The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 108 The Third Paradise
After daybreak, Yu Qing personally drove with E Ying to open up a landing site.

Looking down at the ground from 200 meters above, it's really difficult for the human eye to see the details clearly. In the end, Eying found a suitable location herself.

That place was less than twenty meters from the bottom edge of the amusement park's dome. Eying scanned it with her eyes; the ground there was neither too hard nor too soft, making it an ideal landing site.

As the car came to a stop, Eying pushed open the car door and jumped from a height of two hundred meters. A deafening crash followed, and all the trees below were snapped in two.

Looking out the car window, Yu Qing saw E Ying standing below, waving at him. This was a pre-arranged signal that she was alright and that Yu Qing should drive back to the valley first, as it might take her 30 minutes to an hour to tidy up the scene.

After waiting in the mountain hollow for about an hour, Yu Qing, carrying Chang'e, Yao Dan, Daji, and Dang Gui, flew back to E Ying. She had already prepared the landing site.

Yu Qing's car landed smoothly.

Now all we need to do is cut open the dome of the amusement park. That's a matter for Chang'e and Yao Dan.

Seeing Eying's dirty appearance, Yu Qing felt a little guilty for suspecting her without any evidence, so he went over and gently brushed the dust off her body.

The humanoid girl possesses more sensitive emotional responses and cognitive abilities than humans, which can stimulate her to take more initiative and gain a stronger sense of security.

In contrast, Dang Gui has made little progress so far, and has even become more sluggish than before. Yu Qing has reason to worry that his kind will be irreversibly left far behind by those humanoid beauties.

Hopefully, the Third Paradise will have some bright minds, not a bunch of blockheads.

He was also somewhat worried about the gender imbalance here. If he found only men, he would face a very complicated situation. Reason told him that this would not only not bring any benefits, but would also add a lot of trouble.

In the current situation, having more women than men is more conducive to the survival and reproduction of the group.

After a long day of work, Chang'e and Yaodan, with the help of Eying, managed to break open a small triangular opening under the dome, just big enough for Yu Qing and the others to climb in.

This leads to a hilltop in the park. Following the construction model of the first and second parks, the park's inhabitants lived about 4 to 5 kilometers ahead. Now they can only get there on foot.

It seems their luck wasn't so good; there was no path ahead, only ancient trees over a hundred years old. The people in the park had probably never been here before, as there wasn't a trace of human activity.

Chang'e and Eying went ahead to clear the way, while Yu Qing and Dang Gui sat on the mountain waiting for them to finish clearing the path before setting off. To prevent attacks from wild beasts, Yao Dan and Daji stood guard on the side.

A series of unidentified bird calls echoed through the forest. A sour, rotten smell filled the air. Danggui, without any protective gear, immediately fainted, and Daji had to lead her outside to wait in the carriage.

About an hour later, Chang'e sent him a message telling him to set off. Yao Dan, carrying Yu Qing on his back, eagerly chased after her.

Yu Qing sensed the high temperature, indicating that the park's temperature control system had malfunctioned. This was not a good sign; the deteriorating living conditions would bring a series of problems.

Upon seeing the residences in the amusement park, Yu Qing exclaimed excitedly, "Finally..."

He choked on his words and couldn't utter the rest. Some loneliness was something that even humanoid girls couldn't alleviate for him; only his own kind could heal it.

They practically ran into the building complex. But after going in and out, they didn't see a single person!
Yu Qing's heart sank. Could this be a ghost town? He told Chang'e and the others to split up and search, while he and Yao Dan also looked for signs of habitation in the vicinity.

It's said that the park's internal structure was designed by the same architect, so Yu Qing is very familiar with the layout of the facilities. He took Yao Dan to the food station first, only to find that it was overgrown with grass.

It seems that no one has come here to get food for at least ten years.

Is there really no one left? The information provided by Ruyi Star is unlikely to be false; they must have abandoned these houses and moved elsewhere. If that's the case, 100 square kilometers isn't a large area, but it's not small either, so searching won't be easy.

If it were him, where would he move to? He thought that firstly, the place should be close to places where food and water could be obtained, and secondly, since there was no temperature control system, it should still be a cool place in hot weather.

