Because the software itself had a certain degree of planetary tectonic activity detection, it even provided warnings for geological disasters like earthquakes and tsunamis. The frequency and scale of these warnings were truly shocking.
These natural disasters were shown to continue for a full five years.
The reason it only showed five years wasn’t because these extreme weather conditions would vanish afterward, but because the software could only predict up to five years into the future.
Even if the accuracy decreased over time, given the precedents shown earlier, this limitation was entirely negligible.
The most important question right now was: Could there really be countless, continuous, extreme climate events over the next few years? Was that even possible?
Or rather, was it even reasonable?
Lu Xuan confirmed with the people in the livestream, “What is the likelihood that this software is malfunctioning?”
Regardless of whether they had heard of the “Weather Companion” system or not, everyone could answer this.
[It’s the achievement of a top-tier researcher at the Academy, after all. The error rate is 0.001, and the data deviation rate is no higher than 0.0001.]
Hearing this answer, Lu Xuan’s face instantly darkened.
Very well, “existence is reasonable,” is that it?
The ancient people’s ability to cope with natural disasters was inherently poor. If they couldn’t prepare in advance, one could imagine the tragic situation the people of this era would experience in the coming years.
He considered himself someone who had been through many heart-pounding situations; usually, minor accidents couldn’t cause him much emotional disturbance.
But at this moment, looking at the endless red warnings before his eyes, an uncontrollable surge of annoyance and violence bubbled up from within.
In the quiet forest, an invisible pressure radiated from Lu Xuan, rapidly expanding outward.
The creatures that had been peacefully grazing, resting, or hunting felt the encroaching danger and became instantly panicked. Countless birds scattered in all directions, and roars of unknown beasts, filled with fear and unease, came from all directions.
The viewers in the livestream were startled by the commotion.
[What’s wrong? What happened?]
[What’s going on over there at the host’s side? Why do the animals seem so frightened?]
[Could it be that some fierce beast came down from the deep mountains?]
Sensing the movement around him, Lu Xuan’s expression paused slightly. He calmly retracted his leaking ability pressure and took a deep breath.
But a moment later, he couldn’t help but laugh out of frustration.
Before the apocalypse, he had been a wealthy, carefree “second-generation heir” whose only tasks were spending money and eating, drinking, and having fun. But the arrival of the apocalypse had destroyed his life.
He had thought that even if this new world wasn’t as convenient as the modern one, at least he could live a stable life again. And now, they were throwing this at him?
It really was… just great!
For a moment, he actually had the urge to think, Forget it, let’s all just perish together.
But as his gaze inadvertently landed on the ring on his index finger, his reason returned to his brain.
He closed his eyes to calm his turbulent emotions, and when he opened them again, he was completely composed.
He had even survived a zombie apocalypse; was he going to be afraid of a mere natural disaster?
He possessed sufficient strength, and he had the livestream system as an additional trump card. Giving up without a struggle was not an option.
The reason it was difficult to survive during natural disasters—besides the inability to endure extreme climates—was simply a lack of resources, leading to starvation, dehydration, and freezing to death.
As long as he could solve these problems, not only would survival not be an issue, but he could also find ways to improve his quality of life as much as possible, fulfilling the wish he had harbored since the apocalypse began: to live a stable, comfortable life!
…Although, that was easier said than done. He wasn’t alone anymore; he had to consider Lu Qing and Lu Chen. He would have to plan exactly how to proceed.
While Lu Xuan was deep in thought, the livestream chat carried on its own discussion.
[I thought the Weather Companion was just useless garbage, but it actually has a use?]
[Is the host’s planet about to enter a catastrophic period? It’s my first time seeing the data go completely red across the board—I’ve learned something new today!]
[It’s just a little hotter or colder, is it really that serious? Isn’t that something a bio-suit can handle?]
[Are you stupid? Where would they have bio-suits in the ancient era? Don’t forget how harsh the living environment of ancient humans was just because our environment is superior.]
