The fruit trees had grown for decades, with each trunk so thick and tall. The branches extending from the trees were as thick as Yao Wei's waist. If they continued to grow, they might even rival Lu Xi'an himself.

Such lushness and vitality gave Lu Xi'an a glimmer of hope.

—Even though all he saw was green, without any other color.

"Gou, send the drone up high to see if there are any fruits on the trees inside?"

Lu Xi'an directly gave an instruction to Gou. With Gou and the drone there, searching for things had become increasingly convenient.

If it were before, they would have had to go in themselves, inspecting tree by tree to confirm the state of the forest. How could it be as effortless as it is now?

Of course, leaping up to take a look was also possible. After all, as Type A Neo-Humans, both he and Yao Wei had jumping abilities far beyond ordinary people. With one jump, they could probably overlook this vast fruit forest.

Even if they couldn't see everything, seeing the majority or half of it wouldn't be a problem. At most, they'd just have to jump a few more times.

But no matter the case, it was never as easy as having Gou paired with the drone.

Gou was already being carried by Yao Wei, and its four metal paws were no longer of use. After all, on the vehicle, it was integrated with the RV, and now that they were off, Yao Wei carried it around, so it didn't need to walk on its own.

Once it left the RV, it lost its function to speak autonomously. But fortunately, it didn't need to say anything now; it just needed to listen to Lu Xi'an's instructions and control the drone to fly high.

The drone ascended to a high altitude to capture the entire forest within its view.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei stood on the edge of the Chen Shulin, waiting.

Lu Xi'an said, "Do you think we got off too early? If we stayed in the vehicle, we could still see the situation in the forest through the screen."

Yao Wei shook her head, saying, "No need, Gou can see."

Hmm... this woman truly trusts Gou.

"True enough."

Lu Xi'an remarked.

Before the RV, wasn't it all reliant on Gou? If the drone discovered something, they only needed to confirm the situation through Gou's two eyes, no need to see for themselves.

Unless there was a special situation that required Gou to explain.

"Buzz—"

The drone hovered in the sky for a while before suddenly lowering its altitude, and the sound of the rotors became increasingly clear.

Gou's eyes lit up.

"Are there really?!"

Lu Xi'an was slightly surprised. If the fruit trees here could grow apples, why wasn't anyone guarding them? If there were fruits on the trees, wouldn't someone have taken notice?

"Lead the way."

He gave another instruction to Gou, then added, "You lead, let the drone stay above to keep watch."

Gou was still being carried by Yao Wei, unable to lead Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei by walking, so it relied on the light emitted from its eyes.

Wherever the light pointed, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei walked there.

They brushed aside thin branches, but for the thicker ones, they either had to wriggle or climb over.

The trees in the fruit forest had been growing for so long and had perhaps undergone mutations; many branches were incredibly thick, growing wildly and some even intertwined.

Some even collided, entangled, and coiled around like a grotesque and twisted giant spider web.

Lu Xi'an thought it was unfortunate this was a post-apocalyptic world. If this place were developed in the past, it might have become a spot for thrilling outdoor horror adventures.

If it were night, coming into this place, he might need to prepare himself psychologically.

After delving far into the forest, all Lu Xi'an saw were wildly growing green shades with no sight of a single fruit tree, leading him to doubt whether Gou was deceiving them.

Could it be the mechanical dog 02 harbored a grudge because he always called it Gou?

Just as such strange, nonsensical thoughts flashed through his mind, the light from Gou's eyes swept downward, illuminating a small tree ahead.

Yes, a small tree.

That tree was clearly a fruit tree as well, but it looked malnourished. Its trunk and branches were much shorter and thinner than the others.

It seemed as though the decades hadn't left their mark on this tree at all, and the rings within its trunk had long stopped growing.

The leaves on this tree were withered and yellow, as if all the other trees were in midsummer, but it alone was stuck in late autumn.

Among the withered branches hung a few scattered fruits, small in size, yellow-green in color, not resembling apples at all, but more like unripe grapes.

But how could grapes look like that?!

"Is this an apple?"

Yao Wei asked Lu Xi'an.

But how could Lu Xi'an dare to give a definitive answer? He could only ask mechanical dog 02, "Gou, is this an apple?"

Yao Wei looked at Lu Xi'an with a somewhat strange expression, as if to say, Lu Xi'an, don't you know apples? Why can't you recognize them when you see them?

Lu Xi'an ignored Yao Wei's gaze, unable to discern his feelings whether it was disappointment or something else, but he knew he had been on an emotional rollercoaster—regardless of whether the fruits on the tree were apples or not.

