Wasteland Echoer.

Chapter 656 First Visit to Torii Town

February 9th, 558th year of the new calendar.

Crusad Federation, Far Northeast District, west of the Nabusk Plain, Torii Town, "Town Center 01", "Idle Room".

"Please wait a moment, officers. The porridge will be ready soon." A woman dressed in the alienated Khitan-Risi "Flame Robe," with the appearance of a standardized middle-aged Flame Empire person, was kneeling on the wooden floor in the center of the room. She was holding an old iron ladle, ladling it into an aluminum pot, and stirring the white, slightly viscous substance continuously.

As the liquefied gas below continued to burn, the intermittent, sometimes intense, sometimes dim flames above the makeshift heater pieced together from sheet metal and wood were cooking the only food in the room.

“No need for that, madam. We just plan to stay here for a week or two, and then head to Nebsk once the mechanized vehicle is repaired.” It was Dark who spoke, still wearing the Federation officer uniform that Hoshino Shota had given him in Belogersk.

Although the uniform, with its dark green color scheme, looked exceptionally neat and handsome, and the collar and cuffs were designed to be tight and would not have any negative impact on combat, the "ice lotus" pattern on the chest, belonging to the city of Nebusk, still caused the woman from Khitanris to make a slight misjudgment.

The bubbling sound indicates that the food is about to boil, meaning that the bottom heater will no longer need to provide it with any more energy. It can simply be left aside to wait for the cool air from nature to lower the food's scorching temperature to a level suitable for consumption.

Perhaps not wanting to offend the Cruz officer in front of her, or perhaps out of a natural fear of the Federation military personnel, once the food was almost cooked, the woman took out three broken porcelain utensils and used an old iron spoon to scoop out all the white, viscous food along the sides of the pot. She then fed it into the broken porcelain utensils in a viscous state, enduring the pain of burns on her fingertips. She placed the three eating utensils, along with six eating utensils made from wood cut from straight-growing plants, on the utensils and served them to Dark, Adaloni, and Hoshino Shota, who were sitting near the extinguished stove.

At this moment, due to the "Kidanris Ring" around his neck, the "fire-type magic power" and "dark-type magic power" had "mutated" when it came into contact with the [Kidanria Core], and the ring had now completely stopped working.

Unless Adaloni destroys or discards the [Core], the trigger level of "Dragon's Return" in his body will drop to the lowest level for a short period of time, which means that the activation level of the dragon bloodline in his body will also drop to less than 20%.

Of course, as the Flame Empire would say, "a loss may turn out to be a blessing in disguise." The decrease in his dragon bloodline level meant that Adaloni could only use limited dragon power and skills, and his body returned to its original form in Novayask: a fighting boy with a distinctly Eastern appearance, only with two small dragon horns symbolizing his dragon identity.

"I'm very sorry, officers. Due to the war some time ago, most of the men in the town went to the mountains next door to join the army. A lot of the weapons and food here were also 'collected,' so I can only cook this small amount of rice for you." The woman knelt on the ground and bowed slightly. Dak noticed that when her hands were exposed from her large "mutated flame suit," there were several obvious scratch marks from "heartless people" and calluses from long-term use of firearms.

However, Dak did not expose the woman, and even if she was a special agent planted in Torii Town by Shaneva or Nebrisk to carry out a secret mission, she could not play any role at present.

After all, Nebrius and Olga perished together a week ago, and Shaneva is estimated to have also died in the last "Restricted Artificial Flame" launched by the "Dedication Group".

Seeing that the woman could still cook for them with the last of their food in such a simple environment, Hoshino Shota, who also had the blood of the Flame Empire, thought of his ancestors. He took out a small chipped "New Ruble" gold coin from his inner pocket, rubbed it in his hand for a few seconds, and then said in a slightly childish voice:

“We will not eat and drink your food for free. According to the laws of the Federal Council, even if they are no longer on duty, federal military personnel must be paid for staying and eating at local non-military institutions.”

