Except when he returned to base, Ulanov wore his full-coverage helmet in every situation, which was almost his signature image. However, this helmet is not meant to be handsome and stylish, nor is it exactly to enhance any defense, its real purpose is to maintain the life of a veteran soldier and hide his terrifying true face.

Hao Ren saw a terrifying-looking man sitting behind a desk fiddling with some kind of device, his face barely human. Large swaths of his skin were gone, revealing muscles and bones that glowed with metallic silver, an eyeball that was connected by some electronic wiring to keep it from falling, a metal tube with a valve that had been left in the place where his nose had been, a hose that had been connected to a gas cylinder by the table, and his teeth, where there was only a neat row of metal.

Ulanov's true face hidden under the helmet was like a skull made of a mixture of flesh and steel, strange and terrifying, Rao is Hao Ren has seen all kinds of strange and inexplicable things, and he can't help but be startled when he sees this scene.

"What are you ......" He couldn't hide his surprise, so he simply asked directly, "How did you get it?" ”

"Sixty-five years ago, I worked near the Sea of Nanoplanes to see if those nano swarms could be used to develop space colonies," Ulanov's remaining muscles twitched with the flexible metal, as if trying to smile at Hao Ren, but it looked almost terrifying than Yitzhax's smile, "I couldn't get out when the 'Juggernaut' computer went down, so I was melted - almost a third. ”

Ulanov said, slightly ruffling his shirt. Hao Ren was amazed to see a transparent chest plate underneath the clothes, and the deformed internal organs and artificial organs pulsated slowly in the pale pink life-sustaining solution. It looks like a cyborg who came out of a horror movie.

"I was one of the few survivors of that disaster, and probably the longest-lived." Ulanov pointed to the bed next to him, and motioned for Hao Ren to sit down at will, "Ah, you're probably not interested in any of this - you have something to do with me?" ”

Hao Ren had just recovered from the shock of Ulanov's true appearance and experience, and he suddenly didn't know what to say, and only after sitting down on the bed with a little restraint did he mention his original purpose: "What, I want to ask...... Who do I need to report if I have something to leave the base? ”

"Leaving the base?" Ulanov's voice revealed the question, "Where are you going?" ”

"When you walk around the neighborhood, you should at least know what kind of place you will live in the future." Hao Ren shrugged, "And I can't bother you here all the time—I'm not going to join any organization, so I'm going to leave someday." ”

"I know Nolan's character, and I'm afraid she doesn't mind if you stay here forever, because she doesn't care about that," Ulanov said hoarsely, his voice coming not from his mouth, but from a resonant tube in his throat, his vocal cords that had become part of the nanomethanes decades ago. Now he has replaced more than half of his physiological functions, "but it's normal for you to think so." I can accompany you if you want to go out, I don't have a mission for the time being, and this place is not peaceful. ”

"No, no. Don't bother you, I've been a soldier anyway, and I should always have this survival skill. Hao Ren hurriedly waved his hand, "I'm just here to inquire about what procedures you need to go through to leave the base—you are a military unit after all." ”

Ulanov laughed dumbly: "Aha...... Don't be so rigorous. The gray fox doesn't have so many rules, because Nolan is the only one here. As long as you don't get in trouble with her. No one will trouble you. ”

Hao Ren sighed, and Ulanov grabbed something from the table bucket and threw it to Hao Ren: "Take this, even if you don't join the gang, the identity of the gray fox can help you block a lot of trouble, in this place, only the guys with the corps behind them are considered people, and those without identity are the 'slag' in the factory." ”

Hao Ren caught the small metal plate that flew over, it was a small badge-like thing, on which was laser-etched a gray fox head, which was the symbol of the gray fox mercenary group. In the chaotic streets, people are dominated by a strict hierarchy, the cadres from the Zero City and the commanders of the various regiments are first-class, the soldiers and brokers who are backed by the regiments are revered as "citizens", and the lowest are the coolies who have no identity and are not capable of fighting, who are engaged in heavy and unreplaceable menial work in the smoky factories, suffering from respiratory diseases and all kinds of pollution, and relying on poor food and neuroparalytic agents made by nanomachines to sustain their short lives, they are called "slag".

