When it was dawn, Frank suddenly walked out and invited Andy to a place to chat.

Andy didn't expect him to change his mind suddenly, so he immediately followed him to a dilapidated house, where the main entrance had completely collapsed, and the entrance had become a hidden place in the back.

Follow Frank inside, there is actually electricity inside, the electric lights are on, there is some hot water on the induction cooker, and there are many cans of canned food, which look rusty, I don't know how many years ago.

"Do you have a good nuclear generator here?"

Andy asked, but Frank shook his head.

"Those things can't withstand two big explosions, they're broken, and while I'm not afraid of radiation, there's no point in keeping some non-functioning tatters, and the electricity I have here is powered by a homemade biological battery."

He led Andy to a small room in the back, where Andy saw several strange beetles tied to a wooden shelf with ropes, many electrodes and copper wires were connected and inserted into their bodies, and from time to time electric arcs could be seen, and the other end of the electrodes and copper wires was connected to some equipment that Andy couldn't understand.

"It's... Can these beetles discharge? ”

"Yes, let's call this thing an electric beetle, these bugs weren't quite right before the Burnham Springs explosion, they paralyzed people when they bite, and since the explosion they have changed, they are more aggressive, not to mention, they can even emit an electric arc or an electromagnetic pulse in the air, I discovered the potential of these bugs, and I used some of the knowledge I learned in the past to make these biological batteries."

Frank changed his previous attitude and answered Andy's questions very patiently.

"If this insect is spared and fed some nutritious liquid, it can provide electricity for one to two months, and when it dies, I will go outside and catch it... In the beginning, it was very troublesome, I couldn't figure out the frequency and intensity of their discharge, and I broke a lot of electrical appliances. ”

Andy curiously observed these biological batteries for a while, and felt that this kind of specialty and related technology is very marketable, even a small nuclear power generator that can operate normally is also valuable, and those ancient machines in the wasteland may explode at any time due to failure, which is very dangerous, compared to this kind of biological battery seems to be more safe and easy to obtain, if the electric beetle reproduces fast enough and has strong vitality, then it can be used as a sought-after commodity.

With that out of his thoughts, Andy turned to talk to Frank about business.

"What we said yesterday, how did we think about it?"

Frank nodded at first, then spoke in a muddy, hoarse voice to explain his thoughts.

"You're right yesterday, I didn't think things from my friends' point of view, the smoke, the ashes and the heat don't affect me, but not for Slippery. Phil has problems with his lungs, kidneys, and liver, and he also suffers from radiation sickness, so he has little hope of becoming like me... If this continues, his body will only get worse and worse as he gets older, and it is time to think about the next step. ”

"Burnham Springs still has some resources that can be developed, and there are also location advantages, if they can be used, at least the three of us can have some savings... However, there are things that need to be done to make the trip. ”

Andy is glad that Frank has a change of heart, and if he can cooperate, things will be easier to say.

Frank suddenly handed him something, Andy took it and saw that it was some explosives and something similar to crafting materials, and after receiving the beep boy, he confirmed the type, which seemed to be the reward that Phil had promised before.

"What did you say before?"

Frank didn't speak for the first time, but beckoned Andy to go to another room, which was locked, and Andy was a little surprised when he went in and lit the light, it looked like a professional drawing studio, full of all kinds of complex tools and half-finished maps, and if you looked closely, it was obvious that these maps were not on the surface, but underground.

"Look at this, Andy, these are the results of my years of exploration, you may not understand it, it doesn't matter, I will give you the key parts that I have summarized. You're curious about what's going on down the cliff, there are currently only two accessible areas under Burnham Springs, which we call the Fire Cave and the Water Cave, and it's in these two caves that we've struggled to excavate the remnants of ore and mechanical items left over from before the war to exchange for bottle caps to make ends meet. ”

Andy looked down at the maps under Frank's guidance, and there was some eyebrows, but he could discern them for a moment and felt that they were only describing one area, not the two regions that Frank was talking about.

"Is this a fire hole or a water hole in this map?"

Frank pulled out a small box and pulled out a well-made map.

"It's a water hole, and the part of the fire hole is in Phil's hands. These pictures are the little bit of experience that our group of people who have lived here over the years during the period of begging for life, and all of them are the result of blood and life... There were twelve of us, and most of the nine who died were underground. ”

"I, I have an idea."

Andy's gaze lifted from the map.

"What thoughts?"

Frank held out his skin-lacked dirty finger and pointed to a location on the map.

