Chapter 54 Greater Khingan Mountains - 9 *** ……
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Tang Bufan felt that the lettuce tasted wilted and unappetizing today, so he ate it more slowly than usual.
Lu Yi had just finished a bowl of lettuce when he returned with the medicine. As soon as the metal car door opened, a large pile of snow poured in.
“Anderson agreed to help, and I even invited him to stay in the car with me, so it will be easier to move around.” Lu put the medicine pot on the table and went to the back of the car to get a broom.
Tang Bufan was somewhat surprised: "He's coming to the car too?"
Lu Yi, holding a broom, looked awkwardly at Tang Bufan: "He still wants to sleep in our bed. I promised him, so from now on, the teacher will sleep on the floor with me."
Tang Bufan didn't mind sleeping on the floor. He had always slept on the floor when Uncle Wolverine and Eberron were there, so he didn't react much.
"When is he coming?" Tang Bufan asked, opening the lid of the medicine pot and blowing on it, intending to finish the medicine quickly and then tidy up the RV.
“He’s not in a hurry to come over. There’s still that stone wall I built on the slope to keep out the beast tide. We’re going to go out and dismantle it later.” Seeing that Tang Bufan wasn’t angry at his presumptuous decision, Lu Yi felt relieved and began sweeping the snow off the carriage floor.
"Then put on a cotton-padded coat." Tang Bufan always felt that Lu Yi was cold. The V-neck was so open, revealing her collarbone and a little bit of her chest, which made people feel cold.
Although sexy and pleasing to the eye.
“Uh…no need.” Lu Yi politely declined Tang Bufan’s motherly attitude: “I need the beast form, it’s inconvenient to wear a cotton-padded coat.”
Tang Bufan sat there, staring thoughtfully at the handsome man: "Do you think wearing a cotton-padded coat is ugly?"
“…No.” Lu Yi was speechless, wanting to say that she wasn’t that concerned about her appearance.
Tang Bufan had no choice but to let him be and lowered his head to drink his medicine.
After that, Lu Yi left to find Anderson. It was still early, and the sooner he and Anderson dismantled the stone wall, the sooner the RV could set off, and Tang Bufan's chances of survival would be greater.
Tang Bufan stayed in the car to clean up, rolled up his own animal skin rug and quilt and put them aside, then took out another old but washed quilt and spread it on the bed for Anderson to sleep on.
After finishing all that, Tang Bufan stood alone in the quiet and cold carriage for a while, then picked up a furry wolf skin, wrapped it around himself, and walked towards the driver's seat.
He hasn't checked on the RV in a long time.
"Xiao Tang, it's cold in the driver's cab." Kai Ge didn't open the door to the driver's cab for him. The mechanical yet gentle electronic male voice said, "Everything is fine in the RV. Just stay in the cabin and take care of yourself."
"I'm wrapped in animal hide." Tang Bufan knew it was for his own good, but he still wanted to go into the driver's seat to take a look.
Kai still didn't open the door: "Xiao Tang, it's -29 degrees Celsius in the driver's cab. If you catch a cold and get a fever, all your hard work until now will be in vain."
Tang Bufan fell silent, then sighed helplessly and turned back.
Kai is right. He's worked so hard to get this far, he can't afford to give up now.
After sitting idly by the window for a while, Tang Bufan took out the box containing the yarn balls and continued knitting the unfinished sweater with trembling hands.
After knitting for about ten minutes, Tang Bufan heard some noises outside the car. He put down his needle and thread and listened carefully. It was Lu Yi and Anderson talking, but because of the thick snow, Tang Bufan couldn't hear them clearly.
Those two must have started dismantling the stone wall. Tang Bufan heard the sound of stones being thrown out, landing on the ground with a "bang," sounding very hard.
This sound doesn't look good. Tang Bufan frowned, thinking that the sound of the stone hitting the ground was so hard that the soil on this hillside had most likely become permafrost. Permafrost is soil containing ice, and if a continuous layer of ice forms on the surface, the friction will be significantly reduced, causing the wheels to slip.
Tang Bufan didn't know the slope of the hillside, only that it was a cliff halfway up the mountain. If the RV slipped and plunged down... it would definitely be a fatal accident.
Or should we persuade Lu Yi to wait until spring? It would be much easier to go down the mountain once the snow melts... No, that won't work. Spring comes too late in Northeast China. The RV is burning gas every day, and it won't last until then.
He probably won't last that long either.
Tang Bufan then abandoned the idea of waiting for spring and anxiously continued knitting a sweater.
The sturdy stone wall that Lu Yi had spent several days building was demolished by him and Anderson in just one afternoon. The orc boy returned to the RV in the evening and told Tang Bufan about the situation outside.
“There are many animal carcasses on the slope, but they’re frozen solid.” Lu Yi was very troubled: “This mountain range has a lot of moisture, and surfaces are prone to freezing. Even if the RV runs over their carcasses, the wheels will probably still slip.”
“We have tire chains.” Tang Bufan suddenly remembered and immediately led him to the back of the carriage: “My brain is always forgetting things these days, I’ve forgotten about this.”
As Tang Bufan was talking, he reached out to rummage through the clutter piled up at the back of the car, but Lu Yi reached out and grabbed his shoulders, gently moving him to the side.
"I'll do it."
Soon, Lu Yi found the rusty tire chains in the very corner of the pile of junk.
