Fantasy Game: Infinite City

Arriving at the cargo bed of the truck, Han Zu saw about 20 people sitting in the cargo bed with dull expressions. Their hands and feet were tied with ropes, probably to prevent them from escaping. But they had no reaction to the appearance of Gloria and Han Zu. Han Zu even felt that even if he untied all the ropes on them, they would not move at all, let alone escape.

"These guys were already like this when I came up. I tried to call them, but there was no response. It was like these guys couldn't see us at all."

Han Zu gently patted one of them on the face, but he didn't respond at all. Han Zu helped him up, and he stood there. He sat him against the edge of the cargo box, and he sat there motionless. It was as if he was controlled by something. Compared to living people, the people tied up in the cargo box were more like lifeless puppets. To be more precise, the only difference between these people and puppets was that they were still alive.

"Have you found anything, Han Zu?"

"A little bit. I found some documents in the cockpit, and an empty box with a locator installed. There are also some IDs and dog tags in the central armrest box, probably belonging to these people. The texts on them are all in Latin, either Spanish or Portuguese, which I can't understand. Oh, by the way, I remember you said you are Latin American?"

"Yes, I can see what those documents say."

"Let's go, these guys can't give any useful information for the time being."

Back in the cockpit, Gloria took out the documents, certificates and dog tags and began to translate them for Han Zu.

"These documents are the work badges of the scientific expedition team. There is no affiliation on the back of the dog tags, so they should be mercenaries. I have seen several faces on these work badges in the cargo box at the back. Those people at the back should be the scientific expedition team, and these dog tags should be the property of the mercenaries they hired to protect the scientific expedition team. However, there are no photos on the dog tags, and they are not the modern dog tags with digital information, so I am not sure whether these mercenaries are at the back."

"There are a few people in desert combat uniforms in the cargo box at the back. I think there are people there, but I'm not sure if they are all there. What do those documents say? There's one in there that looks like an authorization letter for something."

"Well, you should be talking about this one, right? Yes, this is the authorization letter, issued by one of the countries surrounding the desert for scientific research investigations, but the scope of authorization is not near us. It is very close to the location of our target. If this is the case, I suddenly thought of a possibility."

"You mean, given their condition, they may have encountered something. And this thing may be related to what we are looking for?"

"At least from a geographical point of view, that's the case."

"What do the other documents say?"

"Let me see... Some are authorizations for the use of weapons from various departments, some are desert passes from other countries, and two are... This seems to be an instruction manual? This one... What is the Graham Wells system used for?"

"It's a common, poor version of a protective force field generator on the black market. Gehan and Wells are two people. Wells used to be a researcher at Infinite Company, and Gehan is a well-known engineer. After Wells left Infinite Company, the two of them used some of the drawings of the protective force field generator that Wells remembered to make this thing. However, because they were afraid of being in trouble with Infinite Company, the two of them never appeared together. One sold parts, and the other sold manuals. And they only sold it on small black markets."

"If that's the case, since you know their information so well, is it because these two people have already..."

"No, Infinite Company had been keeping an eye on them for a long time, but after a few days of investigation, Infinite Company gave up the investigation. The last time I saw these two guys was three months ago. Wells, do you remember the black market we went to buy those parts for modifying the jeep before coming to the desert?"

"Remember, what happened?"

"The owner of that shop is Wells."

"Would Infinity be so generous?"

"I guess so. After all, the part of the blueprint that Wells remembered was not actually a protective force field generator. It was actually an auxiliary defense system on an abandoned weapon system project. Because the weapon was very large, if the blueprint was modified, the auxiliary defense system could indeed be used as a protective force field. Although the defense is average, it has a large range."

"Wait a minute, from what you said, you wouldn't have..."

"Yes, I have the complete blueprints. This thing was originally a plasma weapon system used on ships. It has great power, long range, and high accuracy, but it consumes a lot of energy. Infinite Company later found a more cost-effective design, so the research and development of this thing was stopped before it left the laboratory."

"How much stuff did you get from Infinity?"

"It's not important, and it's getting off topic. You said there were two instruction manuals, one of which was for this thing. The box at the back should be for this thing. So what's the other instruction manual?"

"I don't know. There's no name or specific function on it, but judging by the operation steps, it seems to be... I can't really tell what it is."

"Translate the steps for me and I might be able to figure out what it is."

"Okay, first step, install the energy core into..."

It took a few minutes for Gloria to fully translate the above usage and operation steps to Han Zu. After understanding all the items, Han Zu did feel a little familiar. He must have seen something similar. He lit a cigarette and thought for a while. In the messy information, Han Zu found where this familiar feeling came from.

"If I'm not mistaken, this thing should be a portable energy device used to reshape the terrain. But shouldn't it be? This thing should be a device used to mine and cut ore. I've only seen it at the Infinite Company's lunar headquarters. This thing has no use on Earth. If you simply want to control and change the terrain, I can think of several other devices that are very suitable."

"It seems that the place we are going to does have something special. It seems that we will not return empty-handed this time?"

"maybe."

"Oh, by the way, you said there's a locator in this box? Once it's working again, shouldn't someone come looking for it? So should we leave them here?"

"These people are not in a good condition. I think we should take them with us first. If any of them can wake up, maybe we can get something useful out of them. Besides, I don't think anyone will come looking for them. The style of this truck doesn't look like something that belongs to bandits. It should have originally belonged to the scientific expedition team, but was driven away by those bandits."

"There is another point that is a little suspicious. If the scientific expedition team also has a motorcade, their security forces will not be wiped out by the bandits. After all, judging from these permits and passes, the people in the scientific expedition team are not short of money."

"That means something went wrong with them, which led to the bandits making a big profit. But if that's the case, why are the bandits okay?"

