Chapter 73 Lost in No Man's Land
(with 3w nutrient solution plus update)
It was a sunny afternoon, with a daytime temperature of seven to thirteen degrees Celsius.
Ahead was a coniferous forest, with the driveway winding into it. The two lanes had become uneven in some places due to years of lack of maintenance. The wheels rolled over the road surface, drove over the lawn, and stopped in front of the coniferous forest.
This coniferous forest was tall and dense, and they liked places with sunshine, so they decided to take a short break and have lunch before entering the forest.
In the silver RV, Tang Yatong turned off the car. Youxi, who had driven the night car for most of the night, jumped down from the bed above the driver's seat, hugged Youqi, who was studying the route map in the booth, and went into the bathroom to wash up.
When she came out, Tang Yatong had already placed lunch on the table.
Two boxes of salmon, a double cheese seafood pizza, crab meat and lettuce salad, steaming garlic grilled oysters, and three cups of hot cocoa.
"We only have a half-hour break, and the lunch time is short, so just eat something casually." Tang Yatong said casually when she saw her coming out.
Youxi:...?
She looked at the table again. Is this just a casual meal?
Four days ago, when they took the "Follow the Wind Train", their lunch was still a bottle of Coke and two pieces of fried chicken, which was a casual meal...
Youqi saw what Youxi was thinking and laughed: "Your sister Yatong's biggest advantage is her strong adaptability. After living in a motorhome with water, electricity, air conditioning and stoves for four days, this lunch can really only be regarded as a casual meal in her mind."
Youxi thought of the day before yesterday. Because the original road was destroyed by the meteorite, they took a detour through another path in the woods, and in the evening they accidentally passed the famous Lake of Tears in the no-man's land.
The moment they saw the lake, the three of them were shocked.
In the end, Tang Yatong gave up the idea of having dinner after dark, parked the car directly, opened the sunshade on the car, faced the sapphire lake, the rolling green mountains, and the endless sky painted orange by the sunset, put out the grill, and made a barbecue and seafood dinner for them.
The best marbled steak was tender and crispy; the king crab legs from the A Peninsula were fresh and juicy; the grilled sockeye salmon head was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside; the freshly grilled oysters were salty and plump; the teriyaki chicken steak was crispy and delicious; and the toasted bread slices coated with garlic sauce...
For Youxi, that meal was simply the pinnacle of her barbecue history.
The freshest and most premium ingredients, coupled with Tang Yatong's craftsmanship, she felt that she could savor it for a long time.
So, is a meal like that the standard combination?
She recalled the scenes of Tang Yatong attending various fashion parties and banquets in the circle in the past, and suddenly understood something.
Needing to rush on the road and with various living conditions being severely restricted, Tang Yatong naturally kept everything simple, so they bought a lot of convenience foods during their last shopping trip.
But not long after they drove into the no-man's land, Youxi took out the RV.
She looked at the two people who were speechless at the time, and took the initiative to explain that the car was bought in the desert town before returning to L City. At that time, she thought it would be more comfortable when fleeing in the future, because it was a second-hand car and not expensive.
At that time, Tang Yatong was still unconscious because of her knocking, so it was understandable that she didn't know about this.
But she knew that Youqi was very careful, so she had removed the license plate on the RV early in the morning. As for the place of production of the car, it didn't matter much, there were many cars produced in other countries running on the streets of Country M.
Youqi and Tang Yatong boarded the RV for a tour. Not only were there beds, water, and electricity inside, but they could also take a shower and sit on a clean toilet. This surprise was so great that even Tang Yatong and Youqi couldn't help but want to open a bottle of red wine to celebrate.
The hard driving experience suddenly changed the style of the scene. Even though there was still a threat of meteorites in the sky, they sat in the comfortable RV, or even lay on the bed and moved forward with the car. They could also listen to the radio and adjust the news. Some disaster threats became less worrying.
People are always good at self-regulation. Isn't it good to make yourself live more comfortably under relatively safe conditions?
