(The computer crashed, just got it fixed...)
Nothing seems more bizarre than discussing the apocalypse in a recycling station filled with strange odors, polluted air, and heaps of garbage. The atmosphere here makes one feel as if they’re walking through a distinctly styled horror film. Everyone agrees on this point, especially Lilina, who appears to have an unusual aesthetic sense. She claims to perceive a Gothic-style decadent beauty in the twisted wreckage around, and has begun to yearn nostalgically for the apocalypse that caused all this. According to her, the twisted wasteland after Doomsday is the ultimate miracle of violent aesthetics—which earned her a three-minute spanking from Big Sister, prompting Lilina to wail like a child.
I was right before; Du Dao Kazuko should be grateful for undergoing physiological enhancent when she enrolled in the Imperial Military Academy, since the environnt here is not suitable for ordinary survival. On this planet made of countless abandoned starships, the gravity is 1.5 tis that of Earth, a fragile high school girl would definitely not make it far, and the air here is even worse. We don’t know what sustains the oxygen levels of the atmosphere on this ruins planet. It could be from the leaking ecosystems within the starship fragnts, or perhaps the local natives repaired the atmospheric generators—I prefer to believe the latter, otherwise the ecological environnt here is extrely unreliable. Initial scans show there’s no complete ecosystem among the ruins, and the number of plants is negligible. Maintaining atmospheric oxygen levels through biological ans is a pipe dream, and the native residents here apparently resemble humans, requiring an oxygen-rich atmosphere like Earth’s to survive. For their sake, I hope they mastered the technology to repair ancient atmospheric generators, rather than establishing the atmosphere on the obsolete ecological balls within ship remnants.
Oh, where was I—oh yes, Kazuko’s physiological enhancent and the air environnt here.
The air environnt here is terrible. Although the oxygen level is suitable for human survival, the air is laden with many impurities, toxic gases, radioactive dust, tallic particles, suspended crystals from warships weathered over 700,000 years, and even organic acidic clouds more lethal to the respiratory tract. Combined with other components similar to Earth’s atmosphere, this creates an appalling environnt, so bad that it’s outrageous. A healthy person without protective gear could experience everything from bronchitis to advanced lung cancer within a short period and might even collapse from acute respiratory heavy-tal poisoning and other severe diseases... Still think air pollution in your city is severe? Co breathe deeply here, and I swear you’ll thank God for fresh air and blue skies at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant...
After physiological enhancent, Kazuko isn’t affected by the toxic air, and she’s even learned in so extracurricular interest groups to control her enhanced organs, cease breathing, and rely solely on anaerobic reactions to sustain activity. However, she still shows great displeasure toward the harsh environnt. Wearing a high school uniform from the Imperial Military Academy, with a skirt and knee-high socks, she seems to feel the polluted air continually invading her capillaries through her exposed skin, making her uncomfortable. She waves a hand in front of her nose, even though she’s not breathing, still reacting to the acrid feeling left from the few accidental deep inhalations earlier: "Master... Brother, this place is even more disgusting than a city overrun by Zombies."
"Indeed, either the native residents here have a different respiratory system than Earthlings or they’ve evolved iron-clad bronchial tubes." I expanded the Energy Shield around to encompass the disheartened Kazuko and the sneezing Yakumo Lan, then glanced at the dim lamp suspended above. "The composition of this ruins planet is utterly unscientific. Taville just sent back information, saying she detected strong energy reactions in the cores of the three large garbage heaps, including this ruins planet, which ans the core remnants might still be operating. I truly don’t know what happened here back then, making these spacecraft accumulate in such a bizarre manner—it looks like a mass grave..."
A large group of us walked along the deserted "road," which is really just a segnt of sowhat intact tal frawork. This fra, spanning dozens of ters, stands between two heaps filled with abandoned tal, barely qualifying as a traffic route. We’ve left the Transporter behind, as we won’t be needing it for now, and there’s no reason to reclaim the vehicle that Bingdisi wrecked on a whim. Surveying the surroundings, the view is dominated by a dull tallic hue, massive alloy fragnts forming a twisted land, with hardly any truly flat areas visible. While this entire "planet" appears similarly fragnted, the part beneath us is evidently the most severely ravaged. Large and small steel machinery forms towering hills hundreds of ters high—the planet itself is a wasteland of accumulated warship remains, and the steel wreckage is akin to garbage piled atop garbage—it’s an odd description but I can’t find a more fitting term. Jagged tal shards, torn savagely, protrude abruptly from the broken ground, pointing skyward. Under the polluted lighting, they resemble skeletal arms reaching for the chaotic sky, with dirty, tattered cloth fluttering in the wind on the high tal spikes, reminiscent of eerie pirate flags.
