Chapter 14: Arriving Once More
It had only been a half-hour drive from Chu Sheng City, but when her feet touched the hard ground, it still gave a false sense of having been away for a long time.
Combat boots crunched on the cement ground covered in gravel and pebbles.
Under the sunlight, numerous suspended particles, scattering light, could be clearly seen floating in the air.
These were just ordinary dust, not yet at the level requiring a mask to be worn.
Of course, Zhong Jing wore a gas mask to conceal her face and had not installed a filter canister from the beginning to avoid unnecessary waste.
The urban ruins of JD Ruined City were not far.
At this moment, they were on the edge of the nuclear wasteland.
The infantry fighting vehicle could no longer proceed.
It wasn't just because the roar of the engine could attract sound-sensitive dangerous monsters at any time; the harsh road conditions were also one of the reasons, even more dangerous than directly facing monsters.
The collapse of the city's sewer system had led to the collapse of most road surfaces.
These were the scars left by the war on the earth.
And those that hadn't collapsed were already precarious after more than a hundred years, lurking beneath the ground, forming dangerous traps.
If lucky enough to fall into a dried-up sewer, the chances of survival were relatively high.
At worst, one would be stained with foul-smelling dirt that was difficult to wash off; a more serious outcome would be a leg fracture.
However, if one fell into a sewer with a large amount of accumulated water due to blockage, then one's fate would be left to heaven.
The water-filled tunnels, with an average depth that reached the waist, might not seem dangerous, but at the bottom of that foul-smelling sewage, there was not only filth accumulated for over a century, but also possibly more than a dozen types of deadly mutated creatures.
Some would quickly burrow under the skin and parasitize the human body, some would devour any submerged body parts at an extremely terrifying speed, and some would instantly drag the fallen person into the deeper parts of the sewer.
But no matter which kind was encountered, very few people could survive.
To ensure the safety underfoot to the greatest extent, one had to meticulously follow the already explored safe routes and proceed with caution.
“Hey, Stone, stop looking, come over and help.”
Si Ling's voice from behind interrupted Zhong Jing’s reminiscence of the distant JD Ruined City.
They naturally understood these common sense survival rules for entering the nuclear wasteland.
Therefore, the infantry fighting vehicle stopped, parking in the corner of a wall of an abandoned gas station.
However, they still had things to do before setting off.
This Chu Sheng City standard infantry fighting vehicle was not a civilian, cobbled-together low-grade modified vehicle.
Its wealth of good components was a great temptation to both scavengers and mercenaries.
To prevent the vehicle from being stolen or its parts dismantled by other arrivals, they very meticulously camouflaged the infantry fighting vehicle.
Besides a camouflage cover, they also painstakingly moved rusty wreckage of abandoned cars around to create the illusion of a scrap heap.
Zhong Jing had heard that some scavengers were best at seeing through vehicle camouflage.
They didn't search in the ruins, but specifically stole and dismantled usable parts from others' vehicles.
Incidents of mercenaries, and even entire mercenary squads, dying due to vehicle failure were frequent.
Once caught, mercenaries would kill such despicable people on the spot.
However, such people usually cherished their lives greatly and would definitely not travel thousands of miles to the dangerous JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area to do such work.
Therefore, such camouflage was sufficient.
After finally hiding the infantry fighting vehicle, which was much larger than ordinary modified cars, the mercenaries checked their respective equipment again while waiting for Han Nianling, their employer, to assign tasks.
“Everyone gather around, collect your respective equipment.”
Just then, Han Nianling, who was nearby, found an abandoned car hood, put down her black briefcase, and then spoke to the surrounding mercenaries.
Collect equipment?
Han Nianling’s words made Zhong Jing involuntarily stop fiddling with the oilcloth in her hand and shift her attention from the new gun in her hand to Han Nianling.
She had never heard that there would be extra equipment distributed for this operation.
And when she saw the exquisite, small in-ear earphone, no bigger than a finger, in Han Nianling’s hand, her feeling turned from confusion to astonishment.
Zhong Jing didn't know the exact information about this little thing, but she knew it should be some kind of high-end mobile communication tool, because in her dream, the communication tool equipped by the captain named Luo Shi was this.
The communication tools of ordinary standing army soldiers were still signal transceivers tied to their waists, and the conventional headsets they wore needed to be connected to them.
They themselves did not have independent signal reception capabilities.
This little gadget was very likely equipment that only the security team was qualified to have.
Sure enough, Han Nianling’s next words confirmed Zhong Jing’s speculation.
“This is a single-soldier communication headset currently only equipped by the security team. Under normal communication conditions, no additional communication equipment is needed, but…” Han Nianling dragged out her words, then, after confirming with her gaze that all the mercenaries were paying attention, she continued, “According to the confidentiality agreement for high-end equipment, some functions of the communication headset have been removed. Therefore, these communication headsets in my hand only have the function of sending and receiving messages, and can only call each other within an established squad channel…”
“The effective communication distance of a single communication headset is five kilometers. It will be weakened when entering the JD Ruined City area, with a theoretical distance of about three kilometers.”
