"That's what we're facing."

The red dragon Karadol stood at a long, charred table and said to Hagere, who was sitting on the other side of the table.

It was one of the few "rooms" in the makeshift shelter that was still intact, and it was originally a factory pipe control room, and when the shock wave came, the half-buried facility relied on its own sturdy structure to withstand the blow, but it was not undamaged - the room had several deep cracks from the roof to the walls, some of which were able to reach the outside, and the howling cold wind outside poured into these cracks, bringing not only a sharp whistling, but also a biting cold.

The dragon's physique can ignore this cold, but the psychological gap caused by such a bleak situation cannot be avoided.

"How many dragons are there in this camp now?" Hragor looked up at Dukemore, who was silent.

"Less than half of the two thousand—the vast majority of them are injured or suffering from severe synergist and hallucinogens," Dukemore said, "and the good news is that many of the wounded dragons have some ability to work, at least to help find supplies after emergency treatment." In addition, we are now sending out search teams every day to search for our compatriots who have recovered from the ruins nearby, and we have gradually increased the number of people. ”

"How big is the search area?" Hlagor asked again.

"At the moment, confined to the perimeter of Argondol, as far as the Great Rift Valley to the west - limited supplies, inconvenient communications, and roaming elemental creatures in the depths of the ruins, the search party did not dare to leave the camp too far."

"Elemental creatures?" Baloger frowned, "Why are there elemental creatures?" ”

"Later in the battle, the power of the gods shattered the barriers of the main material world, tearing open several rifts to the elemental world in the center of Tallrond - and then the rift expanded to a third of the continent at one point, and countless elemental creatures surged out of it," Duke Moore patiently explained, knowing that Balogel was not on the battlefield at the time, "Although the elemental power has since receded on its own and the main rift has healed, there are still a considerable number of wandering elemental creatures operating near the rift radiation zone, And there are countless small fissures of all sizes...... These things will probably not be able to dissipate for decades. ”

The room was silent for a while, and after more than ten seconds of silence, Andal spoke: "The search will continue, and it seems that there are more compatriots who have regained their consciousness waiting to be rescued in the ruins, and now that Talrond has lost communication and the wild environment has become extremely dangerous, the chances of these isolated compatriots surviving in the wilderness are decreasing every day." In addition, the search area should also be as wide as possible, especially in the direction of the City of the Gods, which ...... over there."

Andal was in the middle of his sentence when the twisted metal gate not far away suddenly creaked open, and Melita Pernia, with a tired face, walked in from outside. She was stunned for a moment after seeing the scene in the room, then bowed her head to greet Andal and Hragere, and the white dragon Noretta, who was sitting in the corner of the long table, stood up: "You're back?" What's going on outside? ”

"The compatriots in the West Side are battling the synergist withdrawal symptoms, but the rest of the region is doing well," Melita exhaled, trying to say the more optimistic part, "I can see that Speaker Andal and they are very encouraged when they come back, and the dragon eggs you brought back today...... I feel like a lot of dragons are being lit with hope by those eggs. ”

"Noretta found the storage of dragon eggs at the site of the hatchery, and she led a team to dig there for a long time, finding hundreds of well-preserved dragon eggs," Karadol said, turning to the three dragons of Hlagor, "We stored those dragon eggs in the cave in the center of the camp and sent the dragons to take turns to take care of them - when the eggs were brought back to the camp, everyone's morale was significantly improved. ”

"Keep them separate, don't put them in a cave," Baloger immediately reminded, "and the above-ground buildings and underground caverns are very unstable these days, and it would be safer to store those eggs separately." ”

Calador nodded hurriedly: "Yes, I'll arrange it later." ”

"But I really didn't expect it...... You've found the dragon eggs in good condition," Andal couldn't help but speak, with a hint of tremor in his tone, "I thought they were all destroyed after the hatchery collapsed...... If we find the dragon egg, we will have a healthy new generation, and a new generation that is not affected by synergists and implants from birth...... In the days that followed, only this 'primitive dragon' would be able to adapt to the dragon society that had lost its omega system. ”

Andal's words made Melita feel deeply in her heart—in the short time since she woke up, she had become aware of the fact that the last phase of Talrond's civilization had ended, the gods and omegas had gone, and the dragons of the previous generation, who had grown up in the cradle, had been thrown off the wheel with the changes of the times. Implants, synergists, automated systems...... These things had shaped the entire dragon society, but the dragon society she knew had vanished with them. In a new era...... Dragons who started from scratch need a generation that starts from scratch.

The dragon eggs Noretta finds in the ruins aren't just morale-boosting "hopes" – they're the real "future" for dragons.

"There should be more dragon eggs in the collapsed area of the hatchery," Karadol was also touched by Speaker Andal's emotion, with an almost solemn expression on his face, "In addition to searching and rescuing the wounded and collecting supplies, our focus is to dig up those dragon eggs and move them to a relatively safe and stable place." ”

"Very well, it should be done," Speaker Andal nodded slowly, but then he shook his head again, his gaze slowly sweeping across the room, "But there's another question, have you ever thought about it?" ”

Calador had a curious look on his face: "One more question?" ”

“…… Do you know how to hatch dragon eggs? With a serious expression, Andal's gaze swept over the young dragons such as Melita and Norretta, and even on the relatively old dragons of Calador, and there was no joke in his tone, "Do any of the young dragons in the camp know how to hatch dragon eggs without the help of factory facilities?" ”

As soon as these words came out, the room suddenly fell silent again, Calador's expression was a little stiff for a moment, Noretta fell into a thoughtful state, Melita thought carefully for a long time, and then hesitated to speak: "Throw it directly into the magma or magic pool...... Uh, I guess it can't be hatched, right? ”

"You're just going to cook them," Calador gave Melita a strange look, then looked at Andal, "I...... Probably know the process. It should be maintained at the right temperature and maintain a stable magical environment......"

