Apocalypse: Last Traveler

A total of four pots of beans were fried.

The third pot was handled by Lu Xi'an, and the last pot by Yao Wei.

After finishing, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei looked at the heap of fried corn beans piled on the bedsheet, feeling satisfied.

"Can this last us a long time?"

Yao Wei asked.

"It should."

Lu Xi'an replied.

This way, their dry rations were more than sufficient.

"It's just that this stuff is too dry, we need to drink water with it."

Lu Xi'an said.

Yao Wei said, "It's all dry stuff, compressed biscuits, grass cakes, chocolate, they all require water."

"True."

Lu Xi'an smiled, wrapped the beans directly with the bedsheet, tied a knot, and placed it at the back.

The fried corn beans had expanded slightly, and they couldn't fit back into the frying pan. Moreover, Lu Xi'an's goal was to free up the frying pan, so he no longer planned to pour the beans back into it.

It's just using the bedsheet for a while; they won't be using it for a while anyway.

They had done this before.

In his heart, Lu Xi'an was quite at ease.

However, Yao Wei didn't let him do nothing and go to sleep.

That night, when going to bed, Yao Wei spread her sheet across and gave Lu Xi'an half, saying, "Let's share it, I only need to cover some of my body."

"Okay, thanks."

Lu Xi'an smiled and agreed, without hesitating to refuse.

The seat was placed, the blanket was pulled over, and lying down, in front of them the workstation still had an open laptop, Yao Wei found yesterday's video and continued playing.

Lu Xi'an lay down watching, and after a while drifted off to sleep.

Then, only after he was sound asleep, did Yao Wei turn off the laptop, lie down, pull the blanket over herself, just like the night before.

The next day was still warm, and the two didn't stay but continued their journey.

The car drove out of West Fang Village and soon encountered a river.

This river was far wider than Xijian River, but its name wasn't as grand, being called Xiaochen River.

Yesterday, they used quite a bit of water for boiling corn, washing the fry pan, and washing Yao Wei's bowl, so now they replenished the water in the buckets and pot.

During this, Lu Xi'an caught a fish from the river for Gou to have a look.

But before letting the mechanical dog see it, Lu Xi'an had already checked it out—this fish's eyes weren't as red as those in Xijian River, but there were many small flesh particles around the eyes. He was eighty percent sure the fish couldn't be eaten.

Then Gou's dog's eyes scanned over it, flashing twice, pushing the eighty percent certainty to a hundred.

In the Sword Mountain range, many things were indeed affected by that observation point.

Lu Xi'an wondered if the neighboring city to Jianshan City was also affected?

Lu Xi'an pondered this, released the fish, and continued driving south.

"When you were in Jianshan City back then, was it like this as well?"

While driving, Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei.

Yao Wei recalled for a moment and said, "Back in Jianshan City, I didn't encounter many people, but at that time I didn't have a car and didn't follow the highway. The highway was too obvious, I was afraid of encountering people with nowhere to hide.

"I didn't dare to make a fire alone, fearing being discovered, so I didn't hunt or catch fish. I don't like eating raw."

She still spoke calmly, but Lu Xi'an could feel the loneliness and fear of the young girl, crossing Jianshan City alone back then.

Like a startled bird, any tiny disturbance could scare her.

But that timid little girl grew step by step into the strong woman wielding bows and guns now. Yao Wei must have endured a lot of hardships along the way, right?

"You've had a tough time."

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but say.

Yet he didn't expect Yao Wei to shake her head, saying, "It's nothing. Actually, it wasn't tough. I was just scaring myself back then.

"Even though I was alone and young, I was a Type A Neo-Human, ordinary people couldn't beat me.

"Later, when I met people who tried to capture me, I accidentally pushed them to death, only then I realized I didn't need to fear them.

"The only things I needed to be wary of were other Neo-Humans and those beasts—like Yu Bei's hyenas."

"..."

Lu Xi'an was silent for a long time before saying, "But being fearful alone and isolated is quite tough."

Yao Wei said, "It's not hard now."

"..."

Lu Xi'an was slightly startled, fell silent again, then laughed, "Yes, it's not hard now."

This woman, her way of speaking is really straightforward and candid.

Yao Wei glanced at the map, they had already reached the city district under Mengxin City.

This former city-level city seemed just like that, about the same size as Ox Head County. The mountain city's development in Sword Mountain range was far less than the mountain cities Lu Xi'an had seen in the previous life.

When they entered the city, they still maintained a ground-air collaborative formation, refueled in the city, searched along the city edge, and then continued heading south.

This city is also empty, with nothing of value, especially food.

Looking back, ever since entering Jianshan City, apart from the corn in Xiaogang Village, they haven't found any ready-made food.

