Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 240 Salty and Sweet

"Zi-ZiZi-"

The static in the RV's audio system suddenly changed, immediately drawing the attention of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

The two looked at the speaker at the same time, and then the mechanical dog's electronic synthesized voice sounded: "Broadcast signal connected, please hurry up and talk."

"it is good!"

Lu Xi'an said, "Thank you, Gouzi."

Dog: "Mechanical Dog 02 will always be at your service, no need to thank me."

Lu Xian: "..."

After thanking Mechanical Dog 02, Luo Ping's voice came from the RV's stereo a short while later: "Big brother/sister? Why are you calling so early in the morning? Is something urgent?"

He mistook the broadcast signal connection for a phone call, but upon reflection, it didn't seem to make a difference; this separate line could indeed be considered a "telephone call." Lu Xi'an didn't object.

Luo Ping continued, "Big brother and sister, please tell us what's wrong. Is there anything we can help you with? Where are you now? If it's really urgent, we'll brave the cold to find you and help you!"

His tone was as if he were patting his chest and making a huge promise, but Lu Xi'an believed him and thought that he could really do it.

Lu Xi'an said, "There's no need to come in this weather. There might be ice on the road, it's too slippery and unsafe. We don't have anything to do, but we found a fruit tree with fruit on it here, east of Tunshan Village."

"I just want to ask if you know how to transplant it. If you do, come and move this tree and take good care of it."

"A tree that bears fruit?!"

Luo Ping was astonished. "Brother, you're not lying to me, are you?! I've already explored all of Pingchuan City, from east to west and south, and I've even been to the east. There aren't any fruit trees there!!"
“If there were trees there, they would have been taken over by that guy from Henan County in the south long ago. Anything that can bear fruit now would definitely not be unclaimed and wouldn’t have been left until now for you to find.”

Lu Xi'an said, "That fruit tree is in the middle of a large group of trees that don't bear fruit, and because it doesn't get enough sunlight, it's very small. If you don't look carefully, you won't find it at all."

"We specifically went to look for it before we found it."

"A whole grove of barren trees?!"

Luo Ping hesitated for a moment, then quickly realized, "Brother, are you talking about that pile of ruins a little south of Tunshan Village, on the east side of the road?"

Lu Xi'an said, "Yes, that's it."

Luo Ping asked with concern, "Big brother and sister, why did you go there? If you go any further south, you'll reach Henan County, where there's a Type C new human that's not easy to deal with."

Lu Xi'an said, "I won't explain the specific reasons to you. Time is of the essence, and I don't know when the broadcast signal will be cut off, so let's get down to business."

"See if you know how to transplant trees. If you do, come here quickly and move this tree away."

"That way you can have more apples to eat, and when we come back, we can bring in more."

He had barely finished speaking when the old tree's voice rang out: "I can! I can! I can do this!"

Luo Ping was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Old Tree, you're amazing! How can you do everything?! Pshaw! Pshaw!"

Strange sounds were mixed in with the words. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei didn't know what kind of scene the sounds corresponded to, and they didn't dare to think too much about it.

But then the old tree's voice rang out again: "Brother Luo, can we not do this again? You ate a mouthful of my tree root, how do you feel?"

"It doesn't feel good."

As Luo Ping spoke, he spat twice more, "I was just a little excited and couldn't control myself. I'm sorry."

Lu Xian: "..."

Yao Wei: “…”

Luo Ping continued, "Then, big brother and sister, please wait a moment. It's not that far from there. Once the weather gets a little warmer, I... sizzle... sizzle..."

The signal dropped again.

Fortunately, everything that needed to be explained had been explained, so Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were relieved.

Lu Xi'an said, "Then let's wait here until it gets a little warmer, then we'll point out the tree to them before we leave."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you."

Lu Xi'an said, "Then let's go exercise now."

The two changed their clothes, got out of the RV, and went outside to exercise.

The cold wind howled, cutting into my face and hands like knives, trying to sever my skin.

They all wore their thickest clothes, but it didn't help much. The wind relentlessly penetrated their clothes, pierced their skin, and seeped into their bones, blood vessels, and muscles, wild and violent.

Back when he wasn't a new human, Lu Xi'an felt that he would freeze to death in an instant if he faced such weather and wind.

He used to see debates online about winter, with people arguing about physical and magical attacks. But when the extreme cold arrives, physical and magical attacks become meaningless.

This cold wind doesn't follow any physics or magic; it seems to have only one purpose: to freeze you to death, turning you into ice shards, using the most explosive means and the fastest speed.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei quickly started practicing, unleashing the full power of their bodies. They exercised their muscles and bones using the most scientific methods described in the booklet, causing their blood to rush and adjust themselves repeatedly, both to adapt to the environment and to maximize the strength their bodies could exert.

After that, they practiced again. The high-speed and all-out battle quickly got the two into the zone. As their blood surged, the cold wind could hardly penetrate them. Instead, it surrounded them and helped to temper their bodies.

