"According to this person, his relationship with Luo Ping seems quite good."

Lu Xi'an listened to what the person said and mentioned it to Yao Wei.

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded.

Lu Xi'an suddenly remembered something and hurriedly braked to stop the car.

— After refueling, he had taken over driving from Yao Wei. They had agreed to take turns, and now that Yao Wei had driven enough, it was his turn.

"Who does your Brother Luo usually come with?"

He stuck his head out the car window and turned back to ask the person again.

The person and his two women, having just put down their arms that were too tired to hold up, sighed in relief. Seeing the car stop again, with Lu Xi'an sticking his head out, they quickly and reluctantly raised their hands again.

"He comes alone."

He replied quickly, "It's always just him alone."

"Okay, thank you."

Lu Xi'an said, retracting his head back into the car window, and continued driving away.

Those three put their hands down once more, looking somewhat surprised.

"He actually said thank you?!"

One woman exclaimed, slightly shocked. It seemed that in her understanding, Neo-Humans would never say those two words to ordinary people.

The man said, "What's so strange about that! Brother Luo often says thank you to me!"

Another woman added, "And you still follow him?! A Neo-Human like that is sure to be soft-hearted and won't live long. Someday he'll get killed, and you'll get entangled in the aftermath!"

The man chuckled coldly, "Why do you think I'm still here, not having gone with Brother Luo?"

"I'm just using his name to get by here. Haven't you noticed, ever since I've been watching over this gas station and going back to the county to see you, who in town dares to disrespect me?

"Your boss still has to curry favor and ask for tributes, but look at me—every time I visit the city, I don't have to say a word, and your boss just voluntarily gives me a share of benefits."

"I've never told anyone about this. Now that you two are with me, you mustn't tell anyone else!

"I still need to ride on Brother Luo's coattails. As long as I can make it here, you'll have a good life too.

"I don't worry about food and drink here, and I don't have to work or serve others. Isn't this better than being in the city?"

The two women seemed to suddenly understand, looking at the man with admiration as they gathered around him and returned to the station building.

As for that car and those two Neo-Humans, they had long since left them behind, unconcerned.

...

The car drove away from Hetao Village and gradually, to the north, the outline of a mountain appeared.

On the World Map One, the mountain was marked as Qin Mountain, and Qinshan River was named after it.

Shanyang County was south of Qin Mountain, hence the name Shanyang, and north there was a county town called Shanyin.

Driving along the road and looking at the undulating mountains to the north, they seemed far less imposing than the Sword Mountain range, and even less compared to Yu Bei. However, on the plains of Pingchuan City, this mountain appeared tall and abrupt.

Lu Xi'an told Yao Wei about the conversation he had with the guy surviving at the gas station while Yao Wei was investigating the oil storage tank.

But after listening, Yao Wei just responded with a faint "Hmm," and neither of them showed any intention of discussing those two people.

Lu Xi'an thought there must be something wrong with the person Luo Ping wasn't interested in, but whatever his life was like in Hetao Village, it was none of their concern.

With insufficient information, the two couldn't discern exactly what was wrong with the person, but both instinctively disliked him. Since they didn't like him, why bother discussing him?

"In less than half a day, we'll reach Shanyang County. But Luo Ping said he's north of Shanyang County, so let's not go into Shanyang County and head directly north instead?"

The sun was gradually setting in the west, and Lu Xi'an glanced at it, suggesting to Yao Wei.

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "North of here is Qin Mountain. Could the place Luo Ping mentioned be on the mountain?"

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment and said, "It's possible. A secret base should be built in a place that ordinary people can't find. The mountain is seldom visited by people; it's possible that secret bases from back in the day were built in such places.

"Let's get close to Shanyang County tonight and find a place to rest. Tomorrow we can start exploring along the foothills of Qin Mountain.

"But we must be careful. There are four red dots here in Shanyang, and it's unclear who they are, whether they are enemies or allies..."

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded.

So as the sun moved further west, they stopped the car at a distance from Shanyang County.

They might face Neo-Humans tomorrow, so they needed to conserve energy today to handle any potential dangers tomorrow.

"Really... why did we have to take this route? If we had bypassed it, we wouldn't have to worry about these risks?"

After finding a suitable place to park the car, the two of them ate some stir-fried corn kernels with water and rested. As they lay down, Lu Xi'an couldn't help but complain.

— After eating the kernels, they didn't lie down immediately. Seeing there was still daylight, they took the opportunity to stretch their muscles and practice some punches and kicks.

After sitting in the car for a long time, the exercise made them feel incredibly refreshed, with their fists and feet moving as fast as the wind, gaining more and more energy as they practiced.

