The Living Hades

This time, when Luo Ping headed back, only sporadic gunshots rang out from the direction of Fengcheng County. They came at intervals, and the fighting seemed to have died down.

But Lu Xi'an guessed it had nothing to do with the intensity of the fighting. They had probably run low on ammunition.

He couldn't help lamenting, "Never pick a fight with a Type B New Human. They're like sticky plasters—once they latch on, they won't let go!"

Yao Wei nodded in deep agreement.

Although she didn't understand what "sticky plaster" meant, she felt the same way. Having an enemy like Sharp Brother was a real nuisance.

Not only could they not kill him, but he kept clinging to them and using up their ammunition. It was downright disgusting.

"We have to keep watch."

An idea suddenly came to her. "Cut off his head, arms, and legs, and remove his jaw, too. Make sure he's completely dead. Then we won't have to worry about him eating and coming back to life."

Lu Xi'an couldn't help glancing at Yao Wei.

This woman was a living Hades.

"Better yet, toss his head into the river for the fish. Throw the other parts away separately, too. Or smash them to pieces with a hammer."

Lu Xi'an added a few suggestions.

They exchanged smiles, both a little pleased to have found a way to deal with him.

They moved to a different spot and continued having the dog take the drone to keep watch outside the county town.

No more gunshots came from the county town. A long while later, they heard the sound of a vehicle.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were both on slightly higher ground. They looked toward the sound and saw, to their surprise, that Luo Ping had gotten his car back and was driving over.

The dog and the drone were both on the roof of the car. Neither was walking nor flying; they had hitched a ride.

Once Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were sure there was no danger, they stood up.

Luo Ping spotted them from a distance, drove over, and stopped below them. Looking up, he grinned. "All done! Thanks for the food.

"I found two pretty good spoils of war. You can have them."

As he spoke, he got out of the car, opened the rear door, and took out two metal containers.

Unlike the round canister in Yao Wei's car, these were rectangular, with sealed tops, handles, and spouts. They didn't look like anything used for drawing water.

Yao Wei was puzzled at first, unsure what they were for. But Lu Xi'an's eyes lit up. "Gas cans?!"

Luo Ping grinned proudly. "That's right, gas cans. Pretty good, huh? With these, you can keep extra gasoline in the car and ease your range anxiety by a lot."

"Definitely. These are great," Lu Xi'an said, nodding.

Yao Wei's car actually had a metal jug for storing gasoline, too.

When he and Yao Wei had first met, she'd been carrying that jug.

But it was too small, and it didn't have a cap on top. If she kept it full of gasoline in the car, it could easily spill and cause an accident.

So Yao Wei had always treated it as an emergency backup.

If the car ran out of gas somewhere and couldn't be started, she'd hide it and take the jug to find more fuel.

But two gas cans made all the difference!

They had a large enough capacity, and, most importantly, they had sealed lids. Even the spouts had little caps, so there was no need to worry about spilling when they were full.

They were safe, held plenty of fuel, and were the perfect travel companions!

Luo Ping said, "I really have you to thank for the meal! Where did you find such good stuff?

"After eating your rice and coming back to life, I feel even stronger than before! Compared to your white rice, what I used to eat was practically pig slop!

"I just used your rice to go back and deal with those people twice more. I completely broke them. They even left my car right there for me to drive away. They didn't dare keep it.

"See? I've still got a bag of rice left."

As he spoke, he patted his coat pocket. The bag inside went "thump, thump," though the sound was muffled, probably because it was full of rice.

After he finished speaking, he tossed one of the metal gas cans to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei. "You can have one, right?

"I need these, too, so I have to keep one."

Yao Wei reached out and caught it.

"One is enough," Lu Xi'an said.

There wasn't much room in the car. They couldn't fit another one.

Luo Ping sighed. "What a shame. Those precious books of mine were all torn up and divided among those people. Otherwise, I could've given you some.

"Bunch of bastards, wasting something so precious! Those things are meant to be read as a whole. What's the point of dividing them up?

"They even had someone tear a page in half so they could each take a piece!"

Lu Xi'an smiled. "Didn't you already give me a comic? That one is more than enough."

Yao Wei recalled what had been in the comic and pressed her lips together. She couldn't help glancing at Lu Xi'an.

After spending some time in the shelter and getting enough water every day, her lips were no longer cracked and dry like before. They looked rosy and soft, quite alluring.

Luo Ping happened to notice Yao Wei's expression and immediately laughed. "Right, right. One is enough."

After that, he turned serious and brought up the matter at hand. "You two are rare people in this world. My base needs people like you.

"Come with me. We can make something of our lives together. What do you say?"

Lu Xi'an turned to look at Yao Wei. She turned to look at him, too, her expression a little flustered.

To be honest, Lu Xi'an was tempted by Luo Ping's invitation.

He didn't know what Luo Ping's base was like, but it must have plenty of supplies if it could afford to send him out time and again to look for people.

And from what Luo Ping had said, he seemed to have found a few like-minded people. Together, they were looking toward this new world and trying to make it possible for humanity to survive here for the long term.

Hadn't Lu Xi'an traveled south all this way from the north in hopes of finding a place like that?

Yao Wei had said there were oases in this world, while Luo Ping said he had searched for a long time without finding any. In that case, people should create their own oases. Lu Xi'an thought that made sense.

In the old world, humans had gone from primitive tribes to modern society, building skyscrapers, growing crops, and raising livestock until they had turned the whole world into an oasis where humanity could live.

Why couldn't people in the new world do the same?

But...

Yao Wei seemed reluctant. She didn't want to interact with more people...

Never mind. He'd only met Luo Ping once or twice, and the man seemed shrewd. He wasn't as familiar and straightforward as Yao Wei. Who knew whether what he said was true?

He'd better be cautious.

"Let's pass," Lu Xi'an said. "We've gotten used to being on our own, just the two of us. I really don't know how to get along with more people. Let's go our separate ways.

"But you can tell me roughly where your base is. If we meet anyone who shares your ideals, we can introduce them to you and send them your way."

Yao Wei turned to look at Lu Xi'an at once, her eyes showing a hint of surprise.

Lu Xi'an noticed her gaze and smiled back. Yao Wei hurriedly turned away and looked elsewhere.