roasted, but not eaten immediately. Instead, they closed their eyes as if they were praying. After a while, the murlocs all opened their eyes, and the guards handed the food to Ademily and Balmo. While the two were eating, the other guards just waited quietly, as if it was time for these guards to eat after the two of them finished eating.
"Strict class system," Starley commented, taking another sip of his wine. Shaking the already light wine bottle, Staley began to regret that he had brought too little wine, and the Mobystone's exotic-style wine Staley spit it all out after taking a sip, so naturally it couldn't be used as a solution to his slander . As a result, with less and less alcohol to drink, Staley almost only drank such a small sip every day. His cautious appearance is like a penny-pinching miser.
Putting down the bottle, Staley said casually: "The guys who followed us seemed to have disappeared two days ago. It's so strange. Who could they be?"
Zero spread his hands and said, "I'm also curious about this. In short, we have to be careful."
"It doesn't matter if you're not careful. Ren has disappeared before we even arrived in Green City. I always feel that this mission is not that simple. And..." Starley said lightly: "What do you say to those murlocs?" The attitude of them is also very strange. How to put it, it always feels like you treat them like friends, not enemies."
Staley is not an idiot. In fact, no one who can become a high-ranking person is mediocre. Zero knew that he felt something was wrong, and immediately asked: "Do you think that except for human beings, all alien life should be our enemies?"
"Of course not, I'm not a racist. But I know where I stand, and you. Zero, your boundaries seem to be blurred, which is not a good thing." Staley said slowly.
"If you say, I believe that these Georgians are here for peace, what do you think, Staley?"
Now that Staley has begun to doubt, Zero feels the need to test his bottom line to decide how to deal with the next thing.
Hearing what Zero said, Staley was taken aback for a moment, and then smiled and said, "No way, brother, are you really going to be a peace envoy? I told you at the market, it doesn't matter if you or me. We didn't push the situation forward." strength. Ride the whole situation, or be drowned in the tide."
Zero fell silent, he looked up at the sky covered by radiation clouds and said slowly: "Stali, maybe you will laugh at me. But I have imagined more than once, if we and other higher life have enough living space , whether human beings can coexist peacefully with them. The end of the old era means that human beings are no longer the only intelligent life. Perhaps we should admit that this planet does not belong to us alone. Alien races, animals and other life, they also have survival rights, why should we exploit all of this?"
"You're right, but those are all assumptions. The fact is that this planet is dying day by day, and the living space and resources are shrinking. Therefore, war is inevitable." Staley sighed.
Zero suddenly asked: "Then tell me, what is the significance of the war on the western tundra? You have seen it these days, what is there here? Barren mountains? Scores of primeval forests or ubiquitous radiation snow? I don’t see the meaning, you know brother. Even if we conquer the entire tundra land, is it suitable for human survival? Since this land is so barren, why do we have to go west?”
A series of questions left Stary speechless. After a long while, he said: "We are just soldiers. These problems should be a headache for those big shots. God knows what's going on in their heads."
"Well, let's not talk about these for now." Zero said seriously: "Suppose, suppose there is an opportunity that allows all life on this planet to have enough living space. Starley, what would you choose? To destroy it to maintain this The pattern of the times, can we still fight to protect it, even if we are facing former comrades-in-arms or superiors?"
It was another question that made it difficult for Staley to answer. After a moment of silence, this bold man smiled wryly: "I don't know how to answer you, because what you said is just a hypothesis. It's not zero, how could you ask such a question?" Question? Did you see such an opportunity?"
"It's not clear yet, I just know that after this trip to Georgia, there will be answers."
"Really? If it were you, what would you do? Well, I'm so stupid. Since you have the idea of letting all life coexist, you must stand up and protect this opportunity. This is a dangerous decision, but I I have to admire your courage." Staley held up the bottle: "For your courage, I have to take another fucking sip."
Watching him take another sip of spirits cautiously, Ling couldn't help laughing. In this speech tonight, Zero did not reveal the whole truth, because without evidence, Staley would not believe that this war was in fact just a tool used by Tyre. But it’s not all in vain, at least Starley thought carefully about Zero’s hypothesis, and didn’t bluntly undermine it.
Like Staley said, Zero gave him a hypothesis. And when assumptions become facts, Zero trusts Staley to make the right choice.
The sound of footsteps interrupted Zero's thoughts, but Ademili, who had finished her dinner, walked towards the two captains. Ademili sat down next to them, and said in a human language full of exotic styles: "There is something I need to discuss with you two. It is about our itinerary for tomorrow."
"To get here, we have two options. One is to cross the entire mountain from a tunnel left over from the old era under Tulash Mountain, but on the way we will pass an old human base. The name of the base is very Weird, it is named after the white blood cells in the human body. But this is not the point, what is important is that the base has now become a paradise for the dead, and we prefer to call it the Hall of the Dead."
When hearing the word "white blood cell", Ling's heart skipped a beat. In the previous base that was also named white blood cells, the information obtained from zero showed that there were more than one experimental bases established in the old days for the body plan, and they were all named "white blood cells". So in Ademili's so-called hall of the dead, is there still information about the body plan? Or even, where is the Quaternary super life stored
Either way, Zero felt the need to visit the Hall of the Dead.