novelbin Chapter 53 Federation
Chapter 53 Federation
The sun, which had been fixed in the sky like a silhouette, was now covered with a thin layer of gray, and its light had dimmed slightly.
Instead of returning to the gathering place, Xu Yang drove to a secluded spot.
Looking around, there was no sign of human habitation.
Located in the isolation zone, he gently flicked a white chip with his thumb, and it fell into his palm when he opened his hand, a warm touch.
dinar.
When I encountered Ita before, the monster said that the condition for entering the Miracle Forge was a dinar; as long as you silently recited it, the forge would appear before you.
It seems that whoever holds the currency is the boss.
Xu Yang smiled. He hadn't had time to deliver Newt's package before, but today was a good day to give it a try.
If successful, the skill library will be updated.
The Flame Bullet, as the first skill that accompanied him, is still a bit outdated. It's okay for lighting cigarettes for others, but in normal combat, you have to rely on quantity to sustain yourself.
It's time for a new spell.
He fumbled for the dinar, silently reciting in his mind.
"use."
The moment the voice fell, everything went black before my eyes, and the temperature of the dinar in my hand suddenly rose.
A thick layer of darkness enveloped everything.
At one moment, a raging fire broke out in the distant darkness, illuminating the surroundings. In the distance, an endless expanse of mottled gray-white ground appeared, with countless bloated bodies crawling and writhing.
The scenery above is adorned with stars, seemingly representing the depths of the starry sky.
In an instant.
A crimson fortress of light floated up from the flames, and just by seeing it, the information was stuffed into my mind—the Miracle Forge.
It was as if a kind of cognitive injection had been injected.
In an instant, it soared high into the air and flew towards Xu Yang. The surrounding darkness disappeared simultaneously, and the surroundings finally became bright.
But Xu Yang's gaze faltered slightly.
At this moment, the world around us stood still.
As dusk settles and the wind ceases, fallen leaves and birds miraculously remain suspended in mid-air, creating a static painting.
Xu Yang suddenly turned around, scanning his surroundings without any hesitation.
Clearly, he was unaffected.
Time has stopped?
wrong.
His gaze lingered on the fallen leaves, which were still falling, but so slowly that their movement was almost imperceptible.
Has time slowed down?
Or maybe I've become faster, but it doesn't seem like it. I still feel like myself. In terms of my state, I don't feel anything unusual in my body.
As the furnace in the sky drew closer, Xu Yang suddenly felt a sense of detachment. The distance between his body and the world seemed to be growing farther and farther, and he felt a sense of loss of control and... weightlessness.
This is magic, or—
gravitational.
An idea popped into my head.
Gravity alters time—something he had seen in a movie.
Time might not be the issue, but if he is slowly detaching from the world and happens to be in a different gravitational field than the current world, it seems not hard to explain why the world appears to slow down from his perspective.
In the pause of thought, the furnace drew ever closer, ever closer, until finally—
It stopped high in the air.
It's like it's stuck.
Xu Yang frowned, but he still didn't understand what had happened.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew his black, tousled hair aside, obscuring his vision, and he blinked.
The space, which had been moving slowly and still, suddenly began to flow, and the feeling of lightness and weightlessness in the body faded away.
Birds fly far away, fallen leaves hang to the ground.
And the furnace...
Ran?
At that moment, the orange-red fortress was returning to the starry sky at an even faster speed than before, and then plunged into the burning sea of fire, seemingly with a sense of resolute determination.
"No, I didn't go in!"
Xu Yang was somewhat stunned as he looked at the dinar in his hand. Its surface, which had been slightly hot, had now returned to its previous warmth.
Gradually, the dark starry sky in the distance disappeared into the sky.
Just as he was confused.
Suddenly, a voice, indistinguishable between male and female, or something akin to a will, entered Xu Yang's mind.
[Space is blocked; trading is impossible.]
After that, everything returned to quiet, as usual, as if nothing had happened.
Xu Yang stood still, his brows slightly furrowed.
Space blockade?
Suddenly, he remembered the azure sea he had passed by before, which seemed like two spaces overlapping yet isolated from each other.
Could this be it?
He narrowed his eyes, muttering to himself, "That spatial blockade refers to... the Red Fall. During the Red Fall, special areas of the isolation zone are sealed off, perhaps based on the same principle as preventing the Miracle Furnace from being accessed?"
"But why seal off space? Who did it? Was it the Federation?"
Xu Yang scratched his head. This question not only had no answer, but also seemed to leave him stuck on both ends.
It's not that he doubts the Federation's technological level. To be honest, he has no doubt now that the scene he saw in his genetic memories—the Star Destroyer and the blue-skinned armored man—is definitely related to the Federation.