“Not enough.” Lu Yi stared at the heavy stack of chains in the clutter and had an idea: “If the RV slips on a slope, these chains won’t be able to stop its speed. I’ll have to attach these chains to the back of the vehicle, so that Anderson and I can pull the vehicle from the left and right.”
Tang Bufan understood, but felt it was risky: "The RV is so heavy, can you and Anderson hold it?"
"It should be possible..." Lu Yi answered without much confidence. Even though he and Anderson were both high-level orcs, the RV was too big and heavy, and it was unknown whether the two of them could hold it.
The thought that the RV might lose control and plunge down the hillside made Lu Yi suddenly uneasy about leaving Tang Bufan in the vehicle. After a brief moment of thought, he decided to take Tang Bufan with him.
Lu Yi then looked at Tang Bufan and said, "Teacher, you can climb on my back then."
Tang Bufan looked at him with slightly confused eyes, not understanding what he meant.
“I’ll carry you on my back, wrapped in animal skin. My body heat plus the insulation from the animal skin should keep you warm outside. That way, if the RV really slips, you can stay on my back.”
Tang Bufan finally understood, and he felt both moved and saddened.
"...Does that mean giving up the RV?" Tang Bufan couldn't help but feel confused. To him, the RV was not just a vehicle, but also his "home" where he had lived for almost five years.
“Yes.” Lu nodded.
Tang Bufan looked towards the driver's seat. Because the door was closed, he couldn't see the camera flashing red: "...What about Brother Kai?"
Lu Yi also looked towards the driver's seat and fell silent.
His silence was an answer.
"Xiao Tang, Lu Yi's actions are correct." Kai Ge had been listening to their conversation, and its electronic male voice remained gentle: "Please prioritize your own life. Don't worry about me. My existence is only to protect you."
“But…” Tang Bufan’s eyes were filled with deep reluctance.
“Teacher, this is the only way.” Lu Yi interrupted him, while her gaze, sharp as she looked towards the driver’s seat, wondered if she had over-upgraded the AI.
In human history, there have been large-scale accidents involving humans falling in love with AI, which led to a sharp drop in the birth rate. Subsequently, governments around the world issued orders to ban the production of androids, which brought the birth rate back up somewhat.
Even so, news of people falling in love with and marrying AI still occasionally surfaces.
When Lu Yi upgraded Kai Ge's emotional module, he only wanted to help Tang Bufan. He never expected that he would fall in love with him in the future... He regretted upgrading Kai Ge a little.
Tang Bufan didn't notice Lu Yi's deeply hidden jealousy. After a moment of complicated silence, he nodded with difficulty, indicating that he understood.
Anderson didn't come over that night; he clearly didn't like being with the two of them and only came over leisurely the next morning.
Tang Bufan was still lying in bed sleeping when Lu Yi lowered his voice and told Anderson his plan, then gave him the tire chains and thick chains.
"Is he a pig?" Anderson stared at Tang Bufan, who was fast asleep covered in an animal skin, and scoffed, "Can't he hear us talking?"
"Don't talk about the teacher like that." Lu Yi looked at him with displeasure and spoke up for Tang Bufan: "The toxins have been eroding his brain, and he has already tried his best."
Anderson scoffed, "Trying so hard to sleep?"
"..." Lu Yi didn't want to get angry with him, so she could only take him away from the RV.
The two of them put snow chains on the tires in the thick snow, and then used sturdy chains to secure the RV to the left and right sides. Finally, Lu Yi signaled Anderson's beast form to try pulling, and the incredibly heavy RV moved slightly under their pull.
"It can be pulled, but it's very difficult. I think it's still unlikely." The two returned to the cave to pack their things, and Anderson, in his beast form, carried his motorcycle on his shoulder.
"Just do your best." Lu tied the mouth of the sack containing Chinese medicine and told him, "If we really can't save the car, the teacher will be on my back."
Anderson raised an eyebrow in understanding.
The two men left the small cave with their belongings, walked through the thick snow to their RV, and Anderson chained his motorcycle to the roof, while Lu stuffed a sack of medicine into a large cupboard under the kitchen.
They were ready to set off, but Tang Bufan was still asleep. Lu Yi hesitated for a moment, then gestured for Anderson to come and help strap Tang Bufan onto his back.
He had prepared the rope last night.
"We've been running around doing chores here, while he's sleeping soundly." Anderson said sarcastically, but still took the rope that Lu Yi handed him.
Tang Bufan was afraid of the cold, so Anderson followed Lu Yi's instructions and first put a layer of wolf skin on his back, then tied him up with rope and secured him to Lu Yi's back. Then he put on a layer of bear skin and secured him up again.
In this way, the thin and small Tang Bufan lay on Lu Yi's back like a child, as if nestled in a warm little nest.
Lu Yi was still uneasy. Seeing that Tang Bufan's feet were still sticking out, he instructed Anderson, "Wrap animal skin around his feet too."
The extremities are most susceptible to frostbite and amputation.
Anderson was getting impatient, but he knew that Tang Bufan needed this kind of protection, so he could only continue to do it without complaint.
"You'd better pray he's not a member of that organization," Anderson said sarcastically. "Otherwise, all the kindness we're showing him right now will be a joke."
"Don't worry, the teacher definitely isn't." Lu Yi gently patted Tang Bufan, who was fast asleep, on the back through the animal skin, let out a deep breath, and looked out at the snow-covered landscape: "Let's go."
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