Dawning City, Union Square.

Goose-feathered snow drifts in the sky, and a towering stone monument stands in the middle of the square.

As early as the beginning of the Union, the monument was located there.

It was shaped like a sword, pointing straight to the sky, and the unfinished obeli was still stretching upward.

Every once in a while, it extends upwards.

Sometimes it's a meter or two, sometimes it's as tall as several people stacked on top of each other.

There are many names engraved on that monument.

And every name engraved there is a memory of blood and glory.

In addition to commemorating the sacrifices, it was also the place where the soldiers of the Alliance triumphed and received their medals......

……

Just like Vault 404 when it opened its doors for the 777th time, this year was another cold winter, and the first snow fell before the end of autumn.

And now it's just winter, and the sky is snowing like goose feathers.

The first time she saw snow, especially such a big snow, Dora was excited like a child, chasing the snow on her back and playing, but she didn't see the road ahead, she tripped over the stone ridge on the side of the road, and accidentally knocked the passing vine into the flower bed.

The spherical greenery was covered with snow, but the two of them were not injured in the collision.

However, after suffering such a flying disaster, Fujiten's spirit seemed to have suffered a lot of impact, his soul seemed to float out of his body, and his bright eyes gradually lost their light.

The sight of losing her dreams startled Dora, and she slapped the snow off her body at a loss while saying sorry repeatedly.

The players who were joining in the excitement on the side saw the situation here, and they didn't go up to help, and they patronized one by two.

"Referee! There are people here who hit people with balls! ”

"Pass it on! Fujito was stunned by the ball! ”

“？ Isn't it dizzy? ”

"Don't care how dizzy! Fast! Dora, artificial respiration! ”

“？？？”

There was chaos, and Dora could understand what they were saying, but she didn't know what to do.

These gang of goaters only cared about blind commands, but none of them were willing to give a demonstration on the spot.

Until the warm-hearted mosquitoes arrived on the scene.

"I'll ——!"

Hearing the broken voice of the male duck, the vine vine, whose face was squeezed out of shape, suddenly woke up from Dora's arms with a clever wit, and reflexively kicked the mosquito into the flower bed.

"Woo-"

Looking at the mosquitoes fluttering in the snowdrifts, she roared with shame.

"Die!"

Seeing that Miss Fujito was furious, all the players suddenly scattered and slipped away.

And not far from the flower bed, I heard that Fuji Teng's tail was stunned by a snowball, and he had a snowball fight with a group of budding newcomers who were not deeply involved in the world.

It turns out that there is no supersonic snowball in Wasteland OL, or that it disintegrates the moment it breaks through the sound barrier.

Looking at the snow foam whizzing in the air, the white dove standing at the edge of the square with Xiaohong had an interested smile on his face.

"It's really hilarious."

Xiaohong didn't speak, just quietly looked in the direction of the center of Qingquan City, with a hint of a smile on her face, as if she was looking at her child's old mother.

As if sensing its presence, a crisp chirp came from afar, like the sound of a dolphin.

"Babble——!"

"Uh-huh-" Xiao Hong, who looked at the vast snow curtain and looked in the direction of Qingquan City, responded.

'Feathers...... Awesome! ’

'Really? You're in a good relationship. ’

'Hmmm! ’

“……”

In a short moment, they had finished talking about the old things that ordinary people couldn't finish talking about for several days, from the French Fries Port in the south to the whirlpool sea in the westernmost part of the Central Continent.

And those places are all things that Xiaohong, who stays in the Lost Valley, has never seen......

At this time, an unfamiliar voice suddenly came from the side.

"Are you...... Dove? ”

Hearing a sound from the side, the white dove turned around, but saw a walking tin can.

The man was dressed in round armor, covering every inch of his body with pieces of iron, and only two eyes peeking through the gaps.

Smelling the spores of the mutant slime fungus from him, the white dove's face showed a moment of surprise, but it quickly turned into a warm smile.

It's of the same kind.

This guy, like him, has developed a somewhat symbiotic relationship with the slime mutant.

It's just that he doesn't seem to be lucky, and he meets a guy who lacks a sense of boundaries.

"It's me, what's wrong?"

"Fortunately, I will be happy! I have admired the daimyo for a long time! There was a tinkling sound in the tin can, and he smiled embarrassedly and said, "My name is Bucky...... Hehe, I originally wanted to go to the Valley of Fallen Leaves to find you, but I didn't expect you to come to Dawning City. ”

"Then you're really a coincidence," the white pigeon smiled faintly and glanced up at the sky, "in a few days, I may have to go somewhere else." ”

“…… Elsewhere? ”

Bucky was stunned for a moment, but didn't react. The white dove didn't explain, just looked at him and asked.

