Chapter 64: The Road of Two Exiles, Part 6

Lu Li listened to her words, turned around, opened the cabinet, and found the tape.

“I’m going to drive and look for a place to spend the night now. Can you help me tape up the car windows? Is that doable?” Shi Xianyu called out from the front.

Lu Li nodded, tore off a strip of tape, measured it against the size of the window, and stood on tiptoe to stick the tape onto the glass.

The thin tape could hardly keep out any mutant beasts, but at least it would ensure the car didn’t let in the wind while they slept.

The oasis city wasn’t large; Shi Xianyu circled it a few times and quickly found the right route. By then, the sun had begun to sink toward the west, its lower half sliced by the horizon like a sharp blade, leaving a blazing red orb. The gray-yellow desert rocks were dyed orange-red by the evening glow.

The wind had stopped.

Shi Xianyu drove along the highway, barren wasteland stretching endlessly to either side, not a blade of grass in sight.

She dared not stray far from the road, fearing both mutant beasts and the car getting stuck in sand. After careful selection, she parked the RV beneath a massive scorched rock close to the highway. Then, donning goggles and a mask, she got out and sprayed pepper water onto the car’s exterior.

She truly didn’t want to be chased by mutant creatures again.

As for using pepper water, it wasn’t a whim. Capsaicin was often used as a coating on ship hulls to prevent algae and marine life from sticking, as well as on cables and wood surfaces to keep rodents from gnawing, and as a biochemical pesticide to ward off aphids and fleas from plants.

So capsaicin worked on most creatures.

Even mutated ones—unless their mutation made them lose smell or respiratory tracts—should avoid such chemicals.

Before night fully fell, Shi Xianyu sprayed the entire RV. Even through her mask she could smell the pungent odor, and her gloves were stained with pepper water.

She shook the nearly empty spray bottle, ready to finish and return to the car, when she inadvertently spotted something moving slowly along the distant highway.

Her heart instantly tightened; fate seemed so unkind! She only wanted to help a child find her mother, and in less than a day she’d already encountered two waves of monsters!

But soon her anxiety faded. The slow-moving figure was the giant lizard that had been chasing her.

Persistent!

Incredibly persistent!

Shi Xianyu was so worn down she’d lost all her temper; fear and urgency had faded, leaving only speechless frustration.

She stood before the car door, expressionless, quietly watching it crawl…

If the giant lizard had been swift at first, now it was stumbling, dragging itself forward step by step, pausing often, belly pressed to the ground, both forelimbs drooping as if crippled, relying only on its hind legs to push itself along, occasionally kicking as if a marathon runner struggling on sheer will after exhaustion.

Kick.

Kick again.

Kick… and then it could kick no more.

The huge lizard collapsed on the highway, lying there like a small sand dune in the distance.

“Let me go, and let yourself go. Wouldn’t it be better if we each lived our own lives?” Shi Xianyu sighed and turned back into the car.

…

Inside, Lu Li was cleaning up the spilled soil on the floor. Shi Xianyu’s reckless driving had knocked over the cherry tomato plant, and while the resin pot hadn’t broken, all the soil inside was scattered.

This world lacked water and soil. The earth’s surface was severely desertified, and deeper soil layers were laced with toxins, unsuitable for planting.

Lu Li carefully scooped up the precious soil and returned it to the pot, tears glimmering in her eyes.

She gently stroked the green stalks and leaves—none of the little tomatoes were left.

Shi Xianyu went over to comfort her. “Don’t worry, the cherry tomatoes will grow again.”

Lu Li nodded softly, but she still looked miserable.

It reminded Shi Xianyu of her childhood, when her mother gave her a talking, blinking doll she adored. She was overjoyed, but the doll broke within half a day. Though her mother later got her a new one from the shop, her mood when the doll broke was terrible.

Lu Li must feel even worse now.

Those plump little tomatoes—she’d hold them in her hand, reluctant to eat them, sniffing, then nibbling gently, sipping the sweet-tart juice, savoring each one, making it last. But now… all gone.

Shi Xianyu sighed quietly, crouched down, and said, “It’s okay. We can replant the tomatoes. Did you save the seeds from the orange I gave you today? We can plant those too.”

Lu Li looked up at her, her wet black eyes full of confusion and bewilderment.

Shi Xianyu guessed this child either had never learned to plant things or thought it was extremely difficult.

Truthfully, Shi Xianyu herself wasn’t confident. When she arrived in this wasteland world, she hadn’t planned on becoming a gardener, so she’d only dug up a single tomato plant, roots and all, from her spiritual herb garden and made it into a potted plant for novelty’s sake.

There was only that little pot of soil, no more.

Shi Xianyu glanced around the RV and spotted two empty milk cartons in the trash. An idea sparked.

She picked them out, cut them open with scissors to make two simple containers, then scooped a portion of soil from the pot and filled the cartons. She handed them carefully to Lu Li and said, “If you want to plant something, you can bury the seeds in here. Just water them every day and keep them moist—maybe they’ll sprout.”

Lu Li took the cartons with both hands, eyes wide with disbelief.

But now the tomato pot had even less soil.

Shi Xianyu got out, dug some sand nearby, poured it into the pot, stirred and mixed until it was filled again.

Night had fully fallen.

She was tired.

But she couldn’t rest yet.

Shi Xianyu forced herself to stay alert and took Lu Li to the bathroom for a shower. She had Lu Li stand in a basin, so the water from the shower could be reused to flush the toilet—a practical way to conserve water.

After washing the child, she dried her hair with a blow dryer and dressed her in clean pajamas.

Then, she had to wash herself.

She left her dirty clothes piled on the sofa, too exhausted to do laundry, planning to deal with them in the morning.

Taking care of a child was tiring, but thankfully Lu Li was obedient. If she’d been a troublemaker, Shi Xianyu doubted she could have managed.

She lowered the ladder and prepared to climb into bed for some rest, but for some reason, her thoughts drifted to the giant lizard.

She wondered if it had left…

Shi Xianyu drew aside the curtain on the rear window.

The post-sandstorm night was exceptionally clear; the sky was vast and high, stars glittering brilliantly. The barren, pale wasteland, lifeless and silent, seemed to possess a majestic and desolate beauty.

On the highway not far away, the giant lizard lay motionless, as if dead.

Shi Xianyu’s feelings were complicated.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw, on the neighboring bed, Lu Li also peeking out the window.

Shi Xianyu asked her, “Lu Li, do you think we should help it?”

Lu Li pressed her lips together and hesitantly shook her head.

“You think we shouldn’t?” Shi Xianyu asked.

Lu Li shook her head again.

“You’re not sure?” Shi Xianyu asked.

This time, Lu Li nodded.

Shi Xianyu felt torn. “I don’t know either.”

If they didn’t help, it seemed pitiful.

But if they did, she feared the giant lizard would just keep clinging to them.

Ah, what a dilemma.