There was nothing more bizarre than discussing the end of the world in a waste recycling station filled with a strange smell, foul air, and garbage. The atmosphere here made people feel as if they were walking in a horror film with a distinct style. Everyone agreed with this, especially Liliana, the loli with a weird aesthetic sense. She claimed that she felt a gothic style of decadent metal from the twisted wreckage around her. She began to be fascinated by the end of the world. In her words, this decadent garden after the end of the world was the ultimate miracle of violent aesthetics. Because of this, her elder sister held her down and spanked her for three minutes. Liliana was spanked until she cried for her parents.
I was right about one thing. Chestnut should be glad that she received a physical enhancement when she enrolled in the Imperial Army Military Academy. Because the environment here was indeed not suitable for ordinary people to survive. On this metal planet that was piled up by countless abandoned starships, the gravity was 1.5 times that of Earth. A weak high school student would definitely not be able to walk far. Furthermore, the air here was even worse. We did not know what was supporting the oxygen content of this planet's atmosphere. It could be the ecosystem in the wreckage that was leaking air, or it could be that the natives had repaired the atmosphere. I would rather believe the latter. Otherwise, the ecosystem here was simply too unreliable. Preliminary scans showed that there was no complete ecosystem in these ruins. The number of plants was so small that it was negligible. It was wishful thinking to rely on biological power to maintain the oxygen content in the atmosphere. Furthermore, the natives here were obviously similar to humans. They needed the oxygen rich environment on Earth to survive. Therefore, for their sake, I would rather them master the technology to repair the ancient atmospheric generator than to build the atmosphere here on the antique ecosystem in the wreckage of the spaceship.
That's right, where was I? Oh, Chestnut's physical enhancement and the air here.
The air here was terrible. Even though the oxygen content was enough for ordinary people to survive, the air was filled with impurities, toxic gases, radioactive dust, metal dust, suspended particles formed by the weathering of the energy crystals on the battleships for 700,000 years. There were also organic acidic clouds that were even more deadly to the respiratory tract. These dangerous things, in addition to other elements similar to Earth's atmosphere, formed the air around us. It was so bad that it made one's hair stand on end. A healthy person who came here without any protective equipment would experience bronchitis and late-stage lung cancer in no time. Based on the situation, they might even succumb to a serious illness such as acute respiratory tract poisoning … Dear, do you still think that the air in the city you live in is seriously polluted? Come here and take a deep breath. I swear you will be able to thank God for the fresh air and blue sky at the entrance of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant …
After her physical enhancement, Chestnut would not be poisoned by the polluted air. She even learned how to control her enhanced organs in a certain extracurricular interest group. She stopped breathing and only relied on anaerobic chemical reactions to maintain her activities. But this did not stop her from showing great dissatisfaction with the poor environment around her. She was wearing a short skirt and knee socks high school uniform of the Imperial Army Military Academy. She seemed to feel that the heavily polluted air was constantly penetrating through her exposed skin and into her capillaries. She felt uncomfortable all over. She waved her hand in front of her nose. Even if she wasn't breathing, she couldn't help but do it because of the pungent smell caused by her accidentally taking a few deep breaths. "Mas … Big Brother, this place is more disgusting than a city full of zombies."
"Indeed, it seems that either the indigenous people here have a different respiratory system than the people on Earth, or they have evolved a reinforced bronchial system." I expanded the energy shield around me to cover the gloomy Chestnut and the sneezing Rhododendron Spp.. Then, I looked up at the dim light hanging high up in the sky. "The structure of this ruined planet is simply too unscientific. Tawil just sent back a message saying that she has scanned three large garbage dumps, including this ruined planet, with a strong energy reaction. This means that the wreckage of their core is likely to still be operating. I really don't know what happened here back then for these spaceships to be piled up together in such a strange manner. It looks like a mass grave …"
A large group of us walked on the empty "road". Although it was called a road, it was actually just a metal skeleton that was still intact. This skeleton was dozens of meters wide and spanned between two garbage dumps filled with scrap metal. It could barely be considered as a traffic route. We had already left the transport behind us since we would not be using it for the time being. Moreover, there was really no need to recycle the transport that was smashed to pieces by Icetis. Looking around, all I could see was a dull gray metallic color. Large pieces of alloy fragments formed a broken land, and there was almost no place that was even in the truest sense of the word. Even though the entire "planet" should be in such a broken state, the place under our feet was obviously the most broken of all. Metal wreckages of various sizes were randomly piled up in the distance, forming hills that were hundreds of meters tall. This "planet" was originally the ruins of countless battleships. Those metal wreckages were like garbage piles on top of garbage dumps. This was really a strange way to describe it, but I could not find a better word to describe it. Because of the barbaric tearing, incomparably sharp pieces of broken metal abruptly stretched out from the broken ground, pointing straight towards the chaotic sky. Under the illumination of the dirty light, they looked like bony arms reaching towards the sky. Some extremely dirty rags were blown up by the wind, hanging on those sharp metal spikes pointing towards the sky, fluttering in the high altitude wind, looking like strange pirate flags.
