Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 255 Above the Moon
"The bright moon rises over the sea; we share this moment though we are far apart..."

Lu Xi'an recalled these two lines of ancient poetry and murmured them aloud.

Hmm... what comes next? This poem seems to be a five-character regulated verse, with a total of eight lines. What comes next?

In the end, I've forgotten everything I learned from my teacher.

Or, as we can say now, it was given back to another world.

Is this a poem?

"I asked," Yao Wei said. She had read the Chinese textbook, so she knew what poetry was.

Lu Xi'an nodded and said, "Yes."

Yao Wei exclaimed in admiration, "That's amazing!"

"..."

Lu Xi'an smiled bitterly to himself and remained silent. What he had learned in the other world had already been returned to that world; what was so great about it?

The bright moon shines over the sea, but for him, it was destined that they could never share this moment across the ends of the earth.

This topic only brings me a deep sense of melancholy...

Li Bai said that people today do not see the moon of ancient times, but the moon of today once shone on people of ancient times. But how can the bright moon before us shine on people he knew?
When Li Bai wrote this poem, he probably never imagined he would be in such a situation.

As Lu Xi'an gazed at the bright moon reflected in the sea, a sense of melancholy suddenly welled up within him, along with a feeling of relief and pride.

What Li Bai never experienced, he experienced; what the entire world in his previous life never saw, he saw.

Such good fortune is beyond measure; why grieve over spring and autumn, and keep a gloomy expression?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but smile.

Yao Wei noticed the change in Lu Xi'an's expression and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lu Xi'an didn't answer, but instead asked, "Want to listen to a song?"

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded. She thought Lu Xi'an sang quite well. Although it wasn't like the music on the laptop, which had any accompaniment and was just a solo performance, she still liked it.

So she continued to gaze at the full moon in the distance, and softly sang: "I am looking up, above the moon, how many dreams are flying freely, yesterday forgotten, the sorrow has dried, I want to meet you again on that vast road..."

After listening to the song, Yao Wei asked, "Who will you reunite with?"

This woman is probably jealous.

I never expected this woman to be jealous.

Lu Xi'an turned to look at Yao Wei and smiled, saying, "It's you."

Yao Wei frowned slightly: "We've never been apart since we met, so how could there be a reunion?"

Lu Xi'an said, "It takes ten years of cultivation to share a boat ride, and a hundred years to share a pillow. We must have met in our past lives, so this is our reunion."

Yao Wei felt a strange flutter in her heart, but for a moment she didn't know what to say. After holding it in for a long time, she finally managed to squeeze out an "Mmm," but a smile had unconsciously crept onto her lips and she couldn't suppress it no matter what she did.

The moon rose higher and higher, already above the horizon. Its elongated reflection in the sea had shrunk to a full circle.

The dog faced east, quietly gazing into the distance, seemingly oblivious to everything around it.

After watching for a while, once the moon was high in the night sky, Yao Wei took it back to the car to continue acting as a generator. When Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei lay down to sleep, it still had to listen to Yao Wei's instructions to turn off the lights.

As they turned off the lights, Lu Xi'an said to Yao Wei, "There's another sunrise tomorrow. Should we get up early and watch it again?"

Yao Wei replied with the same answer: "Mm".

Lu Xi'an then said to Gouzi, "Gouzi, remember to turn on the lights and wake us up before sunrise tomorrow morning."

Alright, now the dog has a new job.

And the dog's answer was as usual: "Mechanical Dog 02 understands."

So the next day, before dawn, Gouzi turned on the lights in the RV, waking Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei from their sleep.

Lu Xi'an didn't open the car window cover. She got dressed, went out and took a look. A cool breeze was blowing, still carrying the salty dampness of the sea. The moon was already in the west, its light graying, about to set.

The world to the east was also bathed in a bright white light, with ripples spreading across the sea, as if it were ready to receive the sunlight at any moment.

When he was a child, he would always write something like "the east was turning a pale white," but now, Lu Xi'an seems to finally understand what that pale white really looks like.

The sun finally rose, seemingly as big as the moon from last night, or perhaps even bigger; it was hard to explain, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it.

A half-red disc appeared on the sea surface, seemingly aiming to dominate the sky and seize the land, domineering and dazzling, surpassing even the daytime.

"It feels different from when the sun rises normally."

Yao Wei said so.

Lu Xi'an asked, "Is it pretty?"

Yao Wei replied, "Yes."

The rising sun is naturally beautiful and full of hope, giving people a sense of strength just by looking at it.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei then began to exercise under the morning sun.

At one moment, Lu Xi'an even felt as if he had entered some ancient sect, honing himself to invincible atop this secluded mountain peak, waiting for the day he could descend and unleash his power. But when would the tide recede, allowing them to descend the mountain?
After finishing his workout and washing up, Lu Xi'an stood by the mountain and looked down. It seemed that the water level of the ocean that was flooding the city hadn't dropped even a little bit.

