Love and passion, cutting up the wasteland

"This is..." The seven-member team looked at the deep pit in front of them and all of them subconsciously let out a heartfelt exclamation.

Perhaps one of them was pretending.

The white-haired young man just echoed the occasion.

The huge deep pit was filled with layers of bones, some of which were human, some with spikes on their skeletons that were obviously from the Shek tribe, and some with strange structures that looked like insect shells...

"Beep, I know, this is the Hive tribe!"

The worker bee continued.

No one knew why he was so excited.

The adventurer Huo Buyang took out the swamp's specialty cigar from his pocket, rolled it up and lit it, took a puff and exhaled the warm smoke.

It seemed that only this could dispel the chill in his body.

They had passed through the periphery and urban area of ​​the Ai Mine Town, and even avoided those alienated cannibals, all the way to this depth.

It was very smooth.

The only thing that puzzled everyone was that they seemed to have played no role... Originally, Chise was responsible for stealth reconnaissance, Huo Buyang was responsible for survival alert, Amao could provide emergency medical treatment for everyone, and Sadnir's bone physique made it very likely that he would escape even if he was targeted by cannibals... However, these were all done by others.

The young warrior with white hair and armor.

For the first time, Huo Buyang discovered that this companion who he thought he was familiar with had no less experience in surviving in the wasteland than himself. Some of the unique secrets that he supposedly summed up were actually known to him. Except that they were still a little awkward, it was as if he had taught them step by step... Although Lu Beiyou's stealth ability was not as good as Chise, who was a thief, he was familiar with the road when leading the team. He did not need to conduct additional exploration at all, and led everyone into the safest and fastest path.

It seemed that they had been here countless times.

But Huo Buyang confirmed that this was the first time they met and made a decision.

Amao laughed at the back, a little silly. For him, it was naturally a good thing that no one was injured or sick.

If possible, he would rather his ability never be used in his life.

"The tribe has a strict order of eating. It is not based on status, but on physical needs. Pregnant women have priority in getting brains and internal organs, which are rich in protein, fat and trace elements; young people mainly eat muscle to maintain the strength required for hunting and grow strong; the elderly prefer soft tissue, which is directly related to their degenerated digestive system..."

The girl sat on the back of a camel, holding a pen and thinking hard, and from time to time she wrote and drew on the small notebook Lu Beiyou gave her, leaning on the hump.

Record what she saw and heard along the way.

"They won't waste any part. Bones will be ground into powder and mixed into food to supplement calcium. Skin will be made into special containers to store blood - this storage is not for preservation, but for fermentation to produce a substance... It is similar to alcohol for cannibals. After drinking it, you can enter a crazy hallucinogenic state..." Izumi recalled, and then commented on the deep pit full of bones in front of him: "So they are not left by cannibals, and the 'city dwellers' will not waste like this."

"This is a massacre." Sadnier continued, "Just like every time in the past."

Everyone agreed.

And they also found that there was more than one such deep pit, but it was scattered throughout the center of Ai Mine Town: here they did not find the legendary vast royal mines and the imperial palace, but only more dilapidated ruins, gullies that rolled up and exposed the ground... and such mass graves.

Even different from cannibals.

The citizens of the city are at least for survival.

But the people or organizations that created these deep pits seemed to be only for the purpose of massacre.

"…Are they victims of the Bloody Rebellion?" Chise asked, her tone slightly reluctant. As a civilian of the United City, she had naturally heard of the riot.

"Just check the time of death and you'll know." Huo Buyang looked at the doctor behind him, "Amao, can you do it?"

Amao nodded, and while shouting "I'll help", he carried the unlucky doctor who was a little weak because of being imprisoned for too long and jumped directly down.

Lu Beiyou walked up from the bottom of the deep pit step by step, revealing his bright silver armor and gorgeous sword. He moved his eyes away from the bones that were almost laid under his feet, looked at the girl on the back of the pack animal, and smiled: "Izumi, have you become smarter recently?"

He had naturally heard the other party's analysis and records before.

