Another night passed, the severe cold returned.

When Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei woke up, they saw frost flowers on the car's windshield.

The entire world was frozen solid, the sky was gloomy, making people feel stifled, unable to breathe.

"Feels like there's been more cold days lately."

Lu Xi'an said, "Though to be honest, it isn't that there've been more cold days lately, but rather there were fewer cold days during the time at Sword Mountain.

"I wonder if this is related to the Sword Mountain range or the strange phenomena on the mountain?"

"I don't know."

Yao Wei said.

She went to the back to turn on the air conditioning and turned to ask Lu Xi'an, "Want to play a game?"

In this bitter cold, there's usually nothing much to do, might as well find some distractions in the car.

Yao Wei didn't really enjoy playing the games on the gaming console.

In her view, the things on it were too detached from reality and offered her no help.

Characters in the games do fight, but one uses all sorts of absurd tools and firearms, while another wields wildly peculiar weapons and impossible magic, offering no practical lessons.

By watching action and war movies, she could learn a bit, and even by watching half of a previously viewed campus drama, she seemed to have grasped some poses.

But these two games on the console were of no use at all.

Yao Wei thought that maybe in the old world, she might have liked such things?

But the problem is, now, survival is so difficult in the new world, she has much more important matters to attend to, striving just to live; the gaming console is truly meaningless to her now.

However, Lu Xi'an really liked the gaming console.

Since Lu Xi'an liked it, she didn't mind joining him to play, or sitting in the passenger seat watching him play when there was nothing to do.

Yet Lu Xi'an shook his head, saying, "No games, playing the console makes me overly focused, unable to pay attention outside.

"I need to keep an eye out now, monitoring outside to check Yao County's town situation. Let's read instead."

"Alright."

Yao Wei nodded and picked up the book she had delayed in finishing to continue reading.

Meanwhile, Lu Xi'an went searching through a box in the back for other books. What he found were history books.

Previously he'd been focused on language books, inadvertently neglecting history textbooks.

Now pulling out the history textbook, one could gain insight into this world.

To understand, it's best to start from the beginning; he took out all three middle school history textbooks to read from the first year.

At the start, it seemed similar, akin to past life, with the discovery of proto-human skulls, evolution, the stone age, and such.

But as he progressed, there were some differences.

It mentioned Luo River Carved Talisman, denoting the insufficient fishing and hunting in the Luo River basin, and using tide symbols carved on turtle shells, forming the earliest positional writing system for recording monsoon patterns.

This pictographic symbol, called "water pattern script," was the prototype for modern language and script.

Then, in the next civilization phase, the earliest city-state in Yangcheng County, Pingchuan City, emerged, starting the rise and fall of dynasties.

Yangcheng County also uncovered a bronze star dial, evolved through two dynasties and later invented by the Zhou Dynasty, used to observe Beichen Star, enact laws, and promote agricultural settlement.

From then on, astronomical data began to be recorded in written form.

Later, amidst the Hundred Schools of Thought, a dynasty upheld the policy of "unifying scripts, synchronizing tracks," exemplifying language and cultural evolution, with dynasty rise and fall closely paralleling past life.

He spent the whole day skimming through the contents of the history textbook, reaching the end, a mere two pages of text left him staring wide-eyed.

That content broadly stated:

In 2045, following twelve years of research negotiations and preparation, the United Nations officially launched the "New Energy Project", gathering all resources to develop the "World New Energy" project.

Chinese, as the sole surviving pictographic language, its structural features were highly compatible with the "New Energy Project", chosen as the project's exclusive designated language.

In 2077, after thirty-two years, all preparations were completed, the project entered its formal construction phase, hence renamed as the "Solar-Chasing Project".

In 2090, the "Solar-Chasing Project" entered its final phase, humanity was about to embrace its most glorious tomorrow.

Upon completion, the "Solar-Chasing Project" would formally activate, and the United Nations would disclose specifics of the project, everyone was eagerly anticipating.

...

Having read this, Lu Xi'an took a deep breath.

He'd truly read these history textbooks too late; he should've retrieved these books sooner.

Why had he only been engrossed in language books, inadvertently leaving the history textbooks neglected?!

Lu Xi'an read through the last chapter of the senior middle school textbook multiple times, yet couldn't grasp from the text what the "Solar-Chasing Project" really referred to.

Judging from the description, it seemed like once the "Solar-Chasing Project" was completed, humanity would fully resolve the energy issue and welcome its most beautiful future.

At that time, the specifics and real face of the "Solar-Chasing Project" would be entirely publicized.

Lu Xi'an struggled to understand why any project required such secrecy; or, if concealment was necessary, why not hide it thoroughly?

What's the meaning of revealing this little tidbit?

