Yao Wei opened the "World Map One" and had a look; they still had a long way to go before reaching Yao County, even if driving would take half a day.

It seems that person came out of Yao County, traveled quite a distance before hiding in the "First Petrochemical" gas station bordering on the territory of Jianshan City.

The urban legends circulating in Yao County town must be terrifying, or the mountains towering in the town must be deadly, driving that person to flee so far.

However, along this journey eastward, after half a day's travel, as they were nearing Yao County, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei did not encounter a single person.

Leaving Jianshan City, Lu Xi'an felt as if he returned to Mengxin City, facing a vast wilderness.

The difference was, in Mengxin City, the sky and land were broad; the clouds overhead were vast, and walking along the road, you always felt a clear sky on your left and dense clouds on your right, seemingly ready to rain at any moment.

The wild grasses on the ground grew madly, carrying a certain aura, as if commanded by a general, rising and falling with the wind like a marching army.

But in front of them in Pingchuan City, the wild grasses on the plain were chaotic and disarrayed, with occasional houses poking through the grasses or collapsed ruins.

Beside some houses or ruins, there were also rows of collapsed mud walls.

Alongside the road, large trees grew intermittently, occasionally blocking the chaotic wild grasses outside the road.

With a glance, Lu Xi'an felt this wilderness in Pingchuan City was like a giant prison, with the trees by the road as the prison wall, occasionally collapsing, allowing the prisoner-like wild grasses to escape onto the highway.

The scattered houses on the wilderness and the rows of collapsed mud walls were like cells and guards within the prison, some remaining intact in this apocalypse, others reduced to remains.

"What a waste! Truly a waste!"

Lu Xi'an gazed into the overgrown distance, where occasionally, among the rows of collapsed mud walls, crooked and thick steel bars still stood.

How could he not discern what those used to be?

"Those mud walls, they were all greenhouses once!"

He sighed and said, "If those greenhouses were still intact, they could ignore weather changes and cultivate crops... which is food."

Hearing this, Yao Wei couldn't help but look towards the distant mud walls, staring silently for a long time, saying, "What a pity..."

She felt it was indeed a pity that if these things were still good, there wouldn't be any worry about food today.

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment, said: "But then again... the cold disaster back then, who knows if it was colder than now.

"But according to what we've found about the past, it was indeed freezing then, cold and enduring.

"In that case, ordinary greenhouses probably wouldn't have been of much use, unless they had special materials.

"Oh... the world back then, if they could think of adding things to gasoline, producing doomsday-special air conditioners, they should have been prepared for these too.

"I wonder if there's any special greenhouse left in this world..."

Their car had already reached the outskirts of the collapsed, abandoned greenhouse, Yao Wei turned her head to look into the wilderness, thinking of something.

Lu Xi'an slowed the car and asked, "Are we getting close to Yao County now?"

Yao Wei only then withdrew her gaze, looked at the map, and nodded, "Hmm, we're close."

Lu Xi'an said, "How about we stop here? Park the car behind the mud wall, it can provide some cover.

"There are still one or two small houses that haven't collapsed, we can go inside and see if there's anything usable."

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded in agreement.

Then Lu Xi'an stopped the car, asked Yao Wei to connect the Resonant Gene Scanner to Gou, and let Gou check around.

There were still no other Neo-Humans around...

Hmm...

"How could I forget this?!"

Lu Xi'an tapped his head, "We can use the Resonant Gene Scanner to search for Shu and Chai Xin!

"Although this scanner can't detect Shu, it can always detect Chai Xin!

"The scanner has a large range. Back in Mengxin City, that Neo-Human in the Mengxin City area could directly see Tongzhou County.

"We were being cautious, using it to check every place we visited.

"When we reached the gas station, we'd taken out the Resonant Gene Scanner to check.

"If Chai Xin were still in Yao County town, the scanner would definitely have reacted, it would have reacted long ago.

"But looking at it now, it only shows us two plus the Fungus Stone, Chai Xin surely isn't in Yao County."

"Hmm."

Upon hearing Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei nodded. It only dawned on her now; they had the Resonant Gene Scanner which could be of use.

"Why didn't we realize this before?"

Lu Xi'an reflected, then thought of something, said, "It must be because on Sword Mountain range, this device was malfunctioning, Shu, Fish Rider, and the person in the coffin couldn't be scanned, so we subconsciously ignored its function."

