Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 307 The remnants of the old era
Sick village...

Sick Village...

This is yet another new interpretation.

Was it the child who lied earlier, or was it this person who lied?

Lu Xi'an asked, "We heard before that only people who are about to die would come here to jump down, and it didn't mention any 'cured disease village,' but you said that even cured people would jump down, and that there's some 'cured disease village' downstream. Whom should I believe?"

The man hurriedly said, "Trust me! You definitely trust me!"

Lu Xi'an remained silent.

The man, fearing that Lu Xi'an might not believe him, explained, "I don't know why there's such a saying in the village, but that's exactly what the villagers do."

"People say that a god-like figure will save us downstream, but that shouldn't be the god—the god wouldn't save ordinary people like us—that's a legendary god."

"He built this sick village and established these rules. Only by following these rules can we reach a good place like the cured village."

“If it weren’t for Binghao Village, we would have just died. Why did we have to jump into the river?”

Lu Xi'an said, "In the version we heard, you jumped into the river to avoid being eaten by others."

The man paused for a moment, then looked at Lu Xi'an, and suddenly looked as if he had just realized something. He laughed and said, "The person who told you this is lying to you."

"You are a figure like God, it's normal that you don't understand these things."

"For people like us, even outside of the disease village, being eaten is a very normal thing."

“In some places, when it’s cold for a long time or there’s a long drought, people can’t get food and they’re eaten alive, let alone dead.”

"How could we possibly care about these things?"

He then looked at Lu Xi'an with a puzzled expression and asked, "Haven't you eaten with us before?"

Lu Xian: "..."

The way this person said it made it sound like something he'd never eaten before was too unusual for the people of this world.

But thinking about it, maybe that's true...

Lu Xi'an suddenly remembered a story fragment from "The Three-Body Problem".

After the Bronze Age, a star-class warship, embarked on its cosmic journey, the people on board transformed the moment they learned that the Bronze Age could never return—that was the entire world.

They replenished the food stockpile with the remains from another warship, cooking most of the remains along with vegetables and meat from the ecological cycle system.

Because of their different living environments and different survival needs, they underwent alienation in an instant. Therefore, when they were lured back to Earth, they were sentenced for crimes against humanity and shouted to the Blue Space, "Go away, this is not home."

The people in this world, from the old world to the new world, live in completely different environments.

While they are unlikely to become like the aliens on the Bronze Age and Blue Space, it is normal that they are different from the people of the old world.

So for people in this world, eating and being eaten are considered normal things?

In comparison, people like myself and Yao Wei seem abnormal. Yao Wei had previously mentioned cannibalism and expressed strong aversion and resistance towards such people.

Or perhaps, from the perspective of this world, neither he nor Yao Wei were normal to begin with...

She herself had traveled from another world, while Yao Wei's father and mother were Yao Huo and Ye Wenxin—two people who had survived from the old world to the new world.

Having received education from another world's civilization, and having been baptized by the common sense of the old world, Yao Wei is actually out of place in this desolate new world.

They are remnants of the old world, fallen into the new world, destined to remain outside of it, with no other choice but to rely on each other...

Ok……

After rambling on, what did Luo Ping say?
Damn it, Luo Ping suddenly seems to have become a bug in this judgment and interpretation...

Lu Xi'an was secretly annoyed, wishing he could just kill this guy!

Lu Xi'an let out a soft breath, sheathed his knife, and said, "Alright, I've asked you everything I needed to ask. Do you need me to help you get into the river?"

The man quickly replied, "No need, no need, I can do it myself."

Lu Xi'an ignored him and silently stepped aside.

The man quickly thanked him, saying that Lu Xi'an was truly a good person.

Lu Xi'an, who had already received enough "good guy" cards, was completely unaware of this. Moreover, after deducing his thoughts from just now, he had a strange idea—in this world, is the word "good guy" no different from "idiot"?
Forget it, I won't think about it anymore. Why think so much?

Lu Xi'an stepped aside and silently watched as the man took a few deep breaths, regained some strength, and then struggled to climb to the edge of the broken bridge.

Upon reaching the bridge, looking down at the surging river, the man seemed somewhat afraid and hesitated to go down. After a long pause, he asked Lu Xi'an, "Could you... help me?"

"Easy to say."

Lu Xi'an stepped forward and, as if mistaking the man for Luo Ping, kicked him in the buttocks in a fit of anger.

"Puff-"

The man suddenly fell into the river and swam downstream, struggling incessantly.

At this rate, they'll probably drown halfway there. I really don't know how they'll get to Binghao Village.
Lu Xi'an couldn't understand. He returned to the car and said to Yao Wei, "Let's go."

