97 The Lost Village (I)

◎The yellow flower bit off the man's head◎

Green. Zhu Ning hadn't seen such a large area of ​​green for a long time.

What comes into view is a large grassland, and when the wind blows, it forms a wave of grass.

You can hear the natural sound of wind blowing through the grass.

It was like an endless wilderness. If it weren't dangerous, she really wanted to take off her protective suit and feel the wind.

That is an instinct engraved in human genes. Compared to the technological world in the city, people prefer to be close to nature.

Behind him stood a tall wall. The wall was not made of metal, but of some more solid material. However, the surface of the wall was covered with a layer of technological blue film.

It is very similar to the protective shield after the A-level program is activated, rising from the ground and straight into the sky, forming an arc-shaped cover on top.

When the end of the world comes, the layers of lids will be closed to provide protection.

Blue high walls, green wilderness, these cleaners in black protective suits are scattered like ants, behind them is a black flying car, the engine still roaring.

The contrast between technology and nature reached its extreme in an instant.

Li Nianchuan narrowed his eyes and sighed, "How shocking."

People's first reaction is shock, even Xu Meng has the same reaction. For those of them who have lived in urban areas since birth, this may be one of the few opportunities in their lifetime to see nature.

Nearly half of the team this time are newbies, and everyone is a little curious.

After Zhu Ning's initial shock, he began to observe his surroundings. There were no pollutants or contaminated spores here, only large expanses of grass.

It looks like a picnic and camping paradise, with no monsters whatsoever.

What do they need to contain?

Six flying cars stopped, and all employees got off. Everyone took the cleaning tools and stood in a row in an orderly manner.

There were people receiving us here. They were wearing blue protective suits. One of them was very strong, the kind with exaggerated build, like a mountain.

He glanced around and asked, "Are these the only unlucky ones here?"

Zhu Ning whispered in the helmet's internal channel, "Who is this?"

Xu Meng: "The troops stationed outside the wall."

The troops stationed outside the wall? They are the gatekeepers, the first to notice anything unusual and then report it to the higher authorities.

As Xu Meng finished speaking, the burly man took over, "I'm Fan Minghua, an officer of the Third Detachment of the First-Class Protective Wall Garrison Army, and the highest-ranking person in charge of this operation."

Zhu Ning thought that people with military ranks were respected no matter what era.

These garrisoned troops have to stay away from the city, cannot return home all year round, and guard here day after day.

Because of them, people in the city are now safe.

"The Demon Hunters are almost done. You will enter in five minutes. Be careful not to touch anything."

Don't touch things. Fang Ying said this, and Xu Meng also warned repeatedly.

But Fan Minghua's tone was the most stern. "What I'm saying is, don't touch anything that's not contaminated by spores or rotting flesh, even a single stone."

One of the cleaners raised his hand and asked, "But our job is to clean up contaminated soil."

There was nothing wrong with this question. Zhu Ning was informed of the containment scope on his first day at work. The contaminated spores were the first priority, followed by the rotten meat that had been brought back, and the contaminated soil and tiles had to be cleaned.

This is the process of a professional cleaning team, and there should be no chance of secondary contamination.

If they can't even touch a single pebble, how can they define the scope of their work?

Fan Minghua: "This land has been contaminated. All you have to do is contain the contaminated spores and rotten flesh."

Cleaning up the contaminated land and tiles would be the ideal situation. In worse cases, they can only prioritize dealing with the contaminated spores to prevent them from spreading into the city and infecting Area 103.

Is this land polluted?

After Fan Minghua said this, everyone felt a little depressed. They understood the underlying meaning of this sentence.

The lost land is difficult to get back, and even maintaining it requires a lot of manpower and material resources. One day, they will no longer be able to maintain it.

That would be the real end of District 103.

Fan Minghua: "You haven't lived here before. If you don't want to die, you can take note of the precautions I've given you. The first one is that you are prohibited from touching it casually. You already know that."

Fan Minghua spoke very quickly, leaving no room for reflection. "Second rule, don't listen to the voice."

