The Duragon Empire is located in the western part of the main material continent of this world, and almost half of the northern half of the land and climate in the western continent region is occupied by the empire.

In terms of the topographical distribution within the territory, 70% of the territory of the empire is a plain area suitable for building human towns and residences, and the remaining 25% is a forest and hilly terrain with rich animal and plant resources and underground mineral resources, and barren mountains and desert areas that are not suitable for human habitation, occupying only 5% of the country's land.

The Great Nederes Heath, near the border to the southeast of the empire, is part of these five percent.

This wasteland covers an area of more than 60,000 square kilometers, the overall extent is close to an oval, and the longest diameter spans more than 400 kilometers, occupying a considerable stretch of the border in the southeast of the empire.

The Nederlais Heath is basically made up of the Gobi Desert full of irregular bare rocks and a desert of dry gravel, with only a few drought-tolerant plants such as cacti and artemisia seed, which provide the only source of food for the creatures of the wasteland. But even these only plants are not so easy to collect as food, because they are somewhat 'special' compared to their counterparts elsewhere, and they are not only eaten compared to herbivores or even carnivores, but are also in the position of 'predators' like 'man-eating flowers'.

The reason why this is the case is only because this land has been radiated by a special force in the past, which has led to some strange 'mutation' evolution.

Although there is some groundwater circulating under the heath, the depth of burial is often not something that can be easily exploited by humans, and only some ponds and even lakes evolved from naturally formed surface water sources similar to blowout structures can be used by humans and animals, and some oases that occupy less than three percent of the total area of the entire Nedryles Heath are often formed around these scarce surface water sources.

But these oases are not suitable for human habitation, not because the scale is insufficient, but because most of the plants in the oasis have been mutated, which is a strong threat to ordinary humans, and ordinary people simply have no ability to live in the oasis at ease when they may be preyed upon by cannibal plants that come out of nowhere at any time!

In addition, dangerous things such as poisonous insects, man-eating birds of prey, and giant burrowing sandworms can also be seen in the deep areas of this wasteland, and the occasional sandstorm and tornado and other climatic disasters make ordinary people dare not step into it at will.

Thanks to these characteristics, in addition to being called an abandoned wasteland, the Nederlais Wasteland has also been jokingly called the Devil's Wasteland by some artists, meaning a place that has been cursed by the devil.

This land is not so bad for the transcendents who have mastered extraordinary strength and the army that has sufficient firepower and weapons and equipment to find the enemy, but for the weak ordinary people, it can be said to be full of malice.

However, thanks to the harsh environment of this wasteland, it can be said that for the Empire, it can be said to be a natural buffer zone conducive to the defense of the border.

Not only can the harsh environment have a great negative impact on the advance of the army, but the gentle and endless terrain in the wasteland can also make it easier for the garrisons of the border fortresses on the edge of the wasteland to spot the traces of incoming enemies.

Coincidentally, to the northwest of the Nederes Wasteland is the territory leading to the Empire, and to the southwest, is the Kingdom of the Rhines, which has a deep feud with the Empire.

What's even more interesting is that most of the terrain outside the eastern border of the empire is steep and undulating mountain ranges, which stretch down the eastern border of the empire from north to south like a thick wall, until it is close to the Great Nederes Heath before turning into gentle mountain forests!

Because of this wonderful terrain, if the overlord of the Eastern Continent, the Church of St. Angel, intends to march to the Empire on the Western Continent, if their army does not intend to go through the mountains and cross the natural barrier formed by that mountain range, they can only choose two lines of attack. One is to take a detour to the north, first entering a large wild forest with a large area of primitive vegetation in the northern continent, and then entering the western continent after going around to the northernmost part of the mountain range.

However, if you take a detour to the north, the route will be a bit too long. Along the way, you may have to endure the attacks of various fierce beasts and even wild spirits in the forest, and the long journey will inevitably hurt the soldiers' mental strength.

The other route is from the Great Nederles Heath, the southernmost point of the mountain barrier. Ignoring the harsh environmental factors in the wasteland, the distance of this route can be said to be the shortest distance from the Eastern Continent to the Western Continent.

