Flowers Blooming in the Wasteland

As an old man in the town, old Hunter has been a teacher to many people, and now he explains it to them in an easy-to-understand way like a teacher: "Since the 70s and [-]s, human The footsteps have already stepped out of the earth and stepped into space. Although they have not yet been out of the solar system, according to the observations and calculations of those large astronomical instruments before the war, there are countless stars like the sun in the universe, and there are more planets that may have life than on the earth. There is even more sand, so people boldly guess that among so many planets with life, there will always be some planets that have evolved intelligent civilizations like humans, right?"

"So you think aliens exist?"

"It is true in terms of probability. If you think about it, our current technology can scare the ancient humans 1000 years ago. According to the lifespan of some planets in the universe, the technology of those alien intelligent life may be better than ours. It has been advanced for hundreds of millions of years, hundreds of millions of years, their technological level is completely beyond what we can imagine."

"Then why haven't any aliens ever come to take over Earth?" Thelister asked in bewilderment.

"This is exactly the problem." Old Hunter said, "Even if only one in a million planets with life evolved advanced intelligent creatures, there are already more advanced intelligent creatures in the universe than ants. Our intelligent life, which is hundreds of millions of years advanced, should have extended its tentacles to every corner of the universe, but we have spent so many years constantly exploring outwards, trying to catch any clues that alien civilizations may exist , but see nothing, hear nothing - this is the Fermi Paradox."

"Oh..." Celeste listened intently. Having such a smart and earnest student listened to his lectures, old Hunter felt a sense of accomplishment. He said with a look of reminiscence: "When I was young , I was also very interested in this topic, do aliens really exist, and where are they? Originally, I wanted to do research in this field after my Ph.D., but unfortunately..."

He looked at the old blueprints laid out on a table by Celeste and the old machines outside, and sighed sadly.

---

For Yun Lan, the topic has been completely distorted since just now. Regarding the origin of this bracelet, those speculations about miracles, magic or aliens are of no use to the status quo. Te couldn't find any more useful information here, so he left Celeste to continue studying with Old Hunter, and went back to the mercenary group's camp to find the mayor Li Jiesi.

"Blue!" Li Jiesi came up to meet him as soon as he saw him, "About that celebration..."

Fu Yunlan took off his coat and said, "You can arrange it."

"But the mercenary group is the protagonist of this celebration."

"We've been out and about for days and what we need most now is rest."

This is the truth. Li Jiesi wanted to discuss it with the other mercenaries when Fu Yunlan wasn't there, but they all looked very tired and went to bed after a few perfunctory words. Only Fu Yunlan couldn't do it until now. Have a moment of peace.

"Then... arrange it tomorrow night, how about it?"

"Okay." Fu Yunlan entered the office and saw Li Kailin waiting for him there.

Li Kailin was able to become the garrison captain of Hummingbird Town. Although having the mayor's father is also a very important reason, she is indeed quite capable. Not only does she have short hair like a man's, her body is also bigger than most people in the town. The men are all tough, with fierce and strict personalities, so that their subordinates dare not have any temper.

Fu Yunlan actually admires Li Kailin a bit. After all, it is really not easy for a woman to live like this in the last days, but Li Kailin seems to have never liked Fu Yunlan very much. In his words, I usually don't want to talk to him at all.

So Fu Yunlan asked straight to the point: "Karin, what's the matter?"

Li Kailin said with a blunt expression: "I have already found out the magic stick that sold 'holy water' in the town and claimed to be able to cure radiation. It is a few new homeless people who joined a sect called 'True God' , The True God Sect let them sneak into Hummingbird Town and secretly absorb more believers."

"It's True God Sect again." Fu Yunlan frowned.

"Why did you say 'again'?" Li Jiesi looked at Fu Yunlan in surprise.

Fu Yunlan remembered that he had given the mercenaries an order to keep it completely secret before he came back. Li Jiesi probably didn't know what happened to them, so he simply told Li Jiesi about the encounters encountered during the extermination of the bandits. and took out the bracelet to show Li Jiesi.

"Even Old Hunter can't tell what it is, but what is certain is that the True God Sect is completely different from other new sects that pretend to be fake. I'm afraid their strength and purpose are not simple. In the future, you should be more careful , Once you have any information related to the True God Sect, you must tell me immediately." Fu Yunlan said, "Also, the priest and the bracelet must be kept secret from the townspeople."