Of course, in addition to being comfortable, the three people are still very vigilant. They always maintain the mode of one person driving, one person checking the map and route to be alert to the situation outside the car, and one person resting in peace.
They drive for about eighteen hours every day, and will rush to the planned rest point at about the same time, and then stop for five to six hours. These hours are mainly to let the engine of the RV rest.
In such a wilderness, they will not fall asleep at the same time. Each time, one person will be left on duty to be alert to the movement in the sky.
Just like last night, a small earthquake occurred where they rested.
It was Youxi who was on duty at the time. The moment she noticed it, she immediately started the car and left the mountain slope where she had originally rested and drove to the wilderness to avoid accidents caused by rock collapse caused by the earthquake.
Fortunately, the earthquake stopped soon and the road was not seriously damaged.
This is why Tang Yatong said that the lunch time was short and they just ate a little. Because today they wanted to cross the mountain roads ahead before dark and spend the night on the relatively empty slopes after going down the mountain.
Those mountain roads were different from the roads next to where they spent the night last night. Last night's road had a mountain wall on one side and sparse woodland on the other side, all flat. But today's mountain roads have a mountain wall on one side and steep cliffs on the other side.
They can't spend the night there. If something unexpected happens, there will be nowhere to escape.
Unfortunately, the distances of these mountain roads today are quite long, and it will take a lot of time to travel through them.
"If the mountain road is difficult to drive on after we get up the mountain, let's change the RV to an SUV." Youqi made a mark on the map with a pen, and then quickly finished lunch with them.
**
At three o'clock in the afternoon, they changed the RV to an SUV in front of the winding mountain road.
This time it was Youqi who drove. She drove steadily and slowly. The first third of the mountain road went smoothly until the car turned a 90-degree bend and found that the road ahead was blocked.
On the narrow two-lane road, there is a cliff on one side and a mountain on the other side. At this moment, this mountain road is blocked by many large and small rocks and soil blocks, and the car can't get through at all.
This situation is not recorded on the map, and it is unknown whether the mountain was hit by a meteorite and caused a landslide, or because of an earthquake.
Youxi got off the car, temporarily took out the large items from the Xingwu warehouse, and then tried to collect rocks and then took them out from the cliff. He wanted to clear this mountain road by taking advantage of the fact that the Xingwu warehouse did not require much effort to retrieve items.
However, not long after she took the rock, she found that the mountain road in front of her was already full of cracks, and on the edge of the fragmentation, because of her action of taking the rock, some of the rocks on the top of the mountain frequently slid down, and the mountain road was pressed again, and it began to break near the cliff. There was
still a long part of the mountain road blocked by rocks in front of her. She looked at the cracked mountain road under her feet, retreated carefully, and put the items she had taken out before back into the Xingwu warehouse.
"What's wrong?" Yuqi asked.
"The mountain road is cracked and may collapse at any time. Even if the rocks are cleared, cars and people can't pass through in the current condition of the mountain road. We have to take a detour."
"Take a detour..." Youqi was a little embarrassed now. This mountain road was originally a must-pass place. If she took a detour, she would have to go down the mountain again and go back to the previous place to find other roads, but the detour would be too big. She didn't know if she could get to the correct road in the end.
Tang Yatong had already got in the car and turned the car around: "Let's go down the mountain first, it's getting dark. We have to spend the night nearby and think of a solution tomorrow."
Although they often drove at night, that was on flat ground. It was easy to get lost if they had to find a new detour near a mountain road like this.
The three of them got in the car and returned to the mountain road. They chose the first of the two forks marked by Youqi, and then with the help of the compass, they successfully found an almost invisible lane in a mixed-leaf forest.
The lane was covered with moss and weeds. If it weren't for the small road marking at the entrance of the lane, they wouldn't have been able to tell that it was a road.
The mixed-leaf forest was sparse at the front, and the vegetation became denser as they went inward. The road under the car was unusually winding, and the direction should be correct.
