Chapter 38 Grassland Market - 3 The Sandstorm Continues...
The sandstorm continued to rage, but because the RV had been firmly secured by Lu Yi with ropes and nails, it remained very stable in the hurricane.
Sand pelted against the thick glass windows. Without sunlight, Kai started using gasoline to generate electricity the next day, and the air temperature dropped noticeably.
With nothing to do, Tang Bufan and Lu Yi could only kill time in the RV. The two sat facing each other on the iron bunk bed, taking apart old sweaters together.
Wolf Uncle had several sweaters that were too small for Lu Yi and too big for Tang Bufan, so Tang Bufan decided to unravel them and re-knit one or two that fit Lu Yi properly.
Because the family was poor, all three members of Tang Bufan's family knew how to knit. They knitted their own slippers, hats, scarves, and so on.
"I wonder how long this will last." Tang Bufan looked out at the yellowish expanse, listening to the howling wind, clutching his old sweater in his left hand and pulling the yarn in his right.
"The wind speed is lower than yesterday, it might stop tomorrow." Lu Yi sat opposite him, rolling up the yarn that Tang Bufan had pulled off into a ball. He quite liked rolling these, he had never done it before.
The two of them, one pulling the string and the other winding the ball, were unraveling the yarn very quickly, and several large balls of yarn were already placed around them.
"We can get back on the road when the wind force is less than level six," Kai said in a gentle electronic male voice in the driver's seat. The camera flashing red light looked at Lu Yi: "Lu Yi, the RV's water tank is empty. When you go hunting next, be careful to find water sources."
"Okay," Lu Yi said, indicating that he understood.
"We still need to chop firewood. We'll need firewood to cook, and that will save us some oil," Tang Bufan said.
"Okay," Lu Yi replied gently.
"I didn't tell you to chop." Tang Bufan thought his personality was too good. "I'll chop too."
Lu Yi, with a furrowed brow and raised his eyes while rolling up a ball of yarn, said, "There are many mountains around. Teacher, don't let a wolf suddenly jump out and grab you."
"...I always carry a gun with me."
“No, even wolves are faster than you.” Lu Yi still hoped that Tang Bufan would stay obediently in the RV: “You can knit a sweater in the RV. It’s already autumn, let me have more clothes to wear.”
“…Alright then.” Tang Bufan sighed.
"Chop some firewood and make some charcoal," Lu Yi continued, thinking that charcoal was very important for getting through the winter.
"Then let's make smoked meat while we're at it," Tang Bufan added. "That way, we won't have to put all the meat in the freezer to preserve it."
The two chatted while listening to the sound of the wind and sand outside the car. Despite having no entertainment, they didn't feel bored at all.
The next day, the wind did indeed subside. Tang Bufan was sleeping in bed wrapped in a blanket when he was suddenly hit in the face with sand. He groggily opened his eyes and found that Lu Yi had opened the car door.
"I'm going out to untie the rope." Lu Yi, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, shouted to Tang Bufan in the wind and sand. Because the hood protected his head and his hair was tied up, only two long, curved bangs were blown by the wind.
To prevent too much sand from getting into the truck, Kai quickly closed the door.
"Be careful... Hah—" Tang Bufan yawned and lazily sat up from the bunk bed.
Tang Bufan had a slight headache, but he was used to it. He got up half-asleep and went to the kitchen to prepare breakfast... or maybe lunch.
Lu Yi quickly dismantled the ropes, packed the large iron nails in a box, and returned. Kai Ge slowly started the RV in the sandstorm, the wind chimes jingling. The RV was a little shaky, but better than the first day.
"It's already quite cold outside, teacher, please remember to wear more clothes." Lu Yi took off his hood, ran his fingers through his bangs, and brushed off some fine sand.
"It's not even October yet," Tang Bufan muttered to himself. He hadn't felt cold at first, but Lu Yi opened the car door again and let the wind in, so he felt cold. He pulled out his suitcase and took out a sweater.
He grabbed the hem of his thin shirt, raised his elbows, and took off his clothes right there in the carriage.
Lu Yi was stunned. She stood to the side, staring wide-eyed at him as he undressed. The man was so thin that his ribs were clearly visible and his spine was prominent. His pale skin was almost indistinguishable from that of a corpse, not only devoid of any color but also bluish.