"I understand." Li Jiesi nodded. After all, most of the people in the town are from the post-war generation without a decent education, and are particularly susceptible to superstition.

Fu Yunlan looked at Li Kailin: "Where are those liars selling holy water?"

Li Kailin looked away uncomfortably: "I didn't know about the True God Sect before. I thought they were just ordinary magic sticks and liars, so I drove them out."

"... Forget it, let's talk about it next time we have a chance to catch it." Fu Yunlan didn't care too much, he dared to say that since the True God Sect had already taken action, it would not easily die down.

---

Fu Yunlan is a person who likes to be quiet. When he first moved into the new residence, he was very satisfied with Celeste's low-key and quietness, but after a long time, he began to feel that this child was too quiet.

If it was when Celeste first came to Hummingbird Town, his parents were both dead and his future was uncertain, and he was frightened, it would be understandable to have such a strange behavior, but it has been several months now. But the child seems to have never come out of the original shadow.

What old Hunter said to him that day made Fu Yunlan a little uneasy. He felt that he should find another time to talk to Celeste.

This day, Fu Yunlan finished the chores of the mercenary group ahead of schedule and returned home before dark.

Celeste is cooking in the kitchen. Not everyone needs to cook on fire, because the staple food for most people in the wasteland is all kinds of cheap or cheaper compressed biscuits. In addition to corn, soybeans, wheat, In addition to food ingredients such as mushrooms, a lot of coarse grains such as corn stalks, bean pod skins, and wheat bran that were used to feed livestock were added. These things can only be swallowed and preserved after being made into biscuits. longer.

But thanks to Yunlan, Celeste has been eating well. The staple food is corn, flour and mushrooms, and there are always fresh vegetables in the refrigerator, such as potatoes as big as bayberry, shriveled but at least fresh Green beans, twisted cabbage and the like, and sometimes even milk, eggs and other luxury goods. Celeste is growing up, and Fu Yunlan is always worried that he is not nutritious enough, so he will come from the pasture from time to time. Bring back an expensive bottle of milk.

Condiments other than salt are now very rare because no one produces them anymore. Even if they have money, they may not be able to buy them, but Celeste has the ability to use simple condiments to make food delicious. , Fu Yunlan soon developed the habit of going home for dinner no matter how busy or tired she was.

Fu Yunlan took it for granted that this must be because Celeste used to cook frequently, but Celeste had never cooked before, and his knowledge of cooking was just like other knowledge, it was all out of thin air appear in the mind.

Fu Yunlan came to the door of the kitchen, and was surprised to find that Celeste's hair, which could have been tied into a ponytail, had shortened. He touched Celeste's head with some pity, and the newly cut hair was a bit thorny , is no longer as soft as it used to be.

"Cut it yourself?"

"En." Celeste simply responded, put the fermented dough into the oven, and turned on the induction cooker to cook potatoes.

Fu Yunlan pinched her bangs that were almost down to her eyes: "My hair should be cut too."

"I'll cut it for you."

It would take some time to bake the bread, so Celeste took scissors and a comb to help Yunlan cut her hair.

Fu Yunlan sat on a chair with her head bowed, and with the sound of scissors "clicking", fine hair stubble fell like snow.

Fu Yunlan said, "Your hand is getting more and more stable."

"Yes." Celeste replied simply, without saying a word.

Fu Yunlan remembered what he wanted to talk to this child: "Cherister."

"Ok?"

"I think...you should talk more, don't be so bored all the time." Although heart-to-heart talk is really not what he is good at, Fu Yunlan still tried to do it.

"But... what should I say?"

Fu Yunlan choked on Celeste's words, and Fu Yunlan didn't know how to answer. At this moment, he heard someone knocking on the door.

Celeste put down the scissors and opened the door. It was Cedric, the largest farmer in Hummingbird Town, who came. He also carried a piece of beef weighing at least five or six kilograms, and it was still warm from the newly slaughtered beef.

"I just killed a cow on the farm. I want to send you a piece of meat while it's fresh." Cedric smelled the smell of baking bread in the air and said with a smile, "I hope it will be in time for dinner."

Celeste took the meat and went into the kitchen. Fu Yunlan took a towel and brushed her freshly cut hair while beckoning to Cedric: "Sit down."

"The new hairstyle is nice." Cedric sat down in front of the table, took off his heavy fur hat and held it in his hands, looking a bit cautious.