Apocalypse: Last Traveler

After the two got in the car, they left the abandoned sewage treatment plant and bypassed Ox Head County, continuing southward.

They didn't go up Ox Head Mountain to find the former observation point.

However, the question of what exactly was the thing that shouldn't have been made lingered in their minds, difficult to unravel.

Thinking about it, even if they found the observation point on Ox Head Mountain, they probably wouldn't be able to unravel it.

That thing was referred to by these three characters throughout the observation logs, without even mentioning its proper name. The confidentiality system discussed in the logs must be related to it.

Since it's confidential, how could one find straightforward clues at the observation point?

Let the question stay unsolved; it's irrelevant to survival. Leaving here as soon as possible is the most sensible choice.

After exiting Ox Head County, the roads finally began to slope downhill.

Ox Head Mountain and Ox Head County are indeed the highest points of Jianshan City. Going further south, most of the roads are downhill.

Lu Xi'an drove cautiously, not daring to be careless. The road was still winding around the mountain. On such roads, downhill is more dangerous than uphill; if one is not careful, the speed increases, and a slight misstep could overturn the vehicle into a ditch.

The ravines outside the roads of Jianshan City can be life-threatening.

Yao Wei placed the laptop on the dashboard, allowing the sunlight to shine as much as possible on the back of the lid to charge the laptop.

Unfortunately, while driving on the road, the sunlight was often blocked by the peaks, making the charging process very slow.

This made Yao Wei a little dissatisfied. She longed for the time at the Mengxin Petrochemical gas station watching videos and listening to music, wanting to experience it again. If the battery doesn't charge fully, she's worried it would drain quickly upon using the laptop.

This woman also has a bit of battery anxiety.

However, during the journey, she only stared at the laptop, occasionally adjusting its position, without mentioning her anxiety to Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an noticed her unease but said nothing, appearing focused on driving, seemingly unaware of what Yao Wei was doing.

The mountain roads they traveled this day were quite long; by dusk, they arrived at a village.

The map showed the village's name as West Fang Village, with East Fang Village far to the east. They would not pass by it.

West Fang Village still belongs to Ox Head County; this county's jurisdiction is quite extensive, as they haven't yet left it.

But upon arriving here, the pressure from the heavens had almost vanished, and the influence of the observation point was gradually fading.

After leaving West Fang Village, Jianshan City downtown wouldn't be far.

The car's fuel was already half consumed, with a gas station located just south of West Fang Village.

Yao Wei, along with Gou, got on the car roof, and Lu Xi'an released a drone, driving through West Fang Village. Confirming that the desolate village was indeed empty, he relaxed and proceeded to the village's southern gas station.

Upon reaching the gas station, just like before, they let Gou and the drone scout first. Only then did Lu Xi'an drive in.

Yao Wei jumped off the car, followed Gou to connect the power. However, unexpectedly, after connecting the power, she inspected the four pumps under the canopy, only to find them all broken.

How unfortunate, the fuel pumps were out of service...

Lu Xi'an checked the gauge, asked Yao Wei for the "World Map One," and checked it. East Fang Village had no gas station; heading south, it's still quite far to Jianshan City downtown.

The next gas station would be in Jianshan City downtown.

Heading back to Ox Head County downtown would also be far, and the fuel gauge was already quite low. They could at most drive one more journey, then use the stored fuel in the barrel, and then abandon the car and walk a good distance with the barrel to replenish fuel.

To replenish, they might need to do it more than once.

What is going on?!

The distribution of gas stations along this segment of road is quite unreasonable. Why is there only one gas station over such a long distance?

Could people of the old world rest assured driving this road?

Though this is also because the old off-road vehicle is rather fuel-consuming, there's not much that can be done...

Lu Xi'an sighed internally.

If not for the car's fuel consumption, why would they need to rush to refuel everywhere?

"Let's rest here tonight and continue tomorrow."

Yao Wei made the decision, saying, "Hurry and make fire for cooking while it's still daylight. After eating, rest, and tomorrow we'll drive until the fuel runs out. Then you'll watch the car, and I'll go fetch fuel."

Lu Xi'an said, "But we should drive the car away from the gas station before making any fire. As for who goes to fetch fuel tomorrow, we can decide then..."

Before he finished speaking, something flashed in his mind, and suddenly he paused.

"What's the matter?"

Yao Wei immediately noticed Lu Xi'an's unease and asked.

Lu Xi'an sighed gently and then laughed: "All along, I've been watching you refuel, yet I overlooked something. How could I forget such an obvious thing?"

"What is it?"

Yao Wei was puzzled.

Lu Xi'an had already gotten out of the car, looked around, and saw at once the pool against the gas station's yard wall.

The pool didn't contain water but instead had two large iron valves.

He stepped into the pool, glanced at the iron valves, and said to Yao Wei, who followed, "We've been using the pumps for fuel, but we forgot to think about where the fuel in the pumps comes from."

Yao Wei asked, "You mean, it comes from here?"

Lu Xi'an replied, "Exactly, there's a storage tank beneath the gas station. The gasoline and diesel are in the storage tank. When we use the pump, it draws fuel from the storage tank. Didn't you know this?"

Yao Wei shook her head and said, "I only saw mom use the pump back then, didn't know this."

"Alright then."

Lu Xi'an said, "Let's see if we can open the storage tank. If there's fuel in it, we can directly fetch it."

"Okay."

Yao Wei immediately stepped forward, saying, "Let me open it." To her, the iron valve was no big deal; she felt she could easily open it, and even if she couldn't twist it, she could pry it open.

But as she was about to act, Lu Xi'an was startled and quickly stopped her: "Are you out of your mind?!"

"What's the matter?"

Yao Wei was confused.

Lu Xi'an explained, "Gasoline is flammable and explosive. If there's anything wrong in the storage tank and we're unprepared, a blast could blow us up. Whom would we blame then?"

"Oh."

Yao Wei said, "Sorry." It was then she noticed Lu Xi'an still holding her hand, hastily withdrew it, her heart unconsciously pounding, reminding her of the brief touch of lips in the Xiaogang Village shelter. This feeling she liked yet disliked.

Lu Xi'an rubbed his hands, sensing some lingering warmth on them. He chuckled and said, "No hurry; let's have Gou inspect first, so we can distinguish which is gasoline and which is diesel.

"Moreover, even if we open this, fetching fuel might not be easy. We may need to look for suitable tools."