Chapter 10: Let's Go Adventuring (Part 2)
Chapter 10: Let's Go Adventuring (Part 2)
In their view, this was an "inhumane" act, for it had always been the homunculi serving humans, never the other way around.
Their brains analyzed and computed this matter, concluding that he preferred this form of "self-torment.
Thus, Furong and Yan'er simultaneously went to the window for deep hibernation.
He hadn't expected this outcome and had to carry them all to bed, laying them side by side and covering them with a blanket.
At this moment, he hadn't yet realized this would influence their future behavior patterns, often leading to role reversals between master and servant.
Now he sat beside the three of them, gazing at their adorable forms, his heart swelling with delight once more.
But it seemed there would be no leaving today.
This place lacked stable food sources and remained under security threats - they ought to depart as soon as possible.
At nightfall, he sat drowsily by the bed in boredom, clutching Daji's hand tightly, hoping she'd awaken quickly from hibernation.
In his dazed state, he felt the house seemed to be shaking.
When he opened his eyes, Daji and the others were already standing around him. He had been shaken awake by Daji.
"Darling, we must leave immediately. The hotel's self-destruct sequence appears to have been activated ahead of schedule."
"Making such a fuss in the middle of the night! During the day you were all…"
Yan'er said anxiously, "We sensed rapid foundation settling, there's no time…"
Without waiting for discussion, Daji picked up Yu Qing and placed him in a box, while instructing Yan'er to pack the other two boxes and telling Furong to open the door.
When Furong tried to pull the door open from inside, she found it had warped severely and wouldn't budge. She shouted, "It won't open!"
Daji and Yan'er immediately put down the boxes to help push the door. It didn't move an inch.
The three human-like beauties exchanged glances for a moment before Daji shouted, "The window!"
Yan'er picked up a box to throw out the window, but the window opening was smaller than the box.
The building began to tilt.
Holding Yu Qing, Daji pushed aside Yan'er who was blocking the window and leapt out.
Yu Qing turned back and said, "My things…"
At that moment, massive chunks of material came crashing down from all directions. Daji dodged while swiftly running toward the open area outside the hotel.
Yu Qing clung tightly to Daji's neck, his eyes fixed on whether Furong and Yan'er were following behind.
But there was no electricity left, and the darkness behind made it impossible to see anything.
A deafening explosion echoed, followed by sudden silence. Yu Qing thought to himself that Furong and Yan'er were done for.
Daji carried him as she ran for a while, eventually reaching the Class C road leading out from the hotel.
The road was covered in dust and withered leaves, indicating that the trees here had grown naturally rather than being power-generating trees. This dashed Daji's plan of sliding forward on the Class C road, forcing her to walk properly.
Fortunately, Furong and Yan'er managed to escape after all. They caught up with them.
Furong carried his defensive armor while Yan'er held his helmet, both faces smeared with dirt.
Daji sighed, "We've lost all our spare parts. If anyone gets injured now, there'll be no saving them."
Yu Qing kissed Daji deeply and said, "We owe today's survival to you."
After speaking, he slipped out of Daji's embrace and realized he was only wearing sleepwear and was barefoot.
His foot struck something sharp on the ground as he stepped down, making him yelp in pain.
Like magic, Furong pulled from behind her neck and brought forward a pair of shoes that had been hanging there, untying them. She and Yan'er each lifted one of his feet to put the shoes on.
He embraced Furong and Yan'er, kissing each in turn, saying, "Anyway, thank you both too."
Turning back to Daji, he asked, "Darling, is this the right path to Weng Mountain?"
When Daji heard him call her "darling," her eyes lit up, and she happily replied, "Yes, darling."
He took Daji's hand and said, "Then, darling, come with me."
At the same time, he turned to Furong and Yan'er and said, "My darlings, follow along!"
Traveling at night was no easy task—he found himself unable to take a single step forward.
In the end, Daji ended up carrying him on her back while holding him, though it obstructed her view of the road.
Furong and Yan'er walked alongside Daji, one on each side.
Actually, Yan'er was slightly ahead on the right, while Furong stayed a step back on the left—their defensive coordination was impeccable.
Even while walking, they could maintain a speed of 30 kilometers per hour without breaking a sweat.
But suddenly, Daji and the others stopped in unison.
With no satellite connection, they couldn't determine their location—let alone know where their destination was.
Since humans adopted positioning systems centuries ago, they gradually lost their ability to remember roads and directions.
Androids were even more dependent on it.
Daji and the others could have roughly calculated their position through trajectory analysis, but since they had just escaped, that segment of the trajectory was chaotic, resulting in too large an error.
They didn't know if they had taken any wrong turns or changed direction.
To his astonishment, Daji could actually cry. She sobbed and said:
"Darling, we're lost.
Because the mountains and rivers here have undergone many changes over the past hundred years, and with limited nighttime visibility, even identifying our location and direction through geographical and architectural features has failed."
Yu Qing laughed and said, "What's the big deal? You still have me! Let's stop for now, gather some dry leaves on the road to make a fire, sit around it and chat until daybreak!"
Yan'er said, "We don't have anything to start a fire with."
Yu Qing asked Furong to pass him the protective suit. He pulled out a fish spear lighter from the large pocket, struck it a few times, and said, "See the sparks?"
Furong exclaimed, "There really are sparks!"
Daji and her companions sprang into action, gathering flammable materials from all around and piling them in the middle of the road.
Suddenly, Yan'er shouted, "This little thing tried to bite me!"
Just as she was about to throw it away, Yu Qing hurriedly said, "Don't toss it! We'll roast it later and eat it! Finally, no more sticky powder!"
After the fire was lit, Yu Qing was drenched in sweat from the heat.
Lighting a fire in such scorching weather was truly a terrible idea, but he really hated the darkness.
Yu Qing stood dozens of meters away from the fire, with Daji and Furong flanking him on either side.
Yan'er roasted the wild rabbit she had caught over the fire for him.
Once the rabbit was cooked, Yan'er handed it to Yu Qing and said,
"Sweetheart, why don't humans just recharge? Eating these things is so inefficient."
Yu Qing laughed and replied, "How else would we poop if we didn't eat these things?"
Daji asked in confusion, "Just for pooping? The records don't mention any important uses for human waste."
Yu Qing boasted, "It can generate electricity."
Daji pondered for a moment and said, "There are indeed records stating that animal waste can be fermented into biogas for power generation, but the cost-efficiency is low, so it was phased out long ago."
Yu Qing said earnestly, "No matter how little electricity it produces, it's still my gesture of goodwill toward you."
(End of Chapter)