The Third World War and the first two World Wars are full of similarities, the same because of the inequality of resources between the great powers, the same starting with a genius and neurotic dictatorial leader, the same reprogramming of the world system, the only difference is that because of the advent of nuclear weapons, humanity was almost wiped out by war, and since then it has cedered the sole dominance of the planet.

- "The Third World War Examination" IC33, Li Dajiang

It's an almost white planet, with sandy soil, extinct flora and fauna, and the only survivors running for survival in a desert. The quartz sand formed by the high temperature of the nuclear explosion formed a desert, covering the entire land, covering all the low ravines and hills, and only the peaks that were originally more than 3,000 meters above sea level and were not destroyed in that earth-shattering nuclear war are qualified to become the objects of this huge desert, and even they are only exposed in the sun or moonlight, like the skeletal remains of ancient beasts, filtering all colors, reflecting only the cold incandescent white.

The ocean is no longer graceful, algae are extinct, shallow and mesopelagic aquatic life is basically extinct, and the sea water is only grayish-white. The average temperature of the planet after the nuclear war reached minus 12 degrees Celsius in 2053, when the entire surface of the earth was covered in ice and not a drop of water flowed. More than 100 years later, the average temperature of the earth has risen to 9.3 degrees Celsius, and during the day it has exceeded 30 degrees Celsius, and the polar lines have retreated to high latitudes, and now remain near 60 degrees north and south latitudes.

But all these changes have nothing to do with human beings, who once had a total population of more than 8 billion before the outbreak of the war, and less than 200 million after the nuclear war, with a mortality rate of more than 97%. No one knows how many of these extinction weapons were manufactured by mankind in the 100 years after the invention of the nuclear bomb, anyway, the nuclear war lasted for 100 days, if the first 70 days were still purposeful targeted strikes, in the last 30 days, after the command system of all mankind was paralyzed, only the indiscriminate bombardment of human beings who were forced to a nervous breakdown remained. Mountains, towns, and islands were all targeted, and the remnants of humanity huddled in the sturdy underground fortifications.

Over the next 30 years, most of the fortifications were reduced to concrete coffins due to insufficient resources and radiation infiltration. According to pessimistic estimates, the number of deaths during this period is still between 120 million and 150 million, which is truly one in 100.

After 2077 A.D., the suffering of human survivors finally waited for a period of stable development. During this period, most of the Vaults were connected through the remaining cable search and rescue channels, and politically gifted individuals quickly gained authority in the Vaults. At their initiative, the original distinction between countries was diluted, and a new "Global Coalition of Humanity" was established, a nation-like organization with a unified leader and a unified program, with each shelter as a member.

In 2079, the first global census was conducted under the command of the Alliance, and the data obtained was a total population of 68,425,211, of which 17,285,542 were women of childbearing age (15-55 years old), and more than 2 million were pregnant; There are more than 1.07 million people over the age of 65, most of whom are authoritative in various industries; There were more than 4.6 million children under the age of 10, and the lack of adequate infant nutrition and good sanitation meant that the survival rate of children at that time was less than 40%.

In 2084, the global association of scientific and technological workers "The Ark" was established at the initiative of the Alliance Parliament, and the remaining scientific elites passed legislation to control 41% of the precious electricity in the shelter for scientific research and research, and achieved global collaboration through scientific subgroup research and full sharing of results. Although humans are still unable to set foot on the ground due to the existence of nuclear winter, the brains of these human societies are working hard all the time for humans to set foot on the ground again.

In 2166 AD, after nearly a hundred years of licking and recuperating like a wound, the number of people under the Alliance's jurisdiction finally exceeded the red alert number of 90 million under strict control, which meant that the self-circulation function of the shelter would be destroyed, and although the "Oasis Theory" proposed less than 10 years ago had not yet passed the final verification, humanity had been forced to rush to the ground to seek space for survival.

On June 4, 2173 AD, the 7th group of 42,700 people set out from 357 shelters that joined the Global Human Alliance, and their mission was the same as that of their predecessors in the first 6 groups, which was to find habitable places suitable for humans to settle on the ground. Their mission is also different from that of their predecessors in the first 6 batches, and their commanders are told that they must find the habitable spot where the "Ark" still cannot be verified, because after 7 years of overload, 244 Vaults around the world have produced varying degrees of self-circulation decay, and the remaining 113 will also produce the same kind of decay within 1 year, in other words, humanity has entered the final countdown.

