Chapter 389: Apart
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
"I'm leaving!" Xie Ziliu said. In the early hours of the next morning, Xie Ziliu folded the tent and got ready to leave. He had nothing with him aside from the satellite map and tent that was given to him by Luo Yuan. Perhaps, there was nothing else he could prepare anyway. He was not that strong after all and without any equipment with him, he was just trying to get himself killed.
Luo Yuan was not trying to persuade him not to go anymore. Xie Ziliu had probably fallen into despair and needed an escape. Going to the Reconstruction Area might be the only meaningful thing to his life right now. After a pause, Luo Yuan continued speaking, "Be careful!"
"Yes, I will." Xie Ziliu answered energetically. "What's your name?"
"I'm Luo Yuan." Luo Yuan answered. He hesitated for a while and continued, "If you encounter any difficulties at the Reconstruction Area, tell them Luo Yuan from the Firearms Bureau sent you. This might be able to help you."
It had now been almost two years since the apocalypse. It was getting more difficult to enter the Reconstruction Area nowadays as there were people wandering around the area trying to sneak in. Most people would sneak in from a tunnel or by falsifying personal information. They had tried all kinds of approaches to enter and those who were in-charge of preventing this faced difficulties doing so. Therefore, they enforced stricter rules and now anyone who was trying to enter the Reconstruction Area would be checked thoroughly. If they did not have any documents on them to identify themselves, it was almost impossible for them to enter.
The Firearms Bureau might not sound familiar to the folks out there but it is a rather influential part of the military right now. It might help Xie Ziliu to reduce the period that he will be under review by mentioning Luo Yuan's name to them. But of course, the biggest challenge for him now was to arrive at the Reconstruction Area.
Similar to the day he left the sanctuary, Xie Ziliu left without a second thought. Looking at his shadow gradually disappearing from the forest, he sighed and shifted his gaze to the front. The mutated woman woke up early in the morning and was sharpening her claws. They were sharper and tougher now. After a short while, she stopped to observe her nails. She stared at them with her head slightly tilted and did not seem to be satisfied with them so she continued sharpening. She was so focused on this process that it was as if she was completely immersed in her own world. Her eyes were shining like crystals reflecting weak beams of light.
Finally, she looked around and could see that Luo Yuan was leaving the cave out of the corner of her eyes. She immediately ran out and followed him.
"Stay here. I'll be back soon!" Luo Yuan pointed at the cave and said.
He repeatedly pointed into the cave before the mutated woman understood what he meant and went back into the cave in disappointment. As soon as she saw Luo Yuan's tent and backpack still left behind, she knew that he would be back soon. In fact, in just a moment, the mutated woman saw Luo Yuan coming back! He came back with meat and a small knife. The knife was so small that its blade was not even a meter long. It would be useless for a normal human to use it in battle. The knife was made of wood and the teeth of a level six mutated beast. Its blade was very thin and fine which made it light and sharp. Initially, Luo Yuan had wanted to hunt down a level seven mutated beast that he found on the system last night but it was no longer there. That was why he settled.
He threw an energy crystal to her and she leaped forward and caught the crystal with joy. She smelled and swallowed it immediately. However, she did not evolve or mutate further though her energy level had recovered slightly. Luo Yuan then handed over the white jade-like knife to her. A doubtful look appeared on her face. She walked a few steps forward when Luo Yuan nodded his head and she took the knife from him. After she held it in her hand, she immediately returned back to the place where she was sharpening her claws.
She was very clever and imitated the way Luo Yuan was holding the knife. The blade was able to pierce through one of the big rocks on the ground and the rock was cut in half immediately. She threw away the knife as she was shocked and retreated a good 10 meters back. She realized that she was overreacting and picked up the knife from the floor carefully. She hesitated and touched the blade with her sharp nails softly. Her nails were chipped instantly! She dashed backwards out of shock and was sad looking at her broken nails which she just sharpened. She was as innocent as a kid and had forgotten that her nails were very fragile. Looking back at the white jade-like knife, she was as delighted as a kid who had a new toy.
Looking at her, Luo Yuan subconsciously smiled. He then turned his attention to other things and built a fire. He picked the heart out from the level six mutated beast and grilled it. After they had their last dinner, Luo Yuan took out the last bottle of drinking water he had from his backpack and gave it to her. She removed the cap and finished the whole bottle of water in one go. She then secretly hid the bottle behind her when Luo Yuan was not aware.
Luo Yuan sighed, stood up, and then folded the tent and put on his backpack.
"It's time to leave!" Luo Yuan said.
