[Task (Part 1): You wake up from the gap in time and open your eyes to see the world. You decide to move forward and explore]
…
The information in his mind slowly disappeared and faded. At the same time, Cheng Lin also sensed that the nearby strong wind had disappeared, the oval hole in front had disappeared, and the entire weird "force field" had disappeared over a long period of time.
Only he was left standing in mid-air, staring at the strange world beneath his feet.
It is a land composed of forests and hills. The original terrain has been changed, and modern traces have completely disappeared, making it difficult to find traces.
The desolate mountain peaks are full of trees and weeds growing wantonly, almost like a primitive jungle. However, probably due to the climate, these trees are not particularly lush, and the air humidity is not high, so there is no fog in the forest.
As for the farther distance, it was a similar situation, except when Cheng Lin looked towards the south end, he could faintly see some ruins among the undulating mountains.
"The Great Wall..." Cheng Lin quickly realized what it was and immediately sighed.
An era has passed, but some of these buildings still remain. However, this also provides him with the information that he is still in his original position.
"That hole actually leads to another universe? So, it almost drained the earth's air and led to the tragic severance of civilization? It's really..."
Cheng Lin had mixed feelings for a while and could only sigh at the fragility of civilization. However, it only took a few seconds for him to recover from his low mood. After all... he was used to it.
"Well, according to the mission reminder, let me explore to the north..." Cheng Lin calmed down, collected his wandering thoughts, and then considered the issue of his mission.
He did not fall down immediately, but looked to the north, and found that there were similar barren mountains in his field of vision, and no human habitation was seen. However, judging from the logic of the mission, if you go in this direction, you will definitely find something.
"Fly over...or...eh?" After confirming the direction, Cheng Lin was hesitating when he suddenly noticed a faint light reflected from a mountain peak in front of him, which was extremely dazzling.
He raised his head and saw a sun just appearing in the clouds in the sky, and then it was covered by clouds. It was probably midsummer and the weather was cloudy.
After thinking for a moment, he guessed that the light was most likely caused by some object reflecting sunlight. Cheng Lin immediately controlled the He Sword and flew in that direction.
Soon, he slowly descended to the top of the mountain. When he landed, the plants around his feet trembled and turned their heads in disgust.
Cheng Lin: "..."
Sighing, Cheng Lin tried to cover his aura, using this method to block the effect of "Plant Nemesis". This was a trick he developed after advancing to the seventh level.
After doing this, he looked at the top of the mountain, and then raised his eyebrows. The trees on the top of the mountain were relatively sparse, and the boulders were scattered all over. Cheng Lin walked over and discovered the "reflection source" - it was actually a small pool, not big.
, there is a lot of rainwater accumulated inside, it looks very clear, and the sky is reflected inside.
A few leaves and withered pink-white flowers float slowly over the water, conveying a sense of tranquility.
"Is it just a pool..." Cheng Lin was a little disappointed and was about to leave. Immediately, he paused. Not far from the pool, there was a crack on the mountain peak. It was unclear whether it was a cave or caused by changes in the earth's crust. It was dark inside.
, seems to lead to the inside of the mountain.
Cheng Lin's heart moved, and he walked over. He sighed gently with his right hand, whipped up a gust of wind, and blew away the branches next to the cave.
"Pa!" Cheng Lin snapped his fingers and summoned "Fire Meteor", then threw it straight into the cave. As the fire flashed away, he accidentally spied some strange scenes.
"Huh." Cheng Lin raised his eyebrows, walked over, turned over his hand and took out a tactical flashlight from the storage ring - although the situation inside can be seen clearly by turning on the perception ability, it is not intuitive after all.
brush……
The bright beam of light shot out, like a sharp sword, penetrating the darkness, and Cheng Lin stepped in.
At first, the crack in the mountain was very rough, as if it had split open naturally. But when he jumped and walked down a certain distance, he found that the mountain was indeed hollowed out, and there was a huge, abyss-like space underneath.
"It should be due to changes in the earth's crust that a hole was torn open on the top of the mountain. I am currently on the top of the mountain. If I want to go down, I probably won't be able to find the way."
Cheng Lin analyzed it in his mind and summoned He Jian and Yu Jian, circling and flying downward through the narrow gap. After an unknown amount of time, he finally landed on the ground, and with the help of the light, he saw the rough
Stone steps.
