Chapter 44 Chapter 44 (Part 2) The fog dissipated...
Finally having the chance to look at the surrounding sea through the thick white fog, Chang Ruijia did not expect that the first person she saw was Lu Baian, who was tied up like a dumpling in a piece of transparent plastic cloth.
"Your outfit is really unique." Chang Ruijia suppressed a smile and said to Lu Baian with a helpless look, "Smart! It's really smart!"
"If I had your generosity, I wouldn't have to try so hard to protect myself." Seeing Chang Ruijia trying to hold back her laughter, Lu Baian rolled his eyes.
Did she really think everyone on the sea was as well prepared as she was? His plastic outfit was enough to save face in front of ordinary people. How thoroughly prepared was he?
"Oh, don't talk nonsense!" Chang Ruijia quickly waved her hand in denial. "At the last market I just left, there was a little girl selling these protective suits, so... you know."
Chang Ruijia specifically mentioned the girl from the last market, diverting Lu Baian's thoughts in other directions.
Sometimes, when she has too many special things in her hands, it will inevitably attract attention. It is better to find a suitable source of the goods as proof, and it will not be considered as cheating him.
After all, the girl really existed, and she did change into protective clothing in the girl's hands, but they were all dispersed.
"Is this true?" Looking at Chang Ruijia's confident expression, Lu Baian slapped his head in frustration, "Oh my! Why don't I have such good luck?"
"We just met by chance." Since it was so hard to meet two familiar faces, Chang Ruijia didn't mind chatting for a few more minutes in the thick fog. "Why did you suddenly appear here? Are you rushing to travel in such a fog?"
Lu Baian waved off Chang Ruijia's curiosity. "Don't mention it. I was just about to head to a crowded place, but after traveling for a while in the dark, I ran into a thick fog at daybreak."
Chang Ruijia nodded with emotion. It really had to be said that they were in the same boat! Didn't she also stay up all night to rush on the road and then encountered fog directly? Everyone was trapped in the same place at the same time.
However, it may be a blessing in disguise. After all, if we still stay in places where people gather, who knows if other man-made crises will occur.
"It's hard to explain in a few words, so let's not talk about it." Lu Baian had guessed this idea, so he didn't know how to comment on this situation of a blessing in disguise.
The two of them exchanged pleasantries for a while, each holding back what they said, and they didn't get to know each other much. They just helped each other relieve the discomfort of not communicating with anyone for a long time.
"By the way, what do you want to exchange for your things?" Looking at the items placed next to Lu Baian, Chang Ruijia finally got to the point.
Although the Kanyidao system can provide Chang Ruijia with most of the goods she needs, for some small and miscellaneous items, it is not that the Kanyidao mall is not comprehensive, but it is not worth using the rare authority to exchange them, so she has never taken action.
Now that I have the opportunity to exchange it from Lu Baian, why not do it?
Plastic sheets, boxes, ropes... Lu Baian counted the names of the items that Chang Ruijia reported and placed them all in front of him.
Then it is time that they should bargain among the items on both sides according to the value of the goods.
Chang Ruijia is no longer the little newbie who followed Lu Baian and stepped into the market for the first time.
Through her experience of exchanging items with most people in the previous market, she can now easily evaluate the exchange of goods based on the value of the goods and the other party's urgent needs.
Almost before dark, Chang Ruijia was bargaining with Lu Baian.
The specific line of speech is similar to: The quality of the things I give you is so good, just give me another piece of rope!
After a long haggling, when Chang Ruijia finally got everything she wanted, she felt her mouth was so dry that she couldn't stand it anymore.
"It really feels like a long time since we last met!" Lu Baian hadn't expected that they would argue all night over just a few things. He couldn't help but lie down with a face covered in exhaustion. "Your tongue is like you've been practicing for ages."
After spending this afternoon together, the relationship between Chang Ruijia and Lu Baian has skyrocketed, and even the suspicion that they had at the beginning about whether the other party had ulterior motives has not remained.
"I didn't expect you to cling to that piece of string," Chang Ruijia said hoarsely, "If you had been a little more generous, we wouldn't have been struggling until now. Can't you be more modest to a girl?!"
"Bullshit!" Lu Baian turned over and sat up. "Look at the tent you've set up, and the protective gear you're wearing. I'm already lucky enough to have you helping me out a little, but you're still trying to pick up that little thing from my hand?"
It was mainly because she was used to it. Chang Ruijia smiled awkwardly. She was used to getting things from the Kanyidao Mall and the system on weekdays. When she met Lu Baian, who was equally matched with her, she couldn't control herself.