"I feel like now I could punch my old self to death. This should be the effect of the Fungus Stone, right?"

While boxing, Lu Xi'an discussed with Yao Wei.

Yao Wei nodded at the time, agreeing that it was indeed the case.

During this period, not only did Lu Xi'an experience growth in strength and physique, but so did she.

But when they practiced until it got dark, and lay down in the reclined car seats, listening to Lu Xi'an's complaints, Yao Wei quietly placed her laptop and chose a video to watch without replying.

She felt a bit troubled, not knowing how to respond.

The words of Lu Xi'an seemed to make sense to her.

In the past, upon discovering an uncertain danger with four Neo-Humans ahead, she would certainly have stayed away.

But now, like Lu Xi'an, she inexplicably wanted to rush towards the danger.

"Sigh... Connections are such a nuisance!"

Lu Xi'an sighed and said.

"What connections?"

Yao Wei didn't quite understand the term and asked.

"Connections are the relationships built between people, like the one between you and me, or with Chai Xin."

Lu Xi'an sighed and continued, "Because Chai Xin is here, we are willing to take the risk to venture out.

"And that's just for Chai Xin. If it were you, I probably wouldn't even think twice and just rush over?"

Yao Wei thought for a moment, nodded, and said, "Yes, me too."

But thinking about the changes these connections brought to her, Yao Wei was still somewhat uneasy and couldn't concentrate.

She regarded this as a kind of loss of control, and when choosing a video, her mind kept wandering to this matter, unable to focus.

In the end, she didn't bother choosing carefully, just opened a random video to watch.

Lu Xi'an reclined the driver's seat, placed his hand on the central control panel, and held the Fungus Stone.

After arranging the laptop, Yao Wei also placed her hand over Lu Xi'an's, together wrapping the Fungus Stone.

Their recent physical growth had all come this way. If this continues, Lu Xi'an wondered if they would undergo a second evolution.

However, judging from their current physical changes and development, they probably wouldn't turn into the likes of Shu or Fish Riders.

Lu Xi'an was relieved, as long as they didn't turn into Shu, Fish Riders, or Coffin Man, it was all about getting stronger; it didn't matter how they changed.

They quietly watched the movie.

The movie Yao Wei randomly picked was neither about war nor love; the opening title of the film was "Deserted Island Redemption".

It then began with a person in despair about life jumping off a bridge into the river.

Yao Wei couldn't understand this, frowning.

Living in such a good world, why would someone seek death?

Lu Xi'an glanced at Yao Wei, noticing her confusion, and explained, "Different living environments lead to different troubles in life.

"Sometimes it's not even troubles but an illness, a psychological one, that makes people want to die."

"Haven't you heard Shu say? During the cold disaster, some people specifically went to East Mountain to jump off. At that time, perhaps some people didn't have the means to live, but some were likely just sick."

"Hmm."

Yao Wei nodded and continued watching the movie.

Lu Xi'an watched as well, and suddenly the movie seemed familiar to him.

In a previous life, on a short video app, he seemed to have brushed across a similar plot—

A desperate person fails in a suicide attempt, is carried by the river waves to a small island, unable to leave due to poor swimming skills, and starts to live there.

From initially wanting to die, to scavenging for food, eventually fishing, finding grains in bird droppings to plant, and finally growing corn to make delicious meals.

The gradual buildup of hope through these steps, and the mutual redemption storyline with an autistic woman in the building across the river, communicating through messages in drift bottles and writings on the ground.

Surprisingly, in this world, there was a movie with a plot similar to that from his previous life.

Watching the film, Lu Xi'an saw a reflection of himself and Yao Wei—they too seemed like two patients in this desolate world, becoming acquaintances, getting to know each other, and eventually living as if life only existed with each other in this barren and desperate world.

Engaged by this seemingly familiar movie, he found himself wide awake, watching it to the end.

Yao Wei was somewhat surprised; after finishing the movie, she noticed Lu Xi'an hadn't fallen asleep and asked, "You didn't sleep?"

"Yeah."

Lu Xi'an nodded, "This movie is quite engaging, watched it till the end without falling asleep."

"Yes."

Yao Wei also nodded, responding, indicating agreement with Lu Xi'an's statement.

She was indeed quite engrossed just now, which was rare for her.

It's worth knowing that when watching those action or war movies before, she was only interested in the combat skills, weapon usage, tactical thoughts, curious about the storyline and world background, but not particularly interested.

Perhaps she felt the same as I do...

Lu Xi'an thought as he looked at the expression on Yao Wei's face, savoring it.

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