Today seems like an ordinary day in Hoover Dam City. But for Andy it wasn't so ordinary, because today he was a loner again.

Mark asked Andy to resign early in the morning, citing that something had happened to his friend, so he had to get into action, and even planned to leave Hoover Dam City for the Mojave Desert in the west after a while, which did not surprise Andy, after all, Mark seemed to have something on his mind for a long time.

The two stood at the top of the Hoover Dam and chatted as they gazed at the deep river valley below.

"What kind of person do you think I am?" Mark asked casually. Andy looked at his side face for a moment and gave his own evaluation.

"You... I think you are extraordinary and temperamental, like you were born in the military, and you have a lot of insights into science and technology, and your quality is very high. I always thought you might be someone from the Brotherhood of Steel, after all... You see, I really can't think of any other possibility, but I realized afterwards that this guess was wrong, and that your description of Pierre and the others was not tinged with the slightest hint of affection for your companions. Mark's lips squirmed a few times, but he didn't say anything, and let Andy continue.

"I think sometimes you can act horrible, especially when it comes to some... Race issues, but even so, I still feel that there is a moral standard in your heart that is higher than the average wastelander, and I still think that you are a good person, otherwise you would not choose to live in the Followers of the Apocalypse. Mark heard

The word "good guy" suddenly turned to look at Andy, as if this evaluation touched him.

"Good guys... It seems like someone used to say that about me all the time. He turned his gaze to the clear sky.

"You've always been curious about me, right, but I'm not a good person at all. I am... A shameful deserter, I fled not only from the battlefield myself out of fear, but also with a few soldiers who obeyed my orders. I have turned my back on my superiors, my people, my beliefs.... From the moment I became a deserter, I lost all my virtues in exchange for my life, and the most sleepless thing was that I shattered the glory of my family's time. ”

"The Gannon family has been a good soldier of distinction and loyalty for generations, and there has never been a single unqualified one, until I am here. In the future, how can I tell my son about the pride of the Gannon family and encourage him to join the army, as my father did? How do I tell him why I didn't protect his mother? It's all so shameful, and sometimes I even wonder if it would be easier to jump off this dam instead of continuing to torture myself day and night.... I didn't even dare to see his little face or hear him speak to me, so I had to temporarily entrust him to one of my female comrades-in-arms. ”

"Goodbye Andy, forgive me for not having time to go on with you, I really want to see you accomplish your great plan, but.... Maybe there will be a chance to meet in the future, and we will see you again. Andy listened to Mark's confession, and a surprising guess came to mind, and before he could say anything, Mark just stretched out his index finger and shhhed at him, and then turned away without looking back.

Looking at Mark's tall back, there are still many mysteries on this person that have not been revealed, and he also feels that the reason Mark said is half-true, although on the surface this person is a follower of the Apocalypse, but his temperament and beliefs are obviously fundamentally different from most followers of the Apocalypse, who is he?

I can't be sure of the answer, and I don't even know when the next time I'll see Mark. Beatrice didn't leave like Mark for the time being, but her problem was even more serious.

As a super mutant, it is not an exaggeration to describe them as invasive, the FEV virus has transformed their physical bodies quite perfectly, but it is more average than Atrice's, with reduced intelligence and a more obvious madness that makes her life not very good after the fall of the Bishop and the scattering of all super mutants in the wasteland, far less chic than Black Jack.

At the moment, Beatrice is in a bad state, and she looks like she is..... Sick? The green skin on his body gradually dimmed, the skin became slimy, and his spirit became weak, and he lay in one place all day without moving and his appetite was greatly reduced, and even if he occasionally got up to eat, he only liked to eat some fish or snake meat, and then fell asleep again.

As a last resort, Andy sent Beatrice to Dr. Yuri for help, but the guy bluntly said that he couldn't cure the super mutants if they were sick, because any disease he could cure would not be cured by super mutants, and if the super mutants were sick, then he couldn't cure the disease at all.