“Third, don’t lose your way.”

"Rule four, don't do anything unnecessary," Fan Minghua said, pausing. "I know you want to ask what unnecessary actions are. Anything that is unnecessary is unnecessary."

Zhu Ning frowned. It was the first time she heard such strange teachings from her senior before a mission.

Each of these makes sense, yet is strange.

Not only did Zhu Ning not fully understand, the other cleaners were also confused.

This is an area with a high incidence of infection, so it's better to be cautious.

"Of course, if your mission is successful and you return safely, none of them will be needed. But if things don't go so smoothly..." Fan Minghua glanced at them and continued, "If you're unlucky enough to enter a contaminated area or encounter pollutants, or even worse, an alien species, I suggest you relax."

The other cleaners looked at him eagerly, as if waiting for his next words, but Fan Minghua didn't continue.

One of the cleaners asked, "What happens after you relax?"

Fan Minghua: "I believe that life and death are determined by fate. Those who are capable can live, and those who are not capable can just relax and die."

Zhu Ning: “…”

This is letting them die.

"Here's a friendly reminder: when you are touched by something, don't struggle or resist," Fan Minghua added.

After Fan Minghua finished speaking, the cleaning team was filled with resentment.

Zhu Ning: "What does he mean?"

Xu Meng hadn't expected this mission to be so strange. "I suspect there's a lot of pollution, and the form of the pollution is hard to determine. It's useless for him to say more. If an unexpected situation occurs, give us a few guidelines to stay alive."

This place is very much like a random place, everything is too random, Fan Minghua can only tell you some general rules.

Li Nianchuan suddenly felt that the flag he had set was about to come true. He felt a little uneasy even though he hadn't even carried out the mission yet.

He's not really going to die here, is he?

Li Nianchuan operated inside the helmet for a while and said, "The good news is that I just checked the mission mortality rate, and it's not very high."

Before Zhu Ning could say anything, Li Nianchuan took another close look at the information he had found. "Hmm... I might have misunderstood. The outcome of a mission is either the entire team survives with no loss of a hair, or they are completely wiped out."

Very extreme, only 0 and 100.

Zhu Ning: “…”

So it's pure luck?

Fan Minghua looked at them deeply and said, "I wish you all the best."

…

The team was led by the garrison troops, with three of them in the front, and Zhu Ning and his large force following behind.

They needed to cross the grassland, the grass here was taller than a person and looked at least three meters high.

When people walk in the middle, it is like walking into a forest and being buried in an instant.

What makes it even scarier than the forest is that at least there are slightly open paths in the forest, but here you can only carve out a path yourself, and the grass will "caress" you as you walk through it.

You always feel that the grass is alive, like a group of naughty children, running to you and patting you with their hands.

When people walk in it, a rustling sound is made.

Rustle, rustle——

Apart from the sound of their footsteps, the only sound was the rustling of the grass.

Zhu Ning looked up and felt as if he was trapped in some strange place. Because it had rained acid today, there was no sun, and the gloomy, dark sky seemed to be pressing down.

There is a virtual map inside the helmet that marks the location of their journey. According to the map, they are only halfway there and are still halfway to their destination.

Li Nianchuan: "It's really creepy."

Zhu Ning reminded: "Don't touch the grass."

Although she didn't fully understand what Fan Minghua meant, if there was frequent pollution here, these grasses might mutate at any time and place.

Li Nianchuan responded. He wanted to go back alive and open a fish restaurant more than anyone else.

About forty minutes later, the large group ahead suddenly stopped, and someone shouted, "We're here, everyone come out."

When Zhu Ning walked out, he looked behind him and saw that the grass looked like a mysterious swamp.

After the last cleaner came out, all traces of human activity disappeared, leaving only silence.

It's a very strange kind of silence.

"Damn, there is a mountain village here?" Li Nianchuan's exclamation attracted Zhu Ning's attention.

Only then did Zhu Ning see a group of small brick houses.

In the distance, brick and tile houses were connected together. From their perspective, they could see the roofs. It looked like an abandoned village.

