The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 23 The Robbery Game
Yu Qing's surroundings finally became quiet.

Daji arranged them in an orderly manner, with one taking turns on duty each day to protect and take care of his daily life, while the others performed their respective duties.

Furong was responsible for collecting and supplying Yuqing's food and water; Yan'er was responsible for the safekeeping and maintenance of Yuqing's various clothes, equipment, and utensils.

Yao Dan was only responsible for scouting the safety of the route, while Chang'e was in charge of Yu Qing's transfer and actions.

Daji's role is to substitute; she fills in for whoever is on duty. This arrangement basically reflects their respective abilities and strengths.

Everyone thought the box they were dragging yesterday was ridiculous and inconvenient, and since it was lost, they should find another vehicle to carry the supplies.

Yao Dan said, "My lord, have you forgotten that we once had a zero-gravity backpack? Where is it now?"

Yu Qing exclaimed in surprise, "How could I forget about it! Furong, where is it?"

Yan'er said, "I'm afraid it was lost long ago when they ran away, and we didn't see it."

Chang'e said, "This is a small matter; I know where to find it."

Every humanoid doctor at Wengshan Hospital had one. Back then, each doctor was typically responsible for health checkups for two hundred families, so they had to carry the equipment around constantly.

Yao Dan laughed and said, "You seem to know everything. The question is how to get it from them."

Yu Qing said, "Yes, they all have pre-arranged self-defense procedures. If you try to rob them, won't the humanoid girls start fighting?"

Yao Dan said, "Of course, and it will be a fight to the death."

Chang'e smiled and said, "But humanoid goddesses are designed to serve humans, so they cannot resist or attack humans under any circumstances, right?"

"Yes. If a human steals something from a humanoid woman, they only need to compensate her owner with ten times the value of the stolen item."

"Honey, let's go rob a place, you can afford to pay for it anyway."

Yu Qing laughed loudly, "Alright, let's go rob it right now. Damn, this is so exciting!"

He then jokingly asked, "Is it okay to rob a few humanoid beauties?"

Yao Dan said, "That won't do. In addition to the fine, they will also be sentenced to more than three months of detention."

The key is that even if you take them, it won't matter; they are only loyal to their own masters.

"Then...we'll steal it?"

"Let's go, take it! Tell me what you like about the humanoid girl, and I'll take it all for you."

"I like the white caps nurses wear..."

"I want shoes like those..."

"That square box is quite fun..."

So, Yu Qing, like a bandit, led them to the hospital to rob it.

If he had known earlier that the humanoid goddess could not attack humans under any circumstances, he would have already beaten up that doctor named Bao Si, who actually wanted to cut off his nose.

However, the robbery was not as exciting as Yu Qing had imagined, because all the humanoid girls in the hospital treated him with utmost respect, giving him whatever he wanted, and no one wanted to miss the opportunity to make a fortune for their master.

After ransacking the hospital and returning to the Ancient One villa, Yu Qing suddenly lost interest and let Daji and the others count their spoils themselves, while he simply watched the spectacle from the sidelines.

Anyway, I already have nine zero-gravity backpacks, which is more than enough.

Moreover, he now has nine flight suits, so he can switch between them.

Hibiscus went to the work station as planned and carried back a backpack full of synthesized food, and also filled another backpack with a large bucket of water.

Yan'er then packed up all of Yu Qing's belongings in one go.

Yao Dan pointed to an empty zero-gravity backpack and said to Yu Qing, "Darling, you stand inside, and I'll carry you this time!"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "I don't want to become an object... Wait, have you guys thought that we can carry each other on our backs and fly, and if we change into flight suits midway, we can fly over Changtian to Yaoxing, right?"

Yao Dan said, "Yes, yes, this way we don't have to go through the detour to the Fifth Amusement Park. Let's just continue to the Second Amusement Park."

Chang'e said "Oh," and then said, "380 kilometers, carrying each other on our backs, changing our flight suits twice... it's entirely possible."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Yu Qing said.

Yan'er said, "Wait a moment, Furong is itching to pack up the whole villa and take it with her."

She said her child liked the water bottle here and went back to get it.

"What a money-grubber."

Everyone was very excited and stood there chatting and laughing, waiting for Furong to return so they could go together. However, after waiting and waiting, it seemed that she had disappeared again.

"Daji, go and see what's going on."