"Here, I've found out that there is a high-power pump left over from before the war, it is a mining pump left by Prometheus Mining, this thing has been damaged, and someone needs to go down to repair it to get back into operation, so the groundwater of Burnham Spring flooded the cave, and the water was full of toxins and radiation, and only people like me could go down and explore..."

Then, the pump was connected to some drainage pipes, which were originally designed to be emergency mine fire extinguishing devices, but their automatic response mechanisms were broken and needed to be operated manually. If all goes well, the environment of both the Water Cave and the Fire Cave will be improved, we will be able to access more areas for more items, and with enough local output, it will only make sense to establish foreign trade. ”

Andy now understood, and also realized that what Phil said before was right, Frank must be the smartest person in the Burnham Springs trio, his hands-on ability and exploration ability and ability to control science and technology before the war are very strong, the precious laser rifle can be well maintained by him and the biological battery made by these electric beetles here is representative enough, and he also said before that the water hole environment is harsh and difficult for humans to enter, In this way, the map of the Burnham Springs Cave here was basically drawn by him after he went down alone to explore.

"You're really good enough Frank, what did you do before?"

Frank was silent and waved his hand after a moment.

"The past doesn't make sense."

He moved on to his previous ideas.

"I've gone down to the hole more than once to try to fix the pump, but what I know for sure is that it's missing some of the key components and has to be replaced, and some of the drains may need to be replaced and tuned. I can repair and replace, but I don't have the parts on hand... Also, I had to watch out for the traps that were planted in the town, so it never worked. ”

"Do you have a solution?"

Andy thought for a moment, he seemed to have dealt with a similar situation, and after a while, he remembered that it was not similar to what he had encountered at the Hoover Dam, there was a problem with the water pump, so there must be enough good components on the Jericho water purification plant to use, but this requires the cooperation of the New Canaanites.

"There is a way, I am very familiar with the New Canaanites, just let me explain the situation to you and them, I believe they will agree to take some equipment and components of the water plant in exchange for their caravan to get the right to dock and trade here, what do you think?" Do you agree that Burnham Springs is open to New Canaan? ”

Frank nodded.

"The people I've been in contact with in the past are the refugees who went south after the tragedy in New Canaan, like Luke and the like, although some of them are chattering and their brains are not normal in reading the scriptures, but they are still a bunch of good people who do business with integrity, and there are not many people with such morals in the wasteland, and I think they are worthy of trust... Do they have pump parts over there? If this is indeed the case, and they are willing to hand it over to me, then I agree. ”

Andy knew that the negotiations were basically done here, and talked about the trade matters on the other side.

"Since you agreed to open Burnham Springs to the New Canaanites, what about the Hoover Dam? You know, the New Canaanites originally planned to go south to do business with the Hoover Dam. ”

Frank reacted immediately violently.

"NcR used to blow up here! We won't forget! ... And, most importantly, their greed for land and resources is never-ending, and what happens once Burnham Springs opens up to them? Don't even think about it, they'll garrison us here and drive us all away, turning this place into their territory! ”

Andy opened his mouth, he wanted to say that the predecessor of Burnham Springs, Eagle Rock Town, was originally discovered by the pioneers of NcR and was gradually developed after the Dodge Mayor signed a charter to introduce NcR miner Burnham, and became the prosperous Burnham Spring, NcR never claimed that they gave up their ownership of Burnham Spring, but only temporarily left here because of the harsh environment, whether it is in theory or law, Burnham Springs is still NcR's.

But it made no sense to say to Frank, who seemed to them to be unworthy of continuing to claim to be the owner of Burnham Spring, and that the subsequent complete withdrawal of his forces had made Burnham Springs de facto borderless, and that the scavengers had been working here for many years to claim to be the masters of the land.

After thinking about it, if you want to persuade Frank, you still have to start from other angles.

"Frank, listen to me."

Andy decides to tell him what he had done to persuade the Brotherhood of Steel to withdraw and that Mayor Dodge had sent him here.

"Now the Brotherhood of Steel is able to withdraw not only for my sake, but more importantly, they are afraid of the NcR, you don't know, the war between the NcR and the Brotherhood in New California is over, and the NcR has won. Now the three newly arrived infantry battalions combined with the previous Hoover Dam garrison have formed a force that no one can underestimate, they come here sooner or later, instead of continuing to wait passively, it is better to take the initiative to deal with them, whether it is a good start or a bad start can affect all subsequent changes. ”

The first time Frank learns about these things, the already disgraced ghoul has even darker faces.

"So what happened in the past is going to happen again? Damn it! ”

Andy gestured for him to continue listening.

"Listen to me first, Mayor Dodge has some political needs now, and he wants to prove that he has a follow-up response to the Eagle Rock incident in the first place, which means that he can't send soldiers to drive you away from Burnham Springs and seize the resources here in the near future, as you said, you still have a while, not a short time."

