Wasteland Development Diary.

Chapter 163: Disillusionment with Peach Blossom Spring

The enemy entered from underground, and the Red Falcon was unable to penetrate the building to obtain information until they reached the safe passage in the underground garage.

Zhou Yi led the team to hide in ambush behind the display case.

A white spindle-shaped creature emerged from the passage, followed by the second, the third... They went straight to the underground first floor of the supermarket, appearing to be familiar with the route.

They are all bony fish.

Bone fish have very low intelligence and most of the time they are either looking for bones or lying still.

They move in groups, but there is never a leader. Basically, they all follow a bony fish. So the school of fish sometimes moves to the left, sometimes to the right, and sometimes sways back and forth, making unpredictable irregular movements.

Zhou Yi has been trying to synchronize his consciousness with the bone fish, but the result is that they are even more outrageous than the light-sucking monsters. They have no communication or expression at all, and they just absorb the energy he sends to them.

Their biggest advantage is that their birth rate is extremely high in the Dead Sea.

Using tools is a bit beyond the scope of practice for bony fish.

But after this group of bone fish rushed in, they rushed into the tool area and rummaged through the drawers and cabinets.

The kestrel hovered in the air, capturing their every move very clearly.

As always, the bone fish didn't care about electromechanical life. They quickly swarmed to the second floor, entered the digital and electrical appliance stores, found the scattered tools inside, swallowed them, and swept for a while before quickly returning to the underground passage they came from.

The red kestrel followed far behind, moving forward along the RT-Mart underground parking lot until it reached a hole leading to the ground above.

The bone fish filed out of the cave.

Zhou Yi led the scavenging team back to the Poseidon first, and followed them from a distance in a submarine.

The group of bone fish swam to a fairly wide river, the river water flickering with star-like dead light. They moved forward along the S-shaped winding river, arrived at the edge of an underwater mountain, and then swam up the mountain with familiarity.

The mountain they were heading for had stone steps and long walls, which looked like a military base from the cold weapon era. However, the mountain was now covered by the Dead Sea and had become a bare land with no grass growing on it.

Zhou Yi saw the name of this place on the stone carving.

Diaoyucheng.

He remembered that this was an ancient battlefield, which had become a tourist attraction in his time, but he had never been there and had only heard of it.

Zhou Yi looked at the screen of the remote control in his hand. The bone fish had already arrived at the inner city of Diaoyu City and joined a group of bone men inside.

These skeletons were dressed in different clothes, and one of them dumped a bag of bones on the ground. Then the bone fish began to pick and choose, and installed the bones they liked on their bodies to further expand their bodies.

After completing the barter, the bone fish each found a place to lie down and did not move. They ate and then fell asleep, which was in line with Zhou Yi's stereotype.

Red Falcon transmitted the message: "Zhou, these bone people are the ones who are training the bone fish to go out and look for supplies. I am a mechatronic life form, so I will try to communicate with them first, which may reduce their hostility."

With Zhou Yi's consent, the drone lowered its altitude and approached the location of the skeleton man.

"Excuse me for disturbing you, I am the rescue aircraft of the Wasteland Development Company, the Red Falcon."

The skeletons were surprised at first, but after noticing that they were small electromechanical life forms, they all relaxed.

One of the skeletons, a man in a motorcycle helmet and a gray ski suit, said, "Do you need a refill? Or do you need oil? We have both."

"Thank you, but I'm not here to request supplies."

Hong Jian said, "I followed the group of bone fish here. I was originally searching for some supplies in the nearby Age of Gods ruins. I didn't expect there was a settlement of yours here."

"Yes. This is a small mountain town."

The bone man introduced himself: "My name is Chen Shi, are you from the Wasteland Development Company?"

"Yes."

"Is that the company that does Wasteland Express?"

“Do you know our company?”

"know."

The helmeted skeleton became visibly excited. "I saw your bone fish delivering goods, but no matter how I greeted them or fed them with bones, they ignored me. They are very determined."

Kestrel said, "How did you know us? Can you talk to bone fish?"

"It's because of the Tree Monster Territory. Xiaoshan Town and the Tree Monster Territory have regular trades. We use the tools and Dead Sea Scrolls we collected to trade light seeds and energy packs with them. The bone fish you saw is our helper and partner. We have lived here for decades and are very familiar with the surrounding area..."

