Chapter 631 The Race That Lost the Sun
The next day, at about 10 a.m., the five people except the moose boss and the newcomer Fran gathered for lunch.
"The taste is a little bland, but it feels really good to eat such food in a place like this." Fran ate the hot oatmeal porridge mouthful by mouthful with a wooden spoon, feeling good.
After a night's rest, his originally nervous and tired heart was relieved a lot. In fact, not only was Su Lagui wary of him, but Fran was also wary, fearing that several people would kill him while he was asleep and take away the necklace nameplate.
This is a land without a country or laws, and you need to judge your own reputation.
Fortunately, after a night of fighting together and a good rest, the two sides reluctantly established the first trust.
The reason why Tilan and Ores were not so suspicious of Su La was that they were too special. In their opinion, the appearance and clothing of these two people were definitely not specially for cheating in such a remote place.
While Faran was sighing that the food was not bad, Orlesi, who was beside Tilan, was also observing Faran. After all, there were only a few people in the settlement, and she was naturally curious about a new face who suddenly came today.
"Silver-gray hair." Orlesi whispered in the girl's ear, but this voice was basically heard by everyone else in the room, because Orlesi didn't have the habit of doing things quietly.
"Yes, what's wrong." Tilan blew on the oatmeal porridge on the spoon and ate it in small bites. She still liked to eat it a little cooler.
"Familiar." Orlesi seemed to feel something, but still couldn't remember the past.
Maybe she had seen a lot of people with silver-gray hair before. There are quite a lot of people with silver hair and ice-blue hair among ice elves, Tilan thought.
"Oh, has this lady seen someone with the same silver-gray hair color before?" Faran couldn't help asking.
"She should have seen it in the past, but she was injured recently and can't remember many things." Tilan had to explain.
"Is that so..." Faran looked up and down at Orlesi, and didn't know what was in his mind.
Although Sura and Guy were still somewhat wary, they did not show it obviously at this moment. They just changed the subject. Guy said that he would take Fran to familiarize himself with the environment and where he could go and where he could not go.
Compared with Tilan and Orles, who were free to move and had almost no restrictions, this one was subject to more restrictions. For example, he could not go deep into the cave, nor could he go to the fenced fields on one side of the col. He could only move around in the rooms of the shallow cave and the open space in the col.
Fran had no complaints about this. In this land, such a request was considered polite.
In the afternoon, Fran leaned against the mountain wall to watch the scenery and recuperate, while Tilan and Orles were taken by Sura to the fields in the col.
"This place was opened up by the boss, and it is also the most important source of life for our settlement." She walked in the half-ripened wheat field. The lush wheat seedlings were half a person tall and growing well. They were particularly special in this desert-like grassland.
"Huh, the fragrance of this green grass makes me feel refreshed. Sometimes I even pick some grass leaves and put them in my mouth to refresh myself." Sura was in a good mood.
"You don't know how precious this piece of land is, especially in this place." She turned around and looked at Tilan.
"In order to maintain it, the boss has to dig fresh and safe soil from the depths of the cave every once in a while for cultivation. Otherwise, if the old soil is used all the time, it will soon degenerate into the same environment as the outside world."
"However, it was also because of it that the boss didn't have time to come back that day." Sura said this, feeling a little depressed. He pulled off a wheat seedling with his fingers and held it in his hand.
"Many people died, including Grandma Moroli who sewed clothes for me, Little Ero and Little Pidan who always circled around me, Tedley who was very handsome and powerful in knife wielding, and Nan Guo who joined the settlement very early. I guaranteed him the day he joined, and gave him a bottle of canned apples from my collection..." Sura's stable mood that had been maintained these days collapsed at this moment. Perhaps he was thinking of many past events while talking.
Tilan listened quietly, occasionally comforting her, but more often just listening, and then sat on the stone beside the field, listening to Sura venting her emotions about many people and things in the past.
"If only I could have gone back earlier that day to inform everyone, if only I hadn't run so far to find some prey." She blamed herself, although the rest of the people didn't blame her. "
Things are hard to predict..." Tilan shook her head and sighed slightly, touching Orlesi who was lying in her arms. Although she had many puzzles at the moment, she could still feel the difference in the emotional atmosphere and didn't interrupt.
After a while, probably because the emotions accumulated in these days were vented, Sura slowly recovered and became a little embarrassed again.