Although it sounds ridiculous.
But the truth may be that there is a super civilization that has existed for more than 20,000 years and has done a lot of incomprehensible things on their home planet.
On one side are space teleportation, extraordinary gene modification, and giant starships; on the other side are application technologies that are generally similar to those before the transmigration.
The town that Lily and I explored before was just like that. It was clear that even before the cataclysm, all aspects of the facilities had regressed to a backward era.
In modern times, this would be tantamount to the government forcing people to return to the jungle, live in caves, and live with a primitive, primitive lifestyle.
This is too abstract...
He didn't believe the federal government didn't have better civilian technologies, so why not make them more widely available?
Even in the context of travel, shouldn't an advanced civilization have its entire population able to control spaceships with their thoughts, or be able to open portals throughout the universe at any time?
Why should I drive a vehicle that requires manual steering?
This looks like—playing house.
……
Xu Yang shook his head, his thoughts drifting too far, and tried to return to the question he had just asked.
If the Red Falls were done by the Federation, then the purpose was to make it safer for survivors to travel to the quarantine zone?
That doesn't make sense. The Federation doesn't even have corresponding policies for the redevelopment zones. It's obvious they want survivors to stay put in their settlements and not wander around aimlessly.
Why would they create a red pendant specifically for the survivors? Moreover, the sun that caused the red pendant, suspended in the sky, is called—the Parasitic Seed.
What is parasitic solar energy?
Xu Yang ran his fingers through his hair. The more questions he had, the more frustrated he felt. He looked around and then kicked the stone he was standing on.
……
He let out a soft breath.
comfortable.
Xu Yang then returned to the off-road vehicle. He couldn't figure out the Federation's problems, and he couldn't learn magic for the time being.
He looked out the window at the scenery; the distant mountains were quiet and dark.
Cranking the steering wheel didn't allow him to reconsider the question he had just asked. Thinking about unsolvable doubts would only waste time and bring no benefit.
The key is to be grounded in reality.
Xu Yang was contemplating what to do next: the area at the center of the mutation to explore, the weapons to replace, the tools to prepare, and—
The food I need to eat.
This is what's truly useful.
"That dry pot dish called 'Grey Source Lizard' seems pretty good," the man muttered to himself. "I'll give it a try when I have the chance."
……
Three hours later.
Inside a restaurant within the settlement.
Xu Yang rubbed his stomach as he walked out, carrying two bags. After handing over the bounty on the snake man to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he carried the remaining bag back to the hotel.
Upon entering the room, he took a pistol out of his bag.
【Fairmond Pistol】
[Produced by the Mechanism Prototype Association, this pistol addresses the shortcomings of short rifling and insufficient power. It features a silencer and a compatible magazine, making it suitable for most calibers. The downside is its powerful recoil.]
[Note: Can a bullet that thick really be inserted?]
……
Xu Yang smiled slightly. He wasn't worried about the recoil at all; the Strength Level 6 was still quite impressive.
If he were to encounter that werewolf again, his intuition told him he could beat him to death with a few punches.
This pistol was prepared by him to deal with the snake-man scales. The original pistol was one that he and Lily found in the cave of the flesh angels, which was only good for dealing with ordinary people.
We did consider going straight for rifles.
However, given the shield he was carrying and his fighting style, carrying a rifle would be more troublesome, while a pistol would be more convenient.
Xu Yang put the pistol into its holster. The bag also contained a stab-proof vest, a gas mask, and some specially made armor-piercing bullets, also for tomorrow's operation.
At this time, the lab ID card was still in settlement number three along with the Heart of Thorns.
He planned to find the lab entrance first, then return to Settlement Three and upgrade his equipment. There were already so many strange things outside the lab; who knew what bigger things were inside?
……
The next day, early morning.
Xu Yang arrived at the hotel's first floor early, found a small table, sat on a stool next to it, and waited for the hot bunny-eared girl to bring him breakfast...
After a series of footsteps, the woman with rabbit ears placed a porcelain plate on Xu Yang's table.
This is breakfast.
A pair of bright, watery eyes looked at him, though they were on a plate. Xu Yang speared an eyeball with his fork, and a glistening liquid welled up, steaming hot.
His eyelids twitched, but he stuffed the food directly into his mouth. It was just local cuisine; he was already used to it.
It tastes like a bursting fish ball.
Good.
While eating, he chatted with the people at the next table about the food.
The other party said that the eyeball came from a creature called a multi-eyed beast, which was farmed and its eyes could be harvested periodically, just like picking fruit.
It seems that it was once some kind of powerful creature that gave birth to a brilliant civilization.
Then, no more...
They offended the federal government.
