The image of the young man emerging from the water is dreamlike and magnificent, capable of captivating anyone who witnesses it in an instant.
And when his bright eyes lift up and catch your gaze, the positions of hunter and prey instantly reverse.
Xie Tianlang stood there by the river for a long time, until the young man in the water raised the corners of his lips to him. He then suddenly came to his senses, ran to the riverbank, and reached out his hand to the young man.
There are legends in both the East and the West about mermaids, who are incredibly beautiful.
But Captain Xie once scoffed and told those greenhorns who fantasized about mermaids not to be delusional. Mermaids and merfolk were just the imaginations of the ancients. They should believe in science. Mermaids were actually just bald, smooth-headed dugongs.
But now, looking at the young man lying on the bank in the river, his upper body naked and his hair flowing freely, Xie Tianlang felt that the man in front of him was the merman who had captured people's hearts.
He gently swallowed, trying to calm his wildly beating heart, his eyes still fixed on the person in the water.
"...Yuanyuan?"
It was a face that he remembered vividly from the first time he saw him, yet every time he met him again, he looked different.
This time it was even more so, the change was so great that he was not sure if this was the rich and beautiful Yuan Yuan who had dyed his hair for some reason, or a fairy in the world whose eyebrows and eyes were extremely similar to his Yuan Yuan...
Just as Xie Tianlang was becoming uncertain, he saw the stunningly beautiful young man in the water raise an eyebrow at him and then roll his eyes fiercely:
"Who else am I if not your father?"
Xie Tianlang laughed instantly, his long arms plunging into the water, and he reached out to pick up Yuanyuan.
His eyes lit up with pleasure as he glanced again at the straight, beautiful legs underwater.
"For a moment just now, I thought you were a native merman from this world."
"What animal's transformation ability is it this time?"
Xie Tianlang skillfully carried Yuanyuan in a princess carry, and casually stroked her extremely smooth, beautiful, rainbow-colored long hair a few more times.
"That hair color is really eye-catching."
Qicai Fugui was too lazy to struggle in his arms. He was used to being carried, and he was really exhausted after swimming upstream for several hours.
Mantis shrimp.
Xie Tianlang didn't hear what he said at first. He held his Yuanyuan steadily, bouncing her up and down, and felt that Yuanyuan had indeed lost some weight after not seeing him for more than ten hours.
"I'll make you salt and pepper mantis shrimp when we get back. But I'm asking what kind of animal you had this time? A guppy or an arowana? Actually, koi are quite pretty too, but the color of your hair doesn't look like a koi."
The colorful mantis shrimp, Fugui, twitched its lips and stretched out its hand, wanting to punch the guy who wanted to make salt and pepper mantis shrimp.
However, just as his little fist was about to touch Xie Tianlang's chest, he suddenly realized what was happening and withdrew his hand, instead kicking the stupid wolf with his heel.
"I said I'm transforming into a mantis shrimp this time!! Who said I wanted to eat salt and pepper mantis shrimp?! And even if I were to eat it, why does it have to be salt and pepper? Can't I have spicy braised mantis shrimp?"
Xie Tianlang paused upon hearing this, then looked incredulously at the excessively beautiful and wealthy woman he was holding in his arms, his handsome face filled with "I don't understand."
"...Mantis shrimp...I don't recall ever seeing them this colorful?"
"It's a type of mantis shrimp! Strictly speaking, it's a discus mantis shrimp! Also known as a peacock mantis shrimp, it's the kind of creature that went viral online before, the one that could smash fish tanks with its big pincers! The speed of a discus mantis shrimp's punch can even exceed that of a bullet!"
As Seven-Colored Shrimp Fugui spoke, a smug and proud expression appeared on his face. He stretched out his little fist at Xie Tianlang and said, "I'm not kidding you. If I punch you like this, I can smash your forehead."
Xie Tianlang: "..."
He looked at the fair and beautiful hand in front of him and reserved his opinion for the time being.
However, you can just look up what a rainbow mantis shrimp looks like when you get back.
And, "So, do you still eat spicy braised mantis shrimp?"
Seven-Colored Shrimp Fugui paused for a moment, then withdrew its little fist, silently swallowed, and decisively said, "Eat!"
Xie Tianlang chuckled softly.
At this moment, Xie Tianlang had already brought the wealthy and beautiful woman to the side of the solar-powered motorcycle that Song Sanchuan had modified, which enabled him to get here quickly.