[The population in the ancient era was already very small. After a few consecutive years of natural disasters, the population will likely drop significantly. It’s hard to say how many years it will take to recover.]
In truth, it wasn’t as if the Interstellar Alliance didn’t have newly discovered edge planets that still had to deal with natural disasters on their own.
These planets didn’t have enough capital to purchase weather satellites, or they could only use old satellites with broken functions. From time to time, they had to face natural disasters like earthquakes or tsunamis.
However, because the Alliance’s buildings were sturdy enough and their rescue equipment and resources were well-developed, these events basically didn’t threaten the lives of their citizens.
But the situation in the ancient era was different from the Alliance. Take the mud house the host’s family lived in—let alone an earthquake, a strong gust of wind would probably blow it over.
Lu Xuan, who had pulled himself out of his thoughts, looked up just in time to see them mention his house, and his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.
He selectively ignored the viewers’ roasting, picked up the roe deer he had already bled and the fish he had caught, and headed down the mountain to go home!
He would talk about the disaster later!
With the spatial ring, Lu Xuan put the two roe deer into the space while heading down the mountain. The space couldn’t hold living creatures, so he carried the fish in his hands to keep them fresh.
Even without large game, the eight big fish, averaging ten jin (5 kg) each, caused quite a stir once again.
If he had caught another wild boar or other meat, the villagers might have been reluctant to trade, but many people wanted fish—especially those with pregnant women or new mothers at home. Fish soup was highly nourishing, and many people scrambled to trade items for it.
Because the fish were so big, it basically required several families to split one fish.
Many people asked him where he caught them while trading, and whether they could catch them too.
Lu Xuan didn’t hide it. “If you walk for an hour from the foot of the mountain into the forest, there is a water source with many big fish.”
The villagers gasped in astonishment.
An hour away? Wasn’t that already deep in the mountains?
There were many fierce beasts deep in the mountains. The young villagers who had just been feeling adventurous immediately dismissed the idea.
They were the able-bodied labor of their families; they couldn’t—and didn’t dare—take such a big risk just for a few fish.
Some even persuaded Lu Xuan in return, “You were lucky this time not to run into any fierce beasts, but you might not be so lucky every time. You can’t take such risks in the future. The Lu family only has you and Lu Chen left; if something happens to you, what will he do?”
The words weren’t pleasant to hear, but Lu Xuan knew the villagers were concerned for him. He didn’t explain much, just nodded: “I know what I’m doing.”
Fish are more sensitive to freshness than meat. Lu Xuan, preoccupied with disaster preparations, didn’t plan to go into town today, so he traded away most of the fish, stuffing a smaller one into the hands of the village chief’s family and the Zhang family as usual.
After a busy day, when he returned home, Lu Xuan only had a ten-jin catfish and an eight-jin snakehead left.
Seeing that he had a great haul today and wasn’t injured, Lu Qing had a deeper appreciation for her brother’s skills and asked happily, “How shall we eat these fish?”
Lu Xuan said, “The catfish can be braised or slow-cooked. For the snakehead, cut off the head to make fish head and tofu soup. We can’t finish the body in one meal, so we’ll salt it to eat tomorrow.”
Lu Qing looked at the massive catfish in the wooden basin and the snakehead head, which looked to be over three jin, and remained silent for a moment.
So… can they finish these ten-plus jin in one meal?
Her brother’s appetite had been refreshed once again.
She rolled up her sleeves and said, “Fine! Chenchen, take a few eggs to the Liu family in the east of the village and buy two blocks of tofu. They just made fresh tofu today. Also, buy some bean curd sheets and dried bean curd sticks while you’re at it.”
Lu Chen, who had been using his fingers to poke the catfish in play, immediately looked up. “Okay!” he said, turning around with great enthusiasm to go get the eggs.
Handling such large fish was quite troublesome. Lu Xuan didn’t want to let Lu Qing do all the work. “I’ll help you clean the fish.”
