Rain, endless rain, black rain clouds that forever cover the sky; it is easy for people to blur the concepts of time and space in their senses. The extremely humid air can almost pull out water, and it seems to be everywhere, always sticking to people's skin.
It seeps pervasively into the gaps between robes, outer armor, and inner linings, making people feel wet forever, losing body temperature and vitality bit by bit. And this is the intuitive feeling of Wang Shihong, a layman of the fifth battalion detective sentry among a small group of people who were trapped in the rain area and temporarily lost their way.
"The temperature has dropped again." He exhaled a breath of smoke and sprayed it on his gauntlet. He carefully observed the process of condensation of water droplets and said softly: "Go on, pay attention to keeping yourself warm, and urge the rear team to speed up. Go through this low-lying ground and find a higher place to rest.”
As a veteran who has been in the army for more than ten years, he originally belonged to Shannan West Road and was responsible for suppressing the Qiang Rong in Yinping Town, one of the four towns in Xishan. He lived on a monthly salary of six cents. But the Battle of Beishan that took place in Xingyuan Mansion a few years ago directly changed his fate and future.
For the first time, he saw hundreds of beasts surging, and he was on the front line fighting the monsters with all their tricks. Because of his extraordinary courage and luck that he persisted until his last breath, he was spotted by the big shot in the secret censorship department and became a recruit to join the lay force.
And this can be regarded as a common practice among the people who have fought side by side with Xijingli Xingyuan. In addition to selecting some outstanding soldiers, they will also give certain recommendation quotas to their units as a supplementary source. As we all know, the treatment of the Tang army was also divided into three, six or nine levels.
The last ones are the local regiments and rural soldiers who are semi-off-the-job in counties and counties; they are not regular military quotas, and they do not have specific provisions and salaries; they only gather people to strengthen themselves for drills during slack periods. Secondly, there are the state's guards and soldiers; the court only provides food, clothing, salt and vegetables, and the local government raises its own wages.
Then, there are the Long March athletes from the armies, cities, towns, and garrisons of the four barbarians and nine borders, as well as the children of the military families who have been stationed for generations; the garrison troops and assault troops of the major governors and governors; the Ministry of War creates records to provide daily supplies. Pay, clothing, food and materials also represented the average level of most armies in the Tang Dynasty.
Finally, there are the Sixteen Guards of Nanya directly under the imperial court, and the various military offices they belong to, which also represent the pinnacle of military treatment in the country. It is further divided into the status of Beibian, stationed in Beijing and in Beijing, and the income is slightly different. As for the Sixth Army of Beiya, which is under the imperial guard, it belongs to another system.
But the treatment of lay officers and soldiers is obviously more generous. In addition to receiving the standard military pay and material rations of each Lingwei Prefecture compared with those of the Sixteenth Guards in Beijing, they also enjoy service allowances, subsidies and pensions that are one and a half to several times that, as well as some special privileges that are only available within the Xijingli Academy. Exclusive benefits.
For example, miraculous medical methods for amputated limbs and organ regeneration; enhanced secret medicines that can stimulate the human body's blood potential and allow it to grow and develop again; and even special implant surgeries that allow people to possess all kinds of abnormal abilities; all kinds of strange and ineffective medicines. A magical tool.
In fact, as members of the lay sergeants, the vast majority of them have received a bloodline stimulation and obtained varying degrees of gradual physical and sensory enhancement, but there are some individuals who have received a second or even third bloodline stimulation. Strengthen and awaken personal special abilities.
However, just the first bloodline stimulation and subsequent gradual strengthening were enough for Wang Shihong to benefit endlessly. Because in addition to the enhancement of basic strength, endurance, reaction, and perception; he can even stimulate his body's potential and remain energetic for several days without eating or drinking.
Then, after the effect ends, the body becomes thin and needs to be gradually restored by eating and drinking a lot. Of course, the known sequelae and side effects of this kind of bloodline are that there is a certain probability that it will cause difficulties in the reproduction of offspring, or the risk of life loss due to overuse.
But for these soldiers, it is simply a great good thing that they can get a stronger body and sharper senses for just this slim chance. But the corresponding price and exchange conditions are to face all kinds of dangerous and abnormal monsters with various tricks.
Wang Shihong also quickly mastered the secrets of his own bloodline in repeated battles on the verge of life and death. With his rich experience, he eventually became the fire chief of one of the sentinel detection teams in the fifth battalion; he enjoyed eighteen and a half days of work every month. Generous salaries and exceptionally sufficient material rations.
Therefore, in his early years, he shot ghosts with his own hands during raids, and cut off the heads of strange beasts with a broadsword; he also worked with his colleagues to nail lizard monsters, using iron whips and nail clubs in the array to kill them. He has killed dozens of deformed people; he has even set fire to the monsters that bewitched people in the mist.
But this time, the situation still caught him somewhat off guard. Because their team had no intention of entering the rain curtain that was regarded as abnormal. Instead, they only conducted reconnaissance on the periphery, commanded the local regiments and rural soldiers to set up checkpoints, and gathered and interrogated the survivors who escaped.
However, just after a strange whistling sound and a blinding strong wind, they and the temporary checkpoints they had set up were enveloped in the overwhelming rain. Of the at least hundreds of local regiments and rural soldiers, there were only a dozen or so people gathered around them.
Each step made a squeaking sound, as if stepping on a swamp that lacked solid support; but when I lifted my feet, the huge adsorption force in the mud made me want to forcefully pull my boots off; It would be impossible to move quickly in this environment.
