Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 296 Space Return Capsule

A round... machine?
The description of the knife instantly sparked a flood of thoughts in Lu Xi'an's mind. His first thought was of the spaceship the Saiyans used when they landed on Earth in Dragon Ball.

However, this world shouldn't be a fanfiction of Dragon Ball. Otherwise, if a Saiyan were to obtain the genetic abilities of a Type B Newtype, wouldn't that be incredibly awesome?

Or someone might suddenly go berserk and turn into a blond-haired monster after a family member is sacrificed to the heavens; even Yao Wei and I wouldn't be able to handle that.

What kind of machine is it?

As Lu Xi'an asked, he also gave Yao Wei directions.

Without his prompting, Yao Wei would check the resonance gene scanner in the car to confirm that there was no danger in that direction before turning.

But if there really is a Super Saiyan there, the resonance gene scanner probably won't be able to detect it, and going there would be suicide for them.

Hmm... probably not, the world can't possibly develop that drastically.

"I... I can't explain it, it's just really weird."

Dao thought for a moment and said, "The door of that machine was open, and half of it was in the ground. It felt like... it felt like it fell from the sky a long time ago, broke down, and became like this."

After the incident subsided, the boy's emotions gradually calmed down, and he was no longer as speechless as before.

That being said, his thoughts were actually quite coherent when he spoke.

It seems that I was indeed too emotional before.

—Lu Xi'an felt that should be the kid's true nature. The way he is now, however, carries a layer of false pretense.

He must have been trained or cultivated in Jiangnan County.

It fell from the sky... and broke...

The more I listen, the more it sounds like some kind of aircraft!
Lu Xi'an was both wary and curious. He didn't say anything more and looked eastward.

The trees to the east were becoming increasingly lush, and the vegetation that caught the eye looked somewhat strange. Interspersed among the green trees and weeds were some plants that looked like marine algae, which reminded Lu Xi'an of Caiyang Mountain.

Could it be that seawater will also flood in here?

However, upon closer inspection, Lu Xi'an noticed that the plants here were somewhat different from those on Caiyang Mountain.

When Lu Xi'an first arrived at Caiyang Mountain, he didn't notice anything special about the plants there, but now, looking back, he could sense a difference from those here.

Many of the plants there seem to have naturally grown in the sea, but those here seem to have evolved and are better suited to the land.

"How long have you been here? Has this area been flooded by the sea?"

Just to be on the safe side, Lu Xi'an asked Dao another question.

The little boy named Dao shook his head and replied, "We were too tired, and it was too cold during that time. We hid here for a long time."

"I know what seawater is. There is no seawater here, and I have never heard of this place being flooded by seawater."

“Some people from Jiangnan County have been to the seaside and they said that the land near the sea is often flooded. But this place is far from the sea, so it's impossible for the sea to flood it.”

"That's it."

Lu Xi'an nodded, relieved.

This place was indeed submerged by seawater a long time ago, but the seawater has long since receded and will no longer ravage this area.

Therefore, the plants here have become what they are now, and they are different from those in Yangcai County.

He then asked Dao, "Since some of you have been to the seaside, didn't anyone notice that round machine?"

Dao said, "They said... only people from the Sick Village would have found it. This place is too close to the Sick Village; unless someone is sick or doesn't know about this place, no one would pass by here."

"That's it..."

Lu Xian nodded.

He straightened up, pushed aside the branches pressing down on him, and looked ahead. Suddenly, he saw something that looked like coral in front of him.

What a huge expanse of land and coral reef!

Lu Xi'an's heart stirred slightly, and he heard Dao beside him say, "We've arrived."

This seems to be the place.

The RV continued to sway and rock as it moved forward, and the "coral reef" that had been hidden by tree branches finally revealed its full view to Lu Xi'an.

It did indeed resemble a spaceship's return capsule, with a honeycomb-like surface covering it, resembling the appearance of metal that had been carbonized and corroded.

The coral reef shape that Lu Xi'an saw earlier was attached to this surface, and it looked like it had been formed by long-term erosion by seawater.

As the car continued forward, the bottom of the cabin came into view.

The bottom was indeed embedded in the ground, with the burn marks and the calcified seaweed stuck together, as if in symbiosis, forming a black and green interwoven mineral vein. At first glance, it looked like a metal skeleton that had been gnawed by a deep-sea monster.

The entire "return capsule" looks a size larger than the RV. Fortunately, the surrounding vegetation is tall and lush, and the capsule itself has changed its appearance due to years of corrosion.

Otherwise, such a massive object lying here would have been discovered long ago. Hmm... many people have discovered it, so it's possible. Perhaps everything inside has already been taken, leaving only this shelf, which is of no value to the people here, and therefore no one bothers to look at it.