After watching for a while, he said, "I wonder if any of the fish and shrimp in the sea came with the ocean? If so, I might as well go down and fish some out so we can have some seafood."

Unexpectedly, Yao Wei firmly objected, saying, "Don't go, it's dangerous!"

Lu Xi'an told her it was okay, she could swim, but Yao Wei refused to agree.

It seems that the surging seawater yesterday left a considerable shadow on this woman, making her unwilling to take risks easily, nor willing to let Lu Xi'an take risks.

"Fine, I won't go."

Lu Xi'an had no choice but to compromise, "Then let's walk around in these mountains and see if there's anything we can use."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded and agreed.

So the two wandered around in the mountains, but most of the time they were going uphill from the middle of the mountain and not going downhill.

This mountain isn't very big, but it's not small either. Who knows if there's anything hidden inside?
Therefore, the two dared not stray too far from the mountaintop.

What if we go too far and someone or something comes along and threatens the RV?
Even so, they still gained something.

They discovered a pool of water in a mountain hollow.

The pool seemed quite deep, like a spring, but the source was nowhere to be seen. Yao Wei took the dog to examine it and confirmed that the water was drinkable. Lu Xi'an then tried it; it tasted sweet and delicious, much better than water from other rivers.

This discovery greatly surprised and delighted the two of them.

Lu Xi'an said, "That's good. The water source can be replenished, and we don't have to worry about running out of water."

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "The water here is delicious. We can use the water in the car to wash up and use the water here to eat and drink."

Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "Good idea."

They immediately returned to the mountaintop, poured all the water from the buckets into the RV's water tank, and then carried the buckets back to fill them with water.

After that, I went to look around elsewhere, but I didn't find anything useful.

When we returned to the mountaintop, the sun was already high in the sky.

After they finished their work, they prepared to eat.

Lu Xi'an suggested, "How about another bowl of corn noodles today? We were trapped in these mountains before, and we were afraid of running out of water, so we didn't dare to use too much."

"Now that we've found a water source, we don't have to worry about this anymore."

"We have lettuce and garland chrysanthemum now. We can cook them with noodles, which is quite nice."

"In addition, there are scallions, eggplants, carrots, and some sausages. Cut them into small pieces, make some sauce, and pour it over the noodles. It will definitely taste good."

The corn at Institute 923 is ripe, and they ate quite a bit of it while they were at the base.

When they left the 923rd base, they naturally brought some food with them in the car. But because they had eaten so much at the base, they didn't eat much afterwards.

It's been a while since I've eaten corn, let alone made corn noodles from corn flour.

Now that we're stuck on the mountaintop, and we have plenty of time, leisurely making a bowl of noodles is a pretty good option.

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded. She didn't actually understand what Lu Xi'an was saying, but as he spoke, she inexplicably felt that the food was delicious and couldn't help but swallow.

Once they made up their minds, they immediately got to work, peeling the corn kernels together, kneading them into flour by hand, and then adding water and kneading the dough.

Next, flatten the dough and cut it into strips, unlike before. The kitchen in this RV has a small cutting board and even a tiny rolling pin that you can use.

Lu Xi'an originally thought this thing could also be used as a hidden weapon, but now it seems that it can play its original role.

Yao Wei rolled out the cornmeal, cut it into strips, boiled the water, and put it in the pot—this was a skill she had learned from Lu Xi'an last time. She was a very thoughtful person, and once she learned something, she would not easily forget it. Now she was doing it with ease.

Lu Xi'an then diced the carrots, eggplants, and sausages, cut the scallions into sections, heated oil in a wok, and stir-fried them.

This sauce can't really be made into a sauce; it's missing the starch for thickening, it just doesn't taste right.

But it doesn't matter; for Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei now, this is enough.

If you don't have cornstarch, just add more diced carrots, eggplants, and meat. If you can't make a braised dish, you can make a vegetarian topping.

Anyway, once the final product is ready, just add oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar, pour in water, heat it up, and the broth will be boiling vigorously. Pour it over the noodles, mix it, and then put it in your mouth—it's a unique and delicious treat.

The two ate to their hearts' content. During the meal, Lu Xi'an asked Yao Wei if the food was good. Yao Wei didn't even have time to answer; she just let out a muffled "Mmm" that sounded like it came from her nose.

They ate only one meal that day and were full; they didn't eat anything else that evening.

Another day passed, and the two of them did not indulge in such extravagance. They ate a simple meal, enjoyed the sunrise and sunset, and then occasionally observed the water level below the mountain, hoping that the sea would withdraw from Yangcai County.

But another day passed, and they still didn't see the tide recede.

As darkness fell, they saw ships coming from the sea.

The small boat and the two people on it looked so familiar; they were the very same people they had seen in the mirage.

(End of this chapter)