"Ah."

Yao Wei agreed and got out of the car. She and Lu Xi'an lifted the car and jumped over the river one after the other.

After parking the car, the two got back in. Yao Wei was still in the driver's seat, and Lu Xi'an was in the passenger seat. Once inside, Lu Xi'an glanced at the central control screen, only to find the map there completely still, without any red dots.

"Let's go, it's not very safe here. Let's head further north."

He said to Yao Wei.

"Ah."

As Yao Wei spoke, she stepped on the gas.

Lu Xi'an asked, "Did you hear what that person just said?"

Yao Wei said, "I heard it."

Lu Xi'an asked, "What do you think that village downstream, the one that recovered from the disease, will be like?"

Yao Wei said, "It should... be the same as other places, right?"

Lu Xi'an thought for a moment and said, "Yeah... it should be the same, what difference could there be?"

"Those who are sick and about to die will go downstream and be selected by the new humans there to see who can be eaten and who cannot."
"The people here swim here and actually clean themselves up, saving the new humans downstream from having to do the work. Or perhaps the new humans downstream think that the river water can wash away the germs on people who are about to die?"
"As for those who have recovered, they might still go back to help with the work. This sick village is a filter for the recovered villages."

"Therefore, he regarded the entire Sick Village as his own, which is why the new humans downstream caught up with us when we passed through the Sick Village before."

"The situation at the time was that the child had drifted downstream, and the new humans downstream learned about him and were afraid that he and Yao Wei would take advantage of his possession, so they came up to check on him."

"Afterwards, he ran to the sick village, and seeing that the village was alright, he did not continue the pursuit, but gave up and returned."

If we think about it this way, the downstream New Humans probably aren't very strong. That's why he—or they—would pick and choose the scraps that others don't want and use them for themselves.

But they were stupid. They should have gone north instead. There are many places there without new humans. Isn't that better than staying here?

As he pondered, his thoughts drifted back to the random thoughts he had had outside the car. He let out a soft sigh and shared his ideas with Yao Wei.

Upon hearing Lu Xi'an's words, Yao Wei was momentarily dazed and murmured, "We... are remnants of the old era?"

"Drive well."

Lu Xi'an quickly reminded him, "How about we switch? I'll do it?" Perhaps he shouldn't have brought these things up now; it wouldn't be too late to wait until the car stopped and they rested.

But Yao Wei shook her head and said, "It's okay, I'll drive."

She suddenly turned her head and glanced at Lu Xi'an, giving him a bright and gentle smile that made Lu Xi'an slightly taken aback.

"That's good."

Yao Wei said, "I like this way of putting it, the remnants of the old era..."

"In this way... it's as if we are unique, which is why we met and came together."

"All that I know is what my mother left me. The civilization of the world that once existed is probably the most precious thing my mother wanted to find back."
"I like being out of step with the world."

After smiling at Lu Xi'an, she looked ahead and started talking while driving attentively.

Lu Xi'an looked at Yao Wei's profile. Sunlight streamed in through the car window, falling on Yao Wei's face and creating a halo around her, making her exceptionally beautiful.

He couldn't help but stare at it for a long time.

"Yeah, too."

After a long while, Lu Xi'an withdrew his gaze, laughed, and said, "It's quite nice to be out of step with this world. Being a remnant of the old era seems rather romantic..."

"Ok!"

Yao Wei nodded.

However, Lu Xi'an ultimately couldn't figure out why Luo Ping's bug existed.

Lu Xi'an decided to give up on thinking about it and instead ask Luo Ping directly.

He asked the dog to try to connect to Institute 923, but the dog tried several times without success.

Just as he was about to try again, the dog's voice suddenly rang out:

"Attention! New humans have been spotted in the southwest and are approaching at high speed. Please be careful."

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei were immediately startled.

Both of them glanced at the central control screen, and saw a red dot suddenly appear on the map, located on the far south side of the map.

That location wasn't on the highway, and the red dot wasn't approaching rapidly along the highway.

As you can see on the red dot, it moves left and right, but its general direction remains forward without deviating from the direction of travel.

The direction it pointed was precisely towards the sick village.

—Or rather, it's just north of the sick village, at the location of the broken bridge over the Guanhai River.

Was it because Yao Wei and I had stayed there?

Does that person with the red dot also have a resonance gene scanner?

Was I sensed?!
"Let's hurry up, I'll keep watch."

Lu Xi'an said, "Let's see if this person stops at the Broken Bridge or continues to chase us before making any plans."

(End of this chapter)