Chapter 8: After the End
After a short rest, we set off again.
But this time, Jiang Xia no longer needs to measure the desert with his feet.
He has a new means of transportation.
A cool car.
It looks very much like an old-style tough motorcycle, the kind with a long handlebar. The high-performance battery pack continuously delivers energy to the front and rear dual-drive motors, providing it with sufficient power.
The design of front and rear double tracks makes it extremely stable when running in the desert, but the lack of noise from fuel power makes Jiang Xia a little uncomfortable.
Even in a sandstorm, this cool car is silent, with only the unique hissing sound of electric current and the restlessness of wind and sand hitting the car's shell.
This is a vehicle that all men like.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xia did not have a chip and could not connect to the motorcycle's operating system, so he could only sit in the motorcycle's bed as a passenger.
On the hood of the car in front of him, there was a three-barreled revolver heavy machine gun.
The same kind he'd used to blow the robot's head off.
The appearance is very similar to the export version of a heavy machine gun that Jiang Xia promoted all over the world when he was a special industry salesman, but the interior has obviously also undergone magical modifications using the technology of this wasteland world.
Faster rate of fire, better cooling, more accurate, and easier to control.
What surprised Jiang Xia the most was that the bullets used in this gun were supplied in ammunition boxes. They were orange in color and very heavy. Each bullet was as thick as a thumb and nearly a palm's length.
The front end is sharp and has special symbols on it.
"What kind of enemies do you usually fight? Why would you need such a crazy thing?"
Jiang Xia stroked the ammunition belt in the ammunition box and said to Rogge who was driving beside him:
"Even if the armor-piercing depleted uranium bullet is made into bullet specifications, given its penetrating power, it shouldn't be used to hit people, right?"
Because they were driving in the dark sandstorm, Jiang Xia not only wore goggles and a headscarf, but also an old helmet made of polymer material, so his voice sounded a little muffled.
Rogge was dressed the same way, with a leather coat wrapped tightly around him and goggles on, giving him the aura of a wasteland bandit gang leader.
Facing Jiang Xia's question, he smiled softly and said:
“It wasn’t available before.
We, the Black Hand, were researchers in Free Citizen City more than a year ago, and we were not needed to fight at all.
Later on.
We had a small "conflict" with the Eternal Life Society in terms of research direction. After being expelled, we had no choice but to find these antiques left over from the nuclear war.
It’s not light, but it’s very powerful, so I’ll use it to protect myself and boost my courage.”
"Nuclear war?"
Jiang Xia keenly caught a key word, and he asked directly:
"I don't know much about the history of your world. Has there ever been a nuclear war in this world? How long ago?"
"About fifty years ago."
Roger's tone became a little lower, and it was obvious that this was not a good topic.
He paused, then said:
"I wasn't born yet, but I heard from my grandfather that overnight, the whole world was in chaos, the conflict quickly escalated into war, and the war turned into mutual nuclear bombing.
Billions of people died in a year, and when everyone calmed down, the world was gone.
Those damn bastards!"
He ended with a curse, which confirmed what Jiang Xia was thinking, the strange smell under the sand, the weird numbness of his wounds, and the strange-smelling filtered water.
Everything has an explanation.
His expression also turned quite grim. Rogge seemed to sense Jiang Xia's mood. Amid the sound of sand peeling off, he said faintly:
"I actually admire you, explorer, for daring to wander around in the desert without wearing a radiation suit, implanting a brain chip, or undergoing prosthetic transformation.
Although this desert was not the battlefield of a nuclear war and the radiation here is not fatal, you, pure flesh and blood, cannot survive here.
look.
It's great that we have another reason to work together."
Jiang Xia didn't say anything, but just hugged the pulse rifle tightly in his arms. At this moment, only this cold weapon in his arms could give him a little more sense of security.
But soon, he discovered another problem.
In the dim dust, he turned his head to look at Rogge, then looked at the few motorcycles that were vaguely visible behind him.
He said:
"You said you weren't born fifty years ago? Then how old are you now?"
"Thirty-two."
Rogge threw out a number. He seemed to sense Jiang Xia's strange gaze and said:
"Any questions?"
"Look at your face, with its untidy beard and full of wrinkles. People would believe you are seventy years old. It seems that the environment in your world is really bad."
Jiang Xia said:
"You just mentioned the Free Citizen City. What is that place? Is it a new civilization after the war?"
"Roughly the same."
Roger explained:
“Civilization is gone. Today, the world is more like a loose union of tribal city-states. I was born in that city, and so was Su.
However, the Free Citizen City is just on the edge of the wasteland, close to the vast desert.
The nuclear war back then did not have much impact here, so although it is a remote and poor place, the living environment is much better than other city-states.
Of course, it is definitely not as good as the City of Bliss, which is the pearl of the Sea of Decay, the only remaining big city in the entire wasteland, and the last surviving place of human civilization. "
"That's a good name."
Jiang Xia usually says:
"It's already a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and you're still talking about freedom and citizenship. It sounds like a hypocritical place."
"well said!"
Roger laughed in a very rough manner and said:
“When my grandfather was still alive, he often said that it was neither free nor did the people living there have citizens, but it was indeed a city.
But unfortunately, if things continue like this, the city will soon be gone."
"Because of the Eternal Life Society?"
