On the gray-white desert, only the wind blows the gravel. The infinite bleak scene is like a serious funeral.

The Gear Man says that there is a city called Finding Answers.

The traveler who came from afar did not hesitate, and with the gear man, he was ready to hit the road.

However, if you think about it carefully, whether it is the bad early relationship between Gu Chuan and the Gear People, or the strangeness of the location of this city, the danger of going to Answer City is very high.

"But if we don't go, we will have too little manpower and materials at our disposal."

On the day he learned of the existence of the city called Answer, the young man suffered a rare insomnia, and he could not fall asleep tossing and turning on the haystack.

The Gearman didn't give more information, and he wouldn't really torture the Gearman again.

It's not like there's no other way out.

For example, trying to deceive the wildlings and driving them to do things for them...... But the tribe that existed nearby, Gu Chuan only knew about the alien race that changed his face under the moon.

After changing his face, he had a sense of horror at this tribe and was reluctant to get closer.

"Speaking of which, the city of the answer is only slightly lower in probability...... There can also be weird things that need to be done with care. But he was cautious to the point, and he didn't have the knowledge and strains to know what to do!

Measurement is complex.

Chu Yun was lying on the other side of the haystack, her mind was misty, she heard Gu Chuan's thoughts, but she didn't care much. She was only thinking that she might soon come into contact with a big city with another society similar to Sunset City, and she felt an inexplicable sense of excitement.

Gu Chuan continued:

"I feel like I've released a lot of kindness. The cogwheel man won't trap me. Even if it had this idea, it wouldn't be able to contact its companions. ”

After speaking, Gu Chuan was a little weak-hearted.

The cooperation that was forced before, and the non-persecution after the current cooperation, are Gu Chuan's own intuitive principles. However, the boy often tries to put himself in other people's shoes, and he feels that it will be difficult for the Gear Man to forgive him.

Chu Yun turned his head sideways at this time and spoke:

"None of us know the logic of the cogwheel man's actions, what it will do, how can we speculate with our reasoning?"

Her messy hair was pulled away by her and spread on the grass like a black cloud. There was not a hint of confusion in her grey eyes.

In her mind, the Gear Man is a complete unspeakable, incomprehensible monster.

If you want to communicate with monsters, you have to take risks.

"But risk is a trivial matter, because the unknown scenery that can be seen is much greater."

The girl spoke very earnestly, and her pair of watery and well-proportioned legs also swung up and down on the haystack as she spoke, and then kicked into the sky, and when it was lifted up, it was like a milky white dawn rising in the sky at the end of the long night, and when it fell back into the haystack, it was covered by the cloth of her clothes, and it was this ray of dawn that flew back into the clouds.

Hatsuun said she was going to sleep.

At that time, the eternal crescent moon shone half of the mouth of the earth cave, and all the leaves that covered the hole shook in the wind, moving back and forth in the moonlight.

Gu Chuan was still insomnia, unable to close his eyes, looking at the shadow of the tree.

"Still thinking too much......"

He didn't want to get hurt himself, nor did he want the people around him to get hurt, but he still wanted to fulfill his wish.

"I'm a greedy man......"

He thought.

Crossing the Great Desert only needs to be covered with another layer of skin for this gear man, just like its original burned skin. Hides do not require regular feeding, but need lubrication, as is the case with all gears. Under Gu Chuan's gaze, the gear man slowly took out the lubricating oil from the cracks in his body and applied it evenly to all parts of his body. So it shone brightly, reflecting silver white in the clear moonlight.

It began to cut hides to wrap its body.

But for two people who make meat, there are many and miscellaneous preparations to be made.

After re-evaluating his and Hatsuyun's weight-bearing capacity, Gu Chuan decided to make a larger package of animal skins, containing more food and preserving more water.

Food is easy to preserve, but water is difficult to preserve.

In the Daling Mountains, clean water sources are everywhere, and they don't have to worry about it. Even if it is not good, you can also cover the branches with a cloth to collect the dew left on the leaves. But there is no water source in the desert, and even a tree is hard to find, so they need to make a water storage tool that can last for a while.

This requires surveying the characteristics of the plant.

There are many different plants in the Daling Mountains.

"Plants have different characteristics, and if there is one that can keep out water, maybe it will work."