Daji responded and went back to find Furong. A moment later, she called out from inside the house, "My dear, come here for a moment!"

Yu Qing and his group rushed inside and saw Fu Rong lying on the ground, muttering something to herself.

Looking further ahead, a country dog ​​was squatting in the corner, fiercely confronting Furong!
"There's even a dog here, and you didn't even notice it."

Chang'e said, "My lord, it is not a living organism. I detected that it is an object mainly composed of titanium and carbon. It should be an artificial intelligent dog."

"Catch it."

“Husband, this kind of dog is just like a humanoid maiden. Once it has an owner, it won’t go with anyone else. There’s no use in catching it.”

Chang'e said, "That's not how it works. This kind of country dog ​​can be reset, but its reset switch is in its throat."

This design ensures that the reset operation is performed by its owner. Its bite force is extremely strong, eighteen times that of a tiger.

"It's harder than snatching food from a tiger's mouth, right? So... what's its use? Is it just a big toy?"

Chang'e said, "It's very useful. Its sense of smell is extremely sensitive, and its hearing is also exceptional. It can easily detect smells and sounds from ten miles away."

Yu Qing hurriedly said, "Then you all better catch it right now!"

Yao Dan and the others received the order and surrounded the country dog ​​from three directions.

Just as they were about to catch it, the country dog ​​suddenly leaped up and jumped over Furong's head.

So they all swarmed after it, chasing the country dog ​​all over the yard.

They flew and ran, some blocking the way in front, some chasing after it from behind, but they just couldn't catch a single tail.

Yu Qing shouted, "Hey, I'm not trying to insult you, but you're really not even as good as a dog!"

They were all anxious. Some grabbed a stool, some carried a flowerpot, and some held an ornament in each hand, wishing they could smash it to death, but they just couldn't get close to it.

What annoyed them even more was that after leading them around in circles, it still defiantly went back to its original corner and squatted there.

Suddenly, Yu Qing had a flash of inspiration and thought of a way to catch it. He laughed and said, "My ladies, my darlings, my dears, my treasures, you all know how to make precise calculations, but when it comes to strategy, you have to look to me."

Yao Dan asked, "Does Your Excellency have a solution?"

"It's just a little effort."

"Don't brag, honey."

"How about a bet? What if I let you catch it easily?"

Yao Dan said, "A bet is a bet. If I lose, I'm not allowed to serve my husband for sixty days." "Get out! Isn't that punishing me? Fu Rong, go to Gu Yi's study for a moment."

"What does my darling want me to do?"

Yu Qing asked Fu Rong to come to his side and whispered a few words in her ear.

A moment later, Furong brought a scroll and handed it to him. He gently unrolled the scroll, and it turned out to be a self-portrait of the Ancient One.

Upon seeing the portrait, the country dog ​​leaped over, lay down in front of it, and began barking incessantly.

Chang'e and the others understood, some grabbing its feet, others pulling its tail. Yao Dan forcefully pried open its mouth, put her hand inside, and pressed the reset button.

The reset country dog ​​stood up, wagged its tail at Yu Qing, and even licked his feet.

Yu Qing patted its head and laughed, "So cute!"

After being petted on the head, the country dog ​​jumped up and cuddled with him.

"My lord, it has already recognized you as its master."

Yu Qing said with a smile, "I've had a very fruitful day."

After saying that, he picked up the dog, put it in a zero-gravity bag, which Daji carried on her back. He then told everyone to take their belongings and they set off again.

Yu Qing was full of confidence this time, after all, the 380-kilometer flight would only take an hour.

The addition of the country dogs has brought a lot of joy to everyone.

It may have never been in the air before, and it was so frightened that it tucked its head into its backpack and trembled uncontrollably.

This time, learning from yesterday's lesson, we did not stop midway, nor did we dare to fly over the sea, maintaining a height of more than 20 meters above the sea surface throughout the entire flight.

Chang'e carried Furong in a zero-gravity backpack and flew at the front of the formation. Yaodan carried Yuqing, who in turn carried a dog about two hundred meters behind. Daji carried Yan'er and brought up the rear.

The journey seemed to be smooth sailing, and about an hour later, land came into view.

Before long, Chang'e led the procession to an abandoned road overhead.

The road was open on both sides. Chang'e circled twice in front of it, but found nothing unusual. She flew back and asked Yu Qing:

"We're not far from Yaoxing now. The near-field charging facilities along the road are well-preserved. Should we stop here to fully charge our batteries?"

