CHAPTER 53: CHAPTER 53: YOU’RE DIFFERENT

Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei stared at the fish in the water for a long time, while the fish seemed oblivious to the human gaze, its tail swaying back and forth as it swam in circles, creating ripples in the water pot.

To prevent the fish from being unable to swim due to too little water, Lu Xi’an deliberately poured some water from the bucket into the pot, as if preparing to add water to the pot.

The fish in the pot showed no awareness of the changing water level, swimming calmly and gently, its movements unchanged.

"The vitality of this fish is truly tenacious!"

Lu Xi’an couldn’t help but marvel.

"Yeah."

Yao Wei nodded and said.

Neither had ever paid attention to such a situation before. When the severe cold arrived, they would hide away, not noticing such things.

Now it was because the car had air conditioning, which ensured they could remain mobile in extreme cold weather, that they drove to the riverbank to cut ice and fetch water.

Lu Xi’an speculated, "Could this be the reason the fish in the water can survive the severe cold in this environment? I wonder how other animals manage to get through it?"

Yao Wei shook her head and said, "I don’t know, we can’t see them."

Indeed, they couldn’t see them; wild animals would always hide in places where people couldn’t during the cold snaps.

Sometimes he still had to brave the sudden cold and walk some distance, but those animals seemed to never need to.

Lu Xi’an wondered if the animals that survived until now might have awakened some sort of early warning ability, just like ants moving home or swallows flying low, able to be alert before a cold wave hit and timely hide.

If that really were the case, he wouldn’t mind catching a small animal to keep for a while and observe it carefully.

Lu Xi’an said, "I wonder if Luo Ping knows about this? That guy said he wants to be inspired by plants and animals to study this phenomenon; it should help him, right?"

Yao Wei said, "I don’t know."

She probably meant she didn’t know if Luo Ping knew or not.

Lu Xi’an said, "Who cares if he knows or not, we’ll let him know the next time we meet. What should we do with this fish now? Should we keep it for further observation or eat it for our next meal?"

Yao Wei thought for a moment and replied, "Research it until the next meal."

The best of both worlds, nothing wasted. Really, that’s Yao Wei for you.

Lu Xi’an laughed, "Alright, let’s research it until the next meal."

The next meal was actually much later.

It was too cold, and unlike being in the Tan Village Shelter in Fengcheng County, Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei had no means to cook a meal.

If the cold snap persisted too long, they would have to rely on eating some dry food to stave off hunger when necessary.

Luckily, they had plenty of dry food now, including compressed biscuits given by Luo Ping.

Those things were quite filling.

After they cut enough ice by the water and filled both the bucket and the pot with water, the two set off again.

Heading west, after a long journey, a city finally appeared before them.

The style of that city was quite different from Yubei City. Lu Xi’an had come all the way from the north and had seen cities, whether in ruins or intact, that were nothing like here.

According to Yao Wei’s "World Map One," the city was called Tongzhou County.

The county’s roads were wide, and tall buildings were sparse. It seemed stylistically similar to the grasslands and wastelands outside the city, giving a feeling of vastness and sparsity.

However, in today’s world, where are people not sparse?

"We must enter this Tongzhou County."

When Lu Xi’an found a suitable spot and stopped the car outside the county, Yao Wei in the passenger seat glanced at the map and said.

She further explained, "Mengxin City has very few gas stations. If we can’t refuel here, it might be risky to continue."

The risk, of course, didn’t need elaboration. Yao Wei was worried about not finding fuel ahead.

Lu Xi’an nodded and said, "Okay, let’s go in and take a look."

However, things didn’t go as planned. Just after he spoke, a snowflake suddenly drifted down and stuck to the front windshield.

This snowflake seemed like a reconnaissance scout. After it, the whole world suddenly filled with white specks, even blocking the view.

Lu Xi’an sighed and said, "The weather’s not cooperating, let’s wait a bit."

"Yeah."

Yao Wei nodded and said.

In the blink of an eye, the ground had turned completely white.

In such conditions, driving was very dangerous. If there were people guarding the county, going in rashly might make a quick retreat difficult.

Then, they would only have to face them head-on and end up in a tough battle.

—Although Lu Xi’an was quite an experienced driver, he didn’t trust his skills to drive fast on icy roads without skidding.

Neither guarding a car of supplies and confronting someone nor accidentally crashing while driving fast were situations Lu Xi’an wanted to see.

So Lu Xi’an turned off the car, took out two pieces of bread, and shared them with Yao Wei with some water. They laid back the seatrests, covered up with a blanket and rested.

The place Lu Xi’an chose was excellent, surrounded by hills with a peak shielding them, isolated from the tall buildings on the county’s edge.

This way, they didn’t have to worry about being discovered by people in the county looking from tall buildings.

"Do you think there are people in Tongzhou County’s city?"

Lying down, Lu Xi’an didn’t rush to sleep and instead asked.

Yao Wei wasn’t asleep either. She turned her head to look towards the county through the car window and said, "I don’t know."

Actually, nothing was visible through the car window. Outside was all white, and even if someone stood on a tall building in the county to keep watch, they probably couldn’t see anything now.

This situation was actually a good opportunity to sneak in.

But with opportunity also came risk; Lu Xi’an and Yao Wei didn’t want to put themselves in danger, so they planned to wait.

"If there are people in the county, do you think they would be good or bad?"

Lu Xi’an asked another question.

This time, Yao Wei answered decisively, "Bad."

Lu Xi’an couldn’t help but laugh, "You say it so firmly. Haven’t you seen good people?"

Yao Wei shook her head without speaking.

That seemed to mean she really hadn’t.

Lu Xi’an grumbled, "Aren’t I a good person?"

Yao Wei said, "You’re different."

Lu Xi’an said, "How am I different? Are you saying I’m not human?"

Yao Wei turned to glance at Lu Xi’an, unwilling to speak.

She thought Lu Xi’an really liked saying nonsense sometimes. She liked to listen but didn’t like to respond.

"Alright, alright, sleep."

Lu Xi’an covered his head with the blanket, then said to the mechanical dog at Yao Wei’s feet, "Gou, stay on guard."

After he said that, he realized Gou was powering the air conditioning at the back, so he could only say, "Never mind, we’ll keep watch ourselves."

Yao Wei said, "No problem, I can sense danger."

Lu Xi’an laughed, "Your Neo-Human model must be different from mine. I don’t have that function."

Yao Wei: "..."

She imitated Lu Xi’an’s style and covered her head with the blanket.

The white snow outside made the whole world extremely bright, making it uncomfortable to sleep.

Lu Xi’an somewhat regretted not taking more sheets when leaving Tan Village Shelter; otherwise, he could have used them as curtains now.