"If I could dig out all the walls around the trader, dig a massive trench around it, and turn the trader's compound into an isolated island... could I turn this place into an absolute safehouse?"
Li Ke stared at the stone block that had materialized out of thin air against the invulnerable wall, unable to stop his mind from racing. Since the wall itself was completely indestructible, he wouldn't need to worry about its defense at all. He could just focus all his energy on building up defenses everywhere else.
The real issue, however, was that this was a monumental project. There was absolutely no way he could finish it by himself before the next Blood Moon. Forcing the issue alone would undoubtedly result in him being completely overwhelmed by an endless sea of zombies.
With three people, it might be somewhat possible. But the price would be doing absolutely nothing else during that time. Plus, this place would become their only retreat. If they miscalculated the size of the horde, they would be trapped with no way out.
Until he obtained items that allowed him to fly, or until his numbers grew, this strategy was clearly out of his reach.
"Seriously... But then again, once I have enough manpower, why wouldn't I just build a much stronger bunker instead?"
Li Ke chuckled helplessly, looking at the invulnerable wall with a trace of resignation.
If he had dozens of people at his disposal, forget about defensive walls—as long as they had enough machine guns and ammunition, they could probably tear right through the horde in a head-on fight.
After all, these zombies died if they took a bullet to the brain, and they lost their combat capability if their bodies were torn apart. They weren't some kind of magical fantasy undead.
With a dozen machine guns set up, a sturdy fortress, and plenty of Molotov cocktails, the rest of the crew could just plug the gaps and handle special zombies. Holding the line wouldn't actually be that difficult...
But that was the exact problem. He didn't have that many people.
If he had that many people, he wouldn't even need an invulnerable wall in the first place.
"What a shame. I guess I'll just see if I can hollow out a giant cave whenever I go mining later."
Li Ke sighed helplessly. Recalling the mountain of corpses and the sea of blood he had survived before, a brief shudder ran down his spine. Shaking it off, he went back to mining.
Time flew by. By the time Li Ke started feeling hungry, the sky had already darkened. He glanced at the motorhome, which had now been reduced to a pile of scrap metal, gave another helpless sigh, and began building his own house.
He put up a two-story structure using wood frames, leaving a single gap to serve as a window. Then, using his stone axe, he upgraded them one by one. Before long, a standard wooden "coffin box" house stood before him.
Next, Li Ke placed some wood frames around the perimeter to act as a fence. This would prevent the zombies from attacking the house directly and make it easier for him to fight back, though the whole setup looked incredibly bizarre no matter how he looked at it.
Fortunately, he remembered to place some wooden blocks underneath his little box house to give himself a proper wooden floor. At least he wouldn't have to sleep directly on the asphalt road.
The only problem was that he didn't have a bed.
He flipped through his crafting list, but there was no bed, nor was there anything like a sleeping bag or a bedroll available. Left with no choice, Li Ke reluctantly walked back to the houses that had reset earlier because of his quests. He rummaged through them to scavenge various quilts and blankets, planning to rough it out for the night. Tomorrow, he would check if any quest houses had a bed, or he would just try to piece one together himself.
Afterward, Li Ke paid another visit to the trader. He didn't do anything strange to the female trader this time; he simply bought some meat, threw some fuel and raw materials into the forge, and set it to smelt more iron ingots. Just as he was preparing to craft a few more items, his vision blurred, and he was abruptly teleported outside.
"So the sudden teleportation last time really was because you can't stay inside the trader's shop at night..."
Watching the trader's gates slam shut, Li Ke sighed. He walked back to his house, whittled a few tree branches clean, and started a barbecue just outside his front door.
As the aroma of roasting meat began to drift through the air, a wave of loneliness suddenly washed over Li Ke.
Before this, Erina would always be by his side. Even though the young girl hadn't dared to speak loudly at night for fear of attracting those sprinting, Usain Bolt-like zombies, the current Li Ke was no longer afraid of them. To be precise, he was practically begging for zombies to come over right now just to give him some experience points.
Glancing at his experience bar, which was just a tiny fraction away from another level up, Li Ke flipped the meat on the grill and began planning his next move.
He didn't know the first thing about real-world engineering, meaning he couldn't build a defense base using real reinforced concrete. He could only rely on the defensive structures provided by this world.
In other words, his only option was to stack armor.
"I need to find a cement mixer as soon as possible," Li Ke muttered to himself.
Although there was a cement mixer back at the trader's compound, both it and another workbench called a chemistry station were broken. They were completely unusable.
However, Li Ke had checked the recipe for the chemistry station earlier. It didn't require too many materials. He should be able to hoard enough parts to craft it tomorrow. That way, he wouldn't have to craft gunpowder by hand anymore, and his production output would skyrocket.
