After the car drove out of Fengcheng County, Lu Xi'an looked back.

The sun had just risen into the sky, and the broken city was illuminated by sunlight. In Lu Xi'an's view, only shadows and contours remained.

Lu Xi'an turned back to look ahead.

The east side of the county was still a stretch of plain, with the ruins of long-abandoned fields and greenhouses, evoking endless sighs.

Fengcheng County must have been a large agricultural area before. When Shu passed through here, seeing the widespread abandoned fields, I wonder if he felt heartache?

Thinking this in his mind, Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei to stop for a moment and returned to the car.

"Shall I drive?"

He asked Yao Wei.

Yao Wei shook her head, saying, "I'll drive. You handle the hidden weapons better than my handgun now."

Lu Xi'an said, "Then you drive first. We can take turns driving; this way, we can relax a bit."

Yao Wei didn't refuse, nodded, and said, "Okay."

In fact, being Type A Neo-Humans now, driving all day wouldn't feel tiring, unlike in the past when sitting cramped all day then getting out of the car barely able to stand straight.

Lu Xi'an felt as long as he was in the car, moving forward with Yao Wei, occasionally chatting and enjoying the scenery, it was enough. Whether driving or not, it wouldn't feel dull.

Unlike just on the rooftop, being around those people calling "master" with every breath made him incredibly annoyed.

Yao Wei was the same.

She glanced back through the rearview mirror. The abandoned city was drifting further and further away, gradually shrinking, and she couldn't help but exhale, saying, "We've finally left."

Lu Xi'an laughed, "By your words, Fengcheng County feels like a prison."

"Yeah."

Yao Wei nodded, "Cities are like prisons."

"Alright."

Lu Xi'an thought maybe he hadn't disenchanted his view of former city life, but Yao Wei was different. She lived in this world, where these abandoned cities were not only devoid of convenience but often more dangerous than the wilderness.

What Yao Wei said was reasonable.

"Do you think after we leave, those people in the city can rely on our influence to accomplish something?"

Lu Xi'an asked.

Yao Wei replied, "I don't know."

Lu Xi'an withdrew his gaze, sighing, "Indeed, who knows what they can achieve?

"Alas...I initially thought many ordinary people in the city were quite miserable. Maybe we could pick one or two and bring them to Luo Ping.

"Or perhaps understanding the situation here, let Luo Ping come to collect himself, but it seems now this is a bit far-fetched.

"Looking back, both here and Shanyang County are in Pingchuan City, Luo Ping must have already been here. If he found the people here decent, he would have taken them to his secret base long ago.

"He usually travels everywhere, meeting people, seems quite careful?

"It's hard to say in this world whether people faced with different conditions are deceitful or genuine. The luck we had meeting Chai Xin and Shu is quite incredible."

Yao Wei retorted, "Didn't think he was that cautious."

Lu Xi'an chuckled, "True, he easily deemed us both as good people, not showing much caution."

He pondered a question, turning to ask Yao Wei, "Do you think we're good people?"

"I don't know."

Yao Wei's response was just as Lu Xi'an expected.

Lu Xi'an didn't mind, laughing, "Well, in my eyes you're a good person, otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten into your car back then."

As he said this, Yao Wei immediately changed her tune.

"You are too."

Yao Wei said, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have let you in back then."

Neither of them looked at each other, gazing at the world outside the windshield.

The road ahead stretched on, with trees lining the way, separating the highway from the fields.

The trunks of the two rows of trees stood tall and straight, branches sprouting high up, with leaves budding, indicating that with harsh winter past, the weather now warmed, causing new growth on the branches.

Post-apocalypse flora adapted to the new environment in two forms—

Some appeared perpetually half-dead, growing rampantly regardless of hot or cold but looked nearly dead.

Others wilted and flourished rapidly, able to bud and grow quickly.

The trees before them evidently belonged to the second kind of survival in the post-apocalyptic environment.

Lu Xi'an suddenly recalled Shu's cornfield in Xiaogang Village.

The corn there seemed to have traits of both types; perpetually growing yet always appearing half-dead, and quickly budding and bearing crops repeatedly.

To grow well in the current world, do crops need to contain both traits?

As they headed further south, he wondered if they'd get a chance to see how other crops were doing?

The car continued for another couple of hours, and flat barren fields began to undulate with sporadic hills and depressions.

Tall trees popped up sparsely along the road; during abundant moments, Lu Xi'an even felt like entering a forest preserve.

Passing by a small hill ahead, Lu Xi'an checked the map, confirming a bridge beyond and a river below, hesitated a moment, and said to Yao Wei:

"How about stopping here for the night? It'll be dark soon, and if we keep going, there won't be time to cook."

