Apocalypse: Last Traveler

Yao Wei had already let go of Lu Xi'an's hand that was resting on the back of his hand, feeling the warmth still lingering in her palm.

If it had been before, she wouldn't have thought much of it, but now the images from the manga were still echoing in her mind, and the battle in the video was getting more intense, clearly moving towards the manga's plot. She suddenly felt something was off.

The warmth in her hand seemed to grow hotter and hotter, burning her a little bit more each time.

She glanced at Lu Xi'an almost imperceptibly and saw Lu Xi'an moving the mouse to the X on the top right of the video, but why did this guy's expression seem a bit regretful?

"Do you... do you want to keep watching?"

She asked softly.

Lu Xi'an looked at Yao Wei with some surprise; it was rare for this woman to stumble over her words.

Earlier, when she knew that hyenas would do something gruesome, she wasn't this nervous.

Seeing Yao Wei avert her gaze, Lu Xi'an chuckled to himself. This woman might not have big waves, but she was much more beautiful than the one in the video.

Charming and rarely so bashful, Lu Xi'an couldn't help but take a few more looks and said, "No, let's not watch it. Watching too much isn't good for health; it's hard to deal with."

But even as he said that, he still felt a bit of regret.

Before the action in the video got intense, he could still resist, but after watching a bit more, his interest was piqued, and now that he had to turn it off, there was an inevitable sense of reluctance.

But it needed to be turned off. On one hand, Yao Wei didn't seem to understand anything. Misleading her into watching such things was truly improper.

On the other hand, Yao Wei might not understand now, but once she figured it out and saw him having a reaction, she might get angry or nervous and shoot him in a critical spot. What then?

Yao Wei's marksmanship was excellent, and he had no 'Sunflower Manual' or 'Exorcism Sword Manual' to practice.

Even if she didn't shoot, if Yao Wei became furious or embarrassed and attacked him, while he wasn't in the right condition, he wouldn't stand a chance.

Forget it, forget it, better change to something else.

"Shall we look for another movie, or listen to some music?"

Lu Xi'an opened another folder and asked.

Yao Wei didn't think much, directly saying, "Let's listen to music."

"Alright, sure,"

Lu Xi'an replied, opening the folder where the music files were kept.

This folder contained quite a bit of music too, and like before with the videos, Lu Xi'an started playing from the first song.

But when he saw the song title, he paused for a moment.

The song's title was "Countdown Stars."

It seemed to imply something...

He clicked play.

Lu Xi'an reclined the back of his chair, scooted the seat as far back as it would go, and lay back.

Yao Wei imitated him, but she couldn't stretch out her legs.

Lu Xi'an pointed to the workstation in front and said, "Just rest your feet on it."

"Oh."

Yao Wei said, stretching her legs onto the workstation in front of her, looking like a wide-open V.

Lu Xi'an thought this woman's legs were really long; even wearing such wide-legged pants, her slenderness was apparent.

And her feet, their shape was quite nice too...

The music started, with a long intro, a sort of melancholy permeated with excitement.

Lu Xi'an folded his hands behind his head, resting his head on them, listening intently until the lyrics finally appeared:

When the seventh wound of the ionosphere cracks open

The last signal tower extinguishes in the downpour

We calibrate our time coordinates with our heartbeats

Standing as a crater guarding this glass sphere

The beam of the flashlight pierces the asphalt clouds

Strangers weld the gaps in steel with hugs

The supermarket shelves toppled into Noah's Ark

Painkillers packed into drifting bottles

...

Indeed, it's depicting that era...

Another musical segment followed. Lu Xi'an couldn't quite tell if it was visualizing the apocalypse or pre-apocalypse visions.

All bank accounts burning in the wind

Silver stars rising from the ashes

Rusty pocket watch gears biting against gears

Crushing the whimpering exuding from the horizon

Millions of hands tearing through the long night (Fingerprint mountains)

Using questions to counter collapsing time (Clavicles bath in moonlight)

On the edge of civilization's collapse

We stand ourselves into a new world

...

At this point, the melancholy gradually faded, and a sense of grandeur seemed poised to break through:

Children altering satellite maps with crayons

Skyscraper roots growing madly towards the earth's core

Library pages sprouting scales

Swimming into luminous ribbons in winter

Using rib bones as torches

Burning all undelivered letters

Letting the ashes drift in synchronous orbit

Kissing the soon-to-freeze sun for us

...

Then it's just the main and chorus repeating.

"Does it sound good?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

"Mhm."

Yao Wei nodded.

She also folded her hands behind her head, and as she listened to the song, her eyes widened, staring blankly at the car roof.

It's unclear whether the song moved her somehow.

"What are you thinking?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

But Yao Wei said, "I don't know." After saying those three words, she thought carefully and said, "Are they encouraging each other with the song?"

Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised, "You picked up on that?"

Yao Wei said, "It seems...a little, but I'm not sure."

"They probably are."

Lu Xi'an replied.

But honestly, calling it encouragement, this song feels more like seeking warmth and embrace in the apocalypse.

He thought to himself, in those times, the apocalypse must have been through several phases.

Even the water delivery man in Fengcheng County said he was kept in the dark, whereas the disaster in this song seemed to have become common knowledge.

But the song is too fragmented, quite symbolic. Lu Xi'an wanted to find more clues from it regarding the past.

"It's really nice..."

Yao Wei said.

Lu Xi'an straightened up and searched for more songs in the playlist.

The mouse wheel had broken, so Lu Xi'an could only use the right scroll bar.

After a long search, he finally found a song that seemed to connect with the current apocalypse: the song was called "Era of Melting Ice."

Melting as in casting, not melting as in thawing.

He clicked play.

When the aurora devours the thirteenth port

Salt grains crystallize on eyelashes into telescopic crystals

We dismantle piano frames to fuel the fireplace

The heartbeat of prophecy jars echoing from beneath the permafrost

...

This song indeed seems to describe an icebound apocalypse.

But there is still too little information content; the song focuses more on expressing emotion than recording the past.

Lu Xi'an felt a bit regretful.

He continued listening, hoping to glean clues from the lyrics—

All national borders melting in the cold wave

Fingerprints interwoven into geothermal networks

Petroleum solidifying into black harps

Playing elegies from the continental shelf

...

We dance at absolute zero

Shattering the earth's final hibernation

Until all ice crystals refract

The face of humanity when it first learned to make fire.

...

The song ended, and Lu Xi'an sighed deeply.

Yao Wei asked, "What's wrong?"

Lu Xi'an said, "Nothing, just feeling a little emotional. The person singing is so optimistic; I wonder if the people who listened to this back then felt the same?"