Both of them were now covered in sweat. Even though the Seven-Colored Shrimp had just come out of the warm river water, which was much cooler than the ground, it was already feeling unbearably hot.
"Find a set of insulated clothes to wear, and I'll take you back by bike."
Gou Fugui looked at the modified car, then at the time and the river beside it, and finally shook his head.
"Let's walk back along the river."
"I didn't have time to tell you before because of the magnetic field issue, but I've found an underground world where everyone can better avoid this disaster."
"And the core of the world."
Xie Tianlang had already guessed how surprised he was when he heard about the underground world. But when he heard "the core of the world," he still couldn't help but widen his eyes slightly.
Then he laughed and couldn't help but reach out and touch the young man's long hair: "As expected of my most amazing Yuanyuan!"
"So what is the core of this world? It can't possibly be some rock underground, can it?"
The wealthy and beautiful woman shook her head directly: "Of course not."
His eyes still held a look of admiration and wonder: "You would never guess, it's a World Tree!"
"A giant tree emitting a white, luminous glow!!"
"You can't imagine how magnificent and dreamlike the underground world I discovered was."
It was a beauty beyond words, so the wealthy beauty decided to let the guy see it with his own eyes and then not say anything more.
"The tunnel that the groundhog family led me through is impassable for humans. So I went upstream along the river, and the entrance is right where I came out of the riverbed."
The surface temperature is already too high; even digging a tunnel wouldn't be sustainable. And the temperature is already this high at night. Even if someone like me and Sanchuan can barely move around in such high temperatures at night, it's impossible for anyone else to walk or travel for extended periods.
"Fortunately, the temperature at the bottom of the river is still relatively cool. If I think it's not good enough, we can lead them to swim along the river to the entrance, and then go downstream from the entrance directly to the underground world."
Qi Cai Fu Gui took out a bottle of ice water from his pocket to cool himself down, then tossed another bottle to Xie Tian Lang, sighing softly, "This is the best method I can think of. Otherwise, as the Earth gets closer to the sun, the orbital instability will increase, and everyone may find it increasingly difficult to move forward."
Until they wither and die, just like the plants on the earth that cannot escape.
Xie Tianlang's expression turned serious: "The cause of this apocalypse is the sun?"
The wealthy and beautiful woman nodded somewhat helplessly: "The world consciousness told me this when I found the core of the world. It asked me if I wanted to take back the core of the world."
"I think He probably... wanted to tell me the reason for the disaster and then persuade me to give up?"
Xie Tianlang had already followed his beloved Fugui Yuanyuan to the riverbank. He looked at the beautiful figure reflected on the water with a gentle expression and said firmly, "But you still want to do your best, don't you?"
The young man with dazzling, seven-colored hair in the water laughed: "That's right."
"Do your best and leave the rest to fate!"
"However, given the current level of technology and the various resistances caused by the high temperatures, it is difficult for the Earth to break free from the sudden increase in the Sun's gravity."
Although Xie Tianlang adored his wife Yuanyuan's philosophy of "doing one's best and leaving the rest to fate," he was also rational enough to see clearly that this world had almost no future.
The colorful shrimp, Fugui, did not answer immediately.
He pulled two swimming rings from his pocket and tossed one to Xie Tianlang. Then he put on the ring and jumped back into the river.
After two splashes, two more people wearing swimming rings were seen floating downstream on a tributary of the mother river that flows through Changshi.
Because the return trip was downstream, the two of them could easily float in the river towards the subway in the city center without any effort.
After floating on the river for several minutes, the colorful and beautiful Qicai Fugui said, "...I think it might be lacking in life force."
Xie Tianlang remained silent as he listened to Xie Tianlang continue.
"This doomsday is unlikely to end with the help of any one of the world's creatures, such as humans. It's actually a bit like a shipwrecked world."
"We do not know how those towering waves and seemingly endless rain were formed, but they stopped because we found the core of the world and repaired it."
"The repair of the world's core is a time when all living beings are working hard. At that time, the power of life should be very, very high. High enough that the world can use that power to repair its core and then stop the giant waves and rain."
"So, if..."
The long-haired beauty lay on her swimming ring, looking at her guardian wolf: "If we can find enough life force, maybe the world can move backward on its own?"