Without the guarantee of a corps, visitors who came to Black Street would be thrown into the factory in less than three days, and only a handful of people could come out in their entirety. And even if you can escape this catastrophe, it will not be much easier to survive in the slums of the Black Street than it is to make "slag" in a factory.

This is human society after the collapse of civilization.

Hao Ren also skimmed the information about the black street when he looked up the information on the Internet, although the information was simple, he still had a general understanding of the rules and environment of this place, so he knew that this small metal plate should actually be a gift from Nolan to himself, and for an outsider, this was an extremely valuable unexpected gift. He put away the identification card properly and looked at Ulanov curiously: "Are the other mercenary groups as easy to deal with as you are?" ”

"Other?" Ulanov laughed, his voice as rough as a broken old bellows, "You either join them or be thrown into the factory, most of the mercenary groups are also doing the work of human traffickers." You should be glad you met Nolan, she's the toughest and least rude mercenary here, and she made her own rules, which is that everyone except her is bullshit - so as long as she approves of someone, then this person is basically safe in the dark street, and all the corps will give some face. ”

Hao Ren's mind flashed Nolan's face, the mercenary girl with long gray hair and a constant expressionless face, her eyes left an indelible impression on Hao Ren, and now when she recalls it, there seems to be an indescribable alienation and vicissitudes in her eyes, just like a transcendent person who sees through the mortal and transcendent world is watching life and death on the sidelines. Hao Ren couldn't help but feel goosebumps on his back when he recalled this detail, and he firmly believed that he saw something in Nolan's eyes that theoretically did not belong to her: "Nolan...... How old is this year? ”

"Seventeen, or eighteen—no older," Ulanov said, looking into Hao Ren's eyes, "don't ask more, that's all I know." The great warlords of this place are extremely jealous of Nolan, and one of the main reasons they fear her is because of her age. It is said that when she was thirteen years old, she assassinated two mercenary captains alone, with her bare hands, and in the most brutal way. You may think you saved Heaton's life today, but in reality, Nolan estimates that there are more than a hundred ways to kill all the ambushers he encountered today. ”

Hao Ren was dumbfounded: "Is she Superman?" ”

"Some people say that she is actually a 'third-generation evolutionary', just disguised as the first-generation, and some people say that she is actually a soldier created before the fall of the Far Eastern Alliance, you can search for the 'soldier plan', what you say," Ulanov shook his head, put the adjusted breathing filter back into his helmet, removed the snorkel from his nose and put it back on, "But I don't believe any of you, and don't ask Nolan about this." She's usually good-tempered, but when she gets angry, no one is her match...... Ha, it feels good to put it back on. ”

Ulanov put on his helmet, attached the wires that had extended from his jacket under his mask, and then pulled the alloy zipper of his coat, transforming himself into a grotesque soldier who looked like a motorcycle rider in a completely enclosed manner. His helmet provided him with breathing aids and constantly emitted electrical signals to keep his severely damaged brain functioning, while a piece of armor under his jacket released another set of signals to suppress the remaining nanometros within his body to prevent the deadly little things from severing his spine entirely. The device, along with the artificial organs in his body, formed a grotesquely deformed body that had sustained him for sixty-five years, and as long as his brain survived, the body would continue to survive until it outlived any human.

Sixty-five years ago, he lost one-third of his body, and today, sixty-five years later, eighty percent of the tissues in his body have been updated and modified, this kind of transformation is unique even among the second generation of evolutionaries, and it is difficult to say whether the transformed Ulanov is a human or a living biochemical machine, the only thing that is certain is that this old soldier is still alive.

Why did he insist on living to this day?

Hao Ren looked at Ulanov's not burly body, knowing that this unrecognizable veteran must have more stories, but he hadn't yet reached the time to ask clearly, so after thanking the other party for telling him so many things today, he left Ulanov's room. (To be continued......)