Embers Ad Infinitum

After lunch, the "Old Tune Group" got on a jeep and left Cliff Village in the name of "see if you can trade something", and headed to Shan'ao Town to try to get in touch with the people in Sui Sucheng.

In the mountain town where many houses collapsed, the motorcades from Suishoucheng filled the small square and several surrounding streets, some of which were not seen by Jiang Baimian and others before.

The people in Sui Mocheng are obviously familiar with the rules of Cliff Village, and they have separated the convoy long ago, and let the vehicles loaded with important materials come to Shan'ao Town first.

These are big carts, some carrying huge iron cans, which are used to hold oil things at first sight, and some are surrounded by iron fences, and the screams of sheep, beef cattle, and black pigs are one after another.

The stench they produced had spread, and the **** smell of the slaughter not far away made Long Yuehong hold her breath for several seconds.

"Is this shipped from the icefield?" He paused for a while and asked himself curiously.

The valley where Suimucheng is located has a warm climate and fertile land. It can be planted and grazing. He knows that, but from Suimuocheng to Cliff Village, the road is basically snow-covered and cold and biting wasteland. Frozen to death, no reason to survive so much.

Long Yuehong didn't expect to get an answer, because the other members of the "Old Tune Group" had never been to Sui Mo City and didn't know the specific situation there. .

He could only guess that this was either traded by the people of Sui Sucheng before going to the south, or they had a unique way of resisting the freezing of livestock.

At this time, the middle-aged man who was parked beside a nearby off-road vehicle, wrapped in a thick cotton coat and had traces of wind and snow on his face, said with a smile:

"The pigs, cows, and sheep in our Suishui City are all very frost-resistant. They eat a little more, but the meat is really good. Do you want to buy one and try it?

"Also, do you want to look at these furs? Very cheap!"

The trunk of the off-road vehicle next to the talking man was propped up, and pieces of tanned fur were exposed, some of which belonged to common cattle and sheep, and some came from creatures on the ice field.

"Why are they resistant to freezing?" Shang Jianyao went to the bottom of it.

The middle-aged man seemed to have been asked similar questions too many times, and answered without any hesitation:

"Some are frost-resistant seeds left over from the old world, and some are deformed from normal cattle and sheep. Don't worry, we have selected and eaten them. After so many years, there is no problem. In the words of our elders, this is considered a benign distortion. "

Shang Jianyao nodded and asked seriously:

"What is the average life expectancy of your city at the end of the year?"

"Uh..." the middle-aged man was asked.

Obviously, Sui Mocheng did not count such things.

Shang Jianyao explained as a teacher:

"I mean, how many of you died young at the end of the year?

"Or, how many people died before the age of forty?"

"It's okay... It's not worse than the big human settlements in the south." The middle-aged man thought back.

Then he tried his best to sell the fur on his car.

The entire Col town seems to have become the scene of a large-scale trade fair, and every car is a shop and a booth.

Jiang Baimian politely listened to the middle-aged man's sales pitch, and casually looked at the tanned furs and said:

"Who is your boss?"

"You want to talk about big business?" The middle-aged man's eyes lit up.

Jiang Baimian did not say "yes" or "no":

"It depends."

The middle-aged man immediately pointed to the blood-soaked sheep and pig slaughtering scene:

"There, the one in the bearskin coat with the bong.

"Would you like some tobacco leaves? Although the city at the end of the year is in the ice field, the climate and soil in some parts of the valley are very suitable for growing tobacco, no worse than those in the south."

"Do you think we look like smokers?" Shang Jianyao said with a smile showing two rows of white teeth.

Jiang Baimian asked:

"What do you call your boss?"

"Lao He, you can just call him Lao He." The middle-aged man introduced enthusiastically.

The five members of the "Old Tune Group" walked towards the temporary "slaughterhouse" located on a street on the side of the small square.

The cattle, sheep and pork slaughtered on the spot are not for trade, but are part of the rations for the entire fleet for the next few days.

Of course, if the villagers of Cliff Village did not engage in the collective-to-collective bulk transaction, and had to exchange some salt, tea, and industrial products for a few kilograms of meat, and beat their teeth as sacrifices, the people in Sui Sucheng would not have any objection.

At this moment, the leader of the convoy known as Lao He was standing on the edge of the street full of blood, instructing his subordinates to cut the meat and keep it sorted.

