Chapter 573 The Origin of Chaos

  A Viper transport plane landed on a bare field, and two soldiers wearing exoskeletons jumped from the side of the cabin.

  The two are soldiers of the Guards Regiment.

  There are missions where players are active, usually they provide support and assistance.

  These fighters are all elites selected from other regiments. All of them have received injections to induce expression of serum, and without exception they are all awakened.

  There is a saying on the forum that they are the eyes of managers.

  However, some players don’t think so. After all, who can be more like the manager’s eyes than the hardworking “task masters” themselves?

  Looking at the plane with arcs spraying from its tail, Kong Lingkai's eyes were full of greed, and he thought in his heart that it would be great if he could buy one.

   This thing must be much more comfortable to sit on than his broken wood.

  The two soldiers ignored the guy, one of them went straight to the corpse of the prosthetic mutant who was thrown on the ground, and the other walked up to Lao Bai and gave a military salute.

   "We came here to recover the body of the mutant 'Ogg' under the order of the administrator."

   His right fist knocked on the breastplate, Lao Bai said concisely.

   "I've seen it in the mission briefing, and I'll leave the rest to you."

"learn!"

  The soldier nodded and was about to turn around when Lao Bai suddenly thought of something and said.

   "By the way, are you going directly back to Dawn City?"

"Yes."

   Seeing the soldier nodding his head, Lao Bai hurriedly continued to ask.

   "Is it convenient to take a ride? We have a few people here who want to go back."

  The soldier was stunned for a moment, then said after a moment of hesitation.

   "I have to ask my manager for instructions..."

   After finishing speaking, he turned around and returned to the plane, connected to the communication base station at the outpost at the provincial border through the onboard radio, and got in touch with the shelter.

   After a while, he walked back.

   "The manager said yes."

   "Great." Lao Bai nodded with a smile, and looked at Xinghe standing aside, "My friend, your mission"

   Xinghe froze.

   "Huh?! Is this... okay?"

"What's so good about this? Anyway, there are so many empty seats, five or six people can still sit." Looking at Xinghe who was still hesitating, Lao Bai patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, "The managers have agreed, You're welcome."

   As he spoke, he looked at the waking farmer sitting slumped next to the Mosquito attack aircraft.

   "By the way, you don't have any objection to letting people go?"

   Didn't expect the man in iron bumps to talk to him, Kong Lingkai was startled when he came back to his senses, and shook his head quickly, for fear of neglecting for a second.

   "No, no!"

   "He has no objection," Lao Bai looked at the bewildered Xinghe and Luo Yu, and said with a smile, "Hurry up and take them over, don't waste time."

   Xinghe took the farmer back to the side of Hope Farm, that Kong Lingkai didn't dare to neglect at all, and sent the family out like a plague god.

   It can be seen that Kong Lingkai is not very willing to give up these few cash cows, but he is really afraid. He had no doubt that it would take less than half an hour for these groups of people to destroy him...

   "Are you really not thinking about it? I'll give you...500,000 silver coins, as long as you bring that guy here." Looking at Xinghe who was about to leave, Kong Lingkai's face was full of reluctance.

  Except for the newly weaned child, Zhou Nan's family all showed expressions of fear when they heard this sentence.

   They knew that if the young man nodded, they were dead.

   But their worries are obviously unnecessary.

  Looking at the expectant Master Kong, Xinghe smiled and said.

   "You think too much, don't say half a million silver coins, even if you give me one million silver coins, I can't do things that can't be done for you."

   Kong Ling was in a hurry.

   "Is it because you don't have enough money? I'll pay—"

   "It has nothing to do with money," Xinghe sighed, "In our place, there are things that are more expensive than silver coins."

   Such as gaming helmets.

   But the NPC obviously didn't understand, and said in a daze.

   "Something more expensive than... silver coins?"

   Xinghe said casually: "That's right, in the alliance, honor and dignity cannot be traded. We want to build an equal society... what the manager said."

  Hearing this sentence, Kong Lingkai knew that it was useless to say anything.

  He suddenly looked like a deflated ball, sullen in his heart, but he didn't dare to get angry, so he could only point and curse in a low voice.