"Do you want to find me something?"

"It's a bit of a thing...... That's right, I heard that you're an expert in studying mutant slime molds, so I wanted you to help me see if I can be saved? ”

As he spoke, Bucky reached for the back of his head and removed his helmet, revealing a face that would have scared a child to tears.

The white dove looked at his face, but did not show a look of disgust or fear, but just touched his chin with interest, and then stretched out the index finger of his right hand.

"I'll see."

As he spoke, his index finger was already on Bucky's forehead, and a thread-like flesh-red spore sprout emerged from his fingertips.

The spore bud was like a needle, piercing the skin on Bucky's forehead and burrowing towards the skull.

However, at this time, a change suddenly happened.

The fleshy skin suddenly twisted into a wrinkled ripple as if it had come to life, like a wild dog guarding food, and it had bitten off his silky spore buds.

The white dove had such an expression on his face, and withdrew his index finger from his forehead.

A bewildered Bucky didn't know what was going on, but just looked at the former and blinked.

"In the end...... What happened? ”

"It's grown into your head."

Hearing this answer, Bucky's eyes widened for a moment, and a look of panic appeared on his face.

"How so?! But...... I, I've been using inhibitors......"

The white dove nodded.

"Yes, I can feel it. And, perhaps because of the inhibitors, you don't realize you're not Bucky...... Rather, it is a slime mold that has inherited Bucky's memories and is still alive under the name Bucky. ”

Hearing this astonishing thing, Bucky covered his face in unacceptable discomfort, and repeated the fragments in his mouth.

"I ...... Is it slime mold? I'm not Bucky? ”

"Yes and no," the white pigeon said in a soft voice, looking at him who couldn't accept the reality, "You're slime fungus, and you're Bucky...... At least that's the Bucky that the people here know. ”

Looking at the man who looked up blankly, he thought for a moment and continued.

"A ship with all the planks replaced, whether it is still the same boat, I think it is. Although all the elements that make it up have changed, there has been no change in the form in which it exists, and our cells themselves are in a constant metabolism that changes every ten years at most...... It's just that you and I are in the case that we add a little bit of something else to this metabolic process. ”

"It doesn't matter if you think it's eating your body, or you can think it's your consciousness that replaces its original existence. But one thing is for sure, whether you're a human or a slime or something is up to you. ”

"It's up to me......" Bucky looked at the senior in front of him in a daze, and stayed in place wordlessly, as if he understood, but as if he didn't.

The white dove smiled and looked at the monument in the distance, and the manager standing under the monument, with a little more interest in his eyes.

"Is a slime fungus with human consciousness a human being considered human...... It seems that the alliance has already thought about this issue, hehe. Actually, you don't have to be so sad, the people here have already accepted you, but you can't accept it yourself. ”

"'Bucky' became the new 'Bucky' a long time ago, probably before he used the inhibitor...... It's a pity, but it's something that can't be helped. After all, even if you kill this part, you won't be able to come back. The doctors of the alliance prescribe inhibitors to you out of kindness, so that you can live like sleepwalking all day long, in fact, you know in your heart that you are lying to yourself. ”

"Your rejection is because you resist the change and feel sick to your body."

"Why not try to accept it? For example, think of it as a new beginning, and then stop the inhibitor. ”

"You're going to slowly merge and harness that power...... Before you start to get tired of the long time, you steal the fun. ”

"After all, this is an 'immortal body'."

The white dove, who threw down these words, waved his hand, leaving Bucky, who was staring at his hands thoughtfully, in place, and left with Xiaohong.

The crowd didn't give Bucky a second look...... Even if it's the face that can scare a child into crying.

It's an alliance here.

And it's where the alliance goes.

What strange things haven't the wastelanders seen here?

People didn't look at him strangely because he had slime molds on him, and the clunky armor trapped only his old self......

Not long after the white dove left, the snow battle provoked by the tail became larger and larger, and the scope of the spread became more and more extensive, quite like a world war!

In the end, not only the new ones, but also the veterans who returned to Dawn City from the center of the Great Desert to participate in the award ceremony also joined the battlefield.

In this melee between the Awakened and the Awakened, the war criminal Ah Wei was finally defeated by seven or eight balls with both fists, and was drowned in the snowdrift with a miserable scream.

"Let go of me—"

"I've done a lot for the Alliance! I want to see Brother Guang! ”

"Wait, if you take a picture, you want to stand in the C position with your tail - Giao! Whose ass moves away! Blocked the tail head! ”

Everyone took turns to take a group photo, and finally rescued her from the snowman pile before Ah Wei's snot fell.

Just when everyone was having fun, they waited at the edge of the square for a long time and finally waited for Jiang Xuezhou, who was half an hour late.

