The Atomic Humvee slowly stopped, and the environment gradually changed from a desert to a rocky wasteland, and the sight that was even more striking was the slowly rising black smoke in the distance, which rose from the sky and dissipated into the air like a ghost.

Andy glanced down at the Pip-Boy, then turned to look at the Hangman again.

"So you said the place where the Ring of Steel wants to blow up is the one in front of you that smokes?"

After the hangman nodded, Andy was a little speechless and confirmed that it was his destination, Burnham Springs, and he didn't know why, recently there were forces everywhere to let him go there as soon as possible, the remote communication of the Great Dome, the request of the Dodge Mayor, and now he could find someone to guide him even when passing through a barren mountain range.

"Are you sure you're not mistaken? This is a place that has been reduced to ruins, and the great explosion that once occurred has destroyed this place, how can we destroy a place that has already been destroyed again? And what's the point? ”

The hangman closed his eyelids and put on an arrogant look.

"I'm pretty sure... Who says a ruined place can't be destroyed again? Although it is dusty here, it is completely possible to continue to work hard to make it a big pit, meaning? The teachings of those fellows sound to me even more stupid than the native shamans preach, and meaningless actions have extraordinary meaning to them, and that's exactly what they are..."

Andy didn't want to listen to him any more, this guy was a lot more chatter than before, probably because of the recent big changes, in his own words, it was to regain his freedom.

Walking towards the black smoke that rose into the sky, the closer you got to the ground, the more dust accumulated, and finally it turned completely black, and the air was filled with a stench of burning, and the smell was getting stronger and stronger, even the sky was gradually becoming dark, and the ashes melted into the clouds, and even the occasional wind could not disperse them, obscuring the fresh air and the sun's rays.

Andy put on a gas mask, he estimated that the location of the data tank was definitely very bad, and he still had to wear power armor at that time, but the power armor was very uncomfortable after wearing it for a long time, so he still went over to reconnoiter the situation in the early stage.

The hangman got out of the car and followed, and pulled out a gas mask out of nowhere, but the one he was wearing didn't have eyepieces and only covered his mouth, so he had to put on an extra pair of goggles, which looked like the ones used by welders before the war.

The two of them walked towards the northwest for a while through the thicker and thicker ashes, and finally saw an area similar to the town, and the reason why they said "similar" was that the buildings they saw at this time were all mutilated, dark and cracked, and it was evident that strong explosions and violent flames had swept over them, and some of the wooden buildings were still smoldering, producing more smoke to this day.

Andy looked around, and saw a crooked metal street sign on the side of a dirty, probably past town center road, with some words written on it, he walked over and stretched out his hand to wipe it, and saw that it should have been Eagle Rock Town, but these ancient text traces were deliberately smeared in the back, and replaced it with "Burnham Spring".

"It seems that it has arrived..."

He muttered that at the moment, the place under his feet was the legendary ruined town that often appeared in people's mouths, and was completely destroyed by an accidental mass explosion after a fierce battle between the 5th Engineering Company of the NcR and a group of marauders who seemed to be known as the Dynamite Gang.

According to the previous Dodge mayor, the tragedy occurred in 2247, that is, 6 years ago.

It looks like things haven't gotten better here in years.

Dotted flames loomed from all over the front of the town, the buildings were charred and dilapidated like charred corpses standing in the town, the dark smoke carried the ashes all the way up to the sky, the dim atmosphere made everything seem very desperate, there seemed to be something amazing on the west side of the town, it was like a "pool" with flames spread on the surface, and from time to time a flame burst out with the sound of bubbles, rushing away the large flowing burning filth.

The northeast corner is a cliff with a large drop.

As he was pondering where to look for possible survivors next, a person suddenly pushed the door out of a barely healthy building not far away, and Andy immediately looked over, not thinking that this kind of ghost place was really inhabited.

The man was a fairly strong, tall and thin man, with a flushed face, no more than forty years of age, a pepper-colored beard and messy hair stained with the dust of Burnham Springs, an inferior piece of metal armor, a hard hat on his head, and a pump-action shotgun in his hand, which did not appear very friendly.

Without waiting for Andy to greet this person, this person directly greeted Andy in his way, that is, shooting.

"Bang! ——”

The man raised the muzzle of the gun into the air and fired a direct shot, then shouted at Andy and the hangingman.

"Put away all your fucking weapons! Don't try to do anything stupid, you know, bastards?! ”

It was the first time Andy had seen such a hospitable gesture, and before he could say anything, the hangman responded in his own style, and the guy walked towards the bearded man with his hands spread out and hunched over while laughing.

