Apocalypse Traveler

Day 1, Approximately Winter

I found a backpack, and inside were a notebook and a pen. Great, I'll start writing a diary today.

But I don't know this world's calendar, so I can only start counting from today as Day 1.

On the first day of my diary, I found a backpack under the gatehouse at the entrance of Ten Thousand Corpses Village in Dongmen County. The character for "corpse" on the gatehouse should have a dot above it, but it's missing.

It's a relief that the writing in this world is the same as in my past life.

The snow is a bit heavy; I need to take shelter here for a while.

Day 2, Snow Stopped

As expected, it's another abandoned village, but thankfully, at least there's a village. This godforsaken world, not a single city in sight! What the hell kind of place did I transmigrate to?

Is this world really devoid of any living people? Fortunately, Doggy is here with me.

It's a shame Doggy is a Mechanical Dog; it can't provide warmth when I lean against it, making me feel even colder.

Day 3

Doggy is really useful; the village it led me to has quite a few treasures.

I've searched the entire village. I found 1 box of 24 bottles of expired mineral water and 2 bags of small bread, with 20 pieces in each bag. But I can store them for now; no rush to eat them.

Several cellars have cabbage and radishes, and there's rice in the rice jars. Excluding what the rats have nibbled on, if I gather them all, it should last about a month.

I also found oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar. I really have a blessed life!

Those must be the ones the rats got to…

Day 4

I went out of the village and chopped a lot of firewood. I'm exhausted. Luckily, the woods aren't far from the village, or I'd be even more dead tired.

I'm exhausted, but Doggy is completely fine. Ever since I found it, it's been going strong for over half a year, like a perpetual motion machine. It doesn't have an Ark Reactor on it, does it?

It's a pity it's too small; otherwise, I could throw the firewood onto it and save myself a lot of effort.

Day 5

Found rats, what great luck! I haven't seen any Mutated Creatures yet. How did the people of this world disappear?

Doggy is amazing; it caught the rat. Today, I can have stir-fried cabbage with meat. But first, let Doggy scan the meat with its laser to disinfect it and get rid of any bugs.

Doggy is still so useful.

Day 47

The cabbage, radishes, and rice are almost gone. It's time to set off.

I left a little bit of the food, stored here.

I've already had Doggy mark the spot. If I find a suitable place, I can come back to get them and see if I can grow anything.

I hope these stored items can be preserved.

I tore off a piece of paper and wrote that the future Spark of Life is stored here, to be preserved along with these items.

If there are any other living people in this world, what would their expressions be if they found this place while treasure hunting in Ten Thousand Corpses Village?

The North is too cold; I'm heading South all the way.

Day 48

Walked about twenty li, then stopped. Resting.

I'm carrying the mineral water on my back and a bag of bread in my hand. It's so damn heavy!

It's mainly the mineral water that's heavy.

I'm so much stronger now than in my previous life; I don't know why.

If it were before, I definitely couldn't carry so much stuff.

Doggy, why can't you be a little bigger? You're like a Corgi, what use are you!

Day 49

Found some tape. I split the mineral water into twelve bottles and wrapped them around Doggy with the tape.

Much easier.

Day 52

I want a car.

But even if there were cars in this world, they probably wouldn't be drivable, right? No fuel to fill them.

A bicycle would be best, a three-wheeled one that can carry cargo.

But sadly, I haven't even seen a single car wheel.

What a boring world; even a rolling car wheel would be nice!

Day 64

I can't tell how far south I've gone anymore. Luckily, I found a pair of hiking boots. They fit and are brand new. My luck is absolutely incredible.

This is Qing Yang Town in Mo Zhou City. The sign across from the shoe store says so, so it must be right.

Finally, I've encountered a city! This is so difficult!

There are definitely other people in this world, otherwise, all these storefronts wouldn't be completely empty. If the hiking boots hadn't been buried under the shelves in the shoe store, I doubt I would have found them.

I need to be careful.

Further south, I can see tall buildings. That should be Mo Zhou City. I'll rest here today and check it out tomorrow.

I cut my face shaving. I miss my razor. But I've pretty much mastered shaving with a knife.

Day 65

I found the Mo Zhou City Police Station. It's abandoned, just like the whole city. The gun locker is locked, but luckily I have Doggy.

If I could bring this thing back to my past life and start a locksmith company, I'd make a fortune.

Not much in stock: one pistol, two submachine guns, and four boxes of bullets. Doggy checked them; they all work. My carrying weight is going to increase again.

But I can stay here for a while. There are plenty of wild animals in this abandoned city. With a gun, I can eat game.

Day 66

My aim is bad, but I can suppress with firepower. Wasted 3 boxes of bullets.

There's meat today. Same old routine, let Doggy scan first.

Day 66

It suddenly started snowing.

It was warm yesterday, but today the temperature plummeted.

It seems like extreme changes like this have happened a few times already. But I was in a hurry to get moving before and thought it was just because I had left the North.

In this environment, crops probably have a hard time growing, right?

It's a wonder there's still grass, trees, and vines growing everywhere.

Is the apocalypse related to this strange environment?

Day 75

It snowed heavily yesterday, and today I'm sweating. The snow has melted into puddles everywhere.

The weather changes are too extreme. The snow should have made it colder when it melted, but this weather is trying to kill me.