"We have to go to the site to take a look. By the way, Han Zu, this is a route map. According to the markings on it, the specific location of their scientific research is a few kilometers away from us."

"Route map? Isn't this a cargo list?"

Gloria handed one of the documents to Han Zu. Han Zu couldn't understand the words on it, but from the structure of the text, it didn't look like a route map at all, but rather like a cargo list.

"No, this is indeed a road map, but the geographical environment and some important points are marked with words. Do you see these words? Every few letters form a group, and they keep repeating."

"I see. What does this mean?"

"This means 'no man's land'. Can you tell the general outline of the place by looking at the arrangement of these words?"

"That's true! But I don't understand why someone would come up with such a route map? Wouldn't it be troublesome? And the accuracy isn't very high, right?"

"This special route map does have a special purpose. When someone deliberately doesn't want others to know a certain location, and that place can't frequently contact the outside world, this route map will be used. When we were in the Ferdinand Family Foundation, we occasionally used this kind of terrain map during secret operations. But before we use this inconvenient terrain map, we have to meet two conditions. The action must be kept quiet and there can be no contact with the outside world. Also, not everyone in the team can know where to go."

"We have to defend ourselves and outsiders, and we can't contact the outside world. Although this desert is uninhabited, it is not impossible to contact the outside world. So we don't contact the outside world, not because we can't do it, but because we don't want to. In this case, it seems that this scientific expedition team is also entrusted by others."

"Ferdinand family?"

"That's logically true. But I noticed something else. Do you smell anything strange?"

"Smell? Now that you mention it, it really is there. I thought it was the smell of those bandits being burned into popcorn, but when I smelled it carefully, it seemed to be the residual smell of some chemical agent? Do you know what this chemical is?"

"Yes, and if I'm not mistaken, only one person can make this kind of chemical."

"Who?"

"Garcia."

Gloria is very smart. She knows who Garcia is. She found this name when she was looking up Han Zu's experimental report in Han Zu's secret base. Out of doubt, Gloria tried to ask Han Zu who Garcia was, and Han Zu told her. But every time she talked about Garcia with Han Zu, Han Zu always called Garcia.

"A spy of unknown identity."

Gloria also asked about the time she spent with Garcia. Gloria, who had no hope, heard almost complete and detailed details from Han Zu. Gloria also understood that Han Zu did not trust Garcia. And based on Gloria's understanding of Han Zu, he might have known from the beginning that Garcia might have problems.

Of course, Gloria also followed this line of thought and understood that Han Zu did not trust her and must take her to these four coordinates. This should be, according to Han Zu's words, to test her.

However, Gloria didn't think there was anything wrong with it. After all, although there was nothing wrong with her, the circumstances of her meeting with Han Zu did seem a bit fabricated. The more she explained this kind of thing, the darker it became, so it was better not to mention it at all.

"So you have confirmed this time that there is indeed something wrong with Garcia. And it is very likely that he is related to the Ferdinand family?"

"It's not completely certain yet, but from what we know so far, things are indeed moving in this direction."

"So, you don't completely trust me either, right?"

Gloria knew that this was indeed the case and should not have pointed it out, but she still pointed it out, not because she was stupid, but because she wanted to judge Han Zu's true attitude towards her through his answer and reaction to this matter. This was a desperate way, but it must be said that Gloria made the right bet this time.

"It's not a smart thing to say. . . . Oh, I took the bait, Gloria."

When answering Gloria, Han Zu did not stare at Gloria all the time. Based on this, Gloria confirmed that Han Zu had actually begun to trust her.

Han Zu had a habit. When he didn't trust someone or something, he would often keep an eye on that person or thing, so that he could be ready to take action at any time. Even if the other party posed no threat to him at all. But this time, Han Zu didn't do that.

When Han Zu answered Gloria, he also understood why Gloria suddenly "acted stupidly". However, Han Zu was not angry, because this behavior also proved that Gloria wanted to gain his recognition. Garcia had never had such an attitude.

"I guess I'm now past my employee probation period?"

"That's it."

"Then you're not going to give me some employee benefits or something?"

"So what do you want... Stop touching me, Gloria. Or is this what you want?"

"I'm not that easy to get rid of. Let me think about it. Let's get down to business first. What should we do now? Follow the route map to take a look at the scope of the scientific expedition?"

"Well, can you drive?"

"meeting."

"You drive our jeep and I'll drive this truck. Let's go now. Maybe we can see some remaining information."

Gloria drove the jeep in front, and Han Zu drove the truck behind, pulling a truck of unresponsive scientific expedition members towards the location marked on the route map. It didn't take long for them to arrive at their destination, and here, the two of them quickly understood what the energy device that could be used to reshape the terrain and mine minerals was used for.

After getting out of the car, the two gathered together and started chatting while looking at the area in front of them.

"Now that I think about it, that kind of equipment for cutting ore is probably used for this, right?"

"I didn't expect to see this here. The completeness of these is much better than what I saw in the tourist area."

In front of the two of them was a huge pyramid. However, only one spire was visible above the sand. However, this spire alone was as big as the largest pyramid seen during sightseeing. On the sand dunes next to it, there was a temporary camp, which should belong to the scientific expedition team. However, there was no one inside, and all the equipment had inexplicably malfunctioned.

"This material is not the same as ordinary pyramids. No wonder they use that kind of equipment."

"This temporary camp is big enough to accommodate more than just the 20 people on the back of the truck. It can accommodate at least twice as many people. So the question is, where did the rest of the people go?"

"It should be here."

Following the direction of Gloria's finger, the two saw a man-made cut on the pyramid that was large enough for three people to pass side by side.

"Go in and take a look?"

"Let's go."