Ash Civilization

Tongfu City, suburb.

The undulating wilderness, with its criss-crossing outlines vaguely visible, has now all turned into desolation.

The bumpy road winds its way through this wilderness.

On the side of the road, the signboard The People of Rongpu Town Welcomes You is so full of holes that you can barely make out the rough handwriting.

Behind this heavily rusted iron frame, there are still various large and small signboards scattered. Some have fallen to the ground, some are hanging like gossamers above abandoned shops, and some shops are still hanging on the balconies. fabric, it was obvious that this was a deserted town.

Near the center of the town, there is an unfinished abandoned building on the roof. Rusted cranes, cables and other debris are piled up in a mess, and clumps of weeds have grown in the gaps.

The building is close to the road, and from the top of the building you can easily overlook the traffic going on both sides of the town.

At this moment, the road is empty, no one has passed by yet.

On the dusty floor, a clear line of footprints led directly from the stairs to the edge.

Most of the blood stains on Zhou Zhen's head, face and hands have been wiped away, revealing his original appearance. However, before he could deal with the blood on his body and clothes, his whole body was covered in an obvious smell of blood.

Tao Nange stood next to him. Since the previous ghost suit was damaged and could no longer be used, she was now wearing a green-bottomed white flower chiffon dress and white sneakers that Zhou Zhen took out from [two-dimensional space]. Her long hair is tied into a high ponytail. She looks very fresh, like a beautiful girl who is still in school.

At this time, Zhou Zhen stood on the edge of the roof of the building, looking into the distance. In his field of vision, there was a weak energy of several colors, approaching the building a little bit.

Digital domain, [Energy Observation]!

He immediately said: Sister Nan, someone is coming.

It should be a team. There are five compatible people, but the energy intensity is only like the 'first step' and the 'second step'.

Looking at the speed, we should pass here in seven or eight minutes.

Tao Nange nodded and said nothing.

Zhou Zhen then turned around and walked towards the bottom of the building.

Step, step, step...

The sound of lonely footsteps echoed in the abandoned stairwell. From time to time, weathered concrete particles broke and fell, making a series of rolling sounds on the steps.

Zhou Zhen quickly walked out of the building and came to the road.

He was not familiar with the isolation point in Tongfu City, but Tao Nange knew it very well.

However, the nearest isolation point to them now is about an hour away by car. If you walk, the traveling speed is too slow, but traveling in the digital domain consumes a lot of digital energy. In the end, A good option is to get a car to travel around.

While he was thinking, Zhou Zhen's face suddenly began to struggle.

The urgent desire to peeping and filming, as well as the desire to make friends right away, appeared in his mind at the same time.

After a while, he regained his composure.

Zhou Zhen took a breath slightly. Since he had reached the Third Step and had an extra drop of Digital Rain, he didn't have to worry about the [Protection Mechanism] for the time being, but the side effects of using the Digital Domain still existed.

However, when he gave Tao Nange a blood transfusion last night, he used Chu Jingyan's Digital Domain, but it did not trigger any corresponding side effects at that time.

It seems that Chu Jingyan only has a limited time to come out each time. After the other party comes out of Tao Nange's body, he will no longer affect him within a short period of time.

While thinking, Zhou Zhen took out a black submachine gun, loaded it with bullets, and got ready to stop the car.

Not long after the two of them waited, they heard the sound of vehicles moving ahead.

At the same time, a cloud of dust was billowing in the field of vision. At the forefront of the dust, the outline of a convoy was speeding towards the town.

It was a fleet of five modified vehicles. Except for one off-road vehicle, the others were all pickup trucks.

The exteriors of the five vehicles are all dusty and patchy. The roofs and compartments are equipped with heavy firepower. The windows are equipped with metal grilles and special shooting holes for special firearms. They are obviously very experienced. .

Zhou Zhen glanced at the convoy, immediately walked to the middle of the road, and blocked the team's path with his hand.

He is not afraid at all that the convoy will hit him directly. With his digital domain [geometric barrier], there is no need to worry about this problem at all.

If this convoy is more cautious and gives up contact with him, turning around and leaving, he still has [Overclocking Interference], which can force all five vehicles to stop.

