Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 258 Atlantis

Lu Xi'an kept his word; after asking the questions, he untied the two men.

The two men thanked them profusely and immediately got up, saying they would fetch water and leave that very night. As they spoke, they began to shoulder the carrying pole and lift the water buckets.

Lu Xi'an stopped them, saying, "You should rest first. Going out to sea without recovering your strength is just courting death."
“I said I would release you, and I will definitely keep my word and won’t make things difficult for you.”

Both of them were surprised and taken aback. Hu Xiaodong said, "You two are really kind people. We have never seen any new humans as kind as you two before!"

Ugh, I've been friend-zoned again.

Ever since we came into this world and met the people we meet, Yao Wei and I have often been given the "friend zone" treatment.

It seems that, in the eyes of the people of this world, Yao Wei and I are indeed good people.

While secretly observing each other's expressions, the two carefully put down the carrying pole and buckets, and as they sat down again against the tree trunk, they couldn't help but steal glances at Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei's faces.

The father and son finally breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei really didn't intend to interfere with them anymore.

Hu Xiaodong gave Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei an awkward smile, as if he felt it was presumptuous of him and his son to sit down in front of the two new humans without permission, and wanted to use the smile to please them.

However, Lu Xi'an knew that this guy was just smiling on the surface. He guessed that what this guy was probably thinking was: Why aren't these two plagues leaving yet?
Lu Xi'an suddenly remembered something, took something out of his pocket, and asked Hu Xiaodong and Hu Dong, "Take a look, do you recognize this?"

What he took out was the Fish Mouth District commemorative medal.

He asked about it out of curiosity, it was of no use.

He was just trying his luck, hoping to find out something, but he didn't really expect to find out anything.

To his surprise, Hu Xiaodong's eyes widened upon seeing the commemorative medal: "This is the currency of our East Island! You two actually have it?!"

"Trading currency?!"

Lu Xi'an was immediately surprised.

Hu Xiaodong nodded, his eyes lighting up as he looked at what Lu Xi'an was holding. His son, Hu Dong, did the same, his eyes glued to the object.

Hu Xiaodong said, "The area above is in the sea, I heard it's called Fish Mouth District."

"When I was a child, I swam into the sea and saw that place. The houses there were all covered by transparent domes, which was very beautiful."

“My grandfather told me that his great-grandfather used to live there. Later, that place was going to be flooded—and many other places were going to be flooded too. So the people in the past chose a place and said they wanted to protect it as a memorial.”

"Later, the people by the sea moved away. Some went to the west, and some went to the east island. My great-grandfather moved to the east island."

"The eastern island is doing alright, nothing much has happened, but those who moved to the west have suffered."

“My great-grandfather said that people used to build two dams on the west side to try to stop the tides. But how could they stop them? They were all destroyed.”

So, was that dike that barely held back the seawater built by people before the great disaster to stop the tide?

The seawall was of excellent quality and still stands today, but it still couldn't stop the towering waves.

"However, according to my grandfather, my grandfather's grandfather said that in the past, people in the lower parts of Dongdao Island were all drowned, and those who ran to the higher places were safe."

“We all live on the island now. We have to wait for the tide to come in before we can push our boats out to sea to leave the island. Otherwise, we try not to go down to the sea, it’s too dangerous.”

Hu Xiaodong continued.

Lu Xi'an recalled his memories from his previous life. When the Three Gorges Dam was built, some places along the Yangtze River were destined to be submerged.

Those places later became memories in the river, and sometimes seeing them in videos still makes people feel a little sad.

But the memories of this world, from the age of the sea, are even more bleak than those from the river.

According to Hu Xiaodong, most of the people on his island are probably descendants of immigrants from the coast.
How many of them still know about their hometown, and how many still yearn for it?
Nowadays, people like Hu Xiaodong who go diving to see things are just going to see something unusual, right?
He looked at the design engraved on the medal, and combined the scenes of the river he had seen in his previous life with the city in the picture, and imagined a city in the sea.

The dense seawater made the view dark and blue. The buildings were intact inside the transparent glass dome, which was covered with seaweed. The road was partially visible among the seaweed and coral. Fish swam around, but no people were in sight.

Quiet and desolate, like Atlantis submerged in the ocean.

He imagined the scene, then withdrew his consciousness and said, "You still haven't said how this thing will be used as a trading currency."

This person talked for a long time, but ignored the question they just asked; they really went off-topic.

"oh oh."

The man quickly spoke up, apparently not on purpose, but he had just accidentally gone off-topic, "This trading coin, I should say a commemorative coin, right?"
"My great-great-grandfather said that this thing was probably made in the past to commemorate a place that was about to be submerged, and everyone had one."