He may be forty years old, wrapped in a bearskin coat and a furry melon rind hat, from time to time he picks up a bong, takes a puff, and his whole face is shaped like a man.

Thin, and more tired.

Thinking of the village chief's statement that there were Awakened people from the "last man" or "Zhuang Sheng" field in the convoy in Sui Mocheng, Jiang Baimian turned his head and glanced at Genawa, who was wearing a burqa.

Genova understood what she meant and nodded slowly.

He was the last line of defense for the "Old Tune Group".

Although intelligent robots are also affected by "interfering electromagnetic", "interfering substances" and some abilities, they are definitely more immune than humans.

"Lao He, Lao He!" Shang Jianyao greeted the leader of the Sui Mocheng team enthusiastically.

Gu Qiang Lao He turned around, looked at them for a while, and asked slightly hesitantly:

"You are?"

How do you look so familiar with yourself.

In the face-to-face situation, Jiang Baimian found that this old He's eyes were quite deep, which did not match his appearance and temperament.

"We came from Cliff Village." Jiang Baimian replied with a smile, "but we are not from Cliff Village."

Lao He's eyes swept back and forth several times on her, Shang Jianyao, Long Yuehong, and Bai Chen:

"I can tell.

"But no matter where you're from, you're our guests, want to trade something?"

"Pigs, cattle, sheep, and furs are not what we want." Shang Jianyao grabbed the answer before Jiang Baimian.

Lao He is quite calm:

"We still have flour, and we have tobacco, and some things that are special to the icefields."

"No, no, that's not what we want either." Shang Jianyao shook his head triumphantly.

He was proud that Lao He could never guess what he and others wanted to trade.

Seeing Lao He's forehead jumping, Jiang Baimian quickly helped this guy to make amends:

"What we want to trade is intelligence.

"We will go to the icefield to do a mission later, and I want to inquire about the climate, terrain, and ruins from you."

Lao He's expression softened:

"We do know a lot."

Having said that, he changed his words:

"But some intelligence is of high value. What can you trade for it?"

"Some conventional weapons, or a high-performance battery, are produced by the Orange Company." Jiang Baimian had a plan.

This time they went to the icefield to do the task, and the "Old Tuned Team" applied for a batch of high-performance batteries. In addition to the dozens of batteries they already had, they were rich in this regard.

"One piece may not be enough." Lao He smiled, "It depends on what you want to ask."

Although in the overall environment of the ice field, high-performance batteries are not as good as gasoline, diesel and other materials, but the valley where the end of the year is located is warm, and many equipment still rely on this.

Jiang Baimian was the first to ask about the specific location of the city where Shang Jianyao's father finally appeared.

"I know there is such a city that I had contact with their residents a long time ago, but I haven't met them for more than ten years, and I don't know which area the city is in, only the general direction.

"It is close to the 'White Knights', you can find it according to the weather, it can support so many people on the ice sheet for so many years, the climate will not be too bad, even if it is not as good as our end of year city , and certainly warmer than the ice sheet is in its normal state."

Jiang Baimian asked some more details and got a satisfactory answer.

"Then have you met the commissioner of the Eighth Research Institute?" Shang Jianyao couldn't wait to interrupt.

Seeing that Lao He was slightly at a loss, Jiang Baimian helped and added:

"Have you seen some weird people on the ice sheet? They seem to live somewhere on the ice sheet too."

"I don't." Lao He shook his head, "I don't know if there are other people in our Sui Sucheng City. You can ask around later."

Jiang Baimian gave a "hmm" and took out a high-performance battery:

"There are no other problems for now."

After completing the transaction, Shang Jianyao suddenly took a step back, folded his arms, and assumed a posture of holding a baby in his arms.

He lowered his voice and said:

"In the end, it will belong to Si Ming!"

Jiang Baimian knew that this guy was testing the faith of Sui Mocheng.

Lao He laughed:

"You are also a believer of "Si Ming"? Many people in our Sui Su City believe in him."

Just when Shang Jianyao was about to come forward to recognize his relatives, Lao He said again:

"Unfortunately I'm not."

"Then what do you believe in?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

Lao He took out a pendant from his collar, and it hung a wooden little man. The little man's face was blank without facial features.

Holding this pendant, Lao He said reverently and solemnly:

"I believe in 'truth'."