CHAPTER 1132: SECTION 702: AUTUMN WIND SOUTHWARD (PART 2)

Honestly, Malin hated the extreme heat, but this region’s heat made Malin feel like he was back at his hometown.

"My temperature sensor indicates it’s 40 degrees here. How did you Thanan people survive here for 8 millennia?" Jason expressed a sense of awe at the number on his temperature sensor. To him, the summer in Farole, deadly hot, was just 27 degrees.

In such extreme heat of 40 degrees, the Farolians who could die from 27 degrees would surely be wiped out by such harsh climate.

"It’s like returning to my old home," Malin said with a smile.

Because what he missed of the past was such an enthusiastic world: oppressive heat waves on summer evenings, scorching electric scooter seats and western walls, transparent door freezers in roadside convenience stores, the lady boss watching TV on the wall, and the cat walking on the shelf, remembering it as a strange cat that came when called and left when told.

It would bite Malin’s finger when it was angry.

After glancing at the map in his hand and confirming the river, Malin suggested walking along it—although the riverside was a watering point for many Dark Zone creatures, Sage Yu entered the Dark Zone this time wanting to ascertain the extent of mutation in the Dark Zone creatures.

Malin’s plan was to go to his home, and thus, the two people’s choices coincided.

And so they walked up the ancient highway—these roads had long completely weathered today, leaving only some remnants as proof of their former existence.

South of this highway was the riverbed; though relatively dangerous here, it was situated midway between woodland and open terrain, ready-made cover could be found roadside, and attacking them from the riverside would require an upward assault.

Though the road was hardly passable, as a Dark Zone, having no road was par for the course.

"Your previous home was this hot?" Although Ails felt the heat too, after all, he was just a man in a suit, he didn’t need to show how hot it was, nor did he need to be unbearably hot.

"Yes." Honestly, Malin thought of that joke again—locally, days above 40 degrees were few and far between, followed by roads scorched by the sun like a purgatory.

"What did it look like in the past?" Konen turned his head to ask Malin.

Bionic humans had absolutely no artistic talent, especially males; they excelled in combat, but Konen’s question still made Sage Yu sigh, and after sighing, he looked at Malin. Everyone wanted to know the answer, and Malin, with a hint of nostalgia, said, "In the past, I lived in an era far removed from the great ruin. At that time, humanity hadn’t yet formed the Earth Union, and many bad things still existed. And I, well, I was born in this region."

"It’s really hard to believe." Sage Yu was full of amazement, in his view, someone as extraordinary as Malin was unprecedented.

"At first, I even thought I had gone to another world, as in my time, not many books would write about traveling forward 8 millennia." Malin’s self-deprecating quip earned a laugh from Bei Luo: "Lord Malin is truly interesting, you are right, but, after all, we still have to thank that lady."

When he mentioned that lady, Malin smiled... sighed, he really didn’t know whether to thank her or resent her.

Although coming to save the world is indeed an attractive choice for a man, but... looking at such ruins and rubble, sometimes it really is quite despairing.

So he could only light a cigarette.

Jumping over two cracked foundations, Malin looked at the vehicles in the crevices and the skeleton of an owner half-emerged from a car window, shaking his head.

"The further south you go, the more you’ll see of this batch of unlucky ones, many couldn’t climb out even until death." Sage Yu said this while his recorder was documenting the two-headed deer herd on the riverbank not far away.

...Yes, two-headed deer.

When Malin first saw this famous animal from the radiation series, he was filled with a sense of absurdity—he pointed at the two-headed deer: "Are these also a specialty of the Dark Zone?"

Although in Westland he hadn’t seen other two-headed animals, he hadn’t found anything more shocking than seeing them here, knowing it was only a little over a hundred kilometers from Malin’s hometown.

"Yes, and they’re unique to this region. According to our historical records, in the entire southern battlefield, to isolate the out-of-control bionic humans, various tonnage big-wigs were used here, many even dragged out from storage, though besides the direct-hit points of the past, there were few threats left in this region, but these mutated animals remained, and the mutations caused to their ancestors by the radiation forever altered their fate." Sage Yu said, mentioning those bugs: "In this region, the thing that causes us the most trouble are those insect armor creatures, which are neither living beings, yet alive, like as you’ve seen, they’re extremely dangerous guys. We’ve bombed that factory several times, but for some reason, they keep producing insect armor."

"Maybe the factory itself is already a mutated different kind," Jason, close to the woods, said, holding his gun.

"Such a possibility exists; originally we planned to gather troops to attack that factory, but as you know, everyone looking at the stars discovered that the Tide of the Dead was coming soon, so we didn’t have much time to deal with such native mutant factories. More troops are needed in the North, and we’re even preparing to withdraw military forces next year or the year after, recalling several Southeast Asian colonial points, abandoning all Western expansion points... we’re entering the final battle, Lord Malin." Bei Luo added while walking behind Jason.