Deep Sea Drifter Diary

深海流窜日记

deep-sea-drifter-diary

Chapter 36

For a moment, Xia Chuan felt like he had brought two wooden clubs with him, not two people who looked human.
Of course, one of them couldn't really be considered fully human. Expecting wooden clubs to speak like people would naturally be difficult. Xia Chuan silently rubbed his brow, pretending he hadn't heard anything... even though he himself wasn't very good at speaking like a normal person either.
Among the four people, only Professor Linton, the one who could speak properly, gave a few dry laughs to smooth things over: "It does seem to be the case that what we imagined didn't fully work. This place is a strange and bizarre world, and we are all outsiders who entered by mistake, not belonging to the same system as it.
"Integrating what Dennis just said, it means we can only influence things that are inherently part of this world, but cannot affect fellow outsiders like us. And in terms of influencing this world itself, the only thing that has worked so far is imagining extinction. Everything else that goes beyond reality remains a mere illusion, which indicates--"
As he was analyzing, the listeners all frowned with bitter expressions.
"You mean..." Xia Chuan furrowed his brow, "Only ideas that align with the historical trajectory will work?"
Professor Linton nodded, "That's what I believe."
With this explanation, the people in the cave pondered for a moment and felt that it indeed seemed to be the case, but...
"What we imagined doesn't conform to history either!" Protruding Ears' girlfriend pointed outside the cave, "It might be even more exaggerated than history. Meteorites don't just fall down like they're free. What we imagined is just our own perception of extinction. In fact, there are a dozen hypotheses for the cause of dinosaur extinction alone. Who knows which one is true?"
However, Protruding Ears seemed inspired by her words and slapped his forehead, "What if that's the case?"
The others didn't react for a moment, "What case?"
"This world is proceeding along its own path. Perhaps when we arrived, it happened to be approaching the extinction phase. Each of us has a perception of dinosaur extinction in our minds, and these perceptions overlap or are similar to this phase in certain processes and results. The remaining parts are like decorations on a Christmas tree - each person hangs some, shaping the final Christmas tree. But even if we remove all the decorations, the tree is still there and won't turn into a trumpet flower or anything else."
As he spoke, he gestured animatedly, as if afraid that others wouldn't understand his meaning. At the end, his hands cooperatively made a circle and propped up his own chin, trying to stretch his thin face into a timely trumpet flower. His appearance was quite ridiculous and not serious at all, but none of those present could laugh.
On the contrary, their expressions were grimmer than ever.
"If it's really like you said, even if all the decorations are removed, it's still a tree... Then even if we all remove our brains, we still can't stop it from continuing down the path to extinction!" His girlfriend slapped away the hand propping up his chin and said what the others were thinking.
Shen Lan looked out of the cave with a heavy expression.
Although Protruding Ears and his girlfriend's guess was unpleasant, it had to be admitted that they were probably right. If there was no escaping the result of extinction here, then he really had to leave no matter what.
At the thought of completely leaving this place, he felt an extremely deep sense of rejection in his heart. He had forgotten many things - his origin, his identity, how long he had been in this world, and so on.
And now he found that he also couldn't remember why he was so opposed to leaving here.
"Since we can't make the exit deliver itself to us, and we can't stop the arrival of extinction, just holing up in this stone cave will only lead to us dryly waiting for death..." Dennis said, tossing the oscilloscope in his hand.
He patted Protruding Ears's shoulder and said, "Come on, let's continue to get this thing working. Taking initiative is always more hopeful than being completely passive, right?"
The Protruding Ears clearly agreed with his words very much. He pulled his girlfriend along and went back to the original fork in the tunnel to settle down without another word.
The remaining people looked at each other and, after a moment, helplessly followed the steps of those two and returned to the first fork.
In an instant, there were only two people left by the cave entrance--
Xia Chuan could guess what Shen Lan was probably thinking from his expression. Now that the crowd had dispersed, he was still standing with his arms crossed, looking out of the cave. Seeing that he had no intention of moving, Xia Chuan raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder.
He was not good at comforting people, so naturally he wouldn't rack his brains to say anything deliberately at this time. Instead, Shen Lan spoke first.
Looking out of the cave without turning his head, he asked in a low voice, "Do you really want to leave here?"
Xia Chuan's hand was still on his shoulder and hadn't been withdrawn. Hearing this, he was slightly stunned for a moment, then nodded and said, "Of course. This place is not very suitable for humans like me to survive. Even without encountering a mass extinction, the possibility of trying to survive among various giant beasts is too low."