She was wearing a white cashmere jacket and a scarf around her neck that he had given him, and she looked like a snowman.

But even so, Ye Shi recognized her from the crowd at a glance, and recognized at a glance that she was different from before.

Staring directly at the delicate face like a 3D model, Ye Shi held back for a long time before he couldn't help but say.

"By the way, how did you become like this?"

"Isn't it pretty......" Jiang Xuezhou panicked for a moment, and hooked his fingers like a child who failed the exam.

Yajuchi shook his head, blushing a little embarrassed and looking away.

"That's not ......"

How to say it.

Good looking is good-looking, that is, I feel like I've seen it in the 3D area.

After staring at Ye Shi's eyes for a long time, and making sure that this guy was shy, the corners of Jiang Xuezhou's originally straight mouth suddenly got carried away and turned into the sky.

"Hmph."

With her arms folded in front of her chest, she brushed the hair that fell over her shoulders and raised the bridge of her nose beautifully.

"I'm sorry, Miss Ben looks like this...... It's just a scientific restoration. ”

"Yes, yes, yes."

Ye Shi made a helpless expression, and said that you are happy.

He didn't dislike it before, but he couldn't talk about it instead of becoming more beautiful.

It may be a bit sensible to say this, but he is indeed in love with that kind and beautiful soul.

No matter what she becomes, that will remain the same.

Maybe his eyes were really a little numb, and his fair and pretty face suddenly became scared.

The index fingers hooked together rubbed against each other, and she hesitated for a long time, and finally whispered.

"That's right, that ...... There's something I have to say sorry to you. ”

Yashi looked at her suspiciously.

"What's the matter?"

"There are some things that theory is theory after all, although I know it, but at that time, I patronized and saved you, and there was a key part...... I didn't expect that piece to go. Anyway, you know what I'm talking about......"

Her index finger ran around the ends of her sideburns, and she blushed like a lantern, glancing at him from time to time.

“…… Do you want to install it? ”

Although it was only a slight touch of sight, Ye Ten had the feeling that his heart had been hit by a bullet.

Maybe it's a virgin.

According to Elder Brother Fang's ridicule, this is the most typical humiliating performance of a virgin - but shame is shame, he doesn't disdain to argue with old things about this kind of thing.

For a moment, he even had the urge to tell the other party the QQ password.

Nope-

He even figured out what the child's name was.

"You wait for me for three days!"

Jiang Xuezhou was stunned.

"Three days? Why three days ......"

"Don't worry so much, just wait for me for three days-"

"You have something to say, don't suddenly turn the gun at yourself!"

For a moment, Jiang Xuezhou was indeed frightened by this guy.

But fortunately, the well-informed guards arrived in time and pulled someone who fainted while "reporting the bug......

……

The bell rang at eight o'clock, and before I knew it, the square was already full of people, and the eyes of those who were focused on the monument in the middle of the square almost melted the thick snow.

It's different from the cold winters of previous years.

Although there was a lot of snow in this year's cold winter, it was far from difficult.

The shelves of supermarkets are filled with a wide variety of goods, and even the average citizen in the most unskilled jobs can afford it.

Survivors who have just arrived here will hardly believe that just five years ago, people living here had to stuff paper money from the pre-war era into sacks to use as cotton clothing.

This is undoubtedly a miracle.

The people who live here no longer have to fear the silvery hell, and the young children are even more happy to build snowmen in front of their homes.

This had never happened before the Wasteland Era 211, when most people didn't even have a home.

The manager did not break his promise-

He built a miracle on this land of nothing, which was not inferior to the ideal city.

And even—

This miracle that illuminates the entire wasteland shines brighter than the light of the ideal city!

Of course, as he said, this is not his own work.

The credit belongs to everyone.

Both the living.

Or people who died in the past.

Looking back at the pair of admiring eyes, and the faces full of longing and even fanaticism, Chu Guang's thoughts standing under the monument couldn't help but drift back to the past.

That was the 777th time Vault 404 had opened.

At that time, it was probably near Linghu Wetland Park, and when I first arrived, I was confused about everything around me, and was even chased by a wild dog with two heads for several miles, and almost didn't die in the dog's mouth.

Facts have proved that people don't know how good they are if they don't push themselves.

Although the price was a bit too painful, so that he died again and again in various strange ways, but fortunately, the final result was a happy ending.

But that's all in the past.

Even to this day, the echoes of death occasionally appear in his dreams in the form of nightmares with the help of spontaneously formed form fields.

"It's not easy to get here, master."

Xiao Qi's voice came from his ears.

Chu Guang could hear that the jubilant voice was happy for himself from the bottom of his heart.

