The center of the abandoned city and the outskirts of the dense forest area.
If nature only takes the initiative outside the dense forest area, and the traces of the past glory of human civilization are being covered up by vegetation, then after entering the dense forest area, the traces of the past civilization have been completely eliminated by nature.
After the destruction of the old world, the cities that were reduced to ruins by successive disasters became the remains that symbolized the glory of the past. More than ten years after humans left, primary succession gradually eroded the streets that no one maintained and used: barbaric growth. Plants occupy every corner of the sidewalk, weeds grow tenaciously from the cement gaps, and lush vines climb over the exterior walls and interiors of buildings.
As spring turns to autumn, the residues of dead weeds and vines, along with moss and lichen, will form a thin layer of top soil. Day after day, year after year, the top soil gradually covers and erodes away the cement pavement, and is surrounded by other animals. With the help, it was mainly the seeds carried in the feces that gave birth to new plants, which formed the current ecology of the abandoned city.
This is also a common state after other human cities are abandoned. Concrete buildings coexist with plants. Pervasive creepers, herbs and small shrubs will occupy every room in skyscrapers, while birds and small mammals will eat their food. Settle in abundant half-ruined skyscrapers, and predators will follow, eventually forming a wonderful ecology after the decline of mankind in these concrete buildings.
However, the ecology of dense forest areas is different.
Here you can see towering trees hugging each other everywhere. The canopies with lush branches and leaves are connected to each other in the air. The thick branches twist and grow together to form tree bridges for small and agile animals to walk on; the air hanging from the thick branches The roots are intertwined to form a huge root system hanging on the ground, which serves as a shelter for small mammals; there are also fungi, mushrooms and shrub vegetation that have never been seen before; a giant dragonfly about 20 centimeters long is in the forest. Flying; and a small unnamed jackal with a yellow back and a black belly
This should have been the most prosperous area in the city center. After it turned into a dense forest area, there are no traces of human civilization left here. There are no cement buildings, no street lights and streets, and not even a trace of building debris and ruins. If you can't find it, the deeper you go, the more it gives people the illusion of gradually entering a wild and alien world.
It’s hard to believe that this kind of ecology was created from scratch in just a few decades.
Now, they finally saw some traces of the existence of civilization.
Through Elizabeth's direct connection of space points, using a method similar to skipping the distance in the middle and moving from one step to the end, Jia Zhencheng and his party quickly passed this dense forest avenue that may take an hour or even longer to drive. At the end of this avenue, they found traces of civilization.
It was a group of buildings hidden in the jungle. It could be seen that the group of more than a dozen buildings and their surroundings were often maintained and cleaned. Although the outer walls had weathered and peeled off over time, the appearance of the buildings on the outer walls There are not many creeping plants, and there are no traces of plant growth in the building complex. There is a clear distinction between the wild vegetation and the remains of civilization. A man-made fence forms a dividing line that does not violate each other. On one side is the wild jungle, and on the other side are half-ruined cement buildings and compacted dirt roads.
That small group of buildings is like an isolated island in the vast ocean.
Is this the lair of the bandit group? Jia Zhencheng looked at this building complex and couldn't help but sigh that these bandits do know how to choose a place. If they hide in this place, they can really avoid a lot of trouble. This place is in the peripheral area. Apart from the weird ecological environment, there is basically nothing. There is no danger at all. Even if you encounter strong winds where fungal spores spread, you only need to take precautions.
But in the eyes of others, this is a terrifying restricted area of life. Fungal spores spread from the depths of the dense forest, and sometimes even spread to the outskirts of the dense forest area with strong winds. People on the outskirts of the dense forest area are also infected with cordyceps. More and more outrageous rumors and strange stories were processed by people from generation to generation, and the place was gradually demonized into a man-eating living forest. Over time, people did not even dare to approach it.
Although many adventurers once boasted at the Adventurer's House that they had been to the dense forest area, at most they only took a circle around the outermost edge of the dense forest area before running away in fear.
he gestured
Let your friends around you be alert: brace yourself and be alert to any abnormalities around you.
If this was the bandit group's home base, they would definitely leave personnel to garrison it.
Let's sneak in quietly to find out the situation. We don't want to alert the enemy, and we don't want to rush ahead. As long as we can confirm that this is the station of the bandit group, we will return immediately.
Once you spot Mushroom People, avoid them as much as possible and retreat immediately if something goes wrong.
Wear a small air purifier to prevent fungal spore infection. Although it is not windy today, you can always be careful.
