Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 299 Everything is worth remembering

The storage compartment door was mottled and rusty, and the degree of corrosion was extremely serious—I wonder if it was related to the original extremophile microbial community on it.

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, then asked Gouzi, "Gouzi, are there any traps or other dangers in this storage compartment?"

The dog's eyes blinked twice, indicating no.

Lu Xi'an felt relieved, took a knife, inserted it into the gap of the warehouse door, and pried it open with force.

The heavy warehouse door was pried open by one corner. Lu Xi'an reached out, grabbed it, and pulled it up, thus lifting the door open.

This was naturally a destructive pull; the warehouse door was originally locked, but Lu Xi'an wasn't sure if it was a mechanical or electronic lock.

Even if the dog were to intervene, it might be able to open the door. But Lu Xi'an felt it wasn't necessary.

It wouldn't take much effort to do it myself, and the cabin was already completely broken, so the storage compartments weren't worth using for long. Even if it got damaged, it wouldn't be a big deal.

So it's not a big problem to just do it myself and let the dog show off less.

As expected, Lu Xi'an had broken the warehouse door. The lock that held the warehouse in place, combined with Lu Xi'an's hand, created an up-and-down force that caused the door to bend instantly.

The lock was still firmly fixed to the storage unit, causing the door to be half-raised and half-flattened, folding the entire unit at nearly a 90-degree angle, as if to protect the storage unit.

But this was no big deal for Lu Xi'an. He then grabbed the corner of the storage door and pulled it up with a little force, easily placing it aside.

Dao, standing nearby, stared wide-eyed at the sight.

He knew that Type A New Humans were strong. He had also witnessed the strength of many others in Jiangnan County.

Although those people were very strong, they didn't seem to be as agile as the person in front of them.

Such a thick steel plate would probably be like lifting something slightly heavy for the people of Jiangnan County, but this person did it as easily as tearing a piece of paper.

They're all the same kind of people, so why does this person possess such immense power?!

Dao didn't understand, and he really wanted to ask Lu Xi'an for advice.

Lu Xi'an, however, had no interest in paying attention to him.

Yao Wei did the same, bending down to look into the storage compartment along with Lu Xi'an.

The storage compartment had also been corroded. Lu Xi'an saw that many things were neatly arranged inside, but they were all covered by a colony of invasive microorganisms, a large, black mass that was hard to look at.

There's a saying that if you see a cockroach in the sunlight, it means there are too many in the shadows. For a moment, the microbial community in the storage compartment gave Lu Xi'an the feeling of discovering cockroaches.

But no matter how many cockroaches there are, you still have to look at what's inside.

Lu Xi'an took a deep breath and took out the first item.

It was originally a transparent glass vessel, but its surface was now covered with the same microbial community, making it possible to only vaguely see its contents.

It contained what appeared to be dried-up, unknown fungi that, after enduring the ravages of time, had acquired a strange and menacing appearance.

Lu Xi'an didn't rush to burn off the microbial community on the glassware. He noticed that there seemed to be some kind of label on the edge of the glassware, preventing the microbial community from climbing up and completely occupying the label.

Therefore, Lu Xi'an could still barely make out the text on it, which seemed to say: [Spore culture dish group: X-37℃ strain].

Lu Xi'an's heart skipped a beat.

Strains…

What important words these are for the world!

There is also the prefix X.

Although the 37°C mentioned later was different from anything else Lu Xi'an knew, this information forced him to connect the two.

However, due to a lack of other information, Lu Xi'an was unable to determine whether there was any connection between the strains in this spore culture dish group and the X-17 strain he knew.

He glanced at Yao Wei, who seemed to sense something and looked back at him.

He saw the same doubt in Yao Wei's eyes.

Will it matter?

Yao Wei asked.

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment and replied, "It's hard to say right now. Let's look at other things first."

Yao Wei nodded and said, "Yes."

So Lu Xi'an put the glassware aside for the time being and took out the next item to look at.

It was something that looked like a chip, contained in a metal box. The extremophilic microbial community could only crawl all over the surface of the metal box, but could not invade the inside.

Therefore, when Lu Xi'an opened it, he saw that the chip-like thing inside was still in good condition.

"This must be a chip, right?"

As Lu Xi'an spoke, he tried to burn off the microorganisms on the surface of the metal box with a lighter.

The microbial community dispersed immediately upon being scorched by the flames. Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were then able to clearly see the engraved text and the label attached to it.

The text engraved on the metal box, which had become an integral part of the box, read: Microscopic Imaging Chip.

