"I've noticed that something hasn't been right with Clark lately, oh, I'm talking about that feeling since fifty years ago."

Colonel Greene sat in a chair in his flawed military uniform and flicked the soot to the ground at will, he turned off the alcohol stove and took out a folding knife and began to open the can, and when the lid was opened, a pungent aroma gushed out, which seemed to be pork stew and beans, and even after such a long time, this pre-war military can still looked delicious.

"I'm not going to invite you to dinner, you can't stand this, those bombs fill the rest of the reserve with radiation, which is just a little more condiment for us, but for you this is a deadly poison, in the past, we needed to read the radiohazard protection guide from time to time, so that the radioactive material can enter the body and continue to emit gamma rays inside the body, which is very dangerous."

"I don't think so."

Andy recalls the life of the wasteland people, no matter what they eat from the natural world, whether it is plants, animals, or fungi such as mushrooms, even if they are processed, these ingredients still contain radioactive materials, but after so many years, the wastelanders still maintain the living habits of the wastelanders, although the average life expectancy is much lower than before the war, but the reason is more because of the rampant violent crime caused by the collapse of order and the sharp increase in biological threats in nature.

"People out there have developed some adaptability to radiation... Sometimes even if you see a lot, it still makes people sigh, maybe there is a copper intestine and an iron stomach. ”

Colonel Green took a bite of the can and smiled disdainfully.

"It's just 'certain', otherwise how about you take off that protective suit on you? It's no better than William Clark's baby bunker, the crater of the nuclear bomb left behind when the Great War broke out in 2077, I've taken my boys there to see it, it's like a crater with green smoke, and the radioactive dust that blows out of it is like the hot wind blowing in the middle of Hawaiian summer, and it would be better if there weren't so many glowing fools in the way, and if you were slippery, you wouldn't have been able to get that close and die from radiation. ”

"As for what copper intestines and iron stomachs? Ha ha! You should live in our shack for a while, and show you what the nerds here dare to put in their mouths when they're bored, you know? Almost anything, as long as it is in or can be processed into a volume that can be eaten, then it should be eaten carefully! ”

Andy doesn't know where Hawaii is, this old man who survived before the war is always interspersed with some words that he doesn't understand at all in his conversation, and sometimes he can feel that the meaning of the same word in the other person's mouth is very different from the contextual meaning of SA in the current wasteland population, but it makes no sense to point out this, with the passage of time, humans have changed beyond recognition from the inside out, perhaps in the eyes of this old ghoul, even if the wastelanders look more like humans than them, The internal differences were unacceptable to them, which made him prefer to say that his group of ghouls were human, and that the current humans were nothing more than a bunch of contemptible 'slippery skins'.

"Well, maybe you're right... Isn't it time for us to get down to business? ”

Colonel Green smoked a cigarette and ate canned food.

"Yes... Business.... What's the point? Oh, remembered. ”

He threw the spoon with the soup in his hand on the table, and walked over to the map hanging in the air, and then Andy noticed that the map was an exquisite hand-drawn map, which seemed to be drawing the area around the reservation, and the sand table on the side was probably also laid out according to the topography of the area around the reservation.

"Hey, kid, look at this map, you know what this place is, right?"

"It's the reservation."

"Very well, at least you can see that, then, you can also see that this place is extraordinary, right?"

Andy looked at the map, from God's point of view, the topography of the reservation was very deceptive, this rocky mountain range leaning on by the military base made the area where the reservation was really located inconspicuous, there were many marked points on the periphery, and the mushroom-shaped mark should be the location of the nuclear bomb, which bypassed the core of the reservation, that is, near the underground bunker.

"It's been designed to be as safe from bombing as possible."

Colonel Green nodded.

"Los Alamos is a large area, and the bright facilities and laboratories on the periphery are all under the guise of a front, but it is impossible for the enemy to drop valuable nuclear strike forces into an unknown area in an emergency, they would rather destroy these obvious targets, which is the purpose of the designers, even if the foreseeable nuclear war eventually breaks out, the reservation will be preserved from destruction, the only miscalculation is that they did not design enough redundancy for the airtightness of the bunker and the protection against radiation, If radiation hadn't seeped into the ground, the reservation wouldn't be what it is today. ”

At this, he almost gritted his teeth.

"That bastard president cut the budget to get to where we are, and I guess their bunkers must have been so strong that all the nuclear bombs hit the bullseye and were unscathed, damn it, we're pretty much outcasts... I should have understood when I got that mission that the people left behind weren't expected to survive the war by the dogs above. ”

After muttering a few words, Colonel Green looked up and patted the map.

"Do you know why this place is so special?"

Andy replied without thinking.

"I guess it's because the research project here is the most valuable, but so far I haven't noticed anything in the reserve that deserves to be so protected, is that it hidden in the deepest layers of the underground bunker?"