   "You keep talking about equality...is this fair to me? If I hadn't given this white-eyed wolf freedom and borrowed his money to get rich, how could he have achieved what he is today!"

  Looking at the guy who wanted to get angry but didn't dare, Xinghe shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know about your business, and I'm not interested in learning about it. Maybe in his opinion, he has served you for so many years is enough to repay the kindness he owes you. The planes, cement, and machine guns here are actually from us. Isn't it produced? Maybe in your opinion these may not be enough, but that's another question."

"To me, you should sign an agreement that stipulates ownership and profit sharing, and bind each other with written things in black and white, and we will protect the legitimate rights and interests of all partners. But with vague things like 'gratitude' , you actually know that there will be disputes in the future, don’t you? Otherwise, you wouldn’t take the whole family hostage.”

   "In any case, at least in our place, kidnapping is illegal, regardless of the reason. You should be glad that this is not in the alliance territory for the time being, otherwise the mercenaries who came here would not be."

  Not yet... What does it mean?

  Looking at the group of people who turned and left, Kong Lingkai's eyes showed a trace of panic, while the private soldiers and servants standing around looked at each other...

  …

  On a bare field.

  Sitting in the Viper transport plane, Xinghe looked at Luo Yu who was watching him off, and said with a face of shame.

   "Good brother! I'll come back and help you!"

   He made an appointment to help each other before, but he went back first, so he was somewhat embarrassed.

  Luo Yu didn't care, looked at the slowly rising transport plane, smiled and waved.

   "Yeah! I've got that in mind, and good luck!"

  Bringing the body of the prosthetic mutant, Xinghe and Zhou Nan's family, the Viper transport plane dragged two arcs and flew towards Dawn City more than 800 kilometers away.

   Looking away from the plane, Lao Bai looked at Luo Yu.

   "Let's go back to town and discuss it."

   "Yeah!" Luo Yu nodded and said with a smile, "I just happened to introduce the NPC who is the team leader to you. He is a local here and knows more about the situation here than I do."

  Fang Chang suddenly thought of something and said.

   "He is your employer's man, or the farmer's man."

   Luo Yu scratched his head.

   "This... I don't know, but my employer said that he can be trusted, and he is aware of the entrusted matter."

   "I see, then it should be fine." Fang Chang nodded, his face seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn't speak again.

   Just as the group of people was walking towards Hope Town, the mayor of Hope Town and a group of important officials in the town had already greeted them.

  Everyone had different expressions on their faces, ranging from the rejoicing of being alive after the catastrophe, to the gratitude of being grateful, to vigilance and apprehension.

  The person headed bowed and saluted, and said politely.

   "I am Ma Hechang, the mayor of the town here. Please allow me to represent the more than a thousand residents of Hope Town. Thank you for your help! If it weren't for you, I am afraid few people would survive tonight."

  Looking at the mayor in front of him, Lao Bai said with a smile.

   "You're welcome, please help us get a hotel if it's convenient, we have to stay here for one night. Ah, of course, we will pay for it."

   Seeing that this guy was about to pay, Ma Hechang said hastily.

   "That's so embarrassing, we will help you arrange the accommodation, you warriors can stay as long as you want!"

  Old Bai said with a smile.

   "We won't disturb here for too long, we will leave early tomorrow morning..."

   Hearing that he would leave early tomorrow morning, Ma Hechang heaved a sigh of relief.

  Although he didn't know why the mutants suddenly went mad and killed here, his intuition told him that it must be related to these people in front of him.

   After all, they have already joined the big family of the Church of the Torch. Strictly speaking, that Qi tribe can be regarded as their ally.

   Obviously these outsiders angered the mutants, otherwise he really couldn't think of any other reason, the mutants would attack their own people.

  Before it was the Iron Tower, and now there is an alliance again, these people seem to be bewildered...Why do they have to find trouble with mutants?

  They can actually reach an agreement like civilized people.

   I really hope they can be polite and don't bring their grievances into other people's homes.

  But despite thinking this way, he still made a hospitable and regretful expression on his face, and said hypocritically.

   "If you need anything, please let us know."

