Chapter 3285: Untitled
It was a portable speaker that used dry batteries.
Music was one of the few entertainment for the devils in the Furious Blood Wasteland.
It was especially so for the devils who had taken the stimulant drugs. When they were fighting, gambling, or venting their primitive desires, they loved to play crazy rock music to liven things up.
Boss Gold Tooth pressed the play button. The sound of wailing metal immediately came from the speaker.
Bai Xiaolu and Wan Zanghai both had a headache.
Boss Gold Tooth pursed his lips. He pulled out the player on the speaker, crushed it, and threw it out of the window into the sandstorm.
Then, he carefully took out his own player from his chest and plugged it in. The melodious old song immediately reverberated in the stuffy coach, bringing a bit of coolness.
“In the heavenlike West Virginia
There was the Nando River in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The creatures there were far away, older than the trees.
Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze
The village road. Take me home. That’s where I belong.
Mother Mountain, West Virginia
“Take me home on the village road!”
Of course, it was the song. It was Boss Gold Teeth’s favorite battle hymn.
Boss Gold Tooth squinted and smiled. He shook his head and started singing, too.
To be honest, on a blood-boiling battlefield, in a vast area where the wind was blowing, his coarse voice was not too unpleasant. He could sing the country music in a different way.
But in the narrow and hot carriage, when the nerves of the boy and the young man were highly tense, his singing was no different from the wailing of the heavy metal just now.
“Country Road—”
The leader of the Gold Teeth Gang roared. His fat ass made the seat creak. Now and then, he slapped Bai Xiaolu’s or Wan Zanghai’s shoulder, depending on who was driving the car. “Take me home!”
The boy and the young man looked at each other in bewilderment. They both saw the reluctance in each other’s eyes.
No. He did not even dare to be angry. He could only lower his head, smile, and even sing with Boss Gold Tooth.
“Sing! Why don’t you sing along? This is the best music in the world!”
The gold-tooth boss scratched his wounds in amusement. “Mother Mountain, West Virginia, take me home on the road to the countryside!”
“West Virginia… Mother Mountain… Country Road… Bring me home…”
The boy and the young man reluctantly agreed.
They listened to the song over and over again, only to be forced to sing one song after another by Boss Gold Tooth. When their ears were bleeding and their throats were bleeding, Boss Gold Tooth finally let them go and changed the song.
The melody of the song was even more melodious and soft. The slightly hoarse female voice was like the reluctant sunlight at dusk. It was completely different from the country song just now. Bai Xiaolu was immediately attracted to it.
The boy was restless and wanted to ask the name of the song.
But he realized that the underground metropolis must’ve preserved the pre-war culture better than on the surface. As an ‘underground dweller’, he should’ve known such a touching melody. There was no need to ask. It would be a loophole if he did.
Boss Gold Tooth seemed to have read his mind. He took the initiative and said, “This song is called ‘Yesterday Once More’. It’s very nice, too. Have you heard it in the underground city?”
“I have.”
As he expected, Wan Canghai said, “These classical English songs have been taught in our ‘Alliance’ schools, but they are all songs from decades ago. There are not many people nowadays…”
He stopped talking in time.
Bai Xiaolu did not know what to say, either. She simply crouched in the middle of the guns and ammunition in the back seat and listened to the warm music from decades ago.
“When I was young, I liked to listen to the radio.
Waiting for my favorite song
How delightful it would be to sing while listening.
How happy the old days were.
In the blink of an eye, it had disappeared. There was no telling where it had been lost.
And now they had reappeared.
My beloved old song, like the reunion of a lost old friend.
Every melody and every note was still shining.
Every enchanting syllable sounded again.
How wonderful it felt to sing about the past.
He crushed her heart and burst into tears.
Just like before, it reappeared yesterday…
Bai Xiaolu sang in a low voice. At first, she was stammering and could only hum along, but when she reached “Yesterday Once More”, she was already able to keep up with the rhythm and felt the warmth, regret, and hope contained in the song.
“Before the nuclear war, this place used to be a plantation with the best vineyards and fruit gardens. Dozens of wineries produced the best wine on the planet.
Boss Gold Tooth rested his arms on the window and crossed his legs comfortably. He squinted his red eyes and looked at the sand, desert, and debris of the battlefield outside the window. Then, for some reason, he said to the two little devils, “At that time, when the fruit ripens, this place will turn into a colorful, oil painting-like land with all kinds of charming fragrances. Outsiders will be drunk if they don’t drink.
“Apples, pears, sugarcane, corn, tomato, potatoes—everything you can think of and everything you can’t can be used to make wine. Of course, the best wine is still wine. Do you know how to make wine back then?”
The dominator of the desert turned around and looked at Bai Xiaolu.
Bai Xiaolu shook her head and replied honestly, “I don’t know.”
Grapes had not grown in the desert for a long time. Or rather, Bai Xiaolu had never seen real grapes since she came to this world. Occasionally, she would find a few wild grapes next to the thorny bushes, only to find that they were bitter and unpalatable.
