Hao Ren stood on the river bank made of metal, looking at the endless gray-white river surface in front of him. Those sticky, slowly squirming liquids that made people couldn't help but think of blood had an unsettling and dangerous smell.
∈↗, all the mercenaries kept a distance from the river bank with fear. Only he, Ulanov and Nolan stood at the front. Ulanov's hoarse voice came from inside the helmet: "There is only one step to the end of the world.
far away."
"Is this a swarm of nanomachines?" Hao Ren lowered his head and pointed at the viscous liquid in the gray river, "Such a... scale."
"Everyone knows that the Gray River is made up of a swarm of nanomachines," Nolan glanced at Hao Ren, "You should have crossed one of the Gray Rivers when you escaped from the natural city-state into the lawless zone. Haven't you noticed?"
"One of them?" Hao Ren frowned and then changed the subject, "No, the situation was critical at that time. We were separated from the main force and I didn't have much chance to pay attention to the surrounding situation. By the way, how do you plan to cross the river? Are you rowing?
?”
"Wait for condensation," Nolan turned away and began to order loudly, "Everyone, rest where you are, we will cross the river after dusk! Jin, Lorraine, ensure that the armored vehicles can be started at any time, and I want all electromagnetic sleepers to be turned on for 24 hours.
If someone's electromagnetic sleep device has a problem when it is turned on, report it immediately."
The mercenaries immediately took action under the order. They rested on the spot next to the armored vehicle, and took out compressed dry food from the vehicle to seize the time to replenish their physical strength. Karl walked around among the soldiers and reminded loudly: "Don't touch the soil directly with your hands.
! Keep an eye on your kettles. If there is any damage, throw it away immediately! Inject the anti-venom again half an hour later. If there is a burning sensation in your breathing, inject double the dose!"
Ulanov swayed towards the armored vehicle: "Ah. I don't need anti-venom to deal with the air here. My lungs have long since rotted away."
"He's actually a pretty optimistic guy." The mercenary lady with a very unrestrained style passed by and said casually. "But it's quite troublesome when he makes jokes with his internal organs. By the way, this good man heard that you were from
Have you come out of the shadows? Don’t you plan to start a passionate relationship again in a new environment?”
As she spoke, she rubbed her body against Hao Ren, who took a half-step to the side: "Do I need to throw you into the Gray River to calm down?"
"Ugh, boring."
After everyone else walked away, Hao Ren turned around and returned to the armored vehicle. He remembered that there was an on-board computer installed that was online at all times, and the basic query function was open to everyone, and he had also seen how Nolan operated the vehicle.
That terminal. After struggling for a while, he successfully connected to the Internet and began to query information about the Gray River and the Northland ruins.
There is no need to examine the situation of the Northland ruins in detail. It refers to the entire area that was destroyed after the nanomachine swarm went out of control sixty-five years ago. This area includes three dissolved cities and the vast wilderness between the cities. Hundreds of thousands of
Square kilometers of land have been turned into a forbidden area for life, and the goal of everyone's trip: the Northland Ring Tower is located south of the center of the ruins. As for the Gray River... they are the remnants of the nanomachine group.
The Gray River is not a single river. Hao Ren has misunderstood this before. The real Gray River refers to a large number of "rivers" that spread like radial turtle cracks around the ruins in the Northland.
After the smaller tributaries, the total number of large-scale gray rivers reached hundreds, crisscrossing like a spider web, blocking the entire Northland ruins. Viewed from the air, the Northland ruins looked like a bloodshot eyeball.
, and the Gray River is the bloodshot veins around the eyeballs: if you want to go to the Northland Ring Tower, you must cross the Gray River.
According to the rough map found on the Internet, several main routes between the natural city-state and the lawless zone also need to pass through the basin of one of the Gray Rivers. No wonder Nolan thought that Hao Ren had seen the Gray River.
Although the nanomachine swarm has dissolved everything in this area, they have not completely covered the ruins of the North. In fact, the remaining nanomachine swarms here are concentrated in the countless "grey rivers". And between the gray rivers, they are crisscrossed.
Countless "isolated islands" are staggeredly divided. These islands are covered with wreckage modified by nanomachines. The soil is filled with toxic substances created after the fleet's programming is disordered. There are those terrifying gray-white "goos" everywhere.
". However, in the ruins of the Northland, these isolated islands are the only safe places to stay.
