Da Zhuang sat to the side, silently gnawing on a chicken leg while fiddling with the things on the table.
After a long while, Qi Yue spoke: “I wonder if a healing-type ability user can cure this?” After speaking, he looked toward Oak. He wasn’t sure himself, there were very few healing-type ability users, and he had never come in contact with them before. Those who possessed that ability usually sided with the major bases, the government, or cooperated with ability-user squads.
“I’ve never heard of Hailar having an ability user like that. Maybe the main base does.” Oak explained his plan: “I want to take Yang’s blood over for testing first. If…if it really is the case, then we’ll get a dialysis machine first.”
Da Zhuang interrupted: “Then get one first. The Hailar hospital should have one, right?”
“I asked the locals here. They said Hailar has a research base, funded jointly by several major pharmaceutical companies before the apocalypse, it has extremely advanced equipment.” Oak’s words implied the rest. After speaking, he looked at the two of them.
Qi Yue nodded in agreement. He had heard of that place before, many well-known medicines and medical devices had been developed there.
“When are you planning to go?” Qi Yue asked.
“The day after tomorrow. We’ll go once everything is ready. Tomorrow the Hailar base people are coming to trade.” Oak had clearly already planned everything out.
Da Zhuang wiped his greasy hands: “Qi Yue, let me show you something.” He jerked his head, signaling him to come over to the table.
Qi Yue walked to the table and picked up the modified gun on it. He asked: “Why does it look like this? Is this a gun?” The exterior had an extra fist-sized groove, about half an arm in length, and it looked very much like a toy gun.
Da Zhuang came over to explain to the two of them: “This was modified from a Type 05 suppressed submachine gun. I changed the internal structure, now it doesn’t need bullets. You just have to load the ** extracted from the crystal core, and it can pierce through any object.” After speaking, he demonstrated the gun’s power. He fired once toward the wall. A beam of light shot out, you could directly see the scenery outside the base, having penetrated through three walls.
Normally, the ** inside crystal cores couldn’t be taken out. Ability users could only absorb them through spiritual power. The fact that they could extract the ** was an accident.
After Qi Yue reached level three, a small kettle appeared in his space. Once, while boiling water, a crystal core accidentally fell into it. He discovered that the kettle could soften the crystal core’s hard shell, so that it could be punctured with something sharp. That allowed the ** inside to be extracted and directly consumed without having to use meditation and waste time.
After finding out, Da Zhuang became very interested in the ** inside crystal cores. Qi Yue, indulging his interest, softened some low-level crystal cores and gave them to him to research. Unexpectedly, he actually managed to create something.
“Count me in. Give me two more days, I’ll make two more guns like this.” Da Zhuang’s tone was firm.
“Mn.” Oak’s eyes were complicated. “Thanks, brother.”
Qi Yue patted his shoulder, silently encouraging the emotionally low Oak.
Da Zhuang needed to finish modifying the guns, so he didn’t go eat like usual. Qi Yue left him enough food for two days, then went back with Oak to their residence in the settlement.
Back at the residence, Oak went to check on Sun Yang in his room, while Qi Yue slipped into the kitchen, he had to hurry and finish grinding out that last bit of experience to level up.
In the apocalypse, not only did humans have to guard against zombies, they also had to guard against the ever-increasing number of mutant beasts. Mutant beasts differed from zombies, they not only had crystal cores in their heads but their meat could also be eaten. This turned many ability users into free-roaming hunters, a new post-apocalyptic profession, surviving by capturing mutant beasts and exchanging them for needed supplies. Qi Yue, Oak, and the others were hunters who didn’t belong to any base or organization. This also allowed Qi Yue to use mutant beasts to elevate his ability level.
The pot was boiling wolf meat, the level-five wolf was currently the highest-level creature he had ever found. Wolf meat was a bit gamy, and Qi Yue didn’t like eating it. The leftover mutant wolves on the truck were all for trading with the Hailar base the next day. Mutant animals were plentiful but very hard to catch and skilled at escaping. Their meat was delicious and had become a mainstream dish on the dining table but not everyone could afford it. As for this wolf, it was purely for leveling up his ability. His preference was still beef, he especially liked seared steaks.
Strands of spiritual power poured into his body, feeling extremely comfortable. He was only a little bit away from leveling up.
Over the years, two more things had appeared in Qi Yue’s space. At level three: the kettle. Water boiled in it granted a breath-concealing effect, preventing zombies from smelling human scent.
At level four: a small frying pan. Qi Yue used it to sear mutant beef. Food cooked in this pan granted an invisibility effect but only if you weren’t touched during the invisibility period, or the camouflage would fail, and you would enter a weakened state for a whole day, unable to turn invisible again.
Steak made with the level-four pan combined with the level-three water produced an unbelievable effect, truly “passing through a sea of flowers without a single leaf sticking to the body,” though the flowers were rotting zombie hordes. As the apocalypse continued, zombies’ bodies deteriorated further, yet they still tirelessly searched every corner for humans. Statistics said the ratio of zombies to humans across Huaxia was five thousand to one. The desolate cities were still covered with corpses, mountains and seas of the dead.
After a full day and night, hundreds of catties of wolf meat turned into pieces of cooked meat, and Qi Yue finally advanced to level five.
He shook his arms, stretched his sore legs, twisted his neck, and dove straight into his space. Familiar with moving inside, he entered the inner room. Just like before, the size hadn’t changed at all. As soon as he went in, he saw the new item on the kitchen counter. He picked it up, tilted his head, examined it for a while, then exited the space.
Coming out of the space, Qi Yue tightened his grip on the item and was about to take out some meat to test his new tool. But seeing the table in front of him, he suddenly got an idea and stabbed downward.
Crash—the solid wooden table was pierced straight through. Somewhat incredulous, he held the less-than-one-foot-long knife and struck the metal support at the edge of the table.
Crack—the iron rod split in half. It really could slice iron like mud.