"If we drive along this road for another hour, we will leave this mixed-leaf forest. There will be a fork in the road. Choose the right fork and drive for another 40 minutes to reach a branch of the original road. Then we can go straight."
You Qi sat in the passenger seat with a map in front of her and a compass in her hand.
"We won't get there before dark." Tang Yatong looked at the time. "It's already 5:30. Let's find a place to rest after we leave this forest today and continue tomorrow."
They would not spend the night in the forest because the branches and leaves would block the movement of the sky, and trees are flammable objects. If a meteorite falls, it is easy to cause a fire. If
the forest catches fire, they can't escape at all.
So under normal circumstances, it is better to spend the night leaning against the mountain wall than in the forest.
Of course, the best place to spend the night is in the wilderness beside the highway. In the past few days, because of the high latitude and little vegetation, it was very easy to find a place to spend the night.
But as they headed southwest, the temperature rose, the vegetation became denser, and the scenery on both sides of the highway was gradually replaced by trees, making it difficult to find a place to spend the night.
"Yeah." Youqi nodded to Tang Yatong, "As long as we get out of the forest today, we will find a place to rest."
At this time, the three of them had not thought that they had deviated from the correct road as early as 20 minutes ago.
**
They realized they were lost because they had not seen the fork in the road that Youqi mentioned after driving for more than an hour.
Not only did they not see the fork in the road, they did not even drive out of the mixed-leaf forest. There were still large trees in front of the car. It was getting dark and the surroundings were very quiet.
In such a dense forest, there is no telling if there are wolves or other wild animals at night.
"Did I read the direction wrong?" As the person who was looking at the map to indicate the direction, Youqi felt a little guilty. She turned on the flashlight again and studied the map on her knees.
Youxi reached out from the back seat, took the compass in her hand, and then compared it with the other one she had just taken out from the Xingwu warehouse: "There may be a magnetic field nearby, and the compass is wrong."
She handed the two compasses in her hand to them, and the directions indicated on them were inconsistent.
"So we are really lost?" Youqi sighed, and for a moment, all kinds of bad thoughts surged from the bottom of her heart.
"Don't worry, I paid attention to the sunset when we drove just now. We are still heading generally to the west, maybe a little more to the southwest, but it's still within controllable range.
It's just that the map doesn't mark the path here in detail. We may have branched off. Let's continue to drive forward. The surrounding vegetation is a little sparser than before, and there are many more shrubs. We should be out of this forest soon."
Sure enough, after another twenty minutes, the tall trees around were gradually replaced by low shrubs, and the soil also gradually changed. It was no longer dark and fertile, but looked a lot lighter in color, and was dry and soft.
After driving for a while, the view in front of them suddenly opened up. With the help of the car's headlights, they saw the night sky in the distance and the blue-black sea under the night sky.
They actually drove to the seaside?
The three people were a little surprised, but they could still accept it, because the route they originally chose was more biased to the south, so the distance back to Jingguo was closer. If they drove along the northern part of the uninhabited area, it would be like taking a big detour, which was time-consuming and laborious.
This is a highland with a distance difference from the sea. To their left front is the sea, and to the right is a mountain. The mountain is high and steep, with sparse vegetation, and bare rocks can be seen even at night.
They compared the map and roughly knew why they drove in the wrong direction.
This mountain is not the same as the mountain path they wanted to cross before. They were supposed to pass through the middle of the two mountains. The mixed-leaf forest just now was at the foot of this mountain.
Because of the deviation in direction, they were unable to find the way through the middle and directly bypassed this mountain and came to the sea further south.
They now have two choices. Rest for a night, return the original way, find the road between the two mountains, and pass through according to the original plan.
The second choice is to rest for a night, continue forward tomorrow, directly cross the current right mountain, and find other ways to return to the original road.
No matter what, they have to rest here tonight.
Tang Yatong drove forward again for a distance, trying to find a suitable place for Youxi to take out the RV. But when she turned a corner, a figure suddenly appeared in front of the headlights.
