Liu Yuxin sits on the highest point of a city in the night breeze, a tower-shaped landmark built in the old days of the city, all made of metal that is not easily weathered. Careful design and reliable quality have allowed it to stand still more than 100 years later, and will remain isolated here for hundreds, millennia, until the entire city and it are submerged in yellow sand.

Looking at the civilization below that was slowly annihilating in the years, Liu Yuxin lay down on her back. Most of the city's high-rise buildings have collapsed due to the erosion of wind and sand, and the ruins are covered by several meters of yellow sand, leaving only a broken wall. Instead, it is the smaller industrial complexes that have stood the test of time and formed the general outline of the city's ruins.

Seeing the traces of the demise of human beings for the first time, Liu Yuxin will inevitably have a feeling of sadness in his heart, if he didn't see it with his own eyes, it was hard for him to imagine that the rise and fall of civilizations that had been buried in dust on TV would be vividly displayed in front of him in this way, and this time, they are the protagonists of the story!

Suddenly, Liu Yuxin caught a glimmer of light in this dark city, and in the direction of Liu Yuxin's left, a very obvious flame rose on the ground several kilometers away from him.

Is there anyone else in this place? Or is it that the sand people still haven't given up? Liu Yuxin decided to go over and feel the situation. He landed a few jumps from the apex of the landmark back to the ground, scurrying towards the flames.

Waiting to move to his destination, Liu Yuxin slowed down her speed, carefully using the surrounding ruins to hide her figure and slowly approached the anomaly.

After approaching the building that emitted the light source, Liu Yuxin found that the source of the fire was nothing more than an iron bucket about two meters in diameter, and several yellow-skinned humans were roasting around the iron bucket, and from time to time throwing some flammable materials scavenged from the ruins into the burning vat to ensure that they would not freeze to death on the roof due to hypothermia on this cold night that can make people's blood freeze.

"I'm so hungry!"

A delicate girl with eyes in the crowd rubbed her belly with one of her own hands, her food supplies had been lost during the day's escape, and she had not eaten a drop of rice for more than ten hours since she had eaten at noon.

"I've got some high-energy biscuits here, take them and eat them!"

An armed man, apparently a guard, pulled out a two-finger-wide strip of aluminum foil from his tactical pocket.

The girl hurriedly pushed the biscuit back:

"Brother Zhang, how can this be done! How can I eat your rations? The whole team is still up to you for safety! This is absolutely not a no-go! ”

"Yes, yes! The rescue team doesn't know when it will arrive, so you'll have to keep up your stamina until they arrive! ”

Another old man in the team also started to help, and handed a small packet of high-energy biscuits to the girl with glasses:

"Xiaoli, I still have a little bit here, let's take it to pad my stomach first, and we'll figure out a way when it's dawn."

"Teacher Sun, how embarrassing is this......"

Although Xiaoli was saying polite words in her mouth, her eyes kept looking directly at the small bag of biscuits, and the corners of her mouth were still squirming from time to time, looking really hungry.

The old man slapped the pouch of biscuits directly into Xiaoli's hand:

"I'm an old man, I can't eat so much, so you can eat with confidence! Besides, we have already sent out a distress signal, and a rescue team will come in two or three days, and the food will still last until that day. ”

"Then you're welcome, thank you, Mr. Sun!"

Xiaoli took the old man's biscuit and poured it into her mouth, muttering indistinctly while tasting the fragrance in her mouth:

"Didn't we already negotiate with the sandfolks? Why are they still attacking us? ”

The old man smiled bitterly when he heard this:

"Maybe it's because what we're studying violates their taboos? Heaven is sacred in their minds, and our actions are undoubtedly blasphemy in their eyes......"

Hearing the old man say this, the glasses girl was so shocked that she even forgot to swallow the biscuit in her mouth:

"Ahh Teacher Sun, isn't Sister Ju Xiang who was captured by them very dangerous? ”

The old man didn't say anything, but in silence threw a piece of discarded rubber into the fire bucket.

At this time, Liu Yuxin had already determined that this group of people was not Shamin, but a group of fallen alliance personnel, and walked out of hiding place generously.

"Who? Hold it! Or I'll shoot! ”

The armed man quickly pulled a BP2000 from his lap and pointed the muzzle of the gun at Liu Yuxin.

"Don't be impulsive! I'm being chased here by the sandmen, too, and I just want to help you! ”

Liu Yuxin raised her hands high to show that she had no malice, and slowly walked into their sight:

"Which house are you students in? I've got a truck, it's just a few kilometers away, maybe it'll have what you need."

The reason why they were judged to be students is that in this kind of no-man's land, in addition to some people with other purposes like themselves, only researchers will go here because of their research topics, and there are also some illegal people who transport contraband between various security zones, and the group of people in front of them is obviously not the last one.

