Flowers Blooming in the Wasteland

"Low-key is your greatest protection, my dear master, if you see the sky is sunny, just put it aside, and it will be too late when it rains-how can this metaphor be scored?"

"...2 points." Celeste sighed, "At least I understand what you want to express."

"But you're not going to do it," Marth said.

"You seem to be getting smarter," said Thelister.

"Of course, I said that artificial intelligence also needs to be learned." Marth said proudly.

Celeste didn't want to praise him at all, so he changed the subject and asked, "What is Lan doing now?"

"He's reading, master. He's read the 2015 issue 8 of National Geographic Illustrated many times, and now he's on page 21."

"I have to go back as soon as possible. When he finds out that I'm missing, he will be very anxious." Celeste said, "Where's the mutant?"

"He's sleeping, master, he's been sleeping for 4 hours, oops, he's moving..."

"Help me keep an eye on him." Celeste said, "If he wants to escape, let him go. If he shows the intention of attacking and threatens Lan's safety, you will immediately use infrasound to deal with him."

"Okay, master, I will always keep one eye on him."

Celeste walked forward for a while, and the ruins of the surrounding buildings became more and more dense. On the main road that was almost completely buried by the ruins, there appeared a few road signs with radiation signs, which seemed to be war After more than ten years have passed, the radiation concentration here should have weakened a little, but the spreading area has also become wider.

Just when Celeste breathed a sigh of relief and was about to find a place to rest, Mars said, "Master, they suddenly started to speed up and catch up!"

Celeste looked back, and several figures were already faintly visible in the wind and snow.

He stood up and ran into the radiation area.

Kars was so sick of chasing after him, he had already seen the running figure in front of him, but he couldn't catch up with him for a while, so he could only shout impatiently to Celeste's back: "Stop! , the front is the radiation zone, are you dying? Stop it!"

Not only did Celeste not stop, but he ran even faster.

Seeing that the distance between the two sides is getting shorter and shorter, he will definitely be able to catch the kid after chasing for a few kilometers, but his subordinates firmly stopped Kars: "We can't go any further, boss, we have already entered the radiation zone. If we don't hurry up, we'll all die here!"

Kars looked at Celeste, who was already very close, and then looked back at the radiation zone sign that had been left behind by them. In the end, his life-saving instinct made him give up chasing, full of unwillingness and regret. run away.

---

Seeing that the opponent finally gave up on the chase, Celeste breathed a sigh of relief, and sat down on the frozen ground, not wanting to move.

He didn't expect that Kars would be so persistent. Seeing that he had already entered the radiation zone, and he had to chase him for such a long distance, this unusual persistence was really puzzling.

After a while, Celeste felt that his physical strength had recovered, and when he wanted to get up and move forward again, a person suddenly appeared in front of him.

The man stood on top of a pile of ruins of concrete buildings, holding a shotgun and issued a warning to Celeste: "Stop, don't go any further."

Celeste looked at him in surprise. According to common sense, there should be no one in the radiation area. If zombies are not counted as people, only zombies can endure such a high radiation environment, although people don't know Whether zombies are really not afraid or not.

That person is obviously not a zombie, but his appearance is as scary as a zombie. Although he is very tightly dressed, with leather gloves, windproof sunglasses blocking most of his face, a dark green scarf covering his chin, and a hat that is pushed down very low, but It can still be seen that there is not a piece of intact skin on his face, it is full of rotten, scabbed, and rotten traces, the nose is gone, and there are only two holes left, and the voice is deep and hoarse, like someone holding a tongs He spoke in a low voice, and his hair almost fell out, leaving only a few strands of gray stubble sticking to his scabbed forehead.

"...Hello." Celeste greeted, "I'm just passing by, and I don't mean anything malicious."

"Ah, it's amazing." The man sighed with a rough voice, "It's the first time someone saw this and I didn't scream or attack right away, sweetheart, aren't you afraid of zombies at all?"

"Zombies don't know how to use guns, and you're not a zombie," Thurlist said.

"That's right, then do you know why I became like this?" The man walked down from the ruins step by step, "It's all because of the radiation here, sweetheart, there is such a big circle of radiation signs outside, Don't you see, why did you come in?"

"Someone's getting me," Thurlist said. "I don't want to be caught by them."