The atmosphere above this ruins planet is thick and murky. Regardless of the air quality, its thickness exceeds Earth’s atmosphere. Since this "Universe" lacks a Constant Star, all illumination derives from artificial light sources, consisting of countless large Fireballs suspended outside the atmosphere every few thousand kiloters, emitting taxing white light. The brightness of these sources is high, but their comfort level leaves much to be desired.
Sandora observed the surroundings for a while, glanced at the sky, and frowned, saying, "That’s a nuclear fusion reactor, very primitive things; apparently, they only serve to emit light and heat here."
"I’m quite curious how they ca to be," Big Sister also pointed to the reactors emitting dazzling light, providing heat across the ruins planet. "Fusion Reactors and Ghost Energy Reactors are worlds apart, yet these natives know how to use Imperial Ships but still retain these fusion reactors, even if only for lighting. It’s indeed a peculiar phenonon."
I pondered for a mont and understood Big Sister’s implication: "Like using torches for illumination in the Chinese Academy of Sciences?"
Everyone expressed that my summary was very apt...
Despite the harsh environnt and eerie atmosphere, it couldn’t curb my darling Qianqian’s enthusiasm for exploration upon arriving in a new environnt. After walking with us obediently for a while, Qianqian started hopping around, going on an adventure with Lilina to a small hill of trash not far away. Neither my Big Sister nor I could stop them. The two little treasures dug out a heap of at least a hundred ters high of waste tal, and then ca running back cheerfully, each holding a large bundle of miscellaneous bits and pieces. Not just scrap tal, but also so delicate components, broken crystal hubs, and even a data terminal. Lilina, like she was presenting a treasure, handed the data terminal over with a fawning smile on her face. I pinched the cheek of the little girl and pressed a few buttons on the data terminal. To my surprise, it really lit up for a mont, but after a few symbols appeared, it started smoking.
Compared to this little gadget, it was actually a few tal fragnts Qianqian retrieved that caught Sandora’s attention.
"Marks of artificial cutting, and not the brute force cutting during battles. The tangents at these two angles were intentional," Sandora observed back and forth on a tal plate Qianqian brought back. "No doubt, secondary processing... soone recycled and reproduced scrap tal remains from the ruins, and here, is the junkyard where everything made from the reproduction is completely discarded."
"Wow, we really landed in a great place. Your site selection is catching up to Lin."
This cheeky remark, made without any hesitation towards Sandora, could only be from one person: Rogue Goddess Bingdisi.
No one responded to Bingdisi’s jibe; we all knew that it was rely because she was bored. Following Sandora’s guidance, we gradually moved towards the direction showing signs of human habitation. To directly observe the environnt here, everyone chose to walk. Although the "scenery" wasn’t very appealing, the surrounding twisted and bizarre scrap tal still made Qianqian find it novel and interesting.
After ten minutes of walking, we arrived at the edge of this junkyard, and I finally realized it was located on a highland. "Flat ground" abruptly ended at our feet, ahead was nearly a ninety-degree slope. At approximately a hundred-ter slope’s end, a sparse dozen or so lights could be seen. Those dim yellow lights shone through the gaps of old twisted tal plate stacked houses, indicating that there was the so-called residential area.
"When the ’Hope’ crashed on Mars, I never thought it originated from such a desolate place," Sandora’s hair showed a golden halo slowly flowing through. She bent down, placing her hand on the ground, and began scanning every intelligent life form within thousands of kiloters. "It seems we’ve landed in a gigantic slum; the obsession with food and clean water almost suffocates you."
"How long do you plan to hide?!"
All along the way, Lin Xue suddenly turned her head to look at a pile of twisted pipes about thirty ters from us, shouting loudly at the person hiding behind the pipes.
Actually, from the beginning, we all felt that soone was hiding nearby. It’s just that the other party’s energy reaction was so weak that none of us paid attention. Of course, among us, there were still those with slower reactions. Sayaka, the only one not belonging to the combat personnel in our large group, imdiately looked in astonishnt towards the direction Lin Xue was staring at: "There are people over there?"
With so many pairs of eyes watching, the person hiding behind the exhaust pipes could no longer stay concealed. With the sound of clothes scraping against the ground, a small figure crawled out from the ss of garbage, a face covered in gri but with a pair of glittering golden eyes, cautiously watching the strangers before them.
A young boy appeared, wearing a coarse cloth outfit covered in oil stains, so much so that the original color was almost unidentifiable. Even his hair was matted into strands from years of not being washed. Judging by his build, he couldn’t be older than twelve or thirteen. His appearance made Sayaka exclaim, "A kid?"
Noticing the boy’s extrely nervous expression and readiness to flee, I quickly used my secret weapon: Big Sister. Pushing my elder sister forward, I didn’t have to worry about anything else.
This is a principle everyone firmly believes in: once Big Sister steps in, all the naughty kids in the world will tremble!