The sound of the car's engine as it galloped came from far away, and some gravel on the ground began to vibrate slightly. The team obviously saw Zhou Zhen and Tao Nange, and quickly began to slow down.

Just when a pickup truck at the front of the convoy was about a hundred meters away from Zhou Zhen and Tao Nange, all five vehicles stopped and lined up on the road.

boom!

Soon, in the front pickup truck, a heavily armed middle-aged man opened the door and jumped out. The man looked at Zhou Zhen and gestured to the convoy. After waiting for a few seconds, it seemed that someone in the convoy gave a signal. In response, the middle-aged man strode toward Zhou Zhen holding a wooden-handled submachine gun on his chest.

At the same time, the windows of the cars in the convoy were lowered one after another, and the gun barrels were extended; the heavy firepower modified in the pickup truck also began to adjust its direction and angle, and locked on Zhou Zhen, seemingly ready for a conflict at any time.

Soon, the middle-aged man holding a wooden-handled submachine gun came to a stop about 10 meters away from Zhou Zhen, and asked very vigilantly: Who are you? What do you want to do when you stop us?

Zhou Zhen glanced at him. He was of medium build, wearing khaki training clothes. He had a popular appearance, but his eyes were firm. Although he was alert, he had no fear. He seemed to be very confident in his own strength. He immediately understood that this middle-aged man Man, one of five compatibles in the team.

He wasted no time and said bluntly: I want to buy a car.

The middle-aged man frowned and asked quickly: What did you buy it for?

Just as Zhou Zhen was about to answer, Tao Nange had already picked up a heavy basket from the roadbed and walked over.

This basket looked very strong, but it was slightly deformed at the moment. It was filled with firearms of different lengths and ordinary bullets of various calibers.

These firearms and bullets were all taken out by Zhou Zhen from the photos in the [two-dimensional space]. As for the basket, he picked it up casually on the road.

Tao Nange walked up to Zhou Zhen and said calmly: Be careful, he has a bomb tied to him.

As she spoke, she threw the basket filled with firearms and bullets directly at the middle-aged man's feet.

Zhou Zhen nodded to Tao Nange, then looked at the middle-aged man and said, Can I exchange these guns and bullets for one of your cars?

Seeing these guns and ammunition, the heavily armed middle-aged man's expression softened a lot. He let go of the wooden-handled submachine gun on his chest, immediately squatted down, and began to carefully check the guns and ammunition in the basket.

Click, click, click...

Bang bang...

Soon, the middle-aged man inspected more than a dozen guns in succession and fired many rounds of bullets. He confirmed that the quality of these guns was very good and that the bullets were not tampered with. He nodded with satisfaction.

He stood up, looked at Zhou Zhen, nodded, and said, It can be changed.

After saying that, he reached out from his waist and took out a modified walkie-talkie, pressed the call button and said: It's a gun dealer, give him an empty car.

Hearing the word gun dealer, the voice on the intercom immediately relaxed: Okay!

Fuck! If you told me earlier, you'd scare me...

That's right, I was blocked on the road for no reason...

Okay, don't be nagging, hurry up and move things!

While he was talking, several people in the convoy a hundred meters away suddenly opened the door and jumped out. They walked towards a pickup truck at the back of the team and began to move the materials inside and remove some firepower from the vehicle.

At this time, the middle-aged man cut off the call on the walkie-talkie, stuffed the walkie-talkie back into his waist, took out a crumpled cigarette case, smoked two cigarettes from it, held one in his mouth, and threw the other away. Xiang Zhou Zhen.

Zhou Zhen took the cigarette, shook his head and said, I don't smoke.

The middle-aged man took out the lighter and lit it for himself, took a deep breath, exhaled a light blue smoke ring, and then said with a soothing expression: You just came out and did it by yourself, right?

If you stay in a ghost place like this for a long time, even a woman will fall in love with this thing.

People who don't like smoking usually have experienced too few things and don't have that many worries.

However, we like doing business with novices like you.

