Because the Flying Droplet was running out of energy, Gu Xuanyuan had no choice but to purchase a Yan Huang 3008 from Yuzhang City as his ride. He turned on the Flying Droplet and sped through the forest at an unimaginable speed. Very quickly, he arrived at the outermost area of Yuzhang City's signal coverage. This was also the last place Mu Xue and Lu Xihua had contacted Yuzhang City.
Mu Xue, the sword spirit, and Lu Xihua had taken four days to arrive, but Gu Xuanyuan had only taken one day. This showed how fast Gu Xuanyuan was.
Moreover, this was under the situation where Gu Xuan Yuan could only use one hand to drive and the other hand could not be used because he was holding the Zhu Xian sword.
However, there were many Yuan Kou in this area, and it was definitely not a suitable place to stay. Most sword bearers would choose to travel another two to three hundred kilometers to Lanzhou City. After reaching Lanzhou City, they would use the ruins of Lanzhou City to set up camp and spend the night before continuing.
"The ruins of Lanzhou City are up ahead. There are three routes from Lanzhou City to London City. I wonder which route Lu Xihua and the rest took."
Gu Xuanyuan kept the Yan Huang 3008 in her dimensional pocket and looked at the vast and endless desert, muttering to herself in distress.
1000 years later, unlike the world in the south that was completely occupied by all kinds of forests and trees, this was a world drowned in yellow sand from ancient Shaanxi Province.
The spread of desertification had never stopped, drowning the world that was originally full of life 1000 years ago. Starting from Yan'an City in the northwest of ancient Shaanxi Province, there was an astonishing stretch of yellow sand as far as the eye could see. This desert spread all the way to the Mediterranean Sea before it stopped.
This was the largest desert on Earth 1000 years later, spanning the entire Eurasian continent and occupying almost one-fifth of Asia.
Lu Xihua and the rest's signal had disappeared in Lanzhou City three days ago, which also meant that Lu Xihua and the rest had indeed reached Lanzhou City three days ago. Therefore, Gu Xuanyuan could only hope to find some clues in the ruins of Lanzhou City and find the direction Lu Xihua and the rest had gone.
It was not difficult to find clues about Lu Xihua and the rest. Gu Xuanyuan drove the Yan Huang 3008 around all the suitable places to set up camp in Lanzhou City, and found traces of people living in the ruins of a building that was leeward from the wind.
"There is a lot of food residue on the ground. Judging from the degree of decay, it should have been eaten two or three days ago!"
Gu Xuanyuan analyzed the remaining bones on the ground, as well as things like fruit pits and the like, and made a judgment.
"These two places should be where they set up their tents. Since there are only two traces of tents, there should only be two people staying here, which is the same number as Lu Xihua and Mu Xue's Sword Spirit!"
"Hmm … why do I smell blood?" Gu Xuanyuan's nose suddenly wafted a bit of the smell of blood.
Smelling these scents, Gu Xuanyuan's heart tightened. Could it be that the Mu Xue Sword Spirit and Lu Xihua were attacked here?
There was a battle, and there were casualties?
Without saying a word, Gu Xuanyuan immediately followed the smell of blood. In the end, in the corner of the building ruins, she found two dark red pieces of thick cloth that looked like the flag of a certain country.
"…" Gu Xuanyuan's expression suddenly turned awkward. The smell of blood that she smelled actually came from the sanitary napkin.
"Looks like it can't be wrong. This is where the Mu Xue Sword Spirit and Lu Xihua were camping."
Although this discovery was awkward, it did have an important meaning. This meant that the two people who stayed here were both female, and for two female sword bearers to form a team, other than Lu Xihua and the Mu Xue Sword Spirit, there was no other possibility.
Gu Xuanyuan could officially confirm that the people who had set up camp here were the Mu Xue Sword Spirit and Lu Xihua.
"I need to search this place carefully, and see if there are any clues that can confirm the next step of the Mu Xue Sword Spirit and Lu Xihua."
Gu Xuanyuan thought to herself, and began to search the entire building ruins inside and out.
In the end, Gu Xuanyuan was very disappointed. In the entire building ruins, Gu Xuanyuan did not find any useful clues.
This building ruins still had five floors, but other than some footprints on the second floor, there were no signs of anyone entering the third, fourth, and fifth floors. Clearly, the Mu Xue Sword Spirit and Lu Xihua had only moved around the first and second floors.
On the second floor, there were very few traces of activity, only the second floor's window had more footprints. It seemed like the two of them had checked the second floor's window, and confirmed that the surroundings were safe.
Although there were many traces of activity on the first floor, they were all traces of daily life. There were no books, maps, notes, or other possible clues, which made Gu Xuanyuan very disappointed.
Just when Gu Xuanyuan was about to give up, a strange trace suddenly entered Gu Xuanyuan's eyes. Gu Xuanyuan noticed that this was a trace of food residue, some yellow, fine, unknown food residue.
