Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 561: The Train to a New Life (Final Chapter)

"The hard-earned order collapsed, and the unintentional surge shocked the soul; mechas and spaceships brought broken hopes, and sin and greed broke the 'rule' of pure steel." - "Future Epic Volume 205-H-"

December 557, 12 of the New Calendar, seven days before the "Christmas Day of the True Bishop" of Cruz.

The "Temporary-KD02" train on the Ka-Yon line in the Cruz Federation is 120 km from Novayask.

Wright walked out of the clean wooden-style carriage, walked along the carpet which, despite being washed many times, still retained a strong smell of blood and crimson dirt, and passed two or three carriages forward. With the help of the faint light from the electric lamps on the walls of the carriage, which were powered by winding rubber wires, he came to the last row of seats which were set against the deep darkness.

"Are you awake? Wright?" Dak's voice, which was youthful but also somewhat mature and steady, came.

"Yeah." Wright yawned lightly, raised his head and stretched his stiff body, until a satisfied hum came out of his throat, then he breathed a sigh of relief and responded in a calm tone:
"After I came out of the Red Fantasy Ruins, I wanted to sleep, just like in the previous world. When winter comes, I don't want to go out in the ice and snow, except for turning on the heater and turning off the lights to sleep in. In the thirty years I was trapped in the ruins... To be honest, I haven't had a good night's sleep."

"Why?" Dak asked in a curious tone, with his hands crossed on the reddish-brown train table, and subconsciously tapped the tablecloth with the Cruz Federation's double-headed eagle emblem printed on it.

"Why else? Because I'm stupid. I was bewitched by the 'Resurrection of the God' before. When I was unconscious, I turned into a dragon and followed Him to this place where the sun can't be seen. I almost agreed to become a slave of the 'Ancient God'." Wright sighed slightly, but his eyes glanced at the thick snow outside the train in the darkness, and said:

"In fact, before you went to the ruins, it was even darker than outside. In addition to the Lord of Eternal Red's daily curses and screams, there were also many souls floating around relying on the power of 'Sorrow', women's sobs, lingering whispers, and many children's cries... In short, it was very torturous. If someone without 'divinity' experienced all this, they would probably burst their eardrums within three to five days."

"Hahaha, is it that exaggerated?" Dak laughed at first, then calmed down, showing a bit of relief on his face, and said:
"In any case, you survived. We all survived the Red Fantasy Ruins. The Eternal Red Lord, the Future, the elite Federation Warriors, and the ambitious Yaroslav were all devoured by the Ancient Power and the Sorrow, and remained there forever."

"Shouldn't their existence... be erased? Yaroslav told me that the 'Red Fantasy Ruins' have two functions, one is 'forgetting', and the other is 'retrieving'..." Wright asked doubtfully.

"You said it yourself, one is 'forgetting' and the other is 'finding'." Dak smiled meaningfully but without any malice, and explained:
"During the time when you were frequently in a coma, I relied on the rank of Hurricane 4 and the pass left by Wolfya to go to New Wind Town and Kasdagrad, staying there for a few days. There I learned that there are still 12 leaders of the Order Society, but the eleventh one, Future, seems to have no presence, and most of the records about him have indeed disappeared.

"Many of the deeds of the Future were assigned to the Wind Mine, which had mutated into the Axe of Pramini. The entire organization has been shut down. Even their leader, the New God, no longer shows up to direct the operation of the Order."

"So...what about the gods? What about Yaroslav? What about Rhonie?" There was a hint of urgency in Wright's tone.

"The data and information about them are still there, but... there is no other information about the 'machine' Luo Nie, except that Igor, the chief scientist of the Federal Committee, mentioned him in a letter. I know that this 'machine' has never experienced a fate other than tragedy, but at least he helped you advance to Sequence 3: Combat. This is the 'Spirit Appearance' sequence, Light... You already have the qualifications to contact the real gods. In certain specific circumstances, you can 'see the invisible'." Dak said in an envious tone:
"But I was almost there. But then again, Yaroslav, a federal officer, was previously the commander-in-chief of the two battles of 'Bitter Deep Ruins' and 'Red Fantasy Ruins', and the local administrative chief of Vasilysk and Kanosk. There was even a rumor that the Federal Council planned to transfer him to Binglin City to serve as a core position beyond the 'Strategic Group' and the 'Governing Group' after the local war eased.

"But now, I don't know if it's really the special ability of the 'Kushen Ruins', or if 'Shang' is causing trouble... or if the Federation did it on purpose. In short, his position information and battle achievements have been erased. The local administrative chief refused to talk to me about anything related to him, or said that he didn't know anything about such an 'officer who was dismissed a long time ago'."