As soon as he finished speaking, Shen Lan turned his head to look at him, his expression slightly surprised.
"What?" Xia Chuan asked.
Shen Lan said, "Your reason... is very unique. I thought you would say 'I have to go home' or 'This is not where I belong' and so on. That's most people's reason, isn't it?"
Xia Chuan glanced at him, "You know quite a lot."
"Of course, I am from the world you live in after all," Shen Lan replied. "Although I have forgotten many things, I still remember these bits and pieces and those subtle influences."
Hearing Shen Lan take the initiative to mention this, Xia Chuan couldn't help but ask the question he had always been a little puzzled about, "Since you, like us, entered here by mistake, why are you so opposed to going back?"
Shen Lan shrugged, "What a coincidence, I was just thinking about this question myself."
Xia Chuan raised an eyebrow, "The answer?"
"I don't know," Shen Lan shook his head and answered in a deep voice. He wasn't actually the type of person who liked to share what was on his mind.
To be precise, he even disliked others prying into his affairs. This might have been an aftereffect brought about by his forgotten past identity and experiences. If others questioned him like this, even out of concern, he would feel a bit irritated.
But now the other party was Xia Chuan. All his feelings of annoyance merely flitted across his mind like a dragonfly skimming the water's surface, then disappeared without a trace. He was even willing to say a bit more.
After racking his brains for a moment, he added: "Tsk-- I always feel that if I return to the world I came from, something will happen. Although I can't remember what it is, it still makes me feel very... anxious."
Xia Chuan furrowed his brows, a hint of worry in his heart. Although he hadn't known Shen Lan for a long time, a lot had happened in this period, and each incident was quite serious.
Even so, Shen Lan always had a lazy demeanor and was sometimes a bit frivolous, as if he could easily handle any danger. Up until now, Xia Chuan had only seen him express such irritation over two matters. One was what he was talking about now, and the other was the current great extinction they were experiencing.
Comparing it this way, what made Shen Lan so averse to going back must not be an easy problem to solve.
In the silence, Shen Lan glanced at Xia Chuan's expression. He was stunned for a moment before belatedly realizing that Xia Chuan was worrying for him. Even being trapped in this cave by meteor showers hadn't made him show such a look... Thinking this, Shen Lan's mood suddenly became much more relaxed.
He was the type whose emotions came and went very quickly in this regard. Feeling at ease, his mouth also loosened. He immediately said to Xia Chuan in an improper manner: "Oh, I remember now."
Xia Chuan looked up: "Hm?"
"I'm averse to going back because the creatures in the sea are all too small, not even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth. What if I starve to death?" Shen Lan said with a straight face.
Xia Chuan: "..."
"Tsk-- Whales and sharks are big enough, but if I keep targeting them to eat, I'll probably be dragged to court before long, right?" Shen Lan continued to talk nonsense.
Xia Chuan directly rolled his eyes and turned to leave with an expressionless face.
Shen Lan called out "hey" a couple times and immediately caught up with him in two quick strides. They walked together towards the first fork in the path.
Xia Chuan couldn't be bothered with him the whole way. It wasn't until they were about to reach the fork that he abruptly tossed out a sentence: "Staying here, you can't escape the great extinction. If you go back and encounter that tricky matter you can't remember - I'll help you."
"Hm?" Shen Lan paused in his steps. In just that moment of hesitation, Xia Chuan had already returned to the crowd ahead of him.
This overlord who strode boldly through the prehistoric world thought for less than a second before feeling this was an extremely good deal. His stance, held firm for who knows how many years, was instantly fed to the dogs. He threw it far behind him, not caring about it anymore.
Xia Chuan didn't expect that with his simple words, he would gain a human-form external cheat device in a bound state.
As usual, he walked expressionlessly to a corner, leaned against the wall and sat down. Resting against a relatively smooth section of stone, he closed his eyes to recuperate.
The facts dictated that they couldn't stay in this cave for long. When they went out, there would definitely be another desperate trek. Naturally, he had to seize every moment to rest and recover.
Shen Lan, who followed after, narrowed his poor-sighted eyes and scanned around. After finding Xia Chuan's location, he walked over without hesitation. Unfortunately, there were people on both sides of Xia Chuan. Although they weren't tightly pressed together, the gap in between definitely couldn't fit a tall man of over 1.9 meters.
But Shen Lan didn't care.
He walked up beside Xia Chuan, who had his eyes closed to rest. Then very casually, he picked the balding man to Xia Chuan's left. Furrowing his brows and putting on a stern face at the man, the balding fellow hurriedly got up, trembling as he changed spots. Shen Lan nodded very satisfactorily, then shamelessly took the balding man's spot and sat down next to Xia Chuan.