"What I said just now, uh, is very sad, but I am still very strong, and there is no need to worry too much. I am an iron-core species, and I have always been a person with a will as strong as steel."
"Even the will must be aligned with steel?" The girl was curious whether this was Sura's own saying or the doctrine originally believed in by their race.
"Of course." She patted her chest as she spoke.
"I almost forgot why I called you here today." Then she stood up.
"In the next few days, I'll trouble you and Orles to water the wheat, but not too much, just don't let it wither. I'll show you how much to water later."
"Okay." Tilan nodded. This was simple for her.
"Ahaha, sorry to bother you all the time, but our settlement is too short-handed now. It's mainly up to Guy and I to keep it running, and we're too busy to handle many things." She touched her head as she spoke.
In the next three days, life was spent in a dull and orderly manner. Tilan and Orles would help with some simple chores in the settlement, and Faran was also taken by Guy to move and arrange some things. Yesterday they also cut down a few trees from the wilderness to solve the problem of firewood and strengthening the defense line.
"Your settlement is too short-handed." Faran couldn't help but complain in the end, thinking that Sura and Guy's words were simply treating him like a fool.
"This is a border area, there's not much food, and there are so few people." Sura put his hands on his hips and retorted.
"Okay, okay, you are a hardcore person, you have to be strong all your life." Fran was too lazy to care about these things. Although he was complaining, in fact, after staying here for two days, his body has indeed recovered a lot and he is in a good mood.
"By the way, what are you going to do with the mechanical armadillo?" He suddenly asked about the war machine that Sura dragged back that day.
"Of course, check the parts and accessories inside and use them to exchange for money and things." Sura replied.
"Well, I mean, I know a lot about these things, and maybe I can help you analyze and check them, especially the two internal barrels of the armadillo."
"You?" Sura expressed doubt, but did not refuse.
"Okay, you can just watch while I dismantle it."
On the afternoon of the fourth day, the few people in the settlement gathered in the open space to dismantle the war machine, and Tilan and Orles watched from the side.
Sura skillfully used tools to pry the outer shell of the machine, then removed the armor step by step, and then slowly untied the internal structure with a screwdriver and a wrench.
"This is the power system. If it is modified, it can probably become a small motor and sell at a high price." She took out part of it and put it out separately. "
It seems that you are very skilled." Fran also expressed his approval at this time.
"Huh, I have been in contact with these machines since I was a child, so there is no room for you to guide me." Sura said that when she was a child, she followed her parents to dismantle and assemble these mechanical parts, and she was particularly clear about the value of each component. In the previous battle, she also shot the fragile abdomen of the mantis, causing it to leak oil and explode.
Then Sura continued to dismantle it and took out the core component, which was similar to a ball and was the brain of the machine.
"This thing should be the most precious, but unfortunately we can't use it. We can only melt it as scrap metal." She threw the ball aside with a little regret. There were still many circuit interfaces on it.
"Silver Gray boy, what about you? Didn't you say you know a lot just now? Do you have any ideas about this?" Sura pointed to the AI core she threw out.
"My teacher probably knows a little bit, but I'll let it go. This thing is the masterpiece of the Mechanical Council, and it's very troublesome to crack it." He also shook his head.
"Then I guess there's nothing for you to do later." Sura said, taking out the last key item, which is the two gun barrels built into the machine.
"There are not many bullets left. I guess they were almost used up before." Sura was a little disappointed when he opened the bullet box.
"Making bullets is the most time-consuming and troublesome. I used to ask Hula and Feiqi to help me. Now they are gone, so I can only do it myself." Sura said and thought of his previous companions.
"What do you mean by gone?" Fran asked a key question at this time.
"I mean, they're going on a long journey, and they won't be back for a while." Sura replied calmly, and Faran was too lazy to expose this answer.
After another three days, not only did Faran's body slowly recover, but Tilan also felt that she was in a much better state. Now she could probably exert the full strength of Sequence 5. If it was Sequence 6, it would take some time.
"Oles, do you still remember this formula?" During the rest time, Tilan took Orles to walk on the mountain wall and blow the wind, and then used a branch to draw letters and numbers on the ground.
"I don't remember." Although Orles tried hard to open her eyes and think, she still couldn't get the memory out of her mind.
"It's okay, then do you know how to make this happen?" Tilan opened her hand in front of her, and a small ice flower sprouted in her palm, then grew, gradually grew taller, and took out leaves, and then bloomed beautiful and thin ice flakes. The whole process was lifelike, as if it were a real plant.
