Where there should be four seasons, in this new era, there were still four seasons, but the meaning was somewhat different.
Spring meant awakening.
Big bears, stone-dragons, small blood-sucking flies, and fluorescent-fleas woke up from their slumber, and they were naturally extraordinarily ferocious after being hungry for a whole winter.
Little insects like blood-sucking flies were no less dangerous than iron-armored bears. God knew how many kinds of plagues could kill people quickly in this era, and almost every type of bacteria or virus regarded blood-sucking flies as the most suitable carrier.
And every year, the types of plagues were increasing rapidly.
Doctors had never been so important, and they had never been so weak and powerless.
Yet spring was still the best season.
Summer was extremely hot, and the strong ultraviolet rays of the sun were fatal to most creatures, even those mutated animals and humans.
Autumn was no longer the harvest season. The food and fruits of the old era had long been extinct because they couldn't adapt to the new environment. Therefore, all living things need to worry about food. Most of the plants that could grow happily in the harshest environments were even more dangerous than stone-dragons.
As for winter, the only thing to consider was not to starve to death before spring.
The thin gray clouds in the sky were constantly changing, revealing an extremely beautiful blue sky, and the sunlight poured down like fire, sprinkling on the ground that was dry and cracked due to the intense heat.
The moment the sun rose, Turner lowered the goggles on his helmet.
The soldier's goggles from the old days could filter glare and ultraviolet rays to protect their eyes. Although today's ultraviolet rays were many times stronger than in the past, the surviving humans were also adapting to the new environment.
As for those weak and delicate humans, they had long been turned into white bones in the wilderness.
The ultraviolet light coming through the goggles was strong enough to blind, but to Turner, it was just a little too bright.
The eight soldiers following behind him were also strong enough. Although the sunlight would make them uncomfortable, it still wouldn't affect their actions.
Turner rested his right hand on the refurbished M16 automatic rifle, looked at the surrounding terrain, and made a gesture with his left hand, and the team followed him.
Every soldier in the team wore a camouflage uniform and was equipped with an automatic rifle, which also included a grenade launcher. Although the uniforms of the soldiers were a bit worn out, and the styles of weapons were not uniform, ranging from the elite M16 of the old era to the AK series of the public, it still showed that they were a real army, not a random patchwork of bandits.
This army had ranks, tactics, logistics, and training, and most importantly, the organization that could support such an army was definitely not small.
The 43-year-old Turner had nearly 20 years of military experience and was also a good officer to rely on.
At this moment, he was leading the team on a bare ridge, which had the advantage of having a good view and being able to cover a range of over ten kilometers.
As for whether there were trees that would block the sun, Turner didn't care. Large areas of green often meant unpredictable dangers.
The howling of carrion wolves echoed in the mountains, and Turner immediately looked in the direction of the howling wolves. His pupils expanded and contracted rapidly, and the shape of his eyeballs changed accordingly. Without a scope, his eyes locked on a few small black spots several kilometers away.
Only then did Turner raise the binoculars. In the lens, he could see a few gray-black carrion wolves circling restlessly on the reddish-brown rocks, looking up to the sky and howling from time to time.
Turner's vision range was 1.5 times that of normal people at the cost of an evolutionary point, or to put it bluntly, an opportunity for genetic modification.
Ordinary people might only have one or two chances for genetic improvement in their lifetime. Most people chose to strengthen their muscle strength or physical defense.
But Turner had no regrets about using his evolutionary points on his eyesight. In battles in the wilderness, being able to detect danger a moment earlier meant having a little more chance of survival.
"Damn it! It looks like these bastards have grown in size again." Turner cursed a few words, and then led his men towards the valley.
It was an unusual thing that these carrion wolves actually came out to move around during the day when the sun was so strong. They were nocturnal creatures. But Turner didn't care. Knowing that there must be a wolf den in the valley was enough.
Summer was also the breeding season for carrion wolves. At this time, there should be a few weaned pups in the wolf den. His task was to find out the progress of the mutation of the carrion wolves and other creatures in this area, to see if there were any new unknown creatures, and to bring back the corpses of a few carrion wolves for the base to study every three months.
Generally speaking, this task required Turner and his men to walk in the wilderness for more than half a month.
It was not difficult.
This desolate area with a radius of more than 100 kilometers, Turner had long been familiar with it. He could point out which places were suitable for which kind of creatures to live and survive with his eyes closed. With the firepower of his nine-man team, even if he encountered a large wolf pack with hundreds of carrion wolves, he could completely handle it.
But the problem was that in this age, everything was changing rapidly. Turner watched the size of carrion wolves gradually increase. At first, it only took one bullet to kill an adult carrion wolf. Now it usually took two or three burst shots to kill it.
They were getting faster and stronger.
In the words of the research director of the base, in the past 12 months, the average weight of adult carrion wolves had increased by 12%, muscle strength by 23%, agility by 18%, anti-hitting ability by 35%, and resistance to radiation by 50%.
Of course, Turner couldn't remember, nor was he interested in remembering such a precise and rigorous statement. His way of thinking was more simple and vivid: the carrion wolves were getting bigger and more dangerous. His team used to be able to deal with 150 carrion wolves, now they could only cope with packs of no more than a hundred wolves.
That's all.
Although everything seemed to be under the control of the base, every time Turner went on a mission, the feeling of uneasiness would become stronger.
Can you imagine a carrion wolf as big as a tiger and as intelligent as a man?
Turner had dreamed of this more than once.
A few kilometers of mountain road was half an hour's journey for Turner and his team who were good at mountain warfare.
Seeing the arrival of Turner and others, the adult male carrion wolves on the rock crouched down, bared their drooling fangs, and let out low growls from their throats.
This was the very typical behavior of carrion wolves protecting their territory, which meant that there was a wolf den behind them, and there were still many pups in it who had not yet been weaned and could not keep up with the adult wolves' footsteps.
The territory of carrion wolves was usually very large, and a valley full of caves might only have one group of carrion wolves.
Turner didn't want to search caves one by one. So he made a gesture, and a veteran behind him picked up his automatic rifle. The first burst shot knocked a carrion wolf into the air, and then the second burst shot followed, and all the six bullets shot into the carrion wolf's struggling body, knocking it into several somersaults.
The remaining carrion wolves whimpered, ignoring their companion, and fled deep into the valley with their tails between their legs.
Turner swung M16 and said, "Lucas, it's your turn!"
"Got it." A young man who seemed to be in his early twenties took off his mask, revealing a nose that was twice the size of an ordinary person, and sniffed all the way to the depths of the valley. Although the pungent smell of carrion wolves was everywhere in the valley, Lucas's nose was no worse than that of carrion wolves.
For him, the smell of each carrion wolf was so different, and they had just left, so he would not make any mistake at all.
The nine-member team walked unhurriedly, and gradually reached the center of the valley. Their goal was very clear, it was a cave several hundred meters away, and a few dry bones could still be seen at the entrance of the cave.
As usual, Turner left two soldiers guarding the entrance and led the rest of the soldiers into the cave to search.
He was not worried about ambushes.
In narrow and deep caves, the high-speed and powerful M16 was almost irresistible.
What's more, five of the eight members he brought with this time were veterans who had completed more than ten missions. They had all enhanced their genes at least once, which was enough to deal with any situation. Some team members had already begun to assemble simple animal cages.
One live carrion wolf pup was worth more than ten dead wolves.
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