Colonel Green walked back and sat down in his chair, but it was a sale.

"In 1943, it was announced that it was built, in order to defeat the enemy on the other side of the ocean, we needed to develop a super weapon beyond common sense, and this was selected as a research and development base, and it was here that the first nuclear bomb was developed, and human beings tamed the power of the atom and used it to destroy everything they wanted to destroy, and human beings became their own death."

Andy's eyes froze, Colonel Green meant....

"Does the reservation exist as a nuclear weapons production base?"

"Yes, nuclear weapons were still being produced here until the outbreak of the Great War."

Colonel Green slowly chewed the beans in his mouth.

"The level of secrecy here is quite high, what the hell are those nerds led by William Clark studying, I don't know, my authority allows me to go down to Level 2, and the most important secret facilities are all in Level 3, but I'm sure until the end the main research project here is still nuclear weapons, because there will be weapons-grade enriched uranium sent in regularly, and then some shady big guys will be sent out."

He put down the can in his hand, and the iron can box landed on the table with a metallic sound.

"You understand what I'm trying to say, right? Beginning 50 years ago, William Clark began to shut down on what he had figured out or what had gone wrong, and since then, the reservation has been buying slaves in large quantities and developing trade. I thought that would be fine, after all, it wouldn't do us any good if the settlement was in tatters, but after a while I realized that he was turning into a horrible. ”

"He ordered the destruction of a large number of holographic cartridges, terminal data, and books left in the reserve, renamed the bunker 'Temple', and took that follower named Sebastian to work on several mysterious projects in the deepest part of the world, and shut down some of the experiments that were in progress, even if some of the experiments were about to come to fruition, I didn't care, in those projects, especially the breeding protocol, it really made me feel disgusting and ridiculous. He also compiled a cobbled together book of scriptures to praise himself and disseminate his unrealistic ideals. This set of practices is explained by him that the knowledge and all scientific research that is archived in reserves, stored in libraries, etc., should be used to advance the 'great cause of our race', but in reality? He began to proclaim himself a god and wanted to wield the power to say anything, to destroy any opposition, to control the minds of all by any means, and to do so he even set up all kinds of extremely harsh punishments in the reserve, such as torture such as endless banishment, which fully reflected the viciousness in the heart of his designer. ”

Andy frowned and listened to Colonel Green's personal evaluation of Dr. Clark, which summed up that since 50 years ago, Dr. Clark, who had been doing nothing, had suddenly become radical, and now he has almost become a tyrant.

"But I found out that he still gave you a lot of autonomy to Colonel Green, and the shanty towns and defensive posts were under your control."

Colonel Green took a hard drag on his cigarette.

"It's not something he 'gave', it's a compromise he made before he can suppress me, I've been building this armed force that is only loyal to me since more than a hundred years ago, and the world can only be at your disposal if you have a gun in your hand, and William Clark started much later than me in this regard, that's why he compromised.... I've been waiting, waiting for the day when William Clark will show his feet, and now I've finally arrived. Of course, he understood this, and I was the biggest stumbling block to the realization of his pathetic delusions, so he was now placating me with me, constantly promising that I would always be the defense chief of the reservation and that I would have a small piece of my own territory, and on the other hand, he was secretly propping up his own power, the children of the wasteland, whose control of knowledge and the brainwashing of religion had bewitched many people here to become his servants and puppets. ”

"The situation is dangerous, he is trying to tie the entire reservation to his tank, what do you think he will do? Take my word for it, first of all, William Clark's hatred for your slippery skin is so bitter, those negative emotions have seeped into the depths of his soul, since he came back, I have noticed that he has changed, this change is irreversible, this is why he finally went crazy, yes, William Clark has gone crazy! ”

He took the glass of water and drank it down, some droplets coming out of the gap in his throat.

"Secondly, based on this hatred, he is bound to make extreme choices, and who knows what shocking things he has hidden in his own little circle? If you want me to say, maybe it's a nuclear bomb, and he asked you to be his friendly ambassador, hah.... You know what? If you really believe his high-sounding words, you will definitely regret it in the end. ”

Andy folded his hands over his chest, pondering what Colonel Green had said, his perspective offered an alternative perspective that completely subverted Dr. Clark's stated goals and thoughts, but only in terms of what Andy saw and heard before entering the temple, this perspective was indeed more in line with the direction of events under normal circumstances, but if William Clark was going to launch a nuclear bomb, what was he for? Destroy all the slippery settlements to keep the reservation from threatened?

Thinking of this, Andy suddenly felt in a trance, as if he had discussed a similar topic with someone before, but he really couldn't remember it, and the smoke in front of him made him seem to be touched, so he began to stare at the white smoke spit out of Colonel Green in front of him in front of him. Smoke.... Not white, but green smoke ... What does all this have to do with it?