On the night of September 17, 2173, about 320 kilometers northeast of Zhongdian County, Diqing Prefecture, China.

At the foot of the silent sand dunes, a cloud of fine sand rises abruptly, quietly wrapped in an oval-colored shape less than 2 meters high.

"Whew!" A puff of white smoke erupted from all sides of the form, and then quickly deflated, revealing its human form. When the torso, limbs, and head were fully revealed, the fine sand covering the surface was removed, and they fell to the ground like mercury, raising up tiny dust.

"It's over again." Mo Gang watched his comrades who had changed shifts with him in the infrared night vision device open the latent mode, and the nuclear protective combat suit on his body was wrapped in a human form like a cocoon, and slowly drilled backwards into the sand layer at an elevation angle of less than 30 degrees. Towards Mo Gang's location, he fired the last infrared ray, which symbolized "ready", and the sand adsorption activated, which would completely hide the characteristics of his life, and watch the surrounding area by observing the miniature radar and sonar built into the helmet's visor instead of the naked eye and ears.

Mo Gang lifted his visor, revealing a young face that was sweating slightly. Yellow-skinned, black-eyed, and black-haired, he was born in Vault PRC 17 and was a lieutenant colonel commander of pure Han Chinese descent who commanded the military portion of the 7th Ground Expedition at PRC Vault 17.

Mo Gang, male, 24 years old, 177 cm tall, 70 kg in weight, 8 years in the army, 14 ground operations experience, including the 4th to 6th ground expedition operations, is the most experienced ground operations in the shelter, the highest level of technical and tactical level of special soldiers.

Turning past two small sand dunes, Mo Gang walked back to the camp set up at the entrance to a sand valley. This is a small camp, around the central bonfire, scattered in the camp more than 50 white tents, 2 people 1, about 100 people, including less than 40 soldiers.

Mo Gang recalled that the day he left the shelter, the team was the largest in the world, with a total of 16 experts and 42 assistants, and an integrated company of 132 fully armed special soldiers, bringing the total number to 190. Vault PRC 17's self-circulation has been reduced by more than 37%, and it is optimistically estimated that by December 2173, it will be reduced to a coffin containing dead people due to insufficient clean air and water.

This news was supposed to be kept secret from the person in charge, but after discussing it with Su Zhi, the head of the science group, Mo Gang decided to make the news public the day after the team left the shelter. Everyone has a family living in the shelter, after learning the news, the distraction of the people Mo Gang feared did not happen, the whole team was wrapped in a strong will to die, if they could not find a habitable place, the members of these expedition groups would not have to return to the shelter, because there, too, would be a place of death.

Motivated by this will to die, the expedition team burst out with extreme perseverance and patience, and for more than three months, they traveled more than 10 kilometers in a straight line every day, surveyed a suspected site every three days, and soldiers died almost every day. And so on, and finally the team was going to fail. The trained soldiers began to run low, and in order to ensure that the fighters were well rested, the scientists' assistants had already picked up their guns and shouldered the guards in the camp; Ammunition and living supplies also began to be scarce, although their baggage was prepared according to the 1-year exploration cycle, but a few encounters caused them to lose most of their equipment and supplies, and the rest was only enough for them to consume for less than 2 months; What's more, the delicate bodies of the scientists began to have problems, just the day before yesterday, the first middle-aged scientist died of fever, his body had developed immunity to the drug, and finally was killed by the disease, the soldiers began to panic, they could die generously, but if the scientists died, who would operate those instruments, who would confirm those suspected locations?

If the scientists are dead, what is the use of us soldiers alive? Mo Gang's eyes looked around the entire camp, and finally met the eyes of the young assistant in charge of guarding, a pair of eyes that shone brighter than the stars, with unyielding determination in his eyes, and enough optimism and faith to infect everyone.

