chsdbacks Chapter 5 Prologue
Chapter 5 Prologue
In Mojave at night, the bright moon hangs high in the sky. The daytime heat has long since vanished, and a chill has descended upon the land, a stark contrast to the previous day.
Beneath a sheltered rock face, a campfire crackled, while a lizard leg the size of a forearm simmered in an iron pot above, with several skewers of lizard meat roasting beside the fire.
The half-human-sized lizard carcass was then left a hundred meters away from the campfire, so that the creatures attracted by the smell of blood wouldn't have to linger near the fire.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao just stared blankly at everything in front of him. Carrying the wooden box all day had indeed brought him a lot of fatigue, but in fact, it didn't have too much of an impact. What he was more concerned about was what he had learned along the way, which he found hard to accept.
While he was still in a daze, the captain scooped a spoonful of soup from the pot, picked up an empty can, put the soup into it, and handed it to the boy next to him.
When the steam from the soup reached his face, Huo Yuhao regained his senses and reached out to take the can of soup.
Then he said, "Thank you, Captain John..."
During their time together during the day, Huo Yuhao learned the names of the people in front of him, including the nearly fifty-year-old captain, John.
Besides the brown-haired girl who was almost thirty, named Thane, and the blond-haired girl who was about the same age as Thane, Cole...
Of course, the one who startled Huo Yuhao was Randy, who had become a ghoul due to radiation and lost his ordinary appearance, but was only twenty-five years old.
He also learned that they were a Ranger patrol from the Republic of New California, and that he and they were patrolling near Highway 15 in the Mojave Wasteland.
The reason why the word "wasteland" is always mentioned is because after the nuclear war that broke out in 2077, everything that existed before was basically destroyed, and people started over from the ruins.
And now, the place I am in is the wasteland of Mojave in 2274, after the nuclear war ended. Of course, this place should be called the Mojave Desert.
This world has no soul power, and its people have no martial souls. Their weapons are broadswords, spears, and the guns they carry on their backs. This world is completely different from the Douluo Continent they know.
When Huo Yuhao learned about these circumstances, he didn't tell John and the others anything about martial souls or soul power, because to them, such words sounded like he had gone mad.
He simply stared silently ahead, but inside he was devastated.
Although he didn't understand what nuclear war was or what had happened in this region called Mojave, he knew that he had to go back, back to Douluo Continent, where there were still things he hadn't finished.
The boy didn't know why he had come here, but he understood that returning to Douluo Continent would definitely not be a simple matter.
After his mother's death, he didn't have much attachment to that world.
But he couldn't stay here forever.
After all, his mother's grave was still there, and he hadn't yet taken revenge on the Duke's mansion, so he had to return to that world.
However, at this moment, the boy didn't know how to get back; he was filled with confusion.
After seeing Huo Yuhao and taking a sip of soup, John picked up a skewer of lizard meat from the campfire and took a bite. After chewing the obviously charred piece of meat, John once again looked at the boy beside him.
During their journey throughout the day, they learned that the boy's name was Huo Yuhao, and that he came from a place called Xingluo.
However, Huo Yuhao's ignorance of the wasteland shocked them, and they even thought for a moment that he was an ignorant brat who came out of some shelter.
After learning about the current situation, Huo Yuhao became taciturn.
However, John, the captain of the Ranger patrol squad, merely glanced at his reaction a couple of times and did not suspect anything strange about him.
If you let an eleven-year-old boy wander the wasteland without any weapons, it's no different from suicide.
Moreover, the Rangers were originally formed with the aim of combating the slave trade and maintaining regional security.
So John said to him, “Kid, tomorrow, we’ll go through Neptune, and after another half a day’s walk, we’ll reach the New California outpost in Mojave.”
"If you're lucky, you might find your place called Xingluo. If you're unlucky, you can find a town nearby and stay there. You can make a living by farming or herding livestock."
"Or perhaps you could go to the heart of the new California Republic; maybe at your age, you could start a new life there..."
John was still joking around, while Thane and Rand were playing cards and Cole was keeping watch, just like the nights they used to spend on patrols.
However, this arrangement was unacceptable to Huo Yuhao. He didn't want to stay at this time; he wanted to go back and avenge his mother.
But he also knew that he couldn't survive alone in this world right now. He had witnessed the whole process when they killed the half-human-sized lizard.
At that moment, Huo Yuhao subconsciously looked up at the starry sky, and then whispered, "I still want to go home..."
Upon hearing this, he looked at the boy beside him, wondering what he had seen. John paused for a few seconds before speaking, "It's difficult not to know where it is."
After saying that, John continued eating the meat skewers in his hand, while Huo Yuhao remained silent.
The next day, after passing through the small town of Neptune and walking for another half day, Huo Yuhao saw a huge steel statue on the hillside at the end of the road, shaped like two rangers shaking hands.
This monument commemorates the merger of the Mojave Desert Rangers into the New California Rangers and their joint operations.
Seeing this, the boy looked up at the spot, while the others couldn't help but find it amusing. After all, in their eyes, these two iron lumps were nothing more than ridiculous propaganda and they would be better off giving them more supplies.
Just as the group continued on their way, a group of traveling merchants passed by.
Among them, Huo Yuhao saw the two-headed cow carrying goods, a perfectly normal thing in the wasteland, but it touched the boy's heart deeply.
It wasn't that he was surprised by the creature with two cows in front of him, but rather that after seeing the cows' eyes, he inexplicably imagined what would happen if he truly gave up the idea of going home and stayed in this wasteland...
Perhaps staying in this wasteland isn't so bad for him, just like John said last night.
However, the moment this thought arose, Huo Yuhao's urge to go home grew stronger and stronger. Perhaps he would never be able to find a way home from this world in his entire life.
However, he was more afraid that he could really settle down and live here. He still had things to do back home, and he wanted to go back and visit his mother's grave again.
At this moment, Huo Yuhao stood there without moving forward. The others, seeing him like this, wondered if he was too tired and needed to rest.
However, only Captain John turned to look at the boy at that moment, and then Huo Yuhao looked up at him.
At that moment, the two looked at each other. Huo Yuhao didn't know what the other saw in his eyes, but he was absolutely certain that he had to find a way home.
But John saw in the boy's determined eyes something he had long lost.