"I think maybe the 'old gods' in the ruins want to erase his existence, and the Federal Council also wants to erase his existence." Wright commented:

"Yaroslav, for a stupid and evil 'Paradise Plan', dared to deceive everyone he could use. At the last moment of his life, he still wanted to drag his broken body and ugly face to force you to activate the 'Master Control Fire of Heavenly Punishment' to destroy Cruzde.

"If gods really exist, they will surely send down the oracle of the Creator and send Yaroslav's ugly soul into the blood-red ocean and the iron wall, where he will be suppressed forever, endure the chopping of knives and axes, the burning torrents, the pain of hunger, and will never be freed."

"Yeah." Dak pounded the table lightly with his fist, then gritted his teeth and said:

"Moreover, from the battle between Yaroslav and the 'New Snake Girl' at the 'Wind Wall' until the elite psychics were decomposed by the laser of the 'Ivan's Machine', 32500 ordinary soldiers of the Federation and 3825 elite psychics were killed. The elite troops in the war zones of other provinces lost about 31500 people. More than 6000 new artillery pieces were lost, and more than 13000 mechanical vehicles were lost.

"The aerospace force that Vasily had just formed lost more than 300 fighters, almost half of the total. If the remaining fighters were not still parked at the 'Odyssey Armory' directly under the Strategic Regiment, I'm afraid they would have been destroyed by that guy.

"Wright, you should know that the Federation inheritance has been handed over to Vasily, and he is indeed capable of eliminating the 'heartless people' and restoring [order]. The military force controlled by the Federation Council, both in quantity and quality, is at its peak level after the 'New Dollar Crisis'."

"So?" Wright asked casually, turning his gaze back to Dark across from him.

"As long as humans are not blinded by desire, they can dispel the fog of confusion and peek into the truth of the light of salvation behind it. The Lord will bless any human being in suffering as long as they are worthy of salvation." Dak recited a passage from the Lord's classics and continued:

"In fact, during the two months since we left the Red Fantasy Ruins, the Federation had neither the ability to rely on the Ancient Palace Port to transport tons of Federation technology machinery out nor the ability to continue to resist the Heartless Wave. You know, the combat power of 3825 elite psychics is absolutely equivalent to that of 3825 Lost Ones. The Lost Ones are those who have experienced the extreme pain brought by the Heartless Virus and finally retained their human consciousness. Psychics also have to go through more arduous training to control their emotions.

"No matter if they are 'careless people' or people with special abilities, the probability of their formation is less than one in ten thousand. After Yaroslav killed these elite federal troops, the 'Spear of Odyssey', the Church of Enlightenment, the Corona Association, and the remnants of the 'Chaos Group', which were originally on the defensive, united together and elected the high priest 'First Leader' of the Church of Enlightenment as their leader, manipulating millions of 'careless people' to launch a full-scale counterattack on the Genadi Line of Defense." "I heard that the Genadi Line of Defense is known to be indestructible. Its founder once claimed that he would use circular fortifications to lure all the 'careless people' and the Lost Ones and trap them in it, and then slowly advance, eventually forcing them to the west of the North Karlov District, and then concentrate on eliminating them." Wright said, reaching out and pressing the light button on the wall of the carriage, trying to add a hint of dim light to the dark and somewhat creepy space.

Unfortunately, the electric light on the wall only flashed a few times with all its might, then made a sharp explosion and suddenly went out.

"This 'temporary KD-02' train is actually the special train that Wolfya and I took when we went from Mayan City to Binglin City. It has been in use since a few years ago when defending against the 'heartless wave in Koenig Province'. Now that a wide range of industrial areas including the North and South Karlov Districts have been completely occupied, these old antiques have been forced to be transferred to the east to continue serving us, so it is normal to have some minor problems. But then again..." Dak sighed deeply and continued:

"Pramini failed to bless the people of Cruzde. No matter whether they followed his oracle or violated his will, no matter whether the believers worshipped him or blasphemed him, Cruzde's decline could not be reversed. A breach appeared in the Gnadi defense line within a week. The 'Spear of Odyssey' conquered the city of Mayan and turned all the humans there who were not physically disabled into 'heartless people'.

"Wright, you should know how terrible it is to lose a large human stronghold. 15 humans turned into 'heartless people', which directly led to an imbalance in the balance of power between the two sides. On the 18th of last month, the Federation lost Budadi and Kru-Ptograd, and on the 12th of this month, it lost Vasilysk and Pvekinsk. Fortunately, the Federation's corps in the north and the local independent armed forces have cooperated. With the assistance of elite psychics including the 'Wild Tourist Group', the Federation finally blocked the invasion of the 'heartless people' in Hermosk."

