Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 160 Past
“Dead…dead…actually dead?!”

The man kept muttering, as if he was caught up in some emotion. He didn't care about the situation at hand and unconsciously put his arms down again.

After putting it down, he suddenly remembered it and quickly picked it up again.

Looking at his expression, Lu Xian felt that he was indeed afraid that Yao Wei and he would attack him, or he was unwilling to have a conflict with others.

"That's right. If he wasn't dead, how could you have come over there?"

The man said again, and then murmured once more, "It's better to die... It's better to die..."

"You know him?"

Lu Xian asked. He originally wanted to leave after Yao Wei returned to the car, but after hearing what the man in front of him said, he realized that this man was familiar with the fish rider.

Since he is familiar with the fish rider, he is probably from the old world just like the old tree.

So, can I ask this person some questions about the old world?
"Dog, you warned us because this man looks a bit like the old tree and the fish rider, or is there some other danger?"

Lu Xian took advantage of the fact that Yao Wei had not yet gone up to the roof of the car and the dog was still being held by Yao Wei, and dangled it in the passenger seat to confirm with the mechanical dog.

The dog's eyes lit up.

Lu Xian was completely relieved. It seemed that the dog had indeed transformed the man in front of him into the same type as the fish-riding man before because of his physical condition.

Seeing Gou Zi like this, Yao Wei didn't rush back to the roof of the car.

She looked at the man just like Lu Xian.

The man nodded and said, "I know him. His name is Liang Xiaobin. We have known each other since we were kids. We both lived in Liangcheng County.

“Then I came here alone and hibernated… should I consider it hibernation?

"I didn't expect that after two sleeps, I'd become an old man... He's also dead... Sigh... I'm still a child...

"I always wanted to grow up...but why is it like this now? Sigh...I sigh so much..."

The man riding the fish was indeed Liang Xiaobin.

Lu Xian couldn't tell that this man was a child at all. Judging from the tone and logic of his speech, he didn't sound like a child either. He was at least as old as a college student.

Lu Xian ignored the man's sadness and asked, "Why are you still hibernating?"

"How can it hibernate? I don't know..."

The man looked lost, and after thinking for a while, he seemed to be confused, so he sighed again, "It should be because of the strain receptor, right?
“Anyway, at that time, we all became recipients in order to resist the cold disaster.

"Later, the cold weather became more severe and the recipients could no longer withstand it, so they were vaccinated with an improved reagent and became improved recipients.

"Later, my skin started to rot, so I ran here alone and fell asleep. I slept for a long time.

"Now when I wake up, I feel like I'm dying. It seems like I might die of old age at any moment... Sigh..."

He sighed again.

Many details were omitted in this statement, but Lu Xian had already guessed what this person said.

What Lu Xian is more curious about now is the past.

"What happened in the first place? Why did you come here?"

Lu Xian asked again.

The man was stunned for a moment, and after a long moment he said, "What happened? So many things happened..."

"Cold disaster...war...receptor disease..."

"What war?"

Lu Xian continued to ask.

The man shook his head: "I don't know... Anyway, I don't know. We're not old enough. I only know that my parents and Liang Xiaobin's parents were drafted away... And many people were also drafted away..."

At this point, he suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "But why... only Liang Xiaobin's parents sent things back?!

"That C-type strain, they say it's a new receptor reagent that can save lives! Where are my parents? Why is there no news at all?!
"I don't want any reagents, even a letter would be fine! Why is there nothing?!"

The voice was so sorrowful that it made one feel like the speaker's face was about to burst into tears. However, when Lu Xian looked at the man's face, he saw the exposed bones and muscles, the festering skin, all dry and cracked, without a single tear.

I don’t know if it was because of the torture from the D-1 strain that damaged his tear glands, so that he can’t shed a single tear now.

"and then?"

Lu Xian continued to ask.

"And then... and then..."

The man recalled, “Then we hid in the mountains, and he wanted to give me the new receptor reagent and asked me to use it, but I refused.

"That was given to him by his parents, not given to me by my parents. I just think he has a good life and I have a hard life. It's all fate.

"I let him use the reagent himself, so he can get better. As for me, it's best to find a place to wait for death.

"But it suddenly started raining, and I don't know what fell down, but it made a hole next to us.

"We all fell into the pit and passed out. When we woke up, the pit was full of green water.

“I didn’t react at the time, and after I woke up I thought everything was fine, that he had the reagents to heal, but I was going to continue to rot to death, just like everyone else.