Zhu Ning frowned. The architectural style of the deserted village was so different from that of District 103 that she was a little overwhelmed.

This place is very similar to the countryside of Zhu Ning's era, and is incompatible with high technology.

Zhu Ning’s grandmother’s house looks like this too, deep in the mountains and forests, with pleasant scenery. Zhu Ning goes back there to play every summer vacation.

Their large group began to move slowly, going deep into the deserted village. There was a big locust tree at the entrance of the village. Many villages have a tree at the entrance. Generally speaking, they are very particular and have some meaning in them.

This tree is at least five times taller than the average locust tree, blocking out the sun.

The tree roots were intertwined and blocked the entrance to the village like a net. Everyone entering the village had to pass over the roots of the big locust tree.

The entire village has been abandoned for a long time, at least fifty or sixty years without anyone living there. There is not only dust inside, but also some mud left over from rainy days.

Looking in from the outside, the window grilles that were pasted on the windows during the Chinese New Year were still there, but they were completely faded and would turn into powder with just a touch.

There were bowls and chopsticks on the mottled wooden table, with chairs scattered around, as if someone had suddenly encountered something in the middle of a meal.

There was an accident here.

The whole village was deserted, but most of the houses had no curtains. Zhu Ning had been injected with genetic drugs, and his eyesight was much better than that of ordinary people. He could see the furnishings inside clearly when he walked by.

Zhu Ning felt like he had entered a theme park with a strange theme. He could see the internal structure of every room he passed by, and he could even analyze the general structure of the family through the furnishings inside.

Some homes have family photos and cross-stitch hanging on the walls.

Some people must have children at home. There are baby walkers in the house and children's toys on the floor, but they are covered with dust.

This family must be very fond of art. They have a very old electronic keyboard with a torn music score covering the keys.

The buildings in the deserted village are not tall, most of them are bungalows, and only a few are two or three stories high.

Zhu Ning walked past another house. She instinctively looked inside, but suddenly stopped.

She saw someone.

The other person's body was hidden in the dark corner of the room. It was only one meter tall and about the size of a child.

He was looking at himself.

Is there anyone in the deserted village?

Zhu Ning froze, feeling a chill coming from that direction. She blinked and looked over again.

That's not a person, that's... a statue?

There was a half-human-high statue in the shrine. The statue's eyes were bulging as if their eyeballs were about to pop out, and it was impossible to tell what kind of deity it was.

The decoration of this family is so strange. The statue faces the window, as if it is... watching everyone who passes by.

Is this a local belief?

Zhu Ning took a look and saw that there were even offerings on the altar. They were made of plastic fruits, so they were not rotten, but just dusty and faded.

The family placed a goat's head on the roof, as if to ward off evil spirits.

Zhu Ning was so fascinated by what she saw that she completely forgot about her surroundings and did not move for a long time. Why did she feel that the statue was alive?

Snap——

Zhu Ning's shoulders sank, and a hand patted her right shoulder from behind.

She instinctively wanted to turn around and almost got into a fight with the person behind her.

"Don't look, don't touch, don't touch." Xu Meng immediately pinched her shoulders and warned her in a low voice.

Zhu Ning suppressed her urge to beat someone up. They were both wearing helmets and couldn't see each other's expressions. They could only guess each other's emotions by their tone of voice.

Xu Meng's voice was also very low, probably because he also thought this place was very strange.

Xu Meng opened a private channel with Zhu Ning: "This mission must be successful. Get Li Nianchuan out. We can talk about other things later."

Zhu Ning's shoulders relaxed, and Xu Meng had already withdrawn his hand.

What's the meaning?

A truce? Zhu Ning thought Xu Meng would take the opportunity to kill her in such a place.

But Xu Meng was right, the priority was to get Li Nianchuan out.

Li Nianchuan had no idea what was going on behind the scenes. He was obsessed with going home to open a restaurant and didn't dare touch or look at anything.

Li Nianchuan: "Is there really someone living here?"