“Not to mention the things are cheap, and basically no tricks are used.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhen glanced at Tao Nange. Seeing that Tao Nange had a calm expression and showed no intention of smoking, he immediately threw the cigarette back to the middle-aged man.

He replied calmly: Thank you, but I don't need it yet.

Just as they were talking, there was an engine roar in the convoy, and a pickup truck rushed out of the convoy and drove towards them.

Crunch!

The pickup truck sped to the side of the middle-aged man and came to a sudden stop.

This pickup truck looked about 30% new, with a dark blue paint job, making it relatively invisible in the dusty environment.

Almost all parts of it have been modified, with a layer of metal mesh added to the windows; the roof and compartment originally had heavy firepower, but now they have been removed, leaving only some brackets; the tires are special explosion-proof; the body There are also traces of steel plate reinforcement.

At this moment, a young man with short hair wearing a combat uniform jumped out of the driver's seat of a pickup truck, holding an old-fashioned car key in his hand.

The young short-haired man glanced at the guns and ammunition in the basket, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he immediately looked at the middle-aged man who was smoking.

The middle-aged man nodded slightly, and the young man with short hair did not hesitate. He immediately threw the key to Zhou Zhen in the air and said carelessly: The money and goods are cleared. These guns and ammunition are all ours!

Zhou Zhen caught the car keys and looked at the neatness with which the two men handed over the car. He immediately understood that his price was too high!

A 30% new pickup truck with all its heavy firepower removed cannot be replaced with this basket of guns and ammunition!

He actually consulted Tao Nange before the transaction.

But Tao Nange doesn't know much about the price conditions here. After all, when she entered high-risk cities before, she rarely needed to trade at isolation points. Even if she did trade, she did not use her own supplies, but used local materials...

Just like when they first entered Tongfu City, they purchased information and drinking water from Xiuhu Group...

Thinking of this, Zhou Zhen said calmly: We still need a batch of food and drinking water.

The two people in the motorcade did not hesitate. The middle-aged man immediately took out the walkie-talkie again and ordered: Send some more water and food.

Soon, another pickup truck drove over, and a burly man got out of the truck. Without any hesitation, he quickly took out a box of drinking water and a box of compressed food and placed them all on the ground.

The middle-aged man who was smoking asked with a smile: Are these enough?

Zhou Zhen looked at Tao Nange, who nodded.

Zhou Zhen immediately responded: That's enough!

As he spoke, he walked over and loaded the water and food into the pickup truck he purchased.

At this time, Tao Nange also walked to the pickup truck and began to carefully check the status of the vehicle.

Perhaps because of the high-risk city, this pickup truck has no sense of technology. The steering wheel, central control, etc. are all quite satisfactory, and it is still a manual transmission. All operations require manual labor, and there is not even navigation.

Not long after, Tao Nange opened the driver's door, got in, started the car skillfully, fumbled on the dashboard for a while, then immediately lowered the window and told Zhou Zhen: The vehicle is in normal condition and nothing was done.

Zhou Zhen nodded slightly. He had already loaded all the supplies into the car. There was nothing else to do, so he opened the passenger door and got in.

Seeing that the three people in the motorcade were still standing there looking at him, he lowered the window and said goodbye politely. Tao Nange started the car and drove away quickly.

The pickup truck kicked up a puff of dust and disappeared along the road among the abandoned buildings.

Watching the familiar pickup truck driving further and further away, the middle-aged man, the young man with short hair, and the burly man who finally brought water stood there, their expressions became very strange for a moment.

How can this new pistol dealer be able to drive while sitting in the passenger seat?

I don't know, maybe his 'digital domain' is special.

If he dares to trade with us alone, the 'digital ladder' must be high. Let's leave as soon as possible!

Having said this, the three of them immediately started moving a basket of guns and ammunition to the pickup truck that had just arrived to deliver food and water.

The convoy soon regrouped and set off again.

The way they moved forward was the same as the direction Zhou Zhen left just now.

Dust and dust rose again on the road, briefly breaking the silence in the abandoned building.

Under the gray sky, the vehicles moved like ants on the winding road and quickly disappeared.

The place fell into a dead silence again.

When the wind blows, the weeds sway gently, making no sound.