"There are fish-mouth patterns, and other patterns, there are quite a few, so this one isn't a problem."

"Anyway, after arriving on East Island, people gradually started using this currency to exchange for goods. It also has another name, which is money. That's what people used to call it, but now we all call it currency."

"Or rather, large coins. What you two have in your hands is a large coin, which can be exchanged for many things. "There are also many small coins, which are cut into tiny pieces, making them more convenient to use when buying things."

"Anyway, there are only three terms used in our area: a big coin, half a big coin, and a small coin."

So, because people usually refer to them as "big coins" and "small coins," have the people on the East Island gradually stopped using the term "money" and started using the term "trading currency" instead?
No wonder the father and son stared wide-eyed at the commemorative medal in their hands, unable to look away; it turned out the money in their hands was too big.

Who knows how much money this is worth? If Yao Wei and I weren't new humans, we probably would have taken the risk.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xi'an suddenly had a change of heart and asked, "Do you want this large coin?"

Hu Xiaodong and Hu Dong's eyes widened again. Hu Xiaodong's eyes darted back and forth between the commemorative medal in Lu Xi'an's hand and Lu Xi'an's face several times, as if trying to discern whether what this new human was saying was true or false.

After a long pause, Hu Xiaodong finally asked, "This...can I have it?!"

After observing Lu Xi'an's expression for a long time, Hu Xiaodong still couldn't figure it out, and his voice remained hesitant and incredulous.

"of course."

Lu Xi'an said, "But this isn't for free; you'll have to do something for me."

"What is it, please tell me?"

Hu Xiaodong quickly replied, then asked nervously, "It's not something difficult, is it?"

Lu Xi'an said, "It's only been three days since the tide came in, you still have time. I need you to go back and get me some food."

"Those potatoes, sweet potatoes, and barley you mentioned. If you can get them, I'll give you this big coin."

The Fish Mouth District commemorative medal was essentially useless to him and Yao Wei; they already had enough hidden weapons, so they didn't need it.

If possible, it would be better to change the food.

Although their food variety has increased, there's always a lot more of these things, and who would complain about having too little?

What's more, it included potatoes, his favorite back then. Shredded potatoes, potato slices, and French fries—simple ingredients and simple cooking methods, but without exception, they were all his favorites.

Hu Xiaodong and Hu Dong were immediately interested.

But Hu Xiaodong hesitated: "We're willing to do that. We've been buying and selling sweet water here and have saved up some coins that we can exchange for food."

"But the problem is, the journey is too long."

"You two are new humans, much stronger than us. You probably don't know that we've already used up most of our strength just from this trip. If we row here again, we'll probably be too tired to go on the way."

"I'm afraid it will be too late."

Lu Xi'an said, "If you're willing, I'll figure something out."

Hu Xiaodong said, "You don't mean to come to the island with me, do you?" As he spoke, his eyes started rolling around, as if he had come up with an idea.

—If I could take the new humans to the island for a spin and scare them all, I might be able to use their name to gain many benefits after they leave!
But Yao Wei felt nervous upon hearing Hu Xiaodong's words and grabbed Lu Xi'an's hand.

This woman always harbored a deep fear of the sea, terrified that Lu Xi'an might go into the sea and never return.

Lu Xi'an patted Yao Wei's hand and smiled, saying, "Don't worry, I won't go."

Yao Wei was relieved.

Hu Xiaodong was extremely disappointed, but dared not show it, and asked, "Then what do you want to do?"

Lu Xi'an did not answer his question, but said, "You two can rest here tonight. After you get some sleep, go to the boat when it gets light, and you will know then."

"As for the water bucket, we'll take it for now and bring it to you tomorrow morning with the water. It'll be a favor to you and save you some effort."

He paused for a moment, then said, "Don't worry, I won't force you. When you leave with the water, if you can bring the items back to me, this large coin is yours."

"If you don't make it in time, and the tide recedes and we're gone, then it just means you were destined to never have this coin."

Upon hearing Lu Xi'an's words, Hu Xiaodong repeatedly said, "You two are such kind people!"

He was still afraid that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei would take away his water bucket, leaving his family without their means of survival.

Lu Xi'an smiled and readily accepted the "good guy card." He picked up the two men's buckets and carrying poles and went up to the mountaintop with Yao Wei.

"Get some rest, see you tomorrow morning."

He said something to the two men.

The father and son could only watch helplessly as the two new humans took away their tools of life and production, and there was nothing they could do.

(End of this chapter)