Mo Gang suddenly felt that his mood was not so depressed, what if he died? Our group is gone, and naturally the next group will continue to do the same thing; PRC 17 is gone, and there will be other shelters doing the same. Nuclear winter did not destroy humanity, and humanity certainly will not be destroyed by this white desert. The worst result, that is, I and my lover, and my newborn son meet in heaven, but I don't know if I can learn to speak in heaven, in those legends, it seems that people in heaven are immortal, so naturally they will not grow up, so is it not that there is no chance to drink daughter-in-law tea in a lifetime?

Mo Gang was amused by his sudden crankiness, but finally endured it, and returned the military salute to the young assistant with a serious face, because the combat uniform that the young assistant temporarily found was not close-fitting, and it was a little funny on his body, Mo Gang didn't want this child who was not yet 18 years old to misunderstand his smile.

"What's your name?"

"I am the chief assistant of Su Zhi, a doctor of life sciences, Liu Guangyang! Sir! ”

"Liu Guangyang, I remember your name." Mo Gang straightened his combat uniform for Liu Guangyang and continued to walk towards the middle of the camp. When Liu Guangyang introduced himself, Mo Gang saw that person, Su Zhi, the head of the science group, standing on the edge of the campfire smacking the wine jug and smiling evilly in his direction.

Su Zhi is a celebrity in PRC 17 Vault, far more famous than a big soldier like Mo Gang. At the age of 16, he completed a university course in life sciences by himself, and in the same year, he was favored by the examiner in the online recruitment examination, and became a graduate student in life sciences and genetics at the Princeton Network School, and at the age of 22, he obtained a double doctorate degree, and at the age of 24, he was selected into the 72-member decision-making group of the Ark, and at the age of 37, he is already one of the six core decision-makers of the Ark, which can be said to be one of the most powerful people on the planet.

But he didn't have the arrogance of being a powerful person, and even the rigor of being a scientist was hard to see in him, and his hair was always messy, and his tin flask was his hallmark. Just as he stood by the campfire with a wicked smile now, the moonlight from one time to the blue of his half, and the other side of the fire to turn his half yellow, looking like a Yaksha out of hell, living on scare and blackmail.

"What are you laughing at?"

"My chief assistant, a very interesting person."

"Yes, seeing his clear eyes always makes people feel brighter."

"A hot-blooded boy with tendons, worshipping heroes and geniuses, if you want to be a good scientist, it is estimated that it is useless, and you can barely use it for at least 30 years as a strong laborer, and you are a qualified assistant."

"Your words hit the nail on the head." Mo Gang smiled bitterly, and couldn't help but think of Su Zhi's evaluation of himself when they first met.

14 ground missions, and now still alive, it seems that hiding behind your ass is at least life-free.

"Where, where." Su Zhi waved his hand aggressively, wiped his nose with his sleeve by the way, raised his hand and took another sip of wine, "This ghost weather, it's still so cold when you're about to stand on the fire, next time you must miniaturize those old pedants to find a way to put the air conditioner with higher power into the combat uniform, it's only September, and the self-regulation of the air conditioner is no longer enough." ”

"The doctors' bodies can still stand it, right? The soldiers are worried, we are not afraid of sacrifice, we are afraid that we will not be able to take you into the habitable point. ”

Su Zhi was stunned for a moment, put down the wine jug and stared at Mo for a while: "Are the soldiers worried about this?" ”

"Dr. Luo's death has had a great impact on morale."

"What a bunch of fools, more than 80 flesh and blood brothers died, and none of them took it to heart, and the skinny old pedant made you nervous like this with a braid." Su Zhi pretended to pouted with a sneer, and shouted loudly, "I, Su Zhi, practice Sanfu in summer and Sanjiu in winter, my body is very good, as long as I don't die, those machines can be started." Tell your soldiers, don't worry about those idle things, take care of your own life, I can't move those iron lumps. ”

"Why is it always ...... for you to say good words" Mo Gang gestured for a long time, I don't know how to describe it, Su Zhi's status can be unabashed, but he can't, maybe Su Zhi doesn't care, but those old pedants in Su Zhi's mouth are very careful.

"Straightforward? Stirring? Deafening? Su Zhi responded a few words, and suddenly showed a wicked smile like a flash of inspiration, "Rough, isn't it?" ”

"That's what you said, I didn't say anything."

