"Sounds .... You started a faith in snakes, but now why are you turning to Hecate? Andy sat by the fire, the light of the fire illuminating his face, and as the night wore on, the surroundings had fallen silent, except for the faint sounds of the market in the distance.

The old man had an expression on his face that was something like something you would never understand.

"It's not about snakes... The serpent is only a manifestation of His power, and His existence is higher than the interface of our existence, and even a shadow is something extremely complex and incomprehensible... That's it, you won't understand this, if you have the opportunity in the future, maybe you can try, just inject the snake venom of the holy snake into your body, you will see... Although it may be at the last moment before death. Andy has never been interested in the speech of the magic stick, and when he heard this, he raised his chin and pointed to the mutated viper who was playing a game of circles with Xiao Hei on the side.

"Is the holy snake you are talking about the black snake you raised? I feel...," the old man immediately waved his hand.

"It's not the holy snake I said, the holy snake will not obey human control at all, all we can do is try our best to appease it, and then send it to the enemy, this snake of mine is just an ordinary war snake domesticated. Although these snakes are not as strong as the holy snakes, they are agile and not weakly poisonous, and the most important thing is that they can cooperate well with people in battle after training, and the snakes you see in Ouroboros Village are all snakes. Andy touched his chin and remembered what he had observed when he had encountered some tribe outside with the Hekate Hounds, and it seemed that he had indeed seen a special kind of poisonous snake before....

"Could it be that the holy snake you are talking about is a huge poisonous snake with two heads?" He thought back to the big snake, aside from its terrible size and poisonousness, that snake had a strange demeanor, which was completely different from ordinary poisonous snakes in its eyes, which was a kind of wisdom, malice and arrogance, and most animals would not have such a demeanor at all.

"yes, it looks like you've seen it? It's funny, and the average person hardly even gets a chance to see it. The old man looked a little surprised, but after a moment he found a reason for his own explanation.

"Hmm... In fact, it is not surprising that most of the holy snakes are kept in the holy pagoda without being disturbed by the outside world, but if a holy snake grows too large after a few years and begins to try to prey on humans, then it will generally be stunned by the food mixed with drugs, and then released into a canyon. ”

"I guess you're probably meeting such a holy snake wandering in the wild." Andy couldn't help but complain in his heart when he heard this, such a dangerous creature was actually released into the wild at will, and those huge two-headed poisonous snakes would definitely hunt for food after waking up in the outside world, and there would inevitably be unlucky ghosts who bumped into these guys in the wild for no reason, and then lost their lives because of it.

The old man was silent for a while, and then continued to tell the story he had just said.

"Where did I just go..... Oh yes. In short, after the Great Awakening, my ancestors settled near that sacred oasis and built temples around the great pit where the gods were manifested. In order to fulfill the requirements of the gods, they will teach the way of the serpent to anyone who passes by, asking them to be enlightened by the gods and inject snake venom containing the will of the gods into their bodies to listen to the voice of the gods. Those who survive will become members of our ancestors, and those who die and those who do not want to accept this ritual will be thrown into the pit and become human animals. Andy frowned and couldn't help but complain.

"Sounds like your ancestors are quite dangerous." The old man smiled unconcernedly.

"Pious faith changes people's perceptions that for them God's will is absolute, that there is no good or evil, but only faith.... All in all, they gradually grew their group in this way, and also established their own religion, culture, and style of warfare, and they liked to use bone ornaments and armor to wear on their bodies, and they attacked their enemies at night with weapons tempered with snake venom. The prophet Jonathan Faustus became the first High Priest, naming the group Vipers and the great beings who inhabit the Great Pit as the Serpents. ”

"In order to keep in touch with the serpent, everyone must ingest the venom of the holy snake once a month, of course, it is not as simple as being bitten by the snake, it requires a mixture of a series of herbs, wine and a small amount of snake venom, the secret recipe and technique of making it and the best time to take it are only known to the high priest, and this ritual also needs to be near the pit where the great snake is located to work."

"Once the ritual begins, it often leaves one in a dream that lasts for about seven days, during which those who complete the ritual can communicate with the serpent and receive His teachings, and if they still can't wake up after seven days.... That means that the serpent chose this person as a human animal, and he had to throw him into a big pit. Andy sensed a problem, if this happened all the time, then the snake would naturally disappear over time.

"If the serpent keeps doing this, won't the vipers fall into the pit en masse sooner or later?" The old man hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed.

"Here's the problem.... The great serpent, the god that my ancestors worshipped, needs more and more human animals, and if it cannot be satisfied, the number of unconscious people in the ritual will increase significantly. The high priest Faust asked the vipers not to spare anyone passing by, and even began to attack the towns established by the survivors and sacrifice all those captured alive to the serpents. But that wasn't enough, and they tried to attack the larger and larger settlements, even though they knew that some of them were far superior to them. ”

"They chose a place called the Hub, and they suffered a crushing defeat, where the people were well-stocked, combat-savvy, and better armed. Most of the people died in the attack and the subsequent pursuit, the Viper was on the verge of collapse, and even more terrifyingly, the survivors realized that the Serpent might be angry and weakened its connection with them. ”

They were exiled to the wasteland for many years, and even feared the punishment of the gods, and the high priest Faust gradually began to lose his spirits, and he became old and weak. All this did not change until the next high priest, Asp, succeeded him, and he returned to the serpent's abode alone to be enlightened again, so that the viper could return to the serpent's protection, and Faust, who had disobeyed the will of God, was ashamed to become a human sacrifice. ”

"The reborn Vipers are so proud and powerful that they are constantly crushing small settlements or intercepting caravans sent by the Hub, turning all captured captives into slaves, some sacrificed to the Serpent, and others absorbed into their own people." Andy listened silently, this story was a legend in the wasteland if the terrible primitive beliefs aside.

If all mystical descriptions are abandoned, the founder of Viper can be said to have quite an idea, and chose the most popular option in the harsh environment, laying the foundation of this group.

And the second-generation leader sounds ambitious, and it is clear that he is a leader who will make a difference.

But.... If everything was really going so well, why would he see this old man here?

"And then?" The old man took a sip of the heated water and moistened his throat.

"Later... My ancestors had encountered an enemy they had never seen before, and a group of men with guns that shot red light suddenly began to attack us, wearing a thick, full-coverage metal armor that looked almost like metal men. Weapons that shoot red light can easily pierce through bones, armor, and flesh, killing a man with ease, and my ancestors couldn't defeat any of them with all their might. Andy's heart jumped, any NcR citizen knows that the current rebellion in Maxson State, also known as the Iron Plague, originated from a series of violent attacks on the NcR government by the Iron Brotherhood, an armed autonomous group in NcR Maxson State.

As it happens, those guys' favorite standard equipment is energy weapons and power armor from the SA army before the war.

This seems to be perfectly in line with what the old man said

"A metal man with a firearm that shoots red light".

"So that's it, your ancestors were beaten and had to flee to the east?" The old man said something in a tone of pride that surprised Andy a little.

"It's not that we have no way to fight back, but the leader of those metal men has been killed by us."