Atlas of Heaven and Man.

Chapter 722 Veteran
The big bird in the sky turned around and then fell down, all the way to the crowd on the opposite side. Someone immediately took out something to feed it and spoke softly.

The man wearing the old clothes of the pioneer team looked at Chen Chuan for a few times, then looked at the items he was carrying, then signaled the people behind him to stay where they were, and walked forward alone. He only had a long sword that seemed to be made of bone.

Upon seeing this, Chen Chuan squeezed his legs together, drove his horse slowly forward, and headed towards the other party.

When the man came in front of him, he took off his mask, revealing half of his face full of wrinkles and his hair was all gray.

The other half of his body was wrapped in cloth, with flesh-colored scars and wrinkled skin visible at the edges, as if he had suffered a serious injury, and his exposed eyes were very sharp.

This man looks like he is in his sixties or seventies, but you can tell he is actually younger than that.

When the two men came within thirty meters, the man said in Dashun dialect: "Judging from your weapons and clothing, are you from the Dashun military base? What's your name?"

Chen Chuan got off his horse, stood there holding the horse, and said, "Yes, my last name is Chen. May I ask your name?"

When the man heard that he was speaking Dashun dialect, he suddenly showed a look of nostalgia, and his expression became a little more relaxed. He said, "My last name is Yang."

He turned around and spoke a few words to the people behind him in the native language, and they immediately lowered their weapons and guns.

He looked at the hoof of the dragon-nosed horse beside Chen Chuan and said, "It seems you have traveled a long way. It's not safe here. A swarm of insects is coming soon. It may rain soon. We need to leave here early. Why don't you come with us?"

"An insect tide?"

Chen Chuan nodded. Insect swarms were a common occurrence in the fusion zone. Chen Bitong had encountered them the most times in his memory.

When they come, they come in overwhelming numbers and won't let go of the enemy. It's best to avoid them when there's no good way to deal with them.

But that's not all. The most important thing is the rain. The rain and snow in the unknown areas of the fusion zone are slightly corrosive, and will also bring down some organisms that originally only floated in the sky. These organisms are very parasitic and aggressive, and it is not a good choice to confront them head-on. It is best to find a place to shelter from the rain.

If this is the case, it is indeed not suitable to travel and you need to find a place to take shelter first.

Although he didn't know the specific identity of this man surnamed Yang, he could tell from the conversation that he was a Dashun person and was quite friendly, so he didn't mind following him. After all, he was capable of dealing with any situation.

Seeing that he had agreed, the man surnamed Yang immediately went back to greet those people. These people acted quickly and released the big bird again. Then everyone immediately quickened their pace, and everyone was nervous.

Chen Chuan got back on his horse and followed. He watched carefully and found that these people moved in an orderly manner, with arrangements made for reconnaissance and front and rear cover during the march.

The clothes these people wore were relatively uniform, and they all wore special masks. In addition, their neat and uniform steps showed that they had undergone relatively rigorous training. It was very likely that these people came from a military organization.

There were a few people in tattered clothes in the team, and a few were being carried on stretchers. These people didn't seem to be in the same group as these people, as if they had just been rescued from somewhere.

After walking quickly for more than an hour, a temporary camp appeared in front of them. There were people arranged by the group in advance. When they saw them coming back, they immediately removed the roadblocks in front of the camp.

The two sides just had a brief exchange, and then under the command of the man surnamed Yang, all the bonfires that had been piled up around the camp were lit. As the fire burned raging, clouds of smoke billowed up and covered the sky.

Until this time, everyone seemed to be a little more relaxed.

However, after entering the camp, everyone looked up at the sky, as if waiting for something. About ten minutes later, they heard a huge and noisy buzzing sound coming from a distance, which looked like a large dark cloud.

And it moved very quickly, arriving above the camp in just a few minutes. At this moment, it could be clearly seen that it was a cloud of countless black insects like mosquitoes and flies.

Most of them avoided the smoke rolling over the camp. Those who occasionally entered here would fall down and be quickly trampled to death by the people waiting below, who would then scoop them up and throw them into the fire.

This time, the insect swarm lasted for more than an hour before gradually becoming sparse.
Mr. Yang's face relaxed a little at this time, and he said, "Fortunately, the insect king did not appear."

Chen Chuan looked at the direction the insect swarm was coming from, thought for a moment, and then said, "It may not be impossible. There may be something more powerful than the Insect King."

According to Chen Bitong's memory, such a large-scale insect swarm seemed to come from an unknown area, where there were many creatures that could prey on insect kings, and there were also many powerful fighters and armed personnel there.