Most people in the cave weren't talking at this time. Stirred up by the series of speculations and truths from earlier, they felt anxious and tired. Leaning against the stone walls, they stared blankly into space.
Only the innermost area occasionally transmitted some whispers. Dennis and Protruding Ears were huddled there fiddling with the oscilloscope. And beside them, the little boy's mother was helping Professor Linton treat his sprained leg.
"Are you a doctor?" Professor Linton asked softly.
"You could say that." The woman shook her head, her hands still kneading without pause. "A veterinarian. Just call me Laura."
Professor Linton: "..."
In the course of their escape, everyone in this cave had sustained injuries to varying degrees. Laura borrowed Dennis's medical kit and treated each person's wounds in the most economical yet effective way to avoid delaying their escape later.
After taking care of the others, Laura finally stood up. Carrying a flashlight, she walked over to Xia Chuan and Shen Lan. Little Allen obediently followed behind, hugging the medical kit. He was clearly his mom's loyal assistant.
The reason for leaving Xia Chuan and Shen Lan for last was because Laura could see that the two of them were likely the backbone of the group during their previous escape. Professor Linton and the like were clearly the ones being taken care of.
In such a dangerous place, escaping by yourself was hard enough, let alone having to look after an old man with a sprained leg. Laura felt they probably had the most injuries. Leaving them for last, she could treat them as carefully as possible.
Who knew that before Allen even put down the medical kit, Shen Lan had already spoken: "I'm not injured."
Laura said in surprise, "How is that possible? Even if there are no major wounds, it's still best to treat scrapes and such. The plants and insects here might all carry some toxicity..."
Shen Lan raised his muscular arm and waved it in front of her: "No scrapes either."
"..." Laura's gaze quickly swept over his arms and legs, her expression growing even more surprised. Because she discovered Shen Lan wasn't putting on a front with nonsense. He really didn't have a single scar on his body.
"Then--" Since he was truly unscathed, Laura changed direction. Her gaze fell on Xia Chuan.
At this time, Xia Chuan had already opened his eyes. Seeing Laura's gaze shift to him, he naturally understood her meaning. He opened his mouth, about to say something, but was preempted by Shen Lan: "He should be uninjured too."
Laura blinked a couple of times: "Should be?"
Shen Lan scratched his cheek: "Wait, let me check for you."
Xia Chuan: "..."
Seeing Shen Lan really reaching out his paw, looking like he was about to unbutton his shirt, Xia Chuan didn't hesitate at all. He raised his hand and pushed Shen Lan's face away, expressionlessly pushing him aside, and said to Laura: "Sorry, he has intermittent fits, don't mind him. But I'm indeed uninjured."
Laura: "..."
She had seen Shen Lan knock out a group of people in a few moves; angrily grab two people by the collar; frown without saying a word... In short, he always looked quite scary. Such a person actually had moments where he got his face pushed without any resistance?! And he looked a bit... dumb.
Either she wasn't fully awake, or the world wasn't...
Laura acknowledged Xia Chuan's words with an "Oh", and led Allen away in a daze.
In such a dark place, even people with a sense of time would feel disoriented. Let alone the people in the cave who had long lost the intention to keep track of time. They didn't even know when they should leave the cave and continue fleeing for their lives.
Of course, no one discussed this either. They tacitly remained silent, waiting for the inevitable moment when they had to move.
After an unknown period of time, someone's stomach growled very inappropriately. The echo in the stone cave prolonged the sound, making it linger eerily for a long time.
Only after the echo completely dissipated did Mediterranean Circle's voice emerge. He gave a dry laugh, his tone embarrassed: "Sorry, haven't eaten for too long, a bit hungry..." A few people made some understanding sounds in agreement.
But at this moment, Dennis and the others felt extremely fortunate that they were following Shen Lan. Putting aside other things, this overlord's emphasis on food was simply staggering. So much so that they strongly suspected the overlord's mental categorization of all living things had only two types - edible and inedible.
Although they also hadn't eaten for a long time, before entering the cave, they had basked in Shen Lan's glory and devoured a huge pile of meat with him... a truly huge pile, tons of it.
So even if they had expended a lot of energy, up until now, they didn't feel particularly starved.
But even if they were so hungry that they felt dizzy at this point, no one would rashly leave the cave to find food. So everyone echoed the sentiment, but didn't continue discussing the issue. Instead, someone raised another question -
"Is it just me or..." Protruding Ears, who had been fiddling with the oscilloscope, suddenly raised his head and muttered: "Do you feel it's getting hotter and stuffier?"

Deep Sea Drifter Diary

Deep Sea Drifter Diary

Chapter 36 - Chapter 36

Windwalker