   "I will..." Lao Bai nodded, suddenly thought of something, and continued, "By the way, can you take me to visit the pastor in the town?"

  Ma Hechang froze for a moment.

   "Are you referring to..."

  Old Bai went straight to the point.

   "I heard that there is a church of the Torch Church here."

   Ma Hechang's face was filled with confusion, and he nodded quickly and said.

   "Okay, I'll take you there."

  …

  The town was quiet.

  After the mutants were dealt with, many caravans tore down the roadblocks at the entrance, and led people to run north without any explanation, for fear of staying here for another night and being killed by those mutants.

  The militiamen in the town did not dare to force them to stay, they could only watch those people walk away.

  After this incident, those people may never come here again. But people are more worried about the present than the future.

  Why did those mutants come back here?

  They have suffered such a big loss, will they come back again...

  Don't say it's those foreigners.

  Some locals who were born and raised here are also hesitating whether to pack up and run away, leaving this place of right and wrong completely.

   After entering the town, the players were divided into two teams.

  Fang Chang and Luo Yu went to the hotel to contact the leader of the caravan at the Pine Cone Farm to see if they could find a chance to sneak into the farm.

  Lao Bai, Ye Shi, and Kuang Feng followed the mayor to the church of the Torch Church.

  The church is in the center of the town. It is a pointed house with a tiled roof. It doesn't look grand, but it's not shabby either.

  The emblem of the Torch Church is engraved on the top of the main entrance—two torches made of inverted triangles.

   Seeing the man in power armor looking at the logo thoughtfully, Ma Hechang coughed slightly and said.

   "Here is the church we built for the Holy Son... just built some time ago."

  Old Bai said something casually.

   "It seems that you all love that Holy Son."

  Ma Hechang said with a smile.

   "Of course, he did bring the gospel to us."

   "Which aspect?"

"Which aspect? That's too much..." Ma Hechang was stunned for a moment, and then he said, "For example, Naguo. In the past, there were fights every now and then, those who herded cattle, those who farmed, those who felled trees, and those who hunted The guys all look like they've been shot, but since the emerald trees were planted in the town, they don't have these troubles anymore. Those who do manual work are as honest as sheep, and they finally look a little bit like they should be. "

  Old Bai suddenly asked curiously.

   "Do you eat that too?"

   "Of course," Ma Hechang continued with a smile, "I had a severe cold before, but it will be fine after eating Naguo."

  Old Bai was puzzled.

   "Then why aren't you like them?"

  He knows that the holy water can exempt from the negative effects of "fugue travel", but he can't get an injection every day, right?

  And the holy water is only immune to negative effects, and cannot prevent the "fugue" state itself. It is not a good thing to be immersed in the illusion of happiness.

  Pleasant feeling of pain, obedience to other people's voice... These effects cannot be eliminated by holy water.

  Ma Hechang smiled embarrassedly and said.

   "Of course it is because of the Gospel of the Holy Son... We only need to pay a little tax to keep our heart in his Gospel. To put it simply, it is to avoid entering a fugue state."

   Seeing the man's confused face, Ma Hechang took out a small medicine bottle.

   "That's it. It's called 'Gospel'. It's enough to take one tablet every morning. It's like a mild holy water, but not so violent. Just enough to keep people healthy and awake."

   Staring at the small medicine bottle for a while, Lao Bai asked with interest.

   "How did this sell?"

   Ma Hechang said hastily.

   "This is not for sale, this is a favor for the devout. As long as you obey the will of the Holy Son, you will be able to receive the favor of the Gospel..."

   "What is his will?"

   "Build a church to spread the faith for the Holy Son, and then regularly donate a small amount of property to support the clergy."

  The so-called not much here should mean not much for the rich and powerful. Obviously, this "gospel" has a cost, and it is not so cheap that anyone can afford it.

   But where did this thing come from?

  As if he had thought of something vaguely, Lao Bai took out ten silver coins from his pocket and put them in the hands of the mayor.

   "Can I have one?"

  The mayor hesitated for a while, but he nodded when he saw the weapons in these people's hands, obediently knocked out a pill and handed it to Lao Bai.