After listening to Yu Qing's analysis, Yao Dan said, "Could it be the lake we saw on our way here?"

"I really didn't notice. You saw a lake? That's probably it!"

Yu Qing immediately called Chang'e and the others over, and together they went to the lakeside to search.

As soon as Yu Qing reached the lake, he concluded that they lived there. The lake wasn't large, at most five or six thousand square meters, and its longest stretch from one end to the other was only four hundred meters. He could see a cave at the foot of the mountain on the other side of the lake in the distance.

As Yu Qing and his group approached, they saw several tattered clothes drying on the branches of trees outside the cave. What excited Yu Qing most was that several fish were roasting over a fire! But where were the people?
They must have seen someone approaching from afar and then hid somewhere. But they certainly didn't go very far.

After all, Chang'e and the others were dressed like fairies, while Yu Qing was dressed in an air-conditioned suit and wearing a helmet. For someone who had been isolated from the world for so long, they had never seen such a scene before, so it was no wonder they were frightened.

Yu Qing and his group walked to the cave entrance and peered inside. The cave was only a dozen meters deep, with no way out, and could not hide anyone at all.

Yu Qing said, "Everyone, go and search the neighborhood, but please don't scare them."

Just then, there was movement on the lake; bubbles were rising steadily from the surface. Yu Qing pointed and said, "They've gone underwater..."

Before he finished speaking, five disheveled heads suddenly emerged from the water, took a deep breath, and then disappeared back into the lake.

Clearly, they had panicked and hid in the water, only surfacing to breathe because they couldn't hold their breath any longer. Two minutes later, they indeed surfaced again for another breath.

Eying said, "Master, shall I go and bring them up?"

"It's not 'bring them up,' let's be polite, it's 'please.' It's not good for them to stay in the water like this indefinitely."

E'ying, Chang'e, and Yaodan jumped into the lake together. They found the people in the water tangled together. They certainly didn't want to be caught by E'ying and the others, so they were trying to hide underwater. E'ying and the others didn't need to breathe, and they were no match for the humanoid beauties.

Soon after, the game ended, and Eying and Chang'e each carried two people up, while Yaodan carried an eight or nine-year-old child up.

These people were all naked, and upon closer inspection, Yu Qing realized they were all women. He quickly turned away and said, "Quickly find some clothes for them to wear!"

Yao Dan said, "Husband, how are they going to wear these rags?"

Yu Qing said, "Stop talking nonsense, as long as it covers their shame!" After a while, Yao Dan called out, "Husband, they've all put their tattered curtains on themselves."

Yu Qing then slowly turned around. He saw the four women trembling like leaves, kneeling on the ground and kowtowing incessantly, shouting something under their breath.

Only the little girl buried her face in Yao Dan's arms and remained motionless.

Yu Qing felt a pang of sorrow. He said to Chang'e, "I forgot, none of us can speak G language. Go and call Daji here quickly, and ask them what they're arguing about."

At this moment, Eying said, "Master, I can speak G language. They were probably saying something like 'God, we have offended you, please forgive us.' Because the pronunciation was a bit strange, that's all I could understand."

Yu Qing sighed, "So they think we're gods descended to earth. They've regressed to a primitive age. E Ying, tell them we're not gods, we're people from the First Paradise."

Yu Qing tried to take the little girl from Yao Dan's arms again, but she clung tightly to Yao Dan's clothes. He remembered that he had some snacks on him, so he took them out and gave them to her. She stared at the food but didn't dare to take it, so Yu Qing unwrapped the packaging and stuffed it into her mouth.

Sure enough, candy makes it easy to coax a child. The little girl gradually lowered her guard, and after being in Yu Qing's arms, she even dared to rummage through Yu Qing's pockets.

Meanwhile, Eying spent a long time communicating with the four women, but they were still skeptical. However, she finally managed to find out some information about them. They only knew that she was about 25, 21, 19, and 17 years old, and that her names were 1, 2, 3, and 4.

Upon hearing this, Yu Qing stamped his foot and exclaimed, "It's over! It's over!"

Eying asked, "What's wrong? What do you mean by 'it's over'?"

Yu Qing sighed, "Think about it, do you think the people who named them 1, 2, 3, 4 have any culture? Their previous generation had no culture, so this generation has even less of a chance. Our ancestors created such an advanced technological civilization, and now we've been reduced to only knowing 12345."

