Apocalypse: Last Traveler

The sea turtles seemed startled by the arrival of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei and began to crawl back to the sea.

But it wasn't actually because of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, the two could see that.

They saw a turtle pawing at the soil before leaving, covering something up—likely having completed some task that required them to come ashore, and now it was time to leave.

"They must be done laying eggs and are heading back,"

Lu Xi'an said, "I wonder when those turtle eggs will hatch? If they hatch when the tide is low, they'll be in trouble."

"Will they die?"

Yao Wei asked.

Lu Xi'an replied, "I don't know, maybe. Normally, they hatch from their eggs and have to quickly rush into the sea to escape danger.

If the tide hasn't risen and the shoreline is far away, they won't make it to the sea and these seabirds won't spare them."

At this point, Lu Xi'an paused for a moment and then said, "But who knows, that's how it was before. The world's environment has changed now, who knows what it'll be like?

There used to be no such phenomena of tides rising and falling like this."

Most of the seabirds currently target fish and shrimp washed ashore, some are also interested in shells, carrying them to high places and dropping them, breaking open the shells to eat the flesh inside.

As for turtle eggs, seabirds generally don't bother with them unless a turtle has been careless and left the eggs exposed, in which case the birds peck the eggs open and eat the contents.

After explaining this, Lu Xi'an said, "Let's go see what we can scavenge to eat. With the sea like this, it won't take any effort."

"Okay."

Yao Wei picked up Gou and even said directly to Gou, "Gou, check and see what we can eat, give it a look."

The sea creatures, compared to those inland, were quite bizarre, leaving Yao Wei unsure of what was edible, so she turned to Gou for help.

At times like these, Gou was always reliable, his two puppy eyes remained steady as he quickly locked onto a shell.

Lu Xi'an went over immediately, picked up the shell, and tossed it into the bucket.

Gou's eyes continued to shine, sweeping over to the next food item.

The next thing Gou locked onto was a slightly raised mound of dirt. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had seen the previous turtle's actions, so they could ascertain without looking that under the mound was a clutch of turtle eggs.

Just as Lu Xi'an was about to dig up the eggs, Yao Wei stopped him, saying, "Those eggs are too small, the turtles haven't grown yet. There's plenty of food here; let's leave these eggs alone, okay?"

Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised, not expecting Yao Wei to have such a compassionate side.

She must have genuinely thought those eggs were too small, not enough to fill a stomach, better to leave them alone and see when they might hatch into turtles.

"Alright, we'll do as you say."

Lu Xi'an agreed without hesitation and did not dig up the eggs.

He turned his gaze to the seaside, asking, "What about the turtles? Should we leave one to eat?"

Yao Wei looked at the turtles already at the water's edge about to enter the sea and saw that with their shells, they were definitely of a decent size, so she nodded, saying, "Okay."

Before that, she still had Gou check, asking, "Gou, can we eat the turtles?"

Gou's eyes shone brightly, indicating no problem.

The turtles appeared very cumbersome, yet their crawl speed was not slow, most had already crawled into the sea.

But Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei weren't in a hurry; they just needed to catch one turtle, not too many.

There were so many things on the shore, they could try other varieties, no need to focus solely on the turtles.

They approached the sea while looking around, picking up whatever they could find.

Mostly shells, they also dug up two crabs, and there was a half-dead fish that somehow managed to survive on this dry coast.

You'd think the other fish would all be dead by now.

Could this be a new skill ocean fish have evolved due to the cataclysmic changes in the world?

Those fish that are just remains, likely weren't dried out but were pecked to death by seabirds?

Lu Xi'an mused randomly, walking with Yao Wei to the shore.

Only one turtle remained by the shore.

This turtle was moving slowly, dragging its way along, and thus fell behind the others.

Compared to other turtles, this one was the largest, standing solitary as if acting as a rear guard for the others.

Lu Xi'an originally thought this turtle moved so slowly because it was too large and cumbersome, but upon closer inspection, he saw the turtle was covered in densely packed, swollen growths.

These growths stretched from its shell to its head and limbs.

Or maybe they weren't growths. Lu Xi'an had seen something like this in a past life video, these things are likely barnacles, which are notorious for attaching and parasitizing other creatures, sticking on firmly.

Once parasitizing, they reproduce wildly, doubling continuously, causing severe discomfort to their host.

It's no wonder this turtle was crawling so slowly, it was because of the barnacles.

——The barnacles had merged with the turtle, with colors matching it closely, yet despite whatever disguises, they couldn't escape the eyes of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

After all, the two Neo-Humans could see clearly even from afar.

