Armor-piercing bullets don't believe in carbon-based monsters

Chapter 233 We are all their children

What Chen Jian saw was a communication record.

Or to be more precise, it was a chat record.

The file records all the complicated and trivial matters in the operation of underground nuclear facilities, and is also filled with various boring information such as system self-checks, abnormal alarms, and maintenance reminders.

This record should not have been of much value.

But because of the existence of "people" and communication, Fuxi was able to quickly sort out a series of useful information, even if it was only in the form of a glimpse of the whole picture.

For the first time, the living "history" was presented to Chen Jian in a relatively complete form. When Chen Jian began to calm down and read the record compiled by Fuxi, he seemed to be brought into an era that was both the future and the past for him.

On December 2026, 12, the last day of the year, the survivors finally opened the underground nuclear fortifications near the imperial capital.

From the few words in the chat records, Fuxi concluded that before that, they had found ways to gather all the survivors they could find together, forming a settlement of nearly 30 people.

After that, they spent a year to open the most important 001 fortification, with the support of the Fuxi system.

The first thing they did was not to try to resume production, but to try to find out the truth about the catastrophe.

They searched all the scientific research institutions, archives and libraries around them. These unprofessional people gathered all their wisdom and made full use of Fuxi's help, but in the end, they only came up with answers similar to the information Chen Jian originally obtained.

The cause of the catastrophe has surpassed the current level of human technology and cognition. Before further and larger-scale scientific experiments can be carried out, even the most powerful artificial intelligence cannot infer a possible answer from the existing information.

After receiving this answer, the survivors gathered in the imperial capital temporarily gave up their pursuit of "answers".

They began trying to find survivors and gradually expanded the size of the settlement.

This period was peaceful and smooth for them.

They did not encounter any major threats. The only problem was that with the network completely cut off, it was not easy to contact the survivors by radio.

The reason is also very simple.

Not everyone knows how to use a radio.

Even for most people, it is not easy to simply use a generator to provide electricity to their living area.

But even so, they still searched almost all the areas around the imperial capital through exploration and calling again and again, and gathered more than two hundred survivors.

These people worked together to collect food, organize equipment, and organize education, pushing the entire base in a thriving direction.

Then, one day, someone suggested opening the underground nuclear facilities.

And from this day on, this precious record was finally preserved.

从2046年12月31日，一直到2047年2月，记录平淡如水。

A survivor named Wang He stationed here routinely reports the storage status of nuclear weapons and his work schedule to the Imperial Capital Base every day.

Chen Jian saw that he would occasionally complain to other people in the base.

He felt that the work here was too boring, and he felt that there was no need to maintain such a large nuclear arsenal.

Because almost all the people on Earth are dying, there are no enemies that can force them to use nuclear weapons.

He wanted to simply seal up the nuclear arsenal completely, but the decision made by the organization in the Imperial Capital Base was simple.

The current situation is unclear, and nuclear weapons may never be used, but they must be kept in a “usable” state.

Therefore, he could only suppress his restlessness and stay.

Fortunately, his position is not fixed.

On February 2, he spent a special New Year with everyone in the base.

Then in March, he was assigned to the reconnaissance team at the base and went on a two-month outdoor exploration.

When he returned to the nuclear facility again, he seemed to be relaxed and was in a much better state when chatting.

"There are no living people near the imperial capital, and the radio responses are getting less and less."

"What a pity. When we arrived in Baoding the day before yesterday, there was a survivor there."

"Well, he couldn't hold it anyway."

"The infection caused a high fever, and by the time we got there it was already too late."

"But fortunately, the others took it back."

"Now we have 340 people. Tell me, if we work hard in the future, can we gather everyone in the country in the imperial capital?"

He chatted with the communicator at the Imperial Capital Base about the situation in the camp, and from what they said, Chen Jian saw a growing survivor base.

The first steel plant was successfully put into use, the first piece of farmland was planted, and the artificial lake was developed into a fish pond. Some people suggested developing a circular economy of mulberry-fish ponds, but it was discovered that mulberry leaves could not be grown in the north.

These not-so-professional survivors often seem like a group of "mob", but they are full of energy and fighting spirit.

More and more survivors were found, and within a few months, the size of the Imperial Capital Base expanded to more than 500 people.

At this point, a virtuous cycle has begun.

Food is not a problem, safety is not a problem.

The so-called "internal strife" and "power struggle" that are common in the end times did not happen at all.

