Radio

Lu Xi'an really did feel pretty lucky.

This radio had no batteries in it. In some ways, that was even better than finding it with batteries installed.

After all, batteries could leak. If there had been batteries inside the radio and they had leaked, they might have ruined the whole thing.

Whether the radio was broken or not, at least now they could rule out battery leakage as the cause.

With his experience finding the radio, Lu Xi'an tried tapping the three wooden walls, the ceiling, and the little tiled floor.

He found nothing.

But he wasn't discouraged. Finding the radio on this trip was already a pretty good haul.

After all, even Yao Wei's car didn't have a radio.

Besides, if they hadn't come here, how would he have gotten to see this cliffside cave, dug out in the world that came before?

It was nice to see a place this unusual.

He put the radio away and left the cave. Then, using the same method as before, he carved his way up the cliff with his axe.

But climbing up took an extra move and a lot more effort than climbing down--

He had to crouch, then kick hard with both legs to leap upward, pull back his axe, and strike again.

He climbed all the way up like that. When he reached the top, Yao Wei reached out and helped him up.

After surviving in the apocalypse for so long, Yao Wei's hands had grown rough, just like his.

But even though they were rough, they were soft and warm, and felt comfortable to touch.

Lu Xi'an thought Yao Wei's hands were much warmer than his own. But she seemed full of energy, not like she had a fever.

New Humans rarely got fevers, anyway.

The woman was probably just naturally warm.

"How did it go? Are you okay?"

Once he was up, Lu Xi'an let go of Yao Wei's hand and asked her.

"I'm fine. No one's come by."

Yao Wei replied.

She was much more talkative now than she had been at first. When they had just met, she wouldn't have said a single word more than necessary.

For a sentence like "I'm fine. No one's come by," the first two words would have been enough to get her point across. She definitely wouldn't have said the last four.

But things were different now.

And after those six words, Yao Wei even asked, "What about you? How was it down there?"

"There wasn't much inside. Just a table, a beanbag chair, a kettle, and cups. They were all moldy and useless."

Yao Wei asked curiously, "A beanbag chair?"

"It's a soft chair without back support. Sitting in one for too long is bad for your lower back."

"I see..."

Yao Wei nodded to show she understood.

She didn't really understand what a beanbag chair looked like, of course. But when Lu Xi'an said sitting in one for too long was bad for your back, she knew it was useless and lost interest.

Lu Xi'an took out the radio and said, "There's a fireplace inside. I found the radio on top of it. Fang Shuxin probably hid it there before he left for the last time.

"But there were no batteries, so I haven't tried it yet. I don't know if it works."

Like Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei immediately thought of something. "We have batteries in the car."

Lu Xi'an smiled. "Right. I was thinking the same thing."

They got into the car. Lu Xi'an handed the radio to Yao Wei and let her tinker with it, while he started the engine and drove away.

The mountain road was narrow, so he couldn't turn around. He simply put the car in reverse and backed out.

As an experienced driver, it wasn't difficult for him. He just had to go slowly and keep an eye on the mirrors.

Yao Wei sat in the passenger seat and found some batteries to put in the radio.

She carefully took two batteries out of the new pack, leaving the packaging mostly intact so the plastic could still hold the other two batteries snugly.

Yao Wei had never lost her long-standing habit of being careful and frugal. Even now, she took care when opening the battery pack, making sure not to cause any problems for later.

As she installed the batteries, Lu Xi'an turned to look twice, making sure she hadn't mixed up the positive and negative ends.

Fortunately, Yao Wei knew how to do it. Maybe she had handled things like this before.

Once the batteries were in and the cover was snapped shut, she pressed the switch on top of the radio under Lu Xi'an's instructions. A crackling sound came from the radio.

--Static hissed from the speaker.

The radio had no signal.

Lu Xi'an suddenly hit the brakes and said, "Fang Shuxin said there was no signal at his place, but there used to be one here. Let's wait here and try tuning it, okay?"

"Mm."

Yao Wei nodded and asked, "How do I tune it?"

She knew how to install batteries, but not how to operate the radio, so she had to ask Lu Xi'an.

"There's a knob beside the buttons on top. Turn it."

As he showed her, Lu Xi'an asked, "Do you think we should drive the car back to where it was?"

Yao Wei looked out the window. "We haven't gone very far."

"True."

Lu Xi'an nodded, turned off the engine, and pulled the handbrake.

He and Yao Wei got out of the car. He simply took the radio from her and started operating it himself.

Yao Wei pressed her lips together. She wanted to try it herself, but she knew this was serious business, not playtime.

The look on her face came and went in an instant, but Lu Xi'an noticed it and said, "I'll take a look first. You can play with it in a bit."

"I'm not playing..."

Yao Wei muttered in discontent. She felt like Lu Xi'an was treating her like a child.

That tone was the same one her mother had used when she was little.

"Fine, fine, you're not playing. You can have it in a bit."

Lu Xi'an placated her as he turned the knob on top of the radio.

Yao Wei: "..."

There he went with that tone again!

Why was this guy suddenly so annoying?!

But Lu Xi'an was now completely focused on the radio in his hands and didn't notice Yao Wei's faintly resentful expression.

He fiddled with the knob, turning it first one way, then the other. He walked forward, then back, raised the radio, lowered it, even climbed higher with his axe and went back down into the cliffside cave.

Lu Xi'an tried all sorts of things, but the radio only ever made a crackling static sound. Nothing else came through.

After trying for a long time, Lu Xi'an finally gave up. "Forget it. The Reconstruction Faction might be gone. Maybe nobody uses this stuff anymore. Let's go."

"Mm."

Yao Wei had no objections. She got back into the car with Lu Xi'an.

Lu Xi'an tossed her the radio and backed the car out of the mountain road.

Holding it, Yao Wei tried it herself, copying what Lu Xi'an had done.

Even though she knew it was useless, she still wanted to give it a try.

I'll just try once, then take the batteries out.

That's what she told herself.

Trying once or twice shouldn't count as wasting them, right?

But as she fiddled with it and turned the knob, she suddenly noticed that the static had changed.

"Static... static... all... static... command... static..."

It's the third day of the New Year. Please keep following the story!

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