"Well, I got myself in. Go around and go around it, who made you Mo Gang. Su Zhi suddenly approached, and as soon as his big sleeves that had wiped his nose were raised, he hugged Mo Gang's shoulders and pressed towards the bonfire.

Before Mo Gang could put aside the sleeves of his colorful coat, the strong tongue of fire licked his face, and Mo Gang hurriedly raised his waist and braked, which was able to avoid the flames.

Su Zhi's chicken nest came close at the right time, and his sneaky appearance seemed to be discussing some unsavory deed: "Hey, Young Master Mo, how is your one?" Su Zhi said vaguely, and the hand of Fu Xian made a gesture of holding up in the air.

"It's still like that, if you want to talk about change, it seems that the power is getting bigger, but it's not obvious." Mo Gang naturally knew what Su Zhi was asking, and as soon as he lifted it, a completely burning fuel rod flew out of the bonfire, suspended in the air, and in an instant it moved from stillness, soaring to 5 meters away, and slanting into the soft sand for nearly 50 centimeters, "The control distance is still 5 meters, which has not changed at all, and the change in accuracy is also very small." Mo Gang waved his hand and got out of Su Zhi's flower sleeves.

"Really? Let me see! Su Zhi took out a professional observation eye mask from his pocket like a trick, and with a twist of the switch, a soft silver light shot out from the light source at the top of the eye mask, and the picture just now began to play back, and in the observation hole of the eye mask, a large amount of measurement data flowed through Su Zhi's eyes like flowing water, "Your feeling is right." ”

Su Zhi drew a simple map on the sand, a bit like a physical map, "Lack of professional instruments, the strength of your ability has always been recorded by estimation and the most rough measurement method, so it is not rigorous, and when I find a habitable point, I have to fish you out of the army and do a good test for a few months." ”

Mo Gang suddenly felt a chill on his body, shivered involuntarily, and asked, "Doctor, although there were not many such special functions before, they are not completely absent, why do you only pay so much attention to me?" ”

"It's different, you have too many regularity in you, such as the time limit of the use of ability, such as strength, sensitivity, etc., it seems that this is a completely new skill, not instinct; On the contrary, the special functions that have been recorded in the past are basically instincts, and if they have, they will be there, and if they will be able to do so, this is different. When it came to professionalism, Su held his hands and danced endlessly, but when he turned his head, he found that the only audience member kept nodding his head, obviously about to fall asleep. Even though he knew that Mo Gang was hard, Su Zhi couldn't help but be angry in his heart, and the evil was born to the side of the guts, raising his hand to "snap" and slap Mo Gang on the back of the head, Mo Gang was completely defenseless, and the whole person fell towards the bonfire, and when he reacted, his body was already unbalanced and fell to the fire.

"Shhh When his eyes opened, he saw the raging fire that was getting closer and closer, and this change was that Mo Gang was still frightened after a hundred battles. The brain had no time to give instructions to the body, but the tempered body naturally raised its hand, and all the fuel rods flew up in an instant, straight into the sky.

Mo Gang fell on the blackened sand that was still a little hot, only to feel that the cold sweat had soaked through his underwear. He turned over with difficulty and lay on the sand pile with some heat, looking at the starry sky: "Doctor, you scared me to death. ”

Su Zhi didn't reply, he looked at the direction of the starry sky where the fuel rod disappeared in a daze, and muttered in his mouth: "Sure enough, it's a new human being, the law of survival of the fittest brings new abilities to human beings, and there will really be a new human being." ”

Mo Gang listened for a while, and suddenly felt that scientists were also boring creatures, as long as they got into their own domain, they couldn't care about anything, as if they had entered the battlefield. He continued to look at the night sky full of stars, and suddenly felt that the stars were particularly bright today, and the feeling of falling became bigger and bigger in his eyes.

"Doctor! Fell! ”

"What fell?"

"Fuel rods, of course! Get out of the way! ”

"Oops! My Versace white coat! ”

"Hahaha! I would have asked you to wear only combat uniforms, aren't they all white! ”

"What do you kid know, this is called professional ethics! Oops, come back! ”

"Hahaha! Doctor, you don't practice in the summer and practice in the winter...... Oops my head! ”

"Hahaha! It's still a hero, but that's it! My flask! It's burning! It's burning! ”

"Pounce on the sand! One pounce and it's gone! ”

After a burst of chickens and dogs, the night returned to tranquility, Liu Guangyang was attracted by this excitement and wanted to come and see, but the embarrassed two people glared back to the warning point with vicious eyes at the same time, so the huge empty field, dotted with fuel rods that are not easy to extinguish, Su Zhi and Mo Gang lay on the ground crookedly head to head, and they didn't even bother to wipe off the black ash on their faces.