  “…Accordingly, we can’t give it to people other than believers, but Mr. Apostle didn’t say what would happen if we gave it.”

   "Thanks." Lao Bai smiled lightly, and handed the pills to Ye Shi, who stuffed them into his tactical backpack.

   This thing is valuable research material.

  Miss Baimao from the Institute of Biology should be interested.

  Going to the door of the church, Mayor Ma pushed the wooden door open without knocking.

  The pastor in a gray robe stood behind the wooden podium, muttering some prayers.

  Hearing the sound of the door being pushed open, he immediately raised his head in fright, and was relieved when he saw that it wasn't a mutant who came in.

   "That... Mr. Wei, the crisis outside has been resolved! I forgot to tell you just now, sorry."

  Seeing the middle-aged pastor looking straight at him, Mayor Ma coughed, gave him a strong wink, and continued.

  “…These friends from afar are very interested in our beliefs, please answer their confusion.”

  Old Bai noticed that although Mayor Ma had a pious face when he talked about the Holy Son, he did not respect the servant of God in the church very much.

  That sentence sounded polite, but it was mostly in a commanding manner.

  Most likely it was because he had converted not long ago, and this pastor was a native of the town.

  Looking into the pastor's eyes, Lao Bai said with a smile.

   "Excuse me, is it convenient to sit here?"

  The middle-aged priest said nervously.

   "You are welcome."

  Old Bai nodded, sat down on the bench in the front row, and then looked back at Mayor Ma.

   "We have some things we want to talk to him alone."

  Understanding the meaning of these words, the mayor immediately laughed and laughed.

   "Okay! Then I'll go to other things first."

   As he spoke, he turned and left the church, and closed the door for everyone intimately.

  The church fell silent.

   Being watched by pairs of eyes, the pastor swallowed and said nervously.

   "My name is Wei Ming, and I'm the pastor here. I don't know everyone... what do you want to ask me?"

  Intuition told him that these people didn't like him.

  In these pairs of eyes, there are clearly malicious intentions.

   "Are you from this town?"

  The pastor named Wei Ming nodded nervously.

"Yes…"

  Old Bai then asked.

   "How did you know that Zhang Zhengyang?"

  The tone of the interrogation made Wei Ming feel a little unhappy, but he didn't dare to complain in the face of these ruthless people.

  The exoskeletons of those guys are still covered with minced meat and blood, and a hideous blood red is printed on them, even if they don't say a word, they are enough to deter them.

   Swallowing, he replied nervously.

   "...two years ago, that apostle came here, and I saw him then."

   Hearing about this from the Iron Tower Organization, Lao Bai was not surprised, and continued to ask.

   "Naguo was also brought at that time?"

  Wei Ming nodded.

"Yes...but it was different from now. The first Naguo was not mature and could only grow in hot environments. I also heard that it is a tropical crop, and it is said that it was introduced from several small islands in the south. .”

  Although the Jinchuan Province is far enough south compared to the River Valley Province, it is far from tropical and can only be counted as being on the edge of the subtropical zone.

   Catch up with the cold winter, it will still snow.

   Lao Bai frowned and asked.

   "They improved crops?"

"Well..." Wei Ming nodded and glanced at the direction of the backyard, "At the beginning, there was no church here, it was just a warehouse. The apostle rented a piece of land in the town and hired some people to help him try to plant those special crops."

  Old Bai stared at him and asked.

   "Why did he ask you for help?"

   Wei Ming replied truthfully.

"I'm the doctor in the town... and I know a little bit about biology. He told me that if his plan goes well, he won't need such a thing as a clinic in the future, and if I will help him, he can call the shots Give me a higher salary."

   "Is there anyone else besides you?"

"Yes."

  Old Bai then asked.

   "Are they still in town?"

  Wei Ming smiled wryly and shook his head.

"Those people are serfs bought from nearby farms. To put it bluntly, they are both coolies and experiments. The apostle will let them eat the fruit he planted, and my job is not only preaching, but also Recording their clinical response... I haven't seen those people since the first phase of the trial, but I can probably guess where they went."

  Old Bai: "Where did you go?"

