Chapter 561 Slave owners and mutants

   Pine Cone Farm.

  The wall made of stone bricks and wooden piles is towering and towering, enclosing a large area of ​​land. On one side of the wall are dense houses, and on the other side are fields with traffic and fruit forests decorated with broken snow. This is not so much a farmhouse as it is a city of classical times.

   There are ten or twenty thousand people living within the wall, and a settlement is formed with the market as the core, where officials, craftsmen, soldiers and their families live. There are 30,000 to 40,000 people living outside the fence, most of them are peasant households, and more than half are serfs who have lost their freedom, and the other half are tenant farmers who have rented land and have not yet gone bankrupt. Everything here is the property of the farmer. Whether it is land or people.

   If the Boulder City is an extreme product of industrialization under the coordination of the Production Department of the War Construction Committee, then this farm is the other extreme after the survivors’ settlements grew freely.

   There is no sign of industrialization here. Although there is a near-future city not far away, there is no trace of inheritance here, not even a specious thing.

   As for the reason, it is actually very simple.

   There was no way the boat could move on its own, either the wind was blowing or someone was paddling.

   For the ship Pine Cone Wood Farm, these two elements are obviously not available. They are neither within the planning of the War Construction Committee nor have the motivation to develop industry.

   The farmer here has bought a few machines from Boulder City, but the effect is not very satisfactory, and over time they will be put in the warehouse to eat ashes.

   To put it bluntly, whether it is a bankrupt serf or a tenant farmer who is on the brink of bankruptcy, it can be regarded as the private property of the farmer.

   Even if the poor people wear new clothes, for the farmer here, it is just a new wallet for the money in his pocket, which is completely unnecessary.

   But even so, Pinecone Farm is much better than most of the survivors’ settlements that are still in the “tribal period”.

   At least some of the Marauder tribes were no match for them at all, and the produce was sold as far north as the Valley Provinces.

   The direct exchange of rich agricultural products and cash crops for the industrial products of Boulder City can be said to be the economic lifeline of this farm in the past century.

   It is no exaggeration to say that without the big landowners of Jushicheng, there would be no small and large landowners in Jinchuan Province.

   Most of the farmers here will cooperate with the merchants of Boulder City, or simply keep a few loyal servants as spokespersons of interests.

   Pine Conewood Farm is no exception, and the owner here, Zhao Tiangan, is more ambitious than any other farmer on this land.

   His parents had accumulated enough wealth for him, and a small settlement was no longer enough to satisfy his appetite.

  He wants to build a huge and permanent kingdom in this wild land just like the royal families of Luoxia Province!

   In order to achieve this great vision, he showed an open-minded and learning attitude towards the talents and technologies in the wasteland, and used the savings from the grain trade to recruit troops and hoard weapons.

   However, just when he was smug and was about to make a big fight, a bad news suddenly came from the north.

   A revolution broke out in the city of Boulder, the Boulder Building collapsed overnight, and the nobles of the inner city were either exiled or sent to the Union prisoner of war camp for transformation.

   And his sponsors, basically all fell in that revolution.

   When he heard the news on the radio at the time, he broke out in a cold sweat on the spot and did not fall asleep for several days.

  If you want to build a huge agricultural empire in the south, the support of the northern industrialists is indispensable. After all, he couldn’t expect a bunch of peasants who didn’t have the knowledge to learn how to operate a machine, and that knowledge happened to be something he couldn’t give those people anyway.

   However, now, his biggest partner has fallen to the Alliance.

  Although the Alliance is also his trading partner, but since the war in the west came to an end and the railway from Luoxia Province to the south of River Valley Province opened to traffic, the food from Luoxia Province has almost completely replaced them.

   This was almost fatal to the slave owners in Jinchuan Province.

   With the use of chemical fertilizers and high-yielding seeds, one acre of land can even support two or three people. But apart from the achievements of industry and primitive farming techniques, only three acres of land can support one person.

  When the profits of exporting agricultural products cannot be exchanged for sufficient means of production and weapons to protect the means of production, the virtuous circle will be broken, and their good days will come to an end.

  Although they will not go bankrupt immediately, the shrinking of production activities is almost inevitable. @·No mistake starting~~

  If there is no external interference, they will probably completely exhaust the social wealth accumulated by trading with the Stone City in the past 100 years in twenty or forty years, until they enter a new cycle and stabilize again.

   And their prosperity at the moment will also be transferred to the oases in the desert along the railway that has been built.

