Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 43 43. Well, the mysterious past finally revealed the naughty skirt
The tragedy of Old Joe and Slag Town was roughly sorted out, and his body was taken out of the basement by Ohm.

Ohm wanted to get a real cemetery for old Joe. Qiao Ya, who finally calmed down after fainting from crying twice, also agreed to this decision. She wore a white cloth on her arm to mourn for her father.

Zhou Keben also wanted to help but was rejected by Ohm.

Ohm asked him to send his two strong laborers, Ajie and D-4, to bring out all the supplies hidden by Old Joe in the basement, load them into Qiao Ya's RV, and search for supplies in the town before leaving.

Having spent most of his life in the Badlands, the experienced Ohm also knows that Slag Town is not safe now.

God knows whether those killing machines will come back. They have killed everyone in the town for the "treasure" in Old Joe's hand, and they will definitely not show mercy to the remaining few guys who know the inside story.

Zhou Ke guessed that the robots were so ruthless after they succeeded in getting the thing just to prevent the news that the thing fell into their hands from spreading.

This shows that the thing in Joe's hand is absolutely of great significance, at least for the robots in Rust Castle.

But while helping Ajie and D-4 carry the "Old Joe's Treasure" full of doomsday food, Zhou Ke was concerned about another thing. When the "female hero" D-4 carried six bags of flour and unloaded them at the back of Qiao Ya's RV, Zhou Ke beside her patted the flour marks on her body and said to D-4:
"Where exactly is the No. 11 Time Maze?"

"It's nearby, in the southeast direction. You don't even need to cross the complicated terrain. You can reach the valley where Time Maze No. 11 is located by just going along the wilderness."

D-4 fulfilled his duties as a "Badlands commentator" perfectly.

Her database, which was specially organized by Professor Qiao Si Na, was filled with all kinds of useful and useless information about the surface world. When faced with Zhou Ke's question, the white-haired robot girl was like a model student who was called upon to recite a text in class. She answered in a rather concise tone with a blank expression:
"Time Maze No. 11 is currently the largest time maze in the Badlands. It suddenly appeared more than a year ago. The time disturbance it caused when it was born enveloped the entire valley. Like other time mazes, it completely destroyed the time system in that area.

After it appeared, the Acholi Consortium took quick action and took over all defenses near Time Maze No. 11 under the leadership of Roger, a senior researcher and one of the 'Three Masters of Flash'. If you plan to go there to take advantage of the opportunity now, you don't have to, because the most exaggerated military force in the Badlands is stationed nearby.

A 6,000-man heavy mechanized brigade from the city-state area is guarding there. Their firepower level is consistent with that of the border guards stationed on the border of the occupied area. They have created a permanent defense line outside the time maze and do not allow any irrelevant people to approach.

Professor Qiao Sina had applied to go to Time Maze No. 11 to observe the chaotic state of the time flow, but her three applications were rejected.

The other party's request was very tough. The professor could get close to Time Labyrinth No. 11, but he had to join the Flash Organization. Therefore, D-4 had enough reason to confirm that Time Labyrinth No. 11 was different from other labyrinths, and there was something in it that the Acholi Foundation could not give up.

Perhaps it is knowledge related to the concept of time, or perhaps it is some foreign object hidden deep in the maze of time."

At this point, D-4 carefully observed Zhou Ke's micro-expression, and she said tentatively:
"Although you are nodding and seem to understand, in fact, Mr. Zhou Ke, you don't know what the 'Time Maze' stands for, right?

Through D-4's observations over the past twenty-four hours, D-4 has confirmed that you lack sufficient understanding of certain common sense issues in the Badlands. You do not need to hide these from D-4. If you need, D-4 can explain these special terms to you in detail.

Of course, the answers in the D-4 database all come from the internal data editors of the Acholi Consortium and may not be the truth.

You have to use your own judgement on this.”

"Are all robots speaking so directly these days? You almost called me a moron who pretends to know everything. It's really sad."

Zhou Ke couldn't help but complain:

"But actually, I really don't understand the concept of 'Time Maze'. It sounds like a place where time is disordered? And it's related to psionics?"

"That's right. This kind of anomaly that cannot be explained by scientific theory is, in most cases, a special phenomenon caused by psychic disturbance."

Teacher D-4 entered the "teaching and learning" mode. She said to Zhou Ke very seriously:

"The so-called 'maze' is just a nickname given by scholars to the area where the time system collapses, but their description is very accurate. Because all normal concepts of time have become invalid within the affected area, people who stray into it often inadvertently see objects from the past or the future.