After the entire species was intellectually emasculated and combined with other genes, it became an important part of human animal husbandry, and even in today's regressive civilization, it remains one of the popular food ingredients.
……
Tsk, this Federation sounds pretty ruthless. Luckily, I'm a member of the Federation.
Xu Yang secretly clicked his tongue.
However, it seems that this multi-eyed beast may have really offended the Federation.
Otherwise, what grudge could possibly lead them to be served on the dinner table for thousands of years? This kind of domineering punishment is far more brutal than gentle slavery, directly reducing an intelligent civilization to livestock.
Perhaps it was too long ago, and the people he was talking to no longer know the specifics of the grudge...
After a delicious breakfast, Xu Yang headed straight for the reconstruction area.
With a swift speed, the vehicle arrived at the collection area in the abnormal zone.
After contributing another set of contribution points in the parking lot, Xu Yang picked up his equipment and headed towards the center of the mutated area.
Along the way, the number of large black trees increased.
The sound of flowing water reached my ears, the wind gradually stopped, and for the time being, I had not encountered any monsters.
Strangely enough, compared to the edge areas, there was significantly more black vegetation here, but we encountered far fewer venomous snakes.
Not only venomous snakes, but even insects have begun to disappear.
Xu Yang strolled through the forest, which was almost completely shrouded in darkness. His footsteps brushed against the ground, and he heard the wet, pattering sound.
Through the black branches, the riverbank is to the right.
The trees were sparse, making it seem much more open.
thump!
It sounded like a stone falling into water.
He instantly became alert, removed his shield, gripped his pistol in his hand, slowed his pace, and moved forward quietly.
As they drew closer, a shadow appeared ahead.
Xu Yang shifted his body to the side, hiding behind a large black tree, his gaze slowly sweeping across the trunk.
A dark figure sat on the shore, scratching its back with its arm, tearing off scales that were covered in black liquid.
【Stone-skinned Frogman】
[It is transitioning into another kind of creature, initially a humanoid form, emaciated with thin limbs, covered in black, pebble-like scales, and with a swollen lower jaw that covers its tongue.]
[Note: This is so painful...]
……
The four fingers tore off another scale, and the Stone-Skinned Frogman shook its body, shaking off the black blood and water stains all over its body.
It picked up a black stone next to it, slowly stood up, and when it turned its head, its body suddenly stiffened.
*Thud*, the stone fell.
The next moment, the monster's jaw swelled up like a balloon, and its mouth suddenly opened wide.
In an instant, a grayish-white tongue shot out.
Bang!
The frogman leaned forward and fell to the ground with a thud. A large hole appeared in his head, and black blood stained the ground.
Its long, protruding tongue fell in front of a pair of boots.
Xu Yang's eyes were indifferent as he put away the Fermund pistol.
Armor-piercing rounds, not bad.
He then clenched his fist, and the dagger shot out from his wrist.
Swish.
Cut off a piece of grayish-white tongue.
When he went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to hand in his mission yesterday, he saw someone carrying a bag of tongues and still receiving the bounty. Since that was the case, he simply didn't bother cutting off heads, as it took up too much space in his backpack.
Xu Yang flicked the tongue in his hand; it was sticky, and the shape of the tip of the tongue was somewhat strange.
It's not the gentle, two-lobed shape of a frog, but rather a deep fork unique to snakes.
He narrowed his eyes, walked to the frogman's corpse, and kicked it, turning the body over.
Although I had only caught a glimpse of it in the information before, I still felt somewhat disgusted when I actually saw it.
Its dry, wrinkled, bluish-gray skin was covered with a thin layer of transparent mucus, and a fishy stench wafted from the air. The scales, like stone shards embedded in flesh, were unevenly distributed, resembling a disease.
The two large eyeballs shrank, and new eyeballs were formed in the center of the whites of the eyes, with golden vertical pupils.
He is clearly a frogman, yet he has the characteristics of a snakeman.
Therefore, the transition to another species mentioned in the guide refers to the transition to the Star Stone Serpent People, and then the Serpent People begin further evolution.
Xu Yang seemed to be deep in thought. When he first met the snake-man, the description also stated that he was completely mutated from another kind of creature.
He originally thought that snake people, frog people, and fish people were in the same ecological niche, but now it seems that frog people and fish people may be a kind of evolutionary form in a transitional state.
The snake-like human form is the most standard.
It's not hard to see that the appearance of this unusual area is most likely related to a snake-like creature, or even the evolutionary template for these monsters.
That's what he was thinking.
goo.
With a strange cry, Xu Yang looked up and saw an ugly frog head emerge from the river, its lower jaw bulging.
Almost simultaneously, two more tongues suddenly sprang out of the water from the left and right sides.
when!