Steel Steam and Flame

The bumps on the road were not suitable for driving. When the light had started to dim, Cassia saw a low-rise building at the end of the dirt road.

A few rows of houses were built on both sides of the road paved with slate, surrounded by a circle of big trees with new leaves, and two dilapidated lamps that did not match the scene illuminated the middle of these buildings. In a small square in the city, the lights are dim and flickering from time to time, just like ending their life journey at any time.

Said it is a small square, but in fact it is not counted as a large flat area at best. There are a few stone stools made of construction waste, the surface is very smooth, reflecting a little dim light.

In addition, there are a few small fires that have risen early on the side of the stone benches. It would be inappropriate to raise a fire in this weather. Cassia slowed down, looked at the darker and darker sky, and looked at the old people sitting on the stone benches with all white hair, as if they understood the purpose of the fire.

The air was moist and cool, rolling down from the clearly visible outline of the mountains.

"This should be the residential area closest to the volcanic area, right?" Cassia parked the car on the edge of this small and very small town with such a feeling, and walked towards the illuminated area. The small square illuminated by the fire looked at the humble houses around.

They are generally only two stories high, almost all of them are wooden doors and windows, without any special features. It's just that there are not as many people living here as Cassia imagined. It can be seen that some of the houses on the roadside have no people living in them, and they have been ruined for a long time.

But at any rate, if the electricity is connected, it should be a branch from the city where he came from, thought Cassia. This place was a few years ago, or more than ten years ago, maybe it was not the way it gradually decayed until it was swallowed by the wild grass around it. It will be more lively.

Arriving in the small square, Cassia immediately became the focus of several elderly people. There was curiosity in his eyes, it was always strange that someone would come to them.

These old people did not reject Cassia, but they did not show welcome, only a little curiosity. From their mouths, Cassia got some necessary information.

"There are roads. There are still a few towns in front, but there were no people living in it a few years ago. I moved here from the front. Many people are like this. They moved here from different towns. There are only a few people who can talk." Cassia found a slightly healthy old man and asked some questions respectfully.

",,, a big town, of course there is. Have you seen that mountain? There is always a small lake at the foot of the mountain. By the lake is the largest town here, dozens of times as big as this place, maybe Be older. I remember that when I was young, I went to see the lake. There were people living there before, and they didn’t know where they came from. I wanted to go into the mountains to dig ore and dig some medicinal materials. People. But I don’t know what’s going on. There are only people going in there, and very few people coming out, so I know that there are fewer and fewer people here. In ten years or so, almost no one will come here. Myself His sons have moved away for a long time, and most of them are the same age as me."

"That is to say, was there anyone living at the foot of the mountains more than ten years ago?" Cassia asked. According to the information in the map information atlas, because of the eruption of the volcano, there was no man's land there. I thought that the local empire management agency might redevelop there, after all, after the volcano erupted, there would be a certain chance of bringing out the underground ore. But looking at the state of the surrounding cities, Cassia no longer had this illusion.

The old man shook his head to himself, as if blaming Cassia for not understanding what he meant. At this moment, the person next to him interrupted.

"Don't listen to him, he is not very useful here." The person next to him patted his head as if he was also talking about himself, "A long time ago there was a fire in the mountain, that is, the volcano erupted, and then the town at the foot of the mountain It was deserted. People in the town moved out, some went to nearby cities, and some rebuilt houses far away. This town is the product of that time. It has been renovated many times. Up."

The old man spoke very hard, and took a few breaths before he took it up: "No one passed by at the foot of the mountain more than ten years ago. In short, when I was a child, my parents warned me not to run into that mountain range. It is said that there are wild people in that mountain range who eat children like us. In fact, they are not children. They are just scaring us. But it is really dangerous. When I grew up, a group of people went in and drove A very loud ceremonial car, with a gun that is more powerful than a shotgun, even explosives."

"They said they went in to find minerals, because there had been volcanoes, and their grandfather seemed to have been here, and made a lot of money from the minerals found in it. I still remember that the leader took out a cloth. The bag, which is full of diamond particles the size of a little finger, is still shining."

"I also remember this incident. At that time, dozens of limo cars came and pulled many tools. There were more than 100 people. They spent money to buy food from us, dried meat, and quilts. Everyone in this town knows about this. They bought something and went into the mountain range. But they returned two days later, saying that they could not find a way and they had to spend money to hire a guide. They gave a lot of money, at that time Many young people in the town rushed to it because at that time there were also many people in the town who would stroll around not far from the foot of the mountain. After the eruption, the lake that was there was blocked and became a dead lake. But the snow on the mountains will still flow down, and there are still people fishing in the lake. Some people are familiar with the mountains."

",,,," the old man spoke very slowly, and after half an hour ~www.readwn.com~ the topic returned to the team, "Always almost never came out. About two months later, the day It was raining lightly, but the sound of those big cars could be heard from far away. Only one came back. We originally thought it was back to pull the food in, but we didn’t expect the people who brought back one car. All of them got sick and their necks were swollen. It’s very big, the hair has fallen out, and the skin has reddened a lot, as if it had been exposed to the sun for a long time. Some had lumps and some had ulcerated. It was very scary."

"When they came back, some of those people died, and another group died on the way to the hospital. But in the end no one survived. The one who lived the longest stayed in the hospital for more than half a year, but died in the end. Afterwards, the officials knew about this matter, so they sent some people to investigate, but as to the result, we didn’t know. But after that, they told us not to go in, and it took a long time. Dangerous cordon. But as you know, it’s definitely out of our control. Some people were curious, and they ran in secretly shortly afterward. People didn’t find it, but found that the lake seemed to have changed, and you could smell it from a distance. When I got close to the stench, I saw that there was a layer of dead fish floating on the lake, and the carcasses of the birds that ate the fish. It became a real dead lake."

"Then those people who visited afterwards?" Cassia asked softly.

"I still got the same disease, but it's a bit milder, and I will die a few years later."