"This place is good for hiding, and there's a river up ahead for water, so we can stop and rest, and cook some food."

"Okay."

Yao Wei agreed and drove off the road, looking for a place to park.

After parking the car, Lu Xi'an took out the Resonant Gene Scanner and checked it. Seeing that there were still only three red dots in the scanner's range, he felt relieved.

"It seems like Chai Xin and Shu aren't around here either. Could they have already made it to Shanyang County?"

Lu Xi'an said.

"Maybe. It's been more than a month."

Yao Wei replied.

"True, it's been over a month. They reached Yao County a month ago. If nothing happened along the way, they should have reached Luo Ping by now."

Lu Xi'an nodded and said, "I wonder if they had a smooth journey after reaching Shanyang County, and if they contacted Luo Ping?

As they continue moving forward, did they stay cautious? There shouldn't be any more tales about them in the upcoming counties or villages, right?"

"Probably..."

Yao Wei murmured, uncertain.

Thinking too much is useless. The two of them discussed briefly and began preparing dinner.

—Even though it wasn't dark yet, this meal felt like dinner for Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

"Let's make this meal a bit more sumptuous, shall we? At this pace, if all goes well, we'll reach Shanyang County after another day of travel. We don't know how many people will be with Luo Ping then, and it won't be easy to take out our food supplies to eat."

While cooking, Lu Xi'an said this to Yao Wei.

The world isn't like it was before. In the past, with friends, Lu Xi'an could treat them to meal after meal, a month of dining without repeats, and tough it out.

But in this world, food is more precious than gold. The food in the car is cherished by both Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, how can they easily share it with others?

Back in Fengcheng County, they made an exception by letting Luo Ping take some cooked rice to resurrect someone.

And they even impulsively gave Luo Ping a bag of rice, which was already quite generous. The food supplies in the car are diminishing with each meal, so how can they be given to others?

Lu Xi'an figured giving more would make Yao Wei feel distressed, hence the suggestion.

Upon hearing Lu Xi'an's words, Yao Wei nodded vigorously, saying, "Yeah."

Lu Xi'an laughed, "Let's switch it up a bit for this meal."

He asked Yao Wei to light a fire, while he poured some white rice into the pot, shucked a cob of corn, and added the kernels to the pot to cook with water.

At this point, he sliced a sausage and laid it atop a bag of dehydrated vegetables on the rice, allowing it all to steam together, resulting in a delicious meal.

When the frying pan, serving as a lid, was lifted, the tantalizing aroma wafted up. Glancing at the pot, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei couldn't help but swallow their saliva.

In this world, this meal could be described as a feast for the senses!

"Come, eat!"

Lu Xi'an served Yao Wei a bowl of rice, and together they indulged heartily.

The hot white rice, combined with corn, rehydrated vegetables, and sausage slices, was soft, chewy, and flavorful, leaving Lu Xi'an feeling utterly satisfied. He asked Yao Wei:

"How is it?"

"Mmhmm!"

Yao Wei was too busy devouring the meal to speak.

So Lu Xi'an stopped talking and continued to eat with Yao Wei.

After the meal, although not as filling as when they had pork, their stomachs felt incredibly comfortable.

Lu Xi'an exhaled softly, suddenly recalling a scene from a TV drama in his past life, feeling that the delightful scene in the drama resonated with his current mood.

He couldn't help but sing quietly, "Eating salted vegetables with tofu, even the Emperor can't compare."

After singing, he noticed Yao Wei staring at him.

"So, how was it? Sound good?"

Lu Xi'an asked with a smile.

Yao Wei shook her head, indicating it was far from the songs in the computer.

But she wasn't concerned with that, asking Lu Xi'an, "What's salted vegetables with tofu?"

"It's a kind of food,"

Lu Xi'an explained, "Salted vegetables are these veggies we eat, preserved with salt to make them very salty, so they're called salted vegetables.

"Tofu is made from beans, and the process is quite complicated, which I don't quite understand. But I guess we won't be seeing any now."

"I see..."

Yao Wei, hearing that it was a food they'll likely never see again, didn't pay much attention, then asked, "What's an Emperor?"

Lu Xi'an said, "Kind of like the current leader."

Yao Wei nodded, "Hmm, sounds better than just 'leader'."

Yet she was indifferent as the leaders she encountered so far could all be defeated, reducing their meetings to mere matters of 'to kill or not.'

Hmm...

She's met some leaders she couldn't defeat before, but even then, it was just about 'to flee or not.'

Nothing special.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.