“No—” Lu Qing was just about to stop him when she saw Lu Xuan quickly pull the catfish out, smash it with his bare hand on the head to knock the struggling fish unconscious, and then quickly slit the abdomen, remove the viscera, and dig out the gills. His skilled movements made her subconsciously close her mouth.
Besides cleaning the fish, Lu Xuan helped with chopping vegetables and adding firewood. The siblings worked together, and soon a table full of a sumptuous lunch was ready.
“The fish is hard to divide; call your brother-in-law back to eat,” Lu Xuan said. “It’s very hot at noon; it’s a good time for him to come back and rest. The farm work won’t suffer from this bit of time.”
In the past, Lu Qing might not have called her husband back.
It wasn’t that she didn’t cherish her husband, but the family relied entirely on the harvest from the fields. If the sun was just a bit harsh, he could rest under the shade of a tree; coming home was too time-consuming.
But Lu Xuan’s behavior over the past two days had relaxed Lu Qing’s tightly strung nerves, so she nodded in agreement.
“Chenchen, go call your brother-in-law back for lunch.”
Lu Chen, who had been impatient to start eating for a long time, ran out without a second word.
Not long after, Lei Yan returned.
Today’s menu consisted of braised catfish, slow-cooked catfish, snakehead and tofu soup, stir-fried cured meat with green onions, stir-fried bean curd sheets, and minced meat egg custard.
The cold dish was still cucumber, but instead of the smashed cucumber from yesterday, today it was cucumber slices mixed with dried bean curd sticks and wood ear mushrooms—a different flavor profile.
The staple food was, as always, a large bucket of fragrant, refined rice.
Even though he had been alerted by Lu Chen on the way back, Lei Yan couldn’t help but sigh when he really saw the table full of food: “With such good food, I feel unsettled eating it.”
How to put it? It inexplicably made him think of the “last meal” he had heard of condemned prisoners having… ahem.
The viewers in the livestream were different.
[This is the ancient mukbang I want to see! I hope the host eats like this every day!]
[It looks so fragrant! I’ve practically filled a basin with drool, slurp!]
[What good does looking fragrant do? Not only can I not eat it, but I can’t even smell it—what kind of human suffering is this!]
[Looking is better than not looking. At least my mild anorexia was cured by eating an extra nutrient pack today while watching this stream—it really is delicious, jpg.]
Lu Xuan picked up food for Lu Chen while watching the chat.
He had previously speculated that enabling five-sense sharing required unlocking the streaming duration achievement, but when he reached the 24-hour mark, this new function hadn’t opened. The next stage required 240 hours of streaming, which, at ten-plus hours a day, would take nearly twenty days.
This is what they call “soon”?
Tch, the mouths of viewers are like deceptive ghosts.
They were always pestering him to enable sharing—did they think it could just be enabled by pestering? They would just have to wait.
While the family was busy eating, Lu Xuan suddenly mentioned: “I plan to go into the mountain again tomorrow.”
With the foundation of the past two days, neither Lu Qing nor Lei Yan felt this was a big problem.
But Lu Xuan then added: “This time, I might go much deeper. It will probably take a few days to return.”
The two were startled.
Lu Qing said anxiously, “Why will it take a few days? Didn’t you already go very deep to catch fish today? Do you have to go even deeper? It’s too dangerous!”
Lei Yan also said, “Yeah, Ah Xuan, I know you have the ability to hunt wild boars, but there’s no rush to make money hunting. You’ll be gone for several days, and we won’t know if you encounter danger. What if… if you must go, can I go with you?”
Lu Qing frowned, even more disapproving.
Their two families only had Lu Xuan and Lei Yan as able-bodied men. If they both went and something happened to both of them, what would she and Lu Chen do?
Lu Qing still wanted to persuade Lu Xuan not to go.
Unfortunately, Lu Xuan had made up his mind, and his attitude was very firm: “I have to go. Brother-in-law, stay home and look after my sister and Chenchen. Don’t worry about me; I have enough strength to protect myself, and I won’t joke about my own life.”
The earliest disaster was only a little more than half a month away. Time was tight; he couldn’t afford to waste a single second.