"Man, it's lonely out here."
Li Ke glanced toward the trader's shop. He had actually leveled up from all the mining he did earlier. But to focus on his work, he hadn't dared to allocate his skill points yet. By the time he finally finished his chores, the trader had already closed for the night.
So right now, he was stuck in a state where he didn't dare to spend his points. But even if they didn't do anything, just having someone by his side would make him feel significantly better.
A profound sense of isolation crept into Li Ke's heart. He stared into the flickering campfire, then looked out at the dead, silent surroundings where only the howling wind could be heard. A deep, spontaneous loneliness and desolation completely enveloped his mind.
Before this, he and Erina had relied on each other, so the feeling hadn't been that intense. But now, Li Ke truly and deeply experienced what real solitude felt like.
Especially in a world this dangerous.
Hurriedly scarfing down his grilled meat, Li Ke retreated into his house. He curled up inside the blankets—which weren't warm at all and even carried a faint, strange odor—and quietly drifted off to sleep, sinking into a dream.
He didn't know the first thing about real-world engineering, meaning he couldn't build a defense base using real reinforced concrete. He could only rely on the defensive structures provided by this world.
In other words, his only option was to stack armor.
"I need to find a cement mixer as soon as possible," Li Ke muttered to himself.
Although there was a cement mixer back at the trader's compound, both it and another workbench called a chemistry station were broken. They were completely unusable.
However, Li Ke had checked the recipe for the chemistry station earlier. It didn't require too many materials. He should be able to hoard enough parts to craft it tomorrow. That way, he wouldn't have to craft gunpowder by hand anymore, and his production output would skyrocket.
"Man, it's lonely out here."
Li Ke glanced toward the trader's shop. He had actually leveled up from all the mining he did earlier. But to focus on his work, he hadn't dared to allocate his skill points yet. By the time he finally finished his chores, the trader had already closed for the night.
So right now, he was stuck in a state where he didn't dare to spend his points. But even if they didn't do anything, just having someone by his side would make him feel significantly better.
A profound sense of isolation crept into Li Ke's heart. He stared into the flickering campfire, then looked out at the dead, silent surroundings where only the howling wind could be heard. A deep, spontaneous loneliness and desolation completely enveloped his mind.
Before this, he and Erina had relied on each other, so the feeling hadn't been that intense. But now, Li Ke truly and deeply experienced what real solitude felt like.
Especially in a world this dangerous.
Hurriedly scarfing down his grilled meat, Li Ke retreated into his house. He curled up inside the blankets—which weren't warm at all and even carried a faint, strange odor—and quietly drifted off to sleep, sinking into a dream.
…..
Meanwhile, at this exact moment, the situation for the other two outsiders was far from good.
"There's no end to these things!"
Kiri pulled the trigger in rapid succession. The scrap machine gun crafted by Li Ke seemed to take on a life of its own in her hands. Every time a bullet sprayed out, it effortlessly pierced right through a zombie's eye socket and slammed straight into its skull, dropping them instantly.
Beside her stood Tsunade, who was trembling violently. With her eyes squeezed tightly shut, she hugged a small tree trunk. Whenever Kiri yelled out because other zombies were getting too close, Tsunade would blindly swing the small tree like a club, smashing all the approaching zombies through the air.
"Seriously... this world is way too bizarre!"
Kiri felt completely helpless. Ever since she arrived in this world, many of her practical martial arts and gun techniques had become completely unusable. Her physical strength had even been suppressed to the level of an ordinary person from Empyrean.
On top of that, the bullet sizes Li Ke provided didn't match her own revolvers, which severely nerfed her combat capability.
Tsunade's situation was even worse. Her hemophobia (fear of blood) had already dragged her strength down to rock bottom in this world. Worse still, the food here barely did anything to satisfy her hunger. Even the air felt like it was missing something vital, causing her physical stamina and raw power to be weakened dozens of times over. Otherwise, given her usual capabilities, treating injuries of Li Ke's caliber wouldn't have left her feeling drained at all—even if she had used a medical jutsu that heavily consumed chakra.
"Damn it..."
Kiri cursed under her breath. She quickly threw out a makeshift grenade she had cobbled together during this time, grabbed the eye-shut Tsunade, and retreated toward a massive bridge they had crossed earlier.
After parting ways with Li Ke, the two of them had gone looking for another small town. But the moment they entered the town and Kiri fired her very first shot, everything went sideways.
Scavenging for food and killing ordinary zombies during the day hadn't been much of a challenge. However, because of how lethargic the zombies looked in daylight, they had completely misjudged the true power of the nighttime zombies that Li Ke had warned them about.
So, when Kiri saw a zombie sprinting toward their campsite, she pulled the trigger without a second thought.
And then, every single zombie in the entire town came charging straight at them.