"Beautiful, I'll try." Orlesi's eyes were full of envy, and then she opened her hands and began to imitate.
At first, only ice flakes spread everywhere, but as she tried slowly, beautiful ice flowers gradually bloomed. Of course, in terms of fineness and lifelikeness, it was not as good as the one in Tilan's hand.
"It can only be like this." Orlesi looked at Tilan a little nervously, afraid that Tilan would despise her for being stupid.
"Orlesi is very good~" The girl noticed the other party's mood, touched Orlesi and encouraged her, which made the ice elf girl happy quickly.
It's really easy to coax her, Tilan couldn't help thinking, if it was the old Orlesi, she would probably pretend to be sad at this time, and then ask her for a lot of compensation and benefits, such as accompanying her to play, and then going on vacation, etc.
Seeing that Orlesi didn't remember the formula, but she knew how to use it instinctively, Tilan thought about it and put her mind at ease for the time being.
The human brain and soul are very special. Now she lacks medical testing methods, and she doesn't know the specific situation of Orles. She probably needs to return to the Federation to find those master-level medical experts to confirm the situation.
Some precious elixirs that specifically heal soul trauma can only be obtained by returning to the Federation.
In the following period of time, Tilan asked Orles to try a lot of spells. Orles could use some simple spells directly, but she was powerless for more complicated ones.
This was enough to protect herself, and the girl put aside a lot of worries.
On the evening of the seventh day when Fran came to the settlement, Tilan was cooking dinner with Orles in the kitchen. Hearing some noise and quarrels outside, she asked Orles to stay in the kitchen to continue making steamed buns and came out to see the situation.
"Sura, I really don't allow you to do this this time." Guy rarely refuted Sura righteously.
"Why, I am sure they are not lying, and we have the ability to help them, right?" Sura was a little angry.
"Don't you know the current situation? There are few people in the settlement, and there is only one temporary resident. Now you bring back five refugees. How can we control them in the future?"
"When there are few people, we should expand the manpower. We rescued you, too. Why are you unwilling to rescue others this time?"
"The situation is different. At that time, I was..." Guy's momentum was suppressed at this time, and it was difficult for him to strongly object.
"What happened?" Tilan walked out wearing the same linen dress as Orles. There was still a lot of flour and white ash on her arms, and a cloth wrapped on her head to prevent her hair from falling into the food. This dress was particularly practical, making her originally outstanding appearance look a lot more ordinary.
"When Sura was out, he saw five refugees in the wilderness and brought them back." Guy explained unhappily.
"This..." Tilan didn't know what to say for a while, after all, she and Orles were just temporary guests.
"The situation now is that we have to support five more people, and we are not sure whether they will have any other intentions." Guy jumped down from the stone and explained the situation to Tilan.
"No, they are from the birch tribe in the east. They are the same in race and experience. They are not outsiders who came to this land temporarily."
"It's just that several settlements over there have been fighting recently, and they have no choice but to flee here." Sura explained.
"How can such a person be trusted when he was a deserter during the war?" It can't be seen that Guy still has some iron blood.
"One of them is a child, and there are two underage girls. They are also for the family." Sura argued again.
The two quarreled again. In the end, Sura called everyone over and persuaded Guy to let them go after having a meal before leaving.
At night, for the first time, more than a single digit of people gathered around the campfire in the settlement. Compared with the quiet and lonely atmosphere before, it suddenly became much more lively.
An 8-year-old child and two girls around 13 years old happily shuttled and played around the crowd around the fire. Guy talked to the man in the lead, and Sura and the older woman boiled water on the side to prepare a good bath for the children.
The firewood was crackling, and the few people who had just finished a sumptuous dinner talked.
"Is that called 'mantou'? This is the most delicious food I have ever eaten." One of the gray girls stood in front of Tilan, looking up at her, her black eyes were particularly smart.
"Yes, this is how it is made in my hometown." Tilan still had a cloth wrapped around her head, and she was still cleaning up the kitchen utensils with Orles.
Without the various convenient tools in modern society, it was discovered that cooking is quite a hassle. From the initial processing of ingredients, lighting fires, boiling water, to the later division of food, and the cleaning and draining of kitchen utensils, 2-3 hours passed unknowingly.