Jiang Xia asked:
"Is that force hunting you down? Was the robot sent by them as well? Why? Are they also looking for the Star Array?"
"No, they're not looking for a star array."
Roger shook his head and said:
“They were looking for us.
The Black Hand was founded by my grandfather, who was a biologist before the nuclear war. He found some inspiration in the technological explosion after the war and continued to study biotechnology.
My grandfather’s greatest ideal is to enable us, the only remaining humans, to survive better, continue, and rebuild civilization through biological transformation.
Unfortunately, not everyone who survives a nuclear war is as civilized as my grandfather.
Those scumbags in the Eternal Life Society want the knowledge in our minds and the database left by our grandfather to serve their evil plans.
I am not a good person.
But at least I had my bottom line, so after my grandfather died mysteriously, we had a falling out. Needless to say, there was more than a hundred people in the Black Hand Society at the beginning.
Now……
We are the only ones left as former researchers who were forced to take up guns.”
"So you want to escape to another world?"
Jiang Xia asked:
“You said before that all your understanding of star arrays came from another explorer. It was he who told you about the existence of other worlds, and it was he who guided you to find star arrays in the desert.
Where is he now? "
"I don't know either."
Roger said calmly:
"You explorers are a very free people, as he said, he roams the worlds among the stars, looking for knowledge and the like.
When I met him, he was planning a journey across the wasteland, ending in the City of Elysium.
But that was a year ago.
Maybe, he has already left this fucking world.
Besides, we’re not trying to escape.”
The second leader of the Black Hand Society said to Jiang Xia very seriously:
“We just want to use the star array to build a base in another world to recuperate and accumulate strength. We never want to escape, and we will come back.
The blood of those comrades was shed here, and my grandfather's body is still thrown in the Free Citizen City. The blood feud between the two sides has not yet been settled.
In this wasteland, you don’t have to repay kindness, but you must take revenge! "
"You have ambition! I'm starting to like you, keep going."
Jiang Xia raised his thumb and gestured to Rogge.
The swirling sand and dust around him seemed to have eased a little, and visibility became better. Through the goggles with telescope function, he could vaguely see a building looming on the edge of the sand and dust.
That should be the destination.
"Tell me more about these robots."
Jiang Xia said:
"Their weaknesses, their detection ranges, and your action plan."
“This oasis is in the center of the desert. The influence of the Eternal Life Society has not yet spread here, and it is more than a hundred kilometers away from the nearest robot factory.
We have destroyed all the nearby signal towers, and information transmission has been cut off. Free Citizen City is just a small city-state with limited resources .
If they want to do research, they won’t be able to bring destructive force to bear on the Oasis.”
Roger said:
"Sending a few old, rigid hunter robots is already the limit. These robots have powerful firepower and heavy armor. They are the first generation of combat robots of the Eternal Life Society.
But its programming was outdated and its fire control system was also backward.
The search and detection program relies only on optics, infrared modules, and frequency band search and positioning for brain wave chips.
It cannot load remote command modules, its free range of movement is limited to twenty kilometers, and it can only act according to established commands, issuing commands using a rigid set of permissions.
So there must be a manipulator in the oasis.
We have set up our base in the oasis and used the resources brought out from the city to set up defensive turrets. What you need to do is to sneak in, kill the operator, and restart the turret program while we attract the hunter's firepower.
The oasis is so small, so it’s an easy job.”
As he spoke, he took out a delicate purple circuit board from the motorcycle's locker, handed it to Jiang Xia, and said:
"Replace this circuit board on the turret control console, and I can take over the defense through the brain wave chip."
“The chip is really convenient.”
Jiang Xia took the circuit board and looked at the top of Rogge's ear, where there was a miniature blue indicator light that flickered. Not only Rogge, but other Black Hand Society warriors also had the same device in the same position.
This is the standard configuration for wastelanders.
Implanting a chip in the brain is equivalent to carrying a portable computer, which can be synchronized with the prosthesis and adjust the body's bioelectricity to isolate weak radiation.
Chips can also be used as a communication channel to establish communication within small teams.
I heard from Rogge that each city-state has a large-scale parallel thinking system that can construct a virtual reality space in the mind.
The thoughts of tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people are interacting with each other.
It is both an individual and a whole, and it uses data to build a perfect "new world" above the cruel and devastated real world.
very good.
It already has a future-punk feel.
But this thing is not all good.
It can be seen from the current predicament of the Black Hand that they have chips that continuously send out information waves, which become beacons for robot killers to lock on to them.
The brain wave chip cannot stop working except in the case of death.
This resulted in these fugitives being like fireflies in the dark, unable to hide themselves well.
They needed Jiang Xia, a pure outsider, to help them retake the oasis. In this situation, Jiang Xia's existence was irreplaceable, so the two sides could cooperate so smoothly.
All the members of the Black Hand Society survived the hunt.
It is very likely that he is not that kind of naive person. Jiang Xia is basically certain that when everything is settled, the cooperation between the two parties will most likely come to an abrupt end.
He sat in the truck bed, looking at the oasis getting closer and closer, and all kinds of thoughts flashed through his mind.
In the current situation, it is undoubtedly foolish to pin the final hope of survival on the integrity and morality of these wasteland warriors.
They have something to ask of themselves.
But without the premise of trust between both parties, this demand is likely to turn into something terrible.
You have to make some preparations in advance.