In his opinion, instead of wasting time and tarnishing his brilliant medical achievements, it is better to refuse, and he even advises Andy to give up on Beatrice, saying that she is a super mutant and may get better on her own after a while.

Andy turned his mind to entrust Beatrice to Dusty, and he couldn't stay at the Hoover Dam to take care of her, but Dusty turned his face and denied her, claiming that Beatrice was no longer her security guard and had no obligation to take care of her anymore, unless Andy could pay her a sufficient number of bottle caps, seeing that the woman was so ruthless and greedy, Andy didn't pay attention to her anymore.

After wandering for a long time, Beatrice offered to Andy to separate, and she spoke with difficulty to express her thoughts.

"Andy.... Good human... Friend. Her feeble voice was no longer loud.

"Beatrice... One..... No problem. Thinking that there were still many important things on his back, and that he could not spend it on Beatrice alone, Andy had to sigh and give Pablo some bottle caps to let her stay in the room for a few more days.

It's boring to go on the road alone again, there is no way, Andy goes back to the atomic Hummer and finds Xiao Hei, and the food that happened to be placed there is almost eaten by Xiao Hei.

After cleaning up the feces left by Blackie, thanks to Tina's adjustments, the little creature has a considerable degree of intelligence and obedience, and easily understands the excrement indicated by Andy, so that he doesn't have to clean the whole car.

The freed bear badger happily ran happily on the top of the Hoover Dam, and the people of the wasteland who passed by looked sideways, they had never seen such a strange dog, and it looked cute, but at the same time it was strong.

Someone made an offer to Andy to buy it, but Andy refused, Xiao Hei was a gift from the nursery, probably the last badger in the world, no matter how many bottle caps he offered, he would not sell it.

Suddenly, someone shouted.

"Hey! - That strong man over there! Andy looked up and saw that there were several acquaintances of no small position at the Hoover Dam, and they were surrounded by a tall, middle-aged, thin man wearing an NcR military uniform with two long beards.

Beside the man stood Farmer Dave, Pierre, Sheriff Ralph and Candace. Candace ran over first and told Andy that they had been looking for him for a while and had finally found him.

"So? What's the matter? He was a little stunned in his heart, could it be that something had finally been discovered, the tall thin man in military uniform had a serious expression, and the others were either full of worry or subtle expressions, and it would not make people feel that these people had come to him for something good in their own way, and the vigilance in his heart was rising.

"To introduce, this is Major Fleming, the top commander of the NcR forces in Hoover Dam City." A tall, thin middle-aged man in military uniform with two long beards stretched out his hand to Andy, and the two shook hands, Andy also met this man for the first time with the name he sometimes heard, as the No. 2 person in Hoover Dam City under the Dodge Mayor, Major Fleming controlled all the NcR military forces in Hoover Dam City, and he was definitely a big man here.

"Long story short, Andy, although the two of us are meeting for the first time, we don't have time to slowly build a relationship, let's go to the Ministry of Industry to talk." Major Fleming said with a serious face, Andy didn't know what was going on, but since the other party said so, he had to follow a few people to the Hoover Dam City Department of Industry in the north of the west bank of the dam crest area, which is where Pierre is in charge.

Entering the building where the mechanics were coming in and out again, everyone was very serious and anxious.

As soon as he sat down, Major Fleming opened his mouth without hesitation.

"That's Andy, I've heard them talk about your abilities, you've made a name for yourself in the Central Zone, you've been with the cavemen in the Baseline Zone... Or albino people, whatever, you also managed to connect with them. I also know that you've cleaned up all the mutant monsters that trapped my two teams in the scum pit, and even found a pre-war advanced science lab that we never discovered, which helped Pierre and Candace a lot....."

"None of these things are easy, and for me, you are a trustworthy and capable person, and you are unanimously recommended by everyone here. So, although this matter has not yet spread, it is so urgent that I have to take action. He took a deep breath and said something.