And making a short chapter in the textbook alone...

What is this? Wanting people to know, yet fearing they would?

Anyway, Shu shouldn't know it...

Lu Xi'an remembered his exchange with Shu earlier in Jianshan City. That old man never mentioned anything related to the "Chasing the Sun Project" from start to finish.

Or maybe he just forgot?

If I see him again, I'll have to ask him about it.

If he knows, I wonder if he knows the final details of the "Chasing the Sun Plan"?

Now Lu Xi'an also wants to know exactly what the "Chasing the Sun Plan" is. After reading the textbook, he suddenly thinks the current world might be related to the "Chasing the Sun Plan".

Also, the inexplicable pressure from the sky felt back in Jianshan City—could it be a product of the "Chasing the Sun Plan"?

Looking back, the guy at the Ox Head Mountain observation point had written in the observation log on his laptop: That thing shouldn't have been made, this world is a huge amateur theater troupe.

What exactly is "that thing"?

With insufficient information, Lu Xi'an couldn't find out. But he still feels "that thing" must be related to the "Chasing the Sun Plan".

The history textbook in his hand was revised after 2090. In 2100, it became a birthday present for a child.

There probably were no updated history textbooks during this time. If there were, Lu Xi'an doesn't believe the parent wouldn't choose it.

So... were the specific details and truth of the "Chasing the Sun Plan" never disclosed in the end?

Lu Xi'an also took out the high school history textbooks and looked carefully—they were exactly the same as the junior high ones, even under different degrees of detail in the earlier historical content. But the last chapter was identical.

It seems like the content about the "Chasing the Sun Plan" in this last chapter was uniformly compiled and strictly controlled for disclosure.

The history textbook didn't disclose the content of the "Chasing the Sun Plan". Maybe it was revealed through other means back then?

Or perhaps the disaster struck too quickly, causing people to rapidly enter a disaster response state, neglecting other matters?

That's also possible.

Lu Xi'an thought.

He turned the junior high and senior high history textbooks to the back and looked at the revision dates: one is September 10, 2091, and the other is September 10, 2092.

Just one year apart.

And by that time, the apocalypse was about to arrive. People neglecting other things is understandable.

But what exactly is the detail in all this? This really makes one curious!

Lu Xi'an scratched his head, feeling a bit annoyed.

Why is this world so careless, using textbooks to teach students that are riddles?!

"What's wrong?"

Yao Wei saw Lu Xi'an's irritated expression and asked.

Lu Xi'an handed the history textbook to Yao Wei, letting her look directly at the last chapter.

After reading it, Yao Wei pondered deeply.

Lu Xi'an asked, "What are you thinking about?"

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

Lu Xi'an: "..."

It seems this woman's mind is a bit muddled.

He shared his doubts and speculations with Yao Wei. After listening, Yao Wei nodded slightly and said, "You're right, I'm not good at analyzing these things. You're definitely right."

Lu Xi'an: "..."

And as Yao Wei was speaking, she suddenly turned her head to look at Gou, who was turning into a power bank and powering the air conditioner.

Lu Xi'an also followed Yao Wei's gaze. Suddenly, a flash of insight occurred to him.

"The history textbook says the 'Chasing the Sun Plan' was called the 'New Energy Plan' before its name change, right?"

He asked Yao Wei, then picked up the senior year history textbook to confirm.

Yao Wei nodded, saying, "Yes, it also says that after the 'Chasing the Sun Plan' is completed, the new energy will be officially activated, and details will be revealed."

"New energy officially activated…"

Lu Xi'an muttered to himself, "What will the new energy be? Do you think… it might be related to Gou?"

"It should be."

This time, Yao Wei didn't say "I don't know". Apparently, when she had turned her head earlier, she had already made a guess and judgment.

Lu Xi'an leapt into the backseat of the car, sat cross-legged, and stared tightly at the mechanical dog.

Yao Wei followed and sat down beside Lu Xi'an.

The two of them stared at Gou for quite a while but couldn't see anything. Eventually, they gave up.

"Alas, neither of us is a scientist. How could we possibly understand such high-tech stuff?"

Lu Xi'an sighed.

Yao Wei nodded, saying, "As long as it works."

"..."

Lu Xi'an was slightly silent, but he had to admit that Yao Wei was right. He followed up by nodding, saying, "Yes, as long as it works."

While speaking, his gaze inadvertently fell on the game console nearby. He picked up the controller to take a look and said, "Back then, the world must have been focused entirely on the 'Chasing the Sun Project', because even in 2100, the game console is still like this, so outdated."

Yao Wei asked, "What should the game console be like then?"

Lu Xi'an said, "I don't know, I've only seen ones like this."

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