There was a dirty atmosphere above this ruined planet. Putting the air quality aside, the thickness of the atmosphere was thicker than Earth's. As there were no stars in this "universe", all the lighting here came from artificial light sources. They were countless large fireballs hanging high above the atmosphere. Every few thousand kilometers, there would be one fireball hanging in the sky, emitting an uncomfortable piercing white light. These light sources were very bright, but the comfort they gave was really unflattering.
Sandora observed the surrounding environment for a while before looking up at the sky. She frowned and said, "It's a nuclear fusion reactor, a very primitive thing. It seems that the only value they have here is to emit light and heat."
"I'm quite curious as to how they came to be." The big sister pointed at the nuclear factories that emitted a piercing light and provided heat to the entire ruined planet. "Nuclear fusion reactors and psionic reactors are very different things. The natives here know how to use the Empire's spaceships, but they still kept these nuclear fusion reactors. Even if it's just for illumination, it is still a very strange phenomenon."
I thought about it and understood what the big sister meant. "It's like using torches to illuminate the Chinese Academy of Sciences?"
Everyone agreed that my conclusion was very accurate …
Even though the environment was bad and the atmosphere was strange, it still could not stop my precious Shallow Shallow from exploring the new environment. After following us obediently for a while, Shallow Shallow and Liliana went to a small mountain of trash not far away to explore. The big sister and I couldn't stop them. The two of them dug up a pile of scrap metal that was at least a hundred meters high. Then, the two of them ran back happily with a bunch of random gadgets in their hands. Not to mention the scrap metal, there were also some sophisticated parts, broken crystal cores, and even a MDT. Liliana handed the MDT to me as if it was a treasure. She had a flattering smile on her face. I pinched the little girl's cheeks and pressed a few buttons on the MDT. The MDT actually lit up for a moment, but after a few symbols, it started smoking.
Compared to this gadget, the few pieces of metal that Shallow Shallow had brought back caught Sandora's attention.
"It's traces of manual cutting, and it's not the kind of cutting done by brute force during a battle. The tangent lines on the two angles are intentional," Sandora said as she placed the piece of metal that Shallow Shallow had brought back in front of her eyes and observed it. "That's right, secondary processing … Someone recycled the metal debris from the ruins and reproduced it. And here, it's a garbage dump after everything that was reproduced was completely scrapped."
"Wow, we've really landed in a good place. Your location is almost as good as Lin's."
Such unscrupulous ridicule was directed at Sandora. It was obvious who it was: the rogue goddess Icetis.
No one replied to Icetis's ridicule. We all knew that she was just bored out of her mind. Under Sandora's guidance, we gradually headed towards the direction where there were traces of human settlements. In order to directly observe the environment here, everyone chose to walk. Even though the 'scenery' here wasn't all that great, the strange and twisted pieces of metal around us still made Shallow Shallow feel that it was novel and interesting.
After ten minutes of walking, we arrived at the edge of the garbage dump. Only then did I realize that it was actually located on a high ground. The 'flat ground' ended abruptly under our feet. In front of us was a slope of almost ninety degrees. At the end of the slope of about a hundred meters, we could see sparsely scattered lights. Those dim yellow lights were emitted from the gaps of the houses that were stacked together with twisted pieces of metal. This meant that this was the so-called residential area.
"When that 'Hope' crashed on Mars, I didn't expect it to come from such a dilapidated place." A golden halo flowed slowly through Sandora's hair. She bent down and pressed her hand on the ground, scanning for any intelligent life within a radius of a few thousand kilometers. "It seems like we've landed in an extra-large slum. The obsession with food and clean water is suffocating."
"How much longer do you plan to hide?!"
Lin Xue, who hadn't said a word along the way, suddenly turned her head to look at a pile of twisted pipes about thirty meters away from us. She shouted at the person hiding behind the pipes.
Actually, from the start, we had sensed that there was someone hiding nearby. However, the other party's energy signature was too weak, so no one paid attention to it. Of course, there were some among us who were slow to react. Chestnut, the only non-combatant among us, immediately looked in the direction that Lin Xue was looking at. "There's someone over there?"
With so many pairs of eyes staring at them, the person hiding behind the waste pipes finally couldn't hide anymore. With the sound of clothes rubbing against the ground, a small figure crawled out from behind the messy garbage. Only a pair of golden eyes shone brightly on his dark face as he stared vigilantly at the stranger in front of him.
It was a little boy dressed in greasy coarse clothes. His original color could hardly be seen from head to toe. Even his hair was clumped together because he had not washed it for years. He looked no more than twelve or thirteen years old. His appearance made Kuozi exclaim, "A child?"
Noticing the nervous expression on the little boy's face, I immediately used my hidden weapon, Big Sister. I pushed my big sister forward and didn't care about anything else.
This was a principle that everyone believed in. When Big Sister appeared, all the naughty kids in the world would tremble!
