Lu Wuyai glanced in the rearview mirror and saw that Su Xi and Jin Xilu were already asleep.
He reduced his speed to a minimum and turned on his hazard lights, but they quickly went out.
Against the backdrop of the pristine white snow, the orange lights twinkled, standing out vividly.
Song Xiaoyou caught up with him in a car, rolled down the window, and her eyes were full of exhaustion.
Lu Wuyai made a gesture to stop the car and take a break.
As a result, the two cars stopped at the seaside and did not move forward for the time being.
After getting out of the car, Lu Wuyai opened the trunk, took out some food, and then sat in the snow, staring blankly at the blue sky.
Meanwhile, Song Xiaoyou and Su Xi were still awake. They were looking for a signal nearby with their phones in hand.
Just then, Yang Jian thought of going to the sea to get some food, as the weather was getting colder and the temperature was dropping quite sharply.
Lu Wuyai, Xiaoyou, wait for me a moment. I'll get some seafood soon and we'll be leaving. If it gets any colder in winter, we won't be able to eat seafood anymore. So he took the seafood and went to the sea.
Time flies! It's already 1:30. The rested team members are lazily preparing to set off again, but when they gather, they find that Yang Jian is missing. They then realize that Yang Jian went to catch fish. Everyone goes to the beach to look for him, but finds the sea calm as usual and there is no one in sight. After searching for half an hour, they finally find Yang Jian, who has been washed ashore by the sea and has already drowned.
Everyone remained silent. The girl had already started crying, expressing how difficult it was to accept. Lu went up to check on Yang's body and found that his body was swollen. There were multiple wounds from fish gnawing at him, and one more: the muscles in his left calf were taut and purple, and he was still clutching a fish tightly in his hand.
Lu sighed and said, "I think I've figured out how he died. I guess he used the wrong force while chasing fish in the water, or the water temperature dropped, causing his left leg to cramp and hurt, and he choked on water, which led to him drowning, or something else happened!"
As for why this happened, I guess it might be related to the weather causing the seawater to cool down. It seems we can't go into the sea anymore. Let's deal with his body and then leave this place!
After a quick one-hour process of disposing of Yang's body, the group set off.
The group remained silent, overcome with grief. The vastness of the deserted island and their ordeal were truly beyond their imagination. The dead were gone, and the living had to endure the hardships. Lu Wuyai checked the mileage. Although he had driven slowly, he had already covered nearly 100 kilometers in most of the day. He still didn't know he was driving on a deserted island. Where was he?
At dusk, Lu Wuyai refueled the car in case of an accident.
"Let's find a place to spend the night," Su Xi said to Lu Wuyai as she got up from the car, her eyes still blurry.
Finally, as night fell, they drove the car into a coconut grove, covered it with sheepskin, opened the modified trunk, and connected the two cars together.
Tonight, the seven of them slept in the car and barely made it through the night.
The coconut grove was very quiet, which was probably largely due to the weather.
Lu Wuyai glanced at the thermometer. The outside temperature had already dropped to minus 5 degrees Celsius and was still slowly decreasing.
The snow has been melting recently, resulting in very little heat remaining in the air. This situation is expected to worsen in the future.
I suspect that the harsh winter has only just begun.
"Lu Wuyai, look at the map we drew today." Gu Yuxin handed Lu Wuyai a piece of paper with many winding lines drawn on it, which were the paths they had walked along the beach that day.
However, looking at the unmarked lines on it, Lu Wuyai said speechlessly, "This thing is fuzzy."
On the other hand, Yu Mengrou also handed over a piece of paper. Lu Wuyai saw that the map on it was quite detailed. Although there were many more annotations, and the map wasn't as coherent as he had imagined due to the limited number of pages, it was enough for them.
“Let’s continue tomorrow, we still have plenty of fuel,” Lu Wuyai said.
The exhausting day passed, and everyone quickly drifted off to sleep. Only Lu Wuyai, who was already asleep, trembled all over. He then covered his ears and opened the car window.
A gust of cold wind blew in, waking everyone up.
"Lu Wuyai, what are you doing?" several women immediately complained.
Lu Wuyai didn't have time to explain. He had only heard a clear roar from the sky, like an explosion in a movie, and it was still going on.
At dusk, there was nothing at first. Urged on by everyone, Lu Wuyai had no choice but to close the car door.
But at that very moment, the sky seemed to be illuminated by something.