For the powerful St. Angel's Cult, their army will always be accompanied by the most elite cathar knights, clergy who are proficient in attack arts, and priests who are good at healing and antidote, so it is not too difficult to force their way through this area against those natural threats in the Devil's Wasteland, and the time consumed is far less than detouring the Northern Continent, and the logistical pressure will be easier.

However, the dangers on the way will be greater, and there will be little time to recuperate after passing through the dangerous terrain before you will have to face the blows of the Empire's garrisons stationed on the border to rest and work.

The environment of the Nederles Wilderness is not like this since ancient times, about a thousand years ago, when the Duragon Empire was first established, it was still a grassland terrain with a large number of fertile pasture resources suitable for cattle and sheep breeding, and it was not difficult for land troops to march long distances, especially for cavalry troops.

At that time, the empire was not without a small amount of harassment from the enemy from the direction of the Eastern Continent.

It's just that after a certain war, this land was used as an attack checkpoint and caused the warring parties to pour the flames of war into it, causing the original fertile grassland to turn into red scorched earth, even if it gradually recovered its vitality after the war, but also because one side left the residual radiation of some special forces at that time, so that a large number of mutations of animals and plants that are very unfriendly to normal humans have occurred.

Since then, the wasteland has become a dangerous place, which is very conducive to the side that is stationed at the edge of the wasteland to defend it.

The empire can be said to love and hate this natural danger, what it loves is that it is conducive to the empire's resistance to the invasion of the church in the Eastern Continent, and it is precisely because of its existence that it is precisely because of its existence that hundreds of years ago, when the empire was in turmoil, the ambitious Archduke Rhines seized the opportunity to use this natural danger to break away from the empire and establish a kingdom in the south, and then thwarted the empire's crusading army at that time, so as to gain a firm foothold in time, and it has evolved into the great hatred of several generations of emperors of the empire today!

And now, this place, which many artists call the Devil's Wasteland, is welcoming a group of uninvited guests.

Angus Slint sat on a large eight-seater armored vehicle emblazoned with the distinctive silver hexagonal crystal insignia of the Rainbow Crystal Chamber of Commerce, looking out through the transparent window at the Gobi Desert, which looked a somewhat dazzling yellow in the daylight.

With a hula, a gust of flying sand shuo was blown up by the hot wind and hit the side of the armored car, knocking on the glass window of the car door with a continuous clanging sound. Listening to the strength of the sound, Angus was sure that if this hit ordinary people directly, eighty percent would end up with a swollen head.

Even the guards accompanying them outside had to unleash their own wind-sheltering elven spells at this moment to protect themselves and their mounts from being injured by the stones flying in the wind.

What a terrible weather!

Angus withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the dark-haired boy who was sitting in the soft seat behind him, despite his young appearance, who was his current allegiance.

"Lord, I still don't understand why you chose such a place? If you fight a few more times, you may be able to win a better territory from His Majesty the Emperor!"

"Not necessarily. Jiang Yan was also looking at the Gobi scenery outside the window, and only smiled faintly after hearing this: "Although that emperor is willing to cooperate with us, it is absolutely impossible to do anything to cede territory, after all, this is a matter that will cause a great stain on his imperial prestige! Moreover, with that emperor's domineering style, it is already considered merciful not to start a war with the outside world to seize other people's territory, it is really hard to imagine that he will be willing to cede his own territory to others, right? Although the Great Wasteland of the Niederles belongs to the Empire in name, in fact even the Empire is unwilling to send people into it, it is possible that the Emperor will send it away as a favor, and it will not cause a strong backlash from the domestic public sentiment. ”

Speaking of this, Jiang Yan smiled playfully: "Perhaps, when the emperor gave me this choice, in fact, he never thought that I would really choose this sinister place, and even put his heart and soul into the land to operate and develop forces." ”

Angus thought about the style of His Majesty the Emperor and nodded. He thought about it for a while, and indeed, after Zhi Nao expressed Jiang Yan's meaning and agreed to accept the Nederles Great Wasteland, Emperor Will briefly showed a hint of surprise.