Skeleton Chen Shi is quite talkative and outgoing.

Zhou Yi remembered that the Tree Monster Territory was one of the nine cities covered by Wasteland Express. It was located in the southern area and was ruled by the lord of the sea, "Tree Monarch".

The core city under the rule of the Tree-Farming Lord is the Tree Monster Territory, which rules and cultivates the tree monsters, a species of light.

Tree monsters live on land, they are tall and thin, shaped like giant towers, and they are not good at fighting. They are awakened by trees mutated under the exposure of death rays. The core of their life is the root system at the bottom. They grow fast, have a long lifespan, and can move and migrate when necessary.

Just by regularly pruning their trunks and branches, they can produce a lot of wood.

The Tree Monster Territory also specializes in exporting wood.

Although he had no direct contact with the Tree Keeper, Zhou Yi was still impressed by the tree monster that produced wood.

"Is the chairman here too? Xiaoshan Town welcomes you." The bone man Chen Shi was very friendly.

The other skeletons did not comment.

Zhou Yi went up the mountain alone.

The skeletons all looked over.

"Humans can actually enter the bottom of the Dead Sea..."

“Can humans move around in the Dead Sea without wearing any equipment?”

They talked a lot and were full of curiosity about Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi just said: "I have special abilities, so I can move under the Dead Sea. I don't need to worry about such trivial matters."

Chen Shi said enthusiastically: "Welcome, Mr. Chairman! Please come in!"

There is a well-preserved antique commercial street in Diaoyucheng, with many houses on both sides, where the bone people live.

The mayor of Xiaoshan Town is An Hong, a female skeleton. Like other skeletons here, she wears a thick coat to protect her fragile body well.

"Hello, Mr. Zhou."

There is still some feminine quality in An Hong's voice.

"Hello, Mayor An."

"I heard that you are looking for supplies from the remains of the Age of Gods under the sea. We can let the bone fish help you collect them. Just pay us a small fee. Xiaoshan Town is very experienced in this area."

An Hong started to solicit business as soon as they met.

Zhou Yi changed his mind.

The residents of Xiaoshan Town are locals here, so it should be faster for them to find a watch shop. He nodded immediately: "I do have this idea."

Mayor Skeleton said happily: "Whatever you need, as long as it is nearby, we can find it for you."

"Watches. I'm collecting watches for a friend."

Zhou Yi took out a marker from his pocket, drew a crown on the diary, and then wrote the "ROLEX" logo.

He tore off the paper and handed it to the other party: "I'm looking for a watch with this mark. Any model will do. As long as I'm sure it's authentic, I'll give 100 light seeds for one. But it needs to be undamaged and in good condition."

Among the Dead Sea items, there is actually not much market demand for tools like watches that can be made in the wasteland age.

The price Zhou Yi offered was already very high.

"no problem."

The Skeleton Mayor carefully identified it and handed it to the other Skeletons behind him: "If we find a watch like this, we will keep it well and wait for you to come over."

"Pleasant to work with."

Zhou Yi shook hands with the other party.

After the job was settled, he relaxed: "In fact, our company also has two skeleton employees. I only knew that most skeletons live on land, but I didn't expect that there are also settlers in the Dead Sea."

An Hong laughed and said, "The Skeleton People are also divided into many different ethnic groups. Because of the differences in living environments, they also have different living conditions. You are talking about the land people among the Skeleton People. We are the sea people, living in the Dead Sea, but our number is much smaller."

"There are more towns on land, and more jobs available. Land races are usually bold and adventurous. We sea races prefer a peaceful and simple life, and don't like to be involved in a complex and changing environment."

"But we are actually constantly transforming into each other. The land race may turn into the sea race, and the sea race may turn to the land if they get tired of this place."

The mayor of the bone town said: "We have lived with bone fish for many years. I never thought that you could let bone fish transport goods. It really subverted our cognition. Bone fish are very lazy creatures. As long as they get some bones, they will lose motivation and will not be willing to move until they want bones again."

"How did you convince them?"

Zhou Yi was surprised: "You can talk to bone fish?"

"That can't be done. But we can use our bones to connect and temporarily build a bridge, and check their physical condition. We can tell if they are hungry and if their bodies are intact."