Like a dark room, the door slowly opens, and light from the outside quickly spreads to every corner.
"Come out and take a look." Lu Wuyai was startled and quickly opened the car door again.
Soon, six women got off the bus one after another. They were about to complain about Lu Wuyai when they were drawn to the light at the end of the world.
Now, even though it's 7 p.m., it feels like dawn is breaking, with the light magnifying continuously throughout the passage of time.
"What's going on?" Su Xi took a breath, the icy air sending chills down her spine.
It wasn't just her; there were others too.
This somewhat familiar scene reminded Lu Wuyai of the fiery red clouds he had seen in the blizzard.
Although they are different sizes, the situation is the same.
The light lasted for a few minutes before gradually disappearing.
During this time, the sound of explosions continued to linger in Lu Wuyai's ears. Although faint, it was still discernible in the silence.
“Let’s go back,” Lu Wuyai said.
Back in the car, everyone felt uneasy, especially Lu Wuyai. He had a feeling that something was going to happen in the future, or soon.
Thus, in the latter half of the night, everyone who was sleeping was awakened by a loud noise. After realizing what was happening, they immediately ran out of the carriage.
Then, it got light again.
But this time, it was a beam of light that filled the sky.
"It's radiation." Lu Wuyai's eyes widened, and he quickly looked around. He noticed that everyone else was wearing protective suits, and his tension immediately eased by half.
Soon, everyone left the coconut grove and looked up at the colorful lights in the sky above, which fell one by one from the night sky and were then blown by the gale to more distant deserted islands.
This is all so dreamlike.
"Was it a hallucination just now?" Kim Seok-rok murmured from the side.
But no one could give her the right answer. They had too few clues, and such speculation seemed pointless.
Suddenly, Lu Wuyai saw something flashing inside the car, so he opened the car door and found it was a cell phone.
"Telephone"
"Someone is on the phone."
Inside the car, the flickering light from the phone screen once again touched everyone's hearts.
When Lu Wuyai picked up his phone from the parking space for the first time, he paused for a moment when he saw the other party's number, then turned around and handed it to Su Xi.
"Su Xi, it's me, Xiaoxia."
Everyone crowded around, staring at the hands-free phone. The tension of swallowing made Lu Wuyai's ears ring.
"together."
As a result, a series of static noises appeared, and Su Xi even gave up her plan to make a phone call.
As for the others, they were also frantically making phone calls at that moment. Surprisingly, some of the calls actually went through.
Unfortunately, no one answered; the phone was switched off.
Lu Wuyai thought for a while, then took out his phone and dialed the number of his parents, who were somewhere far away.
Because they are all elderly people and not used to using mobile phones, Lu Wuyai installed a telephone in his home.
Beep beep. Beep beep. Beep beep.
The call went through, but like many others, no one answered.
Just as Lu Wuyai was about to hang up the call, a familiar click sound rang out.
Lu Wuyai's heart skipped a beat. It was the sound of a phone call being answered.
"Hello," Lu Wuyai said, turning on speakerphone and noticing his voice trembling.
Soon, a response came from the other end, exceptionally clear. Unfortunately, it wasn't Lu Wuyai's familiar voice.
"Who are you?" Lu Wuyai asked.
After a brief silence, the voice came again: "The person you are looking for is not here."
After saying that, the other party hung up the phone, which made Lu Wuyai very worried about his parents' safety.
So he called again, but the line was always busy.
Noticing that Lu Wuyai looked unwell, Su Xi came over to comfort him, telling him not to worry and that he could try calling other numbers.
But then, almost any number could be dialed, but no one answered, even the same government agencies.
This is puzzling.
Furthermore, what's most baffling is Su Xi's phone.
"Are you still on the phone?" Lu Wuyai put aside his anxiety and saw that Su Xi was still holding her phone, but there was nothing on it except for noise.
At this point, Song Xiaoyou said, "Listen to yourself and see if there are any other sounds in the noise."
Lu Wuyai paused for a moment, then took the phone from Su Xi, got into the car alone, closed the windows, and turned the speakerphone volume to the maximum.
Outside, Su Xi looked at the car for a while, then asked the others to keep their distance.
In the car, Lu Wuyai took off his earplugs. Instantly, his eardrums began to vibrate violently. It took him a while to gradually adjust.
At this moment, Lu Wuyai's attention was completely focused on the noise.
