Chapter 384 The Root of Chaos

  The desolate streets are littered with unswept garbage, scrapped vehicles lie on the overgrown streets, and the mottled metal lampposts make it difficult to tell whether it is rust or blood.

   Broken shop windows can be seen everywhere here, and the paralyzed android mannequins are still hung with scraps of the most fashionable styles from two hundred years ago, but there is not a single figure in sight.

   It has never been bombarded by heavy weapons, and most of the buildings have intact main structures.

   But in the end it was abandoned.

   "...It should be the front." Sesame paste held a map in his hand, compared the surrounding buildings, and took the lead in walking in front of the team.

  According to the information of the scientific research team, the gate of No. 79 Refuge is located at No. 79 Xiangling Street, East District, Ruigu City, which is a municipal library.

   As for the specific entrance, there is no specific description in the document, only limited text mentions, please arrive at the evacuation area residents to obey the manager's arrangement and enter the shelter under the instructions of the security personnel.

  I think this is also for safety reasons.

   Walking beside Sesame Paste, the broad-bodied Flesh looked around with his head probing, and muttered softly.

"What a pity……"

   "What a pity?" The tail riding on her shoulder tilted her head.

   "I always feel that the city is still good, but the people are gone."

   "That's right," rubbed his index finger on his tail and rubbed his chin in a contemplative manner, "Why don't everyone go back to live after the war is over?"

  Siss thought for a while.

   "Emmm... maybe it's because the people are gone?"

   Flesh: "..."

  Sesame paste: "Ah...haha."

   Although he just repeated what Rourou said, Sis didn’t think it was a nonsense.

   As she saw after entering the city, it was not the war itself that destroyed the city, but the chaos caused by the war.

   The lack of a series of resources, including food, water, electricity, fuel, etc., has turned this place into a steel jungle that is even crueler than the original forest.

   Especially in the third year of the war, the planet entered a half-century-long Little Ice Age.

   And when most of the people withdrew from the city, the aliens quickly occupied the place, nesting in buildings, walking through ruins, and hunting in the dark.

  The wastelander walking here will never know, when he opens a door, the first thing that comes out is a cockroach that is longer than a leg or a group of mice that grind their teeth and **** blood.

or--

  Something scarier.

   "Shh..."

   The cat ears on the top of his head moved slightly, and Sesame Paste made a silent gesture to signal his companions to be quiet.

   pressed her footsteps to the intersection at the end of the street. She was lying beside the door of a scrap car and looked at the street corner on the left.

   For a moment, she held her breath because of the giant object that caught her eye.

   Death Claw!

  Dark green scales covered his entire body, his body nearly six meters tall lay across the street, his tail curled up in front of him.

   Just looking at the size, this guy is much bigger than the "Niko" at the entrance of Vault 404, and his claws are sharper, so it should be a different breed.

   The heavy snoring blew the bushes on the side, and the dull snoring seemed to be asleep.

   Looking at the two **** corpses lying beside Sharp Claw, Sesame Paste's expression was slightly stiff.

   She's not sure if a single RPG can really kill this guy effectively.

  If the sneak attack is unsuccessful, they may be wiped out in an instant.

   crept out, she returned to the side of her companions, and said nervously.

   "It's Deathclaw...it's blocking the door to the library."

  Siss touched his chin and said solemnly.

   "No wonder I didn't see other aliens around."

   Rou Rou asked nervously.

   "Then... what should we do?"

"It's okay, it's not the only way anyway," Si Si took out the paper map and stared at it for a while, "The risk of a frontal breakthrough is too high... Let's go around to the garage behind the library and climb over the wall from there. All right."

  Deathclaw's intuition for crisis is not generally high.

   She had seen it with her own eyes, the dead claw who was sleeping one second, jumped up and slapped the flying RPG rocket the next second.

   Well, she shot that rocket.

   After that, she and the tail were killed by the death claw that rushed up. This was several versions ago.

   This kind of unreasonable creature cannot be measured by common sense.

  If it was near Dawn City, they would call for an air strike. Unfortunately, this is Ruigu City, which is far from the save point and the resurrection point.

   They have to avoid even the slightest risk.

   The group changed their direction and walked along the next street to the parking lot behind the municipal library.

   However, what Siss didn’t expect was that this place is not as empty as it looks from the outside, and there is a survivors’ settlement hidden there!

  There are two or three hundred households living here, which is like a large-scale village.

   Right under the nose of Death Claw!

   "Stop!"

