Doomsday Cognition Guide

On the way back from the county town, Li Xuan's mind kept replaying the two motorcycles and the crystal core. By the time he got home, it was already getting dark. He parked the motorcycles by the platform, squatted down, patted the frame, and had a rough idea of ​​how to modify them in mind.

It was already evening when we got back to base. Uncle Si was repairing barbed wire on the other side of the wall when he saw the two motorcycles in the truck bed and paused. "What are you doing with that?"

"I'd like you to help me modify it." Li Xuan unloaded the car, dusted off his hands, "But before modifying the car, we need to make the battery first." He took out the lightning crystal core and the gold he had collected earlier from the storage room, spread them out on the platform, and lit a kerosene lamp.

Fourth Uncle stood beside him, holding a steel bar in his hand. Li Xuan held the crystal core between his fingertips; the blue light was exceptionally clear in the dim sky.

"Ordinary batteries store electrical energy through chemical reactions, which has an upper limit on energy density, and they will dissipate over time. Crystal nuclei are different—they directly bind the charge within the energy circuit, without chemical conversion or self-discharge, resulting in an energy density several orders of magnitude higher than lithium batteries. A single charge can power a motorcycle for ten to fifteen days. Gold has the best conductivity and stability, making it a more stable carrier for discharge. I fuse the crystal nuclei and gold using assimilation and transformation—it's like creating a clone. The olm is still the same olm, the underlying structure is mine. The gold is still gold, but the underlying structure will have the added energy storage and discharge capacity of the crystal nucleus."

Fourth Uncle was silent for a few seconds. "Is the voltage stable?"

"Gold itself is a stable conductor of electricity. Adding a voltage regulator circuit and a large capacitor further smooths out the voltage."

"I'll do the wiring," the father's voice came from the hole, still clutching wires in his hand. "How big should the battery compartment be? Where should it be placed?"

"The center of gravity under the seat is lowered as much as possible. The outer shell is fully sealed with stainless steel." Uncle Si has already started measuring the frame dimensions.

Li Xuan sat down cross-legged. First, he used reverse assimilation to remove impurities from the crystal core, aligning the vibrational frequency of his special ability with the lattice frequency of the gold. The crystal core felt slightly warm at his fingertips, the blue light faded, and a pale golden luster appeared. He took a deep breath, holding the processed crystal core in his left hand and pressing his right hand against the pile of gold. Forward assimilation began, with reverse assimilation following simultaneously. An hour later, he released his grip.

Uncle Si used his supernatural powers to mold the gold into a flat cube, which fit perfectly into the triangular gap under the seat. The surface was smooth and warm, occasionally flashing with a very fine blue electric spark.

The father squatted down and placed a finger directly on the battery's output terminal. Without using a meter, he simply closed his eyes, his finger resting on the conductive metal surface. He opened his eyes a moment later.

"The current is very stable. There's hardly any noise, just a clean direct current. When connected to the motor, the speed doesn't fluctuate." He connected the voltage regulator circuit and then connected a set of car headlight bulbs to the output. The bulbs lit up, and the light was stable and flicker-free. He stared at the bulbs for a while, then touched the wires with his fingers and closed his eyes again. "The voltage is also stable. It ran under load for fifteen minutes, and the current didn't fluctuate. This isn't the same principle as a regular battery—it only charges and discharges as much as it needs. It should run for ten days to two weeks under this load without any problems."

The motorcycle modifications proceeded simultaneously. Both vehicles were completely dismantled—the electric bike's rear wheel motor was removed, and the gasoline bike's rear wheel chain was also taken off. Uncle Si used his special abilities to knead the two rear wheels together, creating two layers: the inner layer connected to the motor, and the outer layer connected to the chain. A shift fork was installed in the middle, with electricity on the left and gasoline on the right, leaving the middle unused. The entire frame was replaced with stainless steel tubing, which Uncle Si shaped by hand, one piece at a time, the welds so smooth they looked like they were originally a single piece. The front fork was replaced with thicker shock absorbers, and the tires were replaced with deep-tread off-road tires. A rack was welded to the front, and folding hooks were added to both sides of the rear seat, which could be unfolded to hang two more oil cans.

After the frame was welded, Uncle Si placed the disassembled motor on the worktable, opened the outer casing, and revealed the coils and magnets inside.

"The battery is enough, but the motor is no good. The original power is too low; it struggles even to climb steep slopes. The coils need to be completely replaced." He dismantled the original copper wire, rummaged through the materials pile, and pulled out the silver bars and ornaments he had previously scavenged. "Using my powers, I drew them into thin wires, twisted them together, and rewound them. The number of turns is several times greater than before, and the magnetic field is several times stronger. The magnets also need to be fixed—I used my powers to rearrange the magnetism, increasing the attraction several times over."

After everything was installed, we started debugging. There were no instruments, no test bench. But my father had his ways.

