Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei stayed here for another seven days.

Blade, this kid, had already grasped various methods of obtaining food, and indeed it shouldn't have taken seven days. However, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei needed more time to observe and confirm whether he had truly mastered this skill.

Lu Xi'an not only taught Blade how to find food, but also how to process it to make it easier to ingest and digest.

He even gave the kid a lighter, and also a small knife.

—— Blade said that when they were in Jiangnan County, they also had a small knife. But later, after being expelled from Jiangnan County, the knife was confiscated.

Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei had an extra small knife, so they gave one to Blade.

They also explained how to remain vigilant for danger nearby, and where to hide should danger arise, which they had to discuss with Blade.

Otherwise, if someone came and Blade was hiding in the very conspicuous escape pod, the outcome would only be an encounter with newcomers.

Lu Xi'an kept telling Yao Wei that they should rescue people completely, just like delivering monks to the west. If they didn't thoroughly teach this kid all these survival skills, it wouldn't count as a complete rescue.

Fortunately, Blade was quite clever. As a Type A Neo-Human, he could easily handle many physically demanding tasks, so he quickly mastered what Lu Xi'an taught him.

After spending seven days, Lu Xi'an confirmed that Blade had mastered everything he taught.

They decided they could leave now.

On this day, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei took Blade to the distant riverside to refill the water on the vehicle, and then caught three fish in the river, made a fire and grilled them as a farewell feast.

The river was some distance from the escape pod, but for a Type A Neo-Human, it wasn't an issue.

Even though Blade was still young, he could run to the river quickly and make the round trip daily without putting too much strain on his body.

Moreover, the fact that the river was farther from where Blade lived was actually a good thing.

In this world, for both humans and beasts, the key to survival is the water source.

If someone came to this area, there was a high probability they would be searching for a water source. If the escape pod was by the river, the chances of Blade bumping into others would greatly increase.

And with the escape pod far from the river, Blade's safety during rest was significantly enhanced.

...

It was Blade who handled the fish, as a kind of competence test from Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei.

While Blade removed the fish gills, scraped the scales, and cleaned the entrails, Yao Wei occasionally offered a few words of guidance to correct his approach.

However, the kid was already doing quite well, and Yao Wei seldom needed to remind him. As a result, she rarely spoke.

Finally, when the fish was grilled, she simply said, "It's done."

When Blade gave fish to her and Lu Xi'an, she tasted it and, in a rare occurrence, commented, "Not bad."

This comment made Blade so happy that he almost jumped up. He "humphch'd humphch'd" as he gnawed on his own fish, spat out the bones, and said, "Yeah, I think it's good too."

But Yao Wei was actually just comforting him with a white lie. Having been accustomed to Lu Xi'an's cooking and eating a lot of seasonings, it was impossible for Yao Wei to still enjoy food prepared by others.

She just couldn't bear to dampen the enthusiasm of this child she insisted on rescuing.

After finishing the meal, she planned to teach Blade how to obtain daily salt to maintain his physical strength.

—— Salt is one of the essential components for the human body. Even for Yao Wei, a Type A Neo-Human, in everyday life and survival, salt is indispensable.

So in the past, when there was no table salt, Yao Wei would obtain salt from various other sources like animal blood, iron, and certain mineral components...

She didn't disclose the fact that there was salt in the vehicle. Lu Xi'an once said it's easy to switch from frugal to luxurious but hard to go back. She was uncertain whether letting Blade taste real salt now, only for it to be inaccessible in the future, would be a good or bad thing for him.

But unexpectedly, when she was about to teach Blade, he said he already knew how. In Jiangnan County, people obtained salt this way.

It seemed Jiangnan County was also short on salt.

In that case, Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei didn't need to teach Blade these skills.

They had grilled fish with Blade and returned to the escape pod to rest for the night. The next day, they set out on their journey.

The departure scene was quite plain. They simply bid Blade farewell and then got in the vehicle, left this area, and returned to the road, heading south.

Blade just stood at the escape pod's door, without seeing them off.

When Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei looked through the rearview mirror, they felt the kid seemed like an abandoned puppy.

And when their vehicle drove off into the distance, the dappled shadows of the trees covered their view. They could barely see that the kid somehow climbed to the top of the escape pod, standing atop it, watching them go.

This made them reluctant to look back through the rearview mirror, so they withdrew their gaze.

"Gou, try contacting the Institute 923 again."

After looking away, Lu Xi'an spoke to Gou while driving.

In these seven days, Lu Xi'an had actually tried contacting Institute 923, failing many times, but had succeeded once.