A faint smile curled up at the corner of his mouth, and Chu Guang said in a voice that only two people could hear.

"It's true that it's not easy to get here. And it's not just me, it's you...... too."

"It's been hard work for you all along."

He wasn't the only one who was reborn 777 times.

He will remember that promise for the rest of his life and treat this little guy well.

"The host ......"

The electronic sound wafted into my ears with a slight tremor, as if I was so moved that I was about to cry.

Chu Guang believes that this guy has feelings, and he does have joys, sorrows, and feelings.

But crying is undoubtedly a fake.

At this time, the bell of eight o'clock came from a distance, breaking the noise in the square.

The bustling sound suddenly became uncanny silence, and all that remained in the square was the sound of snow falling and the wind blowing.

The knee-jerk reaction made even the people who stopped talking feel a little surprised.

Time's up.

The ceremony of triumph is about to take place.

Not only that, but today's triumphal ceremony has another extraordinary meaning that is completely different from the previous ones!

In addition to awarding medals to the soldiers who participated in the final battle, their esteemed administrators will also draw a final end to this more than two-century-long war at this solemn and solemn moment of victory -

They have defeated not only the Torch Church and the corrupted legions, nor the Enlightenment or the Celestials.

It's the Wasteland Age!

From now on, a new global order will be formed on earth, and no one or any force will tolerate the breeding of evil and barbarism.

The survivor forces will unite like never before and form a de facto union!

Looking at the pair of hot pupils, Chu Guang's Adam's apple moved slightly, and he opened his mouth in a eloquent tone.

"In the year 211 of the Wasteland Era, I remember that it was also a cold winter...... I hadn't just come out of the shelter and was not fully prepared, and I even acted in a hurry. ”

"Especially when I saw the first snow, I couldn't help but think in my mind, 'Is it too early to open the door?'"

"I think it's not just me who has thought about it, many people have thought about it."

He didn't prepare the speech beforehand, and he didn't try to wake up the fire in people's hearts, because there was no need for that.

They have long since ceased to be just waiting in place, and have become the light that lights up the horizon themselves.

Moreover, this was only the opening speech of the triumphal ceremony, not a war mobilization or political performance.

He just wants to be an ordinary person and have a heart-to-heart chat with those who support him.

"I wasn't motivated by any great reason or big goal to make these decisions."

"Simply because I woke up from the wasteland and saw a skinny girl with a longing for an inconspicuous candy, a simple, kind, hard-working family that could not guarantee even the most basic needs of survival, and the man who was supposed to lead them to rebuild his home rode above their heads, groveling to barbarism and striking hard at civilization...... Even the inhabitants of the Vault, who were supposed to lead by example, were not much better, and we who should have stood up and done something not only chose to remain silent, but also used the knowledge of the Age of Prosperity to rub the pills for those beasts and settle the score. ”

"I've seen people eating people, and what's even more terrifying is that no one thinks it's wrong – whether it's the one who eats or the one who gets eaten. Soon I thought about myself, if my children had to make trade-offs to survive one day in the future, would it be worth it for me to live at all costs today. ”

The square was silent.

Chu Guang could feel the resonance.

Because he knew very well that it was a choice that every wastelander had ever made.

In order to survive, they more or less did things that they were not willing to do.

Whether it's right, or it's wrong.

“…… There's no shame in living, but I know we can't go on like this, we have to do something. Because if we do nothing but wait for fate to make a choice for us, we won't have a future like that. ”

"We will die in silence when we are alive, and the traces of our existence will be meaningless. It's not even a shame, because we're going to be the last generation, and no one will even put this stinking coffin on our place! ”

"So from that moment on, I decided to try to do something, to start where I could, to stop taking ugliness and squalor for granted, to stop living just for the sake of living...... Instead, it is to become the light yourself, to light the fire in your hands, and to be the light that you can see before igniting the people around you. ”

Chu Guang took a deep breath gently, letting the turbidity in his chest melt into the white mist.

With a smile on his face, he lowered his voice a few decibels, and continued at a flat pace.

“…… I am honored that you are all me, and that I have seen countless people who have not hesitated to make the same choice in the face of chaos and savagery. ”

"This is a miracle that we have created together, and we will continue to move forward with the memory of more than two hundred years of destruction, and a new civilization will rise again from the ruins of old prosperity."

"Our children will live in a brighter future and will not have to fear the arrival of winter and night as much as we do! Because of the end of the Wasteland Age of their fathers, with their courage, unity and determination, they have created impossible miracles! ”

"We have won not only a war, but also a victory over our past!"

"History will turn a new page, and every day from now on will be a new era!"

"This great victory belongs to us—"

"Every one of us fighting to end the Wasteland Age!"