Chapter 44 Chapter 44 The Fourth Wish
Most of the storefronts on this street have been ransacked, and some have been damaged by vegetation to the point of being inaccessible.
System 05 saw a pharmacy. There were unexpectedly many pharmacies in this city, but every one of them was empty. Previous explorers had not even spared the health products. System 05 could only find some empty packaging boxes on the ground, and the words on them were very blurred.
Production batch number: 4256472145
Production date: 2073.01.04
Valid until: 2077.01.04
The shelf life is four years, but now it is 2176. Nearly a hundred years have passed, three generations have changed, and the average life expectancy is now only forty years old. A large number of people have died, so young people like Bai Daqiu know nothing about what happened seventy years ago, and the stories they heard by chance are regarded as legends.
The mountain city was so vast that they'd only explored less than a tenth of it after a full day's walking. However, with the drone guiding them, they'd avoided many detours. The further they went, the more unexplored areas they found. Finally, they were able to find some items in the shops. While most of them were unusable, at least they could glean some information.
At night, System 05 and Chen Mu found a place that could barely accommodate them. This place was probably a shopping mall in the past. It was nine stories high and circular in shape. There were some shops around it. A big tree ran through the entire building from the center. The building did not collapse because of it. Instead, it supported each other with the branches of the tree, forming a wonderful landscape.
"This shop seems to sell all kinds of machines."
System 05 found a place to sit down, and Chen Mu came over holding a round robot dog. The robot dog without energy and AI was just a lump of iron, but these things were of extremely high quality. After Chen Mu put it on the ground, it could still perform simple deformation with the help of its mechanical structure, with its limbs spread out and supported on the ground, like a lively puppy.
Machines, on the other hand, are completely unaffected by the virus.
There are not only robot dogs here, but also robot spiders, robots, etc. The appearance of this robot dog is round and harmonious. Chen Mu couldn't find the switch, but when he picked up the robot dog, the robot dog automatically transformed into a ball.
System 05 has been to a world with a higher level of technology, so he is not interested in this. However, Chen Mu had a lot of fun playing it. The level of technology in this world is at least higher than that of Li Shanyue's world.
"The arrival of doomsday is a slow process," Chen Mu said as he explored the robot dog. "Starting in 2070, the virus's evolution accelerated. By 2073, the human mortality rate was far higher than the birth rate. By 2080, life expectancy had dropped to 60, and people were scrambling to leave the city. By 2100, the base was established, and the city was completely abandoned. Humanity lost a lot and had to start over."
"It wasn't until 2120 that people adapted to life on the base and began to leave to explore. Some cities had been completely destroyed by the plants, and the remaining ones were large cities like this one, with the mountain city being quite famous among them. Even now, more than 50 years later, people's exploration of these abandoned cities is still very limited."
Chen Mu put the robot dog down and said, "One of the reasons for the restrictions is the extremely high concentration of the virus. We can't stay here for too long, even in protective suits."
System 05 pointed to a spot on the drone's display and said, "We'll go here tomorrow."
That is the center of the entire mountain city.
The two of them leaned on each other and slept all night. When they woke up, the sky was just getting brighter. System 05 found that he was being held tightly in Chen Mu's arms. Chen Mu had one hand on his chest and his head resting on his shoulder.
No wonder he had a heart attack in his dream last night and couldn't breathe. Chen Mu's body was much heavier than his. System 05 stared at him for a while. Although it was a completely different body and face, he was probably too familiar with Chen Mu, so he could clearly see Chen Mu's appearance from his movements and expressions.
He has not yet told Chen Mu about the host's wishes. He is familiar with Chen Mu, but does not trust him.
System 05 struggled to break free from Chen Mu's restraints, then reached out and tapped his forehead. Chen Mu, who was sleeping soundly just now, woke up immediately. He opened his eyes, and his eyes were very clear.
The two looked into each other's eyes and saw each other's souls through their skin.
Soon, they packed up and set off, and Chen Mu also picked up the spherical robot dog.
System 05 asked, "What do you want to do with it?"
Chen Mu: "Cute, I should be able to use it after I charge it when I get home."
System 05 didn't say anything. After a while, Chen Mu asked him to give the robot dog a name. System 05 snorted in a sarcastic tone, and Chen Mu realized that he seemed a little angry.
Why are you angry?
Chen Mu pondered this question in his mind. Without any means of transportation, the two could only move forward on foot. They encountered many zombies, and when the number reached a certain level, these zombies became a huge threat.
The Avengers cleared the way for them, leaving System 05 and Chen Mu to race as fast as they could through the zombie hordes, which largely remained confined to a fixed area. After running all the way, they finally reached the edge of the complex at dusk.