“I didn’t want to stay there anymore and thought I’d be jealous of him, so I left and came all the way here.

"Now think about it, what's a good fate or a bad fate? In this world, how can there be a good fate? Sigh...

“Anyway, since I came to Gu County, there have been few people here.

"I really wanted to sleep. I had this strange feeling that if I slept I wouldn't die. So I found a place to sleep and fell asleep. I didn't expect that I slept for quite a while.

"I wanted to see how Liang Xiaobin was doing, so I went back to Liangcheng County.

“But I didn’t expect that guy to stay in the reservoir all the time, and the water in the reservoir turned green just like the water in the pit.

"He's become like a monster, he can't talk, he can't communicate, and he wants to eat me.

"I didn't dare stay there, so I ran back to Gu County and continued looking for a place to sleep."

Lu Xian asked: "So you found a coffin?"

The man shook his head and said, “The first time it wasn’t a coffin, I found a house that felt a little warm to sleep in.

"The second time, I felt like I wasn't going to survive. Hibernation has allowed me to survive until now, but every time I wake up, I feel so bad.

"I thought since I was going to die soon, I might as well find a coffin. So I went to Donghuan Road and found a coffin shop.

“There are a lot of auto repair shops on that road, and I found the engine oil there.

"After I found the coffin shop, there was no one there, so I found a coffin, lay down in it, closed the lid, and have been sleeping ever since."

He paused here and continued, "What do you think... could he have been affected by that reagent and become like that?
"And me, everyone else couldn't survive, but I did. Is it because of that reagent?
"Did he accidentally break the reagent and let it flow into the pit?" "Otherwise, why did everyone else die, but I, like Liang Xiaobin, am still alive today?"

"Somehow the water in that puddle on the mountain flowed into the reservoir. The last time I went back, the reservoir was green.

"Alas... this reagent is worse than not having it. If it weren't for the reagent, Liang Xiaobin and I would probably be dead, right?

"The last time I went back, Liang Xiaobin had gone crazy. We're the only two left in this world... Oh, and you guys... I thought it was just the two of us. Sorry...

"There are only a few of us left, and he's still crazy? What's the point of living like this...

"I now feel that dying early is not bad."

He kept on talking, but what he said was actually wrong.

The green water had nothing to do with the Type C strain test kit; it was the same substance as in Old Tree's pit. It seemed this person didn't know this.

Lu Xian didn't explain to this person. He could tell that the focus of this person's words was not on these things, but on the vicissitudes of life, the changes in the world, and the madness and death of his old friend.

This man seems to be confused about what happened back then. I don’t know if the things that happened back then are so secretive, or if he has been hibernating since then and his memory has declined.

It now appears that this person has become what he is now because of the combination of the type D strain and the green water leaked from the observation point.

His behavior is completely different from that of old trees, and he can even hibernate.

I wonder if he can become invisible?
The fish rider was also type D-1 at first, then he was inoculated with type D strain, and then injected with type C strain, and finally with the effect of green water, he became like that.

According to the scanning judgment of the resonance gene scanner, the person's absorption and conversion of type C strains also failed, and type D was also not successful, so it was not scanned out.

This kind of freak, someone who failed to evolve but still retained their abilities, seemed to be a unique product of Jianshan City, not found anywhere else. At least, I had never seen one, and Yao Wei had never seen one in her travels before.

And... the D-type New Humans also have the ability to hibernate?!

The old tree in Xiaogang Village can sleep for a long time, and this person here has also slept for two nights. I wonder if Chai Xin is the same?
Lu Xian thought about it carefully. The bacterial strains were all designed to help humans adapt to the environment and survive disasters. Type D-1 and Type D were the best and most suitable bacterial strains in this regard, so they were selected.

——Especially the D-1 type, which is very stable. We have seen so many examples of the instability of the D type.

Then, the D-1 type strain can give people basic cold resistance, while the D type strain can allow people to hibernate directly, resisting severe cold while reducing consumption, slowing down metabolism, and surviving cold disasters. It should be considered a very effective coping method.

Perhaps the decision to use the type D strain was made in order to allow people in the cold disaster to survive the disaster by hibernating.

