ocean-life Chapter 50 The World Outside the City
Chapter 50 The World Outside the City
The protective wall was built along the outer perimeter of the coastal city and consisted of sixteen gates.
Each gate is heavily guarded. In addition to the Longjun military stationed here year-round, security consultants from major enterprises and companies in Haicheng also exchange data with the military at the beginning of each month.
Liu Baichuan handed a device resembling a mobile phone to the officer who came to investigate.
This is an essential electronic seal for leaving the city, containing all the declaration information and relevant proof of the purpose of leaving the city for all those leaving.
While waiting to pass through customs, all the students had boarded the bus.
As soon as the car door closed, the young man who had yelled at Qi Te earlier immediately shouted, "Kid, do you know how dangerous your actions were?!"
Ji Chenyu was about to retort, but before he could even open his mouth, Yue Wanwan spoke up first, "Sir, please show some respect when you speak!"
Qi Te looked at Yue Wanwan in surprise. This gentle and quiet senior, who never dared to speak loudly, actually dared to confront a heavily armed person head-on.
Has her personality changed that much?
Qi Te subconsciously thought of Fang Shu. Yue Wanwan had also been in contact with Luo Duyang, thus meeting the prerequisites for being infected by the meme.
However, he quickly dispelled this doubt.
If my senior really got infected, Yue Yi'an, that doting father, would definitely find out.
Seeing the man's face darken, as if he wanted to retort, Qi Te quickly said, "Sir, I live in District Nine and have had many interactions with the residents of the quarantine area, so I know them somewhat."
"I understand you mean well and don't want to get into trouble. But rest assured, I will follow my mentor's instructions after leaving the city."
The young man swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
Qi Te nodded to Yue Wanwan in gratitude, and Ji Chenyu, Cao Yingchong, and Qiao Yi all had the same "I'm totally shipping them" expression on their faces.
Soon, the officer in charge of the verification came out of the outpost and returned the equipment to Liu Baichuan.
Immediately afterwards, the heavy doors made of alloy slowly slid open to both sides.
At the same time, a medium-sized SUV sped over, passing between the two large pickup trucks and passing through the gate first.
"How come that car left the city without any inspection?" Freckled asked in surprise.
"Heh~" The young man chuckled lightly, "Didn't you see it had a black license plate? That's a military vehicle, and you didn't even know that?"
The freckled boy still didn't realize he was being mocked, and exclaimed "Oh!" in a daze.
Joey was a little annoyed: "Mr. Mercenary, do you have a girlfriend?"
The young man straightened his back and pointed to the badge on his chest: "Please look carefully, we are Blue Shield field agents, not some random mercenary."
Being a mercenary is a legal profession in the Federation.
Just like plumbers, carpenters, and movers, mercenaries also have their own dedicated app platform.
In addition to private security, professional filming teams, wilderness adventure bloggers, and some large companies also recruit mercenary groups to provide protection during their winter team building activities.
With the economy becoming increasingly sluggish in recent years, many laid-off unemployed people have chosen this line of work.
Veterans are given priority, followed by those whose special abilities are applicable to actual combat and who are proficient in firearms or have rich experience in wilderness survival.
The 30-45 age group is the most popular, after all, they have elderly parents and young children to support, their tempers are not as impulsive as young boys, they are more obedient, and they are relatively more experienced.
Of course, having a legal profession doesn't mean that what you do is legal.
Recruiting mercenaries like Lao Mo to hijack the academy, as Nanshan did, was not only illegal but also extremely risky.
But the rewards are high; one job can be equivalent to ten or even twenty ordinary jobs. However, those who dare to take on such jobs are basically desperate criminals who value money over their lives.
The team that provides security services to the collection team is classified as a mercenary by professional attributes.
However, unlike the lone wolves, he came from Blue Shield, the most professional security company in Long County.
Ranked among the top 3 companies of its kind globally, the entire field team comprises individuals with supernatural abilities, ensuring their combat prowess is top-notch. Furthermore, Blue Shield possesses topographical maps of all border areas within Dragon County, as well as encyclopedias of various dangerous creatures.
The team hired by Oasis Corporation at great expense consists of five D-level members, nine C-level members, and two B-level experts who had previously carried out a mission to the border region in the summer and returned unscathed.
Although Liu Baichuan rejected Oasis's three invitations, it doesn't mean he was unwilling to cooperate with them.
Strictly speaking, any project involving biology or genetic engineering cannot avoid mentioning this world's largest biotechnology company.
Liu Baichuan submitted a collection application and received emails from three companies on the same day, offering him financial support.
Of course, there's no such thing as a free lunch. The three companies' request was also reasonable: they only needed a data report on the samples collected.
"I don't have a girlfriend, but company policy dictates that I can't have any relationship with clients that goes beyond an employment relationship during my assignment. So, thank you for your kindness," the young man said earnestly.
Joey was completely stunned and was about to start cursing when Cao Yingchong quickly shook his head to signal her.
