Apocalypse: Last Traveler

Going further south from here, after walking a stretch of flat road, they quickly left the boundary of Liangcheng County.

The inexplicable pressure from the sky was no longer there, and the thick fog over Liangcheng had dissipated. Both Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei gradually felt much more comfortable.

The two of them encountered a cold snap. Although there was no wind or snow, the extreme cold was terrifying beyond their imagination.

They saw an abandoned car in the wilderness, the car windows already shattered by someone unknown, leaving only the front windshield intact.

But in the extreme cold, they watched as ice crystals formed on that windshield, and then it cracked with a "crack," offering no resistance to the severe cold.

Ice flowers also formed on the trees next to the car, and the leaves shattered inch by inch, like glass unable to withstand the stress.

Their car, however, was completely unaffected, not sure if it was because of the air conditioning inside the car, or if this vehicle had been specially modified after the apocalypse to withstand extreme cold.

"This car is probably different from other cars. I've seen other cars freeze over because of the extreme cold, but this one is fine."

Yao Wei said this to Lu Xi'an when she saw the abandoned car's glass breaking.

Lu Xi'an nodded, thinking to himself that Yao Wei's car was indeed different. The materials must have been specially processed, allowing people to stay inside under extreme cold conditions.

He said, "But it's strange, this car's windshield lasted until now before breaking.

"In theory, with extreme cold frequently happening in this world, the car's glass should have shattered long ago."

Yao Wei said, "I don't know."

Not knowing means letting it go. There are many unknown things in this world, who can trace every single one to its roots?

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but think of the days when he traveled alone in the extreme north.

The extreme cold there was much more frequent than here; the world was encased everywhere in ice.

He found a notebook in that Wanhu Village; the paper was as fragile as glass, making him reluctant to write.

He carefully protected that notebook, waiting until the weather warmed up a bit and the paper wasn't so fragile, before gently writing on it.

Not writing was not an option; facing a vast white world alone, everything seemed sealed in ice.

So much so that even finding food required him to chisel through the ice to extract it. Cooking also depended on the weather, waiting for it to warm up slightly so he could start a fire to cook.

The food that endured the severe cold, when cooked, was disheartening, only edible to survive.

His shelter from the wind and snow was often encased in ice and snow. During his time in Wanhu Village, he felt like an Inuit, frequently living in ice houses.

Gou's metallic body endured the cold winds, growing colder, making it hard to touch.

In such a world, walking alone, how could one not find something to do to comfort oneself?

The words in his diary were often expressed in a playful, light-hearted manner, which was actually suggesting to himself to relax his mood a bit.

If not for persisting in self-guidance back then, maintaining a good state of mind, coupled with the Neo-Human physique, he surely wouldn't have made it.

But now it's better; the weather down south is much better than the initial place, and he met Yao Wei, hitching a ride on a car that probably won't go out of service again.

Past hardships are over, and good days lie ahead.

Lu Xi'an felt joyful, glancing at Gou.

Speaking of which, the materials on this Gou are also extraordinary, even in the far north, it didn't freeze into ice.

All the way from the north to here, this Gou is also better now. Previously, he dared not carry it for fear of freezing his hands.

Now it's either Yao Wei carrying it or himself, saving this short-legged thing from walking.

When the weather cleared up, the two continued driving south.

Once the car got moving, Yao Wei pulled out the "World Map One" for a look. Going forward a bit more, they would leave the boundary of Liangcheng County and enter Gu County.

Past Gu County, after traveling a section of downhill road, it would be Jiannan City.

This Jiannan City should also be named after Jianshan City, so why isn't Pingchuan City called East Sword City?

After leaving Liangcheng County, on the road to Gu County Town, they had to pass by a village. This village was called Tunguchi Village, and as the name suggests, it got its name for a reason.

But when Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei drove into that village, the village no longer retained its old appearance.

The entire village's buildings had completely collapsed, with not a single structure intact. Large swathes of barren land outside the village were overrun by wild grass, stretching endlessly, making one feel pity.

Lu Xi'an couldn't help but think that if Shu were brought here with his corn seeds to cultivate, they would surely be able to grow a big patch of corn, right?

And when they arrived at Pingchuan County, could the old man find a suitable place to plant the crops?

But it should be possible...

Pingchuan County is a plain below the mountain, presumably easier than finding a place to farm on the mountain above.

The only problem now is that Shu's corn is toxic to ordinary people. If this issue isn't resolved, what he grows can only be consumed by himself and the Neo-Humans.

However, Lu Xi'an felt that Luo Ping could solve this problem.