Izumi scratched his head like a good student praised by the teacher, revealing a shy and complacent smile.

Others also agreed unanimously.

Or, it's better to say it's surprise.

It took them less than half a month from the time they prepared to set off to the time they arrived at this location, the center of Aikuang Town. However, during this period of time, the new girl named Izumi not only learned all the characters in the common language and could read without any obstacles, but also learned most of the theoretical knowledge here at A Mao, and was able to deduce and verify the phenomena they collected based on the principles.

She didn't look like a child from the wild.

And this knowledge didn't seem to satisfy her at all. It's hard to imagine what she would have grown up to be if she had received formal education since childhood.

Maybe she would have been a genius mechanic long ago, right?

Everyone said that Lao Lu had found a treasure.

At first, Izumi was a little overwhelmed when faced with the "scorching" eyes of everyone. She quickly defended: She can't understand all the knowledge, but she can just remember everything she has seen in her mind and wait until she needs it. It was just like opening a drawer and taking it out for comparison... But when she said this, everyone was even more impressed.

It is simply a living mobile library.

More like a skeleton than a skeleton.

Sadnier had no objection because his memory had long been cleared.

At least that's what he said.

Izumi's face was red and a little hot. Although this was not the first time she heard everyone's compliments, it was absolutely impossible to feel at ease and not have any reaction at all.

Compared to the anxious intrigues and the danger and scolding that will come at any time and from what angle...

These now.

After all, it was an experience I had never had before.

In order to live up to this expectation, she continued to calculate and record on the paper, and her writing was flying. While writing, she thought about how fast the injury on her hand healed. In just a few days, all the broken bones were healed without any impact. The dexterous act of writing...

Suddenly, Izumi was stunned.

She quickly opened her sleeves and saw that although the exposed skin was not particularly fair, it still had the tenderness of her age... Where was the trace of a scar?

No matter how good Ah Mao's skills were, and no matter how amazing the medicine Brother Lu brought back, it was impossible for him to recover to this level.

--vulnerary?

No one was injured, why did Brother Lu come back with medicine for injuries?

Isn't it enough to treat your own eyes?

No one is hurt?

Izumi suddenly raised his head and looked at the white-haired samurai who was discussing with other companions. The other man's armor was as clean as new, with some blood stains on it, but they were all cannibals.

But she clearly remembered that the other party was covered in blood...

Even if Lu Beiyou was not injured.

He had fought among the blood hunters before, and there was no way he had only these traces on his body.

"!"

Izumi realized something was wrong.

She clearly remembered that she was taken away from home by this warrior. At that time, her father wanted to hit her, but Lu Beiyou stopped him directly - so of course she was not injured.

As for taking away his daughter, for that man, as long as you can afford the money, then nothing is a problem.

Moreover, this beast of burden beneath him.

How did it come about?

Two contradictory memories were intertwined in the girl's mind. One was from her memory. Their meeting and gathering were different, and they went through hardships together. However, because everyone was injured, they were turned into cannibals in the end. The citizens of the city stopped him, and this adventure ended in failure.

But Izumi has no memory of returning.

The memory ends here...

The other one is what they are experiencing, a smooth journey.

It's like an autumn outing.

Thrilling, yet leisurely and joyful.

It was as if... all the previous mistakes had been erased and started all over again.

There is an incomparable power.

Put the new world on top of the old.

But there are fish that have slipped through the net!

Izumi knows very well that this is not her hallucination, because she knows her own ability. The former is clearly the fragment she took out from the palace of memory, and it has not faded at all.

But there is never a way to verify it.

However, this is too incredible.

Moreover, after discovering this, the girl was even more surprised to realize a blind spot... Is all the knowledge in her mind really what she learned during this trip?

Even if she is really smart.

Time is an absolute flaw.

Izumi put down his pen.

Hold your head.

More came out like water.

Which memory is real?

Or should I say...

All of them?

The few people on the other side didn't notice anything strange about the girl, because what Izumi didn't know was that she actually behaved similarly several times along the way, but she would return to normal soon.