"This is …" Gu Xuanyuan squatted on the ground and hesitated for a moment. Then, she picked up the largest residue, blew the dust off it, and placed it in her mouth to chew. Finally, she confirmed, "It's actually the residue of instant noodles."
Logically speaking, there was nothing strange about this. Even after 1,000 years, instant noodles were still a favorite travel food of every sword wielder. Almost every sword wielder would have some instant noodles stored in their dimensional pockets, so it was very normal for there to be instant noodle residue left behind.
However, such a normal thing became abnormal in the eyes of Gu Xuanyuan. The residue of the instant noodles was not the residue of the instant noodles that had been soaked in water, but the residue of the instant noodles that had been directly eaten.
Everyone must have eaten dry instant noodles before, and they also knew that when eating dry instant noodles, there would inevitably be some fine residue falling from the mouth, just like the instant noodles residue that appeared in front of Gu Xuanyuan at this time.
Gu Xuanyuan had lived with Lu Xihua for a month, so she had some understanding of Lu Xihua's small habits.
Gu Xuanyuan clearly knew that Lu Xihua's character was very conservative, and she also abided by the rules.
The biggest manifestation of this character was that when Lu Xihua walked, she would definitely walk on the sidewalk, and would not even cross the edge of the sidewalk. When she slept, she would definitely sleep from the head of the bed to the end, and would never lie on the bed. When she ate, she would definitely eat on the dining table, and not lying on the bed. When she ate, she would definitely use soaked instant noodles, and would never eat dry instant noodles.
In short, Lu Xihua liked and would definitely abide by these conventional rules. Unless there was an external force that forced her, she would never break this rule.
Therefore, Gu Xuanyuan was very sure that Lu Xihua must have encountered a situation where she had no choice but to break her usual rules to eat dry instant noodles.
Right, it was also because of this character of Lu Xihua that Gu Xuanyuan was sure that these instant noodles were eaten by Lu Xihua.
Because these instant noodles residues appeared about a meter away from the traces of a tent, it was obvious that at that time, Lu Xihua sat at the entrance of her own tent and gnawed on these instant noodles.
At the same time, a lot of food residues appeared in the traces of another tent, which meant that at that time, someone was sitting inside the tent and eating … This was something that Lu Xihua would never do. Lu Xihua would never eat inside the tent, because according to her usual principles, the tent was a place to sleep, and not a place to eat.
Going back to the question just now, what kind of situation happened that forced Lu Xihua to break her usual rules, but what about the instant noodles that she had never eaten dry?
"Could it be?"
A light flashed in Gu Xuanyuan's eyes. She once again searched through all the food residues, and shockingly found that all the food residues were cooked food. They were food that had already been cooked, and could be eaten directly. There was nothing that needed to be cooked before being used.
What did this mean?
This meant that a very key problem was that Lu Xihua and the others had lost the ability to cook, or rather, the ability to boil water.
Gu Xuanyuan found a lot of traces of flames in the ruins before, which meant that Lu Xihua and the others did not lack the ability to start a fire. Then there was only one reason left. Lu Xihua and the others had lost water, and there was no edible water. This forced Lu Xihua and the others to eat some directly edible cooked food, forcing Lu Xihua to eat only instant noodles.
This was a very surprising fact to Gu Xuanyuan. For a sword bearer with a dimensional pocket, losing water was a very inconceivable thing. The huge space in the dimensional pocket could allow them to store more than a year's worth of edible water. Even if they wanted to take a bath, the stored water would be enough for them to bathe every day for a month.
At this time, it was less than a week since Lu Xihua and the others left Yuzhang City. How could the water in their dimensional pocket disappear now?
The dimensional pocket was the safest place in the world. Even if there was a force 12 gale outside, the water in the dimensional pocket would not be lost. Even if they were besieged by Yuan Kou, the water in the dimensional pocket would not be lost.
Unless Lu Xihua and the others were stupid and took out all the water in the dimensional pocket to pour out, Gu Xuanyuan could not think of any reason for Lu Xihua and the others to lose all their water.
"Unless there is a reason!"
Gu Xuanyuan suddenly had an extremely bad thought in her heart. "That is, Lu Xihua and the others not only lost their water, but also their dimensional pocket."
"Where is the nearest water source nearby!"
Without saying anything, Gu Xuanyuan immediately took out a map from her dimensional pocket and began to search for all the places near Lanzhou City that could provide water … Before recovering Guhan's body, Gu Xuanyuan did not dare to go to the personal terminal management office to repair her personal terminal, because this meant that the fact that Gu Xuanyuan and Guhan were the same person would be exposed. Therefore, Gu Xuanyuan did not have a personal terminal on her, and could not use the convenient map system of the personal terminal. She could only use these old-fashioned maps.
"Found it!"
Gu Xuanyuan quickly confirmed the location of the nearest water source to Lanzhou City. If Gu Xuanyuan's estimation was not wrong, then Lu Xihua and the rest who had lost their water source would definitely come to this place, and store enough water for them to use.