   Pine Cone Wood Farm is slightly better. After all, the family has enough money. Even if the settlement of more than 50,000 people is left alone, a group of carpenters, blacksmiths, textile workers, alchemists and other handicraftsmen will automatically emerge.

   However, other small farmers are unlucky, looking at the camu rotting in the woodland, it has gradually become so common that it has lost the bitter fruit of the gold owner.

   Fortunately, the church forces from further south extended a helping hand to the local people in time.

  Since it’s no longer profitable to grow regular crops—let’s grow a little nectar.

  The land where Nago is planted is no longer suitable for the growth of ordinary crops, but the crops eroded by Nago will grow exceptionally strong.

  The survivors who ate nago were not only immune to all diseases, but also humble and docile, as industrious and well-behaved as puppets carrying strings.

  Looking at it another way, they don’t actually need chemical fertilizers that much, and they don’t even need herbicides anymore, and all their material needs will be satisfied.

  Under the emerald green halo, man and nature will be perfectly integrated, realizing the true “I am both natural”.

   In order to gain the support of the southern church forces, Pine Cone Wood Farm also introduced Nago.

   And the effect of Naguo did not disappoint Zhao Tiangan at all.

   His serfs no longer slack off after eating Naguo, and no one complains anymore, everyone is as meek and obedient as sheep.

   They may not be good soldiers or specialist positions, but they are definitely the best farmers and laborers.

  It is also very simple to need them as cannon fodder. It is enough to give them a shot of “holy water”. The Torch Church has medicines that are immune to addiction symptoms.

   And the withdrawal reaction can become a rope to tie them. No one dares to be lazy anymore. In order to listen to the Gospel of the Son, they will work harder when they are sober.

   However, unlike those farmers who broke jars, Zhao Tiangan was always worried about those magic sticks.

   The imperial physician he hired told him that those serfs who ate Naguo were not truly immune to poisons, but that their body functions completely gave up their resistance to viruses and bacteria. Likewise, viruses and bacteria lose their aggressiveness and form a symbiotic relationship with the infected under the action of a special kind of hyphae.

   As a result, those serfs became breeding grounds for germs, and some normal people who didn’t eat Naguo would contract strange infectious diseases when they were close to them.

   Some tenants who were not forced to ration Naguo were forced to eat Naguo because they did not have enough antibiotics and other medicines. At first, Zhao Tiangan expected 20% of the residents to be baptized by the “Saint Fruit”, but when he came back to his senses, the entire settlement became believers of the Torch Church.

  I want to stop, but it seems too late

   In the magnificent manor house, a group of children are laughing and playing on the lush lawn.

   In the main building not far away, Zhao Tiangan, who was standing by the window, looked out at the smoke-filled settlement outside the window, and his frown couldn’t help but write a trace of sadness.

   He has never been so worried about the future of this settlement, and has never been so confused about the future. But at this moment, the feeling of not knowing where to go is getting stronger.

  The fruits and beliefs brought by those believers solved most of the problems he faced, but the biggest problem was that he didn’t know where those people would take him.

   His throat was itching for a while, and Zhao Tiangan couldn’t help coughing into the towel.

   removed the handkerchief from his mouth, but a smear of blood came into his eyes, which made his heart tighten involuntarily.

“Oh shit!”

   Cursed a few words in his mouth, he hurriedly took out a box of pills from his pocket, knocked out two in the palm of his hand and threw them into his mouth.

In   , grab the cup on the table and drink warm water.

   After a while, he slowly breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a little more comfortable in his body.

   Recently, for some reason, his lungs had a little problem. At first, he took some medicine and it was fine, but the disease has come back again and again, and now he is coughing up blood.

   He didn’t know why, but coughing up blood was not a good sign.

   At this time, there was a knock at the door,

   Zhao Tianqian cleared his throat and stuffed the towel into his pocket.

   “Please come in.”

   The door opened.

   An old man with gray temples came in. His name is Ma Zhongxian, he is the housekeeper of the Pine Conewood Farm, and he is also the confidant of the owner.

   Looking at Zhao Tiangan standing by the window, the old man bowed slightly and said respectfully.

“grown ups.”

   There was not much nonsense to greet, Zhao Tiangan immediately said.

   “Is there any news from Yanghe?”

  Ma Zhongxian nodded and said.

“He reported to me just now that they have purchased the weapons on the list, and the transport convoy is heading in our direction, but because of the snow on the mountain road, they have been delayed for some time at the junction of the two provinces, and I am afraid it will take more days to arrive. .”

   Zhao Tian said irritably.

   “Let him hurry up.”

  Ma Zhongxian nodded respectfully.

“Yes.”

