Day 1, Around Winter
Picked up a backpack with a notebook and a pen inside. Great, starting a diary today.
But I don't know this world's calendar, so I'll just count today as the first day.
On the first day of journaling, I found a backpack under the gate at the entrance of Wanshi Village in East Gate County. The word 'corpse' on the gate should have a dot on top, but unfortunately it's missing.
It's rare for this world's text to be the same as in my previous life.
The snow is quite heavy; I need to take shelter here.
Day 2, Snow Stopped
As expected, another abandoned village, but at least there's a village. This ghost world doesn't even have a city! What kind of weird place have I traveled to?
Is there really not a single living person in this world? Luckily, I have Gou with me.
Too bad Gou is a mechanical dog; cuddling up won't keep me warm, it's actually colder.
Day 3
Gou is really useful; he found quite a few treasures in this village.
Searched the village thoroughly and found a box of expired mineral water with 24 bottles, two bags of small bread, each with 20 pieces.
The packaging text is already unreadable, but the bread is rock hard, and the taste is all wrong. What else could it be but expired?
But Gou says it's okay for me to eat, so it definitely won't be a problem.
Tried it, and it really is fine.
My stomach is super strong in this lifetime!
But for now, I can store them; no rush to eat.
Several cellars have cabbages, radishes, and the rice urns have rice. It's all frozen and misshapen, but it can be eaten; probably good to last a month.
Found oil, salt, soy sauce, and vinegar too; I'm truly blessed!
Those should've been nibbled by mice...
Day 4
Cut a lot of firewood outside the village, exhausted. Thankfully, the forest isn't far from the village, otherwise it would've been worse.
I'm tired, but Gou is perfectly fine. From the moment I found him until now, he's been going strong for over half a year, like a perpetual motion machine. This thing doesn't even have an Ark Reactor.
Too bad he's so small, otherwise I could've thrown the firewood on him, saving much effort.
Day 5
Found a mouse, what luck, still no mutated creatures seen. How on earth did people disappear in this world?
Gou is amazing, caught the mouse. Today we can have cabbage stir-fry with meat. But I'll let Gou check first to be sure it's safe to eat.
This Gou can assess my physical digestion capability and confirm the food's quality, ensuring no issues after eating, like poisoning or diarrhea.
Gou is very useful.
...
Day 47
Almost out of cabbages, radishes, and rice. Time to set off.
Left a bit of food, stored here.
Already had Gou mark the spot, so if I find a suitable place, I can come back and pick it up, maybe try growing something.
Hope these stored items can be preserved.
Tore off a piece of paper and wrote "future fire seed stored here" to keep with these items.
If there are other living people in this world who come scavenging in Wanshi Village and discover this spot, I wonder what their reaction would be?
The north is too cold, I'm heading south.
Day 48
Covered about twenty miles, no more walking; need to rest.
Carrying mineral water on my back, with bread in a bag, really damn heavy!
The main weight is the mineral water.
Compared to the previous life, I'm much stronger physically now, no idea why.
Before, with this amount of stuff, I definitely couldn't carry it.
Gou, why can't you be a bit bigger? You're like a corgi; what good are you?
Day 49
Found some tape, divided the dozen bottles of mineral water, wrapped them around Gou using the tape.
Much easier now.
...
Day 52
Want a car.
But even if there are cars in this world, they probably can't be driven, and there's no way to refuel.
A bicycle would be best, three-wheeled, so it can carry goods.
But very unfortunately, I haven't seen even a bike tire.
This boring world, if only something like a bike tire could roll by!
...
Day 64
Can't determine how far south I've gone, but luckily found a pair of mountaineering shoes, they fit, and they're new; luck is truly explosive.
This is Cyan Yang Town in Mozhou City, according to the sign opposite the shoe store; it shouldn't be wrong.
Finally encountered a city! Tough!
There must be other people in this world; otherwise, these storefronts wouldn't all be empty. I wouldn't have found the mountaineering shoes if not for them being pressed at the bottom of the shoe store's shelf.
Need to be a bit cautious.
Heading further south, I can already see tall buildings that should be Mozhou City. Resting here today, will check it out tomorrow.
Cut my face shaving, miss having a razor. But at least, I've honed my skill to shave with a Blade.
Day 65
Found Mozhou City police station, as abandoned as the entire city. The gun room is locked; thankfully, there's Gou.
If I could bring this thing back to the previous life and open a locksmith company, I'd sure earn a decent amount.
Not much inventory, one handgun, two submachine guns, a box and a half of bullets. They were sealed outside, very airtight, as if saved for doomsday.
Checked with Gou after opening; everything is usable. The load is increasing again.
But I can stay here for a while. There are quite a few wild animals in this abandoned city, with guns, I can enjoy game meat.
Day 66
Poor aiming, resorted to firepower suppression. Wasted 3 boxes of bullets.
Got meat today, follow the usual routine, let Gou scan first.
Day 67
Suddenly snowing.
It was warm yesterday, but today the temperature dropped dramatically.
This kind of extreme change seems to have happened a few times already. But previously, we were in a hurry to travel and thought we had just left the north, so we didn't pay attention.
In this environment, crops would probably struggle to grow?
Incredible that there are still plants and vines growing wild and thriving.
Does the apocalypse have something to do with this bizarre environment?