   Wei Ming was silent for a long time this time.

   After a while, he spoke.

   "I have no proof...but I feel like I was sent to the mutants."

  Old Bai was stunned.

   "Sent to mutants?"

  Wei Ming shook his head with a bitter expression on his face.

"No way, they are already dying. At that time, Naguo couldn't survive the winter at all. The withdrawal reaction lasted for a whole winter, and there were not enough antibiotics to help those people survive... The apostle said to deal with them, but I think it should be Not simply dealing with it. Those people have been doing business with mutants for a long time, and I've even heard—”

   Seeing Wei Ming who suddenly stopped talking, Lao Bai immediately asked.

   "What did you hear?"

  Wei Ming was silent for a while, then spoke slowly.

"I heard that they will buy some slaves from nearby farms with Dinar or Cr, and send them to the mutant tribe in the city... They seem to have reached some kind of contract, and the mutants will help the church to ensure the safety of the parish , but relatively, the church should provide them with some people on a regular basis.”

  Ye Shi couldn't help but cursed in a low voice.

   "These scumbags."

  Wei Ming couldn't understand what he was saying, but he could feel the anger in that tone, and shrank his neck involuntarily.

  Old Bai stared into his eyes.

   "Since you are a doctor...you should be able to see that that thing called Naguo will destroy you."

   Wei Ming's Adam's apple twitched, and he gave a wry smile.

   "My lord... Destruction of such things is sooner or later for us living in this wasteland. The difference is only today or tomorrow."

  Old Bai fell into silence.

  He suddenly felt a little sympathetic to this guy.

   At this time, the wind suddenly spoke.

"It doesn't make sense... Listen to what you mean, the group of mutants in the city let you go because they reached an agreement with the Church of the Torch, but why did the version I heard say that they rarely harassed the nearby people more than a century ago? village."

   Wei Ming said with a sigh.

"This is actually not contradictory. More than a century ago... It can even be said that until 20 years ago, when I was young, the 'odd' tribe was still restrained towards us, and it was only in recent years that they suddenly became irritable. things."

  Ye Shi: "Why?"

"I also heard from my grandfather," Wei Ming said slowly, seeing the expressions of the people sitting here listening intently, "It is said that a long time ago, in the urban area of ​​Jinhe City, there was a not inferior The number of settlements in Boulder City may be larger than that of Boulder City at that time, and there must be hundreds of thousands of people..."

   His eyes seemed to be caught in the previous meeting. After thinking for a moment, he continued.

   "At that time, the Post-War Reconstruction Committee was in charge of it, and the settlement seemed to be called Singularity City or something... If I remember correctly."

   "Later, around the fiftieth year of the Wasteland Era, that is, a century and a half ago, some conflicts occurred within that committee... It was said that the family was going to be separated."

  Old Bai nodded.

   "I've also heard about this. It was around the fiftieth year of the Wasteland Era that the Post-War Reconstruction Committee officially announced its dissolution."

  Wei Ming froze for a moment.

   "Is there such a thing? In fact, it doesn't matter. I heard that the committee existed in name only a long time ago, but this is not the point... The point is that at that time, a group of green-skinned guys ran over from the east."

"Those people claiming to be researchers from a certain facility came from the East Coast and were persecuted by the production department. In order to keep their research results and escape from the production department's pursuit, they had no choice but to turn themselves into that person. It looks neither human nor ghost."

  When Ye Shi heard this, Ye Shi was shocked.

   "Holy dude... ancestors of mutants?!"

  Wei Ming nodded.

"Basically, that's how the earliest mutants in the rumors came... They were transformed from humans. Those guys are still humans in essence, so they can't eat humans, they are even more polite than humans, and they get along well with the residents of Singularity City. Very harmonious."

  Ye Shi struggled to squeeze out half a sentence from his throat.

   "But why..."

   "Why are you starting to eat people now, right?" Wei Ming's face was full of complex expressions, "To be honest, I don't know, and what I said was just what my grandfather said..."

   "But if I had to guess."

  He swallowed, and replied with an uncertain voice.

   "Probably...the earliest mutants thought they were human, but their children didn't think so."

  (end of this chapter)