The Last 299 Days of Humanity

Chapter 57 Desert Peril
When Yu Qing and Fu Rong returned to the carriage, they found Chang'e and the others already waiting anxiously. He said sarcastically, "Ah, such a fun place, you're willing to come back so early? Isn't that a waste?"

Yao Dan said, "You're the one who let us in to have some fun. We just took a quick look around and came out, but you and Furong both disappeared, and now you're blaming us."

Daji said, "Maybe they already made a plan to dump us."

Yu Qing laughed and said, "You've all learned how to turn the tables on humans. Getting back to the point, this place is nice and safe, but it's not a place for us to stay for long. I think we should leave now. What do you think?"

Chang'e said, "Since my husband has already decided, what are we still looking at? Of course, we should go."

This time, we're heading to Shoufengtai, a small town only 30 kilometers from the Second Paradise. The journey from Tianqing City to Shoufengtai involves flying over a vast desert of about 600 kilometers.

As they drew closer to their destination, Yu Qing grew increasingly impatient, eager to reach the Second Paradise immediately and reunite with his kind.

Yu Qing showed off the Lingxi necklace he had bought to everyone, explained how to use it, and then put one on everyone.

He joked, "This time you don't have to worry about losing it. This thing works better than cell phones from hundreds of years ago. It doesn't need any relays; it's a one-to-one connection."

After the cars took off, the people in both cars began frantically testing their new toys and exchanging telepathic messages with each other.

Yao Dan suddenly asked, "Won't it run out of power soon?"

Yu Qing said, "No, it can be charged using solar power, and even without charging, it can last for three years."

"That sounds a bit exaggerated. Imagine how much electricity it would consume to transmit a message over thousands of kilometers."

"I'm not bragging, but it doesn't transmit messages via electrical signals. It's a communication method invented by scientists in Tianqing City called mirror communication, which I don't really understand either."

To put it simply, there exists a kind of "same" matter in the universe. When the "same" matter around you swings its vector at an angle in a certain direction, all the "same" matter in the entire universe swings at the same angle. You and I can communicate by simply capturing the change in that vector direction of the "same" matter.

"My lord, I still don't understand."

"It's okay if you don't understand. Just know that the energy required to make your 'same' person next to you sway is negligible. What really consumes power is the array of signals that are analyzed and intercepted."

"Then when I'm communicating with you, no one else can communicate with me anymore. Because when I make 'Tong' swing in a certain direction, another person can't simultaneously make it swing in another direction, right?"

“You're kidding me. ‘Same’ is a substance that can swing in any direction at the same time. You're not a physics teacher, why do you need to figure this out? My mouth is dry, Furong, give me some water to drink.”

Yao Dan laughed and said, "She's not in our car."

Just then, Chang'e sent a message from another car: "But Furong isn't in our car either!"

Yao Dan hurriedly said to Yu Qing, "Husband, we've trapped Fu Rong in Tianqing City!"

Yu Qing said angrily, "They're always causing me trouble. And Fu Rong too, giving her that Lingxi collar is like putting a dog in its cage!"

"My lord, please don't be angry. She's a little slow; perhaps she hasn't learned it yet."

Yu Qing had no choice but to stop the car midway and land it on a sand dune. Chang'e then turned around in mid-air and returned to Tianqing City to retrieve Furong.

At this point, everyone thought it was just a minor incident, so they didn't take it seriously. Yu Qing was the same; besides, it was his first time seeing the vastness of the desert with his own eyes, so he was actually quite excited. Daji and Yan'er started chasing each other on the sand dunes, and Yao Dan soon joined them.

Inspired by them, Yu Qing followed in their footsteps.

The sky was overcast, and a gentle breeze made the weather cool and pleasant. Looking out at the endless, undulating yellow sand, one felt refreshed and invigorated. Before long, they used the sand as weapons and began a chaotic battle. Daji was the loser in this war, often hiding behind Yu Qing to defend against Yao Dan and Yan'er's attacks. Yu Qing, however, suffered as well, constantly being hit by sand, several times nearly getting it into his eyes.

Daji turned and ran back, calling out, "Darling, I'll go find you your helmet!" to escape the attack and also because she was afraid that sand would get into Yu Qing's eyes.

After Daji left the battlefield, Yaodan and Yan'er began a "civil war".

Looking at their innocent and carefree appearance, Yu Qing couldn't help but feel a surge of emotions. If it weren't pointed out, to outsiders they would appear to be just eighteen or nineteen-year-old young women, even more human than humans themselves.

At this moment, Daji rushed over and shouted, "My dear, where is our carriage?"

"The car isn't up there..."

As Yu Qing spoke, he looked towards the parking area, but there wasn't a single car in sight!
When Yao Dan and the others heard that the car had mysteriously disappeared, they came together to look for it. Yu Qing said, "This is truly bizarre!"

"We didn't remember the location wrong, did we?"

"You can see for twenty or thirty miles in one glance. There's no way to hide such a big vehicle!"

"Was it swallowed by a giant desert python?"

"That's even more impossible. Even if there really was a sand python that big, it wouldn't be able to move after swallowing such a large creature."

Suddenly, the sand nearby rippled, which startled everyone. After a while, it rippled again, and then there was no more movement.

Yan'er mustered her courage and walked over, her large hands rummaging around for a long time, trying to figure out what was under the sand.

"Honey, it's Second Sister! Our car is stuck."

Yu Qing ran over to take a look and found it was the rear of the car. Their car was upside down and slowly sinking. The lurching earlier must have been Second Sister activating the automatic traction function, but it failed.

Yu Qing realized the car was beyond saving, and hurriedly ordered, "Open the trunk and salvage our luggage!"

Although the second sister couldn't save herself, she could still forcefully open the trunk. Without a moment's hesitation, Yan'er jumped in and quickly threw the luggage piece by piece to Yao Dan and Da Ji, who then temporarily moved it to a safe place.

Two minutes later, all the luggage had been moved out. The car, however, was sinking deeper and deeper into the sand, and finally, with a loud thud, it disappeared completely.

Yao Dan, Daji, and Yan'er each carried their luggage, Erlang led the way, and Yu Qing followed closely behind, heading towards a place that seemed more sturdy.

At this moment, Chang'e had already received Furong and, upon learning that Yuqing was in trouble, immediately rushed to his rescue.

However, there can't be any more problems now. Chang'e's vehicle has already wasted energy on one round trip, and there's no surplus energy left after flying over the desert.

In the end, the six of them squeezed into two seats, and the trunk was also packed full of luggage. But thankfully, the third sister still took off smoothly, and according to the calculation, they would reach the wind farm in about two hours.

After flying smoothly for more than ten minutes, Yao Dan kept blaming Fu Rong for slowing everyone down, and complained that her big butt took up most of the seat. Da Ji complained that Yao Dan kept pushing her. It took Yu Qing a lot of effort to quiet everyone down.

However, the desert changes in an instant; dark clouds gathered, a fierce wind arose, and a torrential downpour began. This storm seemed to have been waiting for them for years. The car swayed and flew precariously in the wind, facing imminent danger.

But they dared not stop. The shifting desert was perhaps even more dangerous. If they remained there for even a few minutes, they could very well be buried by quicksand.

(End of this chapter)