At first, the sound was just noise, and Lu Wuyai couldn't hear any other sounds at all.
But thinking of his parents, he couldn't help but immerse himself in the thought, telling himself that he had to extract something useful.
But soon, Lu Wuyai's expression changed.
Amidst the noise, he seemed to hear the roar of some wild beast. It felt familiar. Perhaps it was a wolf or some other animal.
But the crucial point is, how could Xiaoxia possibly encounter such a thing?
Just as Lu Wuyai was about to carefully discern the roar, a sudden loud noise interrupted the call, and Lu Wuyai had to sigh.
When Lu Wuyai got out of the car, he only told them that he had heard some strange shouts, but other than that, he couldn't tell anything else.
"It's okay," Su Xi comforted her.
At that moment, everyone saw Su Xi holding up her phone, smiling, the screen flashing. Clearly, she was also making a call.
However, even though the phone was turned on, there was no response from the other party.
Su Xi was a little anxious. This was her agent's private number, but there was no response at all.
"Lu Wuyai, please stop listening."
Seeing everyone staring at him, Lu Wuyai nodded, took his phone, and got into the car.
After closing the car door and rolling up the window, Lu Wuyai sat in the parking space, his ears buzzing like bees again.
After this continued for a while, Lu Wuyai's brows gradually furrowed. He wondered if he had misheard. There was indeed that roaring sound in the noise from the phone.
The only difference is that this phone is still connected to China Unicom and has not been interrupted.
Lu Wuyai closed his eyes and listened intently to the noisy sounds.
Amidst the noise, Lu Wuyai heard some faint breathing sounds, but he couldn't be sure if they were from people. After all, the noise was too loud and easily disturbed.
Three minutes later, the call abruptly ended. Lu Wuyai shook his head and handed the phone to Su Xi. Just as he was about to say something, he looked up and saw the sky flowing like water, covering the deserted island at a visible speed.
"It's so beautiful," said Kim Hee-ro. "The aurora isn't as exciting."
For a moment, everyone was captivated by the view in the sky, completely unaware that danger was approaching.
At some point, Lu Wuyai heard a slight noise in the snow and instinctively turned his head to look. However, before he could react, a dark figure swept across the snow and rushed towards them.
Lu Wuyai shoved the woman next to him hard, and the next second, he was pinned to the ground by a dark figure. He felt like he couldn't breathe, and he couldn't muster any strength in his body.
The surrounding environment was still bright. Upon closer inspection, Lu Wuyai discovered that it was those experimental humans again, their eyes red, giving the impression of debt collectors, their ghosts lingering.
"With a bang."
Lu Wuyai heard the gunshots and knew someone was firing. The gunshots momentarily silenced the frenzied humans for a few seconds.
Taking advantage of that moment of strength, Lu Wuyai drew a dagger from his waist and skillfully stabbed it into his opponent's neck.
Feeling the increasingly weak struggle, Lu Wuyai pushed away the body pressing down on him and rushed towards the others.
Chaos reigned on the snow-covered ground. There were 13 people in this sudden attack. They pounced on whoever they saw and bit anyone who saw blood.
Lu Wuyai glanced at the chaotic scene, immediately ran to the front of the car, pulled a pistol from the handle, and fired at the crazed experimental subject.
In just two minutes, the lingering stench of blood filled the snow.
"Are you alright?" Lu Wuyai asked breathlessly as he pulled Su Xi up from the ground. Her hair was disheveled, and there were obvious finger marks on her face.
The women shook their heads and quickly got up from the ground. If it weren't for their weapons and protective suits that had stopped them from being hit, everyone in the group except Lu Wuyai would have been wiped out long ago.
Seeing that everyone was alright, Lu Wuyai urged them to leave first, and then worry about what had just happened.
Soon, the off-road vehicle set off from here, its bright headlights shining on the ice, and everyone in the vehicle felt a lingering fear.
“I believe everything is fine.” Lu Wuyai turned around and asked Su Xi and Jin Xilu.
The two people checked each other's clothes again to make sure they hadn't been bitten or otherwise injured by these people.
Ahead, the stream of light formed by radiation is still spectacular, like a fairyland.
The car moved slowly forward, and the people inside, after the previous battle, started making phone calls again.
It's speculated that the presence of radiation is necessary for the cell phone signal to connect to the outside world; otherwise, there's no other explanation.
