Chapter 220: Nectarines, Dig Up the Tree Directly
"Maybe we should ride motorcycles!"
After resting for over ten hours, they set out, and Meng Ci suggested.
According to Shen Que's pre-apocalypse memory, traveling from M City to M Town required passing through several tunnels.
Nowadays, many places had collapsed, so it was likely the tunnels had caved in and were impassable.
If they took that route, they'd likely have to hike over mountains.
Meng Ci thought about the several off-road motorcycles and bicycles stored in his space, which would be a good choice to use at this time.
They weren't in a hurry to reach M Town, so they planned to take it easy, covering 20 to 30 kilometers each day and enjoying the scenery.
"That works!" Shen Que nodded in agreement.
Meng Ci packed things into his space, and then each of them rode a motorcycle.
As for Qiezi and Xiong Ying, Meng Ci thought for a moment and decided to let them sit on the back seat.
However, to prevent Qiezi and Xiong Ying from falling off, Meng Ci took two ropes from his space and tied them around the animals.
But after sitting for a while, Qiezi started howling to get off, so Meng Ci discussed with Shen Que and decided to let them run freely on the ground.
Since the road was rough and they were riding slowly, they weren't worried about Qiezi and Xiong Ying keeping up.
After leaving the low-lying area, Shen Que found a mountain road, and the two continued up the mountain.
The mountain road was less than two meters wide but was thankfully paved with concrete. However, they frequently encountered collapsed sections or dips in the road.
In some parts, there had been landslides earlier, completely blocking the road with dirt and large rocks, making it impossible for the motorcycles to pass.
At first, Meng Ci considered clearing the debris to make the return trip easier.
But after moving a dozen boulders, Meng Ci's muscles ached, and he was drenched in sweat.
So, Meng Ci decisively gave up on the idea of repairing the road.
He stashed the motorcycle in his space, crossed the landslide on foot, and pressed on.
Three hours later, the two finally reached the mountaintop.
Before the apocalypse, this mountain had been home to a small community. Some two-story buildings still stood amidst the mountains. The villagers must have used sturdy materials when building, which is why the houses were still in good condition.
To their surprise, they spotted a few nectarine trees while wandering the mountain.
It was late May, just the right time for nectarines to ripen. They were plump, round, and had a red luster.
Meng Ci reached out and picked one, took a bottle of water out from his space, rinsed it, and with ample sunlight, the peach was sweet and crispy.
Without hesitation, Meng Ci decided to dig up the three nectarine trees and transplant them into his space, ensuring a steady supply of fresh fruit.
After sharing this idea with Shen Que, he naturally agreed.
However, the two weren't in a rush to dig up the trees. They first checked around to make sure no one was there, then took out the RV, and ate some cake first, followed by a watermelon that looked like red jade. They shared and ate it.
Qiezi and Xiong Ying finally caught up with them.
It was probably because they had been playing wildly and got hungry, so they stood at the door of the RV, staring longingly at their owners.
Eggplant's once-white fur had turned a mottled yellow and black and was covered with leaf debris. It probably knew that it was dirty and didn't dare to get on the RV.
The black German Shepherd, Eagle, didn't appear to have any dirt on its fur, but it was covered with quite a bit of burrs and other filth.
Both of them stuck out their tongues, panting eagerly like happy dogs as they looked at their owners.
Meng Ci knew that their living space in the West Hill Base was too small for both of them to live comfortably. Since they rarely got to go out, it was okay for them to be a bit wild this time.
Thus, he took out some food and fed them.
Of course, since the two of them were so dirty, he wouldn't let them back on the RV in the future. With all their energy, they could run on their own for the rest of the journey.
After resting until a little past one, Meng Ci and Shen Que carried hoes to dig up the trees.
First, they carefully harvested the peaches from the trees to prevent them from falling off during the digging process.
Meng Ci inspected each peach carefully, and none showed any signs of damage or worms.
Once the peaches were harvested, they could start digging up the trees.
Eggplant and Eagle, having had their fill and feeling no fatigue, eagerly came over to help.
The three peach trees required careful digging to avoid damaging the roots, and it took them over an hour to finish.
Now, it was time to plant the trees in the space.
To avoid anyone suddenly showing up and witnessing their sudden disappearance, causing unnecessary trouble,
Meng Ci decided to put everything they had left behind into the space, then find a house to hide in before entering the space.
Unexpectedly, the nearby house Meng Ci chose came as a huge shock.
Since the door of the house was locked, Meng Ci smashed a window to enter directly.
At first, he saw that the room he broke into was a bedroom, with only bedding on the bed, nothing seeming out of place, so he climbed in.
After just two steps inside the room, he saw a corpse between the closet and the bed.
The corpse was unrecognizable, its gender indiscernible, with tattered clothes and maggots crawling on it.
The exposed parts of the body revealed stark, white bones.
Meng Ci barely glanced inside before quickly climbing back out through the window.
"What's wrong?"
Shen Que was puzzled; he was waiting to let Eggplant and Eagle go in first while he stayed behind.
Meng Ci's face was grim as he pulled back Eggplant, who was about to rush inside.
"On the side near the closet, there's a corpse."
Meng Ci's mind was still replaying the scene of the maggots crawling on the body, and he felt that he wouldn't want to eat rice for many days!
Shen Que knew that Meng Ci hated maggots, mealworms, and other such creatures, and he blamed himself for not insisting on checking the room first. Feeling guilty, he apologized.
"Apologies won't help. Next time, you check the house first," Meng Ci muttered.
"Alright!"
Shen Que then went to check the nearest house, inspecting both the upstairs and downstairs.
Shen Que was lucky this time; no suspicious corpses were found.
He then removed the main door from the inside and let Meng Ci and the others come in.
The house was full of dust, cobwebs covered everything, and bugs like centipedes crawled on the floor.
But it was much better compared to the house with the corpse.
The two men, along with a wolf and a dog, went to a more out-of-sight kitchen, and then entered the space.
Eggplant thought they were in paradise and was about to take his wife to eat some sausage, but Meng Ci grabbed Eggplant's ear.
"Yelp!" Eggplant looked at his master in confusion.
"Let your wife eat the sausage by herself; you come and dig a pit for us!"
Earlier, when they were digging up the oil peach tree outside, Eagle had genuinely helped.
But this Eggplant, while digging, got distracted and started pushing the soil back into the pit.
Or he would just circle the tree, slowing down the digging progress.
At that time, Meng Ci pushed Eggplant to get him to leave, but Eggplant stubbornly refused to listen and stayed put.