"What? You want to continue the battle for a while?" Chang Ruijia squinted at Lu Baian's agitated expression and said unyieldingly, "I can still fight you for a few more rounds."
Hearing this, Lu Baian's originally energetic body couldn't help but stiffen for a moment, and then he slowly shrank back onto the bed. "Forget it, forget it. I can't beat you, okay? I want to continue to speak out tomorrow."
Patting the bed beneath her secretly, Chang Ruijia thought proudly in her heart that Lu Baian was not as good as her in this respect!
No matter how awkward the competition between them was today, as long as the bed could wash away her fatigue, she could guarantee that she would turn into a singing oriole tomorrow and there would be no possibility of her giving in.
"Let's make a deal," Lu Baian said to Chang Ruijia sincerely as he looked at the pitch-black night outside. "It's getting dark, can I stay here tonight and rest near your bell? I really don't have the energy to open it anymore."
"Even if it's not dark, just pretend that you can see the road on the sea." Chang Ruijia curled her lips.
However, the space on the sea does not belong entirely to her. As long as Lu Baian does not approach the bell line to arouse alert, she will definitely not be able to find any legitimate reason to stop him.
Seeing Lu Baian's excitement after getting the nod, Chang Ruijia warned him in advance, "I may not be as alert at night as I am during the day, but my brain isn't as quick as it is during the day either. If I notice any small movement, there might not be just one kitchen knife that will fly out of my hand."
Lu Baian's expression was stern, and he wanted to swear and promise, "Don't worry, I will never touch the LTL in the slightest, and I will never cross the line in the slightest!"
After putting away the camping light, Chang Ruijia lay on the bed and watched the sky gradually darken in the fog, not in a hurry to return to her tent.
"Hey, you said you were going to a place where people gather? Is there something important to do?" Chang Ruijia couldn't help but chat with Lu Baian, who had been out of sight since he lost his camping light.
"That's a much more important matter." Lu Baian's voice was halting, as if he had something in his mouth. "You'll never imagine what kind of feat I'm going to witness."
"Eat up the food in your mouth first." Chang Ruijia rolled her eyes secretly.
"I've consumed too much energy bargaining with you. Can't I ask someone to replenish it?" Lu Baian said as if he had swallowed the food in his mouth with difficulty, and freed his mouth.
"Okay, okay, thank you for your hard work." Chang Ruijia took out a bag of pickled mustard greens from the mall and threw it in the direction she remembered. "This is my compensation to save you from choking to death again."
"Oh, what a great thing!" Lu Baian's voice was filled with surprise. "Thank you for the reward."
Finally, Chang Ruijia did not see Lu Baian explain clearly about the feat that shocked the world. His words were mysterious, as if he was plotting something big.
But listening to him mumbling over there, Chang Ruijia slowly lay back on the bed, feeling that the whole world finally didn't seem to be just her anymore.
She had been alone for a long time, and even no creature like Xiao Yi who could listen to her talk appeared. Occasionally, when she got to know someone like Lu Baian, Chang Ruijia felt that the loneliness she had felt in the fog was alleviated a lot.
In the short term, Chang Ruijia didn't think about going back to the small tent and staying alone. Instead, she just lay on the bed and chatted with Lu Baian about other topics.
Let's talk about what they did before coming to this world, and their views and complaints about this world...
None of them were important topics, but just chatting about them in such a simple way seemed quite interesting.
The night passed in a flash, and Chang Ruijia didn't even remember when she fell asleep.
Her last impression was that their voices grew lower and lower as they talked in the night, and finally, she didn't know who started to stop responding.
Chang Ruijia didn't know how long it had been since she had experienced the feeling of being able to talk about whatever she wanted. If it weren't for the current environmental restrictions, she really wanted to develop Lu Baian into a close friend.
Chang Ruijia stretched slowly and was about to sit up from the bed, but unexpectedly, as soon as she stuck her head out from behind the curtain beside the bed, she vaguely saw a figure not far away.
"What the hell?! We've been invaded by someone else again in just one night?" Chang Ruijia's heart trembled, and she almost picked up the kitchen knife beside her and threw it towards that person.
If Chang Ruijia hadn't seen the man slowly getting up and lazily saying "Good morning" to her through the plastic sheet, she might have really thrown the kitchen knife away.
Perhaps noticing Chang Ruijia's dazed posture, Lu Baian, who had just greeted him, turned around and looked at him again.
Seeing this, Lu Baian, who had not yet realized the problem, couldn't help but fall into the same daze as Chang Ruijia.
Compared to yesterday, the fog seems to have dissipated a lot?!
