Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 323 The Panic Caused by Luo Ping and the Old Tree

Lu Xi'an waited for Luo Ping for a while, wanting to wait until Luo Ping recovered and adjusted before going back.

Luo Ping tried to adjust himself for a long time, but he couldn't. He had stopped crying, but his eyes were still red and the color wouldn't go away.

Lu Xi'an even lent Luo Ping the fungal stone, but it still had no effect. It seems that this is not an injury or illness, and the fungal stone is ineffective.

Lu Xi'an then asked Luo Ping where he had put his sunglasses. Luo Ping said that he had put them in the car because they were inconvenient to wear while working.

Lu Xi'an offered to fetch the sunglasses for Luo Ping, but Luo Ping said it wasn't necessary. He argued that going to get the sunglasses would only make people suspicious, and it would be pointless.

"Forget it, let's go."

After a long while, Luo Ping sighed and said in despair, "So what if I cried? What's so shameful about that?"

Lu Xi'an laughed and said, "That's true. It's not a sin for a man to cry. It's no big deal."

Luo Ping laughed along, "Men can cry, it's not a sin? Hahaha, brother, you really know how to say that. That's absolutely right!"

However, after the two sat back down in the crowd, Luo Ping saw that everyone was looking at his face, so he sighed and said, "Alas, kidney stones, it hurts a bit, and I couldn't hold back the tears. There's nothing I can do."

"As men get older, they always develop all sorts of minor health problems."

Lu Xian: "..."

Bottle, who was also a Type B Newtype like Luo Ping, widened his eyes in horror and exclaimed, "Mr. Luo, are you talking about the one in the movie?!"

Luo Ping pretended to be serious and said, "Yes, that's it, ouch—it hurts!"

Tang Er, Pingzi, and Lao Yao, who came with Luo Ping, couldn't help but gasp. Looking at Luo Ping, their tense and worried expressions were hard to shake off. It seemed that they were worried that one day they would be like Luo Ping.

Lu the Rat and Old Tang were somewhat confused.

Old Tang asked, "What are kidney stones? What are these things? Are they that painful?"

Since he wasn't at the 923 Institute base, he naturally hadn't seen the videos left behind by Lu Xi'an, and therefore had no idea what that term meant.

The bottle then explained, "It's because there are stones in the urine, blocking the urethra. The stones are so big that it hurts terribly when you urinate."

"And it hurts to pee, and it hurts to not pee either, it hurts when you hold it in. Just imagine how big the urinary tract is? What would it feel like to have a rock inside it?"
“Someone in our area had this before, and he was the one who told us all this.”

He said that men are more prone to this kind of problem as they get older, and that we should all be careful.

When the bottle finished speaking, Lu Xi'an noticed that not only Lu Laoshu and Lao Tang's expressions changed, but also the ordinary people sitting on the periphery or elsewhere.

Clearly, the bottle's words caused phantom pain in many of the men present.

Lu Xian's mouth twitched.

Unexpectedly, the old tree, thousands of miles away, and Luo Ping, right in front of them, actually joined forces to stage a grand drama that plunged so many men into panic.

Luo Ping would be better off just admitting that he cried because he missed his teacher.

Logically speaking, urinary system diseases are the most embarrassing things for grown men to talk about. So why is it that Luo Ping feels that crying and shedding tears because of emotional distress is even more shameful?
Fortunately, Luo Ping knew he couldn't let this topic affect people's mood. Seeing the look of fear on everyone's faces, he said:

"Alright, alright, don't be so scared. Actually, this thing just hurts a little, it's nothing serious."

"And I was so busy with other things that I didn't pay attention to exercising, which is why I ended up like this."

"Didn't the old tree say that as long as you exercise regularly and don't eat random things, most people will be fine?"

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Lu Xi'an said, "Alright, it's getting late, everyone should get some rest."

"We've all been busy all day, and none of you have had much time to train. Starting tomorrow, you all need to train hard to prepare for the battle in a month or so."

Luo Ping laughed and said, "Brother, you're wrong. We haven't missed a single day of training."

"Even during these two days of travel, we would practice diligently every morning."

"We practiced before we set off this morning."

"In just over a month, we will be facing a major battle, and we dare not slack off in the slightest."

Lu Xi'an smiled and said, "That was a misunderstanding on my part. I apologize. Everyone, I'm sorry."

Luo Ping and the others laughed and said it was alright, no need.

