Old-time musicians

"Why didn't I see anything special?"

At some point, Ivan, the cook driving the front car, couldn't help asking.

This young man has a typical Janus northern face, with a snub nose, blue eyes, a white face, and fine hair. However, a large part of the golden hair on the top of his head was shaved off and sewed with fine and dense stitches.

At the end of last year, Ivan was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and retired from the army. He sought a doctor friend who had a good personal relationship to perform a craniotomy, but after the initial attempt, the doctor chose to stop and sew the wound back, and frankly said that if conservative treatment was chosen, he might live two more months.

After some psychological twists and turns, he chose to see whether there really existed unknown things that violated common sense in the world in the last stage of his life-even if they were accompanied by fear and pain, some people could not tolerate it and greeted the same fate in a predetermined and visible way.

"I heard before that when approaching the border of these abnormal areas, you may see some strange films or water vapor-like substances, and the sky also looks a little special. Today, we have driven nearly 200 kilometers since we crossed the cliff. Are we still in a normal area now?" Ivan held the steering wheel with one hand and raised the telescope hanging on his chest.

It was already afternoon, and the scorching sun deviated from the high overhead and hid in the thick rust-red clouds. Everyone saw that the vegetation on the surface gradually increased near the end of the front field of vision, and some lonely trees began to appear as far as the eye could see.

The surface also seemed no longer dry and shattered. The bottom soil of the potholes and riverbeds seen along the way had become moist brown, and some places even had shallow puddles.

This can no longer be called a "desert", at best it is a "wasteland".

"Not all abnormal areas have strange boundaries." Brigadier General Boles, sitting in the front passenger seat, said.

He also had a telescope hanging around his neck, and in his hand was a map of the former United Principality of Fedon, zoomed in on the west of Tia City. At this moment, he was writing and marking from time to time.

At least now, it was still easy to identify the direction. He kept updating the outer edge of the map, estimating the mileage, and marking some recognizable geographical factors on the map:

"In fact, according to intelligence statistics, more than half of the abnormal areas have no obvious boundaries, and the A number at the forefront of the spread means "discontinuous", and the abnormal areas are just distributed like bubbles."

"Well, with a high probability, we have entered area A." Bishop Tukwell, who was in the co-pilot, also spoke.

This sentence made everyone's originally nervous state of mind become like facing a great enemy. It was the first time for the team members, including the two priests, to personally visit this rumored unknown territory. They checked their guns and set up their formations.

- If you encounter something wrong, pour a burst of bullets blessed by holy light. For the priests and soldiers, preparing for such a scenario in their hearts always makes them feel at ease.

They were so nervous all the way until sunset.

The convoy stopped to refuel. After several soldiers jumped out of the car, they all restored the Schmerz 18 submachine guns that had been released from the safety to their original state.

So far, everyone has not seen anything weird, and they feel good about themselves.

Even after the vegetation on the surface became more abundant, the colors became richer, and the undulating mountains and water bodies appeared, the visual effect was not so monotonous, and the scenery was more magnificent and vast.

Everyone only saw two groups of people from afar.

They should be some people who were influenced by the teachings of the God-Descent Society and entered the "Kingdom of Heaven" in groups.

In the open wilderness, they looked like a group of ants crawling on the edge of the skyline, with no space and possibility for contact with their own side.

The one-armed old priest Durk looked back at the wasteland he had just driven over, and felt that it showed a richer color in the twilight.

"My Lord Bishop, when you enter here, you didn't say that you must sing, right?" He remembered something and broke the silence again.

The Divine Advent Society declared in its doctrine that "everyone who leaves the world is singing", and even listed various terrible consequences of not paying tribute in this way. Some of the dissemination materials also included unbearable illustrations.

The investigation team of the Holy Sun Church naturally ignored the above argument.

Anyone with a normal mind would not imitate the practices of the secret believers. Who knows what kind of attention it would attract.

"That is the secret code planned by the false masters." Fanning moved his hands and feet that had been sitting for a long time. "There is no such strange rule in the normal official channel intelligence, but those few clear exploration experiences should be followed as much as possible unless there is an extreme situation."

The Special Patrol Office has accumulated certain gains in research over the years. Although the core intelligence will not be disclosed, they still reported some basic precautions in the discussion group.

Fanning sorted it out before setting off, and combined with the church's own superficial exploration experience in the outer edge, there are probably a few points:

The first point is that "the abnormal area is not a dream." This is a clear waking world just like the normal outside world. An important precaution extended from this is not to dream, because "worms are more terrifying in dreams."

Since sleep is inevitably accompanied by uncontrollable dreams, in the past, this was equivalent to "don't fall asleep".

But later, Mr. Wax of the Special Patrol Department used "Sneaky Water" to find a way to effectively resist worms, which allowed investigators to sleep moderately to replenish their energy and provided an opportunity for further in-depth exploration.

The second point is "try to move on the ground." At first glance, it seems a bit redundant, but in fact it implies that flying too high or taking a wading route will bring unknown dangers. Fanning is not very clear about the reason now. Anyway, he has never thought of relying on a single flight to make such a long cross-continental trek.

The third point is that "the abnormal area is an uninhabited area and there are no native residents." This sentence also seems a bit redundant, and Fanning also doesn't get the point.

"Don't pay attention to the people who come in. It's safest not to have any intersection." Bishop Tukwell said, and motioned everyone to get back in the car.

The drivers turned on the headlights and stepped on the accelerator again.

As night fell on the wilderness, the temperature dropped significantly. The vast starry sky cast a cold light, and the wind and sand that brushed across my cheeks were like cold and rough hands.

This time, less than five minutes after setting off——

"Click."

Suddenly, a muffled rolling sound came from the car in front, which was not very noticeable in the night wind.

"Wait a minute."

Tukwell called for a stop.

Three cars braked one after another and switched on the lights in the dark.

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