...
Day 75
Yesterday was a snowstorm, today I'm sweating, the snow has all turned into water, leaving puddles everywhere.
The weather changes are too extreme, usually, when snow melts, it gets colder, but this kind of change makes me feel like I'm going to die.
Finally saw people, and surprisingly, I could understand what they're saying, it felt so familiar.
Too bad they wanted to rob me. Wasted almost half a box of bullets.
Handling two guns by myself was overwhelming, thankfully, Gou helped me reload.
...
Day 81
Met people again. The ones from before were said to be the Wolf Gang, and today's people were called the Dog Gang. Either wolves or dogs, they all want to rob me, not decent folks.
Wasted almost half a box of bullets again, but I'm making progress.
This place isn't safe, can't stay here. In these times, you can't even meet a good person to talk to, really frustrating!
...
Day 99?
This place is nice, it's a standalone villa, with a sign at the entrance that reads 272 Jiang Yu Road, Nanwan City. No idea where 271 or 273 went.
The villa's electrical circuit is intact, and Gou connected himself to it, surprisingly, he can charge up.
Gou is awesome!
Note: There's a swimming pool in the villa's yard, quite a lot of water, probably accumulated after the previous heavy snow.
Gou checked it, it's perfectly fine. After crossing over, my constitution became super strong, I wouldn't dare drink this water in my previous life!
Unfortunately, I still need the water; otherwise, I would jump right in to bathe.
A bath before bed is the best!
Day 100
Damn! Ran out of ink!
Forget it, not writing the diary anymore. Do serious people even write diaries!
...
The last line of words is fragmented, leaving only pencil marks without any black text at all.
Lu Xi'an tossed the pen away and closed the notebook, wanting to throw it away but felt it wasn't right.
There's a mishmash of notes on it, might be useful in the future, throwing it away would be a pity, also worried others might find it.
After all, it's clear there are other people in this world, and the two groups I've encountered aren't good people. If they found the diary, it would definitely be bad.
Ripping it up...
Seems a bit wasteful.
It's rare to have recorded so many pages in the notebook; in the past, he wouldn't even dare to imagine it. He didn't have the willpower then!
Forget it, better keep it for now.
"Gou, time to sleep."
Lu Xi'an stuffed the notebook into his bag and yelled towards the electrical box.
Hanging on the electrical box was a pitch-black mechanical dog, which gleamed with metallic luster.
The mechanical dog wasn't tall, and its limbs short, with joints featuring gears in between its four legs, making them look even shorter.
Openings appeared on either side of its body, from which black wires extended, attaching to the electrical circuit, hanging it there.
On hearing Lu Xi'an's words, the mechanical dog immediately retracted the black wires, fell onto the floor with a "clunk", and closed its side openings.
The electrical circuit broke, and the villa instantly went dark.
The mechanical dog's titanium-alloy eyes emitted light, illuminating the area ahead. It hurriedly ran towards Lu Xi'an, leading the way and patrolling the villa to confirm there was no danger.
Those four dog legs were a mix of agility and stiffness, running swiftly while shaking its body left and right, looking somewhat comical.
Really can't understand why the creator made the dog legs so short, or why not attach four wheels instead.
However, regardless, I'm grateful to the creator of the mechanical dog, and to Gou.
Lu Xi'an thought.
This was the first resource he found after crossing into this desolate world, and it has helped him immensely since.
Without Gou, he might have been dead already somewhere unknown.
He frequently feels lucky, fortunate that he looked twice at that black metal box in the abandoned basement, getting his iris accidentally scanned.
The basement is further north than Wanhu Village, East Gate County, lacking any landmarks or names, just an inconspicuous underground pit.
He marked the coordinates with Gou, so he can find it again if he returns.
Since then, he became the master of the mechanical dog.
Outside, it started to pour heavily.
This kind of rainy night is perfect for sleep, and now he's lucky to have a soft bed in the villa to enjoy it.
After confirming safety, Lu Xi'an swiftly went upstairs to the bedroom, lying on the bed, feeling comfortable all over.
The mechanical dog didn't get on the bed; its short legs couldn't make it, so it curled up at the bedhead, transforming back into its original black metal box form.
This must be its resting mode.
"Thump!"
Suddenly, there was a commotion downstairs, like someone was hitting the door.
Lu Xi'an immediately jumped up from the bed, and Gou transformed back into a dog form.
The pouring rain almost drowned out the noise, but in this world, Lu Xi'an had long grown accustomed to vigilance and could hear it clearly.
As for the mechanical dog, it doesn't even need mentioning.
Lu Xi'an got off the bed, grabbed the submachine gun by his side, and stealthily exited the bedroom.
The mechanical dog lowered its head and quickly hung the leather gun pouch around its neck, following Lu Xi'an.
Lu Xi'an had made the pouch during his time at the police station, using bear skin he had skinned and sewing tools he had found in a broken tailor shop, allowing the dog to carry some items.
Right now, the pouch was loaded with bullets.
The man and dog crept alongside the staircase outside the bedroom, peering downstairs through the railing.
Any noise at the door had stopped, seeming that whoever was outside had given up as they couldn't break in.
But Lu Xi'an remained alert.
The next moment—
"Crash!"
Sure enough, someone broke the window and climbed inside.
It's a woman.