"Mo Gang ......"

"I understand, doctor, as long as I can find a place to live, even if I demobilize you and let you dissect it when I go back, I will agree."

"Yes, that's good."

"You don't really want to dissect me, do you?"

"How can it? At least until the second case is discovered, I am reluctant to dissect you. ”

"You're still as straight to the point as ever."

"Awards, awards."

"Doctor, the older generation said that we used to call Shangri-La here, which means heaven, is it beautiful?"

"Beautiful, there is a lake everywhere, so green that it always makes people feel like they are falling, but you can see the bottom of the lake at a glance, how deep the lake is. There are also green trees all over the mountains, as well as sycamores, and in autumn, that is, in these months, the fiery red one, like the mountains are burning. ”

"You know so much." Mo Gang listened to Su Zhi's description and tried to stitch it with the colors in his head, but found that there were too few colors, so he had to give up.

"Our ancestors were teachers, and our ancestors were reluctant to lose their books when they fled, but my family's books were among the top three in the shelter, and professional books were even more wealthy. When I was a child, I studied hard just to be able to use the computers in the research room, and the capacity of a few gigabytes in the computer can hold more information than the books in my home collection by tens of thousands of times. ”

"Doctor, please."

"What? Don't want your son to continue to be a soldier? ”

"You really know everything. I just want him to learn more, watch more, and be a soldier and let him do it. ”

"Understood, I accepted this registered disciple, what is your son's name?"

"Siwu, Mo Siwu."

"It's really a martial arts name, if you don't become a soldier when you grow up, you can only go to be a bodyguard for a big family."

"I'm really ashamed of what you said."

"That's good, let's set a baby kiss, when our two families give birth to a boy and a girl, let's get married, so that your old Mo family can also get the fragrance of books."

"That's a high climb."

"Hahahaha!" The two of them spoke, laughing insolently, the heavy rain of fuel rods that split their heads and brains, washed away the last estrangement between the two, and also washed away all the haze of the past few days, so that tonight is over, maybe tomorrow, the legendary habitable point will appear in front of you like a mirage.

"Lieutenant Colonel! Lieutenant Colonel Mo! "The autumn night, which had just returned to peace, was torn apart by this terrible shout.

"Li Dajiang! I'm here! The laziness on Mo Gang's face suddenly disappeared, and he turned over and sat up, the black ash on his face that had not been wiped made his face look like a Shura demon in hell in the flickering firelight, hideous and terrifying.

"Lieutenant colonel, 60 kilometers to the southeast, found that the target was approaching at high speed, and the comparison of the shape was confirmed to be the Sand Sea Demon Scorpion, the number was ...... Greater than 6. ”

The Sand Sea Demon Scorpion, is one of the several kings of desert creatures, likes to live in groups, the body length is between 3 and 5 meters regardless of the scorpion tail, the whole body is covered with a hard shell, the bite force of the left and right pincers is more than 500 kg, the diameter of the scorpion tail needle is greater than 20 mm, and the initial velocity of the tail flick can reach 600-800 meters per second, which is not inferior to a large-caliber sniper rifle. They are accustomed to sneaking quickly 2-10 meters below the surface of the desert, and can sprint at speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

"More than 6 demon scorpions, hehe, it seems that there is still a scorpion king. Command! ”

"Yes! Sir! ”

"I hereby order that Second Lieutenant Li Dajiang temporarily act as the captain of the 2nd detachment, and bring all 8 people of the 2nd detachment to the command of Major Chen Jinzhai of the 2nd group for the time being, and protect the scientific group to evacuate to the southwest with the necessary equipment and baggage!"

"I hereby order, Captain Crane and all 8 people of 1 detachment, carrying infrastructure materials, 1 thermal sword for every 2 people, heavy firepower as standard, 1 base ammunition, and 5 kilometers northwest to establish a sniper position, under my command!"

