A Few Things in the Bedroom

Yao Wei looked deeply at Lu Xi'an but said nothing.

She thought of something—if she agreed to Lu Xi'an's proposal, she would be tied to him from then on.

The Mechanical Dog belonged to Lu Xi'an. If she and Lu Xi'an went their separate ways, the air conditioner installed in the car would inevitably become useless.

If she wanted the air conditioner to keep working, she would have to keep Lu Xi'an and the Mechanical Dog in the car.

Or perhaps one day, she could modify the car's electrical system so it could power the air conditioner on its own.

That was nothing short of a pipe dream for her.

But she couldn't quite bring herself to refuse Lu Xi'an outright.

The air conditioner was far too tempting. In this world, where the temperature could turn bitterly cold at any moment, a working heating system could mean the difference between life and death.

She had been lucky enough to survive this long, but who knew if she might freeze to death tomorrow?

The warmth filling the room as the air conditioner ran gave her a powerful sense of security in this extreme cold.

"I don't know how much Freon is left in this air conditioner, or how long it'll last. No matter how much there is, I think we can install it in the car for now and take it out again when it runs out."

Lu Xi'an added.

Yao Wei didn't understand. "Freon?"

"Freon."

Lu Xi'an explained, "It's the refrigerant in an air conditioner. You need it for heating, too."

When Yao Wei heard that, she breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, she felt inexplicably disappointed. She immediately grew wary and pushed the feeling out of her mind before saying, "Okay."

Their long-term arrangement of mutual support now had an end date because of their limited resources. That was a good thing for her, and it suited her usual habit of surviving on her own.

So that disappointment was absolutely unnecessary.

Yao Wei knew full well that this feeling came from a strange sense of dependence that had taken root in her without her noticing.

Whether that dependence was strong or weak, great or slight, it had no place in her life.

She took a deep breath and calmed herself down.

She was a little curious about why Lu Xi'an knew so much about something from the old world like air conditioners, and even knew about that Freon stuff, but she didn't ask.

She was sure that learning too much about this man would do her no good. Besides, none of it was useful for survival, so she could just keep her curiosity to herself instead of asking.

The two of them stayed in the bedroom on the second floor of the villa at Jiangyu Road No. 272, not going outside as they waited for the cold snap to pass.

In such terrifying weather, people and animals alike would hide in sheltered dens to avoid freezing to death.

They were no different. It wasn't safe to drive in weather this cold.

For the time being, they were safe here and could wait for the weather to change again.

Neither of them spoke. They quietly enjoyed the warmth from the air conditioner in the bedroom.

Lu Xi'an simply flopped onto the bed and closed his eyes, enjoying the comfort of the villa's soft mattress.

He had planned to enjoy this from the start, but before he could fall asleep, Yao Wei had shown up, and the two of them had been at an impasse all night.

Now that he was back in a familiar place, he naturally had to make up for not having enjoyed it properly before.

A bed really was comfortable!

He relaxed his mind and body, letting himself sink into the embrace of the mattress, then asked Yao Wei, "Want to lie down here, too?"

Yao Wei shot Lu Xi'an a cold look, then sat on the floor with her back against the side of the bed, lowering her head and closing her eyes.

The side of the bed she was leaning against was the farthest from Lu Xi'an. She'd even chosen a spot near the foot of the bed. It looked like she wanted to keep as far away from him as possible.

Lu Xi'an opened his eyes and turned to look at her, grumbling to himself, This woman has no idea how to enjoy herself. Then he went back to resting.

This cold snap lasted two days. When Lu Xi'an checked the car the next day, the Wild Boar Meat in the trunk had frozen solid.

When meat froze this hard, parasites and bacteria inside some kinds could be completely killed off, making it safe to eat. But that wasn't true of all meat.

The Inuit in his previous life used this method to prepare seal meat. They froze it in the bitter cold until it dried, then shaved off slices with a knife and put them in their mouths.

People had eaten raw fish in ancient times, and they still ate sashimi today, but to eat it safely, it had to be frozen in a special way.

Unfortunately, Lu Xi'an wasn't used to eating frozen raw meat, and Yao Wei clearly didn't know much about that sort of thing either.

So they left the meat in the car as cold storage and didn't eat it.

Even if they really needed to eat raw meat, it wouldn't be a problem. They had the dog, which could tell them whether the meat was safe to eat.

They had already taken their backpacks out of the car. Both of them had plenty of food stored away. Lu Xi'an had Instant Noodles and bread, while Yao Wei even had Canned Food and chocolate, which made Lu Xi'an especially envious.

At least the woman knew how to return a favor. Lu Xi'an had helped her quite a bit before, so she shared half a can of food with him now and gave him a piece of chocolate to keep for emergencies.

Yao Wei had also taken down a toolbox. It contained screwdrivers and wrenches of various sizes, as well as pliers, a hammer, a Utility Knife, a Measuring Tape, and more. Lu Xi'an couldn't help feeling envious for a while.

He really had no idea where Yao Wei had managed to find such a treasure these days.

The Mechanical Dog was powering the air conditioner, but that didn't stop Lu Xi'an from tinkering with its metal hooves.

While they rested in the villa to shelter from the cold, Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei to hold the dog while he removed all four of its metal hooves and tried installing the Toy Motorcycle Wheels he'd found at the gas station.

To Lu Xi'an's surprise and delight, the dog's four legs were connected to the metal hooves by rotating shafts.

When the dog walked, the internal shafts followed its commands and moved the metal hooves.

Lu Xi'an tried it out, and the shafts turned out to be the right size for the motorcycle wheels.

He immediately installed the wheels and secured them. They'd have to wait until the dog finished powering the air conditioner to see how well they worked.

For various reasons, Lu Xi'an didn't throw away the four metal hooves he'd removed from the dog's legs. Instead, he put them away.

If the wheels didn't fit, he could put the hooves back on.

And even if the wheels did work, parts salvaged from a toy couldn't match the quality of the original hooves. Once they wore out and became unusable, he'd have to switch back to the hooves unless he found other compatible tires.

Two days later, the weather suddenly warmed up. Yao Wei tied her leather jacket around her slim but sturdy waist again, while Lu Xi'an took off his heavy clothes and stuffed them into his backpack.

He turned off the air conditioner and unplugged it. The dog was free again, and immediately slid out of the bedroom and crashed into the railing.

Fortunately, the thing seemed able to intelligently analyze the condition of its parts. It quickly got used to its new body components and learned to control the four wheels on its legs. It glided around silently and steadily, no longer wobbling.

Then—

Thud, thud, thud!

The dog hadn't analyzed the rules for moving over unusual terrain. It went straight down the stairs, tumbling all the way.