   Zhao Tiangan glanced at the children playing outside the window, looked at the little girl sitting next to his daughter, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

   At the beginning of December last year, Yanghe, who went to sell autumn grain in Qingquanshui area, should have returned, but this year, it was more than a month late.

   But he wasn’t worried about the merchant escaping with the money. That guy’s baby daughter is still holding him hostage. I believe he will make a correct judgment and know what to take and what not to take.

   Seeing that the old housekeeper did not intend to leave, Zhao Tiangan continued to ask.

   “Anything else?”

   “Yes, one more.”

“Say.”

   Ma Zhongxian hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice.

   “Mr. Apostle, who went to Dust Town to preach, has not heard from him for three days, and the 41 militiamen he took away have not returned.”

   Zhao Tiangan frowned.

   “Why did it take so long?”

   three days.

   is enough for two round trips.

   Ma Zhongxian shook his head with a wry smile.

   “I don’t know what my suggestion is, we’d better send someone over there to see what’s going on over there.”

   clicked his tongue, Zhao Tiangan waved his hand impatiently.

   “You go to arrange it.”

   He doesn’t like those magic sticks very much.

   But it’s also true that he has to rely on those guys at the moment.

   “As ordered.”

  Ma Zhongxian bowed slightly, and when he exited the door, he took the door behind him.

   Watching the door close again, Zhao Tiangan, who was finally unable to hold back, covered his mouth with his right hand and coughed hard twice.

   His heart sank slightly when the palm of his hand became hot. When he moved his hand away from his mouth, he saw a touch of dark red blood in the palm of his hand.

   No matter how calm he was, seeing this blood stain, he couldn’t help but feel a little panic in his heart.

  Although he has the supreme power in this settlement, he is only a mortal body after all, and he cannot escape birth, old age, sickness and death.

   “Tsk, sure enough, it still doesn’t work?”

After some hesitation, he hurried back to the desk, opened the drawer, and took out a silver box.

  The box was opened, and three emerald-colored fruits lay quietly inside.

  These three fruits are gifts presented to him by the apostle named Zhang Zhengyang. It is said that they are the purest “sacred fruits” produced in the Holy Land, which can completely get rid of all diseases in the world.

   Of course he doesn’t believe that guy’s nonsense.

  ’s remaining sanity told him that this was not a good thing.

  Although holy water can keep him awake, it also means that his sanity and even his life will be in the hands of others.

   If it was normal, he would never eat this stuff.

   But at this moment, his physical condition seems to have not allowed him to continue to hesitate.

   He is at a very young age, how can he show fatigue like an old man.

  This settlement – even the entire wasteland needs his mighty power, he still has a lot of things to do, but he can’t fall in this place!

   “Just one word.”

   Zhao Tiangan so comforted himself in his heart, took out the smallest jade-colored fruit, and carefully stuffed it into his mouth. At the moment when the lips and teeth met, sweet and greasy flowed down the taste buds into his throat, and the honey brew that seemed to be poured into the depths of his soul made his spirits dazed for a while.

   The ensuing comfort dispels all pain in an instant.

   In his body, no matter what form of life, it has reached a reconciliation under the action of some unknown force.

not only that-

   He felt healthier and stronger than ever.

   wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and Zhao Tiangan suddenly laughed.

   “Ha ha ha ha ha!”

   The laughter grew louder and louder, to the point that it took on a touch of madness.

I see.

   At this moment, he finally understood why those people couldn’t stop

   In the hills about one or two hundred kilometers away from Jinhe City, six modified trucks broke down on the side of the road, and the top of the **** not far away was flashing with orange-yellow gunfire.

   More than two dozen looters were lying on the top of the slope, their automatic rifles burst into fire, pouring firepower from top to bottom. The caravan **** was caught off guard, dodged beside the truck in embarrassment, rolled and crawled to hide behind a large rock, and used limited cover to fight back up the slope.

  The shells fell to the ground, and the looter, with the chain wrapped around his shoulders and the machine gun in his hands, shouted excitedly towards the boss next to him.

   “Haha! We’re going to make a fortune!”

   “Just take it easy for me! Don’t break the goods in the car!”

  Wang Youhu, who wore an animal skin hat, was flushed with excitement, and his two mung bean-sized eyes stared at the motorcade that was anchored on the roadside, his eyes flashing with greed.

   The cargo on those six trucks, to say the least, contained hundreds of guns and hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition!

  With this batch of arms, let alone those small villages, he would dare to rob Boss Zhao’s pine cone farm! It is no longer a dream for them to help them become bigger and stronger!

However-

   They clearly picked the wrong opponent.

