Becoming an Emperor Starting from the World of The Wandering Earth

Chapter 83 looks a bit like Nest City.

Ten minutes later, four pickup trucks and several motorcycles were back on the road.

There were a few more people in the car this time.

Paul squeezed into the back seat with Lily in his arms, while Maggie sat in the truck bed, leaning against the side of the truck and resting with her eyes closed.

Hicks was lying in the back of another vehicle; after being treated by Carey, his condition had stabilized.

Wilson remained seated in the passenger seat of the lead car.

Earl was still driving, and this time he was more obedient than before.

He didn't dare to breathe too loudly the whole way, keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead, not even daring to glance at Wilson out of the corner of his eye.

Outside the car window, the wasteland stretched endlessly under the dim yellow sky.

Occasionally, one can see a few animal remains, a few piles of weathered stones, and the faint outline of hills in the distance.

Apart from the sounds of the wind and engines, there was no other noise in the entire world.

Wilson stared out the window for a while, then suddenly asked a question.

"Earl, do you have any alcohol around Rusty Town?"

Earl paused for a moment, then nodded frantically.

"Yes, yes, there's a little tavern in town that makes its own beer. It's not that great, but it's strong."

"That's good."

Wilson leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes.

These past few days have been exhausting.

Traversing, exploring, fighting, rescuing people—one thing after another, it never stopped.

After settling Lily in and entering the Holy City, who knows how many battles we'll have to fight.

Take advantage of the little time you have on the road to rest for a bit.

Tomorrow he will have to lead the team to find a way to get closer to the Holy City and verify whether the information Paul provided is accurate, so as to lay the foundation for the arrival of the main force later.

The convoy continued to bump along the wasteland.

As darkness fell, the distant hills began to blur.

Earl turned on the headlights, and two dim beams of light pierced the darkness, illuminating the bumpy road ahead.

After an unknown amount of time, Nancy's voice came through Wilson's headphones.

"Boss, the town of Iron Rust is just ten kilometers ahead. Everything is normal; no abnormalities have been found."

"understood."

Wilson sat up straight and patted Earl on the shoulder.

"Drive faster, get there sooner, and get some rest."

Earl responded and pressed the accelerator harder.

Pikachu roared and immediately increased its speed.

The three cars behind also accelerated.

Four headlights drew four swaying streaks of light in the darkness as the car sped toward Rust Town.

After a night's rest, Wilson immediately led his five team members to the Holy City at dawn the next day.

As for the rest, they stayed behind to protect Paul and Maggie.

Although he was prepared, he was still shocked when he saw the holy city that Paul had described.

Is this the Holy City?

This thing doesn't even deserve to be called a holy city.

At the edge of the horizon stands a city in the wilderness, stretching as far as the eye can see.

There is a wall at least 30 meters high on the outskirts of the city.

The walls were not made of ordinary bricks and stones, but of some kind of metal material, which looked extremely cold.

Every now and then, a watchtower stands on the top of the wall, and every now and then, the giant searchlight on the watchtower will slowly sweep across the city inside and outside.

What caught Wilson's eye most was a dark cloud over the city.

Calling them dark clouds isn't quite right; a more accurate description would be the fog and mist caused by heavy industrial pollution.

Even in the desolate wilderness where the giant city is located, with no mountains and only some small hills within a radius of more than ten kilometers, the howling winds could not disperse it.

In addition, there are ubiquitous crosses, huge pipes with diameters exceeding two or three meters, and displays with numerous joints.

Even from a great distance, Wilson could still hear the hymns coming from that enormous loudspeaker.

However, due to technical issues, the transmitted sound was somewhat distorted, as if a demon was lurking in the shadows.

Looking at the city in the distance, Wilson felt nauseous.

During his long military service, he traveled to many places.

The Amazon rainforest, the tribes of South Africa.

But no city is like that.

This can no longer be considered a city, but rather a giant man-made beehive made of steel, or a man-made garbage can.

"call----"

Wilson breathed a sigh of relief. "Nancy, start the drone."

Nancy, who had been waiting nearby, immediately nodded and quickly turned on the control terminal she was carrying.

A moment later, a tiny drone, about the size of a palm, rose from his hand and quickly disappeared into the gray-black sky.

The drone first climbed to a height of 200 meters, and then slowly approached the holy city along the preset path.

On the control terminal screen, the real-time image began to be transmitted back.

Wilson crouched beside her, staring at the screen.

In the footage, the outer defensive structure of the holy city gradually becomes clear.

The metal wall is thirty meters high, with a watchtower every fifty meters. The top of the watchtower is a double sentry, equipped with a searchlight and something that looks like a heavy firearm.

Inside the wall, there is a continuous stretch of low-rise buildings, mostly tin-roofed and cement bungalows, densely packed together.

Further in, the buildings gradually become taller, with several chimneys belching thick smoke and several pointed buildings with distinctly religious features.

The drone then began to make slow, circular flights around the perimeter of the holy city.

On the screen, a complete defense layout diagram gradually took shape.

Wilson stared at the South Gate displayed on the screen for several seconds, then pointed to a dot on the screen.

"This place must be the old riverbed Paul mentioned?"

Nancy zooms in on the image.

About one kilometer south of the holy city, there is a dry riverbed that meanders into the distance.

The narrowest point of the riverbed is less than 500 meters from the South Gate wall, and the wall in that area looks lower than elsewhere, with some debris piled up at its base.

The drone continued flying, its view shifting to the interior of the holy city.

Nancy maneuvered the camera, aiming it at the pointed buildings.

"This is—the Holy Relic Institute?" she asked, pointing to a building on the screen.

It was a three-story steel building with numerous guard posts outside. Occasionally, one or two members of the Vatican dressed in red would come and go, and they seemed to be of high status.

Wilson compared the location Paul had described and nodded.

"It should be, write it down."

The entire reconnaissance operation lasted 40 minutes, until the drone was almost out of power, at which point Nancy put it away.

"Boss, the data basically matches what Paul said. The outer defenses, the locations of several key buildings, and the patterns in troop deployments all match up."

Wilson didn't speak, but just stared at the images on the screen for a long time.

Then he stood up and dusted off his knees.

"withdraw."

Six hours later, Wilson returned to Rusty with five team members.

In an abandoned warehouse on the edge of town, Paul sat on a pile of wooden crates, a long knife he had seized from Karl lying across his knees, his eyes closed as if he were resting.

Hearing footsteps, he opened his eyes and looked at Wilson.

Wilson sat down opposite him, took a palm-sized metal box from his pocket, and tossed it over.

Paul caught it and opened it.

Inside the box was a palm-sized display screen showing images of the holy city taken by a drone.

Paul flipped through the papers one by one, his expression unchanged.

He flipped to the last page, closed the box, and looked at Wilson.

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