Lu looked at Tang Bufan's face again and found him muttering to himself with his eyes half-closed, "The temperature is dropping way too fast..."
He seemed unaware that he had changed his clothes in front of Lu Yi. Lu Yi hesitated for a moment, then turned his back to him.
Tang Bufan quickly changed into his sweater, yawned, and called to Lu Yi, "Dinner's ready."
Lu Yi slightly turned his head to make sure he was dressed before walking to the folding table and sitting down. He looked up at the man opposite him and found him drowsy.
Maybe he was just sleepy. Lu Yi told himself not to make a fuss, and picked up his fork to start eating.
Due to low visibility, Kai drove very slowly, but he managed to drive out of the sandstorm area after a whole day of trial and error while burning fuel.
As the air gradually became cleaner, Lu Yi and Tang Bufan both breathed a sigh of relief. Although it was already night, Lu Yi still left the RV to go hunting and find a water source.
Tang Bufan stayed in the car to unravel the last sweater. As he was unraveling, he sat on the iron bunk bed, tilted his head, and fell asleep. A dozen minutes later, he suddenly nodded, his whole body jolted, and he opened his eyes with a start, his heart pounding rapidly.
The carriage was quiet, with only a dim light on. Tang Bufan, breathing rapidly, reached out and touched his heart, feeling extremely uncomfortable.
The feeling of sudden death.
Inside the driver's cab, a camera flashing red light silently watched him.
"Xiao Tang, you need an antidote injection," Kai Ge's gentle, electronic male voice rang out.
"Antidote...yes, antidote." Tang Bufan remembered, quickly put aside the half-undone sweater he was wearing, moved to the edge of the bed, bent down, and pulled out the medical kit from under the bed.
There were still a dozen or so small brown bottles. Tang Bufan took a syringe, drew out the liquid from them, and rolled up his sweater sleeves...
Hmm? When did I change my sweater?
Tang Bufan was stunned. He stood there for a moment, holding the syringe, before blinking and, with his heart pounding, he plunged the needle into his arm.
A familiar yet uncomfortable injection pain shot through his arm. Tang Bufan put down the syringe, took a breath, and felt his heartbeat slowly return to normal.
After packing his medical kit, Tang Bufan put on a loose V-neck sweater and sat down in the driver's seat.
It was pitch black outside, with only the outline of the mountains faintly visible. The RV was parked on a desolate gravel road, its location on the map unknown.
Tang Bufan looked out the car window for a while before slowly asking, "Brother Kai, where's Lu Yi?"
"They've gone hunting."
"oh."
"Has he lost his memory again?"
"Um."
Silence fell over the carriage, then Kai said, "I suggest changing the frequency of the antidote injections to once every two days."
"Only 11 bottles left," Tang Bufan said listlessly. "If I need to inject every two days, what am I going to do after 20 days?"
“Once we leave the Qilian Mountains, we’ll reach that grassland market,” Kai said gently. “It won’t take a month.”
“When we entered the desert, we didn’t know it would be too hot to drive during the day. When we entered this mountain range, we didn’t know that a sandstorm would blow up. We had to stop for four days. The uncertainty of the future is too great. I can’t afford to gamble.” Tang Bufan said in a deep voice, “We had already changed the injection to once every three days. We can’t reduce it to once every two days.”
“Okay.” Kai’s camera turned to the darkness outside: “Lu Yi is back.”
Tang Bufan quickly raised his hand to wipe his face, trying to rouse himself.
The sturdy iron door of the RV opened, and Lu Yi carried in a furry brown bear, but because the bear was too big, it got stuck in the door.
"Don't come in. Let's treat it by bleeding it out outside," Tang Bufan said as he walked over.
Lu Yi then carried the brown bear out again.
Tang Bufan peered out of the car door, looking at the enormous brown bear, and exclaimed, "Wow, it's huge!"
“There’s a mountain forest nearby, it’s quite fertile, but the slope is too steep for the RV to drive up,” Lu Yi said from outside in the darkness, drawing his military knife from his waist.
"Is there any water?" Tang Bufan asked immediately.
“Yes, a mountain stream.” Lu Yi made a cut on the brown bear’s neck and began to bleed it.