According to the description of the exploration record XS-394 declassified within the Acholi Consortium, during the exploration of the time maze in the early Badlands era, a very lucky or unlucky exploration operator encountered "himself" in the now extinct small time maze No. 3.

He communicated with his past self many times, and through this communication successfully sent himself out of the dangerous core area of the time maze, but the price was that the operator subsequently suffered from severe paranoia.

Even after being sent back to Polis for treatment, he still claimed that he would occasionally see visions of the past.

Bizarre things like this are not uncommon in the time maze. Due to the chaotic nature of the time maze, every time time is disrupted within its coverage, there is a certain probability that things that have already disappeared will be brought into a certain part of the maze.

The most direct example of this characteristic occurred seventeen years ago.

During an investigation of Time Maze No. 5 led by Professor Qiao Sina, one of her students found a fuel car from years ago on the edge of the maze, and successfully started the antique car and drove it out of the maze.

The car is still parked in Professor Qiao Sina's laboratory as a commemoration of the past.

This is also the truth behind the wastelanders' 'gold panning' on the edge of the time maze. They hope to be lucky enough to pick up those wonderful things from the past or the future, and bring them out and sell them for a good price. Through the comprehensive record analysis of all the items taken out of the time maze in recent years, the Acholi Consortium believes that in every time confusion in the time maze, there will be a resonance with a random time point in the past.

Such resonance can last for varying lengths of time, but most of the time it will not last more than 48 hours.

It is very rare for the time maze to resonate with the future, perhaps because there is no future that can be called 'bright' in the Badlands era. "

D-4 explained the concept of time maze to Zhou Ke.

After confirming that Zhou Ke understood, she continued:

“Generally speaking, the scope of a time maze will not exceed the size of a town. After all, even for mysterious psychic powers, it is very difficult to distort the timeline on a large scale in the material world. Unfortunately, Time Maze No. 11 is an exception.

Its scope is staggering!

The area of the outer ring of the maze alone is equivalent to the size of fifty Slag Towns, and the exploration operators of the Acholi Consortium had a very difficult time exploring the No. 11 maze. That maze was more disordered and more dangerous than all the time mazes that had appeared before.

It is rumored that they have also discovered dangerous psychic monsters in the maze.

The special creatures called 'Time Devourers' have all kinds of incredible characteristics, and their destructive power far exceeds that of other monsters in the Bad Land. Therefore, the Acholi Consortium blocked the entire Time Maze No. 11 and prevented the wastelanders from going there to pan for gold, which was actually to protect them.

D-4 guessed that the reason why Ohm and Old Joe suffered heavy casualties in the exploration more than a year ago was because they unfortunately encountered the Time Devourer.

As for the mysterious treasure they brought out.
Perhaps it is a strange object from the past or the future. Only this can explain why so many camps have such great interest in that thing.

In the current Badlands era, due to the decline of technology, many sophisticated items from the old civilization can no longer be produced. Even if they are unique and cannot be replicated, they are of great value to scholars or collectors. "

"Well, thank you for your patience. I do understand this time."

This time Zhou Ke was convinced.

He looked at D-4 as if he were looking at a "treasure", as if he were looking at a self-propelled badland library, and then asked:
"I don't plan to try my luck at Labyrinth No. 11. It sounds like a ghost place, but I'm curious. If a tired adult starts from the edge of Labyrinth No. 11 and heads to Slag Town, how long do you think it will take him to arrive if he stops along the way?"

"Huh? Your question is weird."

D-4 looked at Zhou Ke with a strange expression and said:

“Because there are elite soldiers stationed near Labyrinth No. 11, there are no clusters of monsters nearby. Even the evil bandits have been expelled from this area, so the tired adult male will not be in danger.

The only problem is that the road is very desolate and there is basically no wild food or supplies.

According to my built-in map, he would pass through eleven registered small settlements along the way, and with limited relief available, it would probably take him two to three days to reach Slag Town on foot.

Are you satisfied with this estimated answer? "

"Satisfied, very satisfied! The fact that you solved this math problem so easily shows that there is no problem with your calculation logic. It seems that the remnants of the awakening disease have been contained."

Zhou Ke nodded and said to D-4:
"It's just to test your intelligence. Don't worry about it. Now keep busy and keep an eye on Ajie. Don't let him steal the inheritance that Old Joe left to Qiao Ya. I just saw the food that Old Joe saved. They were all "doomsday cans" produced in the old civilization era. They were definitely wasteland rations, which are too precious in today's bad land.

If he's really hungry, give him energy bars, he's not picky about food anyway."