   Standing on the fence reinforced with steel bars and wooden boards, the man in the studded coat shouted in a low voice to the crowd outside the wall.

   He held a shotgun in his hand, and his eyes were fixed on the bushy white bear, as well as the ammo chain and light machine gun on the white bear's back, with nervousness and anxiety in his expression.

   Although there were only three women standing outside the wall.

   But he would not naively think that a woman who can tame such a strong beast and walk alone in the wasteland would be a good thing.

   "Don't be nervous, we have no hostility." Sisi glanced at the shotgun in the man's hand, and then at the iron pipe held by the survivors behind him, and it didn't really matter.

After the    resupply, she has changed to a new body armor.

  The kind of iron-barreled rifle with Brown-motion bullets had no deterrent to her.

   "Who are you? Legion? Or an enterprise?" The man standing on the fence looked at her and asked nervously.

   "Neither, we are wastelanders from Qingquan City next door."

   The survivors standing behind the man exchanged surprised glances.

   "Qingquan City?"

   "I went there when I was young...there was a boulder city where they used plastic sheets as money to buy mint-scented soap."

"real or fake?"

   "Really! I heard you can eat three meals a day working there!"

   "And this good thing!?"

   Hearing the whispers of everyone behind him, the man stared at Si Si suspiciously, but he finally put away his muzzle and hostility.

   "The Legion does not seem to have any women... No matter who you are, it's just not those guys."

   After a pause, the man made a brief self-introduction.

   "My name is Wu Tao, the hunter of Xiangling Town... and the mayor here."

   "What happened here?" Sis asked looking at the man.

   "A lot of things happened, you really shouldn't be here at this time... Did you see that airship in the northwest?"

  Siss nodded.

   Don't say you saw it.

   They had a fight with the guy who came down from there a few days ago.

   "Has the Legion come here?"

"It's more than that," Wu Tao curled his lips, "Just the day before yesterday, that group of robbers, more than 100, came here, saying that the army of the company was burning, killing and looting nearby, and asked us to move to their camp to accept their protection. ...the ghosts believe their nonsense."

   "We've been living here for over a century, let alone a business. Even if the mutants come, we're not going anywhere! Then the thugs started setting fires..."

  The man said cursingly.

  Siss continued to ask with a frown.

"and after?"

   "Later, that guy appeared..."

   said, Wu Tao glanced behind him with lingering fears, but his sight was not in the library behind him, but over the eaves of the building.

  Siss knew what he was referring to and was slightly surprised.

   "That death claw?"

   Wu Tao nodded with a complicated expression.

   "Yeah, don't know where it came from, but thanks to that guy, the Legion dropped a few bodies and the rest got run off."

  Siss: "You're not afraid of that claw of death..."

   "I'm afraid, of course I'm afraid, but the airship is still there, and we're worried that the Legion's people will come back."

Wu Tao sighed and said helplessly, "Watching it nibble away those corpses, we threw some mutant hyenas and mice for it. That guy is not a picky eater, so he stayed at the entrance of the library... We don't know how long it will live, but it's a few days if it's stable. None of the people we sent to the Legion to inquire about the news have come back, so it's hard not to make people wonder if they're in any trouble."

  Siss guessed that the Legion was probably reluctant to use the 400mm gun on that beast. Otherwise, even the claw of death would not be able to withstand the blow of that "anti-military weapon".

   "Our story is over, it's your turn."

  Wu Tao stared at Si Si and continued to ask, "Since you are not a legion, nor an enterprise, nor a businessman... So what are you here for?"

   "We're looking for Vault 79." Sith didn't hide it, and explained his purpose bluntly.

   She thought that the man in front of her would know something, but she didn't expect that after hearing the word "sanctuary", there was only a blank expression on his face.

   That expression was obviously not pretending, but a subconscious reaction.

   It's not even just him, including several young survivors behind him, with a completely unheard-of look on his face.

"Refuge... There isn't any shelter nearby." Wu Tao looked at Si Si strangely, "This is Xiangling Town, and this building is the municipal library. Who would build a shelter in the library, you guys? Could it be in the wrong place?"

   "Huh?! Isn't it here?" Tails took out the map in surprise and unfolded it, repeatedly confirming that the coordinates and street numbers were fine.

  Siss frowned slightly.

   "Impossible... We came here only after receiving reliable news."

"Then I don't know, anyway, I've lived here since I was a child, and it's been almost thirty years," Wu Tao said, shaking his head, "Unfortunately a few days ago, our mayor cleaned up and followed the caravan heading west. If you ask him what he might know."