"Hereby order, sound the assembly alarm, the sentinel detachment withdraws, and the coordinated science group transfers, above!"

"Yes! Sir! Li Dajiang saluted, turned around and began to convey orders as quickly as possible, he did not compete for the almost mortal task of sniping, not because of cowardice, but because in the expedition group, every soldier has the consciousness of sniping the enemy, and those who are arranged to evacuate do not fight, and those who are arranged to break off do not shirk, this is all Mo Gang's requirements for them.

"Mo Gang ......"

"Doctor, I remember you said before that human society could launch satellites into low-earth orbit and shoot the Earth from a height of several thousand meters, right?"

"That's right. But the radioactive fallout has covered the earth for 74 years, and in addition to the crashed ones, those that continue to float in the sky have long been damaged, just a pile of scrap metal floating in the sky. ”

"Why didn't it launch again?"

"The stratosphere has been affected by saturated nuclear explosions, electromagnetic scattering, even if you are lucky enough to launch it, you can't receive a signal, and such a big project as building a rocket, at least the current human beings are impossible to complete, if you can't return to the surface, maybe it won't be completed in the next 100 years."

"Really? What a wonderful young man! Mo Gang looked at the soldiers who had gathered together in an orderly manner during the assembly of sirens, and muttered in a low voice, "I occasionally wonder if we had a satellite now, wouldn't it be necessary for these young people to use their blood to explore this white sand dead sea." ”

"I also think that if I had a satellite, at least my experimental materials would not be busy dying." Su Zhi pursed his lips like a child and muttered in a low voice.

"Long ...... Sir! What am I going to do! I am Liu Guangyang, the guard on duty today, and I do not belong to any of the above three orders! Silently, Liu Guangyang suddenly got in front of the two, his big clear eyes were full of perseverance to die, and the kind of pride that didn't care about everything made Mo Gang feel arrogant and rise sharply.

"Doctor, you said that Liu Guangyang can't be a scientist, right?"

"It's just a stupid boy who is in a hurry to die, you can take it if you want."

"Give him a camera, and maybe I'll be able to capture some of my last battle and return to you safely."

"Humph! You're generous. Silly boy! And then, my personal possessions, I know you have secretly studied. Su Zhi took out a square box from the side pocket of his combat uniform, and took out an ultra-long lens that resembled a sniper rifle scope from the other side, "Take a good shot, bring it back to me and show me, how good this guy can be." ”

"Ahh Be! Doctor! Liu Guangyang hurriedly took Su Zhi's camera and replied repeatedly.

"Will you shoot? Comrade guard on duty. ”

"Huh? Oh! Yes, sir! My marksmanship is very good, I am the second place in the science category! ”

"Oh? Who is the number one winner? Liu Guangyang secretly glanced at Su Zhi, bit his lip and shook his head. Mo Gang laughed twice, turned around and walked towards the 1st detachment sequence that had completed the assembly, "The sniper position is short of manpower, if you want to die, come here!" ”

"Huh? Yes! Be! Sir! ”

"That's right!" A slap on the back of the head of the scrambled Liu Guangyang, pushing him into the 1st detachment queue, Mo Gang turned around and returned to Su Zhi's side, "Doctor, let me tell you a secret, Li Dajiang, is the second lieutenant who reported the news just now, he never uses fire to light a cigarette, and he comes out with a snap of his finger." He was afraid of being dissected by you, but he kept it a secret from me. ”

"What! It's true! Su Zhi was stunned for a moment, and then turned overjoyed, but when he reacted and looked up, Mo Gang had already walked out of 3 meters away.

"This appointment has already been written, and I really want to give it to you. Let him and Squad 2 be your guards, good young boys. Mo Gang said, and flew out of the pocket of his combat uniform a carefully folded white paper, with fine words written on it, it floated over Mo Gang's head, suspended in front of Su Zhi, and was dragged into his hand by Su Zhi, "Don't forget your doll kiss, I don't have a chance to supervise." Detachment 1, let's go! ”

"Turn right! 5 km northwest sniper position, run and walk! Under Captain Crane's thick command, the 10-man sniper detachment separated from the large force, and brazenly faced the sand sea demon scorpion advancing at high speed.