Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 247 Scare yourself

The boundary between Pingchuan City and Linhai City is not as clear as that between Pingchuan City and Yubei City or Jianshan City. Lu Xi'an didn't even know when the RV had entered Linhai City.

Anyway, by the time we realized it, we were already quite far from Qinshan County, and the Qinshan Mountains to the north had reached their end; the road ahead was flat.

He had to compare the map in "World Atlas I" and the map on the resonance gene scanner to confirm that the car had arrived in Linhai City.

It was getting dark, and Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei compared the map with the resonance gene scanner. After confirming that there were no extra red dots on the scanner, they were slightly relieved.

Yao Wei was driving in the driver's seat, while Lu Xi'an sat in the passenger seat, looking at "World Atlas I".

His finger traced across the page of the map representing Linhai City, found a mountain, and said, "Not far ahead is Little Stone Mountain."

"This mountain isn't big, and there's a water source nearby. If there are no problems, shall we rest near Little Rock Mountain? There might be some animals on the mountain. When you wake up tomorrow morning, you can practice your sniper rifle."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "I hope I can master it with just one bullet."

She felt that thirty-two bullets were still too few. If they were truly useful, she would naturally hope to have more bullets left over, aside from practice.

Lu Xi'an knew of her good character of diligence and thrift, so he smiled, glanced at Yao Wei, and said, "No problem, you can do it. You've always been very good at shooting, much better than me."

After driving for a while, we came across a river, which is the Zhuolang River marked in the World Atlas I, and is also one of the tributaries of the Luo River.

Looking at the map, Lu Xi'an felt that the Luo River, like the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, was the mother river of this world and this country.

Today, the Zhuolang River, as well as the Fumang River, Liang River, and Xijian River in Jianshan City, are all different from what they were back then, both in terms of their course and scale.

The turbid river before me meanders further east and is larger than before, with its waters flowing mightily and turbulently.

Yao Wei drove up to this point but didn't stop. It wasn't a good time at night, so the two didn't plan to refill their water bottles. They drove a little further ahead, thinking of finding a place to park that was a bit further away from the water source, on higher ground, and with a better view.

According to the map, that small rocky hill might be a good choice.

However, to Lu Xi'an's surprise, as the car drove forward, he looked around and saw that the landscape outside was still flat, with no mountains in sight.

"What happened? Where's the mountain?"

He frowned, and the question slipped out.

Did we go to the wrong place?

Yao Wei slowed down the car and guessed.

Lu Xi'an glanced back again, compared the map in "World Atlas I" with the map on the Resonance Gene Scanner, and shook his head: "We didn't go the wrong way. According to the map, we've already passed Little Stone Mountain..."

Yao Wei frowned: "But we clearly didn't see any mountains." She naturally didn't think Lu Xi'an could be mistaken.

How could someone as capable as Lu Xi'an be mistaken?
As the car slowed down and landmarks became problematic, the map became unusable, making them hesitant to confirm their way forward and reluctant to continue.

After Lu Xi'an took another look, he still couldn't see any problem, so Yao Wei simply stopped the car but didn't turn off the engine, so she could easily step on the gas and drive away at any time.

She also leaned over to look at the atlas Lu Xi'an was holding and indeed felt that Lu Xi'an's understanding was correct.

The map's orientation is correct, the roads are correct, the course of the Zhuolang River has been slightly altered, but it's generally fine.

But the question is, why did the mountain just disappear?

"Do you think... it's possible that the fighting was too intense back then and blew the mountain away, or that some powerful person punched it away with a single blow?"

Lu Xi'an made a random guess and asked Yao Wei a question.

Yao Wei couldn't understand or imagine it, so she shook her head and said, "What kind of war could destroy a mountain? No matter how strong a person is, they can't destroy a mountain with one punch."

Lu Xi'an said, "That's hard to say. Back then, people could even build Dyson spheres. Who knows what kind of terrifying weapons they might have created?"

Nuclear bombs, hydrogen bombs, or even more powerful ones—who knows if they could flatten a mountain?

In his previous life, Lu Xi'an was just a nobody in a peaceful era. He had only seen nuclear weapons exploding on TV or in books, but had never actually seen one. He was unsure of its power and could only guess.

Anyway, he was just guessing, so he casually made another wild guess: "Or maybe there's some advanced version of Type A new humans, who, when trained to the extreme, can go bald and, with a serious punch, blow up a mountain?"

Yao Wei's eyes widened slightly: "Are there really people this amazing?!"

She seemed to actually believe it.

Lu Xi'an could only say, "Don't take it seriously, I was just talking nonsense, there's no factual basis for it."

"Oh."

Yao Wei responded, but judging from her expression, she seemed to still wonder if there really were such Type A new humans in the world who could destroy a mountain with a single serious punch.

But why did he go bald?
But Lu Xi'an unconsciously connected the dots to the Type D new humans.