While she was talking to the little girl, Orles was sitting by the basin and brushing the newly made grid with a brush, but from her appearance, it seemed that she was treating the process as something fresh and fun, and she was not very fast.
In order to avoid Orles from being too conspicuous, Tilan also covered her beautiful silver hair with a headscarf.
"Ahahahaha~" The youngest child ran around the campfire holding a branch that had not yet burned out, followed by his younger sister who was also not very old.
Originally, this would be nothing, but because he kept turning his head instead of looking ahead, he was about to bump into Orlesi who was standing by the basin. Tilan had to turn around and block him, gently pressing his shoulders with both hands to stop him temporarily.
"Remember to watch the road." Then she let go of her hand and let the boy, who was still a little confused, hold the stick and return to his sister.
"Sorry." The girl who was talking to Tilan came over and apologized to the girl. Among the three children, she was the older and more sensible.
"It's okay." The girl didn't care about these things, but returned to Orlesi and sat with her on the side of the fire to wash the remaining kitchen utensils.
Near the fire, Guy was talking to the man. The other person had dark gray skin and charred hair, talking about the journey.
"The enemy settlement that was originally on par with us suddenly had a batch of powerful firearms. In the battle for water, they killed the powerful warriors in our settlement. The settlement was about to be captured and occupied, so I just led my people to escape." He explained, and turned over his arm to reveal the gunshot wound on one side.
After carefully looking at the wound and the wound surface, Guy was sure that it was true, and his previous doubts were partially dissipated.
"Where did the enemy's firearms come from? Are they very powerful?"
"They are powerful, more powerful than common guns, with a fast shooting speed and a large number of them." He gestured and described in a muffled voice.
"Is that so..." Guy fell into thought and began to worry about the future of the settlement.
On the other side, Sura and an auntie were sitting by the campfire. The other auntie was holding the flames. She would bathe the youngest child, splashing water in the basin. She would occasionally coax the child to be quiet, but she was reluctant to hit him. It seemed that this boy was her favorite child.
"That one is her sister. The other one is my sister's daughter, but she is no longer alive, so she is also raised by me." The auntie talked about the situation of the three children.
"Is my sister's child the oldest?" Sura asked curiously.
"Yes, she gave birth to a child earlier than me, and I don't know who she gave birth to." The other party shook her head and stopped explaining.
There are no stable marriages in many settlements, especially those relatively primitive tribes.
The five refugees are all from the birch tribe. Their skin is dark gray and blue, and their hair is black and curly. They are said to be "blue-skinned". Although they don't have any special skills, they are relatively strong and can adapt to this polluted land. Even if they occasionally eat polluted food, they will be fine. This gives them more food choices, so they can form a larger tribe.
"The tribe originally had several hundred people, and now I don't know how many are left." Among the five people, the leading man spoke clearly, but the wife was more vague about some concepts, and her speech was often incoherent. It took a while for her to get to the point and the part that the other party wanted to know.
After talking with her for a while, Sura, who felt a little tired, simply gave up. On the other hand, Fran sat in the distance and chatted with Marula tonight. The two of them slept in the same bedroom every day, and their relationship became familiar.
"Suddenly there are so many more firearms. It seems that after my injury is healed, I have to go over there to check the situation. Maybe I can get a valuable report." Fran rested his head on his hands and leaned against the stone.
"Are those firearms difficult to produce?" Marula was curious.
"Aha, it's not difficult to say it's difficult. In terms of technology, the girls in your settlement can also do it, but such large-scale production is completely different. There should be mature production lines and raw materials. This is not a simple matter." Fran opened the diary in his arms and began to sketch and calculate.
"From the refining of iron ore, the construction of blast furnaces, the casting of steel pipes, the processing of rifling, and the polishing of many accessories, these are not things that can be done manually. The use of some of the lathes consumes a lot of electricity, and how to generate electricity is another big problem."
"If there is a base that can completely solve these problems, then they probably have the foundation to establish order on this land. I'm talking about the emergence of a prototype of a country."
"After all, there are only a few powerful extraordinary people. Most of them are still mortals. As long as there is a bullet, they can be killed and pose a huge threat."
"After all, we have lost the sun, and we can only find a way out on this land." As he said, he stretched out his hand and looked at the starry sky above his head.
"I really want to leave this planet and take a look outside. If those historical legends are true, I wonder which suns are ruling and shining in the Milky Way now."
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