Gu Chuan had already had an idea, but he was busy staying away from Sunset City and didn't do it.

He and Hatsuun pressed the cogwheel man, and while continuing to learn the language, he searched back according to his impressions. They braved the rain and fog to find several different plants, but found nothing until they found a dense forest.

The "trees" here are not one by one, but in clusters, that is, several grow together. Most of these "trees" are not thick, but thin and tall, and take on the appearance of section by section.

"When they grow together, they mean that their roots are all connected. Solid trees will never grow that long because the energy and nutrients are not enough to be squandered in this way, and there is no need to waste them in this way. Generally speaking, their quality is not the same as that of our common trees. ”

Gu Chuan said as he thought about it, while cutting off the torso of a plant. The clear water hidden in the hollow torso was no longer blocked by the outer wall of the plant and slowly flowed out, and was quickly caught by Hatsuyun with both hands.

The water flowed through Hatsuun's hand, and she fell to the ground with a slight thud that made her eyes widen in surprise. She hurriedly looked at Gu Chuan:

"Does this apply?"

Gu Chuan was also pleasantly surprised by the discovery of this bamboo-like plant:

"It's ready to be used, and we can make it into a long tube for water."

They were so imberately moved that they found larger bamboos, took a few of them, and took them to a nearby cave.

The processing steps are also simple. They violently dug a small pot and a large pool of water in the cave. After that, pry open the earth, dig a small passage under the pond where the water is stored, and pile it with rocks, so that you can make a fire to boil the water in the pool.

The processing steps are also simple. They didn't have large containers, so they had to violently dig a pot-sized puddle in the cave. After that, the two pondered the rocks together, and smashed a small passage under the pit where the water was stored. Then they started a fire in the passage under the cistern.

The flame passed through a thin layer of rock and sediment and reached the top, where the water could be boiled.

Boiling water in a pit is a bamboo tube that they cut down with hot water.

I don't know if it's useful though...... But if you boil it in hot water, Gu Chuan will feel at ease.

The Gear Man stood to the side, staring intently at the two men's movements.

After cooking, Gu Chuan picked up the bamboo tube, and after it was air-dried, he filled it with some water to make him feel good. But after a while, he noticed that his hands were a little wet. This may be due to the fact that the airtightness of the boiled bamboo tube is no longer excellent, and there is a phenomenon of penetration.

"It's a bit troublesome, in the desert, this little bit of infiltration may add up."

"Can applying insect wax to the surface of this water cylinder solve the problem of penetration?"

Hatsuun gave a rare suggestion.

This is a piece of knowledge she once learned when she spoke to the council on behalf of the crown. On Earth, insects such as bees secrete a variety of liquid substances, collectively known as wax, and each has its own usefulness. For example, bees use beeswax to cast their hives, which are well sealed.

In this otherworldly sunset city, there is also a science called wax science, which specializes in the efficacy of different waxes secreted by different insects and trees. Among them, insect wax is mostly non-toxic, generally sweet, some are now used in Sunset City to seal wine jars, water bottles, repair solids, frame paintings, some can be lit, used as candles in ancient times, and some are used on printing inks.

They came all the way and also collected some beetle wax, this beetle wax is used by honey worms to weave silk nets, viscous, can stain insects on the net, has aroma, also has fragrance, silky and moist mouth, itself is non-toxic, can attract the mouthparts of some ignorant flies...... As a result, it can also attract the tongue of humans or other large animals.

The reason why Gu Chuan collected it was to season and eat.

"But we've only got that little left, do we really want to use it?"

Gu Chuan showed the small bag containing insect wax to Chu Yun.

Hatsukumo's eyes widened in disbelief.

She thought she was already very frugal, but she was still in a great crisis.

Did Gu Chuan steal it?

She puffed out her cheeks, and her gaze moved on Gu Chuan's face. She unconsciously gritted her teeth, gritting and biting, she chose to turn her head and staggered out of the cave.

"Where are you going?"

Gu Chuan asked her.

Chu Yun turned his head, and his eyes were neither sad nor joyful. She said quietly:

"Wait until you're done."

Gu Chuan picked out eight of the boiled water cylinders that he felt the best of, evenly coated the surface of the water cylinders with insect wax, and waited for them to air dry.

After air drying, there is no water seepage.