"Do you remember a particularly interesting, non-scientific movie? Scientists detected that a meteorite was about to hit the Earth, and the final solution was to have everyone on Earth take a step back at the same moment, and then the Earth moved backward."
Xie Tianlang laughed.
The wealthy and beautiful woman laughed along: "Of course, it's impossible for everyone on Earth to run backwards here, so the Earth itself will run backwards."
"But if it's an apocalypse that needs to be saved, the world itself probably doesn't want to be destroyed, right?"
"Even if it's difficult to save, perhaps it can save itself if it gathers enough life force?"
After saying this, Gou Fugui looked up at the big moon in the sky with a bit of helplessness.
"I know it's a bit far-fetched, very fantastical and unscientific."
"But the fact that we can go to different worlds and try to save the world when the gates of doomsday arrive is itself very illogical."
"Since science can't explain or save the world, let's use some unscientific idealism."
If all else fails, we'll desperately try to reclaim the world's core as a last resort.
Xie Tianlang watched the young man gazing up at the starry sky, and finally simply followed suit, looking up at the sky and then drifting downstream.
That's probably what makes his roundness unique.
When almost everyone else would give up, he would try again and again.
It's not that you're foolish enough to hit a wall before turning back; rather, it's that you should reach out and touch the wall just before you hit it to see if it's really a wall and whether you can even get past it.
If you can get through, then go for it.
If you can't beat them, turn back.
They are both crazy and rational people who desperately seek a way to survive in dire circumstances.
"Round and round".
Xie Tianlang looked at the round moon and spoke.
Fu Guiyuan blinked and hummed in agreement.
"The moon tonight isn't as beautiful as you."
"After the apocalypse ends, I'll watch the moon with you every day."
The most beautiful Yuanyuan paused for a moment, her ears and cheeks burning as she paddled forward through the water.
The water flowed gently, and Xie Tianlang, who was floating behind, heard a reply after a long time.
"snort."
"I want a hundred necklaces as a franchise fee for our round-the-world trip for two. They can't be any worse than that gemstone one."
"Don't repeat the same thing; it's best to make it handmade and unique."
Xie Tianlang laughed with great pleasure.
After laughing, he hissed again, realizing that the betrothal gifts were far too high.
But who could resist the temptation that made him willing and so deeply moved?
"good."
Let's start saving up for our future wives from this very day forward!
...
After drifting downstream for half an hour, Fu Gui Mei Ren and Xie Tian Lang each finished half a watermelon with a spoon, and they had drifted to the city.
However, as they drifted downstream, their direction had already deviated from the location of the city's train station. If they continued drifting downstream for a while, they would reach the city center square.
At this moment, Gou Fugui and Xie Tianlang climbed out of the river, looking like two wet water ghosts, and got back into the car and headed to the train station.
It took them a total of twenty minutes to ride their motorcycles from where they came out of the river to the train station subway tunnel.
On the way back, the wealthy and beautiful woman, sitting in the back seat of the car, gazed at the city at night. After a few minutes, she quietly closed her eyes. Even in the darkness without any lights, her eyes allowed her to clearly see everything in the city.
I saw countless pitiful corpses and parched earth shrouded in the night.
At this moment, there are no chirping insects or croaking frogs, no bustling night market crowds, only the roar of motorcycles echoing through the night.
A metropolis of one million people was as quiet as a dead city.
Perhaps, by this time, it was already a dead city.
When Fu Gui Mei Ren and Xie Tian Lang returned to the subway tunnel, he discovered that during the dozen or so hours he had followed the groundhog down there, they had dug another two or three meters deeper into one area of the underground passage.
Basically everyone sat in this deeper pit, in the middle of which was a refrigeration unit with circulating air, a fan, and a large refrigerator with its lid open.
Although the temperature inside the cave reached 50 degrees Celsius, it was much cooler than the 65 degrees Celsius outside. In this large pit, the temperature was further reduced from 50 degrees to 30 degrees Celsius.
Such a temperature is already quite comfortable in today's world.
However, the sweltering cave, the fear of the ever-increasing temperature, and the insufficient supply of food and water left the people and surviving animals in the pit looking listless and completely lacking in energy.
The only exception was Xiaoyun's father.
He suffered burns to his palms and chest from the asphalt road during a sudden temperature spike on the seventh day of the heatwave, and also sustained severe sunburn on his face and neck.