With a hug-warm smile that could instantly induce late-stage diabetes, Big Sister waved at the little boy not far away. Although I thought this smile was enough to lower the guard of any naughty kid, unexpectedly, the boy still looked at us warily without approaching. Judging by his tightly clenched fists and slightly trembling legs, he seed ready to flee, making Big Sister sigh in disappointnt.
"Ahem, don’t be afraid, we are not bad people," I coughed softly, which startled him a bit. Fortunately, he didn’t run. Then I quickly pointed to Lilina, who was squatting on the ground trying to trick rcury Lamp into eating iron wires, "Except for her."
Lilina bounced up like a spring, "Boss, you can’t do this!"
rcury Lamp swiftly grabbed the hem of Lilina’s skirt, causing the 1.09-ter-tall Holy Pope to fall flat on her face, and the two smallest mbers of the household once again started squabbling.
"Are you from the Great City?"
Perhaps the playful antics of the children eased the boy’s guard slightly. After cautiously glancing at us, he spoke in a timid voice, slightly hoarse but not unpleasant.
The "Great City" he ntioned should be a place na, but we had no idea where such a place existed in these floating space debris islands. Still, I nodded, "How could you tell?"
"Only people from the Great City can wear such nice clothes, and you all are very clean."
The boy’s gaze was constantly drawn to the 92.3-centiter-tall rcury Lamp, who was making quite a ruckus, yet he managed to answer my question. He pointed at our clothes, his eyes showing a mix of envy and fear.
It seems the "Great City" he spoke of is a place where the elite live, a place that is probably out of reach for a boy as dirty as the surrounding trash heaps. The people from there are probably hard to get along with from his perspective.
Sandora and I couldn’t help but exchange glances, quickly deducing the possible social status and mindset his situation might imply. Then Sandora nodded at him, with a deanor that might fit the social standing of the so-called "Great City" residents, "Yes, we are from the Great City, but what is this place?"
The boy was stunned for a mont, perhaps because we differed from his impression of "Great City" people. Yet, soone like him wouldn’t overthink these matters. He pointed to the surrounding junkyard, "This is tal Station E-66, and down below is ’Condenser’ Town. People from the Great City rarely co to places like these. Are you looking for soone or sothing? I’m quite familiar with this place..."
"What’s your na?" Big Sister suddenly took a step forward. This ti, the boy didn’t retreat, "We’re just passing through, but we might stay for a day or two. You don’t have to bother what we’re up to, but we indeed need a guide."
The boy once again showed a bewildered look at Big Sister’s word "passing through," then quickly replied, "I’m Glick, the son of the Old Glick family, and the best guide in ’Condenser’ Town!"
After saying this, the boy nad Glick looked at us with hopeful eyes, which made pause, then quickly realize: he was looking for so kind of reward or compensation.
It’s strange; just a mont ago, he seed scared to death of being beaten by us, but now he acts like a shrewd little rchant negotiating for compensation and even volunteers to be our guide. I’m sure to him we appear to be as out of place as anyone could be, potentially even more so than the "Great City" people he knows. But this little boy put all his doubts aside and started focusing on gaining a little benefit for himself.
Of course, what kind of worldview he holds isn’t my concern right now. What I’m thinking about is—what currency should I use to ensure he doesn’t get suspicious and willingly becos our guide in this Ruins World?
Using RMB is definitely out of the question, and the Macro World’s Imperial Coin crystal cards wouldn’t work either—this place clearly doesn’t have any card-swiping machines. Maybe so South Korea person would claim their currency is acceptable here, but I’d sooner trust Lilina’s integrity.
However, within seconds, this problem was smartly solved by Big Sister. She retrieved a small tal box emitting a silvery glow from her Personal Space, then tossed it forward. The tal box hovered in the air before quickly transforming into an autonomous machine less than half a ter in diater, with many chanical arms and projecting a bunch of holographic images into the air. It’s one of those clever and amusing little robots often seen around Gaia—a basic and cheapest working unit. Although it doesn’t have much intelligence nor strength, it can adapt to any job and modify its structure in no ti, evolving into chanical hands suitable for new tasks. In short, it’s a pretty common chanical worker seen all over the Imperial Base, yet I was surprised Big Sister carried one with her. What did she use it for?
"I have a few greenhouses in my Personal Space," Big Sister whispered, noticing my confusion, "These serve as watering and fertilizing workers."
: "..."
Glick was intrigued by Big Sister’s action of pulling out such things from thin air, though he didn’t show surprise. As we guessed, the Xyrin Empire’s space equipnt isn’t unimaginable in this world. But what made Glick gasp in amazent was Big Sister’s following statent, "This is for you." (To be continued. If you like this story, feel free to vote for it with your recomndation votes, monthly tickets on Qidian (qidian). Your support is my greatest motivation.)
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