After practicing to their hearts' content, the two returned to the car. Lu Xi'an let out a long sigh and said, "We still have to practice like this. After practicing like this, we won't be afraid of the cold. Otherwise, like yesterday, it was freezing cold."

Yao Wei said, "Actually, you won't freeze to death, but it's a bit hard to endure."

Lu Xi'an nodded: "That's true." They had all experienced freezing weather before. Back when there was no air conditioning, every time a cold wave came, they had to tough it out.
Life has become much better now that we have heating.

"So when it gets cold, you should exercise more outdoors. Don't forget this feeling and let your body get used to it."

Lu Xi'an said, "Otherwise, if we encounter someone in the future, while others have already been exposed to the cold, we will be used to warm days and will not be able to exert our full strength in the snow and ice. That would be terrible."

"Ah."

Yao Wei agreed with Lu Xi'an and nodded.

Lu Xi'an asked, "Are you hungry?"

Yao Wei said, "I'm not very hungry."

Lu Xi'an said, "Then let's eat something simple and have a main course later if we get hungry."

Yao Wei asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Lu Xi'an kept Yao Wei in suspense, then smiled and said, "You'll know once I've finished."

Yao Wei had no choice but to wait patiently.

Lu Xi'an's meal was quite simple. He boiled water, cracked an egg into Yao Wei's bowl, poured water into the bowl, stirred it with chopsticks, sprinkled in some sugar, stirred it again, and a bowl of boiled water with an egg was ready.

After pouring boiling water over the eggs and letting it cool until it was about the right temperature, Lu Xi'an handed the bowl to Yao Wei and said, "Here, have a taste and see if it's good."

Yao Wei took it, took a sip, nodded and said, "Mmm, sweet."

Lu Xi'an laughed: "Of course, it has sugar in it."

Yao Wei didn't say anything more, just silently drank the boiled water with the egg. As she drank, she thought to herself, "Anyway, eggs are really good; they taste good no matter how you cook them."

However, this was just a thought in her mind; she didn't say it aloud.

After drinking half of the boiled egg in the bowl, she handed the bowl back to Lu Xi'an and said, "Here, you drink some too."

Lu Xi'an shook his head and said, "There's still some boiled water left. You finish yours first, and I'll use your bowl to make another bowl."

Yao Wei insisted, "You drink it, and we'll each have half later."

Since Yao Wei had said so, Lu Xi'an had no choice but to comply. He drank the half bowl of egg drop soup. It was sweet and smooth, and because not too much sugar was added, the sweetness was just right and not cloying. It was indeed a taste he hadn't had in a long time.

really not bad.

he thought to himself.

After finishing the boiled egg in the bowl, he cracked another egg, dissolved it in water, added sugar, and shared it with Yao Wei. After drinking it, he felt warm inside. In this cold weather, after just enduring the cold, he felt extremely comfortable.

"Actually, you can add salt to this boiled egg, and it will taste salty, which is another kind of flavor."

While clearing the dishes, Lu Xi'an said to Yao Wei, "However, we use more salt than sugar when cooking, so I thought we should use it sparingly and just used sugar. If you want to try it salty next time, we can add some salt."

He doesn't actually like salty food. Salty tofu pudding is okay for him, but salty boiled eggs and zongzi (sticky rice dumplings) are just not to his liking.

However, when it comes to salty or sweet, everyone has their own preference, and you can't force it.

He took this into consideration, which is why he didn't say he liked sweet food and disliked salty food. He figured that doing so would have given Yao Wei a heads-up and made her lose her own subjective judgment.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he finished speaking, Yao Wei shook her head and said, "No need, I really like this sweet one. The salty one probably won't taste as good as this. Let's use it for cooking."

Lu Xi'an asked, "Don't you want to give it a try?"

Yao Wei shook her head: "No need. It would be a waste if I didn't like it."

Lu Xi'an didn't know if Yao Wei genuinely thought salty food was unpalatable, or if she was just saying it to save money, but since Yao Wei spoke so decisively, he had no choice but to say nothing more.

For the next two days, they waited here for the cold wind to pass. Every day when they woke up, they would go outside and exercise in the biting wind to unleash all their energy.

Two days later, the weather warmed up, and they tried to connect to the radio signal again, but to no avail, so they simply waited patiently.

Around mid-afternoon, a car finally appeared; it was a car that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei recognized.

—They had seen it in the base warehouse of Institute 923; it was one of Luo Ping's cars.

A pickup truck, just the right size to put the tree on it.

The car stopped behind Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's car, and then Luo Ping and Lao Shu got out. Only the two of them came this time.

"Big brother and big sister, you must have been waiting anxiously, right? Hahaha! I never expected to see you again!"

Luo Ping grinned as soon as he got out of the car.

Old Tree followed behind and said to Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, "Brother and sister! You two seem to have gotten much better!"

"Is it?"

Lu Xi'an smiled.

But then his expression suddenly turned serious, and his gaze passed through Luo Ping and the old tree, looking towards the distance behind them.

There... is some noise there...

(End of this chapter)