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

Chapter 71 Inheritance
The Mechanicus did not leave much equipment in Yellowstone City, most of which were single-shot rifles and small-caliber smoothbore cannons.

Chen Jian found a few Type 81 rifles that were still usable among a pile of weapons. He tried firing them and found that they could still be used in full-automatic mode. However, the problem of bullet jamming was quite serious, and he had to pull the bolt after firing almost every two rounds.

He couldn't help but sigh at how solid and durable this thing was. He didn't know where it was taken from, but it was over three hundred years old. Apart from some problems with the recoil spring and the gas guide, it was still in relatively good working condition.

It is indeed a replica of a Mao-style masterpiece. Perhaps this thing is really prepared for a nuclear war.
But he didn't have time to feel too much, as the most important issue at the moment was how to distribute these weapons.

According to his speculation, since it has been confirmed that the monster called "Mongol" is related to the Mechanicus, the strategic position of Yellowstone City is quite important.

It is no longer an ordinary settlement, but may be the secret base and source of troops for the Mechanicus.

This can be supported by the fact that the population of Yellowstone City has declined rapidly within two years.

In this case, just as he said, the other party's revenge will surely come soon.

In fact, what they may face is not the revenge from Hanshui City, but the revenge from the entire Mechanicus.

The situation was critical and everyone had to be armed quickly.

Therefore, Chen Jian directly ordered the more than 100 people who returned to Huangshi City to collect weapons, and those who were not enough would be given priority to adults with combat capabilities.

What surprised him a little was that among the adults who took the initiative to receive weapons, a large proportion were women.

They have no intention of retreating. In this apocalyptic world, women really hold up half the sky.
After the weapons were distributed, Chen Jian continued to discuss the city defense plan with Huang Yu.

After basically arranging everything, Chen Jian discovered that Huang Yu was actually not a novice in this regard.

At least, he can work out a reasonable schedule and even know where to best place the sentry posts.

This proves that he actually has basic military qualities - although not much.

"Have you ever worked in the city defense army?"

Chen Jian asked in the temporary command center set up in the Mechanicus Church.

Huang Yu nodded immediately and replied:

"I was originally a member of the Yellowstone City Defense Force, and I have also worked with the Mechanicus's Skitarii."

“But I stopped doing it three years ago.”

"At that time, the Mechanicus began to try to transform the monster called Mongol into a weapon, deceiving many people to follow them and die."

"cheat?"

Chen Jian interrupted Huang Yu and asked in surprise:
"Not forced?"

"It was a scam at first, and many people thought it was really a good way to solve their problems."

Huang Yu sighed and continued to explain:

“But then, things slowly changed.”

"We found that the Mechanicus was just using us as free tools. Sometimes, in order to experiment with their so-called 'new methods of controlling monsters', several people would die in a single day."

"We began to resist, but in the face of the Mechanicus, resistance was too powerless."

"In the end, a group of people reached a compromise with the Mechanicus and continued to cooperate with them in exchange for them protecting the cemetery of their ancestors."

"This is just a stopgap measure. In fact, everyone knows that if we don't cooperate, everyone here will become slaves."

"understood."

What Huang Yu described was not much different from what Chen Jian had guessed. The only thing that surprised him was that the "ancestor worship" in Huangshi City seemed to be much stronger than he had expected.

Chen Jian thought for a moment and asked:
“Is the ancestral cemetery so important?”

".We don't know either."

Huang Yu shook his head and answered frankly:

"But when we are born here, our elders tell us to take good care of our ancestors' graves."

“That’s what we do.”

"We've been doing this for at least the past two hundred years of recorded history."

"More than two hundred years?!"

Chen Jian stood up suddenly.

"You mean, Yellowstone City has existed on this island for more than two hundred years?"

"Yes."

Huang Yu was a little frightened. He didn't know what Chen Jian was surprised about.

But looking at the other person's expression, he felt that this matter might be of great importance.

So he quickly asked:

"Any questions?"

Chen Jian waved his hands, frowning, and did not answer immediately.

He just kept thinking in his mind.

More than two hundred years, is only the two hundred years that are recorded.

Is it possible that the people of Yellowstone City have been living here since the Cataclysm?
Is it possible that they were originally residents here and escaped the catastrophe?
Why should we protect our ancestors’ tombs?

Perhaps they hid the information about the Cataclysm in their tombs?
"Show me your cemetery!"

Chen Jian spoke immediately, and Huang Yu did not dare to delay. He took Chen Jian and He Shuo and others to a forest outside the island.

As soon as he entered the woods, Chen Jian noticed something unusual.

This forest is indeed full of signs of human maintenance. Although the vegetation is lush, it has obviously been trimmed.

As they walked, Huang Yu introduced:

"In fact, since I can remember, people no longer bury their dead here."

"There are too many graves and too little land to accommodate all the burials."

"Some tombs collapsed for various reasons and cannot be found."

"Plus the restrictions of the Mechanicus, all we can do is maintain some of the most important tombs every year."

"How do you tell which graves are important?"

"Look at the tombstone."