I finally saw people. I could understand what they were saying, which felt so familiar.

Unfortunately, they wanted to rob me. Wasted 1 box of bullets.

Two guns aren't enough for me to handle them alone. Luckily, Doggy helped me reload.

Day 81

I saw people again. I heard the previous group was the Wolf Gang. Today's group is called the Dog Gang. Anyway, whether they're wolves or dogs, they all want to rob me. They're not good people.

Wasted 0.5 boxes of bullets. Progress!

I can't stay here anymore. It's not safe. In this world, I can't even find a decent person to talk to. What a bummer!

Day 99?

This place is nice. It's a detached villa. The sign at the entrance says No. 272 Jiangyu Road, Nan Wan City. I don't know where No. 271 or 273 went.

The villa's electricity is intact. Doggy connected itself to the circuit, and it actually has power.

Doggy is awesome!

Addendum: There's a swimming pool in the villa's yard. It's full of water, probably accumulated from the snowmelt after the heavy snowfall.

Doggy checked it; it's completely fine. I won't say anything else. I'll fill bottles with water, take a bath, and sleep!

Too bad I still need the water, or I'd jump right in.

Sleeping after a bath is so refreshing!

Day 100

Damn! The pen is out of ink!

Forget it, I'm not writing the diary anymore. What kind of decent person writes a diary!

The last line of text is intermittent, with only traces of the pen strokes remaining, no black ink at all.

Lu Xi'an tossed his pen aside and closed the notebook. He considered throwing it away but felt it wasn't appropriate.

It contained a lot of scattered notes, which might be useful later. It would be a shame to throw them out, and he also feared someone else finding them.

After all, as far as he could tell, there were other people in this world, and he had already encountered two groups, neither of whom were benevolent. If those people found his diary, it would definitely not be a good thing.

Tear it up...

That also felt like a pity.

It was rare for him to have filled so many pages in a notebook. He wouldn't have dared to imagine this in his past life! He didn't have that kind of perseverance back then!

Forget it, he'd put it away for now.

"Doggy, time for bed."

After stuffing the notebook into his bag, Lu Xi'an called out towards the power bank.

Hanging on the power bank was a completely black mechanical dog with a metallic sheen.

The mechanical dog wasn't long, and its limbs were short. The joints between its four legs had gears, making them appear even shorter.

There were openings on both sides of its body, from which two black wires extended, connecting to the circuits inside the power bank, thus suspending it there.

Hearing Lu Xi'an's words, the mechanical dog immediately retracted its two black wires, its body landing on the ground with a "clatter." The openings on its sides closed.

With the circuit broken, the villa was plunged into instant darkness.

The mechanical dog's two titanium alloy eyes immediately emitted light, illuminating the path ahead. It trotted towards Lu Xi'an with a "clatter-clatter," leading the way and patrolling the villa to confirm there was no danger.

Its four dog legs were both flexible and stiff, allowing it to run quite fast, yet its mechanical body swayed left and right as it moved, looking somewhat comical.

He really didn't know what the person who created this dog was thinking. Why not make the dog's legs longer, or even attach four wheels?

But no matter what, he was always grateful to the person who created the mechanical dog, and to the dog itself.

Lu Xi'an thought to himself.

This was the first piece of useful material he had found after transmigrating to this desolate and dilapidated world, and it had been of immense help to him ever since.

Without Doggy, he feared he would have already died somewhere unknown.

Even now, he often felt fortunate that he had looked at a black metal box for a few extra moments in that abandoned basement, and had his iris scanned by accident.

That basement was located further north than Wanhu Village in Dongmen County. It had no landmarks, no name, just an inconspicuous underground pit.

He had Doggy mark the coordinates of that place, so he could find it again if he ever returned.

From that day on, he became the owner of the mechanical dog.

It started to rain heavily outside.

Such a rainy night was perfect for sleeping, and he was fortunate to have a soft bed in the villa to enjoy.

After confirming that it was safe, Lu Xi'an quickly went up to the bedroom, lay down on the bed, and felt comfortable all over.

The mechanical dog didn't get on the bed; its short legs couldn't reach, so it curled up at the head of the bed, reverting to the appearance of the black metal box it had been initially.

This was likely its resting mode.

"Thump!"

There was a sudden noise downstairs, like someone banging on the door.

Lu Xi'an instantly sprang up from the bed, and Doggy immediately transformed back into its dog form.

The pouring rain almost drowned out the sound, but Lu Xi'an, long accustomed to being vigilant in this world, could still hear it clearly.

Not to mention the mechanical dog.

Lu Xi'an got out of bed immediately, grabbed the submachine gun placed within easy reach, and tiptoed out of the bedroom.

With a dip and lift of its head, the mechanical dog slung the leather satchel beside it onto its neck and followed Lu Xi'an out.

This satchel was made from the hide of a bear Lu Xi'an had skinned during his time at the police station, using needles and thread he'd found in a tailor's shop, making it convenient for Doggy to carry things.

Currently, the satchel was filled with bullets.

Man and dog hid by the stairs outside the bedroom, peering down through the railings.

The commotion at the door had stopped, as if the people outside had given up when they couldn't break it down.

But Lu Xi'an didn't let his guard down.

The next moment--

"Crash--"

As expected, someone broke a window and climbed in.

It was a woman.