Flowers Blooming in the Wasteland

"In 2016, the zombie virus broke out. In September 2017, the zombie virus evolved into a second-generation virus that can be transmitted through the air. Until 9, in four years, 2020% of humans were either infected or died from zombie attacks. Only the lucky ones who were vaccinated or immune to the zombie virus survived." He Xiao said, "It seems that this wave of virus only killed more than half of the population, but the impact it caused was very far-reaching. The balance between the forces was completely broken, and four years of chaos caused a shortage of various materials, and the war inevitably broke out. However, at the beginning, the forces only threatened each other verbally, and no one was the first to use nuclear weapons The plan is the Devourer. It knows that we have discovered it, so it has no scruples. Although the launch of nuclear weapons needs to be manually operated, it can hack into any system at any time. It still found a time when the staff did not operate properly. Let the United States launch nuclear bombs on China and Russia first, attacking some areas where the air defense system was destroyed, and China and Russia immediately responded with nuclear weapons, and the war has thus entered the nuclear age.”

"No wonder." Celeste suddenly realized. "When I was a child, I read some old news and newspapers. I always felt that the government of a big country at that time was very strange. It often launched nuclear bombs in the front foot, and then issued a statement saying that it was not intentional."

"This kind of prevarication seems ridiculous, but in fact they really didn't mean it." He Xiao said, "The nuclear bomb that was supposed to hit the United States hit Moscow, or the nuclear bomb that was supposed to hit Shanghai hit Washington. The good deeds of those who did it. The world was in chaos at that time, and many people did not realize that these 'system failures' were not accidental, but just blindly incited by hatred. Originally, some of those in high positions also realized that There is only one possibility for the fight to continue like this. They tried to negotiate peace, but the envoy’s plane was shot down by a missile over the Pacific Ocean, and no one survived. There is no doubt that it was a good thing that the Devourer did. It can be said that the war has developed step by step. The current situation is all the result of the Devourer guiding behind the scenes."

"I don't understand." He Xiao's explanation made Celeste more confused, "Since you already knew that it was responsible, why didn't you do anything for more than ten years and just let things go step by step?" It has deteriorated to the point where it is now? You are clearly capable of doing something."

"First of all, you have to understand that the Guardian Alliance is not the angel or savior of mankind. On the one hand, we are protecting human civilization from the interference and attacks of other civilizations, and on the other hand, we are also monitoring this new civilization. After all, not all civilizations are suitable to be Our comrades-in-arms, many civilizations have shown too strong aggressiveness in the process of development. More than half of the civilizations have destroyed themselves before reaching a certain level. Taking dangerous civilizations that are dying and becoming our allies, providing them with technology and assistance, maybe the consequences will be more terrible than the Devourer."

The big screen temporarily stayed on an image of the earth, and He Xiao stood in front of the screen with his hands behind his back, looking at the slowly rotating planet, and said indifferently: "The role of the Guardian Alliance in the new civilization is Absolutely neutral role, we observe, record, monitor, but never intervene. If human civilization plays itself to death, we will just stand by and watch."

"However, all of this is not the result of the natural development of human beings."

"There have always been some differences in the council of the Guardian Alliance on this issue." He Xiao said, "After all, the Devourer can only affect the signal, not the human brain. It provides some professional technology, and the real use of these technologies It is human beings who come to destroy themselves. Although there are many kind, gentle and harmless people among human beings, overall, the aggressiveness and self-destructive tendencies of human beings are obvious. Allowing the Devourer to intervene in the natural development process of human beings, It is our fault, but there has been no consensus in Parliament on whether to intervene more forcefully to save the human species."

"That's why you have been quietly accumulating strength all these years, but doing nothing..." Celeste understood, "Now, does the parliament have a unified opinion? Why should I decide whether to save or destroy? Humanity?"

He Xiao looked back at him inexplicably, and didn't answer for a while, just smiled and said: "It's getting late, go and rest for a while, get some sleep, and you'll be in Hawaii tomorrow."