"This gold coin must have been minted during Governor Vasily's tenure. Although it's incomplete, judging by its weight, it should be worth 17-18 new rubles... Oh, by the way, gentlemen, I haven't introduced myself since I settled you here. Please forgive my rudeness." The woman paused, put the gold coin in her pocket, and then spoke in a deep, aged voice:

"My name is Hefeng Yiwa, this is my Crusad name. Of course, you can call me by my Khitan name, Kazama Heko. I am from the Eastern Province of the Flame Empire, Fusang Island. Seventy years ago, due to the rare outbreak of the 'Sleeping Heartless Wave' and 'Wrath of the Strange Dragon' in the Eventlay No Man's Land, we had to evacuate from the 'Chaoming Point' outside the Eastern 'Core Zone', and then traveled to the 'Northern Point', the 'Upper Border Point', and finally to the 'Eternal Border Point'. Because of the 'Ice Heart' military disaster that broke out there, we had to further cross the desert territory originally controlled by the Central Empire and settle in Crusad."

“I will not hide my identity from the three officers. This is my 135th year of life in this world. You should know that although the Lost Ones do not have much ability to reproduce, we can generally live naturally for more than 150 years.”

“Yes, I can tell that.” After quickly shoveling a few bites of the tasteless, white, viscous food, Adaloni responded first:
"The aura of demonic energy on you is very strong; that cannot deceive me. If my perception is not mistaken, your demonic energy type is Earth, and your rank should still be at Rank 5: Pain level. Lady Hefeng Yiwa."

“Indeed, it seems the three officers hold quite high ranks within the Federation army. Your strength far surpasses mine, and far surpasses that of all the humans, superhumans, and lost souls in Torii Town. Sigh…” Hefeng Eva sighed deeply, her brows furrowed.
“You are much better than the officers from Nebusk and Khotov. If they came, they wouldn’t even give us money like you do. They would take whatever they want, including food, iron tools, and even women. We couldn’t resist, and we dared not resist. Compared to the law-abiding Losers, these soldiers are more like devils, demons, monsters, and bloodthirsty beasts.” “The Federation Council has clear regulations, and the Federation Military Institute has provided disciplinary training. How dare they do this?” Dak suddenly threw down the porcelain utensils in anger, staring furiously at Hefeng Eva, his face suddenly clouded with a heavy anger.

When Wolfya was alive, he valued the quality and moral standards of soldiers the most. At least in large cities like Mayan and Ice City, military personnel still had a high level of morality, and if they made mistakes, there were "sanction officers" in the military to intervene.

Dark wasn't sure whether it was because the Federal Council and the surrounding cities were too busy to manage peripheral towns like Torii, or because the collapse of the western front had led to a decline in the Federation's control, causing these soldiers to lose their discipline. In any case, he could sense that, at least after the complete failure of the "Red Illusion Ruins" campaign and the complete collapse of the "Gnady Line," the Federation had rapidly descended into an uncontrollable collapse.

If Shaneva really dies from the "Restricted Divine Punishment Fire," it probably won't be long before the entire controlled area east of Joigler, which was previously able to carry out production peacefully, falls into a continuous and utterly immoral war.

"It seems I won't be able to stay here much longer." Dark's anger turned into an equally heavy sigh as he stared at the gradually dying flames on the heater and muttered to himself.

“The soldiers and officers who come here don’t stay long. After all, this is a special settlement for us Khitanris people. Most of the officers in Krusd find it difficult to adapt to our Khitanris lifestyle and often leave grumbling and swearing. Are you three officers also going to Nabsk? I heard that the prices of food, medicine, and weapons there have risen a lot recently. It’s not worthwhile to travel there to purchase supplies,” Hefengyiva reminded them.

"How did you know we were going on a long journey?" Dak looked at the woman with great interest, completely forgetting the food in the bowl at his feet, and asked the middle-aged Khitan woman who looked old.

