The sand and dust coming from the pavement, the dry and hot air seemed to crack the skin, the smell of smoke and fuel rushed straight into the nose, mixed with the occasional rancid smell and the weird smell of blood, and the unknown acidic irritating gas made the eyes tremble.
A moment of sting. Obviously, we are back in the post-apocalyptic cyber world, and only this world can have such a "richly layered" atmosphere.
But the scene in front of me is very strange. It looks like a wasteland punk wilderness, not a cyberpunk city.
"Where is this?"
"Look carefully, you should know where this is."
Sister Sai did not answer, but pointed at the group of buildings that looked like a recycling bin and seemed to be a camp.
"This is... the scavenger's lair?"
"To be precise, they are a certain branch of the scavengers. The scavengers are a collective name for a group of people. They are usually regarded as a force, but in fact they are completely stragglers. The most scattered organized groups are too united compared to them.
To make an inappropriate analogy, scavengers are like what people call 'bugs', but there are actually many kinds of bugs, and some are not even 'insects' at all."
"I understand, but your analogy might drive Sister Aini crazy."
"It doesn't matter, she can't beat me."
"Ah? Sister Aini can't beat you?"
"I can't beat her either."
"..."
"Back to the topic, come on."
Sister Sai took a step, and we instantly moved from the commanding heights in the distance to the door of the garbage dump camp. Only then did I notice that this camp was occupied by people. Several ferocious-looking scavengers were standing on the high platform looking around.
His expression was fierce and he seemed very unhappy. Bad memories suddenly came to mind. If Sister Sai were in front of me again...
"They can't see us. I will give you enough time to adjust your mentality and will not do anything to trigger your stress. Aini has done this before and it has been proven to be a failure. You are not the kind of person who can turn stress into
As a motivated person, too much pressure will only drive you crazy.”
"That's good……"
Sister Sai took me directly to the gate. The gate made of various scraps was like a phantom. We crossed it as if we were passing through the air, without any obstruction at all. The scavengers on the high platform also turned a blind eye to us, still grinning.
Looking into the distance.
The scenes in the camp are basically the same as those seen in various wasteland works. There are rubbish and debris everywhere, shabby shacks arranged randomly, and human remains that are either decorations or waste. In short, it is dirty and messy.
, plus a barbaric horror. However, the whole camp feels deserted, as if something important is missing... Ah, I remembered, there are missing scavengers! There are not many people here at all, and there are no fights in the open space.
There were no madmen or strong men dismantling scraps or corpses. Everything was quiet and there was no atmosphere that a wasteland should have.
"What did you think of?"
Sister Sai noticed something and turned around to ask me.
"It just creates a strange association, because the remaining people can no longer wait for their teammates to come back..."
"It is indeed a strange association. I want to correct your mistake. Scavengers do not have the concept of teammates, comrades, companions, and family. If you randomly pick two people to get along with each other in the Dream City, they will be closer than the scavengers. There is trust and friendship.
Reliance doesn't exist here at all. Don't think of scavengers as the relationship between a pack of wolves or a pack of hyenas. There is no blood connection between them. As for the reason, that's what I want to show you."
Sister Sai continued to take me deeper into the camp, and the surrounding environment suddenly became very strange. The outside of the camp was obviously relatively orderly, but the inside looked like it had been bombed. There were scraps and collapsed shacks scattered on the ground, and there were also
The human parts pressed underneath. However, these traces of destruction are only limited to a certain range, just like a precisely controlled explosion occurred here, and no more than one centimeter outside the explosion range will be harmed. I saw half a box
There was a wine bottle standing upside down, and the bottle was right next to the broken hole of the box. It seemed that the shock wave of the explosion disappeared when it reached the broken hole.
"No need to be surprised, this is what Xiao Wu did when luring the enemy."
"It turns out that the mission to attract them to attack the city was done by Xiao Wu..."
"Why, do you hate her?"
"Not really..."
"Here we are."
Sister Sai stopped in front of a strange building. This shack can no longer be called a shack, but a factory or warehouse built with waste materials. I think it is more like a factory. There are large wires on the roof of the factory.
Go to the surrounding electric poles, and there is an annex with a large tank connected to it through pipes. If I were to guess based on the appearance, I would guess that it is a facility such as a biochemical power plant.
"You guessed part of it right."
Sister Saiyi made a move, and the door of the factory slowly opened automatically. The scene inside shocked me, but it was not completely unexpected.
"There are so many petri dishes, how can these scavengers still do this? I thought such high-tech things were only available to big companies in the city."
"Amy, the proportion of women among scavengers is extremely low. How do they reproduce? With such harsh living conditions and high mortality, how do they maintain the number of combatants? Have you ever thought about it?"
Sister Sai did not answer my words, but asked a series of questions.
"Well... I really haven't thought about it. I thought these scavengers were just a group of people who had been living together in the wilderness all year round, and their bodies and minds had become strange."
"Of course there are such people as you mentioned, but they are only a very small part. They belong to the upper class. They still have a normal desire to survive. As for the kind of cannon fodder you killed who didn't care about their lives at all, this is where they come from."
Sister Sai took me to a jar, and I could see the contents inside through the dirty, cracked glass and the turbid culture fluid. It was a weirdo with a stooped body and a distorted face. I could totally imagine him.
The scene of screaming and screaming towards me with scrap metal in hand.
"These are mass-produced biological weapons. They are born with mental illness and low intelligence. The integrity of their self-awareness is even inferior to that of dogs, and they have no fear of death. Even if there is no battle, they will attack each other in peacetime and cause casualties.
This is also the main form of entertainment for scavengers. Even if they do nothing, their inferior genes will cause their bodies to age rapidly, and they will be recycled and reused after a certain period of time. And at some point, they will even be used as food.
To high-level scavengers, these species are 'crazy' humanoids that are no different from bullets, and are even easier to recycle than bullets."
"..."
I was speechless and my mind was in a mess. I didn't know whether I was angry, grateful, or sad.
"I know there is a saying in your hometown that it is better to die than live, but the saying has its scope of application. Amy, do you think it is better for these lunatics to live, or to be killed by you with one blow?"
"I……"
"Don't rush to answer. You will see more similar scenes in the future, and your view of life and death as a mortal will inevitably be constantly refreshed. Amy, do you want to see the recycling and processing plants of these madmen?"
"No... no need..."
I suddenly felt like vomiting. I haven't felt this bad for a long time.
"So Amy, you need to understand that it is not you who caused the tragedy, but this distorted world. A distorted world will lead to distorted behavior, and will also distort the boundaries between good and evil, good and bad. What you think does not represent
It’s just a fact, and you must keep this in mind.”