"Even a red dragon like you only knows this thing, and I can only imagine how good the dragons in the camp are younger and more ignorant than you are in this regard, I don't have any hope at all," Andal sighed and shook his head slowly, "but it's not your fault, not any dragon...... After all, before today, no one had ever considered this situation. ”

“…… Dragons have been cared for by the 'cradle' for too long, and this kind of thing can happen. Duke Moore sighed as well, with a bitter, self-deprecating smile on his old humanoid face, "And hatching dragon eggs is only the first step, and how to care for the young dragon without an automatic rearing system and a thermostatic nest is even more problematic." ”

"What should I do then?" Melita looked left and right at the people around her, feeling a little at a loss, "We can't even hatch eggs...... That ......"

"Then learn, learn from scratch, learn these 'tricks' that should be biological instincts," Hragore said in a low tone, "We old guys from the primeval era at least know what to do—little by little we will teach the young dragons how to hatch their eggs and care for their young dragons, but before that, one thing is important. ”

He stopped in the middle of speaking, and Andal, who was on the side, knew what he was going to say, so he took over the rest of the words: "We can only hatch a part, or even a small part...... Until our food supply is stable, the camp won't be able to support that many young dragons. ”

"Let's start preparing now, pick some dragons who have the will and the energy to take care of the eggs and hatchlings, and then we'll teach them what to do," Hragore said slowly, "Let's start little by little, start from scratch, start with hatching offspring, and we'll rebuild dragons in this wasteland." ”

"In addition, I recommend that at least two dragons adopt a dragon egg, or form a group to raise it together," Andal added, "We need to avoid losing labor due to caring for the young dragons, especially now that the polar day is halfway through, and we need to establish a relatively stable living environment as soon as possible before the colder polar night arrives, which requires a lot of labor." ”

Start from scratch, start from a wasteland – rebuild a home.

Melita looked up, she saw Andal and Hlagor discussing the future of the tribe, and then Calador and Baloger began to discuss how to expand the camp and find a stable source of food from the nearby seas and islands, she saw Noretta sitting on the sidelines, tired but with a bright light in her eyes, and suddenly, another picture appeared in her mind-

For some reason, she thought of the small camp at the foot of the Dark Mountains a few years ago, the weak humans who built houses and reclaimed wasteland in the wilderness, the tents and board houses on the banks of the Whitewater River, and the "pioneer" who seemed to have infinite energy and countless ideas and stood beside a wasteland to outline the future of the race.

Just a few years ago, she was a spectator of it all.

The picture in her memory overlapped with the picture in front of her, but the state of mind in her memory was completely different from the state of mind now.

That human has created a lot of interesting words, and what word can be used here? Changed? Or has time changed? None of it feels right......

Melita was thinking wildly, just because now Andal's discussion had become more and more beyond her comprehension, and she couldn't think of any useful advice on matters related to the big picture, but after a moment of distraction, her attention returned to the room, and Andal was discussing with Duke Moore the idea of rebuilding society—

"The area we have explored is still too limited," said Duke Moore with regret, "and even if the search party has flown to the end of Agundor and the surrounding factory area, the whole of Agundor is only one of many cities in Tallond...... More than 90 percent of the continent is still in a state of uncertainty, maybe there are camps like this in other places, maybe they need our help urgently, maybe they have the resources we desperately need, but we can't connect with each other at all. ”

"There are wandering elemental creatures on the surface, unstable spatial rifts or elemental passages in the sky at any time, and all long-distance activities are dangerous, and sending an expeditionary exploration team without a safe route is tantamount to suicide," Andal said, shaking his head, "Now that communication has been cut off, the harsh natural conditions have divided the various regions of Talrond. ”

"We found some old communication devices, but almost all of them didn't turn on, and the few that worked didn't pick up the signal," added Calador, "either there were no other camps in the search area, or there was too much interference in the wasteland......

As they discussed, Melita listened, and suddenly, she couldn't help but say, "Or...... Let's light a beacon, just like the humans. ”

Andal and Duke Morkel stopped discussing, and several pairs of eyes fell on Melita, which made the latter subconsciously shrink his neck: "I just had an idea out of nowhere...... I remember what I saw when the humans were building pioneer camps, lighting fires or punching pillars of light in the wilderness to let nearby refugees know where the shelters were...... Of course, I may not have thought it through......"

"No, we're not questioning, we're just ...... A little surprised," Andal said, suddenly smiling and tapping his forehead, "Such a simple and primitive solution, we should have thought of it in the first place. ”

"All we can think about is fixing the communication system or restarting the lines of communication," Hragere said, spreading his hands, "after all, we haven't used fire to communicate with distant lands for more than a million years." ”

"But in this situation, it doesn't have to be useful to light a beacon fire, right?" Norretta, who had not spoken much on the side, looked at Melita, then at Hragere, and couldn't help but say, "Not to mention how far the light and smoke of the beacon fire can travel, even if you see it from afar, there are still many obstacles in the wilderness that cannot be crossed at all, and as far as the place we have explored so far, the area around Argondol is almost everywhere ...... blockade."

"No, it's still useful, even if one of the survivors trapped in the ruins finds the camp after seeing the beacon, then it's useful," Hragore shook his head and said solemnly, "and even if it's the worst, as you said, the obstacles in the wilderness are blocking everyone, and the beacon fire has a meaning, it can tell other camps and survivors who are still holding on, let them know that we are here." ”

"I'll go and prepare," said Baloger, "I'll prepare the grandest of the fires, so that they can be seen clearly across the Rift—the dragons are going to light a beacon fire, and it's not too large." ”