Afterward, Gou provided an answer. Its mechanical eyes lit up, and Lu Xi'an wasn't sure whether it knew the precise answer or not. If they returned to the RV, perhaps Gou could provide a more accurate, detailed answer through the vehicle's speakers.

However, Lu Xi'an wasn't in a hurry. They hadn't finished exploring the forest yet, so why not finish their exploration before heading out?

As for the RV, it's always parked outside, and they can leave whenever they wish. Putting Gou inside and listening to it speak can wait until later.

Lu Xi'an asked the mechanical dog two more questions: Can these apples be eaten, and besides this apple tree, are there any other apple trees bearing fruit here?

To be safe, he even broadened the scope of the question, not specifically mentioning apple trees, but rather trees, and he used the term fruit instead of apple.

Upon asking the first question, Gou's eyes lit up, indicating the apples can be eaten. After asking the second question, Gou's eyes flickered, indicating no, there aren't any others.

Lu Xi'an further asked whether these apples could be eaten by ordinary people, and the answer was still affirmative.

He picked two apples — these should be called fruits now rather than apples — he wiped them with his sleeve, gave one to Yao Wei, and tasted one himself. It was somewhat sour and not very juicy, but fortunately, it was edible and swallowable.

He turned to look at Yao Wei, who was just like him, frowning slightly. However, holding onto the principle of not wasting food, she finished the whole "apple."

"How is it?"

Lu Xi'an asked with a smile.

"It's okay."

Yao Wei replied, "Better than grass cakes."

Isn't that obvious? What isn't better than cakes made purely from grass?

Lu Xi'an sighed, suddenly nostalgic: "In the past, apples used to be quite large, about the size of my fist, sometimes even larger, bigger than my fist.

"There were sweet ones and some sour ones, sweet with a hint of sourness, juicy when you take a bite, completely different from these."

Listening to Lu Xi'an, Yao Wei looked at the remaining fruit on the tree, somewhat incredulously.

Lu Xi'an said, "These apples are different now. If it weren't for Gou, I wouldn't dare confirm they are apples.

"No wonder the fruits remain here untouched, not claimed by anyone. They're so small that others probably wouldn't easily find them.

"We're fortunate to have Gou and the drones; otherwise, we'd just blindly look around and leave."

"Yeah."

Yao Wei nodded and looked down at Gou in her hand, saying, "Gou is impressive."

Gou's eyes flickered twice, and Lu Xi'an guessed it was saying, "Mechanical Dog 02 is sincerely at your service, providing all necessary functionalities" or something similar.

He pondered and said, "Yao Wei, what do you think? In such a large orchard, why is there only this one small tree with fruit, so out of place with all the others?

"Do you think it's man-made or naturally formed?"

Yao Wei shook her head, indicating she couldn't guess.

Lu Xi'an didn't wait for Yao Wei's answer. He was more inclined toward the "man-made" conclusion himself.

Otherwise, he would not have mentioned it to Yao Wei.

What did these apple trees go through at the time to grow into this state?

"Gou, take a closer look here; see if there's any other discovery?"

Lu Xi'an continued.

He took Gou from Yao Wei's hand, stretched out his arm, and held Gou while exploring, as if Gou were a detector.

Indeed, Gou acted like a detector itself. As Lu Xi'an held it like this, it focused its eyes intently as it surveyed, turning its mechanical head while emitting a "buzz—buzz—" sound.

After scanning around nearby, seeing Gou's eyes consistently not lighting up, Lu Xi'an already had an answer in mind but still asked, "Is there anything here?"

Gou's eyes flickered twice.

"Then mark this fruit tree. Let's go look at other places."

Lu Xi'an said as he moved on with Gou in his hand.

Then towards other places... and other places...

Until most of the day passed, they combed through the entire orchard but ultimately found nothing.

After leaving the orchard, Lu Xi'an was still unyielding, wondering if he had missed something, contemplating going from one end of the forest to the other to scour it again?

Such a thorough search, rather than from the middle to the sides, might discover something?

Just as he was about to start again, he suddenly noticed the ruins beyond the forest.

"Right, there's also this!"

Lu Xi'an patted his forehead and sighed, "I really missed it, focusing only on looking inside the forest and forgetting about the vast building ruins here."

He immediately gave Gou new instructions, "Gou, take a look inside the ruins too."

Having said that, he reached the end of the ruins and scanned with Gou, then stepped into the ruins, searching thoroughly ahead.

When reaching the middle of the ruins, Gou's eyes suddenly lit up, shining into the ruins.

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