As he spoke, Zhou Ke handed a large bag of energy bars to D-4, who sighed in a very humane way, picked up the bag and turned away, continuing to move "Old Joe's treasure."

After D-4 left, Zhou Ke walked aside, lit a cigarette for himself, and after a few seconds of silence, he tapped the equally silent energy device and said:
“Guess what I’m thinking about right now?”

"This machine doesn't guess!"

Wu Neng said angrily:
"But this machine confirms that you and this machine are currently thinking the same thing! Based on the location pointed out by D-4 and her estimation, there is a more than 90% chance that the two of us escaped from Time Maze No. 11.
That damn place took away your and my memories in some damn way, and made us enter this evil land in an embarrassing state.

This can also explain why the machine's restart time reached an astonishing 8000 hours. The time system of that damn place is chaotic, and this time error has been perfectly explained. Joker, we have to go back!
Of course not now, your strength is too weak.

This machine estimates that you must at least reach Ohm's level of strength to be able to sneak into the No. 11 time maze without alerting the outer garrisons and try to find our deliberately hidden past."

"You mean, it's possible that we two are from the past? Or maybe from the future?"

Zhou Ke blew out a smoke ring and said:
"Don't you think this is ridiculous?"

"It does sound absurd, but to use your words, considering the interference of the unknown factor of 'psychic energy' in this bad land, everything that seems outrageous often has another explanation."

Wu Neng said:
“Mark the exploration of Time Maze No. 11 as something you must complete in the future, and forget about it after marking it. Think about what you want to do next!
The destruction of Slag Town ruined your original plan. Now that Tiger State is hunting you, you have to make plans early."

“It’s not just Tiger State.”

Zhou Ke threw the cigarette butt on the ground and said:
"Don't forget the reminders Han Bin gave before he left. I guess the operators of the Acholi Group are already looking for us all over the Bad Land. Although Han Bin is sincere and doesn't look like a bad guy, I don't want to take the risk of being a guinea pig in the hands of the Acholi Group.

Besides, bad guys don’t carve the word “bad guy” on their faces.

Rust Castle did this. Although D-4 said that the robots helped us erase the tracking signal, unless I really have no other choice, becoming a follower of the Mechanicus would be the worst possible outcome.

How about we follow Ohm and Qiaoya to Snake Country?"

He said to Wu Neng:
"Now that Slag Town is gone, Ohm must find a place for Qiao Ya to settle down. He can either send Qiao Ya to the City State District or go back to the Snake State. Under the current situation, the Tiger State has blocked all channels, and it is impossible to go to the City State District.

Even without our involvement, just because of the incident in Tiger Claw Town, Slag Town has already offended Tiger State, and this road is basically blocked."

"But the question is, is Snake State definitely safe?"

Wu Neng asked back:
"Han Bin said that Wu Qinhu and Snake Man Yuri were both employees of the Acholi Group. The three camps of Wastelanders seem to have nothing to do with each other, but apart from the currently mysterious Jiubang, the remaining two have the shadow of the Acholi Group behind them.

According to the information provided by D-4, Han Bin is the leader of the Three Instantaneous Heroes!

You can tell at a glance that he is in a high position and a 'person from heaven'! Do you think that if Han Bin directly ordered Snake State to hand you over, would the Snake Man who once came from the Acholi Consortium choose to protect you for Ohm's sake?"

"Haha, Snake Nation will definitely protect Ohm and Qiao Ya, but I don't think I have that much face."

Zhou Ke curled his lips and said:

"So what's your opinion? Aren't you responsible for giving me advice? Now it's your turn to fulfill your mission."

"This machine's opinion is that there is no opinion!"

Wu Neng snorted and said:
"All roads seem blocked, and all roads seem to have hidden dangers, but given your personality, you will definitely not sit still and wait for death, so you don't need my advice right now. I also lack sufficient computing power to calculate the 'way out' you need in this chaotic system, so now it's up to you to rely on your wisdom, courage, and strength to solve the problem."

"Indeed, I have a general idea in my mind, but it will take some time to form a complete plan."

Zhou Ke stroked his stubble and said:

"Let's do this for now. Let's send Qiao Ya away with Ohm first to improve her combat power. If we encounter Tiger State warriors or Acholi operators on the way, we can take care of them. I'll think about it on the way and try to come up with a good idea to protect us.

If it really doesn’t work, just give it a try!
Let’s find a way to sneak into the city-state area and join Moni!
That guy has lofty ambitions. He is determined to go against the powerful families in the city-state area, so he is naturally not afraid of being involved in my karma. With such a local snake to help, it is not a big problem to hide for a while, and then find a way to increase my strength, and then find an opportunity to go to the No. 11 Time Maze to find the truth.