"This is a trace of human survival." Cheng Lin nodded and looked around with interest. He found that both sides of the stone steps were full of ashes-like ruins.
It seems that many things were once placed here, but under the influence of time, they have become dilapidated and difficult to identify.
"Clang..." While walking, Cheng Lin suddenly kicked something. He picked it up and unexpectedly found that it was a rusty spoon.
"This space is probably one of the places where people lived in the Catastrophic Era. Well, I'm not sure about the era. I don't know whether it was when that incident happened, when people moved underground, or when the thin air caused mass extinction.
... "
Cheng Lin exerted a little force and the rusty spoon broke into pieces. He could only shake his head helplessly and continue to move forward while looking around.
By this time, he should have been underground. Cheng Lin walked around and found more and more steel remnants, as well as ceramics, objects that could survive over a long period of time.
Among them, what caught his attention the most were several large, rusty machines. They were huge in size and evenly distributed on both sides of a channel similar to a "river".
The so-called "river channel" was determined by Cheng Lin based on its shape and the remaining river sand inside.
"I don't know if it's an underground river or a relatively shallow surface river." Cheng Lin squatted next to a machine, shined a flashlight on it, then reached out and patted it hard, and the rust and dust cracked open.
Cheng Lin observed carefully, and he actually saw some information. Some of the remaining structures on these machines looked like switches and knobs, and the interfaces on their sides vaguely meant that they seemed to have been connected to the river through cables.
connected.
After using it for a while, Cheng Lin finally found a piece of copper that seemed to be relatively intact, and used his mental strength to try his best to identify the blurred writing on it: "Electrical... solution... device..."
electrolysis?
Cheng Lin was startled for a moment, and then he realized what kind of machine this was. It was clearly a supporting instrument for electrolyzing water, and what would electrolyzed water produce? Oxygen, of course!
"Is this a device used by people in the Catastrophic Era to create oxygen?"
"Yes, the world's air was rapidly being sucked out at that time, to the point where it was almost impossible to support human survival. The atmosphere was destroyed and the oceans were evaporating. But after all, it couldn't be that fast. It took time. With the earth's huge water storage capacity,
, coupled with the earth's self-repair, it can be speculated that during the disaster period, there will still be no shortage of water on the earth, and the groundwater is protected from evaporation due to the isolation of the soil. "
"Humans hiding underground can completely use the remaining power equipment to split water and produce oxygen. However, given the situation at the time, there must be very few power plants that can be used and very little oxygen can be produced. This can only barely help.
A few people survived the most difficult years."
Cheng Lin silently squatted beside the dry river, sighed softly, put the piece of copper back to its place, then stood up and continued to move forward along the ancient river.
Not long after, he found more electrolysis equipment and metal "oxygen tanks" piled in batches in the corner. Well, I believe there were more non-metallic oxygen tanks, but they were already rotten.
Stopping and going, Cheng Lin walked deeper and deeper, and the road ahead was sometimes narrow and sometimes wide.
Finally, when he reached the end of the river, the light of the tactical flashlight pierced the darkness and shone through. Cheng Lin's originally relaxed expression suddenly tightened, and his two pupils suddenly dilated, as if he had seen an incredible sight.
"Crack, click, click..."
In the darkness, the roar of an unknown underground creature came.
Cheng Lin only saw an extremely majestic metal gate in front of him at the end of the underground river. It had been sealed in dust for an unknown period of time, and inside the gate were piles of white bones and corpses.
…
…
"careful!"
In the dark forest, a cool breeze blew, but there was just a hint of fishy smell in the air.
A young man covered in armor waved the giant sword in his hand and cut a strange creature in two pieces from the grass.
Amidst the ferocious roar, part of the two severed corpses were still waving their sharp claws. On the face that looked like a large rat, there were still the remains of unknown animal flesh between the yellow and sharp teeth.
.
"Iron-eating rat..." On the side, another warrior dressed similarly came over and pressed the long sword in his hand next to the beast's mouth. Then he saw it open its mouth and begin to eat the sword body, metal and teeth.
The friction made a shrill scream.
"We must be more vigilant." The tall young man who took action first shook the blood on the sword blade and said.