Xu Meng continued, "They must have moved away after the radiation exposure that year."

Xu Meng knew more about the history of the Federation than Zhu Ning. The radiation eighty years ago was too sudden, causing large-scale mutations of plants and animals. Humanity almost became extinct, and only then did they build a high wall.

However, high walls are very expensive, and the original traces are preserved between the walls.

This place itself is a site of human life.

Li Nianchuan said "oh" and said nothing more. The team became very quiet.

After walking for about ten minutes, they reached the back mountain of the village and the large group finally stopped.

When they came in, they happened to see the witchers leaving, and some of them were actually carried out on stretchers.

There was still a lot of fresh blood on the ground.

Is this place so dangerous?

Everyone was already feeling uneasy. The quality of the cleaners was not as good as that of the witchers, and they were a little scared when they saw the fate of the witchers.

This mission was completely different from the previous one. Secondary pollution was likely to break out at any time, and they felt uneasy without the witchers guarding them.

There is a forest here and a well next to it, which should be the place where the villagers collect water.

There are several low huts nearby, some of which are specially for people to rest, and some of which should be toilets or something like that.

There was a pile of rotten meat scattered on the ground, and it was impossible to tell what it was before. Perhaps because it was not an enclosed space, there was not much of a stench here.

Blood-red contaminated spores were floating in the air. Zhu Ning had seen contaminated spores before.

They are either in dark sewers or in houses made of cement and steel, all inside the city.

But the contaminated spores here are in nature, with the forest behind them. They float everywhere, fall on the edge of abandoned wells, climb on the edges of leaves, and land on the eaves of houses.

The contaminated spores emit a blood-red light, like some kind of strange fireflies. The whole picture is very shocking and beautiful.

At that moment, it made people feel that pollution spores should coexist with nature.

Humans are the monsters of nature.

The person in charge said, "Don't look at it anymore. Finish the work quickly and get out early."

Zhu Ning withdrew his gaze. Li Nianchuan had already entered his working state and reported: "A-level mission, the contaminated area is 50,000 cubic meters, the pollution concentration is 210%. The pollutants have not yet been fully detected, but the current estimate is over 600, all of whom have died."

Zhu Ning is already very familiar with the data. There used to be 600 pollutants here. What happened?

Li Nianchuan was puzzled when he saw the data. How come the full number was not detected?

Xu Meng also found it strange, but as the team leader, she was calmer than the others: "Get to work."

Zhu Ning took out the collection tools, and the nearby cleaners took out their own equipment. Zhu Ning felt that it was like picking cotton when he was a cleaner for the first time.

Now they looked like a crew of cotton pickers.

The dropper-like containment device touched the contaminated spores, and the spores were immediately sucked in, and Zhu Ning increased his purification value by 1.

It was very strange. Zhu Ning had done this action hundreds of times, if not thousands of times. For the first time, he felt like he was hunting.

They seem to be catching fireflies or hunting some rare birds that exist in nature.

Humanity's hands are stained with blood, and the contaminated spores seem to have lost their freedom after being contained.

Are they... pitiful?

Zhu Ning frowned, feeling that her thoughts were too strange. These were not her thoughts.

Is this a characteristic of this area? Something to confuse people?

Zhu Ning looked around and found that no one had similar feelings except her. They all continued to work normally.

Because the system in Zhu Ning's mind is a pollutant, she is more likely to empathize with the pollutant?

Zhu Ning came here just to take advantage of the situation. That strange feeling flashed by and was quickly covered up.

These are all purification values. It seems that the system in Zhu Ning’s mind feeds on these things.

Zhu Ning immediately entered the "cotton picking" state.

The shelter work was carried out in an orderly manner. Xu Meng and Zhu Ning both wanted Li Nianchuan to leave alive, and the three of them sometimes observed each other.

I have to say that Li Nianchuan's mental state has really improved. He didn't have a chip implanted this time, but he didn't show any symptoms of mental pollution after working for half an hour.

An hour later, Zhu Ning had contained 2,780 contaminated spores, and her purification value now stood at 7,834.