Although he had already killed the brown bear, its body was still slightly warm and its blood had not yet coagulated. The blood was flowing out like a faucet, and soon formed a pool of blood on the sandy ground.
Tang Bufan squatted by the car door, trying to reach out and touch its fur, but it was too far away for him to reach. So Lu Yi put away his military knife, reached out and held Tang Bufan under his armpit, picked him up, and gently placed him on the brown bear.
Tang Bufan couldn't help but exclaim again, stepping on the chubby brown bear under his feet: "It's really big!"
When I stand up, I feel like I'm about three meters tall.
As he spoke, he squatted down and stroked its fur, which was a bit rough and stiff, but still relatively smooth.
"Does the teacher want its fur?" Lu Yi saw through Tang Bufan's thoughts.
"Isn't it cold?" Tang Bufan said seriously, "You're sleeping on the floor again. This woolen blanket is much warmer."
“I don’t need it. This is too hot for me. I’ll put it on for you.” Lu Yi said, bending down and touching the bear skin. He frowned. “The fur is too stiff. I’ll see if I can catch a fox tomorrow.”
"Cut them off first, hang them on the roof of the cart to dry, and then we can take them to the market to exchange for other things," Tang Bufan said.
“Okay.” Lu Yi then used both hands to hold Tang Bufan under his armpits and carried him back to the car, then pulled out the military knife from his waistband and began to cut the bear skin.
The smell of blood from their bleeding attracted a pack of mountain wolves, who lay awake in the darkness. Kaige then closed the car door, while Lu Yi, in his beast form, continued to deal with the brown bear outside.
Tang Bufan drew back the curtains and stared at Lu Yi in the dim light. He found that Lu Yi could now transform into his beast form very naturally in front of him, and a smile of satisfaction appeared on his lips.
A wolf tried to steal the food, but Lu Yijun slashed its throat with his knife, thus adding another prey. With this foolish wolf sacrificed, the other wolves became cowardly and dared not approach again.
Lu Yi bled the wolf again, then cut off the bear and wolf skins, rolled them up, and put them on the roof of the car. He then chopped off the head and tail, removed the internal organs, and took the cleaned carcass into the car.
As soon as he got into the car, the wolves in the darkness swarmed around him and began to eat the entrails and head that Lu Yi had left behind. Meanwhile, Kai started the RV in the dark and drove away from this place filled with the smell of blood.
"The water source is to the southeast, about four or five kilometers away. See if you can find a slope to drive up," Lu Yi said to Kai Ge, as he took a cleaver from the kitchen and chopped meat.
Tang Bufan was still awake, sitting on the iron-framed bed and continuing to unravel the sweater.
Kai drove around in the dark for a while and actually found a fairly flat slope to drive up the mountain, but it was still far from the mountain stream.
"That's enough. I'll just use buckets to carry water a few times tomorrow," Lu Yi said.
The RV then settled down on the spot.
Tang Bufan took off his sweater for a while and then got sleepy, so he put down the sweater, wrapped himself in a thin blanket, and started to sleep, accompanied by the sound of Lu Yi chopping meat.
Do, do, do.
He didn't tell Lu Yi about his amnesia and near-death experience today, not wanting him to worry.
Lu Yi was worried about disturbing Tang Bufan's sleep, but when she noticed that Tang Bufan was already breathing deeply, she smiled gently in the dimly lit kitchen and continued cutting the meat.
The two started working the next day. Lu Yi carried water buckets and glass jars back and forth, while Tang Bufan saw that there were trees next to the car, so he got out of the car with an axe to chop firewood and also used an iron bucket to make charcoal.
Although the RV had left the sandstorm area, the sky was still overcast and there was no sun, so Tang Bufan refilled the RV with gasoline, officially turning three barrels of oil into two.
Fortunately, Lu Yi rescued three barrels of oil from the quicksand. Tang Bufan thought to himself, otherwise the RV would have been stuck in this gloomy weather, without power and without Kai Ge, reduced to a metal shell.
Hopefully, the weather will be sunny from now on.
Tang Bufan was chopping firewood when he was suddenly hit in the face by a drop of water.
Tang Bufan looked up; the sky was overcast, and raindrops were falling in a pattering sound.
"Damn it." Tang Bufan cursed inwardly, holding the axe.
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