As a result, the instability of the type D strain caused a large-scale outbreak of a genetic disease - let's just say that - and people died of skin peeling and ulceration. Those who survived until now all encountered damage and leakage at the observation points.

and also……

Lu Xian suddenly thought of a question——

According to what happened here and the "war" mentioned in the letter between this person and the fish rider, the type C strain was sent after the fish rider's parents joined the war. Does that mean that other types of strains were used after the type D-1 strain?
The D-1 type strain was launched through a transmission tower and spread through the air to allow people to complete the vaccination. Perhaps all the people at the beginning were first vaccinated with the D-1 type strain, and the new humans of types A, B, C, and D were all newly vaccinated on the basis of being vaccinated with the D-1 type strain.

All of them were composite new humans, whose genetic evolution and foundation for coping with the world's severe cold were all D-1 type.

Were the models A, B, C, and D, which were originally sealed, put into use because of the coming of that mysterious war?
Who are the opponents in the war that make people produce other types of new humans while having modern and information-based weapons?
Lack of information, still can't figure it out...

After thinking about it for a while, Lu Xian gave up and asked the man one last question: "Are you here specifically to stop us?"

The man nodded and said, "Yes... You were driving south earlier, so I thought you must have come from the north. The main road to the north leads to Liangcheng County, so I thought I'd try my luck and ask you how Liang Xiaobin is doing."

Um... now comes the last question.

"Why are you here stopping us?"

Lu Xian asked.

The man said, "The road to the north is blocked, so you will come back. I saw you walking so fast before, so I knew you didn't want to conflict with me.

"Otherwise, why would I dare to come to you! I thought that if you were to return, you would definitely not take the same route, so I came here to try.

"Thank you for telling me this. I have some food hidden in the coffin. If you want some, you can go get it yourself."

Lu Xian narrowed his eyes: "Why don't you eat?"

The man shook his head sadly. "No, I'm not eating anymore. I've been sleeping for so long, I think my stomach has been damaged. I'm never hungry. I ate a little when I came out. I also brought some with me. With my current appetite, it's enough."

"I don't want to go back. If I go back, I just want to lie down and continue sleeping. I want to go to Liangcheng County to see where Liang Xiaobin died. Can you tell me?
"I want to go find him and talk to him. The last time I went to see him, he had gone mad and wanted to eat me. There was no way we could communicate. Now that he's dead, we can talk now, right?"

He did not ask how Liang Xiaobin died or whether it had anything to do with Lu Xian and Yao Wei.

Maybe it does, but what does it matter?

In this world, for someone like Liang Xiaobin, perhaps death would be a relief...

"It's on the Liang River. You have to look for it. And you have to go there as soon as possible. If you're late, you might be eaten by the fish in the river, or you might drift away to who knows where."

Lu Xian said.

When he was at the edge of the Liang River, he killed the fisherman. After a while, the body floated up. At that time, it did not drift downstream with the current. But who knows what will happen now?

The man nodded and said, "Is that so? I'll be there soon. Thank you. You can go now."

As he spoke, he retreated to the side of the road, his arms still raised and the arrow still stuck in his shoulder.

Lu Xian asked: "Is your arrow okay?"

The man shook his head and said, "Just leave it in like this. I wonder if it will bleed if I pull it out? If it bleeds too much, I'm afraid I'll fall asleep again, or even die."

Lu Xian didn't say anything else.

Yao Wei climbed onto the roof of the car, drawing her bow and arrow, aiming at the man, who then stood obediently on the side of the road with his hands raised high.

Lu Xian shifted gears, stepped on the accelerator, and drove forward, quickly passing the man. The man remained motionless, reassuring Lu Xian and Yao Wei.

After the two of them walked a long way forward, the man turned north and slowly followed. However, he was walking after all, so his speed was much slower than Lu Xian and Yao Wei, and he soon disappeared from their sight.

Only then did Lu Xian let out a sigh of relief and said, "I didn't expect to meet someone who knew the fish rider."

"Ah."

Yao Wei responded from the roof of the car.

Lu Xian added: "I thought there was going to be a big fight, but now we just exchanged a few words and learned some of the past, which is not bad."

"Ah."

Yao Wei still responded with a "hmm".

Lu Xian then asked, "Should we go to the coffin and take a look? I wonder if what that person said is true?"

"have a look."

This time, Yao Wei finally gave a clear opinion, "If it's true, there will be food. Let Gouzi confirm it first to avoid danger."

"it is good."

This time it was Lu Xian's turn to answer concisely. He took another detour and drove back to the main road of Gu County, then walked out of the county and turned onto the East Outer Ring Road.

(End of this chapter)