He has a tall and well-proportioned figure, with dark brown hair hanging loosely. He has a three-dimensional face, gray and bright eyes, and is young but calm.
The armor on his body was shiny, and the characteristic emblem pattern was painted on his chest, which also marked the status and bloodline of the lord and noble to whom he belonged.
However, compared to the slightly complicated emblem, the most eye-catching ones are the light patterns imprinted on the armor on his left and right forearms, as well as three places on his waist. Their complexity far exceeds that of the family emblem, and they seem to be alive.
Like, it flashes a faint light according to the rhythm of breathing, and transmits a wave of spiritual energy.
"Shirley, are you okay?" He opened his mouth and looked at his companion who was crouching at the front of the team and originally inspecting the soil.
She was a young woman, wearing a strange robe, walking in the forest, which seemed a little inconvenient. However, if you look carefully, you will find that the cleanliness of her clothes is also at the forefront of the entire team.
The girl named Shirley did not look back, but picked up a little dark soil with her right hand. Then she picked up the wooden stick stuck on the ground with her free left hand, turned around, looked at the team members behind her, and said:
"Look at this soil. The metal elements in it are extremely rich. I suspect that the 'relics' are nearby."
"Oh?" After hearing her words, the entire team became obviously serious.
This team is not big, with about a dozen people. Among them, there are only four members dressed like Shirley. The rest are men wearing armor. Their armors are of the same style. They are obviously from the same territory. One of them is older.
The woman's eyes lit up slightly when she heard this:
"It seems that we went right. The 'ruins' marked on the map should be on this mountain, further upstream."
"I think so too," Shirley nodded, scattered the soil in her hands, patted it, and then gathered back the hair that fell out of the hood, "So, we have to speed up, otherwise,
I’m afraid I won’t be able to go back down the mountain before dark.”
"It's not bad if you can't go down the mountain. You can walk deeper into the ruins. Rather than just finding the location, I want to bring back some relics of the civilization before the disaster." In the team, there was a man carrying a strange copper pipe on his back.
The young man said hehe.
"Woof!" On the ground, a hunting dog with two heads mixed in the team also barked at the same time, seeming to be responding.
"Okay, put away your thoughts. Who knows what is in the ruins? If it is safe, fine, but if it is dangerous, then we, the people, may not be able to do anything or return. Remember, our mission is to find
Then record its location and go back to report to His Highness. As for subsequent development, we have to wait for the arrival of the large army. "
The girl named Shirley seemed to be quite popular in the team. She said this very seriously, and the others could only nod Nono and agreed, "Okay, okay, we promise to complete the mission."
The two-headed dog also whined and lowered its head, its four ears flopping down.
Shirley sighed helplessly and turned to look at the young man dressed as a dark-brown-haired warrior: "Run."
She didn't say anything, and the young man named "Lu En" laughed, took a big step, swept out the sword wind with the long sword in his hand, and the mysterious runes on the armor lit up: "Okay, leave it to me, I will open the way!"
"
After saying that, he took the lead and walked towards the upper reaches of the dry river. The others also put away their smiles and moved forward seriously and solemnly. At the same time, they looked around vigilantly, guarding against possible dangers.
This is the southern tip of the "continent", a dark place that has not been explored by civilization, an unknown land shrouded in the Cataclysm Era for countless years. No one dares to underestimate this place. This is the basic rule of every "Pioneering Knight".
"Look, here! There is a gate here!" After a while, a group of people finally arrived at the entrance of the "ruin", which was a half-covered cave sunken under a cliff. After clearing away the weeds, a huge door opened.
The iron gate stands in front of everyone.
"It is indeed a relic! And it is a prehistoric relic of very high standards!" someone shouted excitedly.
"Okay, everyone spread out and look for the open mechanism. Remember, don't move if you find it!" Shirley took a deep breath and shouted.
The team immediately dispersed and began searching around.
The young man with the two-headed dog shrugged and said: "Even if it is found, it is probably broken. This is a prehistoric mechanism and has been rusted to death long ago."
"Shh! Be quiet! Listen!" Suddenly, the older woman in the team pricked up her ears and shouted.
Everyone was stunned, stopped one after another, and listened carefully. Immediately, some people's faces slowly changed and turned pale: "The sound... there seems to be a sound inside the door?!"