Almost everyone was pessimistic about the middle-aged man's future, but he survived thanks to his daughter's care, and now he can even sit up and occasionally stand up and take a few steps.
Although he had terrible burns on his face, upper body, and legs where they were stuck to the ground, his recovery ability was astonishing.
Moreover, through his special vision of the colorful and prosperous "World of a Thousand Flowers," he could even see the body temperature images of the more than one hundred people and dozens of cats and dogs sitting in the pit. Among the humans, the one with the lowest body temperature and the smallest fluctuation was actually this middle-aged man, besides Song Sanchuan.
Seven-Colored Fortune blinked.
Could this be considered a form of self-repair and adaptation in humans?
In extreme circumstances, this is the result of the cells in the human body or the human consciousness desperately trying to survive.
Thinking of this, Gou Fugui smiled again. Aren't these creatures on Earth just tiny cells of the Earth that are working hard to repair itself?
"Oh my god, second brother, you're back!! I'm so glad you're alright! God knows how worried I was when you left! But it's good that you're back... Uh, but Fugui, where did you go? What's with this head of colorful, dazzling hair?!"
Song Sanchuan was so excited to see Xie Tianlang and the beautiful Fugui return that he jumped out of the pit. However, when he got to the mirror, he realized that the Fugui in front of him was no longer the same Fugui. Instead, a dazzlingly beautiful Fugui appeared in front of him!
Song Sanchuan looked shocked, conflicted, and confused, and subconsciously asked:
"...So you disappeared for a full eighteen hours just to get your hair done?"
Thump!
Song Sanchuan was kicked back into the pit by Xie Laoda, whom he admired most but was also the most cowardly. The Seven-Colored Shrimp Fugui, who had suddenly become wary and a bit irritable, also calmed down a bit.
"If you can't speak, then shut up. Nobody thinks you're mute."
Song Sanchuan lay in the pit, still looking at him with a puzzled expression.
However, he and all the people and animals in the pit were soon shocked and overjoyed by the words of the Seven-Colored Wealthy Beauty.
"Does an underground world really exist?! Is the temperature there really only in the teens?!"
"Oh my god, are we saved? Are we finally not going to die of heat?!"
"Where is that underground world? Can we go there now? No, what's it like there? What should we bring?"
Almost everyone was looking at Gou Fugui with eyes full of longing and seeking affirmation. These eyes, which had gone from lifeless and hopeless to suddenly shining, made everyone's heart tremble.
The wealthy and beautiful woman finally nodded: "There is indeed such a place. I have found the entrance to the underground world. However, if you want to go there, you may have to hold your breath for a long time and float on the riverbed for about an hour... You may suffer a bit when you float and hit the silt and rock walls on the riverbed."
Gou Fugui's point is that even going downstream isn't easy. But everyone in the cave doesn't care.
"My child!" The exceptionally kind and wise grandmother's voice trembled as she said, "What does suffering matter... As long as I can get to that place alive, even if I die there, this old woman will be willing!"
The world on Earth has been completely transformed. The scorching, parched land is not the most terrifying thing; what is terrifying is the despair of having no way out and slowly waiting to die.
"Yes, yes, as long as we can go, we're not afraid of suffering! It's just that we don't have enough time to hold our breath... How are we going to get there?"
Gou Fugui had already made plans for this: "I will go to the hospital to find some small, portable medical oxygen cylinders. Everyone can carry one with them and take a couple of breaths of oxygen when they feel they can't breathe."
"Just hang in there, an hour should pass quickly."
Everyone's eyes lit up immediately. "Yes, yes, that's great! That's perfect!"
"What about the cats and dogs?" a child asked worriedly, holding a kitten.
The wealthy and beautiful woman turned to look at the animals, who seemed to know that they would have little chance of surviving by going downstream, and at that moment they all fell silent.
Seven-Colored Shrimp Fugui grinned: "Divide them into several groups and put them into several large sealed boxes. Then prepare dozens of oxygen cylinders for them. When there is not enough oxygen in the boxes, release oxygen into the cylinders."
"It takes about an hour. If you just put in the effort, you can get through it. You guys should be able to do it, right?"
These animals can find their own villa and crawl inside, and they can even distribute food reasonably. Their will to survive is definitely no less than that of any human.
Then Fugui saw the black cat slowly stand up, walk to the front of the animals and look at him together with the lame wolfhound, and finally let out a calm and domineering meow.