Lu Laoshu watched silently from the side. Seeing everyone enjoying themselves, he couldn't help but glance at Lu Xi'an, thinking to himself, "I've learned something. It turns out that admitting mistakes doesn't affect one's authority."

He could tell that although everyone was smiling and telling Lu Xi'an it was okay, they still respected him very much.

Lu Xi'an then said, "Let's all disperse and go rest," and everyone obediently went to find a place to rest.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei invited Chai Xin to sleep in the RV. Chai Xin still slept on the sofa, but even on the sofa, the environment was much better than other people's places.

Chai Xin's height has increased again. Since becoming a new human, this girl has grown faster and faster. This is partly because her back is gradually becoming less hunched, and partly because it is related to becoming a new human.

The physical constitution of the new humans is changing her appearance at a visible rate, and not only her, but also Liu Hua, Tang Er and the others are the same.

After some time had passed, these people who had become new humans had all changed so much that they were almost unrecognizable at first glance.

Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei, and Chai Xin talked for a while in the car before slowly falling asleep.

Before falling asleep, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei could hear that many people in the village were still awake and whispering among themselves.

Most of the people were men, and their voices were so loud that Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei couldn't make out what they were saying.

However, after a while, Lu Xi'an heard Lu Laoshu's voice talking to Luo Ping, followed by Lao Tang.

After that, Lu the Rat went to talk to the villagers of Binghao Village, and the voices gradually faded away.

Judging from the context, Lu Xi'an didn't need to hear what they were saying to understand—

This is definitely related to the kidney stones that Luo Ping mentioned.

They are all at least Type D-1 new humans, yet they are still so afraid of urinary system diseases.

Thankfully, none of the new humans have the ability to control diseases or the urinary system. Otherwise, if such a person appeared and made you urinate stones or suffer from kidney deficiency, you would instantly surrender and prostrate yourself in worship.

After letting her mind wander, Lu Xi'an closed her eyes, cleared her mind of the chaotic thoughts, and fell asleep.

When they woke up, it was freezing cold, and it was another day. The dog had already detected the outside environment and quietly turned on the air conditioning in the middle of the night, making the car warm and cozy, without disturbing the three of them's sleep.

However, the others were not so comfortable; they were all woken up by the cold in the middle of the night.

Fortunately, they had already adapted to this weather change and had taken measures to deal with it.

When Luo Ping and the others came out, they brought thick clothes and even blankets. They could still get a good night's sleep by wrapping themselves in them.

As dawn broke, Lu Xi'an suddenly opened his eyes and sat up abruptly.

Yao Wei and Chai Xin were both startled awake and sat up.

Yao Wei asked, "What's wrong?"

Chai Xin rubbed his eyes and looked at Lu Xi'an. Lu Xi'an said, "I've thought of something crucial, and I need to verify it."

Seeing that the air conditioning was on in the car, he glanced at the situation outside, changed into warm clothes, and got out of the car.

Yao Wei also changed her clothes and followed. Seeing that Chai Xin was about to come out, she said, "Wait a moment, where are your warm clothes? I'll get them for you."

Chai Xin felt the chill in the air outside and didn't insist on coming out. He shrank his neck, stepped back into the car, made way for the door, and pointed to the car window, saying, "He's in that car."

She was pointing to the car next to her.

Both cars that Luo Ping and his group brought had people sleeping in them. In the car that Chai Xin pointed to, Liu Hua and Tang Er were resting.

Just then, Lu Xi'an was also looking for Tang Er. He and Yao Wei went to the car and looked inside through the window. They saw that Liu Hua and Tang Er had also sat up, so they thought it was perfect and knocked on the car window.

"Wow--"

Tang Er opened the car door, jumped out, and said, "Mr. Lu, Mr. Yao."

They started calling it that too.

Lu Xi'an asked, "Where are Chai Xin's warm clothes?"

Liu Hua said, "It's here."

As she spoke, she took the clothes from the car, and Yao Wei reached out to take them, then got into the car and handed them to Chai Xin.

Lu Xi'an then said to Tang Er, "Come here for a moment."

Tang Er was confused and followed Lu Xi'an. Then Lu Xi'an had Gouzi scan Tang Er from head to toe.

"Doggy, did you find any markings on him?"

After scanning, Lu Xi'an asked Gouzi.

The mechanical dog is still inside the RV, and its metallic voice can naturally be heard through the RV's speakers: "Scan complete, no markings found on the body."

Lu Xian's heart moved.