   "There's no such thing as..." Sesame paste's face showed an embarrassed expression.

  Siss asked without giving up.

   "Can we go in and take a look?"

   "Yes, but you have to keep your weapons," Wu Tao said cautiously, staring at the assault rifle in her hand, "We can't allow you to take this thing into our house."

  Siss did not speak, and threw a heavy bag of gold coins on the fence.

"That's not realistic, let's do it another way. Here are 100 dinars, we won't use your food and water, we just need a room that can live in, we'll leave at dawn tomorrow morning, and we won't disturb you. "

   This purse was found by her from the legionnaires. It can be said that it is a fine tradition for players to rummage through boxes and touch corpses.

  Although Legion is annoying, as one of the two "circulating currencies" in the wasteland, those golden coins are not annoying.

   Staring at the purse hanging on the wall, Wu Tao swallowed and exchanged glances with the other residents behind him.

   "Do you want to let them in?"

   "Just stay for a day... There shouldn't be any problem."

   "What are you afraid of, just three little girls... plus a bear at most."

   "By the way, that bear! You can't let that guy in."

   Wu Tao looked at the people outside the fence.

   "No problem...but your pet will scare our residents and it has to stay outside."

   "She's not a pet, she's our buddy," Sis corrected him and continued, "but that's okay, we didn't plan to let everyone in."

   said, she looked at her partner behind her and switched languages ​​skillfully.

   "Rourou, Awei, can I ask you to wait for us outside? Sesame paste and I go in and take a look. It may take a little while, but we should be out before eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

   "I always feel like those people don't seem to be lying," Sesame said hesitantly, "Could there be a problem with our intelligence? Maybe Vault 79 really isn't here."

   "Whether it's here or not, the last clue points here. According to the general practice of RPG games, the key to enter the next dungeon will most likely be here. In short, go ahead and take a look."

   Refuge does not necessarily have only one entrance. Vault 404 has two, one is connected to the subway and the other is connected to the nursing home in the park.

   Maybe the door to the library in Vault 79 has not been used since it was closed, and the residents may have left through other exits.

   Of course, this is just her guess.

   She simply felt that planning should not design a meaningless scene.

   "Oh! No problem!" Tail nodded vigorously, and Bang Bang slapped his chest, "Don't worry, leave it to Tail!"

   Rou Rou said worriedly.

   "If you are in danger, remember to shout for help."

  Sss smiled and gently touched the furry head.

   "Don't worry, everything will be fine."

  …

  The fortified wall has no doors, only a ladder lowered from the wall can climb in.

   Entering the unfamiliar survivors' settlement, Sesame Paste's expression was a little nervous, but after seeing the old people and children in the camp, the mood relaxed a little.

  There are old people and children, at least it means that this is not a looter's lair, or a slaver's farm. Maybe the people here are not as open as Dawn City, but at least they have a basic moral bottom line.

  The two followed in the footsteps of Wu Tao, passed through the parking lot where household garbage and supermarket shopping carts were piled up, and entered the library through the back door.

  The library is quite spacious, with a concrete structure on all sides, like a castle. In the center is a 100-meter-wide patio, and the dome is interlaced with steel skeletons, which should have been inlaid with large pieces of glass before.

The   -shaped layout allows sufficient light in the center of the library, where local residents grow a lot of crops.

   In addition, the corridors around the patio are also hung with drying lines and freshly washed clothes, and rows of shacks made of iron or wooden boards are distributed around.

   Although privacy is an issue, people living here don’t seem to care much.

  Sesame paste looked around curiously, very interested in the way of life of the people here, and the residents who lived here also looked at her curiously, especially the pair of cat ears on her head.

   They have seen quite a few weirdos.

   But this is the first time I have seen one with ears on top of the head.

   Wu Tao, who was walking in front with a shotgun on his back, introduced the situation here to Sisi. Including how they lived for more than 100 years and what supplies were needed in their settlements.

   This woman mentioned before that she is from Qingquan City.

   He hasn't been there, but he's heard that survivor settlements in big cities are usually richer, and there's a boulder city where you can buy everything.

   If they pass there next time, they can bring more soap and fertilizer, and they can exchange local game or some specialty crops.

   Although this is not the time to talk about business, he is the mayor of this place now, and he needs to consider more than the current affairs.

   He believed that sooner or later, the Legion would leave this poor place where birds don't shit, and the people here would live as they should.

   That's why he took the bag of gold coins.