"Boy, what's the matter with you?"

Colonel Green held out his hand and shook it in front of his eyes, which brought Andy to his senses.

"Nothing... Just thinking about what you just said, saying... If William Clark is really that crazy, do you want to replace it? ”

Hearing him ask, Colonel Green gave a faint smile.

"There is a saying in the old world that a soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier; A politician who does not want to be president is not a good politician .... The more capable people are, the more ambitious they are, because their abilities should be worthy of their status and power, which is also one of the rules of the world. Water will naturally flow to lower places, but what about people? You just want to go higher and higher, don't you want to? Don't tell me you don't want to, I despise people who can say such things the most, and if you don't want to go to a high place, you might as well find a place to lie down and wait for yourself to rot. ”

Andy looked at the colonel from the old world in front of him, it seemed that he had never really given up on fighting with Dr. Clark for control of the reservation, this Los Alamos security operations commander was only a temporary compromise forced by the situation, once he found an opportunity, he would never give up replacing William Clark as the new 'president' of the reservation. General's, his intentions in this regard are very obvious, and he even disdains to cover them up, which means that his views are driven by this intention naturally with a filter component, and there is no clear evidence for speculation about nuclear weapons, and there is a strong subjective emotion in the abuse of Dr. Clark's own personality, is everything based on righteous accusations or simple false accusations? How much of Colonel Green's remarks are impartial and objective facts remain to be verified.

But at least his words provide another way of thinking, and it is correct to listen to it.

As for what Dr. Clark wanted, combined with Colonel Green's words, it is indeed doubtful in retrospect, the extreme racism of the Children of the Wasteland must not be said to have nothing to do with the reservation written by Dr. Clark and his own ideological preaching on the reservation, and the cruel punishment "Endless Banishment" is even more from his own hand, whether the occult scientific research project hidden in the Hidden Nest, in addition to the breeding protocol that wants the ghouls to reproduce naturally, may also hide another kind of imminent danger, such as... Just like he dreamed about in his dreams before, a terrifying nuclear arsenal?

Dr. Clark has given his version of the explanation, based on the dangerous environment of the wasteland, unity within the ghouls is the first priority, so coercive means are necessary on the ideological and legal level, the extreme behavior of the ghouls is completely due to the persecution of the slippery skins they have suffered in the past, and now on the territory of their own race, even Clark can't forcibly stop them from adopting a retaliatory hostile attitude towards the slippery skins and looking for every opportunity to take action, but he is already thinking of a way to break the situation, and to work toward an ideal future of racial equity.

It now seems that the decision as to which inclination will eventually come to fruition will be decided on Dr. William Clark alone.

What the hell did he think? Which one is the real him? Is it the one in his own mouth, or the one in Colonel Greene's mouth?

After thinking about it, there is no answer.

Andy looked up at Colonel Green and saw that the old ghoul was looking at him too.

"Hesitant? Because you think you can't see clearly? ”

After Andy nodded, Colonel Green took a puff of his cigarette and offered an idea.

"You've seen our crazy brothers out there, haven't you? Their heads are empty, their minds evaporate from them like water, they can't speak, they can't think, they don't take their feet out of the trap.... Only howling and biting. ”

Andy, of course, understood what Colonel Green was saying.

"Yes, we call those guys berserk zombies or mad ghouls... Sorry, no offense, I'm talking about a fact. ”

Colonel Green waved his hand indifferently.

"What are you doing with all that uselessness? I know you call us ghouls or zombies, but don't we also call you slipskins or monkeys? That's where we agreed, right? It's not like I'm going to say it, it's what I'm saying... Our kind don't always stay awake, and sometimes, some of us go completely insane and become brainless monsters who are more beasts than beasts, but you haven't seen that kind of guy hanging out on the reservation since you've been here, am I right? ”

Andy heard that, indeed, he hadn't seen a single mad ghoul since he came to the reservation, and some of the guys in the shantytown did have a bit of a sign that they were going to become like that, but they didn't really go crazy after all, otherwise those merchants outside would have been in more danger on the reserve embankment in addition to radiation, and the reason why humans discriminated against ghouls, in addition to their ugliness and stench, the most important point was that they had a high degree of resemblance to the appearance of the wasteland's poisonous mad ghoul group, There are also many people who are convinced that ghouls will one day go berserk.

There are many craters around the reservation, and there must have been wild ghouls born at the time of the Great War, and they are also the most terrifying glowing species, just like the threat of the Great Dome scientists, the glowing ghouls roaming from the crater of Cheyenne Mountain once almost caused the scientists to lose their staff, and the intense radiation pollution caused by the battle with these monsters caused the NcR soldiers who were stationed in the past to fall into madness due to their addiction to radiation drugs.

So, where did the ghouls go?