Apocalypse: Last Traveler

Hearing what the old man said, Lu Xi'an understood.

From the look of things, the work notes he and Yao Wei found in Fengcheng County recorded content from when the cold disaster first hit, during its initial stage.

At that time, the people of this world should have prepared various means of coping, such as emergency command centers and systems, shelters, and the X-17 Strain.

So, could this conical launch tower in my hand also be one of the means they used to deal with the cold disaster back then?

Lu Xi'an glanced at the item in his hand, deep in thought.

The more he thought about it, the more possible it seemed. Shu also said this thing was installed later. But when was this "later"?

He asked directly, "Old man, when exactly was this installed?"

"When was it installed? When…when…let me think…"

Shu scratched his head again in bewilderment, and a tree root fell off.

Perhaps the old man thought there were too many pieces of tree root floating in the water, so he picked them up and threw them out of the pit as he thought.

After pondering for a while, he still seemed a bit confused and replied, "If you want to know the exact time it was installed, I really can't remember.

"But it should have been around the time of the cold disaster. Anyway, I sometimes used to come up the mountain to burn incense, but I never saw this thing before.

"Oh, what a shame to the Goddess Temple. Others come here to burn incense, and in the end, they install something like this and won't even let people in.

"No wonder there's a cold disaster, it's because the goddess is angry. The temple has collapsed, there's no one burning incense, and someone's fiddling with this thing inside, the goddess is powerless."

Who would have thought this old man would be so superstitious.

Lu Xi'an didn't follow up with his superstition; he just told him to continue soaking and called Yao Wei and Chai Xin back to the vehicle.

He was now certain that this tower was definitely one of the tools or methods to resist the disaster, otherwise why would it have been installed around the time of the cold disaster?

"Why don't we just take this thing with us?"

As he reached the car, Lu Xi'an said to Yao Wei, "Gou said this thing is useful, although we don't know what it's useful for yet. But taking it might prove handy someday.

"And it doesn't take up much space, it should fit in there now. If we can't find a use for it later and have nothing suitable at hand, we can still use it as a weapon, right?"

As long and thick as it is, it's not suitable as a hidden weapon, but it's still okay to use it as a weapon.

It's a pity the base of this cone doesn't have a grip; if it did, it could be used as a lance.

"Okay."

Yao Wei nodded, agreeing with Lu Xi'an's suggestion.

So Lu Xi'an stuffed the launch tower into the car.

Shu said it would take half a day, and indeed, half a day later, Shu returned.

The skin on him was stuck strong, although it was a bit more wrinkled, but thankfully, there were no problems, nor was it painful anymore.

"Alright, sorry to keep you waiting, let's go."

Shu was still soaking wet, and his clothes were a greasy green, presumably from wiping himself down after coming out of the green water and then putting his clothes back on.

As he spoke, he was about to step on the pedal to climb onto the car window, attempting to get on the roof, but Lu Xi'an quickly said, "Hold on."

Shu immediately stopped in his tracks.

Lu Xi'an said, "Gou, check whether this green water is corrosive or not. If it is, wait until you're dry before getting on.

"Don't want you coming up and corroding my car."

Yao Wei cast a glance at Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an promptly corrected himself, "Our car."

Yao Wei withdrew her gaze and picked up the mechanical dog at her feet.

The mechanical dog glanced at Shu with its dog eyes, blinked twice, indicating there was no corrosive effect.

Lu Xi'an said, "Alright, it's fine, get into the car."

"Great! Thank you!"

Shu said, and then proceeded to climb, saying, "Ah, it's my fault, getting washed like this, I don't even want to get on top, don't want to dirty your car.

"Ugh… and it bugs me too, this water is just this one pool, and I can't be away from it. I have to soak in it every month.

"I'm afraid it might disappear one day, and there's no suitable container to move the water to the village. Even if I did, there's no place to store it in the village.

"Sometimes I think, it'd be better if I just died, living alone is meaningless, can't eat well, can't sleep well, have to endure pain from time to time, and have to keep coming here…

"I really don't want to soak in this stuff anymore!"

Lu Xi'an gave Shu a glance through the rearview mirror and suddenly thought of something, asking, "Old man, are you sure soaking in that water is really what healed you?"

Shu was halfway up the car, with one foot on the tire and answered, "Of course! I started there, soaked for who knows how long, and that's how I got better.

"Every time I came back, soaking would heal me."

Lu Xi'an gave a command to Gou, "Gou, scan him, see if the effect of the green water is internal or external?"

Yao Wei cooperatively reached out the car window and lifted the dog out.

The dog hovered, scanning Shu, who didn't dare move while clinging to the car.

After a while, he cautiously asked, "Is the scan finished?"

The dog's eyes blinked once.

"It's done," Lu Xi'an answered.

"Phew…"

Shu exhaled a breath of relief.

Lu Xi'an said, "Gou's scan result shows that soaking is entirely useless for you.

"I just asked if it's internal or external, and a single blink means it's internal; a double blink would mean external.

"What?!"

Shu couldn't comprehend immediately.

Lu Xi'an continued, "In other words, soaking in the water is basically pointless for you.

"It's because you got into the water and went under, ingesting a bit of it that it had any effect."

Shu stammered, "But I didn't swallow any…"

Lu Xi'an said, "You kept submerging, so you probably took some in, right? Otherwise, why were you always going 'puh, puh?'"

Shu: "…"

Yao Wei: "…"

"Pfft…"

Chai Xin found it amusing and couldn't help but chuckle.

Kids, they laugh at the smallest things.

Lu Xi'an said, "So, judging by this, every time you don't really need to soak, you just need to drink a bit of the green water. And considering all your 'puh, puh,' a little sip each time will do."

Shu got excited quickly, "Are you serious?"

Lu Xi'an said, "Verified by Gou, it's absolutely true."

Shu jumped off the car with a thud, twirling around delightedly and clapping his hands, "So that's it! That's it! All these years, I've soaked for nothing!"

His tears flowed freely, and Lu Xi'an couldn't quite catch whether he said he soaked for nothing or came for nothing.

After crying for a while, the old man suddenly hesitated and cautiously asked Lu Xi'an, "I saw you guys drinking water with Bottle yesterday. I don't have a Bottle, can I get one from you? I can trade you corn for it."