CHAPTER 50: CHAPTER 50: THE RADIO

Lu Xi’an really felt quite lucky.

This radio doesn’t have a battery, sometimes that’s even better than having one installed.

You know, batteries can sometimes leak, so if this radio had batteries inside and they leaked, wouldn’t it potentially ruin the radio?

Now, whether the radio is broken or not, at least we’ve eliminated the possibility of it being ruined by battery leakage.

Having experienced digging out the radio, Lu Xi’an tried tapping on the three wooden walls, the ceiling, and the small tiled floor.

The result was nothing.

However, he didn’t feel disappointed; getting hold of the radio this time was already quite a gain.

You know, Yao Wei’s car doesn’t even have a radio.

And if he hadn’t come, how would he have seen the cavern dug out of the cliff in the old world?

Seeing such a novel place is quite nice too.

Storing the radio away, he exited the cave and used the previous method, chiseling the cliff wall upwards with an axe.

However, going upwards involved an additional move and exerted more effort than going downwards.

As he went up, he needed to pull his body in, then push hard with both legs, using the momentum to jump up and swing the axe again.

Just like that, he made his way up, and when he reached the top, Yao Wei reached out to give him a hand.

Long-time survival in the apocalypse made Yao Wei’s hand a bit rough, just like his own.

But even if it was rough, it was still very soft and warm, making one feel quite comfortable to touch.

Lu Xi’an felt Yao Wei’s hand was much warmer than his own, but seeing Yao Wei looking energetic, it didn’t seem like she had a fever.

Neo-Humans don’t easily get fevers either.

This woman is probably just naturally like this.

"How’s it, are you okay?"

After climbing up, Lu Xi’an let go of Yao Wei’s hand and asked.

"I’m fine, no one came over."

Yao Wei replied.

She’s much better now compared to when they first met; initially, Yao Wei absolutely wouldn’t say more than she needed.

Like this phrase "I’m fine, no one came over", she could express the meaning clearly with just the first two words; she definitely wouldn’t have said the last four words.

But now things are different.

And after saying those six words, Yao Wei asked, "How about you? How’s it down there?"

Lu Xi’an said, "There weren’t many things inside, just a table, a bean bag sofa, a kettle, and cups, all moldy and unusable."

Yao Wei asked curiously, "Bean bag sofa?"

Lu Xi’an said, "It’s that kind of soft sofa without back support; sitting on it for a long time is bad for your back."

"Oh, I see..."

Yao Wei nodded to indicate her understanding.

She certainly didn’t understand what a bean bag sofa looked like, but from Lu Xi’an saying sitting for a long time was bad for the back, she knew it wasn’t very useful and lost interest.

Lu Xi’an took out the radio and said, "There’s a fireplace inside, and I found the radio on top of the fireplace; it must have been hidden there by Fang Shuxin before he left the last time.

"But there are no batteries inside, so I haven’t tried it yet. I don’t know if it works or not."

Yao Wei, like Lu Xi’an, immediately thought of something, and said, "We have batteries in the car."

Lu Xi’an smiled, "Yeah, I thought so too."

They got into the car; Lu Xi’an handed the radio to Yao Wei to mess with while he started the car to leave.

The mountain road was narrow, so he couldn’t turn around; he backed the car out in reverse instead.

Being an experienced driver, this wasn’t difficult for him. He just needed to drive a bit slowly and pay extra attention to the rearview mirrors.

Yao Wei sat in the passenger seat, took out the batteries, and installed them in the radio.

Carefully unpacking two new batteries, Yao Wei made sure not to damage the battery packaging much so that the plastic wrap could still tightly cover the other two new batteries.

Yao Wei had always maintained good habits of saving, never losing them. Even while unpacking batteries, she was careful to avoid minor details causing issues later.

While Yao Wei installed batteries, Lu Xi’an deliberately turned to watch her, ensuring she didn’t install the batteries’ positive and negative sides incorrectly.

Fortunately, Yao Wei was knowledgeable in this regard, perhaps due to previous encounters with such things.

With the batteries installed and the cover plate secured, under Lu Xi’an’s guidance, she pressed the switch on top of the radio, and a "zzzz" sound emerged from the radio.

—It’s the sound of current coming from the speaker.

This radio had no signal.

Lu Xi’an suddenly stopped the car and said, "Fang Shuxin said there is no signal at his home, but there used to be one here. Should we wait here and adjust the channel?"

"Okay."

Yao Wei nodded and asked, "How do I adjust it?"

She knew how to install batteries but wasn’t familiar with operating the radio, so she had to ask Lu Xi’an.

"Next to the button above, there’s a knob. You turn it."

Lu Xi’an guided her while asking Yao Wei, "Do you think we should drive the car back to the original spot?"

Yao Wei looked out the car window and said, "We haven’t gone far yet."

"True."

Lu Xi’an nodded, then turned off the car and pulled up the handbrake.

He and Yao Wei got out of the car, straightforwardly took the radio from Yao Wei’s hands to operate himself.

Yao Wei pursed her lips, wanting to operate it herself yet knowing this was serious business, not playtime.

Her expression flickered, but Lu Xi’an noticed and said, "I’ll take a look first, then I’ll let you try."

"I’m not playing..."

Yao Wei muttered discontentedly, feeling Lu Xi’an was treating her like a child.

Such remarks in such a tone, only my mother used to speak to her when she was little.

"Alright, alright, you’re not playing. I’ll let you try later."

Lu Xi’an replied perfunctorily, fiddling with the knob on the radio.

Yao Wei: "..."

Still in that tone!

How come this guy is getting annoying?!

But this time Lu Xi’an was fully focused on the radio, not noticing Yao Wei’s slightly resentful expression.

Fiddling with the radio’s knob, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes moving forward, then backtracking, or raising high, lowering low, even climbing higher with the axe, or jumping back into the cliff cave.

Lu Xi’an made many attempts, but the radio always emitted the "zzzz" electric current sound, with no other sounds.

After trying for a long time, Lu Xi’an finally gave up: "Forget it, perhaps the Reconstruction Faction is already gone, or there’s no one using this kind of stuff now. Let’s go."

"Okay."

Yao Wei had no objections and got back in the car with Lu Xi’an.

Lu Xi’an casually tossed the radio to Yao Wei, then reversed out of the mountain road.

And Yao Wei, holding it, tried mimicking Lu Xi’an’s actions.

Although she knew it’s useless, she still wanted to give it a try.

—I’ll just try it once, then pop the battery out.

She thought to herself.

A few times wouldn’t be a waste, right?

But as she fiddled and rotated the knob, she suddenly noticed a change in the electric current sound.

"Zzzzz—zzzz—full—zzzz—command—zzzz—"