He turned back and looked at the energetic mutated woman that was getting ready to follow him. He stopped her again and said, "You should stay here and stop following me." She blinked her eyes with her head slightly tilted and looked doubtful. She understood that Luo Yuan was going to leave as soon as she saw that Luo Yuan was wearing his backpack. However, she did not understand why he did not want her to follow. Luo Yuan turned away but was still followed closely by the woman.
He acted like he was going to give her a kick and that startled her. She stepped a few steps back but quietly continued to follow Luo Yuan again. Luo Yuan frowned and stopped. He did not want to speed up to get rid of her because he knew that she would definitely keep running toward the direction where he was running to. He had to take more drastic measures.
"Do you really think that I won't kill you? Get back to your place!" Luo Yuan pulled out his Zhanmadao and said angrily. It was scary and there was only silence between them. The woman's face turned pale and she immediately moved back into the cave. She was shivering out of fear at this point. This time, the woman did not follow after him as he left. He felt relieved and down at the same time. He quickly removed all of the distracting thoughts he had in his mind and increased his speed. Very soon, he disappeared from sight.
After some time, the woman carefully walked out of the exit. She looked around and started to get nervous. She leaped to the top of a big tree and stretched her neck out attempting to look for something or someone. To her dismay, she found nothing. She jumped down, chose a direction, and ran madly while lifting her head again and looking around. Eventually, she sat down on a tree branch in disappointment. Looking at the small knife in her hand and the water bottle she was nibbling on nervously, a thought suddenly struck her. She then ran swiftly back to the cave. Her movements got slower as she was approaching the cave but when she entered, things did not turn out the way she expected. The kind man who rescued her and gave her food had left and did not come back. He had disappeared for good. Looking at the emptied cave, a strong sense of loneliness arose.
…
Luo Yuan did not feel good either. The feelings he had for the innocent woman were deeply rooted in his heart at this stage. Even in the brief period that he left, there were times that he wanted to go back to the cave but he resisted the impulse to do so. Nonetheless, after running for half an hour, he stopped. He looked back subconsciously and of course, there was no one behind him. With sadness, he realized that perhaps they would no longer have the chance to meet!
Luo Yuan chose a rock and sat down to rest. After his "four-dimensional vision" had dropped to 2%, his Strength was also greatly reduced. He would not have felt tired before but he was terribly fatigued now. Fortunately, his Strength had rose to 17 points and adding the bonus from his Earth Stomp, it was a total of 23 points. His ability to recover was astonishing and his energy was recharged in just five minutes. He took out the satellite map from his backpack and studied it again. He was trying to remember all of the geological terrains of the surrounding areas including the state of the ocean. He then kept the map back into his backpack and continued his journey to Borneo!
The next moment, he flew through the forest and loosened the headband that he wore across his forehead. His four-dimensional vision recovered immediately! Despite the fact that he had seen it in action in the past, it was still a heart-pounding moment! He was stunned and as soon as he regained his consciousness, he began propelling himself forward through the space-time bubble.
Under such a condition, his Strength would be greatly consumed and he would get exhausted within an hour. Every second he could travel was so precious. The speed when he flew through space-time was relatively slow and it required a lot more of time to accelerate. Only after 40 minutes of accelerating did his speed reached its maximum. He passed through the mountains, rivers, and lakes very quickly. His speed was so fast that even his brain was not able to process and respond to it.
Fortunately, Luo Yuan's four-dimensional vision enabled him to preempt any obstacles from the three-dimensional terrain. He could see further even though his vision was blurred and it was still possible for him to roughly determine the geographical terrain of the areas. By estimating the distance between the hilltops and the time he spent traveling, he was basically moving at a speed of five to six kilometers per second. If it was relative to the speed of sound, it would be between 15 to 18 times. The speed was amazing but it was difficult to see as it was too fast for human beings to perceive. Before the apocalypse, the fastest speed an aircraft could reach was only two to three times the speed of sound. The fastest missile was not even 10 times the speed of sound.
In less than a minute, he passed the boundary of Guizhou and arrived at Guangxi. Three minutes later, he was already halfway through Guangxi. All of a sudden, there was an extremely big tree that appeared in front of Luo Yuan. Even the mountains that were a thousand meters high looked relatively small when compared to this big tree. It had covered almost half of the sky and its leaves looked like green clouds floating in the sky.
Luo Yuan was shocked as he witnessed the tree that was 2000 to 3000 meters tall. The color of the old tree trunk was darker than usual and had cracks all over. Comparing the size of this big tree and the size of the Heaven's Pillar Tree that he found at Hedong city, the difference in size was like the difference between infants and adults.
Luo Yuan quickly got ready to get a closer look.