"But even if you have to choose a location on the surface, in fact, there are still many places in the Western Continent that are more suitable. Angus looked at the window, and one of the guards outside suddenly picked up his rifle and pointed it at a huge black vulture the size of a calf that had been struck down by the wind and sand, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The muzzle of the Spirit Guide Rifle erupted with a flash of light, and a laser-like white cannonball made of spiritual power bundles shot out into the sky in an instant, smashing the vulture's head into a bloody sludge with extreme precision.

But the strange thing is that this vulture, whose head is almost completely blown up, is not completely dead, and its neck is still spraying blood, but its body is waving its somewhat twisted wings vigorously as if it is frightened, trying to lift into the air.

It wasn't until several more blazing spirit cannon beams erupted from the muzzles of the spirit guide rifles in the guards' hands, and after most of the vulture's entire body was shattered under the dense fire crossover network, the other party fell weakly to the front of the convoy.

After the vulture's mangled body fell on the rocks and soil of the Gobi Desert, blood was scattered everywhere, and a cloud of blood splashed on the body of a giant cactus more than five meters tall with dark green skin and black stains that seemed to be speckled stains.

The next moment, the cactus, which was not quite the right color, actually writhed like a living thing, and the epidermis covered with hard needles cracked, revealing several rows of blood-red fleshy tissue with dense sharp teeth inside, and the shape looked like the mouth of a chrysanthemum-shaped prey creature.

That posture is worthy of the name of 'blood basin mouth'.

Then, a blood-red tentacle poked out from the depths of this strange mouth, and after swinging in the air a few times, it suddenly ejected, and the movement was very swift and wrapped up the remains left by the vulture not far away, and dragged it into the inside of the blood basin mouth in the blink of an eye, and then the chrysanthemum-like cracked epidermis closed and returned to its original cactus posture, but compared to the original, the body of this cactus was obviously unnaturally bulging, which looked a little weird.

However, this did not last long, and the cactus squirmed a few times like a living creature, and after a few clicks of flesh and bone shattering came from under the epidermis, it regained its quietness, and its body quickly returned to its original shape in just a few seconds.

Only a few dark red stains of blood flowed through the cracks in its sharp teeth when it closed, smeared on the green skin of the cactus, and quickly dried into a puddle of black stains when it encountered the hot Gobi wind and flying sand.

Angus, who was watching this scene through the car window all the time, twitched the corners of his mouth: "To be honest, I personally don't like this place too much." ”

"yes, a lot of people like you don't like it here. Jiang Yan nodded: "However, if this place is only about the location of transportation, it is actually very suitable for the headquarters of my Hongjing Chamber of Commerce - it is almost located at the center point of the main material continent of this world, and wherever you go, you can directly lead to the countries of the Western Continent, and you can go directly to the Eastern Continent to the east, which can be called the best bridge linking the Eastern and Western Continents." ”

"But the 'natives' here aren't very friendly. Angus said with a wry smile, and then everyone could feel the ground below shake slightly, even through the shock absorption system of the armored car.

The entire convoy then stopped.

A few seconds later, only a loud rumbling bang could be heard in the Gobi!

A carapace yellow, three meters thick, composed of a ring-shaped body of knots, and the sides of the body are covered with dense hook and sickle-like arthropods and long legs. At the front of the head, a giant insect with a deep black hole with multiple layers of fanged mouthparts emerged from the shattered rock and soil, coiled around and locked the activated cactus that had just been eaten, and then opened its hideous mouthparts, snapped and bit the cactus, tearing it to pieces one by one and swallowing it into its stomach in its fierce struggle.

"Hiss ——!!"

After eating the cactus, the giant sandworm seemed to be a little dissatisfied, and after screaming a few times, it suddenly turned its head in the direction of the convoy, and the fierce aura that was full of military-level peak strength spread out unabashedly. I want to chat with more like-minded people about "{?$article_title?} ", WeChat pays attention to "excellent reading literature", chatting about life, looking for confidants~