A leadership system was established and then the first five-year plan was adopted.

Wang He seemed to have a lot of opinions about this plan.

When chatting with the base communicator, he expressed his own opinions in a fanciful way.

".In fact, we don't need to give priority to developing agriculture. The population size is almost constant now."

"It's difficult to find more survivors. On the other hand, the survivor settlements that have already formed have no plans to join us for the time being."

"The village is fighting on its own now, so we should develop some specialized areas."

"Yangcheng and the Pearl River Delta are developing industries, so we should focus on medical care. After all, we have advantages in this area."

He has a lot of ideas, but from Chen Jian's perspective, most of them are too optimistic and too idealistic.

So, naturally, his proposal was not passed.

However, he didn't seem dissatisfied with it.

When the first plan was implemented, he also obeyed the arrangement and joined the "agricultural development".

When he returned to the fortifications to be on duty every day, he would always chat with the communicator about the farm work he had done during the day and his newfound tricks.

He became more and more professional.

Breeding, grafting, fertilization, and pest control.
And apparently, he is not the only one who is making progress.

By the end of the first plan, with the help of large machinery, the Imperial Capital Base with a population of 1200 had achieved self-sufficiency in food.

During the Chinese New Year of that year, everyone ate flour made from the wheat they grew for the first time.

Wang He ate 38 dumplings. Before returning to the fortification to rest, he asked the communicator to help him find some unexpired stomach-strengthening and digestion-promoting tablets.

But obviously, the correspondent was not found.

So in the end, he went to sleep despite the discomfort in his stomach.

Such discomfort did not affect his mood.

After reporting on the maintenance of the nuclear facilities as usual, he said to the communicator on the other end:
"Life has gotten better, and we can even eat dumplings."

"We have 1200 people now. If everything goes well, we will be able to grow to around 5000 people in one generation."

"Twenty years? Or thirty years at most?"

"As long as productivity can keep up, we may be able to grow to a scale of tens of millions within 100 years."

"It's not that hard to restore civilization, right?"

He still maintains an optimistic attitude, and it seems that things are developing as he expected.

After the first plan was successfully completed, the second plan followed.

The scale of industry began to expand, and with the help of the technology and equipment left over from the 001 fortification, the Imperial Capital Base quickly achieved self-sufficiency in primary tools.

They began to produce their own steam engines, generators, and simple internal combustion engines, and built the first tracked steam locomotive after the Cataclysm.

Although the power of this steam locomotive was far inferior to those professional machines before the Cataclysm, everyone was still excited about it.

Wang He still sticks to his post.

He often rotated with other team members, but due to his growing professionalism, his duty periods became longer and longer.

In 2053, he got married.

Then over the next five years, he had four children.

But, starting from this year, his mood suddenly became depressed.

Abnormalities began to appear in the base.

As if the accelerator key had been pressed, those who were originally in their prime found themselves rapidly weakening.

The same is true for Wang He.

He sent a message to the communicator worriedly. "I think I am dying."

"I'm not sick, but my body can't take it anymore."

"I'm only 40 years old. This shouldn't happen."

"The eldest was only 39 years old, but when he died yesterday, I saw his face and it looked like he was in his s or s."

"Do you think this could be some kind of disease?"

"If it's not a disease, is it possible that it's a sequelae of radiation?"

He asked the question, but it went unanswered.

Over the next three years, the population of the Imperial Capital Base dropped sharply.

Not only them, but all the other bases they could contact were facing the same problem.

Therefore, the heavy burden fell on the Imperial Capital Base.

There are many high-tech medical devices stored in Fortification 001, and during the development process, they also collected a large number of equipment in the Imperial Capital.

The first phase of the experiment began. During this period, the focus of the imperial capital's work completely shifted to "exploring the causes of aging."

Dissection, experiment, research, and demonstration.

This process repeats over and over again, but in the end, they still don't get an answer.

The population is still declining.

In February 2058, Wang He died at his post.

The last message he sent to the correspondent consisted of only one sentence.

"The Chinese New Year is just a few days away. You must eat more dumplings for me this year."

After his death, new members took his place.

This team member did not seem to like chatting with the communicator as much as Wang He, but a huge amount of information was still revealed from the few words he sent.

The population is decreasing at an increasingly faster rate and the average age of death is getting lower and lower.

From around 45 years old at the beginning, it will have dropped to 2075 years old by 37.