Maybe we'll encounter a time warp that takes us back to an old civilization where life was peaceful, or to a future where everything is ascending."

"You have a nice idea."

Wu Neng hummed and teased, and reminded:
“Om and Qiao Ya are here, go and offer your condolences.

In fact, I am also quite curious about the identity of Qiao Ya's mother. The lady in the photo is obviously not from the Badlands. She should be from the City-State District."

"Be bold!"

Zhou Ke grinned and said:
"Maybe she is from heaven. Even through the photo, I can feel the lady's grace. It's hard to imagine why she committed herself to this guy, Old Joe, and even developed real feelings for him.

Could it be that A-Lian really has fallen in love with Da-Lang from the bottom of her heart?"

"Can't you just do it because of Qiao Ya, the fruit of your love? Are you still a human being?! This machine believes in these beautiful things more than you do, Joker, you really need to reflect on yourself."

Wuneng was very dissatisfied with Zhou Ke's dark thoughts.

This intelligent assistant who believed in "truth, goodness and beauty" questioned, but only got a few strange laughs from Zhou Ke, which made Wu Neng very angry. If he had a powerful mechanical arm, he would definitely punch the obscene Zhou Ke on the head.

"We buried him in the wilds on the other side of town."

Ohm, with a white cloth tied around his arm, said to Zhou Ke:
"That's where he led the first batch of refugees to dig the first pile of soil for Slag Town. It's also where he buried the love of his life. Go and pay your respects. You are also an acquaintance of Old Joe. After you pay your respects, we will leave here."

"What about the town?"

Zhou Ke took the incense from Ohm and said:
"There are still so many remains here. We can't just leave them lying around in the wilderness. How about setting them on fire? It's actually good to return dust to dust."

“No need! I have placed explosives in the slag furnace. When we leave, the slag furnace will explode completely and splash molten iron everywhere, enough to submerge and cover everything. The rest will be left to the wind and sand.

When this mad moon fades, the wind will blow enough sand to turn this place back into the Badlands."

Ohm seemed calm, but the sigh in his eyes showed his sorrow. When the rough wind blew up the corners of his clothes, he said in a hoarse voice:

"Slag Town prospered because of the slag furnace that Old Joe found, and this should be used as a memorial to mark its end. Perhaps no one will remember this place, but as long as we are still here, the story of Slag Town will not end! A second Slag Town will rise from the ground in the territory of Snake State, and Qiao Ya will take over from Old Joe to fulfill the wish that he and Afen failed to fulfill."

"So, where is that Ms. Fenn from?"

Zhou Ke finally couldn't help but ask:
"She doesn't look like someone from the Badlands."

"Her name is 'Weng Yafen'."

Ohm shook his head and said:
"A scholar from the City-State District, who was not born in the Badlands but is kinder than everyone in the Badlands, and loves this land more than any of us. When everyone gave up hope, she was the only one who still wanted to seek answers.

That’s all you need to know.”

Zhou Ke actually wanted to ask more, such as whether Qiao Ya was Lao Qiao’s daughter.

But when he saw Ohm's face, he knew that if he continued asking, he would definitely get a knife in the head as a reward for his curiosity, so he could only shrug his shoulders and take Xiang and Ajie across the town to pay tribute to Old Joe.

In a sense, Zhou Ke should indeed thank Old Joe.

If it weren't for the mayor's impromptu but decisive decision, he would probably have died in Old Taff's tavern.

"Rest in peace, Mayor. There is always someone buried in the earth."

Zhou Ke lit the incense and stuck it in front of the new grave in front of him. He then opened a small bottle of liquor from the spoils he had looted from the people of the city-state and poured it in front of the grave. Finally, he gently placed a lit cigarette on the pile of earth.

"Hey, please have a good smoke."

He smiled and said, waving his hand:
"Don't worry, Uncle Oum and I will escort Xiaoya to Snake State as a token of our gratitude for saving my life, even though you haven't been very nice to me either.

Come!
Ajie, kowtow to your Uncle Qiao and Aunt Fen, and kowtow to me as well, and ask their spirits in heaven to bless us for a smooth journey ahead."

Zhou Ke is bullying Ajie for being brainless again.

But this time Ajie did not obey. Instead, he held the weapon vigilantly and sniffed it with his nose. This posture made Zhou Ke raise an eyebrow.

He took out the hunter mask and put it on his face, saying:
"There's a weird smell around? Great, things are getting interesting. Come on! Let's investigate."

(End of this chapter)