"Teacher Sun......"

Hearing that Liu Yuxin had a truckload of supplies, Xiaoli stared at the old man with hopeful eyes, obviously moved.

The old man looked Liu Yuxin up and down several times and then asked:

"Why are you helping us?"

Why help them? Maybe it's just because they were moved by mutual aid that is rarely seen in the last days? Liu Yuxin shook her head and threw the thoughts in her head into the void:

"No one who can do research in a no-man's land will be poor, and I hope that I will be rewarded handsomely when your rescuers arrive."

Of course, this is not what Liu Yuxin really thinks in her heart, but it is indeed the most acceptable explanation today. Hearing him say this, several people in front of him let down their guard, and after discussing in a low voice for a while, the old man walked in front of Liu Yuxin and stretched out his hand:

"Deal! You'll be paid well in a few days! My name is Sun Li, and I am a professor at a research institute. ”

"My name is Wang Li and I am a student of Teacher Sun!"

Wang Li also posted it, she was a little curious about the masked man in front of her, because his eyes and exposed skin showed that he had very good living conditions, why would a person like this appear in this dangerous no-man's land?

Liu Yuxin smiled at them, took out a bag of jerky from her body and threw it to Wang Li:

"A greeting gift for you!"

"It's beef jerky! I love you to death! ”

Wang Li cheered and took the jerky, and couldn't wait to open the package and stuff her mouth to the brim.

"My name is Zhang Hong, the guard in the team, I don't know who Your Excellency is?"

Zhang Hong also removed the BP2000 from the safety and inserted it back into the holster.

"My name is Liu Yuxin, a freelancer, and I'm here with my companion to find something."

Liu Yuxin pointed to the location of the truck

"Is my truck in that position, with me now?"

Sun Li nodded and said:

"Most of our things were lost during the day, so we don't have anything to pack up, so we can go with you to join your companions now."

At this time, several other people in Sun Li's team also came over to introduce themselves, and these people were all Professor Sun's assistants.

This Professor Sun looks like he has two brushes......

Liu Yuxin thought in her heart, there were capable guards with a few assistants by her side, and this old man Sun might be the master of the academic world.

"Are you all together? We're about to go! ”

"Actually, we also have a companion, Sister Ju, but she was caught by those sandmen when she stayed behind during the day......"

Zhang Li talked about her companion, her face full of worry.

It turned out to be their people!

Seeing Zhang Li's worried face, Liu Yuxin couldn't bear to tell her the truth of the matter, but comforted softly:

"Jiren has his own natural ......"

Gong Liang was also taken aback when he saw Liu Yuxin go out for a while and a group of people came over, and hurriedly pulled Liu Yuxin aside:

"Who are these people? Why did you bring them all! ”

"Brother Liang, don't worry, they are all some scholars doing research, we will help them get through the most difficult days, and then ask them for some spare parts for mecha after they are rescued."

Gong Liang's eyes observed the group of people a few times, but he didn't see any danger, so he relaxed, after all, it was very rare to meet a few normal humans in the wilderness, and Gong Liang quickly chatted with them.

"By the way, what are you doing here? There's nothing here but xenomorphs and sandfolks. ”

After Gong Liang got acquainted with them, he asked about the purpose of Sun Li's gang.

Sun Li sighed:

"It's all my fault...... I didn't want Su Lao's life's work to be in vain, I had to complete the unfinished business of my missing old friend and uncover the mystery of the mythical kingdom of heaven, I followed the clues left in his work diary to this no-man's land, trying to find the ladder to heaven, but I didn't expect that the first day of research angered those sand people, and almost buried the entire team. ”

"Heaven? A stairway to heaven? ”

These things that sounded very mysterious immediately aroused Gong Liang's interest.

Faced with Gong Liang's curiosity, Sun Li hesitated, after all, this was related to an S-level secret, but in the face of Gong Liang, who had helped him in his desperate situation, he couldn't bear to refuse directly.

Anyway, he couldn't have access to such a high-end secret, so it didn't matter if he mentioned it to him a little, right?

"Heaven, you just think of it as an ancient ruin, only certain people can reach that place by some means, but ordinary people can't enter it at all. In order to facilitate communication with people, people have deliberately opened up a passage to where to go, that is, the "Stairway to Heaven", and only through that legendary passage can we reach the legendary place and explore the mysteries. ”

Gong Liang was already stunned by this terrifying news, Heavenly Kingdom? Only a specific person can get in? Ordinary people need to go through the inherent passages? How does it sound like a mythical story?

Seeing Gong Liang's unbelievable look, Sun Li smiled helplessly, most of the people basically reacted to Gong Liang when they heard this kind of thing at first glance, and he was no longer surprised.