Originally, when they heard the words ‘some functions removed’, the mercenaries’ enthusiasm had waned.
But after hearing Han Nianling describe this data of the so-called communication headset, the mercenaries’ gazes immediately became extremely fervent.
Although the pollution index in most areas on the surface of the post-war world’s air had dropped to a safe range with the passage of time, this did not mean that the air had been completely purified.
Due to the legacy of the war and changes in the post-war world environment, interference dust in the air was one example.
Although interference dust itself was non-toxic and harmless, it had always been the biggest influencer of signals of different bands and frequencies.
This so-called interference dust was far smaller than ordinary air particles, and its existence had always been a mystery.
A more reliable theory was that it was a new type of weapon developed by a pre-war country to interfere with communication signals.
With the expansion of the war, it gradually spread worldwide and persisted through time.
Its concentration around the ‘ruined city areas where the war was most intense’ was an important basis for this theory.
Communication problems had always been a thorny issue for Chu Sheng City, including both the military and mercenaries.
The individual communication equipment used by the standing army and mercenaries was either too heavy or had too short a communication range to meet combat needs.
And the communication headset Han Nianling presented excelled in these two aspects.
And now, the communication headset that Han Nianling had taken out was almost perfect for combat use in terms of both size and communication distance.
How could this not make the mercenaries feel fervent? Even Zhong Jing, who almost always went out alone and rarely used individual communication equipment, was full of interest in this communication headset.
Soon, the communication headsets and basic usage methods were taught to everyone.
The simple usage method did not require much time for special learning.
“Good stuff, really good stuff.” Stroking the brand-new material of the communication headset, Uncle Lin did not spare his praise.
Si Ling and Xiao Liu were already talking to each other on one side, looking more like they were playing with new equipment than ‘checking equipment’, while Crow stared at the communication headset in his hand, who knew what he was thinking.
The data Han Nianling mentioned should be true, and the sound quality in the communication was also much better.
In any case, the fact that the base government could achieve a technological breakthrough in individual communication equipment was a good thing for all the residents of Chu Sheng City.
With all preparations complete, the six of them left the abandoned gas station on foot.
They hadn't walked more than a few hundred meters when they encountered the terrible road conditions of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
A low wall formed by plant roots over two meters high blocked the road.
Its main body was a thick tree trunk drilled out a five-story office building on the left.
Twisted branches broke through the reinforced concrete walls.
The sight of natural plants and human civilization’s concrete intertwined, twisted, and squeezed together looked shocking and bizarre.
This kind of work, born from the post-war world, was particularly common in the outer areas of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area.
The Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area was, of course, also within the expansion range of the madly growing flora.
“Wow… no matter how many times I see it… it’s amazing.” Xiao Liu exclaimed, looking at the scene of the giant tree entangled with the office building.
“Xiao Liu, if you don’t want to die, stay away from that kind of building. If it really collapses, no one can save you.” Uncle Lin warned his nephew.
Hearing Uncle Lin’s words, Xiao Liu was so scared that he repeatedly retreated, putting distance between himself and the office building.
What Uncle Lin said was not just to scare him.
The buildings in the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area had endured war and over a hundred years of corrosion.
They looked sturdy, but their load-bearing structures had actually reached their limits and were in danger of collapsing at any time.
Hearing Uncle Lin’s words, Xiao Liu’s face changed instantly.
He immediately quickened his pace away from the building and returned to the team.
“The root system of this tree is very developed, and its hardness is also very high.” Si Ling tapped it with his gunstock, producing a hard thumping sound.
“Let’s climb over it. It’s too dangerous to go through the dangerous buildings on either side… Xiao Liu, up you go.”
Si Ling said, leaning his back against the tree root, his fingers interlaced to make a stepping platform.
At Si Ling’s signal, Xiao Liu was the first to step onto the tree root.
The surface of the tree root was rough, and climbing was not difficult.
When Xiao Liu climbed to the top of the tree root, Zhong Jing followed closely behind.
“Xiao Liu, give me a hand… Xiao Liu?”
Zhong Jing reached out and called to Xiao Liu, who had already reached the top.
However, Xiao Liu did not respond to Zhong Jing’s call, but stared blankly at the other side of the tree root.
No matter how many times Zhong Jing called, there was no reaction.
“Xiao Liu! Hurry up and pull Stone up. Although she’s not heavy, the next one is still waiting…”
“Hiss—!!!”
The next second, on the other side of the tree root, a low growl from deep in a throat made everyone freeze.
That sound was clearly not something a human could make, which meant… on the other side of the tree root was one, or even more, mutated beasts!
No way, Zhong Jing also felt a sense of disbelief.
Could they be this unlucky? To encounter mutated beasts just after entering the outer area of the JD Ruined City Nuclear Wasteland Area?!