"...Well." Celeste knew that He Xiao couldn't answer this question, so he didn't pursue it in vain.

---

That night, Celeste took a shower on the ship, had his hair cut, and changed into a suit of clothes that had been prepared for him long ago. people.

When he first set foot on the Hawaiian Islands, Celeste also had a sense of unreality like traveling through time and space.

Everything is too clean and tidy.

No one wears patched or tattered clothes, no one looks dirty and decadent, there is no rubbish on the street, some green plants that do not require much sunlight decorate the flower beds, and every building has bright and clean windows , as new as a fake.

There was a special car waiting to meet them at the port, and He Xiao took Celeste to the gate of the Blue Shield Group by car.

From the outside, this building is no different from many large groups before the war. Celeste followed He Xiao into the gate. The foyer is very wide, and the road paved with red carpets connects the office buildings of various functional departments. Staff wearing various uniforms walked around, showing a busy and orderly atmosphere.

However, Celeste is more interested in the display windows against the wall, which contain some decorative things, including exquisite porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, artworks full of post-modern style, fossils, models, etc. thing.

Celeste's eyes stopped on an ornament.

The thing lay quietly inside the glass counter. It seemed to be cast from some kind of metal in one piece. Its shape was like an abstract artwork. Flat metal pieces of similar size and thickness were covered by metal pieces as thick as chopsticks. The lines are connected together, and the metal sheets are parallel to each other, forming a messy but not chaotic posture like an upside-down Ganoderma lucidum. There are also a few irregular spiral metal wires extending downwards, Several identical flat metal pieces are attached to the outside of the spiral.

"This... what?" Celeste suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"A specimen of an ant nest." He Xiao answered him patiently as before, "A curious scientist once poured molten aluminum juice into the entrance of the ant nest, waited for the aluminum juice to cool before digging it out as a whole , and such a specimen was obtained."

Celeste looked at the specimen silently. Each flat metal sheet is a "room", and the metal wires connecting the rooms are the channels dug out by ants in the soil bit by bit. The whole specimen has more than one person. High, it can be seen that this was once a very large and prosperous ant kingdom.

Until one day, a curious human scientist came along...

"Does this make you feel uncomfortable?" He Xiao keenly noticed Celeste's abnormality.

"...a little bit." Celeste looked away from the specimen.

He Xiao called a staff member next to him: "Remove this thing."

Celeste didn't say anything, just followed He Xiao silently, He Xiao looked back at him and said, "If you don't like any decoration or design here, you can ask them to remove it, because everything here is It's prepared for you. Let's go, I'll take you to familiarize yourself with the various departments, and everyone in this base will obey your orders from now on."

Celeste was silent for a moment and said, "I wanted to ask you when you would let me go back, but it seems that you don't intend to let me go."

"You don't need to go back anymore." He Xiao said, "You know who the Devourer is and what you are going to do, so from now on, the Devourer will destroy you whenever he has a chance to delay Our speed of action. There is a complete defense system in this base. Even if he hides in another dimension, there is no way to take advantage of it. But once you leave the base, you may be attacked at any time. Even if it is not from the perspective of safety , this place will be the most perfect, I have already prepared all the infrastructure for you."

"But Lan is still waiting for me to go back." Celeste said.

He Xiao smiled understandingly: "I will send someone to pick him up soon, and other friends you want to bring to the base to live with will also be properly settled. As for the small town, I know you have I put some effort into it, but before we achieve a phased victory, it is best to keep it at its current scale, once the population and resources exceed a critical point, the Devourer will find a way to destroy them."

"Then, when will you take Lan over?" Celeste always felt a little uneasy when he didn't see Fu Yunlan.

He Xiao asked, "Case, where is Fu Yunlan now?"

A satellite map was displayed on the large screen closest to them, and Case stated in an unwavering voice: "In the Pacific Ocean, the coordinates are x9887-y4480-z2."

Celeste asked in surprise, "Why is he in the Pacific Ocean?"