South and North

Lu Xi'an managed to persuade Yao Wei in the end, stopping her from returning to the forest to find the pork bones they had left behind.

He told Yao Wei that pork bone soup required a long time to simmer at high temperatures, they were on the road, and the firewood they had painstakingly collected shouldn't be wasted, so it was best not to make pork bone soup.

--Burnable firewood was also a necessity for survival, so Yao Wei had collected some for her car, piled in the corner of the trunk.

Earlier in the forest, if it hadn't been for the sudden cold snap, she would have liked to chop more firewood to stock up her car's supplies.

Unfortunately, gasoline was too flammable and unsafe; otherwise, she would have stored some in the car too.

The car drove straight to the previous gas station. Only the characters "Gas Station" remained on the sign on the roof, the rest had fallen off. This was the third time Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had visited, yet they still didn't know the name of this gas station.

Yao Wei drove the car to the intact gas pump. The two of them, along with the dog, inspected the area as before. Once they confirmed there were no issues, Lu Xi'an directed Doggy to connect the pump's circuit to refuel.

Doggy, who had been connected to the air conditioner's power supply in the back, heard Lu Xi'an's command. Without Lu Xi'an needing to unplug it, some internal component must have activated, and it directly ejected the air conditioner plug.

The dog didn't even wait for Lu Xi'an to open the rear car door. With a spin of its wheels and a spring of its legs, it hopped into the front passenger seat and exited through the passenger door.

Then, it rolled on the wheels attached to its four legs into the station building to inspect it, not making a single sound.

"It's gotten even more useful."

Lu Xi'an smiled, very satisfied with this.

Yao Wei, watching Doggy finally hang on the electrical box, couldn't hide her envy.

She still habitually avoided waste and quickly filled the car with gas. Then she had Lu Xi'an instruct the Mechanical Dog to disconnect the power.

"Alright, disconnect and get in the car."

Lu Xi'an then gave the Mechanical Dog its orders. Doggy disconnected the circuit, landed on the ground, its wheels spinning, and moved to Yao Wei's car.

Lu Xi'an watched with envy, feeling that those wheels were very efficient and easy to use. He wished he had such an ability himself.

Doggy and Lu Xi'an got into the car. Yao Wei put the gas nozzle back, closed the fuel tank cap, got in, started the car, and continued driving west.

Lu Xi'an had originally planned to have Doggy reconnect the air conditioner's power supply, but Yao Wei stopped him.

Yao Wei said, "Save the refrigerant. We'll need it for the cold weather."

Lu Xi'an thought Yao Wei's suggestion made sense, so he dropped the idea.

While it was bearable to open the windows when it was hot in the car, it would be deadly without air conditioning in extreme cold.

They drove past their previous resting spot and continued for a long time before a large river suddenly blocked their path.

The river was over a hundred meters wide, and the current was slow, meandering downstream.

Fortunately, there was a two-lane bridge spanning the river, allowing vehicles to pass.

The asphalt road on the bridge was cracked, looking dilapidated and making one worry if the bridge could support the weight of a car and two people.

Yao Wei, however, was clearly not worried about that. She twisted her body, turned, and moved to the back seat. She took out binoculars from her backpack and scanned the bridge, the river, and the opposite bank carefully, confirming their safety.

"Binoculars? What a great item!"

Lu Xi'an, seeing what Yao Wei held up to her eyes, couldn't help but feel a bit envious.

He also contributed to the best of his ability, lifting the Mechanical Dog from under his feet and placing it on the dashboard. He instructed, "Doggy, help me check if there's any danger ahead."

Doggy immediately swept its two dog-eyes forward, scanning left, right, up, and down. Then, it flashed the lights in its eyes at Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an understood and told Yao Wei, "There's no danger ahead."

Yao Wei put away her binoculars and cast a faint glance at Lu Xi'an.

The car drove onto the bridge, and indeed, there was no danger.

Continuing forward, Lu Xi'an turned his head to the right and could see the gurgling water flowing beneath the bridge through the gaps in the railings. He asked Yao Wei, "We're heading west, where are we going?"

"To the South,"

Yao Wei replied. "The North is too cold to survive. Going directly South is dangerous; heading West is safer."

Lu Xi'an remembered Yao Wei's earlier statement, "This isn't the South yet."

"Is the South suitable for survival?"

He asked.

Yao Wei said, "It's better than the North."

Lu Xi'an asked, "Then why did you come here?"

Yao Wei shook her head and said, "Someone told me."

She paused and added, "Only those who can no longer fight will hide in the North to eke out a living."

This sentence contained many more words than her previous ones, but considering the amount of information it conveyed, it was still too brief.

However, Lu Xi'an understood--

Compared to their current location, the South likely had less volatile and extreme weather, making it more suitable for survival, but the conflicts there must also be very severe.

Those who lost in the struggle, unable to survive in the South, could only flee North, or were driven North, to this wild and harsh land where survival depended on fate.

"I'll find a relatively safe place to drop you off, don't worry."

Finally, as they finished crossing the bridge, Yao Wei said this to Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an's lips twitched, and he said, "Thank you."

He thought for a moment, then asked, "What about you? Where do you plan to go?"

Yao Wei said, "I have an atlas in my backpack."

Lu Xi'an understood what she meant and, mimicking Yao Wei's actions, flipped to the back, taking out a palm-sized pocketbook from her bag.

His movements weren't as supple and smooth as Yao Wei's, but they were still quick and decisive. After taking the pocketbook, he returned to the front passenger seat.

The cover of the pocketbook seemed to depict a world map, with the words "World Atlas Volume One" written in large characters.

The map showed the world's landmasses as relatively concentrated, unlike the seven continents of his previous life. At a glance, Lu Xi'an saw that this world's map seemed divided into four landmasses: one at each pole, and two in the middle.

After settling into the front passenger seat, Lu Xi'an glanced at the cover again. Below the large characters "World Atlas Volume One" were smaller words that read: Newly Revised Practical Edition.

Upon opening it, he understood what made it "newly revised and practical"—

The atlas was divided into chapters by region and city. City roads and landmarks were clearly marked, as were gas stations.

Lu Xi'an found Yu Bei City, Jiang Yu District, through the table of contents and saw several gas station markers. Three on the east side had already been crossed out with an 'X'.

"Help me get a pen and put a checkmark here."

Yao Wei suddenly pointed at the gas station icon on the westernmost side of the map page and said.