"It's good to stop for a bit, otherwise it will be troublesome if there are no charging stations later. From now on, we should charge whenever we can and always keep the battery fully charged."

So they stopped on the road.

Actually, it only takes a minute to fully recharge, but Yu Qing let the dog out, and everyone played with it for a while, so we rested for about fifteen minutes before continuing to fly.

In less than ten minutes, Yu Qing saw the city ahead.

Chang'e slowed down, and after they got closer, she asked, "The Radiant Star is just ahead. Should I go scout ahead first before going in?"

Yu Qing said, "Whether there are people in the city or not, there should be no danger. Let's not land yet, let's observe from the air and then make a plan. Let's not separate now."

Yu Qing desperately hoped to encounter humans on Yaoxing, but after lowering their altitude and observing several places, they initially determined that this was also an empty city.

Yu Qing said, "Let's find a rooftop that's a little higher up and land there."

In his experience, staying on the rooftop might be safer.

Finally, they landed on the roof of the tallest building in the city, no more than forty or fifty meters above the ground.

Theoretically, this city should have been abandoned later than Wengshan, but it may not be as well-preserved as Wengshan.

Many places have fallen into disrepair, and no public facilities are still in operation.

There was no place to charge our devices; there was no place to provide food.

This puzzled Yu Qing. Why was there electricity on that road again? Perhaps there were two independent power supply systems.

Yu Qing's original plan to use this place as a new forward base seems to have fallen through.

He asked Chang'e, "Do you have more detailed information about Yaoxing? Why is the situation here worse than at Wengshan? Isn't this a larger central city than Wengshan?"

Chang'e said, "My lord, I have no information about Shining Star 2C after 19 years. But I can be sure that it has been abandoned for no more than fifty years."

According to the law, they should not close public facilities, especially charging stations and food distribution points.

One explanation is that with more and more cities being abandoned, the laws have had to be amended or simply removed from the list altogether.

"How about I and Yaodan accompany you to get a closer look and see if we can find any clues?"

“I have a way to roughly determine when this place was abandoned, and if I’m lucky, the error will not exceed three months.”

"How can this be?"

"Tell me, what had the shortest shelf life back in your day?"

Chang'e said, "There is a medicine called β reagent in the hospital, which can only be kept for 7 days even under refrigeration."

Yu Qing laughed and said, "That settles it! Go find those reagents that are refrigerated in the abandoned hospital and bring me a few bottles."

Of course, other items with expiration dates are also acceptable, but they must be in their original packaging.

"Is it still useful after being expired for decades?"

“Very useful, just find it.”

Chang'e raised her hand and flung out a holographic map. By comparing buildings, she found the approximate location of herself and the hospital, and then flew away.

A short while later, she returned with a well-packaged bottle of β reagent and handed it to Yu Qing.

余庆拿起来看了看，说：“耀星大约是在2C28年6月18日至24日废弃的。”

“I understand. If Shining Star hadn’t been abandoned during that period, the reagents manufactured on June 18, 2C28 would have been disposed of, and expired medicines wouldn’t have been stored.”

"That makes sense. Also, let me ask you a question: Did you encounter a humanoid doctor or nurse at the hospital earlier?"

"not even one."

"This shows that the law at the time no longer prohibited closing public facilities when people left."

"Yes, yes, otherwise how could there not be a single humanoid maiden left behind? It must be that the high-value items were moved with the people."

"This is not good news. It means that we will most likely encounter ruins in the future, and we will not be able to get any supplies."

Furthermore, we can draw another conclusion from the above.

When they abandoned Wengshan, the people were extremely reluctant, still hoping to return someday; but when they abandoned Yaoxing, they left resolutely, perhaps even with a sense of despair.

Daji hurriedly asked, "Then... shall we continue our journey today?"

Yu Qing pondered, "There's still half a day... Chang'e, can you reach the next location before dark? I'm always terrified of walking at night."

"The next destination is Maluo, which is about 500 kilometers away. We can reach it before dark by the end of the flight."

If there aren't any charging facilities ahead, our flight suits, designed only for short trips, will be in trouble. And if we walk a bit, it'll get dark…”

"Stop talking, I understand. It seems you should scout out the route first before making a decision. Remember to bring an extra fully charged flight suit, just in case."

(End of this chapter)