Makes up for some of the regrets of Antxue.

Zhu Ning looked up and saw that there were only a few contaminated spores left. There were enough cleaners this time, and the mission should be over in another hour.

Zhu Ning kept staring at Li Nianchuan. There was nothing wrong with him. That was good. He was not seeking death and there was nothing abnormal. He should be able to go home safely.

Not only Zhu Ning thought so, the cleaner next to him also had similar thoughts, "Finally it's almost done, let's get out of this damn place quickly."

There were nine teams of cleaners coming this time, with three people in each team, plus the garrison troops leading the teams, a total of thirty people.

It was difficult to keep track of all the thirty people, and the cleaner closest to the wellhead hadn't moved for two minutes.

This action is not that unusual. After all, it is better to stay still than to move around. Sheltering contaminated spores can easily lead to mental pollution, so many people will take a break.

For those who can't handle the high-intensity pressure, it's good for everyone to be distracted and slack off.

So at first, no one noticed that he was different.

A cleaner stood at the mouth of the well, staring blankly at it. Most of the bricks in the well had fallen apart. He was not looking at the well, but at a small yellow flower beside it.

The little yellow flowers are so delicate, swaying in the wind, making people want to touch them.

It's just a flower, not something very strange. It should be okay to touch it, right?

This kind of flower is rare in Area 103. There are only genetically bred artificial species in the city. This is the first time he has seen a natural wild flower.

He watched for two minutes, but it seemed like a lifetime.

The only thing left in his eyes was this flower, its yellow petals trembling in the breeze, as if inviting him.

He stretched out his hand tremblingly, originally just wanting to touch it, but for some reason, the moment he touched it, he changed his mind and picked the flower.

Puff——

When the flower stem broke off, green juice covered his hands.

The colleague who was closest to him at the time saw it and was about to remind him not to move, but it was too late.

The little yellow flower was already lying in the palm of his hand.

The broken rhizome pierced into his palm, using his body as a new rhizome, and expanded rapidly, growing three times the size of a human in just one second.

Zhu Ning was staring at Li Nianchuan at the time, and Xu Meng's attention was all on his own team.

Most of the cleaners were a little tired, and all of them were stunned at first reaction.

Zhu Ning heard the sound and looked towards the scene. He didn't see anyone, but he saw a huge yellow flower suddenly appear in the air, like an inflatable doll at the entrance of a supermarket suddenly standing up.

The yellow flower looked harmless, and everyone just looked up at it.

At that moment, time seemed to be deliberately slowed down, and everything was very slow.

No one even screamed or shouted.

The next moment, the yellow flower opened its petals, like a monster opening its mouth, revealing densely packed teeth inside, and it leaned down.

With a click—

They heard the sound of bones breaking, followed by blood bursting out and spilling all over the ground like rain.

The yellow flower bit off the man's head.

The author has something to say:

Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or provided nutrient solution between 2022-10-22 17:48:29 and 2022-10-23 18:49:30~

Thanks to the little angel who cast the mine: Ta-da is a little cutie 1;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated the nutrient solution: KkeCa_0 40 bottles; Fly to Someone Else's Bed 36 bottles; Don't Lose Your Hair (Spicy) 30 bottles; 59157411 22 bottles; Cheer for Harley, am, and 姀 20 bottles; Null, Super Fierce, The Spring is Over, Ah Yang is a Pig, Honeysuckle, Just Do What You Want, Woohoo Sauce, I Want the Crane Ball to Lift High, Wild Growth 10 bottles; TAN 8 bottles; Yuqi 6 bottles; Light Clothes and Manman, Come on, Something Good, Jiying, Puppy, Menggayi, 35581057, I Want to Eat the Moon, 61964644, Eleven, No Time to Play Games 5 bottles; Little Feixia from Magic School 3 bottles; Black Cat, In, A Round One, Hongxia, The Cat's Tail Lies, Feifeijun, Bird Child Burning, La, and Sgaoyi 1 bottle;

Thank you very much for your support. I will continue to work hard!