Decision and New Humans

After reading those few sentences, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei exchanged a look.

He saw a hint of surprise in Yao Wei's eyes—this woman no longer tried as hard to hide her emotions as she had before.

He looked down and flipped further back. There was no more text. It seemed that Yao Tianlai, the emergency water supply worker for the Fengcheng County Emergency Water Supply Administration who had written this work notebook, had truly despaired, given up, and was waiting to die here.

There was no corpse in the house, not even bones left. He didn't know where Yao Tianlai had died in the end.

"Let's go back to the car and leave here."

Yao Wei said.

The place had been searched. The car was still parked outside, and it was too conspicuous in the village. Yao Wei clearly didn't want to linger here for too long.

Lu Xi'an nodded, picked up the notebook, thought for a moment, then took two gold bricks. He asked Yao Wei, "Is it okay to leave these in your car for now?"

Yao Wei frowned and asked, "What are they for?"

Lu Xi'an replied, "As hidden weapons."

He had never held such large gold bricks in his previous life. He really wanted to play with them now. Anyway, leaving them in Yao Wei's car wouldn't add much weight or take up much space. He might as well take two to experience them.

What if, in some special situation, he could really use them as hidden weapons?

"As you wish."

Yao Wei didn't refuse Lu Xi'an. She said, then walked outside.

So Lu Xi'an pocketed the notebook and the two gold bricks and followed her out.

Outside was safe. The two of them smoothly got into the car and drove away from the village.

On the road, Lu Xi'an asked, "The shelter mentioned in the work notebook should be where the last survivors are concentrated. It might have supplies. Should we go and check out that shelter?"

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Okay."

To survive in this world, how could they let go of any place that might have supplies?

—Of course, there might be people there, and it might be dangerous, but they had to take a look. If it was dangerous, they could just run.

So Lu Xi'an took out World Atlas Volume One, opened the page for Fengcheng County, found Tan Village on it, and pointed the way for Yao Wei: "Tan Village is to the east. We have to go back. After bypassing Gao Family Village, go south from the intersection where we refueled for a bit."

They couldn't go through Gao Family Village because there were people there.

Yao Wei nodded, turned the car around, and bypassed Gao Family Village from a distance. They kept going around until they reached the intersection where they had refueled earlier and went south for a stretch.

At this time, the fuel gauge in the car was still full, so they didn't need to refuel. The two of them planned to refuel after exploring Tan Village, so they didn't stop.

Tan Village was on the west bank of the reservoir. The roads leading west from the village were flanked by rising hills, forming a pass.

After passing the "pass," the village spread along the reservoir's bank, separated from the riverbank by a road. It was now overgrown with weeds and dilapidated.

Yao Wei drove along the road, and the car jolted violently, making Lu Xi'an's stomach churn. Fortunately, it had been a long time since they had replenished their food, otherwise, they would have suffered greatly now.

There was no one left in Tan Village—the two of them had confirmed this by driving around and checking.

It was too close to the reservoir, and with too many mosquitoes in the current situation, it was indeed not suitable for people to station there.

Now, for people to survive and set up camp, they needed a water source, but they couldn't be too close to it. This was the experience Lu Xi'an had summarized while traveling south, and he believed it would be applicable to others as well.

After passing through Tan Village, the two suddenly saw a protruding hill behind the village. Rocks gathered, and weeds spread out from the cracks, growing haphazardly. It looked like it had blended in with its surroundings. Although it protruded strangely, it also looked natural.

"Is this it?"

Yao Wei stopped the car, stared intently at the spot, and asked.

She and Lu Xi'an had both read the work notebook and were looking for something unusual, which was why they felt this place was somewhat abnormal. If it were someone else, they probably wouldn't have noticed.

Lu Xi'an didn't respond. He directly opened the car door and sent out the Mechanical Dog: "Doggy, go take a look."

So Doggy rotated its four wheels and headed over. Because the road was uneven, Doggy couldn't help but jolt along, and some movements required the assistance of its leg joints, not just relying on its wheels to slide.

But no matter what, it was no longer as comical as before.

When it reached the protruding hill, Doggy stopped and began scanning. After a while, it turned around, and its two dog eyes began to glow.

"This is the place."

Lu Xi'an confirmed.

Yao Wei looked back. She saw that the corridor between the two houses on the edge of the village was wide, and behind them, the mountain formed a steep slope. There was also a distance between the slope and the back walls of the houses, forming a corridor. She immediately reversed the car, turned, and parked it between the houses and the hillside.

The two of them got out of the car and walked onto the road. Once they confirmed that the car was completely hidden from view and could not be seen, they felt relieved.

Walking to the side of the protruding hill, Lu Xi'an gave Doggy another command: "Doggy, check where it's easy to open."

Doggy scanned the jumble of rocks on the hill again and then shone its light on a spot on the side, close to the inside.

Yao Wei brought a shovel from the car. Following the light from Doggy's eyes, the two of them started by digging at the topmost stone. It took a great deal of effort to pry out a stone.

It was only because they had immense strength that they could dig out the stone. For an ordinary person, it would have been absolutely impossible.

The subsequent stones were much easier to dig out, and they didn't even need the shovel.

If it were their past selves, they wouldn't have been able to move these stones, no matter how hard they tried.

"I really don't know why my strength suddenly became so great? And yours too."

Lu Xi'an asked casually as he dug out the stones.

Yao Wei said, "We're already New Humans. If there were no changes, after so many years, we would have aged like ordinary people by now, right?"

Lu Xi'an paused for a moment, recalling the people he had seen in Gao Family Village before, and the Wolf Gang and Dog Gang members he encountered in Mo Zhou City. They indeed looked older, with some bent over like elderly people. Compared to them, he was indeed young.

And Yao Wei was also the first person he had met who was as young as himself.

How could the wind and sun, and the hardships they endured, not make people age easily?

Moreover, both Yao Wei and he seemed to sweat very little, not needing frequent cleaning to maintain basic hygiene, including their mouths and hair.

They wouldn't produce body odor, thus not attracting the attention of other people or creatures, and they didn't have to worry about diseases caused by poor hygiene.

This saved them a lot of energy.

In that sense, both he and Yao Wei were indeed abnormal.

"New Humans?"

He asked.

Yao Wei shook her head and said, "I don't understand either. Mom told me."

Lu Xi'an didn't ask further. These questions could only be answered if he had the chance to find out later.

This corner was indeed easy to clear. After they moved aside two layers of stone piles, a hole was revealed inside. A damp, cold, moldy smell wafted out, forcing them to step back.

Afterward, the two exchanged a look, saw that the other was ready, and then crawled inside one after another.