Back then, those searching for food here must have been more than those in the north, like locusts passing through, leaving Jianshan City completely bare.

Speaking of which, when they were in West Fang Village, they were lucky enough to find an unopened drink in that restaurant.

Recalling the overturned tables and broken bottles on the floor of that restaurant, it seemed like someone had a fight there.

I wonder if that bottle of drink was leftover because someone didn't have time to take it due to the fight.

"Did you find it easy to get food in the south before?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

Yao Wei replied, "It was okay. When mom was around, she could hunt. After she was gone, I picked fruits by myself, which could stave off hunger.

"When luck was on my side, I could also find other things to eat.

"Hmm... actually, some people do plant things in the south, contrary to what Luo Ping said.

"Those who plant things are ordinary people, and they get imprisoned and beaten. They can't eat what they grow; everything has to go to their boss.

"They grow so little that it's not enough to feed just a few people, and only the strongest person or a few people in one place have the right to eat it."

"When mom was around, she got some food from the fields, but I didn't dare go when I was alone, fearing being discovered."

"I see..."

Lu Xi'an nodded, then asked, "When Luo Ping talked about it then, why didn't you refute him?"

Yao Wei said, "There's nothing wrong with what he said. No one cares about these things; they just want to enjoy and eat.

"Some leaders in places don't even care about the lives of those who work the land. If someone dies, they just find another person and force them to work.

"They only let the farmers plant a small piece, just enough for them to eat. If someone dares to plant more, those people would get angry and beat them to death.

"Mom used to say they wanted to enjoy themselves and didn't want others to enjoy as well.

"If the land gets bigger and there's more food, it wouldn't be precious anymore, and they didn't like that.

"Hmm... also, they would need more guards, which they didn't want."

It goes to show that here, the food grown in the fields has become an exclusive luxury, possibly even a status symbol for those leaders.

If the farmland expands and yields increase, how could luxury still be called luxury? Moreover, the cost of guards would increase, so those people are unwilling.

It seems that a small society has formed in the south of this world, but this survival-of-the-fittest type of society is far from the ideal society in Luo Ping's mind.

This kind of society can't be called civilized or developed, so that's probably why Luo Ping said what he did back then.

Indeed, if it were up to me, I'd be just as outraged as Luo Ping.

What a damn world!

"Truly short-sighted."

Lu Xi'an sighed and said.

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded. She hadn't heard this term before, but she felt the combination of these four words was very vivid and she could understand it.

Lu Xi'an is really good at choosing words when he speaks.

They continued driving forward, and the weather gradually turned colder. Lu Xi'an was a bit puzzled; he had traveled for more than a year and hadn't seen this kind of weather change.

He had experienced sudden weather changes all the way from north to south.

Why was it like this here?

"Was it always like this, gradually getting colder before?"

He asked Yao Wei again.

But Yao Wei replied, "I don't know, I didn't take this path before.

"Back then, I didn't need to drive. I walked through the mountains and forests, which cars couldn't pass. The route was closer to the east and a bit far from here.

"When you reach Ox Head County, you'll be near East Fang Village, but not West Fang Village."

"I see..."

Lu Xi'an had no choice but to give up seeking advice from Yao Wei, thinking it was a pity Yao Wei didn't go to Xiaogang Village when she originally traveled from the east.

Otherwise, she could have picked some corn back then, and Shu would probably just lay under the tree, glaring without daring to stop her.

Continuing forward, a white fog gradually appeared before them. It was thin at first, but it slowly thickened, affecting visibility.

Lu Xi'an felt something was off and called out, "Gou."

The mechanical dog, shaped back into a dog from a box under Yao Wei's feet, originally planned to jump onto the center console, but before it could move, it was lifted by Yao Wei.

Lu Xi'an didn't care about it and let Yao Wei hold it, giving orders, "Check the environment here, and this fog; is there anything dangerous, is it safe for us to breathe?"

The dog, held by Yao Wei, went to check, and after a while, its eyes blinked twice to indicate no danger.

Lu Xi'an felt slightly relieved and walked a bit further as the fog grew thicker.

Both he and Yao Wei felt uneasy, so they stopped the car, took out the Resonant Gene Scanner, and connected it to the power to check.

The electronic map on the Resonant Gene Scanner showed that there were no Neo-Humans nearby.

However, after the incident with Shu, the two still didn't feel completely at ease, only slightly relaxing a bit.

They thought that even if there were special people here, they shouldn't be Neo-Humans, and encountering them, they should still be able to handle it.

For now, they just treated this fog as ordinary fog, and the slow arrival of cold air as a normal phenomenon, driving more slowly.