This data collection will last for half a month, and afterwards we will need the protection of these experienced and highly capable team members. It's really not worth getting into any unpleasantness over such a trivial matter.
Joey rolled her eyes, silently cursing "idiot" in her heart, and awkwardly turned her face away.
.....................
Six pickup trucks drove away from the gate, traveling about 100 kilometers through barren, desolate land, with towering metal towers visible along the way.
The base of the tower is equipped with anti-aircraft gun emplacements, while the tower itself is riddled with holes. Once a dangerous creature is detected approaching, the barrel of an RN sniper rifle will be extended. Its power is terrifying; it can penetrate even a 10-centimeter-thick titanium alloy plate.
The top of the towers is even more extreme; in addition to combat drones, one out of every ten towers is equipped with an auto-aiming launcher.
There are no soldiers inside the tower; it operates entirely using artificial intelligence.
Although the young man codenamed G4 has questionable emotional intelligence, he is very enthusiastic about popularizing science among students.
Little Freckles listened intently, while Joey and two other sophomores from different classes held up their phones and filmed videos outside the window.
None of them had ever left the city; they had only glimpsed a small part of it through some exotic websites and live streams and videos by wilderness adventure bloggers.
The students quickly forgot about the previous minor friction and excitedly took turns changing seats, peering out of the car windows.
After driving about fifty kilometers more, things finally changed.
The partition in the middle of the pickup truck was lowered, obscuring the view directly ahead. However, through the windows on both sides, one could see rolling mountains and clusters of buildings enveloped in withered yellow and green hues.
Was this ever a city?
"Chen Jin, a male student from Class 3 of the second year, asked in surprise."
“No,” G4 shook his head and said, “This area was a town in the old days.”
The federal government only has cities; towns and villages are a thing of the last century, and you can only find the word in textbooks.
The town that was once inhabited by humans is now completely submerged by various unknown plants.
Cao Yingchong took out a small box, about half the size of his palm, from his backpack, attached it to the car window, turned on the device, tapped his watch lightly, and a glint of light flashed in his pupils.
With the aid of the instruments, he could clearly see the cluster of buildings not far away. Although large areas were covered, the exposed parts showed obvious signs of damage. Furthermore, they were covered with scorch marks, bullet holes, and marks that looked like they had been slashed by a sharp blade.
No, it was definitely not caused by cold weapons.
Because most of the marks are irregular arcs, and there are also broken unidentified objects embedded in them.
Judging from its color and shape, it is definitely not a sword or similar weapon.
Cao Yingchong operated his watch, zooming in five times on the image, and immediately exclaimed, "That's... a claw?!"
G4 looked at him with some surprise, then his eyes lit up: "Arsenal Hawkeye II!"
Arsenal is one of the Federation's two leading military industrial enterprises, and a top-tier player in Dragon County. The aircraft carrier and fleet in the eastern waters of Sea City were built by Arsenal.
In addition to these heavy military equipment, the arsenal also produces some equipment suitable for field operations.
The device Cao Yingchong used had night vision, telephoto, and infrared thermal imaging capabilities, and could project the captured images onto his contact lenses. The watch was used to switch functions and adjust focus, clarity, and other settings.
This thing only functions best in the wild; in the city, it's more cost-effective to just buy an ultra-high-definition infrared telescope.
"Just leaving the city once, and they even went out of their way to buy such expensive equipment? They must be rich!"
G4 sighed inwardly, but subconsciously replied, "Not claws, scales."
"What kind of creature has such large scales?"
Cao Yingchong frowned and said, "Eagle Eye data shows that the black scale embedded in the walls of those dilapidated buildings is 50 centimeters long and 35 centimeters wide."
"The black dragon salamander is an amphibian belonging to the family Salamanderidae in the order Caudata. Adult black dragon salamanders have two forms: the water salamander lives in aquatic swamps, while the land salamander lives on land."
G4 opens the badge on its chest, projecting an image onto the partition between the driver's area and the passenger compartment.
Looking at the enormous creature clinging to a building in the projection, Yue Wanwan instinctively gasped, and even the usually daring Qiao Yi was startled.
"Water salamanders are almost invincible in swamps and waterways. Earth salamanders are also quite formidable on land. Their levels are determined by their body length, with those reaching 15 meters being classified as Beast Kings. They have thick skin, thick flesh, and extremely high defense."
"Our captain encountered one in the border region last summer." G4's expression turned serious at this point. "Seven team members died on that mission. If our captain hadn't been a B-level ability user, we probably would have all perished!"
Students in the School of Biology have some knowledge of anomalous organisms, but they have only ever come into contact with small anomalous organism specimens in petri dishes; they have never seen a live specimen.
Qi Te turned his head to look at the rapidly receding scenery outside the window and couldn't help but frown.
The world outside the city is far beyond imagination.
Although it was a relatively safe winter, and the team was well-equipped with firearms and ammunition, including a B-level expert, for some reason, a vague unease still rose in his heart...