Apocalypse: Last Traveler

The old laptop still looks brand new, a stark contrast to Yao Wei's weathered car.

As for the laptop from Mengxin City, no need to mention it.

Under the sunlight, the back of the laptop reflects a dazzling dot, which spreads from the dot in circles of halos and rays, seemingly on the solar panel's back.

It does look like it's charging.

"We finally have a device that doesn't rely on Gou anymore."

Lu Xi'an lamented, "If only your car was solar-powered too.

"When I was little, I often read science columns and sci-fi articles that talked about solar cars with rows of solar panels on top, and it felt extraordinary."

Yao Wei imagined rows of laptops atop her car, never needing fuel again, and felt a bit envious, saying, "Yes, it is really amazing."

After the laptop soaked up some sun, Lu Xi'an opened it and pressed the power button. As it lit up, the dark screen brightened.

"It works!"

Lu Xi'an felt a surge of joy.

"Yeah."

Seeing that the device worked and wasn't useless, Yao Wei was equally delighted.

The light on the screen seemed to seep in from the edges, noticeable while the screen remained dark.

But once the screen displayed images, the backlight became invisible.

The logo that lit up on the screen was unfamiliar to Lu Xi'an, disappearing before a password box popped up.

As expected, there was a password.

No worries though, since Gou wasn't responsible for power this time; it wasn't in standby mode, it could unlock directly.

"Gou."

Lu Xi'an called Gou over and arranged things; the mechanical dog immediately connected the data cable to the laptop's side port.

The cracking began.

Lu Xi'an glanced at the working mechanical dog, thinking the laptop's lid was solar-powered—it was indeed useful, saving Yao Wei the trouble of using her charger.

That charger probably wouldn't be needed anymore.

He guessed this laptop might have been specially developed before the apocalypse to deal with energy scarcity.

Looking at the slow charge, Gou just cracked the password, switching the screen to the desktop before Lu Xi'an could see the icons clearly, the screen suddenly went black again.

In a normally energy-rich environment, this solar panel wouldn't be very practical.

"What's wrong? Did it break?"

Yao Wei asked worriedly.

Lu Xi'an replied, "It's okay, it just ran out of power. The charge was enough to light the screen briefly, then it shut down again."

"Are you sure?"

Yao Wei was still worried.

"Of course I'm sure."

Lu Xi'an gave Yao Wei a reassuring smile, "I noticed the bottom right corner of the screen, there was a rectangular icon representing the battery level.

"Once powered on, the icon was just an empty frame inside, indicating the serious lack of power. Did you see it?"

Yao Wei said, "No, I only noticed the desktop."

The word "desktop" was something she learned from Lu Xi'an at the gas station outside of Mengxin City.

Lu Xi'an said, "Once we've charged enough, power on again, and I'll point it out to you."

"Okay."

Yao Wei nodded, glanced at the laptop, frowned a bit, feeling unsatisfied, "Charging is so slow..."

Lu Xi'an said, "It's already good enough, at least it charges via solar power.

"This time, I powered it on just to check its functionality.

"Now that it's proven usable, let's charge more, power it on at night for a longer use."

"Mm."

Yao Wei responded, saying, "I was just imagining if the car had solar panels, never needing fuel in the future. But with such slow charging, can the car run?"

Lu Xi'an laughed, "Why think about that? Isn't our current car good enough? It can fuel up and run.

"Honestly, compared to solar cars, I prefer a pure electric car that can connect to Gou.

"If that's the case, we wouldn't worry anywhere we go, free from fuel limitations!"

"Mm."

Yao Wei visualized as Lu Xi'an described, feeling truly great, glanced at Gou who had retracted the data cable, thinking Gou was indeed better than this laptop.

She took Gou to the roof with the laptop, saying, "Let's continue our journey. I'll watch the laptop on the roof, so it can also charge."

Lu Xi'an said, "Okay. Let's move slowly and check if there's anything around worth exploring."

Yao Wei agreed from the rooftop.

However, with their car resources still ample, there was no need to head to Ox Head County's town center, just drive along the outer ring road, occasionally encountering houses or facilities built on the town's fringe, and stop to have a look.

They passed two rows of abandoned houses, stopped to look, without any discoveries.

Then came a sewage treatment plant, built next to the outer ring road with a large courtyard.

But the office in the sewage treatment plant was completely empty, the huge tanks and pipes for processing sewage in the yard were rusted, unusable.