At this moment, everyone woke up one after another. Lu Xi'an called Lao Yao over and said to Gouzi, "Take another look at him."

Lao Yao and Tang Er are both incomplete new humans. They almost died when they used the injection, and only survived thanks to the green water of the old tree, which is why they are the way they are now.

The dog's answer was the same as before—no mark was found on the youngest child.

Therefore, the answer is obvious.

Lao Yao and Tang Er, these two incomplete new humans, were not infected with the mark.

They will not be detected by the resonance gene scanner, but only by those who have eaten fungal stones or the corpses of new humans.

Lu Xi'an seemed to be deep in thought.

"what happened?"

Luo Ping came over and asked what was going on.

Lu Xi'an then told him about it.

For a moment, Luo Ping also seemed to be deep in thought.

The two quickly reached a consensus, but how to proceed depended on the enemy's advance from the northern county.

The most important thing now is to make the most of this month or so and train hard.

Everyone immediately dispersed and began to practice.

Luo Ping and the others shared the same opinion as Lu Xi'an: the situation would be uncertain in a month and a half, so they couldn't take the weather into account when training; they had to train the way they always had to.

They need to seize every moment and adapt to every environment.

—Moreover, Lu Xi'an had raised this topic back at Institute 923, and everyone had practiced in the freezing cold, so there was nothing to be uncomfortable about practicing again now.

Lu Laoshu was the only one who couldn't adapt, but he was amazed by the perseverance of Luo Ping and the others. Knowing that the big battle was coming up in more than a month, he was unwilling to fall behind, so he forced himself to train with everyone.

He even hung out with Luo Ping and Pingzi, two Type B new humans, seeking their advice and striving to improve himself.

After the day's training, everyone rested for a while, and Lu Laoshu suggested, "There's still half a corpse lying on the road under the poplar tree."

"Although we humans don't eat his flesh, we can let animals eat it. And Liu Hua, you can also try feeding those ants you have."

"The animals under the poplar tree are so powerful because they eat meat. It's just a pity that eating their meat doesn't have any effect on us."

"But ants and other animals can become even more powerful after eating meat."

Having just finished exercising, Lu Laoshu had already witnessed Liu Hua's flying ants. He found the ants to be incredibly numerous and flying around everywhere.
When everyone heard what Lu the Rat said, they also felt that it made sense.

Lu Xi'an frowned and asked, "Luo Ping, which road did you take when you came here?"

Luo Ping opened the World Atlas I and pointed to it for Lu Xi'an, saying, "This is it."

—The one where Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei, and Yang Shuxia fought before.

"Did you see any bodies? Right next to a fallen tree, and there's a hole next to that tree that we dug."

Lu Xian asked again.

Luo Ping and the others looked slightly enlightened. Luo Ping said, "So it was you who made that place, big brother and big sister. When we passed by, we were wondering what was going on there."

"We actually guessed that it was possible that you two were fighting there, but we just weren't sure."

"Big brother and big sister, you guys are really fierce! Even your fight is so loud!"

Lu Xi'an waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, stop flattering me! Did you see any corpses? The corpses were probably incomplete, with a lot of flesh missing."

Luo Ping and the others exchanged glances. Seeing the seriousness with which Lu Xi'an asked, they also became serious. They each thought carefully for a moment, then exchanged opinions with their eyes. Luo Ping nodded and said, "I saw him."

"That place was so eye-catching that we all got out of the car to look at it, and then we saw a human body lying there. But after so many days, it had already decomposed."

"Big brother, from what you're saying, that must be the corpse of that Type C New Human under the poplar tree?"

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

Luo Ping laughed and said, "Then it's alright. We found the corpse and thought it would be a good food for the ants, so Liu Hua had the flying ants sweep the corpse away."

"Hey, big brother, how did you guys beat Xuan Xiaocao back then?"

"Those flying ants are too fierce; they wiped out the entire tree in one go. If we encountered those things, we probably wouldn't even know how we died!"

Liu Hua said, "I was wondering why the ants seemed to have changed these past two days. Turns out they've been eating the new humans from Northern County... I wonder what these ants will turn into?"

Lu Xi'an laughed and said, "Who knows? Anyway, if you put it that way, the situation is not bad right now."

"Everyone, step up your daily training, then divide up the tasks to conduct reconnaissance and guard the area... Hmm, this is just a suggestion. Luo Ping, you should make the arrangements."

(End of this chapter)