"We have been living here since the fiftieth year of the Wasteland Era. According to my grandfather, this library is a few years old, and it can even be traced back to the early days of the People's Association... Why do you think it's down here? A shelter, maybe? There's not even a basement here."

   "It's okay, it doesn't matter if we don't, the right should be to satisfy our curiosity," Si Si looked around, "Is there still a collection of books here?"

   Wu Tao said.

   "Most of them are gone, but some are well preserved. The previous mayors followed the ancestor's instruction and kept the surviving books on the bookshelf on the second floor of the collection. Although the previous mayor ran away, I will probably stick to it."

  Siss suddenly became interested.

   "Can you take me there?"

   Wu Tao nodded.

"No problem, but only if you don't take them away, let alone break them. I'm not kidding, if you do bad things to those books, bad luck will find you soon... It's happened before things."

   "I can swear with my life," Sis said with a wink, "I will cherish those books as much as I cherish my life."

   Perhaps moved by her sincerity, Wu Tao was stunned for a few seconds on the spot.

   came back to his senses, he said with a light cough.

   "It doesn't need to be so exaggerated..."

   "Since you said so, then come with me."

  …

   Wu Tao took the two to the second floor and left them here.

   Looking at the rows of aluminum alloy bookshelves and the dazzling collection of books, Sesame Paste's face is full of hesitant expressions.

   "Will the clues to Vault 79 be hidden in these books?"

  Siss shook his head.

   "I don't know, but these books are probably the only information that has survived the catastrophe two centuries ago... Maybe something can be found."

   took out a book, and Sisi turned it over in his hand, but his expression quickly froze.

  Although she has been able to communicate daily with unskilled human phrases, and can recognize some human phrases, it is far from being able to read normally.

  The camera does have a synchronous translation function.

   But in offline state, the amount of text that can be translated is quite limited.

   Just when she felt that she was in trouble, an unfamiliar voice suddenly floated from behind the bookshelf in front of her.

   "I don't understand, why are you so persevering in trying to find that Vault 79? The residents here have told you that the Vault is not here."

   "Besides, it's a sanctuary, not a treasury, and there are no valuable treasures hidden in it. Even if you go, you'll be sullen."

   The voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against the wall, which startled the two people in the room.

   "Who?" Sesame paste held the gun nervously.

  Siss's reaction was more direct, and he walked around behind the bookshelf, but he didn't see the person who made the sound, only a retro radio with rough workmanship.

   There was a hint of surprise in her eyes, she quickly glanced left and right, looking for the camera in the room, but saw nothing.

"Don't look around, I'm not here, and it doesn't matter whether I'm here or not." The man on the radio smiled wickedly and continued in a joking tone, "You'd better focus on my problem. , What if I am the security procedure of the gate? Your suspicious reaction just now is enough for me to lock the gate."

   "S..." Walking to Si Si's side, he noticed the radio on the table, and Sesame Paste nervously glanced at his partner next to him.

   She couldn't understand what the radio was saying.

   But that voice gave her a bad feeling.

"pass it to me……"

   gave her a reassuring look, Sisi looked at the radio and continued.

   "We are here by order of Mr. Manager."

   "Manager..." The radio rustled and continued thoughtfully, "Are you residents of the shelter?"

   "Yes." Sis nodded and said sincerely, "We are from Vault 404 in Qingquan City... Do you know about Vault 79? This is very important to us."

   "Hmm, it's very important... What are you going to use it for?" the radio said glibly.

  Siss said seriously.

   "If the people inside are still there, we'll help them, and if they're gone, we'll continue their unfinished business... revive our civilization."

   A chuckle came from the radio, like a broken fingernail on a blackboard, making the teeth sore.

   Sesame Paste nervously took a step back, and Si Si also frowned slightly.

   But it didn't take long.

   That laughter turned into a sigh.

   "If what you are craving is knowledge, the collection of books beside you is enough for you to study for a lifetime. If you hold the... naive ideal of reviving civilization, then you really shouldn't come here."

   Without waiting for Si Si to speak, it continued.

   "Vault 79 is not the kind of place you imagine, it wasn't there to shelter anyone in the first place."

  Siss felt like it had something to say.

   swallowed her saliva, she asked seriously.

   "There...what is it?"

   "is the source of confusion."

   That hoarse voice seemed to be lost in long-standing memories.

   But in the end, it all turned into a helpless self-mockery.

   "At least half of the barbarism in this land can be traced back to me."

   (end of this chapter)