“The entire western part of Crusad is now completely occupied. Martial law is in effect west of Hoptov, making it impossible to procure food and weapons. There is still fighting in the Vanebua Mountains. Since you came to Torii Town from that direction, you must be officers who have been rotated out of the battlefield, right?” Hefeng Eva analyzed seriously.

“That’s true. We did come from the battlefield. After all, the war is about to end, and our… destination is Nebusk. To be honest, both Dak and I serve under Commander Nebrius. If we’re on rotation, we can go to Nebusk to rest. It’s only about a week’s journey from here to Nebusk, so it’s not really a long trip.” Hoshino Shota put down his chopsticks and explained.

Although there wasn't a single lie in his words, and he spoke only the truth and the most authentic content, he concealed some facts, which could easily lead the listener to misjudge him.

He Feng Yiwa, standing before her, clearly recognized Hoshino Shota's montage-like lie, but she neither exposed him nor dared to. Instead, she further analyzed the situation:

"Your mechanized vehicles are far more advanced and robust than those of ordinary officers, and they possess many functions that even the city's magistrate might not be aware of. I imagine even those massive bombs from the west two weeks ago couldn't penetrate them."

"These mechanical vehicles are clearly not designed for short-range combat; they seem more like long-distance transport vehicles. I also noticed that you've prepared plenty of weapons to fend off small waves of mindless beings, but you lack food. So I'm guessing you're planning a long-distance expedition. You're the Nabusk expedition team, aren't you, looking to explore the Aventure no-man's-land?"

"I suppose so." Dark was somewhat amused and exasperated by Hefengyeva's guess. However, they did indeed plan to rest and resupply in Nabusk before crossing the Eventlay no-man's-land to reach Khitanris. Here... he didn't intend to tell these humans and lost souls of Khitanris blood about his purpose, to avoid getting into more trouble.

Seeing that Dark hadn't responded after saying that, and that Adaloni and Hoshino Shota were also eating silently with serious expressions, Hefeng Eva thought she had said something wrong and quickly tried to correct herself:
"Rest assured, officers, I have neither the ability nor the capacity to seize your weapons and machinery. Since you wish to repair your mechanized vehicles, my husband happens to be a mechanic. He can repair them for you after he returns from purchasing food tomorrow."

"To be honest, all the men and superhumans here have been conscripted by Commander Shaneva to fight in the war on the next mountain. I heard that Commander Nebrius was planning a rebellion, so Commander Shaneva wanted to punish him. But none of the men and superhumans who went to the next mountain have returned yet, not even Mayor Angelica Rurik. We don't know the specifics. Can you tell us about it?"

“Commander Nebrius is clearly not rebelling; it’s just that Shaneva has an insatiable thirst for power. In the eyes of a leader who needs absolute power, there is absolutely no room for a local leader who possesses power, prestige, and an army. It’s that simple. However, many people died in this war; hundreds of thousands perished under the massive bombs you just mentioned.” Hoshino Shota said, slightly indignant. He had experienced the entire war and knew the truth, but facing the lost woman who did not belong to the army or the Federation, he did not want to reveal too much information.

“By the way, since this place is called Torii Town, there should be some buildings with Eastern cultural characteristics, right? Could you take us to see them, Ms. Kaze Eva?” Dark asked suddenly, looking at Kaze Eva with expectant eyes.

“Of course. There’s a temple on a small hill nearby that hasn’t been open for a long time, and near it is a ‘Spirit-Suppressing Tree,’ said to be related to the god ‘The Chosen One.’ When we get there, I can tell you many legends and stories about Him; it’s very interesting.” He Feng Eva stood up and walked straight to the door, gesturing for you to follow, and smiled.
"Now that the war on the western mountain is over, let's just take a break here. Anyway, Torii Town is in a remote location, and apart from those annoying Federation soldiers, 'heartless people' and most of the Lost Ones don't like to come here."