With a warm smile that could instantly make a person suffer from advanced diabetes, Big Sister waved at the little boy not far away. Even though I thought that smile was enough to make any naughty kid let down his guard, unexpectedly, the little boy not far away was still looking at us with vigilance. He didn't seem to have any intention of approaching us. Looking at his tightly clenched fists and his slightly trembling legs, it seemed that he was still planning to run away. This made Big Sister sigh in frustration.
"Cough cough, don't be afraid. We aren't bad people." I coughed lightly, but it gave the other party a scare. Fortunately, he didn't run away. Then, I quickly pointed at Liliana who was squatting on the ground, trying to trick Mercury Lamp to eat the iron wire. "Except for this one."
Liliana instantly jumped up like a spring. "Boss, you can't do this!"
Mercury Lamp quickly grabbed the edge of Liliana's skirt. The 1.09-meter-tall Pope fell on his face on the spot. Then, the two girls who had always occupied the lowest height in the family started fighting again.
"You guys came from the big city?"
Maybe it was the children's quarrel (…) that made the little boy let down his guard. After he carefully looked at us, he spoke in a timid tone. His voice sounded a little hoarse, but it was still pleasant to listen to.
The big city that the other party mentioned should be the name of a place. But we didn't know that there was a place called a big city on these floating space garbage islands. But I still nodded. "How did you know?"
"Only people from the big city can wear such beautiful clothes. Also, you guys are very clean."
The little boy's line of sight was attracted by the mercury lamp, which was only 92.3 centimeters tall but was making a lot of noise. However, he still knew how to answer my question. He pointed at our clothes with envy and fear in his eyes.
It seemed that the "big city" he mentioned was a place where the upper class lived. To this little boy who was as dirty as the garbage around him, it was probably a place that only important people could get close to. And the important people there were probably not easy to get along with.
Sandora and I couldn't help but look at each other. We quickly deduced the social status and mentality that the other party might have in such a situation. Then, Sandora nodded at the other party. Her expression carried a little coldness that might be in line with the social status of the residents of the so-called "big city". "Yeah, we came from the big city. But what the hell is this place?"
The little boy was stunned. Maybe he thought that we were different from the people of the "big city" that he remembered. But a small character like him wouldn't think too much about such things. He pointed at the surrounding garbage dump. "This is the E-66 Metal Station. Below is the Condenser Town. People from the big city rarely come to this place. Are you looking for someone or something? I am very familiar with the environment here … "
"What's your name?" The big sister suddenly took a step forward. This time, the other party didn't retreat. "We are just passing by, but we might stay for a day or two. Yeah, you don't have to know what we are doing. But we do need a guide."
The little boy showed the same stunned expression again when he heard his sister's word 'passing by'. Then, he quickly replied, "I'm Glick, the son of Old Glick's family. I'm also the best guide in Condenser Town!"
After saying this, the little boy named Glick looked at us with a hopeful gaze. His gaze stunned me for a moment, but I immediately understood what he meant. He was asking for some sort of reward.
It was really strange. Just a moment ago, he was trembling in fear of being beaten by us. But now, he was acting like a cunning businessman and asking for a reward. He even volunteered to be our guide. I was sure that in his eyes, we were outsiders who didn't fit in with normal people. We might even be different from the people of the "big city" that he knew. But this little boy threw all these suspicious thoughts to the back of his mind and focused on getting some benefits for himself.
Of course, I didn't care what kind of worldview he had. Right now, I was only thinking about one thing — what kind of currency should I offer in order to make him not suspect anything and obediently become our guide in this ruined world?
RMB was definitely out of the question, and the Empire Coin crystal card that was commonly used in the Macro World definitely wouldn't work. There was no place to swipe cards in this place. The Koreans might announce that their banknotes could be used here, but I would rather believe in Liliana's integrity than believe in them.
In just a few seconds, the smart big sister solved this problem. She took out a small silver metal box from her dimensional pocket and threw it forward. The small metal box hovered in the air and quickly transformed into a small robot with a diameter of less than half a meter. It had many robotic arms and projected a lot of holographic images in the air. It was the kind of smart and interesting robot that Gaia often saw around him. It was the cheapest and simplest work unit. Although it didn't have much intelligence and strength, this kind of robot could adapt to any kind of work. It could also modify its structure in a very short time and evolve into a robot arm that could adapt to new work. In short, it was a very common robot worker that could be seen everywhere in the Empire base. I didn't expect my big sister to bring this kind of thing with her. What did she use it for?
"I put a few greenhouses in my dimensional pocket." My big sister saw through my doubts and whispered, "They are responsible for watering and fertilizing."
I was speechless.
The little boy's attention was attracted by his sister's action of taking these things out of thin air, but he didn't show any signs of shock. Just as we had guessed, the spatial equipment of the Xi Ling Empire wasn't something unimaginable in this world. What really made the little boy gasp in surprise was what his sister said next, "This is for you."
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