Traveler of the River of Time and Space

Chapter 628 4: Gospel Book

Night fell.

Due to the recent increase in lunatics in the wilderness, and with Polaris having suffered two consecutive attacks, the city temporarily implemented a curfew, prohibiting people from going outside after eight o'clock at night. However, this order couldn't be fully enforced, especially after Pasha hadn't appeared for a long time, prompting some underground forces within Polaris to quietly transport contraband from outside as if enjoying a carnival.

These contraband items were mainly psychoactive drugs.

The Scavenger teams had a huge demand for them, especially as illegal body modifications had increased over the years. Some people underwent cheap bionic transformations to enhance combat effectiveness, but their bodies couldn't adapt to the bionic limbs, causing nerve junction issues that led to constant pain, which had to be alleviated with drugs.

Another group with high demand for psychotropic substances were those tainted by lunatics and whose willpower wasn't strong enough, leading to symptoms like auditory hallucinations.

The lunatics appeared a year after Su Ziyu left.

The first lunatics discovered had no abnormalities, just extremely eccentric and solitary behavior, with a certain violent tendency. In the Wasteland World, there were many such people. Many suffered from PTSD, and the early Wilderness Knight Order even resorted to cannibalism due to food shortages.

Not until a human settlement was overrun by infected lunatics, with everyone slaughtered, did people realize the "mad sickness" had silently spread throughout the world.

The spread of the madness had no discernible pattern.

It seemed to leap unexpectedly, appearing in multiple places on Earth without direct human contact, not just in the North American Region, but also in regions of Asia and Europe. Major powers were almost immediately mobilized to study the principles of madness's contagion, but their progress was extremely slow because people infected in the early stages couldn't be detected by conventional means.

The initial sign of infection with mad sickness was auditory hallucinations, followed by persistent nightmares until driving a person's spirit to madness.

As for the method of the disease's transmission, no useful clues have been found to date.

The infection seemed random. Some people had close contact with lunatics, where some got infected and some didn't. Some went to dangerous, highly polluted areas, where some went insane on the spot while others remained normal after escaping.

The madness was like an invisible shadowy web, gradually enveloping everyone, and eventually, some who weren't infected thought they were and subsequently fell victim to the madness.

Due to the spread of the madness, the progress of rebuilding civilization around the world has stalled.

"The target has left the Inner City District."

In the dark, inside a three-story building, faint lights flickered as the man monitoring in secret opened his communicator and said quickly, "The Brotherhood's people are with her."

Soon, a deep male voice came over the communicator, "Find a way to continue monitoring them."

Not far away.

A team of soldiers, fully armed and equipped with Exoskeleton Power Armor, boarded several armored vehicles and drove towards the outskirts of the city, quickly disappearing into the pitch-black wilderness. However, just as these armored vehicles were about to pass through the city gates, a soft humming sound echoed from the rooftop of a nearby five-story building, followed by a small black dot rapidly flying through the air, silently attaching itself to the lower right side of the armored vehicle.

"Beep beep beep."

A small red dot appeared on the display in the man's hand, and he opened the communicator, saying, "The tracker is placed. Do you need someone to follow up?"

"I'll make arrangements," the deep male voice quickly responded.

The convoy raced through the wilderness.

In the leading armored vehicle, Su Ying opened her communicator and asked, "Uncle Leon. Will they really follow us?"

Crackle.

After a brief burst of static, a male voice replied, "If they're really after you, they shouldn't pass up this opportunity."

Hearing this, Su Ying was still a bit worried and whispered, "Some of them are very strong."

"I'm afraid..."

A woman's soft laughter came through the communicator, followed by Leon's voice, "Don't worry. We brought the little guy with us, and we have help this time too."

"Leave immediately after reaching the ambush point."

"Leave the rest to us."

Upon realizing the Antarctic Group had ill intentions towards her, Su Ying immediately sought assistance from the Brotherhood. Coincidentally, Leon had just returned from a mission, and as the Antarctic Group had targeted Su Ying, the Brotherhood had also set their sights on this emergent force.

This investigation led to a shocking discovery for the Brotherhood, as they found that the Antarctic Group was secretly deeply connected with both the Academy and the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon.

They seemed to have government connections from before the great disaster.

There were clues suggesting that the destruction of the Southern Cross was linked to them, and part of the genetic modification data that Su Ziyu brought out from the Southern Cross was handled by an organization known as the Antarctic Research Institute.

Before the onset of nuclear winter, the Old World's governmental organizations gathered some resources and power to find ways to save everything.

The Antarctic Research Institute was an organization funded by the government military at the time.

But not long after, the research institute organized by the government had a pollution leak, forcing all experimental plans to be abandoned, and the emergence of super Mutants and Corpse Ghosts dealt a catastrophic blow to everyone. The most chaotic, darkest period followed, leading the Wasteland World into a long anarchical era.

After the appearance of Corpse Ghosts, the government-funded research institute went into dormancy, moving most personnel and materials to Antarctica to wait out the nuclear winter.

But even stranger events were yet to unfold.

After closing its doors for a long period, the Antarctic Research Institute returned to action with ties to the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon.

It seemed like they had experienced internal division.

Some from the Antarctic Research Institute had close ties with the Mechanical Atomist Pantheon, shifting their research from science to theology, becoming a group of enigmatic Esoteric Cultists.

Initially, these research institutes focused on genetic technology, but now the Esoteric Cultists worshipped an unknown Divine Spirit and delved into mysterious Spiritual Knowledge.

They listened to the "Gospel" in search of true power within the "Gospel."

This time, Leon's task was to investigate an item called the "Gospel Book." Various indicators suggested that the "Gospel Book" was closely linked to the original great disaster. If the Gospel Book could be found, it might unravel the true cause of the disaster.

Dealing with the Antarctic Group members lurking in Polaris was just a small part of the plan. The true elite forces of the Brotherhood had already joined the Beidou advance units, planning a raid on the Esoteric Cultists' base near the Atomic Sea.

Various indicators suggested that one of the so-called "Gospel Books" was near the Atomic Sea.

.........