Eying said, "Master, let me teach them slowly!"

Yu Qing said happily, "Alright, alright, then I'll leave it to you! Don't be like Daji, who taught Danggui for so long and is still a blockhead!"

Yao Dan asked, "What do we do now?"

Yu Qing said, "What else can we do? Our vehicle is out of power, so we can only let it sit in the sun for two days before we can move on. Could you please go back to the vehicle and bring some food in? We'll sleep in those houses tonight."

But when Eying translated the meaning to the four women, they refused to go back, insisting that there were ghosts there.

"A ghost? Ask them what's going on."

Eying asked for a long time but couldn't get any answers, so she had to give up.

After Yao Dan brought the food, Yu Qing asked her to distribute some to the four girls and also gave the little girl a portion.

Chang'e said, "My lord, the names 1, 2, 3, and 4 sound rather awkward. Why don't you give them nicer names?"

Yu Qing pondered for a moment and said, "Then let's call them Yu Lan, Yu Xuan, Yu Qi, and Yu Yi."

Yao Dan said, "Husband, why do they all have your surname? Do you want them all to be your wives?"

Yu Qing laughed and said, "That's utter nonsense. How about I change my surname to yours?"

He patted the little girl's head again and joked, "I plan to raise this little one for another ten years to make her my wife."

Everyone burst into laughter upon hearing this.

This little girl has very high emotional intelligence. Seeing that everyone listens to Yu Qing and has been fed several times, she now doesn't want anyone else and clings to Yu Qing.

Her intelligence was also on point. Yu Qing only taught her once, and she already knew to call him "Big Brother," Chang'e "Sister Chang," E'ying "Sister E," and Yao Dan "Sister Dan." Her own name was "Little Fox," a name given to her by Yao Dan.

After dinner, Yu Lan and the other three went back to the cave to sleep, while the others sat at the entrance. Yu Qing sat in the middle, dozing off while holding the little fox. Daji and Danggui slept in the car and didn't come in, while Furong and the others guarded the other two cars in the ravine.

The little fox cried several times in its sleep during the night, making it impossible for Yu Qing to fall asleep. In the moonlight, he looked at the little fox's sallow face, emaciated from malnutrition, and fell into deep thought. It was time to consider finding a place to rest and recuperate.

The most urgent task is to settle them down, help the little foxes recover their health, and enable them to master the culture and knowledge accumulated by humankind over thousands of years.

Should they continue searching for other similar beings in the remaining paradises? Yu Qing planned to proceed in two steps. First, he would settle the people he found in a safe and livable place, leaving Daji, Furong, and Yan'er to protect and nurture them, while he would lead the others to the next paradise.

From a safety perspective, there's no need to go anywhere; the Third Paradise itself is a good place. However, Yu Lan and the others have already adapted to the climate here, with only angelica root possibly being a little difficult to obtain. As for food supplies, two vehicles can be left for them to regularly transport food from nearby areas.

Yu Qing summoned Ruyi Star for advice. There is a living city 270 kilometers northwest of here, called Wushi City. You can go there to get supplies to bring to the Third Paradise.

However, Blackstone City is not very peaceful. It's inhabited by a diverse group of people and was originally a gold-mining area. After the development of inexpensive synthetic gold technology, it began to decline. But later, a plant that slowed aging was discovered there, and it flourished again.

Yu Qing told Yao Dan and the others about his thoughts.

Yao Dan said, "That's great, we can travel light now."

Chang'e said, "I also think this is the best way. After all, there are too many unknown factors ahead, and it would be too risky to take this group of people who have no ability to protect themselves on the journey."

Yu Qing said, "But we still need to settle them in here. The conditions in this cave are too poor; we need to find a way to get them back to their houses. E'ying, you must find out why they said there are ghosts in those houses."

"Master, shall we ask now?"

"No, let's ask again when it's light tomorrow."

Yao Dan suddenly said, "Husband, why don't I go to the house tonight and take a closer look to see what's going on there!"

"Yao Dan's suggestion is good. Since they say that place is haunted, there must be a reason. Chang'e, you go with her. E Ying can accompany me here."

(End of this chapter)