While they had noticed turtles remaining onshore while walking and scavenging, they hadn't paid much mind earlier, hence they hadn't noticed.

Lu Xi'an suddenly got interested, took out a small knife from his waist, squatted down, inserted it into the turtle's back, and with a flick, a barnacle was picked up and fell to the side.

A clean spot immediately appeared on the turtle's back, making it look more comfortable.

Lu Xi'an picked another one.

Seeing another clean spot appear, he indeed felt a sense of relief.

The video did not deceive me!

The sea turtle initially wanted to struggle, stretching its head forward, as if trying to pull its body forward with its head.

But then it seemed to realize the two stabs from Lu Xi'an, and suddenly settled down, staying still, obediently letting Lu Xi'an do his work.

Lu Xi'an sighed and said, "Oh turtle brother, do you know that we plan to eat you?"

Unfortunately, the sea turtle couldn't understand what Lu Xi'an was saying and just lay there silently.

Lu Xi'an stopped talking and concentrated on cleaning the barnacles from the sea turtle. After all, they were about to cook and eat the turtle, so it indeed needed to be cleaned of barnacles.

This job had to be done sooner or later, and now it's also good for stress relief while doing it.

"Snap, snap, snap, snap..."

The knife embedded itself into a barnacle, flicked it up, embedded again, flicked up again. Watching an increasingly large area on the turtle's back being cleaned, a great sense of satisfaction welled up in Lu Xi'an's heart.

Clearing away those unpleasant dirty things always makes one feel comfortable inside.

And Yao Wei, watching from the side, also seemed to feel stress relief, her hands itching. She squatted on the other side of the sea turtle, placed Gou on her leg, took out her own small knife, and directed it at a barnacle on the turtle's back.

"Is this how you do it?"

She asked.

She had been observing Lu Xi'an for a while and had great control over her movements, so naturally, she wouldn't make a mistake.

Lu Xi'an glanced at her, smiled, and said, "Yes, just like that. You handle that half, and I'll take care of this half."

Yao Wei replied, "Okay."

So the two of them began to clean the barnacles from the sea turtle, one by one gouging them out.

Sometimes the barnacles stuck tight, inevitably tearing the turtle's skin a bit. But the sea turtle was quiet and only silently endured it, allowing Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei to proceed.

"Plop, plop..."

Each barnacle was pried up and fell to the ground. The turtle's shell, head, and limbs became cleaner and cleaner, increasingly pleasing to the eye.

When all the barnacles were cleaned away, Lu Xi'an stood up, took a long breath, glanced at the turtle, and felt a deep sense of comfort all over.

"How does it look?"

He asked Yao Wei.

"It looks much better."

Yao Wei's tone was relaxed, indicating that this task was also quite stress-relieving for her.

The sea turtle suddenly lifted its head, looking at Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, as if trying to remember the two people who helped it clean the barnacles.

Lu Xi'an met the turtle's gaze, gently exhaled, and said, "Suddenly I feel like I don't really want to eat this turtle."

"Yes."

Yao Wei said, "Then don't eat it."

Lu Xi'an said, "Don't worry about me, I'm just feeling sentimental all of a sudden. We just helped it clean the barnacles, we haven't raised it, so there's no need to have feelings."

But Yao Wei said, "I don't want to eat it either. It took so much effort to clean it up."

Lu Xi'an: "..."

The sea turtle didn't know it had already been on the brink of death twice. It still lingered around, trying to properly remember the two carnivores in front of it before leaving.

Lu Xi'an simply kicked the turtle into the sea, complaining, "Run fast! Aren't you afraid we might change our minds?"

"Splash—"

The turtle entered the sea, briefly unsteady, flipped over twice, and then swam into the ocean.

The water was clear and blue. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei stood by the sea, suddenly seeing the seabed slope down obliquely, high buildings rising up, edge lines winding, the green plants originally clinging to the buildings also scattered, floating and swaying in the sea.

Is this the underwater world?

What would the sea floor of the Fish Mouth District look like?

Lu Xi'an quietly watched, lost in thought.

And Yao Wei, seeing Lu Xi'an admiring the underwater scenery, did not disturb him and went back to picking things up.

She carried Gou with her, who naturally helped her identify which were edible and which were not, so there was no need to ask Lu Xi'an for reference.

Lu Xi'an watched for a while, then suddenly saw the sea turtle swimming back, carrying a small women's handbag in its mouth, looking like a wallet, not knowing what was inside.

The turtle brought the handbag to the shore, took a deep look at Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, then turned around and headed back into the sea.

Is this... coming to repay a favor?

Lu Xi'an watched the turtle swim back into the sea, then his gaze fell on the handbag on the ground.