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded, thinking carefully, and agreed it was so.

She glanced at Yao County's town again, still worried, but didn't show it.

She thought of another possibility—

If Chai Xin had died in Yao County's town, would the Resonant Gene Scanner still react?

Obviously, it wouldn't.

When they found this machine in Mengxin City and powered it on, they couldn't locate the Neo-Human they had killed on it.

This Resonant Gene Scanner cannot find Neo-Humans who have already died.

She didn't want to share this theory with Lu Xi'an, afraid that he would worry just like her.

If Chai Xin was dead, their worries, concerns, and search would be meaningless.

But she didn't know that Lu Xi'an had already thought of this and just hadn't told Yao Wei.

"I hope there aren't people like Shu, Fish Rider, and Coffin Man here..."

Lu Xi'an said, turning off the Resonant Gene Scanner, returning to the front driver's seat, and sighed,

"Sigh... why didn't I remember to ask the people in the town before, what are the leaders of those mountain peaks in the town like now?"

If the Resonant Gene Scanner shows nothing, it means that Yao County's town either has only ordinary people or people with special abilities, and those with special abilities might be like the Fish Rider.

"Let's wait and ask someone."

Yao Wei said.

"Yes."

Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "Exactly, we planned to wait outside Yao County's town anyway.

"If someone comes out of the town, we're also planning to grab them and ask.

"Then let's decide to do just that. Let's stop the car for now."

Because of Chai Xin's matter, they naturally agreed to pause here and observe the situation in Yao County's town.

So there was no need for further discussion, and they just parked the car.

Although they had already scanned the surrounding area with the Resonant Gene Scanner, they didn't recklessly drive the car to the greenhouse ruins.

Lu Xi'an let Gou control the drone, flying it out of the car to circle around the greenhouse twice, also checking the two small houses that remained standing in the post-apocalypse. After confirming no one was there, he felt relieved and drove the car over.

They parked the car behind a still-standing earthen wall, got out, with Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei standing at the base of the wall, reaching out to feel it.

The texture of the earthen wall felt very hard, cold to the touch; it was unclear if it was due to years of freezing or if the material itself was different, making it a special post-apocalypse structure that hadn't collapsed.

"I always feel like this wall is specially made, with some kind of substance in its materials."

Lu Xi'an speculated, "Otherwise, why did all the other walls collapse, but these two didn't?

"And in other places too, most have collapsed, with only scattered ones still standing.

"Who knows what the situation was like back then?"

Yao Wei didn't say anything; even Lu Xi'an couldn't guess the situation at the time, so how could she know?

She lifted Gou, letting it scan the wall with its robotic eyes, then Lu Xi'an asked Gou, "Is there any special substance in this wall that enhances frost resistance or has other effects?"

Gou's eyes lit up, indicating Lu Xi'an's guess was correct.

Then Lu Xi'an had Yao Wei take Gou to shine its eyes on the collapsed earthen walls, and Gou's eyes blinked twice, proving that those walls didn't contain special substances.

—Yao Wei now increasingly enjoyed carrying Gou, and Lu Xi'an felt that fitting it with a toy car wheel, and then replacing them with metal hooves after they broke, was unnecessary.

Now Gou hardly ever moves on its own; it has become an extension of Yao Wei.

"Let's go have a look at those two small houses."

Lu Xi'an said, as he and Yao Wei went to the small houses built next to the earthen wall.

These small houses were also built using the same material as the earthen wall, which is why they remained standing strong in the post-apocalypse, while the other small houses, made of blue bricks and red bricks, had all collapsed.

Lu Xi'an had seen greenhouses in the past, so he knew what these small houses were for.

In those days, the greenhouses would always have a small shed nearby where people could stay to guard and rest, serving as an entrance to the greenhouse.

The two small houses beside the greenhouse had their main structures intact; only the doors and windows were long gone, possibly taken by someone.

Because of this, the drone had been able to fly inside and investigate earlier.

There were two doors on the house, one on the side facing the road, likely the entrance to the house, and the other faced the earthen wall, serving as the passage to the greenhouse.

Upon entering, they found the interior low and damp, with nothing inside, and they couldn't tell if the furnishings had long been removed by someone.

They could see everything at a glance, so Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, after making a round inside, saw no need to stay longer.

They went to the other small house, where the situation was the same, seemingly with no search value.

Just as they were about to leave, Gou's robotic eyes suddenly lit up, pointing to the dusty ground.

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