Otherwise, how come they could see each other from a distance today just through a bell rope when they clearly needed camping lights to vaguely see each other yesterday?
"These foggy days are finally coming to an end?!" Lu Baian said with some surprise, "Can I finally see that damn sun? From now on, I won't be bothered by the sun anymore."
He had long been unwilling to endure the plastic sheeting on his body, but under the influence of the air toxins in the fog, he did not dare to tear any holes in the plastic sheeting and could only endure the rustling sound it made at the slightest movement.
Since the fog has dissipated a lot, it means that he can take off the plastic sheet soon!
Compared to Lu Baian, who only knew that there was mist in the air, Chang Ruijia went straight to the edge of the bed and carefully put her palm into the sea water.
Sure enough, the temperature of the sea water has dropped by an unknown amount compared to what she first felt in the fog, and it should soon return to normal sea water temperature.
"The foggy days are coming to an end! We finally don't have to endure the days without sunlight anymore!" Chang Ruijia also said excitedly.
Only those who have not seen the sun for a long time know how difficult such days are.
And although she usually hid in the small tent without wearing protective clothing, the space in the tent was limited after all, and it was far less comfortable than moving freely on the large bed.
Watching Chang Ruijia's subconscious movements, Lu Baian tilted his head curiously, and also imitated him, tentatively stretching out his fingers and stirring the sea water beside him.
Although he didn't usually have much contact with sea water, he still remembered the cool temperature of the sea water that always penetrated into his bones. The warm feeling he felt now was obviously not normal.
"Could it be that the fog this time came from the sea?" Lu Baian asked Chang Ruijia in a daze. After seeing her nod in the affirmative, he said meaningfully, "As expected of someone with such abundant supplies, you can even understand these disasters so clearly."
"Do you deserve to be chopped off?" Chang Ruijia glared at him and pretended to throw the kitchen knife at him, but she only threatened him afterwards.
"It was just a joke," Lu Baian, who had become very familiar with Chang Ruijia after spending time together last night, said with a smile, "But you are indeed well-informed. It makes me want to use you as a danger alarm."
"Screw you!" Chang Ruijia rolled her eyes and said, "Just think about it. If you want to be able to afford to hire me, you may need to work harder."
"By the way, after the fog clears, do you have any plans to go somewhere?" Lu Baian looked at Chang Ruijia seriously and said, "You should consider going with me to the place I mentioned. It's also a crowded market. With your bargaining skills with me yesterday, I guarantee you'll get a lot of value for your money."
"No," Chang Ruijia finally shook her head and refused Lu Baian's invitation. "If I have the chance in the future, I might go to the market you mentioned to exchange for some supplies, but for me now, living alone away from the crowd is a better life."
Thinking about the previous times when Chang Ruijia accidentally bumped into the crowd, Lu Baian looked at her determined eyes, opened his mouth but ultimately did not continue to persuade her.
"Okay," Lu Baian packed up the supplies he had exchanged yesterday, and finally looked back at Chang Ruijia and said, "Then I'll wait for the next time we meet. Maybe then we can communicate more cordially."
"I hope so." Looking at Lu Baian's last meaningful look, although Chang Ruijia didn't know what he was saying, she still responded seriously.
After seeing off Lu Baian, who had joked with her all night, Chang Ruijia looked at the sun, whose outline finally reappeared in the sky after a long time, and sighed with some satisfaction.
"It's more comfortable when the sun comes out."
When fog appeared on the sea surface, it took only less than a morning to spread the fog to the entire sea area, and even quickly increased the concentration to almost become water.
However, I waited in hope for the fog to dissipate, and stood on the bed after taking off my protective suit with confidence. It took about two days for the fog to finally dissipate.
Chang Ruijia carefully poked her head out of the tent. In order to prevent any inaccurate predictions about the situation outside, she even placed the air purifier at her side.
As long as she took a tentative breath of the outside air, if anything went wrong, she would immediately turn her head to the air purifier to continuously purify her body.
However, that worrying situation did not happen to her.
After carefully taking a small breath of the air outside, Chang Ruijia retreated directly into the tent, waiting for the discomfort to rise from her respiratory tract.
But the familiar burning sensation did not appear, replaced by the long-lost fresh and natural salty smell of the sea.
Free? Free!
Chang Ruijia reacted immediately and ran out of the tent, basking in the long-lost sunshine and feeling the rare breath of freedom.
If she were asked to choose a song to express her inner feelings, it would definitely be "Free Flying". She can even write the lyrics for rap directly, and the feeling of soaring is simply incomparable.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
