Chapter 14

Until the jeep had completely driven out of the silver-white gate, Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong had adapted to the outside light, lowered their right arms, and opened their eyes, casting their gazes out the window.

After the initial, indescribable and inexplicable fear, they saw a clear blue sky, white clouds of various shapes, flocks of birds constantly changing formation, and mountain walls shimmering with a pale golden luster in the sunlight.

"Sun... Sun!" Long Yuehong shouted loudly at the huge orange-yellow fireball high in the sky.

He stared at it intently, even though his eyes stung and tears streamed down his face, he was reluctant to look away.

"Don't look directly at the sun in this state, it will hurt your eyes! If you really want to look, here." Jiang Baimian, while driving, rummaged through the armrest box and passed an item to Long Yuehong from the back.

Long Yuehong, who was leaning against the glass, turned his head and saw a pair of completely black glasses.

"… Sunglasses!" He recalled the knowledge he had learned and found the corresponding term.

"If you don't wear them, I will." At this moment, Shang Jianyao turned and said.

Long Yuehong looked over and saw that Shang Jianyao's eyes were red, as if tears were about to fall.

"Ha ha, you were staring at the sun too?" Long Yuehong couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The next second, he saw Shang Jianyao snatch the sunglasses and put them on his nose.

"Hey…" He was momentarily unsure whether to be angry or to reflect.

"There's another pair." Just as Long Yuehong was about to pounce on Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, sitting in the passenger seat, passed a pair of sunglasses to the back.

These sunglasses were more delicate than Jiang Baimian's, resembling two connected "hearts," and the lenses were not pure black but had a hint of rose red.

"Don't break them, I spent a lot to get them." Bai Chen warned.

"Thank you." Long Yuehong sincerely thanked her and put on the sunglasses.

With this "equipment," he could finally observe the sun carefully and in detail, comparing it with the slides.

"This is the sun…" After a long time, Long Yuehong sighed, took off the sunglasses, and returned them to Bai Chen.

Shang Jianyao also withdrew his gaze, thoughtfully putting Jiang Baimian's sunglasses back in the armrest box.

"What are you thinking about?" Long Yuehong glanced at his friend.

Shang Jianyao answered with a serious expression:

"I'm thinking about where to get sunglasses."

The people inside the underground building didn't need this thing, and only a few project teams would use them, so neither the "material supply market" nor the small market on the 495th floor of the "activity center" had this item.

Jiang Baimian, who was driving, sighed:

"I knew you would focus on the wrong thing."

Bai Chen smiled and said:

"When we pass by the place where the wilderness wanderers gather, we can go in and take a look. Maybe a compressed biscuit can get you a good pair of sunglasses."

"My pair was exchanged like that!" Jiang Baimian chimed in, "Why did yours cost so much?"

"I got it from a female relic hunter. At the time, she thought it was very pretty and wanted to use it herself, and she wasn't lacking in supplies." Bai Chen recalled the situation.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong didn't listen carefully and leaned on their respective windows, gazing at the outside scenery.

Whether it was the huge trees on both sides or the occasional brown squirrel running by, they could watch with great interest and exclaim in admiration.

"This is different from what I imagined about the gray earth environment…" After a long time, Long Yuehong sat up straight and sighed.

"What did you imagine it to be like?" Jiang Baimian, while making the jeep bounce on the bumpy road, asked casually.

Long Yuehong struggled to find the right words:

"It's just, just…"

Shang Jianyao turned his head and helped describe it:

"Dim, cold, damp, oppressive, the sky full of dust, the sunlight unable to penetrate the dark clouds, everything gray and hazy."

"Right, right, right! That's exactly it!" Long Yuehong completely agreed.

Their textbooks did not provide a detailed description of the gray earth environment, only mentioning the state, pollution, diseases, and famine, which naturally gave them the impression of a harsh environment on the gray earth.

And those employees who had been to the surface, constrained by confidentiality agreements, could not say much, even if they occasionally mentioned that some places had bright sunshine and a good environment, the listeners would subconsciously ignore it.

Jiang Baimian, with her elbow on the steering wheel, looking ahead, chuckled:

"Maybe it was like that when the old world was destroyed, but it quickly improved, and only some places are still in that state."

"And that also means danger, pollution, diseases, and mutations." Bai Chen added.

"Is that so…" Long Yuehong pressed his face against the window again, admiring the beautiful mountain and forest scenery bathed in sunlight.

Shang Jianyao did the same.

Jiang Baimian, seeing this through the rearview mirror, chuckled and pressed a button.

With a beep, the windows of the four doors quickly retracted downward.

Long Yuehong was startled and straightened his body:

"It, it…

"Can they be retracted like that?"

"To let you breathe the outside air." Jiang Baimian pretended she wasn't just playing a prank.

Shang Jianyao's posture didn't change at all, seemingly enjoying the feeling of the glass sliding past his face, which looked quite comical.

He then squinted his eyes and took a deep breath.

"How is it?" Jiang Baimian asked with a smile.

