Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 374 Father-in-law and Son-in-law
Yao Huo took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He did not answer Lu Xi'an's question.

He didn't answer Lu Xi'an's question, but said, "I don't want to repeat myself too many times. I'll tell Weiwei when she asks me. Let her tell you then."

Lu Xi'an then didn't pursue the matter further.

It would be better for Yao Wei to ask about their parents' past; he has many other questions he wants to know.

With such a great opportunity now, how could he not seize it?
So he asked, "As we've come this far, we've discovered many historical fragments, such as the Dyson Sphere project, bacterial strains, and wars."

"We know a lot about Dyson spheres and strains, but what about the war back then?"

"How did the world become like this, with such a severe generational gap? I'm quite curious, could you tell me about it?"

"A Dyson sphere? That doesn't even qualify as a Dyson sphere, let alone a Dyson cloud."

Yao Huo chuckled and didn't answer. Instead, he said something that Lu Xi'an had heard and seen more than once in this world: "This world is just a huge makeshift operation. You can never imagine what kind of trouble this makeshift operation can cause."

Lu Xi'an recalled the logs he had read in Jianshan City, where the observers far away on Jianshan Mountain and the researchers who had returned from space reached a consensus.

It seems there were quite a few oversights in the Dyson Sphere project at the time.

"The people at the time had a beautiful and romantic vision. But they didn't consider whether the world could accept the problems and mistakes that would arise from such a massive project that spanned generations and involved so many people of different races, countries, and backgrounds."

Yao Huo continued, "You would never guess that in such a meticulous and demanding plan, there are still people who try to cut corners and falsify data in order to reduce costs and shift the responsibility to others."

"When the disaster struck, some of our staff were sent to the Dyson Belt for repairs and inspections."

"Then the test results came back, and our people finally confirmed that the Dyson Ring could not be repaired and had to be abandoned. Only then did we turn our full attention to dealing with future disasters."

Do you know why it was initially deemed unrepairable?

"Because of what?"

Lu Xian asked.

Yao Huo replied: "The people who went up there at the time discovered that there was a lot of material fraud in those Dyson oscillator modules. Many parts of the Dyson oscillator only used standard materials in some key structures, and the rest were inferior substitutes."

"The data transmitted back at that time showed that those key structures could barely maintain the normal operation of the entire Dyson Belt structure, allowing the energy absorbed by the Dyson Cloud to be distributed and supplied to the Earth."

"Therefore, it can be inferred that these were all carefully designed and deduced. At the time, more than one country or organization chose to save costs or conceal costs in this way and then shift the responsibility to other countries."

"But they did not consider the risks involved, or even if they did consider them, they did not pay attention to them or deliberately ignored them."

"The fragile structure led to the collapse of the Dyson Belt, resulting in disaster. The world was destroyed and became what it is today. This is all the result of the people of this world bringing it upon themselves."

Lu Xi'an paused for a moment, then asked, "What about the war? How did the war break out later?"

Yao Huo continued, "How else could it erupt? Disaster strikes, secrets are leaked, the world falls into chaos, some countries punish those who were involved in the Dyson Sphere project, while others shift the blame to other countries and start a war."

"The whole world was thrown into chaos. Later, the conflicts between countries intensified, and a huge organization was formed under the continuous impetus of war."

"They chose to shift the blame, pointing all the finger at us, using conspiracy theories to incite people's anger, saying that all of this is our conspiracy."

"Because while the whole world is fighting to the death, we are the only ones closing our doors and facing the disaster head-on."

"They say this is something we did because we wanted to dominate the world. Our ultimate goal is to make all the people in other countries disappear, leaving only ourselves."

"It was a very crude excuse, but people believed it, or it didn't matter if they didn't, because compared to them, we dealt with the disaster in an orderly manner, which was much better."

"So when war broke out, we faced the whole world with the strength of one nation. All weapons were put into this war, and all people were involved."

"We kept the enemy out of our country's borders, fought with all our might, and preserved the flame of revolution."

At this point, Yao Huo took another deep breath and slowly exhaled, saying, "So what they said wasn't wrong. In the end, we survived, while the enemy was basically all dead."

"Over the years, I've been abroad once, and there really aren't many people to be seen there..."

Lu Xi'an still found it unbelievable after listening. This past history sounded so simple and casual, like a story from an animation written by Okouchi. Everything was so reasonable, direct and brutal, and absurd to an extreme.

But the real world is made up of all sorts of absurdities, so it's not impossible that the history of this world could be so absurd...