It seems a bit exaggerated that Type A New Humans could train themselves to the point of destroying a mountain, but what about Type D New Humans?
This type of new human can release optical camouflage to make themselves invisible. If trained well, they can even "cover" their clothes and the surrounding environment.

The training manual for new humans at Institute 923 mentions the cooperation between Type D new humans and other types of new humans, with Type C and Type D being particularly important. Type D new humans help Type C new humans disguise themselves and become invisible, thus solving the safety problem of Type C new humans, who can then release their pheromones to change the battlefield situation.

So, if a Type D new human cultivates to the extreme, could they affect an entire mountain and erase it from people's sight?
Ok……

This seems even more outrageous than the One-Punch Man version of the Type A Newtype... Forget it, I'd better not speculate wildly. I'll observe carefully, and if things don't look right, I'll run away and go somewhere else to check the map again. Then I can find a new landmark and recalibrate my orientation.

Having made up his mind, Lu Xi'an checked the map and the resonance gene scanner again, planning to scan the outside of the car one more time. If he still couldn't see anything, he would simply stop looking and quickly park elsewhere to rest.

Then, as his gaze swept across the rearview mirror, he saw a stone reflected in it.

"That rock...it looks like a mountain..."

He muttered something to himself.

Seeing Lu Xi'an looking in the rearview mirror, Yao Wei also glanced out through the driver's side mirror. After seeing the rock, she agreed and asked Gouzi, "Gouzi, is that a mountain?"

Lu Xi'an patted his forehead.

Ha! I'm so confused. How could I have suddenly forgotten about the dog?
When in doubt, just ask the dog! Why am I worrying myself after thinking about this for so long?!
The robotic dog quickly provided the answer, and a synthesized electronic voice rang out from the RV's stereo: "Scanned and measured, it can be confirmed that the underground extends downwards, and the bottom cannot be detected. The vein is over a thousand meters deep, and it is a mountain, not rock."

Lu Xian: "..."

The dog's speech suddenly became more refined, but its meaning was still quite accurate, and Lu Xi'an could understand it perfectly.

That rock was indeed a mountain, not a stone!
"Little Rock Mountain... Little Rock Mountain..."

He muttered to himself, then suddenly burst into laughter, clapping his hands and saying, "I'm so stupid! The name is so obvious, yet I still can't figure it out. I need the dog to enlighten me!"

"So that's how it is! No wonder it's called Little Stone Mountain!"

Yao Wei looked in the rearview mirror and murmured, "This mountain is so small..."

It's as small as a stone.

Lu Xi'an said, "Yes, this mountain is indeed that small."

In his past life, he had seen similar small mountains in short videos, the kind that you could climb to the top in one step.

However, at the time he only treated the video as a pastime and forgot about it after watching it, so he didn't think of it at first.

Unexpectedly, this forgotten piece of knowledge gave me a start.

"Mountain rocks are not classified by size."

Lu Xi'an explained to Yao Wei, "The saying goes, 'A mountain is formed by roots, and a stone is formed by no roots.' If this stone can be lifted directly, but it has no roots underground, then it's just an ordinary stone."

"But as the dog just said, this 'stone' continues to extend downwards underground, with veins reaching over a thousand meters deep; that is the 'root'."

"Even if we are Type A new humans, we can't uproot a mountain all at once."

"So this is a mountain, not a rock."

After hearing Lu Xi'an's explanation, Yao Wei immediately understood, nodded, and said, "So that's why this mountain is called Little Stone Mountain?"

"Correct."

Lu Xi'an smiled.

He looked around and said, "Let's drive the car to the other side of the mountain and rest at the foot of the mountain. I think that place is pretty good, with a wide view and a bit of a slope."

"it is good."

Yao Wei agreed, put the car in reverse, and reversed it next to the small rocky hill.

That mountain was so tiny, it wasn't even as tall as a car tire.

However, despite this, the mountain is actually quite steep, with many strange peaks and craggy rocks. There is no way to go up the mountain from top to bottom or left to right.

After Yao Wei parked the car, Lu Xi'an got out.

Yao Wei followed her down, and saw Lu Xi'an walk to the edge of the small rocky hill, step on the top of the hill with one foot, turn around and laugh with her, saying, "I never thought that one day I could also step on the top of the mountain."

Yao Wei simply smiled gently, nodded, and said, "Mm."

She and Lu Xi'an squatted down together to study the mountain, but in the end they didn't figure anything out.

I ate some dinner on the bus, closed the door, lowered the window cover, changed into my pajamas, and went to bed.

And so, a day spent scaring myself passed by.

That night, their hands remained clasped together, the fungus stone wrapped in their palms.

I woke up feeling refreshed the next day, and after washing up, I went outside for a good workout.

Just as they were finishing their workout, they both suddenly stopped and started listening intently.

"Ouch!!!!"

A roar suddenly rang out, the sound seemingly both near and far.

It sounds like... a tiger?

(End of this chapter)