"We give them bones to repair their damaged bones, and they live with us. Over time, through years of practice and training, they know that they can use tools to exchange bones with us, so they will also look for things everywhere."

“But that’s the extent of it.”

An Hong said with some envy: "But our experience is totally incomparable to yours. They are all bone fish, why is there such a big difference? It would be great if the bone fish here could also deliver things like yours..."

Zhou Yixin said, can the wild ones and the domestic ones be the same?

Domesticating wild animals can take a long time.

Cultivation must start from the time the fish are fry, and education must start from the time when they are young.

However, the unique ability of Xiaoshan Zhen Gu Ren still made Zhou Yi's heart move.

After a brief thought, he said, "You can do a physical examination on the bone fish and know their physical condition... I would like to invite two residents here to work as bone fish therapists at the express delivery center. If there are two of us, we can keep each other company. Our working hours are 4 days on and 1 day off."

"This way, it will be easier for the company and Xiaoshan Town to communicate, and we can get information about the watch in the first place. The express delivery center is still expanding, and I think we will have a lot of cooperation. What do you think, Mayor?"

"That would be great."

An Hong asked the skeletons around her: "Who among you is willing to go?"

Skeleton Chen Shi was the first to raise his hand: "Me."

The other townspeople bowed their heads and said nothing.

It seems that the Haiyi are indeed unwilling to leave their hometown.

An Hong turned to look at Zhou Yi: "Then Chen Shi and I will go together."

Zhou Yi was stunned: "Will there be any problems in Xiaoshan Town?"

"It won't be a problem. Life in our town is simple."

An Hong turned around and said, "In order to facilitate the handling of affairs, I will no longer serve as the mayor from now on, Zhao Xiao."

A tall skeleton stood up.

"You will be the mayor."

"I can't do it! I really can't!"

"I have decided."

"Oh... this... okay."

The skeleton man was dejected and looked unhappy after being appointed as the mayor, while the other skeleton townspeople seemed relieved.

After arranging the successor, An Hong said: "Chen Shi and I will go to the company with you now."

Zhou Yi felt strange.

It feels like it no longer wants to be the mayor.

On the way back, An Hong's words confirmed Zhou Yi's guess.

"Your guess is correct."

"The good thing about Xiaoshan Town is that everyone is calm and peaceful, there are few conflicts and troubles, and everyone has a good relationship with each other privately, but the bad thing is also here. For example, no one is willing to go to pick up various things from the ruins of the Age of Gods, and no one wants to do it in the end when feeding bone fish to help find things."

"They patrol the area regularly. After they go out, they find a place to lie down. Every one of them procrastinates and shirks responsibility, always saying that their bodies hurt and they feel uncomfortable... The most tired one is the mayor."

An Hong gritted her teeth and said, "I used to be a mainlander, but I was exhausted physically and mentally by the fierce competition on land, so I came here and wanted to live a quiet and simple life."

"When I came here, I was nominated by the old mayor to be the new mayor. The mayor is there to serve and worry about everyone. If he doesn't do a good job, he will be blamed by everyone. The only right he has is to appoint a new mayor when he leaves or a new person comes... He is called the mayor, but he is more like an unpaid long-term laborer."

"If the mayor doesn't take responsibility, the entire settlement will be in danger."

"That's why there are fewer and fewer sea creatures, and they are dying everywhere. Without responsibility, expectations, or hope... they will just become completely numb in the end. Maybe some skeletons think it's not bad to just die naturally without any pressure, but this is not what I want. I have tolerated them for a long time, and now I finally found a chance to get rid of them and have a better choice."

The bone man said bitterly: "I can work hard and run around for everyone, but that doesn't mean I should do these things. Do responsible people deserve to be ordered around by everyone and make more mistakes? I can't accept that."

Zhou Yi shook his head when he heard this.

The peaceful and harmonious Peach Blossom Spring only exists in fantasy.

Even if the resources are right at your doorstep, you have to go pick them up. But the slackers in Xiaoshan Town are too lazy to even bend their backs, and all rely on the mayor to be a full-time nanny and live a life of retirement at the bottom of the sea at public expense.

Zhou Yi felt fortunate.

If it were a group of hardworking and united skeletons, all the supplies in the nearby city would have been emptied long ago, and it would not be their turn to come and pick and choose.

It would be nice if there were more small towns under the sea.

(End of this chapter)