Big G, Coffee Machine and Goblin

Chapter 34: A CD Dedicated to the Past
Solo heard a thunderous roar coming from the cave.

Thinking that some monster was lurking inside, I instinctively reached for my sword, but then I saw a strangely shaped iron carriage slowly emerge from the cave.

What's even more amazing is that even though there's no animal power pulling it from the front, the metal carriages at the back can move on their own.

Levi's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed excitedly, "My God, by the Goddess of Magic, what am I seeing?! There are pipes up there, it's a train! I actually saw a train in Revatres!"

"That's not a train, it's an off-road vehicle," the half-elf girl beside her corrected. She had heard Ma Li mention it before and remembered the name.

The old alchemist looked puzzled. "What's an off-road vehicle? Is it a small train?"

"Uh, I don't know, maybe."

Ma Li then opened the car door and jumped out of the driver's seat. His gaze swept over the crowd one by one. "There are more people than I expected. It might be a bit crowded. Let's give priority to the elderly."

Considering that Li Weier was already over ninety years old and his old bones couldn't withstand any more exertion, Ma Li decided to let him sit in the passenger seat.

However, this would mean the half-elf girl would have to give up her seat, but Ciel didn't want to go to the back of the carriage.

So she suggested, "Why don't we sit together again, just like when we first met?"

"No, I need to drive long distances, that's too uncomfortable."

"Well, all right then."

When Ma Li left Luoyang, he carried a lot of supplies and provisions, leaving not much space in the carriage. By the time he arrived at Baimu Village, he had used up about 120 liters of diesel fuel. Other consumption was not much, totaling less than 20 kilograms.

After learning about this world from Charles, Mali immediately realized that he might have brought too much food and water.

But there's nothing we can do about it. If we don't leave the red fog, we'll never know what the outside world has become or if there are still gas stations.

Before setting off, he made some adjustments to the supplies on the vehicle, temporarily storing some water and food in the half-elf girl's cabin.

Now he was directing Solo and the others to lift the remaining tools and supplies onto the roof rack and secure them. After all that fuss, they finally managed to squeeze six people into the trunk, but don't expect much in terms of comfort.

After all, Ma Li had removed the rear seats a long time ago, so the six of them could only sit on the floor now.

However, for safety reasons, Ma Li still used netting and nylon rope to secure them in some simple way.

To Ma Li's surprise, the most nervous person among them was actually the most experienced and seasoned Solo.

The latter asked him more than once whether it was safe to ride in this thing.

According to Solo, one of his teammates died at the hands of a rampaging alchemical golem, and he clearly has some psychological trauma related to such large alchemical creations.

Only after Ma Li assured him that the doors on both sides wouldn't suddenly flatten him into a meat patty, and that the entire car body structure was quite sturdy and capable of withstanding a certain amount of impact, did his expression improve slightly.

After settling everyone in, Ma Li got back into the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt.

To further ease the monster hunter's tension, he immediately turned on the car stereo.

This time, the song playing over the loudspeaker was "Swords Like Dreams," the opening theme song of the 94 TV series "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber."

The lead actor, Ma Jingtao, was not yet known as the "Roaring Emperor" at that time, and the female leads on screen were all beautiful and charming.

Strangely enough, Ma Li had no idea that the music players had the function of recording and freezing time when he listened to music before.

When a familiar melody plays, it unconsciously draws people into memories of the past.

Ma Li is not a person who likes to reminisce. His childhood was unremarkable, filled with the smell of engine oil and rust, and the days he spent working in an office building after graduation were not particularly memorable.

However, at this moment he did miss those ordinary days of the past.

When did this longing begin? Was it when I saw the catnip leaf in front of the half-elf girl's cabin? Or when I saw those small copper spheres simulating the movement of the solar system at the Alchemist's Guild? Or perhaps it was the ancient alchemy techniques that the old alchemist kept repeating over and over again...?

Once these seemingly trivial clues are pieced together, it is easy to arrive at some unsettling conjectures.

Ma Li didn't like this conjecture.

But the ruthlessness of time lies in the fact that it never changes according to anyone's will; it always moves forward relentlessly and never looks back.

From this perspective, perhaps the red mist in Blackrock Canyon is just a CD dedicated to the past.

And what about him? Is he just a ghost drifting in the notes of the past?
Thinking of this, Ma Li felt a sense of unreality, and the world in front of him seemed to become extremely distant. However, the warm breath from the back of his neck quickly pulled him back to reality.

"Do you have any canned food? Braised pork or yellow peach will do too." The half-elf girl peeked over at some point, looking expectant. "I've been too busy before and haven't had time to eat. I didn't eat well last night either, and my stomach is full of ale."

“Yes, it’s in the cardboard box in the back. Go find it yourself.” Ma Li paused, then added, “Get one for the others too.”

"Okay." Charles happily untied the nylon rope binding him and went to rummage through the boxes at the back.

The off-road vehicle continued driving along the gravel-strewn mountain road.

Ma Li rolled down the car window, feeling the breeze blowing in his face, the wind carrying the scent of earth. He rested one arm on the car door, and Zhou Huajian's magnetic voice drifted through the mountains and fields.

I'm drunk/A hazy blur

Kindness and resentment / Are they illusions or emptiness?
I wake up / from a spring dream

Life and death / All is vanity~
They came in a hurry, they left in a hurry, I wish we could have met again.
Love comes and goes quickly / Hate comes and goes quickly / Everything is gone with the wind~
Solo, who was squatting in the back row, commented, "This piece is quite powerful. It reminds me of the battle with a harpy on the Red Plateau. The scar on my face was given to me by her. In return, I cut off her head in the end."

"Harpies? Have you ever seen harpies?" the older brother of the brother-sister adventurers asked curiously. "Legend has it that they kidnap men, force them to mate with them, and then use their claws to cut open their chests and eat them afterward."

"That's right, those rumors are true. Except that they keep the good ones and let those men live a few more months... maybe longer. I know an Imperial barbarian who was captured by a harpy and lived in her lair for three whole years until he was rescued."

"I heard that lucky fellow is doing quite well in the capital now, and is very popular with those noble ladies and young women."

(End of this chapter)