She stepped on the brake and looked at the person in front of her vigilantly.
The other person seemed to be startled as well, and stretched out his hands to cover his eyes and looked towards the car.
In the car, Youxi and the other two were stunned. This turned out to be an 11 or 12-year-old girl from E country!
**
Half an hour later, the three of them were already sitting around the burning bonfire.
This is a fishing village that is not marked on the map. Around them, there are colorful houses of different sizes, built in a staggered manner on this small piece of high ground. Outside the high ground is the sea. There is a downward slope at the edge. If you keep going down, you can reach the bay.
When they brought the little girl back to the fishing village, her parents and family were looking for her everywhere.
"I just want to pick up some beautiful red stones at the foot of the mountain..." The other party was severely scolded, and hurriedly took out the stones from his pocket and handed them over, saying that he was not running away for love, but just wanted to make his flower garden more beautiful.
Afterwards, the girl pointed at the three people from Youxi and explained that they sent her back.
As a result, the three people from Youxi received a warm hospitality from the other party. It was originally dinner time, and the other party not only invited them to dinner, but also invited them to stay overnight.
The girl knew a little bit of M-language, but her pronunciation was not very standard. However, she was still happy to act as a translator.
She looked extremely happy, as if she was very happy to have guests at home.
She showed them the beautiful shells she collected, and then took out her snack box to share with them. She also talked to her parents from time to time, asking if they could stay for a few more days, saying that she had not made new friends for a long time since the Tianshangluoshitou School started the holiday.
Youxi could understand everything the other party said. She touched the girl's soft light golden hair, took out a box of checkers with beautiful glass beads as chess pieces from her backpack, and asked her with actions if she wanted to play chess. The girl
opened the box and saw the colorful crystal clear beads, revealing a surprised smile.
While Youxi and the girl were playing chess by the light of the campfire, the couple brought Youqi and Tang Yatong into the house and used paper and pen to draw pictures to communicate with them, telling them where they were now, how far they were from the road they wanted to go, and which way was the best to go.
At the end, the other party gestured to indicate that after dawn, she could let her husband drive them directly, and as long as they passed the first few complicated and difficult forks that were easy to get lost, they could drive the rest of the way by themselves.
This would save a lot of time compared to returning the same way.
For Youqi and Tang Yatong, after encountering many difficulties such as rocks blocking the road, detours, and getting lost, this seaside fishing village hidden at the end of the fork was like a beautiful surprise.
Outside by the bonfire, after the two played checkers for a while, Youxi gave the box of chess pieces to the other party and said that this was a return gift for the snacks just now.
The girl stared at her with wide eyes: "Sister, you can say--"
Youxi put her index finger on her lips and made a secret gesture to her. The girl looked at her with bright eyes and immediately imitated her movements, indicating that she understood. This was a secret between her and her.
Because she knew that she could understand and speak her language, the girl got much closer to her, took her to the cliff to see the sea below, told her that the road could go down to the bay, and took her to see the warehouse behind the house. There was a big fishing boat parked inside, which was their family's boat.
Because it was damaged by a rock before, her father, uncle, and uncle couldn't go out to sea for a while, and they had been repairing the boat at home.
Fortunately, her family was very capable, and the fishing boat was basically repaired. The deck needed some repairs, and then they could go out to sea again.
Finally, the girl took her to the roof and told her that this was her favorite place. When she looked up, she could see the beautiful starry sky, and when she looked down, she could see the endless sea.
"I pray here every day, hoping that the stars in the sky will stay there and not fall down again... I miss my classmates and teachers, and Nariya... She is still living in the hospital. Her house was hit, and her parents are gone... Every time I call her, she cries... I hope that no one else will lose their parents and home. The stars are so beautiful, they should stay in the sky."
The girl looked up at the starry sky, clasped her fingers against her chin, closed her eyes and prayed silently.
Youxi's eyes moved from the girl's quiet profile to the night sky.