“In this situation, if we stand within the radiation zone, the signal will be better, and there will be no noise,” Lu Wuyai couldn’t help but guess to himself.
By this time, the car had already stopped in a forest, and everyone was preparing to rest again.
Nearby, radiation drifted with the wind, and occasionally strong winds would hit the carriages, making a dull sound.
"You all rest, I'll keep watch tonight," Lu Wuyai said.
Su Xi said with concern, "If you're too tired, take a nap."
Soon, Lu Wuyai got out of the car, closed the doors and windows, and squatted outside alone, holding his mobile phone.
After the women fell asleep, Lu Wuyai glanced at the sky and walked in a certain direction.
There, a wisp of radiation slowly descended, and Lu Wuyai wanted to confirm his guess.
The protective suit he was wearing represented Lu Wuyai's greatest confidence in his upcoming actions.
So he walked toward the forest shrouded in radiation, and after a while, he stopped.
Opposite, a beam of radiation, seemingly within arm's reach, drifted down from the sky like a colorful veil, making it difficult to be wary.
Lu Wuyai thought for a moment, then stretched out his finger and, with his fingertip like a dragonfly touching water, gently touched the edge of the radiation. The radiation was instantly split in two.
As Lu Wuyai walked in, he discovered that radiation had enveloped a large area of forest, with countless streams of light passing through the branches and leaving a layer of colorful hues on them.
It's conceivable that, with continued radiation, the trees here might undergo some kind of mutation.
Lu Wuyai worried that once the seeds they obtained took root and sprouted on the deserted island in spring, they would also mutate.
“These past few days…” Lu Wuyai sighed, recalling the phone calls he had received. He was certain that something huge must have happened in the outside world.
Soon, he started making phone calls again, and to this day, he can only remember a few phone numbers.
However, he believes that if he can get through to them, he will definitely be able to learn something from them.
Lu Wuyai had been calling out to each other for so long that he was eventually numb to it.
"This is the last time. If it still doesn't work, then it's over. I won't call again," Lu Wuyai told himself. During this time, everyone's lives were thrown into chaos because of that phone call.
So Lu Wuyai made a few more calls, totaling only ten numbers.
When he made the last call, Lu Wuyai slumped his shoulders, feeling somewhat dejected.
"I can't get through." Just as Lu Wuyai was about to turn off his phone, a ringtone suddenly sounded on the other end, followed by a deep and urgent voice.
Hello"
"Monkey" Lu Wuyai quickly answered the phone, his heart pounding in his throat.
"Your hair has turned white. Is that you? Are you a human or a ghost?"
Lu Wuyai's nickname is Baitou (White Head). He got the nickname because he dyed his hair white when he went to university.
Upon hearing the other person's voice, Lu Wuyai visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
“I am Whitehead, the monkey. I am still alive. I am calling for people to come and save me,” Lu Wuyai said urgently. But just as he was about to briefly describe the deserted island, the monkey suddenly said something that sent chills down his spine.
"Grow old together, live well, you must live well, I'm sorry..."
Before the other person could finish speaking, a sudden burst of noise drowned out everything, and for a long time, Lu Wuyai couldn't hear anything.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Wuyai was speechless for a long time. After thinking for a while, he immediately dialed the number he had just dialed, but there was no response after dialing for a long time.
In the end, Lu Wuyai accepted reality.
“Something terrible must have happened in the outside world.” Lu Wuyai sighed, walked out of the forest constantly shrouded in radiation, and quietly returned to the car.
The next day, everyone woke up one after another. Lu Wuyai told them what had happened the night before, and the atmosphere suddenly became quiet.
“You didn’t lie to us.” Su Xi stared at Lu Wuyai, giving the latter a chilling feeling.
Lu Wuyai nodded: "Really, I think a deserted island might be safer."
“I don’t believe you,” Su Xi said directly to Lu Wuyai.
Lu Wuyai was stunned for a moment, then quickly frowned, and the atmosphere in the group began to become subtle.
“Just because you’re the only man in the team doesn’t mean you’re a good person.” Su Xi took a deep breath. She mustered her courage to say these words.
"Whether you believe it or not is up to you." Lu Wuyai snorted, climbed into the car, and drove away.
The women glanced at Su Xi, but none of them said anything. After getting into the car, they continued walking forward.
From that day on, the first crack appeared in the team.
In the car, Su Xi said to Lu Wuyai, "Don't be angry, Su Xi means no harm."
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