Mountain cities are built on mountain ranges, with different buildings clustered on different peaks, connected by magnificent cross-mountain bridges. The longest spans thousands of meters. System 05 looked down. The bridge piers below were nearly twenty meters in diameter, and the connecting cables were thicker than his arms. The bridge deck was hundreds of meters above the ground, and he felt dizzy when he looked down. The entire bridge stretched as far as the eye could see. It must have been a massive project, but with the passage of time, vegetation damage, and lack of maintenance, the cross-mountain bridge had broken in many places.
Other peaks can be reached by road, but the center of the mountain city, surrounded by mountains, is inaccessible.
Chen Mu said, "We can only fly in, but there are too few flying vehicles in the base right now, so the center of the mountain city has never been explored."
He flew the drone up, but even from the air, the bridge couldn't be fully captured. They couldn't even drive in, and unless two people could suddenly fly, it would be impossible to enter the center of the mountain city.
Chen Mu looked at System 05 and asked, "What should I do?"
System 05 took out the physical prop card, and a tall, handsome horse with silver mane came flying through the air, leaving specks of golden light in the air.
System 05 mounted the horse first, then stared down at Chen Mu. Chen Mu stretched out his hand and smiled at him.
"This is my first time using Pegasus to lead someone." After hesitating for a moment, System 05 reached out and pulled him onto the horse, muttering, "I didn't expect it to be you."
The Pegasus galloped along the bridge, unbridled, its movements entirely at the behest of System 05, like a streak of silver lightning. System 05 leaned forward slightly, pressing a hand gently against its mane. The Pegasus wasn't a real horse, but a fantasy creature. When it encountered a break, it kicked up with its hind legs, carrying System 05 with it, then landed in the air and continued its gallop.
System 05 glanced down and suddenly felt his waist being tightened and a strong heat source pressed against his back. Chen Mu hugged him tightly from behind.
System 05: "What are you doing?"
Chen Mu: "I'm scared."
System 05: "What are you afraid of? Death? Do you look like someone who's afraid of death?"
Chen Mu: "I'm afraid of heights."
As he spoke, he hugged System 05 tighter, his face pressed against System 05's back, squinting his eyes at the sea of clouds below.
System 05 remembered that he used to fly with a sword, stepping on a sword and killing people in the air, and he didn't look afraid of heights at all.
"Isn't it embarrassing to hold it like this?" System 05 asked in a low voice.
"What's so shameful about hugging you?" Chen Mu said frankly, "It would be shameful if I couldn't hug you."
System 05 really wanted to throw him off this time.
Tianma finally arrived at the center of the mountain city. The buildings here were taller and denser. System 05 looked down from the air and saw that the high-rise buildings were interlaced, but in the center, there was a building that covered a large area but was flat and low.
System 05 sent the Pegasus flying down, and upon landing, it vanished. System 05 looked around. The area was roughly the size of a football field. It was incredible to have such a building in the middle of a mountain city where every inch of land was valuable. The open space was filled with the most machines they had ever seen, but they were all motionless due to a lack of power.
No one has indeed explored this place. Both the extremely high concentration of viruses and the natural barriers between the mountains have prevented explorers from moving forward.
"There are no zombies here..." Chen Mu sighed.
Indeed, this place was unexpectedly peaceful, with no zombies present. This might be because all the zombies had been eliminated, or there had not been many people here before.
System 05 and Chen Mu explored the surroundings separately, and soon they discovered that this was actually an underground research institute that mainly studied artificial intelligence.
System 05 located the gate, which was locked. The lock was of extremely high quality, still functioning after a hundred years, preventing outsiders from entering. Chen Mu violently destroyed the adjacent wall, and the two of them slipped inside.
As soon as you enter, there is a hall. The screen is pitch black, but there are physical words carved in stone hanging on it, showing the functions of different areas of the institute.
【B2: Intelligent Spacecraft Research Center】
【B5: Intelligent Sorting Research Center】
B10: Intelligent Computing Acceleration Platform
B14: Spacecraft Special Robot Research Center
B20: Intelligent Interaction and Digital Design Research Center
"Spaceship?" System 05 raised an eyebrow. Although this was a place for researching AI, it was obvious that the main purpose of the research was on spaceships.
Were there spaceships a hundred years ago? Or was it just a future project?
"If a hundred years ago, the world's technology had reached the point where we could ride spaceships, what would have happened after the virus broke out?" Although System 05 asked a question, he already had the answer in his mind.
Chen Mu said, "Leave here."
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