He rested one hand on the controller and the other on the motor, his eyes closed. Current surged from the battery, passed through the voltage regulator circuit, through the controller, and flowed into the motor coils—he could feel the magnitude and changes in current at every point along the way.

"The starting current is too strong, it needs to be adjusted." He opened his eyes and pointed to several small resistors on the controller. "Replace these with larger ones." Uncle Si used his supernatural ability to directly replace the resistors. Father closed his eyes again, his fingers resting on the wires.

"Much better. The start is smoother." He paused for a moment, "The torque isn't quite keeping up in the mid-range acceleration. The motor is lagging behind once the RPMs go up—the sensor is positioned a little to the left." Uncle Si used his supernatural ability to loosen the fixing screws and moved it slightly.

"Try again."

The father closed his eyes again. This time, the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

"By the way, the whole route is smooth now. The torque is probably several times greater than before, which is enough for low-speed climbing."

During the test ride, my fourth uncle pushed the motorcycle onto the mountain road. In electric mode, twisting the handlebars produced almost no sound from the motor, and the motorcycle shot forward. Before reaching a nearly 30-degree gravel slope, the rear wheel slipped and then gripped the ground, allowing the entire vehicle to climb steadily. Previously, when driving an off-road vehicle up such a slope, the engine had to roar as it surged upwards; now, the motor pulled it up silently.

"The low-speed torque is indeed much greater. It will be no problem to haul goods and drive on mountain roads in the future. With the old original motor, it would break down halfway up a slope." Uncle Si parked the car on the platform and patted the dust off the seat.

A few more fallen leaves appeared on the pond beside the platform. The modified motorcycle sat quietly in the twilight, its stainless steel body gleaming coldly.

After the motorcycle was modified, Li Xuan's range of activities expanded dramatically. Before, driving an off-road vehicle meant he could only travel along highways, and he had to walk to towns further away. Now, with a motorcycle, he could go anywhere the wheels could reach—gravel roads, field paths, and farm tracks along dried-up irrigation ditches. He began consciously heading towards more remote areas—those small villages hidden in the mountains, settlements whose names weren't even marked on maps, places that hadn't been disturbed yet.

These remote mountain villages were actually the safest places when the zombie crisis first broke out. Sparsely populated, the zombies couldn't find them. The villagers' houses were sturdy, with vegetable gardens in the yards and enough food stored in the cellars to last the winter. Some elderly people, along with their grandchildren, hid in the mountains for months, surviving on their stored food and vegetable gardens until now.

But Li Xuan knew that this safety was temporary.

He has the ability and the time. Saving even one more person is better than nothing. Every time he finds a village, he gathers the people who remain and transports them to the search and rescue team's rendezvous point by motorcycle, trip after trip. Most are elderly people and children. Li Xuan doesn't waste words trying to persuade them; he simply says, "Winter is coming soon; there will be wild boars in the mountains, the really big kind." Then he takes them to the rendezvous point, hands them over to the search and rescue team, and goes back to continue the search.

Over the past few days, apart from a few elderly people who stayed at home due to mobility issues or old age, he also encountered many small, spontaneously formed settlements. These settlements were mostly organized by families with the same surname, ranging from a dozen to dozens or even hundreds of people, relying on ancestral halls, ancestral homes, or easily defensible mountaintops to survive together.

He had seen a rather large settlement. It had originally been a temple built on a cliff, and the government had previously constructed a stone bridge connecting the base of the mountain to the temple gate. The entire village at the foot of the mountain had moved in, using the main hall as a warehouse, the monks' quarters as living quarters, and herding all their grain and poultry into this enormous cavern. When Li Xuan and the search and rescue team suggested they relocate to the county town, the elderly leader smiled and waved his hand, pointing to the stone bridge, saying, "Comrade, this place is impregnable; what mutated beast could possibly attack? We farm and raise chickens ourselves; life is much more secure than outside."

The search and rescue team leader patiently explained that the county town was guarded by armed police, had a perimeter wall, and its supply lines were more stable. A middle-aged man nearby interjected, "We've been living here for months and haven't even seen a stray cat. But in your county town, with so many people and so many eyes, who knows if any zombies have infiltrated?" The old man patted the stone bridge railing, "Everyone in our village is surnamed Chen; we've been one family for hundreds of years. Living together as a family, looking out for each other, is much better than squeezing into a tent with strangers outside."

The search and rescue team leader was about to say something more when Li Xuan gently tugged at him. "The mutated beasts on the ground really can't get up here." Li Xuan stood on the stone bridge, looked up at the sky, and spoke calmly. The search and rescue team leader followed his gaze and looked up at the sky—in the hazy sky, several birds were flying by in the distance, their bodies much larger than before the apocalypse. The old man's smile faded slightly, but he still waved his hand in the end.

Li Xuan didn't say another word. He didn't know how long the settlement lasted, but he estimated that with such terrain having almost no air defense, it had no chance of surviving when flying mutant beasts appeared on a large scale in the third year.

Another, more extreme example led him to completely give up trying to persuade them.