"So you'd rather be radiated to death?" The man had already walked in front of Celeste, and his appearance was even more terrifying from a close distance. "You're lucky, sweetheart, the radiation in this place is no longer like In the past, it would directly kill people. Go back and lose a few strands of hair at most, increase the chance of getting cancer dozens of times, and give birth to children in the next few years will definitely be deformed. Let’s go, get out of here quickly.”

"Thank you for your kindness, but they will definitely be waiting to catch me on the way. I have to go through this place and go the other way."

"Well, sweetheart, it seems that you are very afraid of the group of people chasing after you. In this case..." The man took the shotgun from his back, sighed and said, "Come on, I will take you from the fastest way past."

"Thank you." Celeste followed his pace and asked while walking carefully among the ruins of the building, "What's your name?"

"Why do you want to know such an ugly name like me, want to date me sweetheart?"

"No, I'm just curious."

"Looks like you're a curious little sweetheart, huh?" said the man. "You can call me Dandy."

Celeste asked, "Dandy, why are you helping me?"

"Because you are so cute, sweetheart, has anyone ever told you that you are as sweet as a little angel?" Dandy said, "If I were me ten years ago, I would definitely hold my Roses and champagne, violently pursuing you."

"Oh..." Celeste added another example to the conclusion that "it is more important to be likable".

---

This area of ​​radiation used to be the largest city in the vicinity before the war. There was also a nuclear power plant that provided electricity for millions of people around. Now the city has been completely destroyed, and the radiation left by the nuclear bomb and the leakage of the nuclear power plant have turned this area into a well-known forbidden area.

Celeste followed Dandy to climb up and down in this piece of reinforced concrete ruins. Dandy seemed to have a clear understanding of the surrounding terrain. Some places looked easy to walk, but in fact they were completely dead ends. There was no way up at all, but Dandy opened the crooked door in the collapsed wall and they could go on again.

The sky was slowly getting dark, and after walking for a while, Celeste couldn't help asking curiously: "Dandy, why do you live here?"

Judging from the radiation data provided by Masi, this place is definitely not a place suitable for human habitation.

"Why do you want to know?" Dandy walked ahead of him, extending a leather-gloved hand to help him crawl through the rubble.

"I'm curious." Celeste struggled to climb up a fallen building, and gasped, "Do you have any stories?"

"Since you are so curious... In fact, my story is no different from most people in the wasteland. I lived a peaceful life, and then the war broke out and everything was destroyed, that's it." Dandy said in a rough voice The voice said calmly, "I have been to many places and experienced many things, and in the end I was tired and tired of this wasteland, so I returned to this place where I was born and raised, and wanted to take another look The street I lived in, and I looked at the elementary and middle schools I attended, and I found that this city that has been silent for many years has people again."

As if commenting on his words, Celeste saw the flames on a building whose door had been completely blocked by building wreckage. In a room with a broken glass curtain wall on the second floor, almost A man with a rotten face like Dandy's was warming around a fire made of old furniture, and a rope ladder hanging outside the wall was probably the only way they could get in and out.

"It's not a place for people to live in," Thurlist said.

"Of course it's not suitable, but how could other places be better?" Dandy clenched and straightened his fingers from time to time while talking, "I don't know who lived in first, whether it was a scavenger who broke in by mistake The victims, desperate refugees, or other people, in short, someone found that the radiation concentration here is no longer lethal, and the city has not been looted due to radiation, and you can pick up pre-war leftovers in any corner. It’s a good thing to buy. Because most of the year is frozen, many things can still be eaten until now, and the inventory of just an underground shopping mall is enough for everyone to eat for decades.”

"But even if the food here is not spoiled, it must have been contaminated by radiation long ago."

"You can grow up to be such a beautiful young man. You can see that you have never experienced hardship and starvation since you were a child, so you probably can't imagine how tempting some people are to eat food that you can eat as much as you want. People.” Dandy sighed, and didn’t know whether he was envious of Celeste or pity other people, “In other places, they may try their best, but they can barely earn a little food. When it’s good, you may not be able to get any food, and you can only sit and wait to starve to death. Compared with starving to death, radiation pollution is nothing. And it’s also very safe here. The only threat is some zombies, all of whom are more than ten years old. There are zombies, you can get rid of them with some simple roadblocks and weapons, as long as you don't lie down and sleep in the pile of zombies, there will be no danger."