"Listen, Andy, I'm going to say that the Hoover Dam is so short that in two weeks at most, there's going to be a big mess here." Andy raised an eyebrow.

"Huh? I went to Otto, and although he agreed that there would be a shortage of water at Hoover Dam in the future, it was far from urgent. Pierre then picked up.

"Well, last night, a mob took advantage of the emptiness of the garrison to break into Otto's place, not only wounding him, but also destroying the water purifier and causing a serious malfunction. Major Fleming quickly led his soldiers to catch the criminals, but they all claimed that they just thought that Otto, the ghoul, was secretly adding pollutants, so the quality of the water at the Hoover Dam was getting worse day by day, and the water purifier was destroyed to find evidence of their claims...."Major Fleming couldn't contain his anger as he listened.

"Wait and see, these fucking idiots, if things get out of hand, I'll shoot them all!" Sergeant Ralph glanced at Major Fleming with a mocking look on his face.

"I told you a long time ago, don't send all the soldiers with bad deeds to stand guard in the center, those guys will only get more and more finished; The place where Otto works is so important to the entire Hoover Dam that his security has always been on Diane's own, and as a result, she fell ill and left her post yesterday, and sure enough, this kind of big thing happened. Major Fleming angrily pointed at Sergeant Ralph and asked rhetorically.

"What? Do you still have the face to say this? Why don't you go down to the central area to maintain law and order? You asked that funny waste deputy sheriff to go down as an ornament, and he was so scared that he didn't know if something happened, or if I led someone to arrest those idiots, I haven't settled accounts with you yet! Are you worthy of Mayor Dodge's trust? You amateurs shouldn't have delegated internal security! Sergeant Ralph snorted, his face full of disdain.

"Do you think I can't go down, do you think I don't know how my deputy sheriff is doing? If I enforce the law as impartially in the central area as I do in the dam crest area, I will fight your evil soldiers three times a day! How do you restrain your soldiers? Are they doing less ridiculous things in the center? Drugs, prostitution, gambling, drinking, fighting, and wearing your yellow skin, how can we police care? Is it possible to catch them like ordinary people? Do you agree? Major Fleming slapped the table angrily.

"Without my soldiers, not to mention the other threats, the Brotherhood of Steel would have come in long ago! You're all going to die! They are under so much pressure every day, staring at the wasteland, and they can encounter various enemies to attack at any time, and this month two more people were hit by the cold guns of the marauders from the west, one dead and one wounded! They need to rest and vent, otherwise what else? Can't you boil people to death?! The two quarreled for a while, and they actually wanted to make a move, but fortunately, under the persuasion of others, they did not make a farce in the end.

Pierre stood by for the rest of the day, with a smile on his face, and when all was quiet again, he began to talk to Major Fleming and Andy about what he was looking for this time.

"Ah, so, you get the idea, Andy. There was no doubt that the shortage of water at Hoover Dam was imminent, and Major Fleming had asked McClav of the Crimson Caravan if he could give out a batch of clean water for free or at a low cost for the city as an emergency reserve for the future, but the guy claimed that if she was to do so, she would have to be the speaker of the city council.... Mayor Dodge was reluctant to give up this position to the unprofitable businessman, so there was a stiff fight. ”

"We were able to maintain the basic water supply to the Hoover Dam for a short period of time, but after that, according to my calculations, the water purifier would spit out exactly the same water as it did outside. In that case, even if the citizens were to handle it with the same care as they had in the past, they would end up drinking it like a certain dwarf, going crazy. ”

"When the time comes, there will definitely be a lot of people who can't afford to buy water for the Crimson Caravan, and there will be crazy people and people who start breaking the law in order to survive." Andy heard this and said he had understood.

"So, you need me to go to Jericho immediately and find the blueprint of the advanced water purifier as quickly as possible?" Everyone present nodded.