Huang Yu answered without hesitation:

"The bigger the tombstone, the more important the grave." "Got it."

As they were talking, they had already walked into the cemetery lined with tombstones. Huang Yu pointed to the tallest tombstone in the center and said:
"That's the ancestral tomb."

Chen Jian hurried forward and wanted to check the inscription on the tombstone.

But unfortunately, under the erosion of time, even the stone inscriptions have weathered and decayed, and only in a few small areas can some words be barely recognized.

".Died on October XX, 2067."

"Age. Sixty-seven."

".Huangshi Village. Population. XX79 people."

"The Huang surname. The descendants of Yan and Huang should remember this."

This block seems to describe the life of the tomb owner, but most of it is no longer visible.

Chen Jian moved his gaze to the left and then recognized new words.

"If the tomb door is opened again, hide underground."

".Don't do it unless it's absolutely necessary"

Open the tomb door?

Chen Jian subconsciously pushed the tombstone, but saw that the tombstone was split into two halves, as if it had been opened a long time ago.

There was indeed a space of considerable size inside. Using a tactical flashlight, I could barely see the inside, and it was empty.

What was originally placed in here?
Chen Jian continued to look to the left, and on the far left side of the stone tablet, there were a few lines of recognizable small characters.

".Physics, mathematics, chemistry."

"The teaching materials are here. Please ask Huang Qin to take charge of the educational work."

"Learn math, physics and chemistry well, and travel everywhere."

".Three major theories"

".Newtonian mechanics, relativity, quantum."

Chen Jian took a deep breath.

He could see that the tomb owner was trying to leave as much "scientific" information as possible on his tombstone.

It can be inferred that the things originally placed in the tomb were probably related to scientific education.

He even mentioned quantum mechanics, which shows that the level of knowledge and technology here was not low at that time.

So in 2067, the heritage here was still quite complete, and even a systematic education system was formed?
How did Yellowstone City end up like this?
There was no more information on the largest tombstone, so Chen Jian could only get up and continue to follow Huang Yu's instructions, looking at the tombstones one by one from old to new in chronological order.

At the end of almost every tombstone inscription there are a few words like "condensed wisdom", and these essences, without exception, represent the highest level of technology here at that time.

It’s as if they are worried that their descendants will forget, so even though all kinds of information have been passed down, they still want to engrave what they think is most important on the tombstone.

This seems to be their tradition.

"The most important step in rice hybridization technology is parent selection."

"Don't be afraid of my dead body. I am still your teacher."

“If you really can’t build an internal combustion engine, start with a steam engine.”

“I have engraved the firing process of high manganese steel here.”

"The transformer consists of an iron core and windings. Let Huang Xuchu continue to study silicon steel sheets."

From the inscriptions one by one, it can be seen that the technology here is recovering rapidly, and the number of stone tablets also proves that the population here is slowly growing.
-
It was not until the last marble tablet was read that the situation took a sharp turn.

The outer stone tablets have all turned into rough rocks, and their exquisiteness and solidity have dropped by more than one level!
But the number suddenly increased.

Chen Jian realized that something was happening. He found a crude stone tablet that looked the most conspicuous. It had only one line of deeply etched inscription that could not be eroded by weathering.

"If you see a colored stone, put it in the furnace and burn it."

Next to this stone tablet, all the other stone tablets are engraved with similar inscriptions.

"Remember to wash your hands after touching sick people and dirty things."

"A round thing is a wheel."

"Boil willow bark in water to treat headaches."

“Divide the food into the required number of portions, and the person who divides it will choose last.”

“Trust your ancestors, not religion.”

Chen Jian took a deep breath.

He realized that during this period of time, Yellowstone City must have faced a major crisis.
-
No, it might not be them, but the entire human civilization, which is once again facing a crisis, so that the nascent civilization is almost destroyed, and the developed technology has instantly regressed to its most primitive stage!
This crisis is most likely caused by the secondary disasters of that catastrophe.

Yes, how could such a huge “catastrophe” not have secondary disasters?
Perhaps this has something to do with the origin of the monster?
Chen Jian's mind was in a mess. He felt that he couldn't think too much and continued reading.

"Iron ore can be used to make iron tools, and after being heated red, it can be made into knives."

"Weaving fishing nets can catch fish, and I left behind the blueprints for building boats."

"Every year after the water level rises, we can plant a second crop of rice."

"Red clay is fired and made into jars to hold water."

"There are a lot of useful things out there, so remember to explore if you have the energy to spare."

All the valuable tombstones have been viewed, and now what remains are just a few dozen relatively new tombstones with relatively long intervals between them.

There is no newer or more useful information on it.

But Chen Jian has been able to confirm that the civilization here is still recovering.

Even after experiencing two devastating disasters.

Chen Jian marveled at their resilience, and also became increasingly angry at the Mechanicus's perverse actions.

Obviously, they have something to do with the fact that the current generation of Yellowstone residents no longer understands the significance of the information recorded on the tombstones.

Fortunately, I arrived in time.

Chen Jian let out a long breath, and a sentence suddenly flashed through his mind.

The torch is passed on and will continue to soar for generations.

(End of this chapter)