Chapter 34

Suoluo heard a thunderous boom coming from inside the cave.

Thinking some monster was lurking within, he instinctively reached for the sword at his waist, but immediately after, he saw a strangely shaped iron carriage slowly driving out of the cave.

Even more miraculously, there was clearly no livestock pulling it from the front, yet the metal carriage behind could move on its own.

Lievre's eyes lit up, and he said excitedly, "My god, by the Goddess of Magic, what have I seen!!! There are pipes on it; this is a train! I've actually seen a train in Leiwateleisi!"

"That's not a train, it's an off-road vehicle," the half-elf girl corrected from the side. She had heard Mali say it before and remembered the name.

The old alchemist looked puzzled. "What is an off-road vehicle? Is it a type of small train?"

"Uh, I don't actually know that, maybe."

At this moment, Mali opened the car door and jumped down from the driver's seat. His gaze swept over everyone one by one. "There are more people than I expected; it might be a bit crowded. Elderly first."

Considering Lievre was over ninety years old and his old bones couldn't handle being tossed around, Mali intended to let him sit in the passenger seat.

However, this meant the half-elf girl would have to give up her seat, but Xia'er didn't want to go to the back compartment.

So she suggested, "How about we still sit together, just like when we first met?"

"No good, I'm driving a long distance, that would be too uncomfortable."

"Mm, alright then."

Mali had brought quite a few supplies and provisions when he left Luoyang, so there wasn't much space left in the carriage. By the time he drove to Baimu Cun, he had used up about 120L of diesel, while other consumption wasn't much, totaling less than 20 jin.

After learning about this world from Xia'er, Mali immediately realized he might have brought too much food and water.

But there was no helping it; without leaving the Red Mist, one never knew what the outside had become or if there were still gas stations.

Before setting off, he had adjusted the supplies in the car, temporarily storing some of the water and food in the half-elf girl's small cabin.

Now, he directed Suoluo and the others to lift the remaining tools and supplies onto the roof rack and secure them. After some fuss, they finally managed to squeeze out enough space in the trunk for six people, though one shouldn't have high expectations regarding comfort.

After all, Mali had removed the back seats early on, so the six of them could only sit on the floor now.

However, for safety reasons, Mali still used netting and nylon rope to secure them simply.

To Mali's surprise, the most nervous person among them was actually the most seasoned and experienced Suoluo.

The latter asked him more than once whether it was safe to ride in this thing.

According to Suoluo, he had a teammate who died at the hands of a rampaging alchemy golem, so he clearly had some psychological trauma regarding such large-scale alchemical creations.

It wasn't until Mali assured him that the side doors wouldn't suddenly flatten and crush him into a meat patty, and that the entire body structure was quite sturdy and could withstand a certain amount of impact, that his expression improved slightly.

After settling everyone in, Mali sat back in the driver's seat and fastened his seatbelt.

To further alleviate the monster hunter's tension, he turned on the car audio system at the first opportunity.

This time, "Sword and Dream" drifted out from the speakers.

This was the opening theme song of the '94 version of "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber."

The lead actor, Ma Jingtao, wasn't the "Roaring Emperor" yet at that time, and the several lead actresses on screen were all bright, moving, and peerless in beauty.

It was strange to say, but when Mali listened to songs before, he hadn't realized they had the function of recording and freezing time.

When a certain familiar melody played, it made one unconsciously fall into memories of the past.

Mali wasn't a person who liked to reminisce. His childhood was unremarkable, filled with the smell of engine oil and rust, and the days spent burying his head in work in an office building after graduation weren't worth lingering over either.

Yet, at this moment, he did indeed miss those plain, ordinary days of the past.

When did this longing begin? Was it when he saw the catnip leaves in front of the half-elf girl's cabin? Or when he saw those small copper balls simulating the solar system in the Alchemy Association, or the ancient alchemy that the old alchemist kept repeating over and over...

Once these seemingly trivial clues were combined, it was easy to arrive at a certain unsettling conjecture.

Mali didn't like this conjecture.

But the ruthlessness of time lay in the fact that it never shifted according to anyone's will; it was always forging ahead, never looking back.

From this perspective, perhaps that Red Mist in Black Stone Canyon was just a CD dedicated to the past.

Then what about him? What did he count as? A ghost drifting among the notes of the past?

Thinking of this, a sense of unreality arose in Mali's heart, and the world before his eyes seemed to become exceptionally distant. However, the warm breath on the back of his neck soon pulled him back to reality.

"Are there any more cans? Braised pork, or yellow peaches would be fine." The half-elf girl didn't know when she had poked her head over, looking expectant. "I was too busy before, didn't have time to eat lunch, and didn't eat well last night either; my stomach is full of ale."

"Yes, they're in the cardboard box in the back, go find them yourself." Mali paused, then added, "Take a portion for the others too."

"Okay." Xia'er pushed aside the nylon rope on her body and went to the back to rummage through the boxes in high spirits.

The off-road vehicle continued to drive forward along the gravel-filled mountain road.

Mali rolled down the window, feeling the breeze blowing against his face, which was mixed with the scent of soil. One of his arms rested on the car door, and Wakin Chau's magnetic voice drifted through the mountains and fields.

I am drunk / a blur

Grace and resentment / are illusion and emptiness~

I wake / a spring dream

Life and death / everything becomes empty~

Coming in a hurry / leaving in a hurry / hating that we cannot meet~

Loving in a hurry / hating in a hurry / everything follows the wind~

Suoluo, who was squatting in the back row, commented, "This tune is quite spirited. It reminds me of a battle on the Red Plateau against a harpy. The scar on my face was a gift from her, and in return, I cut off her head at the end."

"Harpy, you've seen a harpy?" the older brother among the adventurer siblings asked curiously. "Rumor has it that they abduct men, force those men to mate with them, and after they're done, they use their sharp claws to slice open their chests and eat them."

"That's right, those rumors are all true, except that they keep the ones who are good at the job alive, letting those men live for a few more months... maybe longer. I knew an imperial barbarian who, after being captured by a harpy, lived in her nest for a full three years until he was rescued."

"I heard that lucky guy is living quite well in the capital now, very popular with those noble ladies and misses."