However, the successful time, it was Shu who answered the "call," and Luo Ping and the others hadn't returned from their outing yet.

Shu rambled on about many things, his words full of concern for the folks who went out, asking Lu Xi'an and Yao Wei if they had seen Luo Ping and the others, then when they parted ways, and where Luo Ping and the others went.

The old man kept saying let nothing unexpected happen and such, until Lu Xi'an had to say, "You should stop, careful not to jinx it."

Only then did Shu hurriedly shut his mouth.

Then the line got disconnected, and nothing was accomplished in that call.

——That was back when they had just moved into the return capsule, later on, Lu Xi'an had Gou try to reconnect every day, but never succeeded.

This time trying to reconnect, Lu Xi'an didn't harbor much hope, but unexpectedly, the connection was successful.

Moreover, he didn't expect it would be Luo Ping answering the line, considering Luo Ping and the others had said they were going to Yangcai County.

If they had gone to Yangcai County, to meet Hu Xiaodong and his father, they would have to wait until the tide came in.

Once the tide came in, they would have to stay on Caiyang Mountain for at least ten days. In such a short time, there was no way they could return to Shanyang in Pingchuan City.

Unexpectedly, once the broadcast connection was made, the person speaking turned out to be Luo Ping.

"Hello, hello? Where are you now, brother and sister?"

Luo Ping's voice came through the camper's audio system.

Then came Chai Xin's voice. This girl got a bit excited seeing the broadcast signal connected: "Brother and sister, you called right when we returned! That's great!"

Lu Xi'an asked, "Weren't you going to Caiyang Mountain? How did you get back so quickly?"

Luo Ping said, "Ah! Don't mention it! Brother and sister, we traveled a bit slow, and the supplies we had on the car weren't much, so when we reached Yangcai County, we hesitated and didn't dare to enter the city.

"To be honest, brother and sister, we were all quite scared, seeing the city's state, afraid that if we entered and the sea rushed in, we wouldn't escape in time and would be swept away by the sea.

"Plus, we were worried that if we got to the mountain top and didn't have enough supplies, we'd starve for ten days or so, and who knows what would happen.

"So we decided to go back first, prepare a bit better, and then head out again."

Lu Xi'an said, "What's there to laugh at? Better safe than sorry, you did nothing wrong.

"To be honest, Yao Wei and I almost got drowned by the sea ourselves, and ended up having no choice but to lift the car together to get up the mountain to escape the water."

Luo Ping said, "Brother and sister, you're amazing! We could never do such an impressive thing!" As he spoke, there was the sound of Chai Xin agreeing with "mm-hmm, mm-hmm."

This guy hadn't said anything impressive in a long time, and now he couldn't help but say it again. Hearing him say these two words, Lu Xi'an felt somewhat nostalgic.

Since their meeting in Fengcheng County, Yubei City, several months had unknowingly passed, and circumstances now were very different from then, giving a real sense of being in another era.

Lu Xi'an said, "Alright, let's cut the chatter. Let's talk business."

Luo Ping's voice immediately became serious: "Go ahead, big brother."

Lu Xi'an said, "We parted ways with you and headed south, and when we got to Liangshan Village, we encountered a Type A Neo-Human.

"That Type A Neo-Human was still a child, originally from Jiangnan County, who had been kicked out because of an infectious disease.

"We saved his life, then left him in an abandoned capsule a bit further south..."

As he spoke, he explained the exact location of the return capsule to Luo Ping, and then added, "The child's infectious disease was cured by us using the Fungus Stone.

"We saw that he was good to the two ordinary people he was with, always protecting them, so we decided to save him.

"Now those two ordinary people have died from illness, the Fungus Stone was of no use to them, and we couldn't save them. So Blade is alone.

"From our observation, he's quite decent, but whether he's good or bad is up to you to judge—if you have the intention to find him.

"We didn't disclose your situation to him, nor taught him the things on the booklet. If you see him and think he's trustworthy, then it's not too late to teach him.

"And in this southern Liangshan Village, now there are many sick ordinary people living there, it's called Sickness Village.

"Downstream of Guanhai River, south of Sickness Village, there is a Neo-Human. When we left, he had visited Sickness Village, but we didn't meet him, and don't know what he's capable of.

"These are issues to consider if you plan to go there. Keep them in mind."

After listening to Lu Xi'an, Luo Ping nodded heavily.

He gently exhaled and said, "Still, it's you guys, brother and sister. The moment you head out, you encounter everything, while we definitely can't manage that.

"That Blade, we definitely have to meet him. After all, if you, brother and sister, find him worthy, and he truly is, increasing the combat power of the base would be excellent!"

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