HBWnovel Chapter 062 is all in the past.
Chapter 062 is all in the past.
Jade is used to weigh the pros and cons and assess the risks.
Lu Chen, while keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, was lost in thought.
This is the second time that Lu Chen has proposed a more "radical" strategy when Yu Meng is considering withdrawing.
Last time, Yu was worried that the existence of No. 3994 would increase the risk of the operation, so she dared not set foot in the hibernation warehouse area.
In the end, Lu Chen successfully persuaded Yu and retrieved the hibernation pod number 9529.
This time, the situation is undoubtedly more complicated, and the risks have increased exponentially.
Lu Chen gave the same advice as last time: "Don't give up easily."
It wasn't that Lu Chen wasn't cautious enough.
It's not that Lu Chen was bursting with confidence just because he had a 9mm caliber Glock with a 50-meter range.
It was Yu's excessive risk aversion during these two trips out of the city that made Lu Chen notice something unusual.
...
What is a scavenger?
—Freelancers who risk their lives to earn a living in lawless areas outside the city.
Outside the city, where do the scavengers' "life-threatening" situation come from?
—Other scavengers.
...
Why?
Why do scavengers become a threat to each other once they reach the outskirts of the city?
Because there is no law or order outside the city, and everything is unrestrained?
Obviously not.
Law and order do not exist outside the city walls; they merely serve to protect scavengers from legal risks related to violent conflicts that occur outside the city.
It's just that it's "not illegal"; no one is forcing scavengers to prey on their own kind.
What truly drives scavengers to engage in armed conflict with their fellow scavengers is resources and profits.
Resources outside the city are not abundant.
And as time goes by, there are fewer and fewer, and they are becoming increasingly insufficient.
With too many monks and too little porridge, competition is inevitable.
It seems like they're fighting over money.
In reality, it's a race against time.
The struggle for wealth is also a struggle for lifespan, as well as the opportunity and space to survive.
To put it more bluntly, it's a fight for one's life.
Against this backdrop, Yu's attitude of trying his best to avoid risks and even "not competing with the world" seems somewhat strange.
Everyone is arguing about it.
Even if you fight with all your might, you might not be able to get it;
Even if they win, they may not be able to survive.
If you don't fight for it, how can you survive for so long?
If one can survive without fighting, then why do scavengers fight tooth and nail?
Putting aside everything else, just consider the 13-year bank debt that Yu Furu incurred after his recovery.
With monthly debt interest for 285 days a year and a debt principal of 13 years, how can one possibly repay it without 'fighting and grabbing'?
...
Yes.
Lu Chen was lucky; he found hibernation pod number 9529 and paid off his bank debts in just a few days.
But how many lucky ones are there?
—From the beginning of time to the present, nearly three hundred years have passed, and there have only been a dozen or so in total!
On average, it happens only once every twenty or thirty years, which is even less likely than winning the lottery!
As a scavenger, as an explorer who can only survive by "fighting," how could Yu possibly have survived in the City of Time by "playing the law"?
……
"I can probably guess."
In the long silence, Lu Chen's calm and gentle voice rang out from the roof of the car.
Yu turned her head to look at the sound and saw Lu Chen squat down again, gently supporting Yu's back, his expression inexplicably complicated.
"Yu, who has been able to pay off his bank debts for 13 years and survive to this day, cannot be a pure coward."
"—You used to be bold, meticulous, and decisive."
Once outside the city, they will avoid risks, but they will not miss any opportunity to make a profit.
"Until one day, instead of being more cautious, you made an even more radical choice."
"And paid an extremely heavy price."
...
"You also owned a hand grenade for self-defense, didn't you?"
"It was that incident that forced you to use that grenade."
"After that, even if you could afford it, you wouldn't want to buy hand grenades anymore."
"Because grenades will bring back those painful memories."
"You don't want to remember that past..."
With each word Lu Chen spoke, Yu's eyelashes trembled slightly.
However, he remained in a daze from beginning to end, unable to recover for a long time.
Lu Chen didn't dwell on it much.
He gently stroked Yu's back, trying to keep his voice as gentle and calm as possible.
"It's all in the past."
...
It's time to move on.
……
Amidst the sandstorm, Yu sat slumped on the roof of the car, lost in thought.
Lu Chen squatted down beside her, gently stroking Yu's back.
After a long while, he withdrew his hand from Yu's back, supported himself on his knees, and stood up.
He set up the telescope again and slowly surveyed the surroundings.
Then, I looked back at the source of the explosion.
"You're the captain."
"All action decisions are made by you."
"If you still insist..."
"—Something's going to happen!"
Before Lu Chen could finish speaking, the tears that had been welling up in her eyes finally burst forth with a sob.
In an instant, that bewildered face was stained with two streams of hot tears.
She was clearly crying.
But there was little sorrow in those light blue eyes.
There was only fear from the depths of the soul, and heartbreaking regret.
"I'll die..."
...
"We will die..."
With almost her last breath, she managed to utter these final two sentences before covering her face with her hands and bursting into tears.
Lu Chen was slightly taken aback, then squatted down again.
He patted Yu's back gently, but still couldn't calm her down. So he sat down and gently put his arm around Yu's shoulder.
"It's alright now."
"It's all in the past."
...
"It's alright now."
He soothed her gently, patting Yu's shoulder lightly.
His eyes constantly scanned the fan-shaped area in front of him so that he would notice if someone approached in time.
This state continued until dusk.
After calming down, Yu noticed that it was getting dark, so Lu Chen helped her jump off the roof and back into the passenger seat.
Lu Chen got into the driver's seat but did not start the pickup truck immediately.
Instead, he took two cigarettes from his cigarette case and put them in his mouth together.
He struck a match, tilted his head, lit two cigarettes, and then handed one of them to Yu.
Yu hesitated briefly before finally bringing the cigarette to her lips.
In a short while, the carriage was filled with smoke, like a "fairyland".
—Actually, it's more like the carriage is on fire, with smoke billowing out through the window cracks.
"Where to next?"
With a soft question, Lu Chen casually spread the map on the steering wheel and gestured on it with his fingers, which were holding a cigarette.
"It's getting dark, and the remaining electricity won't reach the safe haven."
"We can find a place to spend the night nearby."
"I'll charge it up tomorrow and go check out the construction ruins area first."
"If there's no harvest, go back to the city, modify the pickup truck, queue up to leave the city, and detour to the northern suburbs..."
Lu Chen talked to himself, and in just a few words, he roughly formulated a new plan.
Yu leaned back in her chair, repeatedly bringing the cigarette to her lips, inhaling and exhaling.
Finally, he casually tossed the cigarette butt out the window, then grabbed the map and threw it into the back seat.
"Let's go."
"Let's go take a look."
"We still have a hibernation pod stored there that we haven't retrieved."
...
"Even if we come back empty-handed, we should still see what fate awaits number 3994."
"—He destroyed my hibernation pod area."
"Our hibernation pod area."
"His life is worth a 9mm round worth [3 days] of our lives."