“We… people harvest the red, purple, fragrant, and sweet grapes and pour them into a large grape pond. Then, the most beautiful local girls will take off their shoes and socks, jump in, and stomp the grapes into juice with their feet. This is the best grape juice.”
The leader of the Gold Teeth Clan chuckled and said, “Believe me. The wine that is brewed from such exploitation is the most delicious thing in the world. Those girls have the most beautiful feet in the world, too. They are the best girls that you can find in the world. They are worth everything. Really, everything… to get her and protect her.
“Look, that’s the remains of the most famous winery at that time. Do you see the big wooden barrel?”
Bai Xiaolu and Wan Canghai looked out of the window together.
All he saw was red sand, melted tanks, twisted infantry tanks, broken power armors, and struggling bones.
However, under the illumination of the blood-red setting sun, a blurred outline seemed to have appeared in the depths of the sandstorm. There was also a large wooden barrel that was seven to eight meters tall. Of course, it was impossible for it to really be a wooden barrel. It was probably something like a barn. It was packaged into the shape of a wooden barrel and became the signature of the winery.
“At that time, the girls were in front of the winery, holding hands and stepping on the grape juice. They were laughing as they stepped on the grape juice. Sometimes, they would even sing.”Search our nℇwnoƲel.ϴrg” I remember that there was a girl who could sing a lot of songs, including the old songs that were outdated at that time. The songs that only the fathers of our generation could sing, such as ‘Take Me Home, Country Road’ or ‘Yestered Day Once More’, she could sing them all. She liked to sing them, too. All the young men went crazy for her.”
Boss Gold Tooth sighed softly and buried his head in the pillow. He mumbled, “It’s all over. The good days are gone. The wine, the music, and the girls.”
The redness inside the artificial eye was expanding and shrinking, somewhat blinking. Creaking noises were echoing deep inside the skull of the leader of the Gold Teeth Clan, as if an ancient tape was being rewound.
Bai Xiaolu stared at the sandstorm outside the window, the broken winery, and the broken wooden barrels.
He had never seen the grapes and other fruits that Boss Gold Tooth talked about, nor had he ever seen such good girls with snow-white teeth, golden hair, and skin as smooth as honey.
But he could imagine.
He thought of his sister.
If only there were no wars.
If there were no war, no radiation, no acid rain, no mutant beasts, and no bandits, and if this place were still a boundless, fertile farm, perhaps his sister would have become the most beautiful girl in the world, jumping on the sweet grapes, laughing, and singing freely. She loved singing so much that she was like a lark in a fairy tale.
It was not like now, where he had a fever every other day and could not even walk when he was weak. Even his singing had turned into suppressed moans.
“If yesterday really happens again—”
Bai Xiaolu closed her eyes. Beautiful illusions appeared on her swollen eyelids. The boy held back his tears and mumbled, “That would be so much better.”
“What did you say?”
Boss Gold Tooth said, “Kid, what do you mean by ‘how nice’?”
“I said, if only time could be reversed and yesterday could be replayed.
For some reason, Bai Xiaolu found it hard to control herself. She gritted her teeth and said, “If so, maybe we can stop the thermonuclear war and make the world a better place!”
Boss Gold Tooth was the first to laugh.
“Naive brat, do you think that ‘nuclear weapons’ have turned the world upside down? As long as we can return to the past and stop the total thermonuclear war, everything will be fine?”
Bai Xiaolu was dazed for a moment.
“Isn’t it?”
“No.”
“Nuclear weapons are made and controlled by human beings after all,” Boss Gold Tooth said casually. “Therefore, it is not the nuclear weapons that will destroy everything but the human beings themselves. There are ten thousand ways that human beings can destroy themselves. Even if you can go back to the past and correct one of their mistakes, how are you going to correct the other 9,999?
“Well—”
Bai Xiaolu had nothing to say, but the urge in her heart was burning stronger and stronger. She said stubbornly, “Since we can go back to the past and correct one mistake, naturally, we can repeat it ten thousand times. We can correct all ten thousand mistakes and turn the desert back into a prosperous farm!”
“Ha!”
Boss Gold Tooth smiled and stopped talking.
“Chi!”
Wan Zanghai laughed, too. He lowered his head and concentrated on driving.
Bai Xiaolu didn’t know what to say. She felt that she was arguing, too, and was too embarrassed to talk anymore. She crouched down and listened to the music wholeheartedly.
For a moment, nobody said anything.
Only the bright gold classical melody continued to reverberate:
“Looking back at the past,
How could one not feel sad when one did not return after a good time?
Everything is gone. I will sing for them.
I must remember every line of those love songs.
The familiar melody still moved my heart.
The barrier of time disappeared without a trace. Every melody and every note was still shining.
How wonderful it felt to hear each enchanting syllable again.
The most beautiful memories came back to him.
Some of them even made me cry, just like before. Yesterday… they appeared again…”