Shang Jianyao looked outside seriously:

"There's a fresh smell of feces."

"…" Jiang Baimian admitted that Shang Jianyao had a keen sense of smell but didn't want to acknowledge it.

Bai Chen, who had observed the whole process of Jiang Baimian opening the windows, interjected thoughtfully:

"Team Leader, what year were you born?"

"New Calendar Year 23, what's the matter?" Jiang Baimian answered casually.

"You are three years younger than me…" Bai Chen was somewhat shocked.

Long Yuehong was even more surprised:

"Team Leader, you are only two years older than us?

"You are already D6!"

"That's the benefit of working in the Security Department, it's dangerous, but promotions are really fast, after all, your superiors, like me, might die at any time." Jiang Baimian joked.

She paused and added casually:

"Besides, I made some contributions before.

"Ah, I forgot to remind you, observing the color of the air is very important, sometimes you must put on a gas mask in advance."

For the next half hour, the jeep jolted through the mountains and forests, and Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong, like children, were still focused on the outside scenery, curious about everything.

Seeing the soil gradually turn black, the trees become sparse, and the road less bumpy, Long Yuehong suddenly frowned:

"I always feel that the outside environment is not quite right, as if something is missing…"

Shang Jianyao, who had already sat up straight, said in a deep but not low voice:

"There are no people."

No people… Right! Long Yuehong slapped his thigh:

"That's right, along the way, except for a few people in the outposts, no humans have appeared!"

And the people in the outposts were undoubtedly company employees.

"Nearby people have either been absorbed by the company, wandered to places with food, or…" Jiang Baimian's tone changed, "After passing the next outpost and truly entering the Black Marsh Wilderness, there will be a chance to encounter humans."

"But that may not be what you want…" Bai Chen added softly without turning her head.

"What did you say?" Jiang Baimian turned her head and asked.

"Team Leader, focus on driving!" Bai Chen reined in her emotions and shouted with a smile.

Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong fell silent, occasionally glancing at the increasingly open scenery outside.

After a long time, Long Yuehong suddenly asked:

"Team Leader, I haven't told my family about the field training, and I won't be home recently, what should I do?"

"Superiors will send someone to notify them." Jiang Baimian, looking at the road ahead, gently adjusted the steering wheel.

Long Yuehong closed his mouth.

Inside the jeep, there was a long silence again.

After passing the edge outpost of "Pangu Biology," the terrain ahead became flatter.

The soil here was gray-black, soft, and clearly showed various intersecting marks, some from wheels, some from animals, and some from humans.

The trees around the road were even sparser, allowing one to see the black marsh in the distance.

The trunks of these trees were mostly black, the leaves deep green, some very tall, up to twenty or thirty meters, and some very short, just over a person's height. They all had twisted postures, bizarre and strange, like dead monsters, appearing dark even in the sunlight.

"At the edge of the marsh, you don't need to be too careful, but once you go deeper, you must slow down and always pay attention to whether the road ahead has been swallowed by the marsh. If you really drive into it, then decisively abandon the vehicle and retreat." Bai Chen took the opportunity to give a lesson, "Team Leader, there's a clean water source over there."

Jiang Baimian nodded:

"Good, let's rest there and replenish some water.

"Then, while the terrain is open and not too dangerous, let Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong take turns driving.

"Hopefully, you can learn today."

She turned the steering wheel, driving the jeep toward a sparse forest in the wilderness.

An underground river emerged from the ground here, flowed for a few hundred meters, and then returned underground.

Jiang Baimian, holding the solar-powered charging panel and a large thermos on the jeep's roof, walked to the river and said to Shang Jianyao and Long Yuehong:

"Generally, flowing underground water is safe, but you should observe two points.

"First, whether the nearby plants show obvious mutations, and second, whether the creatures in the water look strange compared to their kind.

"Then, if possible, boil the water before filling the water bladders, or if not, use 'biological cleaning tablets.'"

After observing for a while, Jiang Baimian squatted by the river and filled the thermos with water.

Then, she placed the thermos on the charged solar panel and plugged it in.

During this process, she took out a milky white plastic bottle, poured out a small white tablet the size of a fingernail, and dropped it into the water.

This was the "biological cleaning tablet" produced by "Pangu Biology."

Long Yuehong watched with great interest, seemingly eager to try it himself.

For someone who needed to go to the "material supply market" every day to get hot water, this was quite a novel experience. His family was relatively large, and the energy allocation for children was limited, so they could only take a thermos to the hot water room at the supply market to get hot water.

After finishing, Jiang Baimian stood up, looked at Long Yuehong, and scolded with a smile:

"At this moment, what you should do is take out the 'Ice Moss' to prevent any creatures from attacking us or stealing our supplies.

"Bai Chen is very experienced, and you can see, Shang Jianyao is also on guard."

Shang Jianyao, who had pulled out the "Ice Moss" pistol and was looking at the "source" of the river, suddenly said:

"Team Leader, there's a human figure over there!"