"I didn't actually know about these things beforehand. I only found out by finding some documents at the base in Donghai City."

"When the war broke out, I was still in space, researching bacteria. When I came down, the world had already changed..."

Yao Huo added two more sentences. After that, there was a long silence.

There was a certain melancholy in that silence, which Lu Xi'an could understand. When he first transmigrated and saw this desolate and cold world, wasn't he the same?
One second you're in a bustling city, the next you're surrounded by people.

Before Yao Huo set off, the world had already undergone catastrophe, but at least there were still so many people and so many companions. But when he returned, everything had changed beyond recognition.

The feeling at that time could hardly be described with just the word "melancholy".

Looking back, it's really impressive that I managed to get through it all alone. Yao Wei's parents were also quite remarkable.

Lu Xi'an was lost in thought when Yao Huo suddenly stared at him intently and asked, "Who are your parents? Are they also from the old world?"

"Ah I?!"

Lu Xi'an asked in surprise, "Why would Yao Huo ask me such a strange question out of the blue?"
Yao Huo said, "You must have received a good education to be able to understand what I'm saying. In this world, how could an ordinary person possibly have received an education?"
“Look at my daughter, she receives my guidance every day, but she only half understands it now. But you look like you understand everything.”

“Your parents must be very capable, or your teachers must be very capable. Apart from people from the old world, and even those who are very knowledgeable in the old world, I can’t think of anyone else who could have guided you to become like this.”

Lu Xi'an turned to look at Yao Sisi, only to see her looking completely bewildered. She looked at Yao Huo and asked, "Huh?! Dad, why are you suddenly criticizing me?"

Yao Huo asked, "Did you understand?"

Yao Sisi said, "I don't understand."

Yao Huo said, "Isn't that it?"

Yao Sisi: "..."

Lu Xi'an's lips twitched, and she wanted to laugh, but she tried her best to suppress the smile that was about to appear.

He replied, "I have a friend named Luo Ping. He's very capable and knows everything. I learned from him."

"He had a teacher named Luo Zheng, but I don't know where he is now. I heard Luo Ping say that his teacher was very capable and knew everything. I wonder if he was from the old days."

"Luo Zheng?"

Yao Huo frowned, pondered for a long time, and said, "Never heard of it."

Yao Sisi retorted, "The world is so big, Dad, you can't possibly know everyone. Isn't that normal?"

Judging from her tone, Lu Xi'an strongly suspected that she was looking for trouble.

Yao Huo probably thought so too, but she was too lazy to argue with her daughter. She glanced at Yao Sisi and said, "You're right."

Then he turned to Lu Xi'an and asked, "Can you tell me about your journey so far? I haven't been able to find Weiwei all these years, and I really want to know if she's been doing well or if she's suffered."

Lu Xi'an replied, "I'm sorry, but I think Yao Wei should tell you these things—if she wants to. I won't presume to do it for you."

This move could be described as using their own methods against them, but Yao Huo didn't mind. Instead, she nodded and said, "You do know a lot, much more than my younger sister Weiwei. I teach her many idioms, but she can't remember them. That Luo Zheng must be a very powerful person, right?"

Yao Sisi rolled her eyes, too lazy to say anything. Lu Xi'an thought to herself that it was fortunate Yao Sisi was alive now; if it were before, she would definitely be the one provoked by Yao Huo.

Perhaps Yao Wei is the same.

Yao Huo sighed and said, "I was actually quite unhappy with you at first. I could tell at first glance that you were with Weiwei."

"And just now, Weiwei suddenly said she's pregnant with your child. If I weren't too weak against you, I would have attacked her then and there..."

Lu Xi'an smiled, not caring at all. "You can't beat me anyway."

Yao Huo said, "But now I'm relieved. You're very good. Although we only chatted briefly, I could tell that you're indeed a very good man these days."

Lu Xi'an remained silent. He hadn't really cared about this issue from the beginning, because Yao Wei had always thought he was a good person.

After these topics were discussed, the three fell silent.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Huo both looked towards Ye Wenxin's grave in the distance, as did Yao Sisi. However, Yao Sisi would occasionally glance at Lu Xi'an, still maintaining a great deal of curiosity about her cheap sister's cheap brother-in-law.

After a while, Yao Wei seemed to have finally finished talking to her mother, turned around, and glanced in this direction.

Lu Xi'an immediately understood Yao Wei's meaning and said to Yao Huo, "Please go over there, Weiwei has something she wants to say to you."

(End of this chapter)