After that, the eight are divided into four groups, filled with filtered and boiled spring water, braided with straw ropes, and hung horizontally on cloth bags and carried behind people's backs.

At this point, all the steps in advance have been completed.

"Let's go?"

They went back to the cave where they had been perched, and packed up their belongings, removing all traces of human habitation. The Gear Man followed them all the way, silently contemplating what the two men were doing.

Gu Chuan asked Chu Yun.

Standing outside the cave, Hatsuyun looked back at the hole buried by the grass, and said with some regret, "In the end, we don't know what animal dug this cave. ”

"Yes, most things, there is no ending." Gu Chuan said.

Chu Yun exhaled a long breath, sorted out the clothes that had wrapped himself tightly and the animal skins that had been covered with them, and said briskly:

"Let's go!"

The two of them left the place with the Gear Man without a second word, heading into the depths of the desert.

It was a long time before a huge snake emerged from the sand on the other side, and looked nervously and confusedly at the two strangers who were walking in the distance.

These two strangers had occupied its home for a long time, but the smell of their bodies was ancient, not more recent, and it was confusing to the being.

It has no tongue, and when it opens its mouth, it is like an abyss. But with this action, it seems to be able to see farther away.

The strange snake dared to return to his abode after confirming that the two had disappeared into the desert.

According to Gu Chuan's communication with the gear people, this vast and boundless desert can be called the "Great Wilderness", also known as the "Time Wilderness".

In the minds of the locals, they call it "a desolation where even time has passed".

All the trees have withered, and all living things have perished. The rest of the unforgiving nature seems to have been frozen under the eternal crescent moon. And the shale glitters with dry bones, declaring an ancient buried past.

The smallest particles of dust were moved by the wind, and the whole universe began to change its appearance, one moment a valley, another a hill and a ravine, and in an instant it flew like a staircase to the sky, and suddenly fell into the fog and rain of the hastiest sand.

Nothing is constant, everything is swinging, and any traveler will lose his bearing.

But the location of the storm is certain.

The Cogwheel Man walked steadfastly towards the position of the storm, like the most devout pilgrim.

Gu Chuan followed behind the gear man, monitoring the gear man in front of him for any abnormal movements, while observing the surroundings.

And Hatsuun's mood is the most relaxed.

She looked closely, and noticed that the cogwheel man and the boy in front of him had left a series of footprints on the sand. The footprints of the Gear Man are square. Gu Chuan's footprints are soft, and they are in the shape of a gourd or oval.

Hatsukumo begins to play a strange game, stepping into the footprints of the oval with each step, avoiding the square. In this way, each oval footprint was stepped on deeper by her.

Step by step, step by step, step into another.

She hummed softly, pleasantly.

The person in front does not understand her happiness and is still trying to communicate with difficulty.

"Is there an answer here for living creatures outside the city?"

Gu Chuan asked.

"Yes, yes, a lot."

The cogwheel man stammered in Gu Chuan's language, unconsciously mixing in a few phonemes that were not applicable at all in Sunset City's language.

This is the reason why the cogwheel man's vocal organs are unable to avoid these phonemes and say these words coherently.

"And where are they?"

The Cogwheel Man replied by pointing to several corners in the far reaches of the Great Wilderness.

Gu Chuan swept through these corners, only to feel unremarkable, and continued to stride forward. Until, when he saw that the sand dunes in the wind were all moving, he hurriedly looked back at those corners, and suddenly broke out in a cold sweat.

Those dunes...... Nothing has changed, and it has always remained the same.

The Cogwheel Man took the safest path that the City of Answers had ever explored.

Hatsuyun also swept over the corners of the dunes, and she was bored, and continued to lower her head, staring at the footprints left by the people in front of her, and moving forward step by step.

It was only then that she suddenly remembered something, and she jerked her head up and looked behind her.

The pristine mountains have turned into shadows in the endless darkness in the distance. But the cold moon is still there, and the sand sea is bright.

"Sure enough, the moon is sneaking up behind us."

Satisfied, she stopped looking, and stepped into the next footprint with both feet.

And Gu Chuan turned his head to look at the sky on the top of the mountains with some feeling, only to feel that the moth eyebrow moon was indeed like a bowstring, and it seemed to be slowly pulling away.

The city that is looking for answers is the south that the compass points to.