What's more, everyone must maintain a certain degree of vigilance. The terrain seems to be always changing slightly, so the locations where marks and road signs were originally placed, whether it is the trees and stones placed, or the engraved earthen walls and wooden fences, have all been shifted and dislocated to varying degrees.
And what is surprising is that after so much rain fell to the ground, it was never able to accumulate into a corresponding flood of sufficient scale or large-scale waterlogging; it was as if it was quickly absorbed by the earth; There is mud of varying shades everywhere under your feet.
In the rain curtain, there are also traces of alien activities. They were gelatinous monsters covered in mud, hiding in the mud beneath their feet; they could also turn into humanoid outlines, luring others into getting close to them, and then stick to their bodies to slowly devour them.
Although, this kind of gelatinous monster covered in mud does not move very quickly and has no other means; it will quickly disintegrate after being cut open by a weapon to reveal an interior full of grass roots and branches. But it will recover again after a while, and occasionally a piece of mud will explode on its own.
It takes a lot of effort to clean up people's heads, faces, and bodies; otherwise, the more mud is allowed to stick to them, the more likely they are to become tired and fatigued, and even lose their basic ability to move; some people are just like this. Quietly falling behind and then disappearing.
But the greatest danger comes after dark. Without the reflection of moonlight and other natural light sources, in the darkness where you can't even see your fingers, it is easy to accidentally swallow up survivors one after another. And it was difficult to light a fire in the dense rain and humid air.
Instead, the jellyfish will become more active. These weird creatures seem to have no sense of sight or smell, and are driven only by sounds and vibrations. If there is not enough hard and dry ground to serve as a temporary resting point/shelter; it is even impossible to even think about taking turns to keep vigil to replace resting and eating.
Although they had prepared relatively complete supplies before they came in; such as compressed rations, medicine, and fire oil. But after losing their packhorses and mounts one after another, they even had to discard some armor parts, retaining only the inner armor and chest protector to reduce the load and increase flexibility.
Then, some more were encountered and rescued one after another, and more news was received about the people who escaped from the depths of the rain zone. According to their words, the familiar homeland in the past has long become a death place where demons dance wildly. Most people are trapped in isolated villages and towns.
Almost none of the people sent out for help and contact came back. Although, it is temporarily protected by simple fences and wooden fences. But he could only sit in the sky above Chichi Mountain and watch helplessly as the ground beneath his feet was slowly rising and covered layer by layer by rising sewage and mud.
Then until all the food was eaten, people's hearts collapsed and they ran away desperately. Some villages, organized by the head of the village, took the initiative to march towards the nearest town; then they lost their way during the trek and could not find the place no matter how far they walked. Instead, all the people in the team were lost.
When faced with those endless gelatinous monsters, strong young men might still have a chance to escape; but frail women and children would be in trouble once they are entangled. I can only watch as my parents, wives, children, and sisters are dragged into the quagmire little by little.
But what is even more frightening is the ugliness of people's hearts when faced with desperate situations; for example, a wealthy family who owns a manor does not hesitate to instruct their servants to guard the courtyard and turn away the neighbors who come to seek shelter; they sit back and watch them being swallowed by the mud; and soon after , the rammed earth courtyard wall also softened and collapsed, flooding into the mud wave.
When the abnormal situation has developed to this point, it is no longer something that Wang Shihong's team can easily handle and respond to. According to the regulations of the Lixingyuan, what they need to do after falling into the rain area is to protect themselves as much as possible while working hard to collect intelligence and explore the terrain...
Then, before the supplies are exhausted, they will wait for an opportunity to escape from the abnormal area, and even before they are unfortunately killed in battle, they will try to leave enough marks to prove their identity, as well as sealed records. Although the members of the sentinel detection team headed by Wang Shihong are particularly capable, the other followers are not.
The hunger, low temperature, and the exhaustion and heaviness of being soaked in rain are taking away the vitality of this team of survivors bit by bit. The next moment, a huge earth bag suddenly rose up on the ground, and it burst open like a big bubble.
The people who were unable to dodge were covered in mud and water; then, during the interval when the mud and water splashed, more than a dozen crawling and squirming gelatinous monsters pounced on the people behind them with a squeaking sound. A thin, tired and numb woman was knocked down and slipped out of the crowd with almost no dodge.
This was like the beginning. One after another, people were knocked down by the gelatinous monster; then they were covered in mud and struggled, being dragged into the newly formed mud vortex. The next moment, the sword light of the rain flashed in all directions; most of the clay monsters fell apart and turned into flowing mud.
After a while, Wang Shihong picked up the last person trapped in the muddy vortex and threw him back to the team; but he let out a slight sigh. After all, it was the sensory enhancement brought about by bloodline stimulation that allowed him to feel some kind of vibration and the sound of water bubbles squeezing in the mud on the ground first.
However, even he didn't know how long he could hold on; in this rain curtain, not only the traditional pointing compass, but also the hourglass for timing were no longer accurate, and it also felt extremely long and difficult. At this time, someone shouted again: "In front, there is Zhuangzi..."
At this time, the rain gradually faded, and the outlines of a group of buildings were vaguely visible in front of them, and more importantly, there were dim lights. This also means that there are still residents, and a dry place where you can make a fire and get food. Someone immediately rushed out of the team, ran away without hesitation, and suddenly disappeared.
(End of chapter)