Why would a spaceship like this appear here?
When did it appear? Before or after the disaster? Before or after the war?

When it appeared, who was on it? Is it possible that those people who were on it came down from there, or were they harmed by people in this world today?
What remains on it, and is it of any use to people today?

Lu Xi'an's mind raced, and she asked Dao, "Did you discover anything while you were staying inside?"

Dao replied, "No, it's too messy inside. There are some food wrappers from before, but that's all that's left, nothing else."

"They found the food outside."

The guy kept saying "they, they," and he was probably referring to the dead man and woman.

Those two servants of the knife probably didn't even have names in Jiangnan County. The knife never gave them a formal title, even though he was very close to them because of their long-term care. He always referred to them as "they".

Perhaps when this guy usually faces that man and woman directly, and needs their help, he just says "hey"?

Or you can simply get straight to the point without using any titles or names.

—Of course, this can't be blamed on Dao; it can only be blamed on the Jiangnan County organization, which is ruthlessly inhumane.

The vehicle had already stopped outside the "return capsule".

Lu Xi'an jumped out of the car with a knife in his hand, and Yao Wei also got out of the car.

The two saw that next to the hull, which had blended into the landscape, there were many other things, including a series of barnacle-like nests and a pile of petrified curtains.

He looked closely and roughly figured out that the cluster of barnacle nests were probably former parachute ropes that had carbonized under long-term tidal immersion, resulting in their current appearance.

The petrified curtain was formed by the solidification of nylon umbrella material and mussel shells.

There's also a protrusion at one corner of the bottom of the hull, which looks like a nozzle.

Maybe it's just a nozzle...

The return capsule has a nozzle, which is quite normal.

However, the nozzle was covered with rust-colored stalactite-like oxides that had gushed out from it, making it look like solidified old blood clots.

The cabin door was indeed wide open, covered in mottled marks and vines that crawled all over it.

The gaps between the door and the inside of the door were filled with a layer of sediment formed by the molted shells of woodlice mixed with other odds and ends, which was unbearable to look at.

Is it dangerous inside?

Lu Xian asked Yao Wei.

He had already made arrangements in advance. If there were any dangers ahead, the dog, though unable to bark, would alert the people inside the car via the central control screen.

He had already discussed this with Yao Wei beforehand, so if the dog sensed any danger, Yao Wei, who was in the car, would know in advance.

Yao Wei shook her head and said, "No."

Dao was slightly surprised. Neither of the two people in front of him had ever been inside this circular machine. He wondered how they were sure there was no danger.

However, he was quite sensible and didn't ask any further questions. Standing beside Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei, he simply asked, "Should I go first?"

He must have seen things like exploring unfamiliar environments in Jiangnan County, so he knows that when exploring a place, vulnerable people are used as cannon fodder and assigned to lead the way. If there is any danger, the cannon fodder will die first.

Given the current situation, he is an outsider and the weakest of the three. If someone needs to take the lead, then naturally it should be him.

He didn't care about it, since he had already been inside and there was definitely no danger there.

Although he has been gone for a while, things shouldn't have changed that much, right? It's unlikely that new risks have arisen so soon after he left.

Just as he was about to step forward and lead the way, Lu Xi'an suddenly spoke up: "No need, let's go in together."

Dao was slightly taken aback, wondering if this person could really be a good person?! This person had said before that he wanted to be a good person, could it really be true?!

But he only thought these words to himself and didn't say them out loud.

This is incredible!
Lu Xi'an took the lead and entered the cabin door, followed closely by Dao, while Yao Wei walked at the very back.

To avoid exposing the dog, they didn't bring it in this time, letting the dog handle the initial inspection. However, the cabin not only had an open door, but also several large gaps that allowed light to seep in.

With their combined vision, the three Type A new humans had no problem seeing through the dim environment inside the cabin.

They saw moss growing on the control panel circuit board inside the cabin, with oxidized copper wires tangled into a network and covered with mycelium-like things, which reminded Lu Xi'an of the filamentous things on the fungal stone at a glance.

The damp LCD screen was covered with a purple biofilm formed by fungi, and the space seat was completely hollow, looking as if it had been eaten away by ants.

Perhaps there were termites here before, or perhaps the flying ants that Xuan Xiaocao knew about.

Next to the spacecraft seat, Lu Xi'an saw the food packaging that Dao had mentioned—

The aluminum foil packaging of those emergency food items had become entangled with the roots of the vines, and the crumbs of compressed biscuits and fungal spores had combined to form amber-like organic crystals that shimmered in the sunlight seeping through the gaps.

(End of this chapter)