It was a valley nestled between two mountains, backed by a cliff, with an extremely narrow entrance. A family had built a house and a pigsty here, and the brothers had worked together to turn it into a secluded little kingdom. When the search and rescue team passed through the narrow entrance and saw the pens full of pigs and the granaries overflowing with grain, they couldn't help but marvel.

"This place is amazing!" The search and rescue team leader exclaimed in amazement, standing beside the pigsty. "You brothers really know how to live frugally."

"Of course." A man in his early thirties stood beside them, arms crossed, his face full of smugness. "We raise our own pigs, grow our own vegetables, store our own grain—we have everything. Zombies can't find this place, and mutated beasts can't get in. It's safer than your county town."

Standing beside him was his mother, an elderly woman with gray hair but sharp eyes. She sized up the search and rescue team members as if assessing a group of door-to-door salesmen. "Comrades, I appreciate your kindness. My home has plenty of food and clothing, and the terrain is excellent; no monster can get in. We'll go to the county town to eat your food after we've finished our own. What's the rush?"

Li Xuan emerged from the crowd. He stood before the pigpen, watching the pigs rooting for food inside, and remained silent for a long while. Before the apocalypse, releasing a domestic pig back into the mountains would result in it becoming completely feral within about a year, growing tusks and becoming extremely aggressive. Now, with the red mist permeating the air, this process would only accelerate. Wild boars are omnivores; when extremely hungry, they will eat anything, including humans.

He glanced at the head of the household again. Strong and shrewd, with intelligent eyes. Li Xuan recognized him. In his previous life, after the first winter snow, this man, covered in blood, had run alone to the county settlement, claiming his entire family had been killed by mutated wild boars, and that he was the only one who had escaped. This incident directly led to a comprehensive search of all small, remote settlements throughout the county.

But less than a month after settling down in the county town, his true nature began to show. At first, he only complained about the lack of food and the hard work. Later, he gathered some equally lazy people and began to resist the organization's arrangements. Relying on his strength, he tried to collect protection money in the residential area, which was quickly suppressed, because in chaotic times, harsh measures are necessary. In their minds, they thought the world was in chaos, like the era of bandits rising from the ashes in ancient times. In reality, they were just a group of thugs with neither strength nor brains.

Li Xuan's memory was etched with that face, and also with his superpower at the time—physical enhancement, a balanced enhancement of strength, speed, endurance, and agility in all aspects. Logically, he was a natural-born super-strong warrior. But his selfishness was equally ingrained in his very being.

"Comrade Li Xuan, what do you think?" the search and rescue team leader turned to ask him.

Li Xuan withdrew his gaze and turned to walk out of the valley. After taking a few steps, he stopped again. "By the way, be careful of those pigs in the back mountains. Animals are mutating these days; domestic pigs will become feral if left to roam freely for too long, growing tusks and becoming just as aggressive as wild boars."

"It's nothing, thank you for reminding me, comrade." The old lady nodded with a smile, very politely.

The eldest son stood behind his mother with his arms crossed, a faint smile playing on his lips—not gratitude, but impatience, the only polite way he could manage to appease her.

Li Xuan didn't say anything more and turned to walk out of the valley. After walking a few dozen meters, the mountain wind suddenly stopped for a moment. In that brief silence, a hushed voice drifted from behind him.

"Brother, are we really not going to the county town?" It was the youngest brother, his voice timid. "Those pigs that guy was talking about..."

"What nonsense are you listening to?" the old woman's voice suddenly rose. "Use your brain! How much grain can we possibly take? The rest will just be theirs. We have the advantage of terrain here, and your older brother is so strong. We have so much grain and pork, why do we need to go to the county town?"

"Exactly!" the third son's voice rang out. "Mom's right. We have our own grain and meat, why should we go to the county town and squeeze in with so many people?"

"What's there to be afraid of with a few pigs?" the fourth brother chimed in. "With Big Brother's skills now, he wouldn't be afraid of pigs, or even a cow."

"Alright, that's enough." It was the eldest brother's voice, steady and resolute, carrying the confidence of a family head. "Let's not talk about the county town anymore. Living our own lives is better than anything else. That guy was just passing through; what does he know?"

The second brother remained silent. From beginning to end, only his voice was absent.

Li Xuan didn't stop. He crossed the narrow valley entrance and walked to the motorcycle parked outside. The search and rescue team leader was already waiting by the roadside. Seeing him come out, he couldn't help but ask, "Comrade Li Xuan, are we really not going to try to persuade that family again?"

"Let's go." Li Xuan hopped on the motorcycle, turned the handlebars, and said, "We still need to go to the next village."

The roar of the engine echoed through the valley. He mentally crossed out the valley—not giving up, but because it was unnecessary. Some people, you can't stop, and you have no obligation to stop. Those who could be saved have been saved; the elderly and children no longer need to remain alone in their old houses in the mountains, like in another timeline, waiting for a rescue that will never come.