Nolan seems to know the best route. It should be a continuous series of land, and only needs to cross a few gray rivers to reach the Ring Tower ruins.
"Don't you think this is a bit inconsistent?" The voice of the data terminal sounded in Hao Ren's mind. "All the information mentioned that the nanomachine swarm was out of control, but no information mentioned how they were controlled.
These things could have destroyed the entire world, but why did they stop in the Gray River?"
"I can't find it online, maybe it was erased," Hao Ren turned off the computer, turned around and left the car, "I'm going to talk to Nolan. How do you feel about staying in the portable space?"
"It's okay. This machine found the place where you put the gravity generator. Now I've built a 1.0g standard ground and I'm practicing goose-stepping." The voice of the data terminal was very pleasant. "This machine feels that this body is just like this.
I still feel like I have a cerebral thrombosis when I walk. No matter how hard I train, there is no effect. Maybe the compatibility has hit a bottleneck."
"...Okay, as long as you are happy, just don't touch my arsenal."
Hao Ren found Nolan, who was standing alone on the river bank at the moment, facing the increasingly darker sky. The figure of the gray-haired girl looked unusually thin in the dim light. He leaned over from behind, and there was still
When he was more than ten meters away, he saw Nolan's ears twitching slightly: What a mercenary leader with terrifying vigilance.
When the other party turned around, Hao Ren waved: "Why aren't you with everyone?"
"The Gray River is about to solidify," Nolan pointed to the surface of the river with his chin. The surging speed of the viscous liquid was getting slower and slower, and showed signs of solidification. "After dusk, the nanomachine swarm will temporarily stop moving and become
It becomes a flat surface like an alloy block, enough to carry armored vehicles through. Of course, the premise is that the electromagnetic sleep device does not shut down, otherwise these things will wake up in an instant, and a group of my people died like this."
Nolan seemed to be in a good mood now, or a little excited. She was not as cold and distant as before, but patiently explained Hao Ren's questions. The latter thought this was a good time to ask questions: "Six words
How did humans stop these out-of-control nanomachine swarms fifteen years ago?”
"Stop?" Nolan shook his head lightly, "No one stopped them at all, the fleet stopped spreading on its own. At that time, many people thought that the world was about to be destroyed, and all countermeasures and safety devices were ineffective.
Everyone here is waiting to die. The nanomachine swarm suddenly stopped and spared human life. Have you seen these river banks?"
Nolan stamped his feet and stepped hard on the metal ground. The shape of these "river banks" was like natural rocks, but the material was metal.
"These things that look like barriers are not man-made, they are made by the nanomachine swarm itself. They have defined their own range of activities, so that humans can survive and continue to fight outside the swarm's territory. Originally, the nanomachine swarm was supposed to cover the entire world.
, continue to proliferate, and continue to devour, until the planet is turned into a ball of mud... But they created a complex container to contain themselves."
Hao Ren stared: "Why is this happening?"
"Who knows? Even scientists can't tell," Nolan's mouth turned up slightly, "You should ask Ulanov, he is an expert in this field, but I guess he won't like this topic."
"Ah, now that I'm here, I don't mind talking to you about this matter," Ulanov's voice suddenly came from the side. He came to Hao Ren and looked at him quietly.
The calmer the Gray River is, "Some people speculate that the 'Master' computer successfully sent the last control signal before it crashed, causing the fleet to stop proliferating. Others suspect that the 'Master' computer is actually still running, and they are buried deep underground.
If it is powered by a nuclear reactor, it can theoretically run to this day. If you consider that it controls a group of nanomachines to perform maintenance on itself underground, it may be able to run forever."
Ulanov paused at this point and continued in a mocking tone: "There are even more crazy speculations. Mutants who call themselves Rangers believe that the nanomachine swarm has evolved intelligence and that they are based on some kind of superhuman intelligence and intelligence.
Logic made the decision to preserve this world just to observe the evolutionary process of human beings. The Rangers regard the nanomachine swarm as the new master of this world. They demonstrate their evolutionary superiority by attacking other humans indiscriminately, and believe that this
You can get a place in the new world when the 'Judgment Day' comes. There are countless other sayings like this..."
(I’ve been running outside all day, so I finished this chapter at night. Besides, I’m idle anyway, so I’d like to ask for a monthly ticket =.=) (To be continued...)