   Just as they were shooting well, a team of fighters wearing jet-black exoskeletons had already touched the hillside beside them. There was a short gunshot, “Bang”, and the looter with the machine gun exploded on the head of a string of blood mist, and fell to the ground without saying a word.

The predator next to    saw this and was about to take over the machine gun. He just stuck his head out of the bunker, and then another shot came in.

   Two people died in the blink of an eye.

   The predator who was lying on the top of the **** finally came to his senses and turned his gun to look at the flanking hillside. However, at the same time, a torrent of bullets roared, pressing them behind the cover, unable to lift their heads at all.

   Out of the corner of the eye, he caught a glimpse of the dark and shiny exoskeleton, and Wang Youhu’s eyes flashed a moment of panic, his greed disappeared, and he looked at his brothers and exclaimed.

   “Damn, retreat!”

  K-10 “Iron Wall” heavy duty exoskeleton!

Why did the regular army of    Stone City come here? !

   Before he had time to think about this, he quickly gave up the bunker and fled down the hillside behind him.

   Seeing that the boss had all run away, all the younger brothers also gave up their positions and swarmed into the forest like birds and beasts, even throwing away the precious machine gun and not wanting it.

  The battle is over.

   Seeing that the looters were gone, Luo Yu did not chase into the woods below the mountain, but walked to the machine gun. He kicked away the corpse lying on it, and he stared at the machine gun with a look of surprise in his eyes.

   “Good guy, even bandits use Mark Qin.” This thing looks a bit old.

  80% of the armaments were eliminated after the last wave. After several equipment upgrades, the Alliance Army basically no longer uses this bulky water-cooled machine gun. Even the Maxim-II of Goblin Technology uses the gas imitating MG42.

  Cold structure, and increased the caliber from 7 to 10.

   As for this early Maxim-I, most of them were dealt with to those traders in the wasteland.

  Some less developed survivor settlements are still very interested in this small-caliber machine gun with cheap bullets, high fire rate, and strong suppression effect.

It is unknown how    got into the hands of the predators.

   Maybe they robbed it themselves, or some trader sold it to them.

   Looking at Luo Yu who returned to the convoy with a machine gun and a box of machine gun ammunition, a man in a leather jacket immediately walked up and asked with concern.

“Are you OK?”

   This NPC’s name is Wu Wenzhou. He is the leader of the caravan and the subordinate of the entrusted employer.

   “I’m fine, those people have run away. Ah, right.”

   threw the ammo box in his hand and the Mark Qin in front of the NPC, and Luo Yu continued speaking concisely.

   “Do you accept this stuff?”

   Wu Wenzhou was stunned when he heard these words, obviously not following the thought in front of him.

   Seeing that this guy didn’t seem to be joking, he squatted down and played with the machine gun for a while, then glanced at the ammunition box again, and said hesitantly.

   “The maintenance is a bit lacking, but how about .600 silver coins?”

  Maxin-II, he remembered correctly that the market price was about 1000-1200 silver coins.

   But this Maxim-I type has been discontinued, and the price on the black market may not be able to catch up with the box of 7 full-power bombs next to it.

  Under normal circumstances, he would not be able to give such a high price, 400 silver coins are sky-high.

   But this guy saved their lives just now, so he didn’t feel embarrassed or stingy.

   Hearing this quote, Luo Yu was overjoyed.

   Six hundred!

   Good guy!

   This is more generous than mosquitoes!

   Being a mercenary is too profitable!

   Greeting his subordinates to throw the machine gun on the truck, Wu Wenzhou shouted to his subordinates behind him.

   “Hurry up, everyone is ready to hit the road!”

   “Crossing over the forest and hills ahead, we can see our destination!”

   “If you don’t want to spend the night outside, we’d better hurry up and get to Hope Town before it gets dark. Otherwise, when it gets dark, there will be those guys everywhere!”

   After hurriedly cleaning the battlefield, the group continued on their way.

  Book

   looked at the distant

  Lin Hai in the mist, thinking that the Jinchuan Province is under his feet, Luo Yu’s heart surged.

  I didn’t expect that one day, I would also stand at the forefront of the version.

   Unable to hold back his curiosity, he looked at the NPC next to him and asked.

   “What kind of place is that pine cone farm?”

   Wu Wenzhou, who was sitting next to him, said with a smile.

   “It’s a big settlement. But maybe not as many buildings as Boulder.@”

   “Quint town?”

   “Small town. That’s not to mention.”

When    said this, Luo Yu obviously felt that the NPC’s eyes were a little complicated, and seemed reluctant to mention that place.