The starry sky by the sea is really beautiful, because without the lights in the city, the stars become particularly dazzling.
But who could have imagined that these beautiful stars would turn into terrible meteorites, falling from the sky with high temperatures, destroying human homes and taking human lives...
But even if I knew, looking at the starry sky like this, I still felt emotional, emotional about the beauty of nature... and the cruelty behind the beauty.
A low roar came from my ear, like thunder somewhere in the distance.
Youxi pulled his attention back from the starry sky and listened carefully again, but after waiting for a long time, he didn't hear the sound just now.
"What's wrong, sister?" The girl finished praying and asked when she saw her tilting her head seriously.
"Did you hear anything just now?"
The girl shook her head: "No, what happened, what was the sound?"
Youxi frowned and scanned the surroundings. There were bonfires everywhere in the small fishing village by the sea. Some people were eating dinner, and some were tidying up the dried fish. Everything was in order and quiet as usual.
Was the thunder just now her illusion?
**
After midnight, when Youxi heard the thunder again, she was sure that it was not her illusion.
She slept all morning today, so she was in good spirits at night and took the job of keeping watch.
Youqi and Tang Yatong rested on the bed that the couple had made up with their clothes on. After the couple rested, she jumped out of the window and got into the SUV that had been specially driven to the window before, to be alert to the meteorite at any time.
At first, the roar was still very weak, and it was almost imperceptible in the ears, as if something was quietly changing through something heavy.
The roar was the beginning of the change.
Gradually, she smelled a strange smell, very unpleasant and a little irritating.
You Xi got up from the folded driver's seat, rolled down the window and smelled the air again. The irritating strange smell was indeed there, and it was not an illusion.
It was like... the smell of sulfur.
Is there a hot spring nearby?
She pushed the door and got out of the car, her eyes scanning the dark forest behind her. In the silent night, the mountain they had circled before stood quietly in the distance, like a huge black shadow.
Youxi looked intently for a long time, and finally she noticed something strange. The highest point of the mountain seemed to be emitting smoke...
In an instant, all the clues were connected.
The bare mountain top, the red stone that the girl picked up at the foot of the mountain, the low roar, the strange smell of sulfur, and the smoke coming out of the mountain top...
Youxi jumped into the window, quickly woke up Youqi and Tang Yatong, told them to get in the car and get ready to leave, then rushed into the couple's room and asked, "Is the mountain behind an active volcano?"
The two were half asleep, but because they were the only ones in the room, they both understood her words accurately.
They were still surprised why Youxi suddenly spoke such standard E-language, and they didn't react for a while.
Youxi asked again: "Is that mountain behind a volcano?"
This time, the woman responded: "No, no, it's not a volcano, it's just a mountain..."
The man frowned, as if recalling: "No, I seem to have heard my grandfather say before that the mountain was indeed a volcano a long time ago, but because there has been no movement for hundreds of years, no one knows about it. It should be a dead volcano."
"When the meteorite fell before, was your place attacked - I mean that mountain."
The two looked at each other, gradually understood what Youxi meant by these questions, and their expressions became tense: "Yes, several meteorites hit the mountain behind, and the explosion was very loud... At that time, because we were lucky enough to be avoided here, we didn't study it too much... You, you mean..."
"I suspect the volcano has revived. There is a smell of sulfur in the air, smoke is coming out of the top of the mountain, and there are also booms inside the mountain. You should pack up quickly and notify the people in the fishing village to evacuate. This place is too close to the volcano. Once it erupts, we will be dead!"
"How is that possible? We have lived here for generations, and everything has been fine..." Although the woman was panicked, she moved on her own. While putting on her clothes, she ran next door to wake up her daughter and other relatives.
Before Youxi left the room, he turned back and asked again: "How many roads are there to leave the fishing village from here?"
The man concentrated for a moment before answering: "Two! One is the road you came here today, which passes through the forest at the foot of the mountain, and the other is the road I originally planned to take you tomorrow--" When
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