Yao Wei had already mentioned that there were people farming in the south, but those people had all become serfs under the control of various land-occupying warlords, and the produce they grew could only be enjoyed by the leaders or key figures of these forces.

This was probably a characteristic of this world.

After the collapse of order, ordinary people in the newborn world had no resistance against Neo-Humans with extraordinary powers.

Ordinary people, having lost their balance of power, could only become prey or turn into lackeys and vassals.

Casually chatting, Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei what kind of people those southern leaders were—ordinary people or Neo-Humans?

Yao Wei answered that those she met were all Neo-Humans, but because she always avoided people, she had actually encountered very few, mostly when she was with her mother.

Of course, she had also heard there were ordinary people, but it was only hearsay, not something she had witnessed.

Lu Xi'an thought that even if there were ordinary people becoming leaders, such ordinary people were likely to possess extraordinary means.

The rampage of personal power led order into imbalance. The impact of individual power was magnified infinitely, erasing the creativity that humans originally possessed.

At this point, Lu Xi'an better understood what Luo Ping had said before and realized how precious people like Luo Ping were.

There must be other grains in this world; Luo Ping should be able to find them, right?

If he could obtain other grain seeds and hand them over to Shu, or have Shu teach others how to farm, then the crops Shu grew wouldn't be exclusively for Neo-Humans.

Passing through the village, not far away, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei suddenly saw a small path by the roadside.

The small path was covered by wild grass, but the towering trees flanking it revealed that it had once been a road.

The path stretched directly forward for about a hundred meters, leading to a collapsed courtyard wall and a row of intact single-story houses inside.

Peering through the trees, they vaguely saw several rows of steel frames next to the single-story houses, some standing, some fallen, and some entwined with vines, unclear what they were originally used for.

"Looks like an agricultural park from the old world..."

Lu Xi'an speculated. He had previously seen such compounds built in rural areas, where things would be planted inside and made into a picking garden.

Those steel frames seemed to be where the picking plants were originally grown, but now only wild grass and vines remained, with no trace of the original plants.

"Mm."

Yao Wei responded. She didn't know what the park was, but it didn't matter as long as Lu Xi'an did.

She was just curious whether there was any danger inside and whether they could scavenge anything valuable if it was safe.

Ox Head Mountain and the thick fog were already far behind; in recent days, they had not felt the oppressive presence in the sky. Although they hadn't yet left Jianshan City, the surrounding environment seemed less dangerous than before.

Thus, they could proceed as before, searching for supplies along the way.

Lu Xi'an activated the drone, letting Gou control it to fly around the park.

Afterwards, the drone did not fly back, but the mechanical dog's eyes lit up, confirming to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei that there were no people or wild animals inside.

No people or wild animals meant no risk.

So, Lu Xi'an steered the vehicle onto the small path, slowly driving over the hundred-meter stretch of abandoned road, entering where the main gate used to be, and stopped inside the yard.

To their surprise, the large iron gate of the courtyard was still there, not removed by anyone.

Only the gate walls had collapsed, and the two rusted heavy iron plates lay quietly on the ground, embedded in the earth, witnessing unknown years gone by.

Lu Xi'an guessed that the two large gates were probably too big and heavy to have any practical value, hence no one bothered to dismantle and take them away.

But with the courtyard walls collapsed, the gates had also fallen, and the two large iron plates had long lost their function.

The courtyard was paved with bricks and stones, now upheaved by weeds, resembling the scales of an unknown creature.

The brick pavement led directly from the gate to the single-story houses, covering a large area on both sides of these houses, while near the gate, two plots of land were marked out, likely old vegetable gardens.

Hmm... Now the vegetable gardens were also overgrown with weeds.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei got out of the vehicle, retrieved the drone, and did not head towards the steel frames.

They glanced over, noting that beneath the steel frames was soil, not bricks or stones, seemingly confirming Lu Xi'an's conjecture that it was the planting area for picking gardens.

They decided to search the single-story houses first, and if they found nothing, they would explore other areas.

So Lu Xi'an grabbed Gou, and with Yao Wei, entered the single-story house with its door already opened.

This place seemed to have been searched by others before; doors and windows were wide open, window glass shattered on the ground. The interior was in disarray, yet empty where it should be, worth a look but likely yielding little.

Based on previous scavenging experience, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei let Gou down after entering the house, searched for items themselves while also letting Gou search, hoping for an unexpected find.

And indeed, an unexpected find came to them.

As the two of them searched the main room and found nothing, Gou's eyes suddenly lit up.