Chapter 46 Greater Khingan Mountains - Part 1: The RV Heads Forward...
The RV traveled north, encountering several more mutated poisoners along the way. When they encountered Kaige, they accelerated, but the RV was sturdy, and although the poisoners attacked it, it did not cause much damage.
The grassland gradually disappeared, and in the distance, a series of mountains appeared. Tang Bufan and Lu Yi sat by the window and watched, knowing that they had arrived at the foot of the Greater Khingan Mountains.
The Greater Khingan Mountains, known as the Green Great Wall of Northern Xinjiang, have, as Wan Bing said, even better air than the grasslands. Although cold, the air is refreshing and almost devoid of the stench of the apocalypse.
Since humans entered the underground a thousand years ago, this place has become a paradise for plants and wild animals. All the city ruins are covered with plants, and the roads have all disappeared. Only some reinforced concrete buildings from the late 22nd century can still be vaguely seen to resemble their original appearance.
The RV had to go around the Greater Khingan Mountains to enter the Northeast Plain. The wheels rolled over the fallen leaves as it drove into the mountains. The mutated poisonous people slowly disappeared, and in their place appeared ordinary poisonous people and various wild animals in the mountains.
Ordinary poisoners are mindless and do not have a greenish appearance. Their skin is the same deathly pale color as Tang Bufan's, with obvious blood vessels. They will also bare their teeth and attack when they see the RV, but they are similar to unruly wild monkeys. Kai Ge can scare them away with a loud horn.
As temperatures drop, these ordinary poisonous humans, like other wild animals, begin to migrate south to escape the harsh winter of Northeast China.
The forest was getting noisier and noisier, and the birds and beasts were all moving around restlessly. Lu Yi listened to these sounds and figured that the beast tide was coming. So he went to the driver's seat to discuss with Kai Ge where to hide.
Kai wanted to go up the mountain. When Wolf Uncle and Eberron were still around, they would find hillsides to hide, but Lu Yi wanted to find an abandoned city and drive his car into an abandoned building to hide.
"If we go up the mountain and encounter a cold wave and snow, it will be very difficult for the RV to come down," Lu Yi said. The hillside will be icy, and if the RV's wheels slip, it will plunge down the mountain at high speed, resulting in a fatal accident.
“Wait until spring,” Kai said in a gentle electronic male voice. “We’ll start by going up the mountain from the west along the gentle slope now, and then come down the east slope in spring, which will cross the Greater Khingan Mountains and enter the Northeast Plain.”
This mountain-crossing route is different from the one Evelyn gave. Evelyn didn't know the timing of the beast tides in the Eastern Continent or the paths of the wild beasts, so she only calculated which route was the flattest.
However, the flatter the terrain, the more dangerous it is during a beast tide.
“We can’t wait until spring,” Lu Yi said, frowning. Tang Bufan’s body couldn’t withstand the spring. “Let’s hide in the city ruins and wait for the beast tide to pass so the RV can get back on the road.”
This way, they can still drive throughout the winter, greatly reducing the time spent going to the East District Underground City.
After discussing for a long time, Kai listened to Lu Yi and started driving towards the nearest city ruins on the map.
Tang Bufan was taking a nap in bed, with a sweater he had partially knitted lying on his body.
City ruins are not hard to find. After driving for an afternoon, Kai Ge entered a deserted city in Northeast China, but soon it stopped inside.
They encountered poisonous people again, and not only ordinary poisonous people, but also mutated poisonous people.
Tang Bufan was awakened by the sound of the poisoners fighting.
He noticed that the RV was dark and hadn't moved, while Lu Yi was sitting next to him.
Seeing that Tang Bufan had woken up, Lu Yi immediately reached out and pulled him into his arms, gently covering Tang Bufan's mouth with his warm, broad hand.
Tang Bufan looked up in surprise, and Lu Yi made a "shh" gesture to him with his other hand in the dim light.
Tang Bufan is always not fully awake when he first wakes up, and Lu Yi is afraid he will talk.
Tang Bufan gradually came to his senses and nodded to the orc boy in the dim light. Only then did Lu Yi release his hand that was gently covering the boy's mouth.
Tang Bufan quietly moved to the car window, pulled back the curtain a little to look outside, and was shocked to find a dense swarm of poisonous people crawling outside.
The poisoners were fighting, and they were clearly two different kinds: green-skinned mutant poisoners and pale-skinned ordinary poisoners.
The RV was parked on an abandoned street corner. When Kai discovered that there were mutated poisonous people there, he cleverly stopped the vehicle immediately and pretended to be dead before they noticed it.
These mutated poison beings are sentient but not very intelligent, and they were too busy bullying the ordinary poison beings to notice the RV.
The sun was already setting, and there were more and more mutated poisoners on the streets. Kai and Lu discussed quietly in the driver's seat, deciding to wait until dawn the next day before leaving the city, otherwise they would attract all the poisoners on the street to rush towards them.
Kai turned off all the engines and stopped the power supply to the refrigerator and freezer, making no sound at all. He only used the battery to keep running. Fortunately, it was not yet winter, so there was no need for heating in the car.
Tang Bufan and Lu Yi secretly peeked outside through the gap in the curtains. It was obvious that the ordinary poisoners were no match for the mutated poisoners and were being chased and running around in the abandoned streets. At first, they both thought it was a group fight, but later they realized that was not the case.
The mutated poisoner is robbing the female poisoner.
Reproduction is very important for the development of a species. After the mutated poison people entered this desolate city, they began to snatch female poison people from among the ordinary poison people. Many pale-skinned and mindless female poison people were taken away by them by beating and dragging, and some even started to cause trouble in the streets...