"Aha, why are you so serious? We just came here looking for friends. ”

Andy frowned, and just as he was about to open his mouth to stop the hangman, the beard of Burnham Springs was already angry with the threat emanating from the hangman.

"Fucking stand still or I'm going to shoot!"

The hangman's footsteps didn't stop even half a step, and one of his hands slowly reached behind his back and grabbed the handle of the knife.

"Then you might as well try, I won't stop, I'm a free person, and walking is my freedom, if you don't think so, shoot, remember to aim a little."

The bearded man was about to walk in front of him while talking and laughing, and his fingers couldn't help but tremble slightly and put it on the trigger, the pump-action shotgun had been turned on and could shoot at any time, but the man in front of him didn't care at all.

"You! I'll say it one last time, fuck off! ”

The smile on the hangman's face became more and more terrifying, and he suddenly stepped to the side, first his whole body rushed to the left, and just as the bearded man was about to shift the muzzle of his gun, he saw the other party leaning forward like a black phantom, and one hand had already drawn the bayonet behind his back.

The tip of the knife stabbed the bearded man's helmet in the eye like lightning, and before he could react in a sweat, a metal fist-covered palm grabbed the bayonet.

Only then did the bearded man react, and he hurriedly raised his gun to shoot, but the shotgun in his hand was also taken away.

Andy uses the V mode to take the weapons in the hands of the two and stand between them before the situation becomes irreversible.

"The next time this happens, don't act on your own until I say anything, otherwise, you know what the consequences will be."

He threw the bayonet back into the hangman's hand and turned to look at the bearded man.

"The inhabitants of Burnham Springs? I'm here to talk to you on behalf of Mayor Dodge. ”

The bearded man's face twitched, as if he couldn't handle the amount of information he had suddenly used.

"What... What? ”

Andy sighed and tossed the pump-action shotgun back to the bearded man with the hard hat.

"My name is Andy, and again, are you a resident of Burnham Springs? I'm here to talk to you on behalf of Mayor Dodge. ”

This time, the bearded man finally sobered up a little, and he didn't put away the pump-activated shotgun in his hand when he lifted it, which looked extremely embarrassing, and all the previous coping strategies with strangers had failed, making him feel at a loss.

"I... My name is Phil, well, I'm from Burnham Springs, and I still live here... You Dodge Mayor, Dodge Mayor is..."

As he spoke, his eyes suddenly changed.

"You say Joseph Dodge? That bastard who blew my house up? ”

Andy felt that this reaction was not unexpected, most people thought that the Dodge Mayor ordered Colonel Robert, who was then commanding the Fifth Engineering Company to enter Burnham Springs to suppress the bandits, to use grenades to attack the bandits hiding in the mine and cause a large explosion to destroy everything, but from the Dodge Mayor's own account and the survivors of the Fifth Engineering Company, this incident seems to have another hidden meaning.

He took a deep breath through his gas mask to adjust his mood.

"Regardless of what happened in the past, this time I bring you a new piece of good news."

Phil narrowed his eyes and spat directly into the ground.

"Good news? Phew! Joseph Dodge is a scourge, and NcR is a bunch of bad, bubbling freaks! Look here, you see, where is this still where people live? You can't imagine how good the environment used to be, how abundant the resources were, and how many people lived and worked here, but what has become of this place now? A pile of dust! ”

The hangman stood aside and sarcastically said, "Ouch, then may I ask you, the guy who lives here, since you are not human, then what are you?" If you're human, why do you still live here? Can I say that you are human and not human? ”

Phil was furious when he heard this, and he raised his hand to raise his shotgun, but Andy held him down.

"Hangman, from now on, you can't talk without my permission."

The scarred guy shrugged.

Andy turned his head back to Phil.

"I've seen it all, this town is still burning, and even after six years, there is no sign of extinguishing it, and I know that you survivors must have been forced to stay here because of their livelihoods. Mayor Dodge is saddened by the past, but he didn't have the resources to help you because of the loss of contact with the homeland, and now that the homeland forces have returned to the east, the situation is different. I'm here to talk to you about the possibility of a resurrection of Burnham Springs as long as you reconnect to the trade network. ”

Phil looked at Andy straight for a while, and was about to say something, when suddenly a voice came from the back of Andy's neck.

"There are enemies on the right side~"

Andy immediately turned on the V mode and saw a huge purple mutant lizard coming out of nowhere and running towards the location of the three of them.

He raised his hand and shot the monster's head.

Phil was taken aback by Andy's iron power and the speed at which he drew his gun, he looked at Andy in disbelief for a few moments, and then explained in a low voice: "It's not just that the air is bad on our side, that big lizard seems to be very adaptable to this environment, but in fact, you don't need to waste that bullet, there is a trap two meters in front of it, which is enough to kill it." ”

Andy took a closer look, and there was indeed a strange sign two meters in front of the lizard that fell to the ground and died, which said not to approach, but who knows what this sign meant, whether it was close to the vicinity of this sign or the area behind it? If Phil hadn't pointed it out, he really wouldn't have imagined that this rusty sign was actually a trap reminder card.