But for a short period of time, there will be less agility in the eyes.

Even the doctor A Mao couldn't explain the reason and just thought it was some strange disease.

Although everyone is concerned, there is no other way. Fortunately, it is not harmful to health.

"We are late. It would be much easier if we had a mountain dog." Huo Buyang said, "Their hunting ability can save a lot of search energy, and they are also good at dealing with cannibals."

"Mountain dogs are so good," Lu Beiyou said with a smile, "Next time."

"There's still a next time?" Chi Se gave him an angry look, "I've decided that I won't come to this place no matter how much you invite me..."

"This number."

The white-haired warrior raised his hand.

"Come!"

The female thief made a quick decision and jumped up to give him a high-five.

"Lao Lu, the result is out!" At this time, Bippu shouted from the bottom of the pit, "Ah Mao said, these people are not from the bloody rebellion period!"

"They have been dead for no more than five years!"

"Xiao Huo, you are right, we are indeed late." After hearing this, the young man's original smiling expression became a little cold, and finally he sighed: "However, it is not a matter of a day or two... What has happened here None."

"And it doesn't matter how many times I come."

Countless bones piled up like a mountain, stretching deep into the valley. Many of the skeletons on the upper layer were in the posture of their death: some had their arms stretched forward, their skeletons twisted, as if they were desperately trying to crawl away but were chopped down from behind; some knelt on the ground with their heads bowed, their skulls drooping, and their hand bones clasped together in a state of begging; some curled up in a ball, as if trying to protect their abdomens, with another smaller corpse under them... Each skeleton told of the fear and despair of the last moments of life.

This was a cruel massacre.

As for the bones at the bottom of the valley, they had weathered and were crushed into powder under the pressure of countless compatriots.

As time passed, even wild animals and insects would no longer come here to forage, but the few people present seemed to be able to smell the blood and long-lasting stench of the past.

Lingering at the tip of their noses.

"No wonder there is no one else here." The red hair brushed against her face in the wind, but she had no interest in picking it up.

They had seen many caves and mines... but the mountain people who were supposed to live in them had disappeared.

"Another time..."

The skeleton Sadnier stood there blankly, like an iron-gray and strangely shaped sculpture.

In the past, he often said "We are finished", "Everyone will die", "This is the end of all things", etc., and he was the most discouraged brother in the team... But when he really saw the slaughter scene comparable to the legend, the skeleton was still silent.

After a long time, he said: "I really shouldn't have come out."

The others did not respond, Huo Buyang shrugged, their reasons were different, but at this moment they still had some similarities - for example, for him, this expedition was undoubtedly a failure.

Nothing was gained.

"Beep~ Don't say that, brother skeleton!" At this time, the worker bee at the bottom of the pit spoke, he might be the most optimistic person among them, "You have always been the luckiest, if you were not there, this trip would not be so smooth... Hey, what is this?"

I saw Beep running to the side, digging for a while, and actually pulled out a cart from a pile of big rocks.

"There's something inside..." The worker bee looked into the mouth of the stone pile curiously.

"Corpse transport vehicle?" Chise asked.

This is a natural association.

"Not quite right," at this time, Izumi came over, "This looks like the United City model..."

If the girl had just looked up, she would have recognized:

This is exactly the food transport vehicle they were looking for in a certain wrong memory.

But for Izumi now, she has returned to "normal", and even she doesn't understand why she felt uncomfortable just now.

She looked familiar, because she had stolen dry food bread before, but she would never associate it with it appearing in the depths of Ai Mining Town.

"Is it from the coalition during the Blood Rebellion?"

Looking at the trailer, it was neither new nor old, and it looked very strange. Even A Mao couldn't make up his mind. He was good at looking at bones, but he didn't understand archaeology at all.

Among all the people, only Lu Beiyou breathed a sigh of relief after seeing this car.

At the same time, a light curtain flashed in front of him.

[Test successful]

"Friends, we are not without gain." He said, "I will go and bring the pack animals over..."