   Even if it was his hometown.

  ”. Anyway, it’s only a day or two away, and you’ll know when you get there.”

   At the last moment when the dusk completely fell, the convoy to the Pine Cone Wood Farm finally swayed to the edge of Hope Town.

   At the same time, in Jinhe City, dozens of kilometers away, a Viper transport plane dragged the blue arc light and quietly approached a quiet urban area.

   The city seems to be dead, the silent streets are without a trace of life, every building is like a cemetery, and every window is like a standing grave.

   Like Qingquan City, there are a lot of xenomorphs active in the urban area here, but the difference is that there are no deadly mutant slime molds and mother nests, and there is no annual wave.

   Moving along the edge of the ruins of the high-rise building, the Viper transport plane, which moved forward silently, finally stopped on the roof of an abandoned building.

   Wear.

   The power armored Yatoshi jumped out of the engine room, his feet on the dry concrete floor.

With the LD-50 carbine in his hand, he carefully checked every corner of the roof, and after confirming it was safe, he changed to the Gauss sniper rifle on his back, walked to the edge of the building, and crouched beside the guardrail. superior.

   The landmark name on the pre-war map with the mission coordinates is “Champion” Biopharmaceutical Institute.

This company seems to be quite famous before the war, and the “Champion” injection is their proud work, and the T-10 “Champion” power armor of the People’s Union Army before the war is also suspected to have an unclear relationship with this company. .

  The whole facility is divided into two floors above ground and underground.

   There are four hundred-storey high-rise buildings on the ground, and each building has an entrance to the underground.

  According to the information of the academy, the one thousand cubic meters of liquid helium-3 is in the backup power supply of the underground research facility, and is stored in 1L high-pressure gas storage cylinders.

   All they have to do is sneak in and empty all the gas cylinders there.

  The only trouble is that the underground security facilities are still working, and the information about the underground facilities is completely blank.

   They don’t know what’s being researched there, nor the level of security there, or even if any competitors are eyeing what’s there.

   “The location has been reached, the mission coordinates are about 700 meters away from me, and the target situation is being confirmed.”

   skillfully put the helmet eyepiece on the scope, Ye Shi glanced at the building in the distance, his face suddenly changed slightly.

“Grass!”

  The sound of electric current flashed in the communication screen. After a while, Lao Bai’s voice came. “Ye Shi, what’s the situation on your side?”

   “Mutants! And not one or two. There are at least hundreds of them that can be seen outside!”

  The scope searched along the wall of the building, looking at the bunkers reinforced with concrete and iron sheets, Ye Shi said cursingly.

   “Damn, these guys built their nests on it!”

The voice of    fell, and the **** of the teammates spread in the communication channel.

   “Mutants?! What do those greenskins want Helium III for?”

   “They all understand how nuclear fusion??”

   “Actually, there is no need to understand, as long as there is a residual nuclear fusion device. Isn’t that what we do?”

   At this time, Fang Chang’s voice came from the communication channel, interrupting everyone’s communication.

   “Team B arrived unexpectedly a bit more people here. Although our firepower should have the upper hand, it’s too close to that ‘Qi’ tribe.”

   “It’s not a good idea to let them know we’re targeting the same target, no matter what they’re looking for here, but they look like they haven’t succeeded. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be patrolling here.”

  Old Bai: “Well, it makes sense.”

   Looking at the green head in the center of the crosshair, Ye Shi said unwillingly as he rubbed the trigger with his index finger.

   “Is that the case for today?” Fang Chang said patiently.

   “We don’t have enough manpower. Even if we attack strongly, we still need at least one team to help us contain the enemy’s reinforcements, or launch a sheep attack on their nest.”

   “Otherwise, even if we get in, the group of mutants will block the way out, and we can only be dumbfounded.”

   Lao Bai agreed with him.

   “At least the things we want are probably still inside, and there are suspected other things in it besides nuclear fuel. Anyway, let’s report to the manager first.”

“Fine.”

   Taking a last look at the green head and the ugly face like a ghost, Ye Shi resisted the urge to fire a shot, and reluctantly put the gun away.

   You are lucky!

  The corners of the mutant’s mouth were grinning, humming, humming, not knowing what he was thinking, and he didn’t realize that he had walked before the gate of hell.

   turned around and returned to the Viper Helicopter. Ye Shi had just stepped into the cabin and was about to stand up when a gunshot sounded in the distance, completely tearing up the silence of the night.

   Hearing that voice, he was instantly jolted.

  What the hell? !

   Didn’t you say you won’t fight? !