That's the answer: we must survive.
Gou Fugui chuckled, his eyes full of amusement.
Afterwards, the wealthy and beautiful woman went to the hospital with Xie Tianlang to find oxygen cylinders, while the others began packing their luggage according to Song Sanchuan's instructions.
"No junk food whatsoever! Bring potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, wheat—anything that can be used as seeds!"
"Each family should only bring one pot, and wrap up sharp utensils such as knives and spatulas to avoid injuring themselves while floating down the river."
"If you have a blanket, you can roll it up and take it with you. If you don't have a blanket, bring more clothes. You'll need a blanket in the underground world because of the temperature."
"Last and most importantly, remember what my brother Gui said: you'll all be swept out of a waterfall at the end. You must climb out of the pool at the waterfall's edge as soon as possible. Don't play in the water or stay there for too long! There's a water snake down there! A huge water snake! Got it?"
Everyone packed their things and nodded, their hearts filled with excitement.
They don't know what the underground world looks like, but as long as there's soil, water, flowers, grass, trees, and living things, and the temperature is suitable, they can survive!
The fastest way is to grow potatoes, sweet potatoes, or vegetables; there's always something to eat.
An hour later, Fu Gui Mei Ren and Xie Tian Lang returned with oxygen tanks, and everyone had already packed their luggage.
In the short hour, Song Sanchuan quickly modified a transport vehicle consisting of a few planks and wheels. The power source was the solar generator that could be fully charged every day. He decided to use just one night to quickly deliver the luggage and people to the riverbank, even if the solar generator broke down and the makeshift transport vehicle was also destroyed.
At 2:20 a.m., the outdoor temperature was 61 degrees Celsius.
Everyone carried ice water to cool down, put their luggage on the transport vehicle, and then carefully sat on this very simple extended three-section flatbed cart, quickly heading towards the river.
The generator cart, fully loaded with goods, moved much slower than the electric motorcycle. It took them thirty minutes to finally reach the riverbank, panting heavily.
All the way, Song Sanchuan was worried that the car might suddenly explode, but fortunately, it persevered and managed to get everyone to the riverbank, even though it was panting.
By this time, almost everyone's face was flushed and pale, and their breathing had become rapid. After being in such high temperatures for thirty minutes, many people could no longer bear it.
The wealthy and beautiful woman didn't have time to argue anymore. She simply stood in the darkness, pulled out a bunch of swimming rings, threw them into the river, and told everyone to jump in.
Then they took out an electric inflatable boat, put some valuable luggage on it, tied a rope to the back, and let everyone go upstream with the inflatable boat.
The temperature dropped significantly in the river, and everyone felt much better.
Although it was still painful, they gritted their teeth and persevered, swimming upstream.
Even the children were unusually well-behaved at this time; none of them cried or complained of being tired.
At 4:26 a.m., the temperature was 68 degrees Celsius.
The group finally arrived at the entrance by the river on the outskirts of the city.
By this time, the sky was already somewhat bright, and looking down into the river, one could see the dark, bottomless cave that seemed to be constantly swallowing the water.
"...Is everyone ready?" Gou Fugui asked slowly.
"Once inside, they probably won't be able to come back up until they find a new way out."
Some remained silent, some sighed, but most were resolute and determined.
"Ready! Fugui, let's go down! Staying up here is a dead end anyway, let's go to the new world below and fight for a future!"
The oldest man in the crowd spoke up firmly.
Seven-Colored Shrimp Fugui nodded solemnly, then dragged a sealed box containing the animals and was the first to jump into the river.
At this point, everyone was tied with a rope to avoid falling behind. Because everyone was carrying heavy luggage, they quickly sank to the bottom of the river after jumping into it one by one.
Looking at that dark, gaping hole, it would be a lie to say I wasn't afraid.
But the hope of survival can overcome everything compared to the fear of the unknown!
One hundred and thirteen people and sixty-eight animals walked one by one into the abyss as dawn was breaking, never to see the sunlight again, searching for their future in the abyss.
The moment Xie Tianlang, the last of the group, jumped into the river and entered the abyss, a golden, blinding sun rose again earlier than the day before, bringing with it a new round of scorching carnage.
On the 16th day of the heatwave, at 5 a.m., the temperature was 80 degrees Celsius.
Nine out of ten life forms on Earth cannot survive.
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