"If your plan is completed, Burnham Springs will definitely flourish again, and it will not only be some tribesmen who will come at that time, but all kinds of idle people will come here to plot against you, and when the time comes, it will not be able to keep Burnham Springs by just the three of you, or even on your own."

Frank bowed his head thoughtfully, while Andy continued to persuade him.

"If the NcR has friendly contact with you, you can ask their patrols to help you fend off enemies like marauders near the train station here, and the only way to do that is to rely on their strength."

Frank let out a long sigh.

"I really don't want to see the two-headed bear flag planted in Burnham Springs again, but... You have a point, NcR soldiers can be stationed near the outer railway stations and railroads, and their merchants can trade freely here like the New Canaanites, but their soldiers can't set foot in Burnham Springs, that's our bottom line. ”

Andy knew that the matter was basically stable, and after making an agreement with Frank that he would help in the future, he left Frank's small stronghold to find Luke and told him about it. Luke was very excited, and thanked Andy for giving 500 bottle caps as a reward for helping him convince the people of Burnham Springs, and patted his chest to say that the water pump components were on him, and there would be no problem.

However, just as he was about to return to New Canaan in the north as soon as possible, Dante, who had come with him, quit and said that he would not leave until he had to go down to see the scene beneath Burnham Springs.

Andy watched speechlessly, when suddenly a violent explosion came from the northeast.

He hurried over and saw the hangman looking out there.

"Somebody detonated the explosives and tried to blow the hole down."

Andy frowned and waited for the smoke to clear, and then Frank ran over with an extra scar on his arm.

He also looked anxiously at the smoke, and then noticed that Andy was looking at his wounds.

"Sparky was startled by the explosion and started to go crazy again, he didn't recognize me and bit me... Those rats can actually touch the mines, but they are underestimated. These guys' bombs, they probably want to blow up the water hole? Obviously, the structure of the fire hole was more fragile, but they didn't choose to blow it up. ”

The smoke gradually cleared, and one of the two pillars standing at the entrance of the cave collapsed.

Fortunately, it is not known whether it was due to insufficient equivalence or location problems, the cave did not completely collapse, and the saboteur's operation was not successful.

But Frank still behaved irritating.

"The explosion they created could cause changes in the internal structure of the water hole, and although it seems to be okay now, it may not be possible in a few days. Really... If I had to find them, I'd have burned them to ashes with a laser rifle! Blow them up with a bomb! ”

Several people watched nervously for a few days, but the water hole did not collapse again, the people in the Ring of Steel did not seem to be carrying any more explosives, and Frank laid some additional traps, but there was no sign of being triggered, and these people seemed to have given up.

When Luke finally arrives with a replacement from New Canaan, Frank decides to act as quickly as possible.

"Andy, do you have any equipment for diving? It must be waterproof and radiation-proof. ”

Andy immediately thought of his power armor.

"I have a power armor, I guess I can, it's lighter and more airtight than normal power armor, and I think it will make it easier for me to move around underwater."

Frank followed him to the Atomic Humvee and looked at the T-51C on the mount, and asked Andy where he got the power armor with a surprised face, and Andy told him that he got it at the Bloomfield Space Center, and Frank fell silent for a moment, but did not tell Andy why he reacted.

"When I've counted the elements, I hope you can go down with me, I can't take them with me, and there are some strange creatures in them, if you want, you'll be rewarded afterwards, which will also help us fulfill our agreement faster.. Besides, you said you were going down to find something, right? ”

Frank paused, talking about what he had seen.

"I have been in the fire cave and the water hole, the fire hole is purely a mine dug by Prometheus Mining back then, the main mineral is the coal mine, although the coal mines wrapped in stones escaped the nuclear bombing of the Great War, but they were all ignited by the explosion caused by NcR, and the fire has been burning to this day, there are only some mining machinery and ores in it, and nothing else."

"As for the water hole, it's a completely different place, it's the underground water source of Burnham Spring, which may be connected to an underground river, and it was originally a natural cave, but for some reason, there is a lot of radiation in it, and I've seen some traces of man-made modifications. If those steel guys aren't talking nonsense, the things you're looking for, and the targets of these sneaky bomb bastards, are actually in the water hole. ”

Frank looked at Andy.

"If you happen to find something inside, you deserve it, and I won't stop you from taking them, but not the robbers who don't speak well."

Andy was thoughtful, so the SA government ordered a secret laboratory to be built in this cave back then? In a cave full of radiation and water? Is this really appropriate? ....