The population of the base has not stopped growing for the time being. After all, this age of death has not yet threatened the reproductive age range.

However, education has become increasingly unsustainable.

With more and more young people and more and more young children, the transfer of knowledge and experience is becoming increasingly difficult.

And it was during this period, when the fifth plan was underway, that a new strategy was put on the agenda.

"Immersive education" dominated by brain and computer has been enabled with the aim of maximizing the efficiency of education and reducing the pressure of knowledge transfer.

This strategy obviously worked, but the side effects were also quite obvious.

Many people developed mental problems, but because these problems were relatively minor, the base's decision-makers had no choice but to regard them as a necessary cost.

Unfortunately, even so, the downward trend has not been reversed.

In the 30th year of the Imperial Capital Base, the population of the base began to decline for the first time.

The base, with a population of nearly 6000, lost 500 people in one year.

The situation has become urgent.

So, over the next five years, they put new equipment into use.

Artificial womb.

The birth cycle was compressed to 4 months. In a nearly desperate situation with no hope of breaking the impasse, they chose the simplest and most direct way to deal with the population decline.

This time, the young team member who replaced Wang He expressed his thoughts to the equally young communicator for the first time.

"We have to think of another way. The second generation in the wasteland will not live past 35 either."

"There is no point in just giving birth. Maybe there is something wrong with our genes."

In fact, his thoughts also represent the thoughts of the vast majority of people in the base.

So, in 2086, the 41st year of the existence of the Imperial Capital Base, the people here began risky experiments.

With the help of well-preserved gene editing equipment, they "created" the first gene-edited embryo.

Ten months later, this embryo, together with hundreds of other embryos, grew into a new generation of imperial capital people.

They called these babies "firebrands."

Clearly, these babies carry their best hope for the continuation of the human race.

No one knows whether these babies survived or lived past the age of 35.

Because in 2094, a sudden disaster almost completely destroyed the entire base.

Unlike the major catastrophe, the process of this secondary disaster is mostly clear.

The first signs that appeared were various meteorological disasters that completely violated basic principles.

Strong winds that suddenly rose and then quickly dissipated, hailstones that fell from the clear sky, and tsunamis that swept along the coast like an explosion.
Next came the extreme low temperatures.

Many people died in the base.

Some people died from visible disasters, but many people also died inexplicably from multiple organ failure, just like during the catastrophe.

As if it had been filtered through a filter, the base, which originally had only 4000 people left, eventually had less than half of the population left.

In the end, under no other circumstances, the "survivors" of the Imperial Capital Base abandoned the base they had worked so hard to build.

They left three sentences.

“The world is being filtered.”

“We took everything we needed.”

"For the future of humanity, we must light the fire."

This is the end of the record.

Chen Jian breathed a sigh of relief.

Lei Jie on the side looked up at Chen Jian and said:
"The last thing the record says is that they are heading to Chang'an, and if conditions permit, they will head to Shancheng to join up with other bases."

"So, did they reach the mountain city?"

"Probably not."

Chen Jian shook his head and replied:
"If they really reached the mountain city, I'm afraid there wouldn't be any subsequent incidents involving the Mimic Heretics, Blood Skeletons, and Holy Blood."

“They are the origin of it all.”

"This. Holy Father, you are right."

“These people are their real makers.”

"really."

Lei Jie also sighed.

After a moment's silence, he frowned and said:

"There is still too little information about the secondary disaster. But it seems that this secondary disaster is very similar to the first round of catastrophe?"

"Why do I feel like this area of the imperial capital has been swept by some kind of 'rule domain'?"

"Obviously, they think so too."

Chen Jian nodded and said:
"Otherwise, they wouldn't have said something like 'filtering'."

"really."

Lei Jie subconsciously rubbed his swollen brows. After a moment, he suddenly asked again:
"So do you think they succeeded?"

"I mean, has the problem of declining life expectancy been solved?"

Chen Jian pursed his lips and did not answer directly, but asked back:
"Have you ever seen anyone over 40 in this world?"

"I'm not sure, but the old people in Yellowstone City do seem to age beyond their actual age."

"That's because Yellowstone has always been isolated. This is not evidence of failure, but on the contrary, it is evidence of success."

Chen Jian took a deep breath and then said:
"Have you forgotten? The saints of the Mechanicus actually lived for sixty or seventy years."

"so."

"They did more than just create the so-called Primarchs."

“In theory.”

“Everyone in this world is their child.”

(End of this chapter)