Apocalypse: Last Traveler

"What are we going to do?"

After separating from Hu Xiaodong and Hu Dong, while heading back to the mountain top with Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei finally spoke up and asked Lu Xi'an.

When Lu Xi'an talked to others, she always liked to stay silent, silently listening on the side.

Although she didn't speak, she listened very attentively to every word Lu Xi'an said, so she was able to remember them.

At this point, she imitated Lu Xi'an's manner, carrying a yoke on her shoulder, with a bucket on each end, finding it quite convenient; if they had such tools at the Tan Village Shelter, fetching water would have been much easier.

However, given her and Lu Xi'an's capabilities, carrying them by hand wouldn't take much strength and would just mean making a few more trips, not that different from taking a stroll.

"Make something for them to attach to their boat and make it sail faster."

Lu Xi'an replied.

As he spoke with Yao Wei, he could still hear the rustling sounds below and the voices of Hu Xiaodong and Hu Dong.

The father and son were disturbed by Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei and couldn't fall back asleep; worrying that their water buckets might not return, yet too timid to ask Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, the two Neo-Humans, they could only sigh and head back down to the boat as Lu Xi'an instructed.

Lu Xi'an didn't bother with them, continuing upwards with Yao Wei.

But upon hearing Lu Xi'an's words, Yao Wei frowned and asked, "You're not planning to lend Gou to them, are you?"

Lu Xi'an chuckled: "Even if I lent Gou to them, they wouldn't know how to use it. We saw their boat at the top of the mountain; it's just a regular wooden boat. How would it be powered?

"Or do you think Gou can swim behind and propel the boat?"

Yao Wei glanced at Lu Xi'an without saying a word. She could tell that Lu Xi'an was teasing her imagination. Although she was a bit annoyed, she had no way to refute him.

Lu Xi'an said, "I plan to make a wind sail for them to add to their boat.

"Of course, our materials are limited, so what we make might not work well or even might not work at all. Even if we manage to make it, the stability is still uncertain, so they'll have to test it.

"If it doesn't work out, we'll just have to give up.

"That would mean the two of them aren't destined for our Big Coin, and we aren't meant for their potatoes, sweet potatoes, and barley."

He had considered if things didn't go well, he would take a trip to East Island with the two people.

But obviously, Yao Wei wouldn't agree, and he didn't want to worry Yao Wei, so he gave up on the idea.

Anyway, they already had plenty of food, enough to last a long time, with quite a variety. Without those three items, it wasn't unacceptable.

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Okay."

The two of them returned to the mountaintop, took out some tools, and Lu Xi'an removed a tiger pelt from the car roof, jokingly saying to Yao Wei, "Good thing you didn't throw this away, although it's in such condition, I'm not sure if it can be of any use."

The pelt was already quite stiff, making it difficult to handle directly. Even if it were made into a sail, it might only last for a use or two at most.

Without professional treatment, the pelt had issues with waterproofing, soaking, rotting, and decay. If used as a sail, it might not withstand the sea spray for long.

Yao Wei said, "It can, let's give it a try." She didn't really know how to try, but she figured that since Lu Xi'an suggested it, he must have an idea.

Lu Xi'an chuckled, "Okay, let's give it a try and DIY a sailboat to see if it works."

Yao Wei said, "Hmm."

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei then gathered firewood and lit a fire on the east side, blocking it with the car so it wouldn't be visible from the west.

He placed a pot of water on the fire, bringing it to a boil, then suspended the pelt over the pot, using the steam to soften it gradually.

Meanwhile, Lu Xi'an took an axe and chopped down two trees, carving them into masts and two crossbeams of appropriate size and thickness.

--- This work would be best done down by the shore, so it could be mounted directly on the boat once completed.

But the issue was that they needed to soften the pelt and use the pot, and they didn't want to bring the pot down, so they just did it here.

It didn't really matter, as with their strength, carrying it down wouldn't be a big deal.

While chopping trees and whittling them, Lu Xi'an suddenly noticed a kind of amber resin flowing from the wound of an unnamed tree, and an idea sprang into his mind.

--- This seems like tree resin. Doesn't this stuff repel water?

No matter, let's give it a try. At worst, it fails, and that's that.

Holding onto this thought, after completing the mast and two crossbeams, he found several tree wounds and scraped off some "resin" pieces.

But these were thick and dry, not usable at the moment, so he set them aside, planning to see if they could be diluted with water later.

Afterwards, once the tiger pelt was softened, he removed the seams, cut and resewed it into the shape of a sail, then mounted it on the mast and crossbeams, securing the pelt on top.

Sparing his rope, he came up with another idea: carefully shaving wooden pegs with a knife to cross-link the two crossbeams to form a rotatable cross.

This way, the sail could be hung, allowing the crossbeams to be shifted to change direction.

In this manner, without ropes, in critical times, should the ship face dangerous winds and waves at sea, there would be no way to quickly cut the rope to abandon the sail for safety.