The swarm is difficult to deal with, but that is only for individuals and small groups. If there are a large number of fighters with certain equipment and special items, they can still deal with it.

Mr. Yang seemed to have thought of something, and his face became a little more gloomy. At this time, it started to rain again, and a strange smell came out. In the rain falling on the ground, you could see something rolling on the ground, and then it either drilled into the ground or crawled onto the people nearby.

At this time, some people started to light some plant leaves to drive these things away, and then they hid in the tents in the camp one by one. Mr. Yang also asked Chen Chuan to hide in the tent, and after sitting down, he handed Chen Chuan a bottle of water.

Chen Chuan took it and took a sip. In Chen Bitong's experience, this is an indigenous custom. If the host hands you water and you drink the water, it means you trust the host and you become their guest.

Seeing that he drank so happily, Mr. Yang showed a hint of recognition in his eyes, and then he looked at Chen Chuan with a hint of expectation.

"Mr. Chen, you are from the Dashun military. I wonder if you have received a telegraph signal on an old frequency recently?"

Chen Chuan looked at him and said, "I don't know about this. The intelligence department didn't tell me this before I came out."

Mr. Yang didn't seem to have much hope. He was silent for a moment before saying, "Yes, such an old signal may not be noticed by anyone."

Chen Chuan asked: "Senior, were you a member of the pioneer team before?"

Mr. Yang admitted: "Yes, it's been a long time, about 25 years," he paused and added.

"I'm not a deserter."

He said in a deep voice: "Twenty-five years ago, I went deep into this area with several team members. During the exploration, we found a relic, but unfortunately, an elite team sent by the old imperial family also found this place. After the two sides fought, we wiped out this elite team, but the team suffered a lot of damage. Only me and another teammate are still able to fight.

But at this time, we were attacked by a giant python again. I asked another team member to cover the retreat of the other teammates, and I stayed behind to cover their retreat. In the end, I was too exhausted and couldn't dodge in time, so I was swallowed by the giant snake.

But I did not give up. After entering the python's body, I still tried my best to destroy it.

I originally thought that I would die together with this giant python, but I didn't expect that the python rolled over and rushed into an indigenous village and died there. Later, I was cut out of the python's stomach by the local indigenous people.

They used herbs to wrap my wounds and almost melted my body. It took more than a year to recover.

He sighed slightly, "I guess even if my teammates managed to return, they would think I was sacrificed. And I have no way to return because I lack equipment and the cooperation of my teammates.

Later, I sent several telegrams, but there was no response. I didn’t have many people at home, and these natives saved me, so I just stayed here and have lived here until now. ”

At this time, he took a bamboo tube with a strong smell of medicine, opened it, took a sip, and then sprayed it at the entrance of the tent.

There was a hissing sound, and many small insects that had crawled into the tent suddenly curled up, and then wisps of light smoke came out of their bodies.

He wiped his mouth and said, "About three months ago, I saw a cloud of light appearing in the jungle that was almost connected to the sky. I knew that there must be a relic that appeared, and it was of a high level.

Every time a third-level relic appears, it will definitely trigger a fight between the old imperial family, Dashun, and the company. The nearby gathering place is too close to there, so I have been persuading them to move away from here, but they are unwilling to listen. "

Chen Chuan knew very well that the appearance of relics would usually be accompanied by colorful light clouds in the early stages, and this anomaly could be observed from a very far distance. Usually, the level of the relics could be determined by these lights.

It is for this reason that all parties discovered the appearance of the relics almost at the same time.

He said: "Dashun's camp is not here. The attack encountered in the gathering place should come from the company alliance."

Mr. Yang said solemnly, "I saw their badges, and I also saw the Linax Federation team. Now the gathering place near the mountain valley has been almost wiped out by them. We came here this time to try to bring back the people who escaped.

But this is not easy. I found a fighter from the Union chasing us. He seemed to want to find the rest of our camp. I couldn't let him succeed, so I fought with him twice, but found that he was very strong..."

As he spoke, he lifted up his coat. On his chest, which was covered with scars and wrinkles, there was a hideous hole, through which one could almost see the clothes behind.

He said in a deep voice: "In the past, this person would have been a member of the pioneering team, no, the captain."

As he spoke, he looked at Chen Chuan with his only remaining eye, "Mr. Chen, you can come here alone, I believe you are very strong. As a veteran of Dashun, I would like to beg you to help me stop this man. I promise that I will give you enough rewards afterwards."

……

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(End of this chapter)