Hao Ren rubbed his forehead, trying to grasp the lingering feeling in his heart. But the voice in his head had faded like a dream. He checked the previous mental communication record and found that it was blank. The MDT did not speak at all.
"I think I heard someone talking just now." Hao Ren exhaled and turned to look at the monitor on the carriage. It seemed that the convoy was about to cross the river, and the other side of the river bank was shining not far away. "It seemed that the world was about to collapse or something …"
"Your dreams are always very special. Don't underestimate them," the MDT said seriously. "You seem to have the ability to communicate with other consciousnesses through dreams."
"I know, I know, but this' connection 'is too short. I can't find any clues. But I have a feeling that coming to the ruins of the north this time is the right choice. This place must be the key to this planet … Signs always appear in the center of events, don't they? "
The three armored vehicles crossed the solidified Gray River safely. What greeted the mercenaries was a world of death that was more desolate than the wasteland outside, and everything here was even more bizarre. The camera showed the scene in front and on both sides of the armored vehicles. Hao Ren saw the silver-gray land outside, and everything was covered with the same luster as if the whole world had been transformed into a piece of metal. There were no plants, no buildings, not even a normal-shaped stone on the silver-gray land. There were only some oddly shaped bulges and round towers that melted into the ground like melted cheese. Their smooth surfaces reflected the lights of the armored vehicles, and the hazy light refracted between the large number of such metal structures, presenting a strange and dazzling appearance.
Hao Ren tried to figure out what the scene in front of him looked like. Finally, he thought of something: a melting city.
It was like casting a world of equal proportions with metals, and then letting them melt halfway and suddenly cool down. This should be what was formed.
"The Great Plain of Steel …" A young soldier holding a gun looked at everything nervously. "Everything has been transformed into metal?"
"It's not metal. The Nanomachine Swarm does not have the ability to change the properties of matter. They just make these things appear similar to themselves," Ulyanov said, touching the armor plate behind him with his gun. "Welcome to the old Star Continent City. You are driving on the wreckage of 6.53 million citizens and 200,000 buildings, including one of my legs, one of my arms, all of my livers, and three-quarters of my lungs. Now I really can't find them. "
The young soldier turned his head with a strange look. "Your jokes are never funny."
Ulyanov laughed hoarsely. Apparently, he was satisfied with his "visceral joke." Hao Ren could not help but feel a strange emotion when he looked out of the car. The silver-covered land outside was the result of the Nanomachine Swarm's rampage. It looked strange and beautiful, but it was a pile of bones and the ruins of the city. The tall bulges and the round towers that looked like melted ice cream should have been large buildings. If they were blown up, would they still be able to find the slightest trace of man-made structures? If they dug deep into the land, could they find the remains of the city's subways and pipelines?
Or maybe they could not find anything. The Nanomachine Swarm might have already penetrated the land and transformed the entire ruins of the north into their own domain. In short, everything could only be guessed. Everything that happened here was unknown. Buried deep in the silver-gray land was a domain that humans could not touch. Since sixty-five years ago, no one could understand what the Nanomachine Swarm was doing on this land.
Similar thoughts were spreading among the other mercenaries. Even these rough men who fought for a living could not help but feel emotional when facing the ruins of the north. Fear and awe had made them sensitive. Nolan, on the other hand, just yawned in boredom when she saw the reaction of the people around her. She seemed to lack interest.
As night fell, the dust-shrouded sky was dark. In fact, humans on this planet had not seen the stars for decades. But instead of stopping the convoy, Nolan ordered them to speed up. She said that the Nanomachine Swarm's activity was at its lowest at night. Those horrible little demons still needed to rely on solar energy to provide part of their energy. Although they could also move at night, their reaction was much slower than during the day.
According to Nolan's calculation, if everything went smoothly, they should be able to reach the Northern Ring Tower before sunrise, just in time for the Nanomachine Swarm to regain its activity.
The armored vehicles were driving between two towering silver-gray 'hills.' Strong lights shone on the metal 'hills' on both sides, reflecting circles of light. Ulyanov looked at the two symmetrical 'hills' and said in a low voice, "This must be the Locke Linton Towers. They used to be the tallest buildings in the world. I've been there several times when the city was still here."
"Yes, the tallest building in the world. When the Nanomachine Swarm went out of control, it set a world record for the highest number of deaths in the same building. But the record was broken by the explosion of Far East Fallout Shelter No. 3 in the fourth year," Nolan said, turning on the communicator next to her. "All vehicles, turn off the lights and use ultrasound to explore the road. There is a danger zone ahead. The strong light may activate some of the less dormant Nanomachine."
The three armored vehicles all turned off their lights. After losing the only source of light, this small convoy was more like a few wandering ghosts in the silent hell. In this cold, silent, and desolate world, everything seemed small and fragile. Even the heavy armor did not give them much sense of security. There was no situation like this that could make people realize how far away they were from the world of the living. Moreover, the convoy was going deeper into the depths of death.
On the boring and drowsy journey, Hao Ren was half-awake and half-asleep many times, but he did not hear any strange sounds again. Finally, he saw a glimmer of light in the hazy sky outside, and the armored vehicles were passing through a huge silver-white barrier. The material of this barrier was obviously different from the silver-gray material formed by the Nanomachine Swarm. Its regular appearance also showed that it was made by humans. It was tens of meters high and looked indestructible, but there was a huge hole in the lower half, which looked like it was melted by high temperature.
The armored vehicles passed through the hole under the barrier. Ulyanov patted Hao Ren on the shoulder. "This is the first hole formed when the Nanomachine Swarm went out of control. At first, they flowed out from the container on the opposite side of the barrier. Of course, now the container has been swallowed up, and there is no more Nanomachine Swarm on the opposite side of the barrier. They have all moved to the Gray River in the peripheral area. The reason is unknown. "
After passing through the hole, Hao Ren finally saw the natural rocks and soil, as well as the severely mutated and twisted plants that were struggling to grow between the rocks. He knew that he had arrived at the central hinterland of the ruins of the north, a final isolated island that had not been eroded by the Nanomachine Swarm.
Nolan raised her hand and pointed to the center of the monitor screen. "That is the Northern Ring Tower."
In the hinterland of the ruins of the north, the former Nano Outer Wall formed a barrier like a crater, dividing the corroded wasteland outside and the normal land around the Ring Tower into two distinct areas. The Northern Ring Tower was located on a towering hill. It was more than 400 meters high, composed of three symmetrical conical spires arranged in a triangular shape. A huge ring-shaped facility was installed at the top and halfway up the tower. They were the origin of the name 'Ring Tower.'
The two huge ring-shaped facilities were antennas, which released signals to control the surrounding Nanomachine Swarm in the era before the Master Computer went down.
The mercenaries breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the Ring Tower. They knew that the most dangerous area had been safely passed. At least they did not have to worry about being swallowed by the Nanomachine Swarm until they returned. The armored vehicles drove all the way to the hillside. The road ahead had completely collapsed and was impassable. But the entrance to the Ring Tower was already in sight. Nolan ordered everyone to get out of the vehicle and walk to the building.
Ulyanov and Hao Ren got out of the vehicle together. He looked up at the building that he had not seen for 65 years and took a deep breath.
Then, he strode forward.
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