Jia Zhencheng took the trouble to remind the team members of the key points of the next action. After all, the opponent was a bandit group that robbed and burned many small settlements in the surrounding area. It should be quite powerful after all, and traces of suspected mushroom people had been discovered before. In addition, this is a dense forest area that is demonized by the unknown and people's fears, so it is always good to be cautious.
Zhao Sida, on the other hand, fell into deep thought while looking at the building complex covered with dense vegetation.
The scale is wrong. Based on the distance from the road to here, the actual area of the dense forest area may be several times larger than the center of the abandoned city drawn on the map. Is it because the map is hand-drawn so the scale is wrong?
There are also problems with plant growth and the entire environmental ecology. This is not like an ecology that can evolve over decades, but rather like an ecology that has evolved over hundreds of years.
Outside the dense forest area, you can still see half-ruined building debris everywhere, but once you enter the dense forest area, all the building debris disappears, except here
Is there anything special here?
Doll? Doll!
The call interrupted the doll girl's contemplation. She raised her head in confusion. Elizabeth was looking at her longingly and retracted the hand that was dangling in front of her eyes: Are you okay?
It's okay, I was just thinking about something. Zhao Sida shook her head. She looked at Jia Zhencheng and others who had already put on masks equipped with air filters and were getting ready: "Then let's go."
To everyone's surprise, Jia Zhencheng and his party entered the building complex very smoothly. Perhaps it was because the lair was located in an inaccessible dense forest area. There was no need to worry about being discovered by outsiders. The bandit group was very careless about its own defense. They found it. After testing the fence many times, they found no sign of anyone staying in the nest. Then they climbed over the fence outside without much effort and began to search the buildings.
They explored the buildings along the street one by one, but found nothing except some frightening poisonous mushrooms. Until they explored the building, the exploration finally made progress.
They found some remnants of tableware, as well as traces of stoves and campfires.
This discovery cheered up Jia Zhencheng, and as expected, he found more discoveries upstairs.
A few messy beds, recently moved tables, chairs and benches, and ugly graffiti of animals
They even found a lot of looted materials in the nearby warehouse. It can be said that the daily supplies such as fuel, food, weapons and ammunition were sorted and placed in easy-to-access places by the bandits.
But other things were thrown randomly in the warehouse: twisted iron tools; broken walkie-talkies, engines and other equipment; car parts that were not known to be usable; discarded gun parts; solar power generators that were damaged beyond repair Machine boards; old-world mobile phones and laptops that are unknown how old they are; and mechanical prosthetics that look like they have been used for decades and are already antiques, forming a mountain of garbage in the huge warehouse.
Captain, judging from the use of tableware and beds, this bandit gang should be a group with a core of seven people. After a rough search of the surrounding area, Jia Zhencheng and his party returned to the half-ruined building. Based on these, Axiang explored make judgments based on the information.
Jia Zhencheng nodded and took over: He has a car, and there should be more than one. He has been running around plundering villages recently, so many things that can still be found of value are still here. He only sorted out the core of daily necessities such as food and fuel. There should not be many members, but there may be many peripheral members and younger brothers.
There is no heavy firepower, ammunition and weapons inventory are also light firepower ammunition, from tire tracks
There are no traces of armored vehicles. Zhao Sida added expressionlessly.
Soon, the complete outline and strength of this bandit group were pieced together. .
At this time, Axiang had a new question: How did this bandit group without heavy firepower attack and plunder those villages?
I don't know, but it doesn't matter. The clues we got are enough. Let's retreat first. Jia Zhencheng shook his head and immediately issued a retreat order. The group returned along the original route and retreated in the direction they came from.
However, when they were about to come to a corner, Zhao Sida and Elizabeth whispered warnings almost at the same time.
Wait a minute! Something is approaching around the corner! There is someone in front!
Jia Zhencheng and several of his team members reacted immediately, and then the group hurriedly hid behind the shadow of the nearby building debris.
After a while, a figure slowly walked out from the corner of the street.
The figure was walking unsteadily, looking like he might fall at any moment. He had an assault rifle slung across his body and seemed to be walking aimlessly on the street.
The dim environment in the woods made it impossible for everyone hiding behind the ruins to see the figure clearly at first, but a moment later, with the weak sunlight passing through the leaves, everyone could clearly see the figure.
The top of his head was covered with mushrooms.
It's a mushroom man!
Everyone hiding behind the ruins suddenly became nervous, and Jia Zhencheng even raised his gun and aimed at the figure who had just walked out.
But he did not shoot rashly, because no matter who fired, it might alert the gangster group's lair and the mushroom people that might be around, so he was unwilling to expose himself until he was desperate.
At this moment, everyone hiding behind the ruins heard the roar of an engine suddenly coming from the direction of the entrance!