The text on the label was handwritten, and it looked much more delicate, as if it were written by a woman: Ye Wenxin - Sample Comparison Experiment.

Judging from the name on this chip, Yao Wei's mother, Ye Wenxin, must be a biology expert.

This biologist, in order to study something, deliberately left Earth and ventured into space. As a result, she survived the apocalyptic disaster on Earth, but landed in a wasteland, experiencing countless dangers before finally perishing in Wanquan County, Mengze City.

Is this a stroke of luck or a misfortune?
Lu Xi'an couldn't make a judgment.

He could only conclude that the chip was specially made for space environment research and must be quite extraordinary.

Right now, they only have the chip; Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei can't see its contents, but the dog might be able to read it. However, they'll have to wait until they've seen everything inside.

Lu Xi'an then closed the metal box and carefully placed it beside him, along with the chip inside, preparing to deal with it later.

Next, let's look at something else, which turned out to be an encrypted hard drive.

The encrypted hard drive was also packaged in a metal box. Once opened, it was clear that the material of the hard drive inside was also unusual, similar to that of the return capsule's hull.

This should also be a specially made hard drive.

Lu Xian thought to himself.

As he pondered this, he closed the hard drive enclosure and placed it aside along with the microscopic imaging chip, then looked at the next thing.

It was an instruction manual; the words "Instruction Manual" were visible on the cover, but the rest of the text was illegible.

The edges of this manual are curled and yellowed, and it is severely corroded from the cover to the inner pages, making most of the text illegible.

Lu Xi'an quickly flipped through the document and could only see text such as "gravity calibration steps: △T≤3s" and "chamber pressure maintenance threshold".

Furthermore, when he opened the first page after the cover, he saw the character "藿" (huò), and guessed that this must be Yao Huo's manual.

Ye Wenxin is the biology expert in this return capsule, while Yao Huo appears to be the astronaut in charge of controlling the return capsule.

This thing was useful to astronauts who had flown in space, but it was of no use to them now.

Lu Xi'an then casually put it aside and went to get another item.

It was also the last item.

It was also a paper booklet, but smaller than Yao Huo's manual.

This booklet, like the one in the metal box, was severely corroded and looked just like Yao Huo's manual, with its edges scorched and warped, and the contents barely visible.

Lu Xi'an quickly flipped through it and felt that it should be Ye Wenxin's diary.

Most of the text was illegible; Lu Xi'an scanned the entire book and could only find three lines of legible text.

One of the lines reads: "On the 27th day, abnormal bacterial gene expression occurred, and the culture chamber needs to be restarted."

Another line on another page reads: "The bacteria were effective, and my health has improved. Thank God, and thank myself, I was lucky."

On the next page, on another line, only four simple words were visible: Rose, Yao Wei.

After reading it, Lu Xi'an silently handed the diary to Yao Wei.

Yao Wei looked at the diary and journal, remained silent for a long time, and then carefully put it away.

She picked up the other booklet and held it solemnly in her hands.

It seems she shares the same suspicion as Lu Xi'an—that the person named Yao Huo might be her father.

“Take them all.”

Seeing this, Lu Xi'an said.

"Ah."

Yao Wei nodded heavily.

So Lu Xi'an picked up everything that was on the ground, went out with Yao Wei, and then got into the car.

With the moon bright and stars few, Lu Xi'an glanced at the night sky, then turned to Dao and said, "It's getting dark. Are you sure it's okay for you to sleep here alone?"

Dao shook his head and said, "No problem."

Having seen how formidable Lu Xi'an was, he naturally dared not be even slightly presumptuous in front of Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

Moreover, he could see that the tacit understanding between the two was something that outsiders could not penetrate.

Just like him and the two people who raised him from childhood and are now gone forever, the rest of Jiangnan County will never be able to integrate.

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment, then went over and found the hatch of the hull that had fallen to the ground and was embedded in the earth. He tore off all the vines covering it, threw them away, and then lifted the hatch up and handed it to Dao.

"Here, use your own strength to latch this hatch and close it. Is that alright?"

Dao nodded repeatedly and said, "No problem."

He took the heavy door, which was naturally much more strenuous than when Lu Xi'an carried it. But even so, he was still many times stronger than an average adult.

"Thank you."

He thanked the kind new human again, stepped into the return capsule, and closed the hatch with a pull and a latch.

In this way, it became a completely independent and enclosed little space, and he felt much more at ease being alone there.

—Just a little lonely.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei returned to the RV, fastened all the window shutters, and handed the microscopic imaging chip from the metal box to Gouzi, ready to investigate further.

(End of this chapter)