"Have you set traps around here to defend yourself from wild beasts?"

Phil nodded, raising his arm aimlessly and scanning around.

"I just know the approximate safe area, it's not me who is responsible for setting the trap, it's another person who lives here, there are only three normal residents in the whole of Burnham Springs now, but if you count those various monsters, there are probably more inhabitants now than in the glory days of this place, not only under the cliffs, but also in the depths of the underground mines, there are things wandering everywhere."

Without waiting for Andy to ask what was underground, Phil abruptly changed the subject.

"Let's not talk about that, anyway, it's not suitable for talking here, I want to hear you talk about what you said about bringing Burnham Spring back to life, go to my house and talk... You'd better not follow your friends. ”

The hangman scoffed.

"Okay, I don't want to go into your dust nest."

The two looked at each other with disgust, and if Andy wasn't there, he would have been separated from life and death soon after the first meeting.

Follow Phil into the dilapidated house, which is littered with dust and cracks, patch-like planks, crumbling and crumbling, and filled with all sorts of dusty scraps, such as charred scrap metal and deformed old pre-war equipment, as well as some large and small ores.

He lit an oil lamp.

"Find a place to sit, friend, I'm here as you can see it."

Andy found a broken chair and sat down, and found that the chair had a broken leg, and it was like a horse step.

"Alas... So, let's start talking, Mayor Dodge hopes to give you survivors of Burnham Springs some support and help to improve your living conditions, but if it is just a simple distribution of supplies, it will not last long, his idea is to restart Burnham Springs as a trade transit point, you also know that Burnham Springs is located exactly between New Canaan and Hoover Dam, which can be a supply point on trade routes, and... Looks like all of your minerals here aren't all burned. ”

Picking up a piece of coal from the ground, Andy looked at it twice and was convinced that it was of high quality, no wonder Mayor Dodge was in such a hurry to sign the charter, which is an important resource for trains to run on rails.

"You can play an important role on the trade routes, helping the merchants of New Canaan to stop on the way to and from the Hoover Dam, and you can also supply coal to the Hoover Dam in exchange for NcR coins and bottle caps to trade with the merchants to buy all kinds of necessities... Speaking of which, I would like to ask you, Phil, is it true that you have only three residents in Burnham Springs now? ”

Phil was thinking about Andy's trade proposal, and he briefly explained his previous statement.

"It is true that I am the only one who has settled in the town for a long time and there are two other people, and the three of us are real residents of Burnham Springs, but as you said, this is also a place where merchants like to pass through, and those merchants of New Canaan have recently become active, according to them, New Canaan in the north has been rebuilt, and occasionally their caravans pass by here to set up temporary camps on the outskirts to rest, and if you count these people, there are more than three inhabitants of Burnham Springs."

Andy nodded, then confused.

"You three live here so lonely, what have you been living on for so many years?"

Phil took off his hard hat and scratched the dust off his head.

"We're trying to go to a safer place to collect some trash and ore, and then the other two will give me all their harvest and let me exchange it for food with the merchants, and that's how we survived... Don't rush to meet my two companions, they are all very special, and strangers who casually go to talk to them may be suddenly attacked. ”

"I apologize to you for shooting at you before, but I also hope you can understand, sometimes there are some idle guys who come in under various guises and want to be abducted, and there are some unknown reasons... Strange creatures who call themselves 'explorers', these treasure hunters think they can make a fortune by finding something valuable in the ruins of Burnham Springs, but in reality they're just feeding the monsters, making our already terrible environment even worse. ”

He casually threw the hard hat on the table, Andy took a look, and found that the style of the hard hat was very familiar, and it was very similar to the bandit leaders of the 215 gang he had fought with in New Canaan before.

So Andy took the hard hat and looked at it carefully, and looked up to ask Bill.

"Is this the standard helmet of the NcR railway engineering team?"

Phil was a little surprised that Andy saw this, and admitted it with some emotion.

"Yes, you can see the number on it, I used to be a worker who built railways for NcR, and I was a little luckier, at that time the steel plague had not yet broken out, and the NcR Eastern Special District Government was still in surplus, so I got the money for the project. After that, my plan was to find a suitable place to live and rest nearby, and it happened that the section of the road where I was in charge of the engineering team was close to Burnham Springs, and the scenery here was still beautiful, so I used the money to build a house and field here, and as a result... Everything was ruined. ”