Chapter 320 Interlude.
The search for ruin materials cannot just stay on the surface; one must dig deeper. Besides steel, Jié Jié also discovered half a decayed Strike Dragon Gun.
Scrape off the rust, and this Strike Dragon Gun was embedded into the structural skeleton of Ruin City, contributing to supporting Ruin City.
Ruin City, which has been getting better all along, also continued to move forward.
How long will Ruin City’s journey last?
Perhaps before bidding farewell to Ruin City, he would park it under a mountain where the sea can be seen, fulfilling his dream of “owning a sea-view apartment.”
Watching Ruin City restart and continue moving forward, the direction is getting further and further away from the southern fortress. The Katana Warrior pulled out two signal flares and a small gun from his body.
One red and one green, the green signal flare was inserted into the muzzle, and after pulling the trigger, it flew into the sky.
A bright green light point bloomed, and the Great Sword Warrior pushed the Chief Hunter who was guarding at the mountain pass.
Kempe woke up with a start and saw the slowly dissipating green glow in the sky.
“Boss, Ruin City didn’t head this way. Should we fire a signal flare to notify the fortress?”
The Great Sword Warrior rubbed his chin and asked the captain’s opinion.
“Let me take a look at the map.”
Kempe confirmed the direction with binoculars, opened the map, and followed that direction with his finger, finally stopping in a ruinous wasteland.
Unlike the unexplained wandering migration of the Old Mountain Dragon, the Queen Mantis’ progress was full of purpose towards man-made structures.
And what they first saw was the town they were supposed to protect, believing it would attract the Queen Mantis. But now, it seems like they misunderstood the Queen Mantis.
The gains from dismantling active fortresses are visible to the naked eye, yet it still chose to drive Ruin City towards ruins… This doesn’t seem like a monster with a certain level of ignorance and wisdom.
Incidents of meat-eating monsters attacking travelers roasting meat have happened from ancient times to the present. Monsters really can’t distinguish between a full meal and always being full, and may even develop path dependence on attacking travelers.
“I feel that the battle at the fortress is like the meeting of river water and well water. Either the river water overflows the well water, or the deep well traps the river water.”
Kempe blinked and started recording in his notebook.
“And now, the intersection of well water and river water after that battle seems to have returned to the beginning where they don’t infringe on each other.”
“Natural balance?”
“The concept of balance spoken by the Dragon Person scholar is too complicated. I prefer a saying in the Fortress Guard—”
“As long as there are no disasters, it must be balanced. Let’s keep chasing down.”
A few drops of well water enter the river, probing the flow of the river.
Kempe lifted the small gun, and the safe green glow shot into the sky, exploding and being spotted through binoculars by the Observation Hand in the distant fortress tower.
The state of emergency ended, and people who had prepared for evacuation relaxed and returned to their most reassuring homes.
…
Ruin City entered another ruin again. Jié Jié jumped out of Ruin City and looked around, discerning some details of this ruin.
This was a fortress.
Along the way, eleven ruins had already been trampled. During the idle time of disassembling and digging, Jié Jié would also study the characteristics and history of the ruins, enhancing his archaeology experience.
Ruins are categorized into residential areas and fortresses, as well as cities formed by the combination of fortresses and towns.
In terms of era, they can be divided into the prehistoric period, not-so-ancient times, and modern times.
Prehistoric ones are the most dilapidated, ancient enough that even the steel has oxidized, and there might be nothing left to gain.
Not-so-ancient times seemed very martial, often discovering many decayed anti-dragon weapons, which could yield quite a bit of steel.
And the steel in this world seems to be able to last forever. Decay is inevitable, but it won’t disappear completely like in the previous life after just a few hundred years.
The superiority of smelting technology should be stronger in the previous life’s technological development, but the quality of minerals produced in this vast land is clearly better than in the previous life.
After all, he has never seen the iron face of a Slaying Dragon rust.
Modern ruins are rare, but they often have relatively intact steel, which is Jié Jié’s favorite material.
This fortress came from the not-so-ancient times, but after searching for a long time, Jié Jié couldn’t find anything useful.
It’s like… it’s been searched through.
If it wasn’t him, then it must have been visited by other Queen Mantises!
Jié Jié burst out of the ground, stomped his feet crazily, and returned to Ruin City.
The existence of other Queen Mantises is also good news for him. Scrapping is ultimately slower than looting.
With good luck, his Ruin City construction project can be completed in one step!
He had more expectations for the upcoming journey, hoping to meet a beautiful, wealthy, and generous lady who he could devote everything to.
“It only stopped for half an hour and then resumed its journey. Seems like something unexpected happened?”
The hunters were puzzled and chose to wait until Ruin City left before entering the fortress and searching around.
“This is a fortress from the Ancient Reider Kingdom period, but… there’s nothing.”
Although the hunters don’t have as rich personal archaeological experience as Jié Jié, they stand on the shoulders of giants.
Having tracked for so long, they have also returned several times to report to the Ancient Dragon Observation Ship, and the Dragon Person scholars have given them lessons.
“There’s nothing, no wonder it didn’t stop.”
“Hmm, but the Ancient Reider Kingdom revered martial arts, and there should be quite a few dismantlable anti-dragon weapons in the fortress.”
Kempe was puzzled. Most of the materials used to cast anti-dragon weapons are steel.
After the development of Yanque Stone smelting technology, the durability and lifespan of steel have greatly improved.
“Maybe it was recycled by the kingdom?”
The Great Sword Warrior scratched his smooth head and made a guess.
After the fall of the Ancient Reider Kingdom, it split into the Eastern Reider Kingdom and the Western Reider Kingdom, continuing to this day.
But kingdoms have their knights and armies, while hunters rely more on guilds, and they often mention guilds.
“Transporting a large number of anti-dragon weapons requires supply lines and manpower. At least, I’ve never heard that the kingdom extensively recycled anti-dragon weapons after the fall of the Ancient Reider Kingdom.”
The Katana Warrior shook his head and slowly said a long string of words. He was the one who liked reading books the most on the Ancient Dragon Observation Ship.
Whether it’s the Eastern Reider Kingdom or the Western Reider Kingdom, historically speaking, both seem to avoid the heritage of the Ancient Reider Kingdom, as if those heritages were tainted with calamity.
“Since there’s one monster active nearby, there must be an opportunity to find a group.”
Kempe stood up.
There is an undeniable event in the lives of both humans and monsters: mating and reproduction.
For the sake of mating and reproduction, a species in a vast area often does not possess uniqueness. This broad concept changes according to the species’ mobility.
If there is only one individual of the same species, then it is likely migrating, and the reason for migration is often to seek mating in an area where multiple individuals of the same species exist.
“So, could it be another Queen Mantis?!”
The eyes of the four lit up with sharpness simultaneously.
Comparative investigation of multiple cases can yield more ecological intelligence than tracking a single individual, revealing more monster habits!
321