As Dake spoke, he took out a brand new telegram with the scent of ink from his pocket, handed it to Wright, and continued:
"Just a week ago, Vasily executed Genadi and the chief executives of the 12 legions under his control for the crime of 'unfavorable war'. Three days ago, because the 'Tianshu Huanyu Energy Evolution Platform' could not be turned on, Vasily Voliganov chose to commit suicide in his office in the 'Xingyu Main Hall'. His secretary, Kuka, the deputy head of the Federation Council, took over the position of the Federation Chief Executive.

"Because of doubts about Vasily's death, the First, Fifth, and Sixth Legions of the Federation, which were originally controlled by Genadi, have rebelled and are joining forces with the independent armed group 'Wilderness Tourist Group' to attack Icefall City. Now, the entire west of the Ice Domain River is in unprecedented chaos."

"So, we still need to go east, right? To the Yanhuo Empire, to the last spark of human civilization revival, right?" Light looked up, staring at Dark's bright but slightly dim gray pupils, and asked.

Dake did not respond, but nodded slightly in agreement.

Half a minute later, he slowly spoke, half jokingly:
"Didn't you say that, Light? Before coming to this world, you had been living in a country that called itself the 'Empire of Foodies'. The language they used and spoke was very similar to the language of the Flame Empire. Perhaps you would be particularly welcome there, and you might even feel at home."

"Yeah, but..." Wright stood up and pointed to the six "Dark Touches" that were wriggling involuntarily behind him, and said worriedly:
"It seems that I can't retract these tentacles now. No matter how much I use the red magic power, they are like organs that originally grew on my back. I'm afraid that if these cloaks can't cover my tentacles one day and people see them, they will think I'm a lost person and a monster."

"Then throw away the cloak and show your tentacles as they are. The 'Heartless Virus' has been wreaking havoc for so many years. There are not many pure humans in this world. Appearance sometimes does not represent the heart. Besides, it's actually cool to have so many powerful tentacles on the back." Dark responded with a smile, reaching out and stroking the black and red "Dark Touch" a few times.

Strangely enough, the tentacles that were originally wriggling wildly and restlessly shrank back shyly like pets after being touched by Dak, and after a few seconds they "lay" on Wright's back docilely and became quiet.

At this moment, a circle of golden ripples emitting light belonging to the universe spread from the southeast corner of the entire sky. Layers of light circles emerged and disappeared, emerged again, and disappeared again, until the darkness of the entire long night sky was dispelled, ushering in the true, warm morning light belonging to the east.

Real fireworks rose, spread, and exploded from a city stronghold not far away, as if dispelling the darkness and praying for eternal light, but more like celebrating the arrival of the New Year.

The grim winter atmosphere that permeated the ruins and dark tree trunks was dispelled by the fireworks, leaving behind the true hope for a future that belonged to [order] and civilization.

Suddenly, a broadcast with heavy noise came from the train's loudspeaker:

"It is 6 o'clock in the morning. Passengers coming from Kasdagrad to Yongchi District, please prepare to get off the train. The train will arrive in Novaask City at 8 o'clock. Due to the fierce changes in the war situation, this train will not return to Binglin City in the next 6 months. Please be aware of this."

"We're almost at our destination, Dak." Wright stood up, stretched, looked out the window at the snowy field with golden spots of light, and said.

"Yes, a new journey is about to begin." Dak smiled and handed Wright a stack of banknotes with Vasily's portrait printed on them.

"Take these 1000 new rubles. Although the Federation Council is in chaos for the time being, the logistics and economy of the eastern part of the Federation will not collapse for the time being. It took the efforts of many generations of governors to make all provinces of the Federation accept the new ruble. It is impossible to abolish it. In the short term... we can still use this money to exchange for a lot of supplies.

"By the way, the letter that Wulfya left me mentioned that after we come to Novaask, we must look for 'Purple-haired Anna' and Snezana. I heard that they are raising a dragon that originally belonged to the East."

As Dark spoke, he mobilized the magical power of water in his body, slowly stood up, and placed his hands on the train window where the ice was rapidly fading. He stared at the bright and shining world outside through the glass and murmured:

"Novaask, this new city reborn from the ashes, is the first stop on our journey eastwards... I hope it can help us reach our destination."

(End of Volume 2, "The Calling Chapter.")
The second volume is completed, and the third volume will have a transitional volume of about 30 to 50 words.

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(End of this chapter)