Tang Bufan suddenly pulled the curtain shut and turned to look at Lu Yi.
Lu Yi sat there, the RV was dimly lit, Tang Bufan couldn't see his face clearly, but judging from his shy look with his head down, his face must have been flushed.
Lu Yi hadn't expected such a sinister scene. They hadn't encountered any mutated poisoners for several days since entering the mountains, and Lu Yi thought the virus hadn't spread here yet.
Unexpectedly, the mutated poison people have not only spread here, but have also been beating up ordinary male poison people and abducting ordinary female poison people to do *that*...
He and Tang Bufan also saw it.
If Lu Yi were alone in this situation, he would only frown, but with Tang Bufan there, it was a different story, making him very embarrassed.
The two remained silent in the dark RV, the atmosphere becoming somewhat awkward. Outside, the mutated poisoners were extremely noisy, and as night fell, they became even more arrogant.
Tang Bufan couldn't hold back any longer. He leaned closer to Lu Yi and asked in a low voice, "How did you lead the way?"
He only had time to take a nap when the RV arrived from the mountains. He knew it must have been Lu Yi's idea; Kai would never have driven them into the deserted city without instructions.
"I...I didn't expect that," Lu Yi replied in a low voice, feeling ashamed. If he had known this would happen, he would have listened to Kai Ge and gone up the mountain.
"There are a lot of poisoners in the city, don't you know?" Tang Bufan said speechlessly, reaching out to pat his head.
“I thought it didn’t matter if the person was a regular poisoner…” Lu Yi lowered his head and obediently accepted the scolding.
"You just rely on being a high-level orc to recklessly charge in." Tang Bufan said sternly, this had happened several times already.
"I'm sorry..." Lu Yi, tall and strong, said with a wronged tone.
The two were talking quietly when a noise suddenly came from outside. Both of them tensed up and shut their mouths.
It seemed to be three drug addicts fighting next to their RV. Two of them were probably ordinary drug addicts, as their cries sounded like monkeys, making random "ya ya ya" noises. The other one sounded more sinister, making onomatopoeic sounds more like a human.
Tang Bufan and Lu Yi quietly approached the window and peered out through the gap in the curtains. Sure enough, there were two ordinary poisoners with pale blue skin and one mutated poisoner with green skin. The two ordinary poisoners were a man and a woman. The man was being pinned down by the mutated poisoner, who was hitting his head with a rock.
It's true that mutated poison humans are clever; they know to use bricks in fights. With just a few blows, it struck the ordinary male poison human, who was flailing his arms around and then collapsed to the ground, motionless.
The ordinary female poisoner huddled on the grass, screaming in terror, trying to crawl away on all fours, but the blood-covered mutated poisoner rushed over and grabbed her ankle...
Tang Bufan closed the curtains again, preventing Lu Yi from looking any further.
The female poisoner started screaming and groaning. Tang Bufan, who was watching Lu Yi in the darkness, saw that he was about to get up and leave, so he reached out and grabbed his arm.
Helping one person is pointless and will only expose them.
Besides, that female poisoner might not even know what sadness is; they all become pregnant in a daze after losing their minds.
Tang Bufan shook his head at Lu Yi, who met his gaze in the darkness and silently sat back down.
The noise outside was quite noticeable in the night, making people feel embarrassed. After thinking for a moment, Tang Bufan quietly pulled Lu Yi into his arms.
Lu Yi was confused, but he still moved over following Tang Bufan's force.
Tang Bufan reached out and covered the orc boy's ears.
Not suitable for children.
Lu Yi was surprised that Tang Bufan had pulled him over to cover his ears, and he was both amused and exasperated. However, with his head in Tang Bufan's arms, he could not hear those sounds.
He heard heartbeats, Tang Bufan's and his own, both mingling and gently echoing in his head.
Lu blushed, suddenly wanting to tell Tang Bufan that he was about to turn eighteen, and after winter, he would be an adult just like him.
He wasn't as small or in need of protection as he thought.
That night, the two of them snuggled together on the metal bunk bed. After Tang Bufan washed the bedding, Lu Yi went to sleep on a makeshift bed on the floor. Tang Bufan didn't suggest continuing to sleep together, and Lu Yi certainly didn't either.
Although their actions were occasionally strange, such as Tang Bufan suddenly kissing Lu Yi's forehead, or Lu Yi secretly hugging Tang Bufan to sleep, most of the time, the two maintained a normal teacher-student distance.
After all, they each have their own principles.
As dawn broke, the poisoners, who had been causing a ruckus all night, hid in the shadows to rest. Suddenly, Kai started the engine and sped away from the desolate northeastern city with Tang Bufan and Lu Yi at high speed.
Some of the drug addicts who hadn't rested belatedly realized what was happening and chased after the RV, viciously pouncing on it, but were immediately shaken off.
Kai also crashed into and killed several people.
Tang Bufan, who had already woken up, sat upright in the driver's seat, directing the route ahead.
“Avoid all the deserted cities, let’s go up the mountain.” Tang Bufan made the decision by looking at the map on the glass screen: “After the beast tide has passed, we’ll go up the mountain depending on the situation.”
Tang Bufan was able to survive alone in the wild after the deaths of Wolfman and Eberron because of his caution.
Lu Yi, who had made a mistake, didn't dare to speak in the passenger seat. Based on yesterday's situation, the city ruins were no longer safe to wander around, as the mutated poisonous people were spreading very rapidly.
In this situation, going to the mountains to escape the beast tide and poisonous people is the best option.
Following Tang Bufan's instructions, Kai Ge steered the RV back into the Greater Khingan Mountains and began searching for a route up the mountain.
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