"Looks like that guy was telling the truth!"
Sprinting onto the massive bridge, Kiri gasped for air as she yelled to Tsunade, who was also starting to pant heavily beside her.
"Son of a bitch, I really have become a player!"
Kiri couldn't help but curse out loud as she stared at her gun, seeing a floating prompt that read: [Press E to Interact/Pick Up]. With that visual proof, her trust in Li Ke instantly skyrocketed.
"Yeah, it looks like he wasn't lying about most things... But why on earth did he say those weird things to us back then? Never mind that now—here, this is an explosive tag! Throw it, quick!"
Now that they were further away from the heavy stench of blood, Tsunade felt a little better. Forcing down the panic in her chest, she whipped out two strange paper talismans, slapped them onto a stone, and handed it to Kiri to throw.
Without a second thought, Kiri hurled the stone forward. BOOM! A massive explosion went off, sending a whole crowd of pursuing zombies flying through the air. The problem was, even more terrifying snarls and shuffling footsteps began echoing out from the distant woods.
"There's no ending to this!"
Kiri muttered in frustration. She fired off a few more precise semi-automatic shots, aiming for the head. Just as she was looking around for a piece of high ground to climb, Tsunade suddenly grabbed her by the waist and hoisted her right over her shoulder.
"Whoa! What are you doing?!"
Kiri let out a startled yelp. The next second, she saw strange, intricate markings spreading across Tsunade's skin. Before Kiri could even process what was happening, Tsunade bolted forward like a souped-up off-road vehicle.
Tsunade's heavy panting stopped. Her voice became eerily calm as she explained the situation while sprinting.
"This is one of my secret techniques. It temporarily boosts my strength and speed... These monsters have a limited aggro range. We just need to outrun their detection radius!"
"Ohh! Oh, wow! I get it!"
Kiri cheered during the first half of her sentence, but immediately shut her mouth right after, stopping her gun from making any more noise.
Tsunade did her absolute best to muffle the sound of her footsteps. Moving at a blistering speed, she blasted across two hundred meters in a flash before finally grinding to a halt. The moment she stopped, her knees buckled, and she fell to the ground, trembling violently once more.
As Kiri landed lightly on her feet, she finally saw that Tsunade's pale skin was drenched in a fine layer of sweat. Even though those strange markings were still visible on her skin, it was glaringly obvious that Tsunade was completely paralyzed again from the sheer psychological stress of her phobia.
Kiri peered back at the Usain Bolt-like zombies. The creatures had chased them up to the spot where Tsunade had picked her up, but now they stood there aimlessly, pacing around in confusion as if they had lost their target.
"An aggro range of about a hundred meters? That's practically ten times further than during the day... No wonder he said nighttime is a massive nightmare."
Feeling the light weight of her remaining ammo, a thoroughly humbled Kiri gently picked up the shivering Tsunade and hoisted her onto her back. Without overthinking it, Kiri turned around and started heading straight back toward Li Ke's location.
Now that a portion of Li Ke's words had been proven true, it meant they could actually work together.
The only thing was...
"There's still no way I'm believing that bizarre method to go back home, though," Kiri couldn't help but complain out loud.
The journey back was significantly smoother. Since they had already cleared out most of the zombies along this path during the day, they didn't run into much trouble. However, by the time Kiri and Tsunade cautiously made their way back to the starter town, it was already pushing two or three in the morning. Luckily, Tsunade had recovered from her hemophobia episode along the way, sparing Kiri from having to carry her the entire distance.
But as they looked around at the burnt buildings nearby, and then at the few intact houses that seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, both women subconsciously thought they had taken a wrong turn. It wasn't until they spotted the half-collapsed gas station and the completely pristine trader's compound that they finally recognized exactly where they were.
"Did those houses appear because of that guy? Could it have something to do with these interface options floating in my vision? This is exactly like the video games those big shots in the Capital Army love to play!"
Kiri pointed at the buildings, her lips twitching slightly. She remembered with absolute certainty that this area had been nothing but a pile of scorched ruins before!
"Most likely. There are far too many bizarre things about this world."
Tsunade, on the other hand, wasn't all that shocked. Her grandfather possessed a technique that could grow a forest and build structures in the blink of an eye, so this didn't surprise her much. But more importantly, Kiri had indeed unlocked a similar ability. Kiri could now store her weapon into a strange, invisible dimension and even craft odd items out of thin air.
It was exactly as that man named Li Ke had described. This was another major reason why they had decided to come back.
As for whether Kiri was just an actress playing a part for Li Ke...
Tsunade stole a glance at Kiri, who was currently laughing with her usual boyish charm, and dismissed the thought.
Her deadly weakness had been completely exposed to Kiri. If Kiri really were a spy working for Li Ke, she would have struck by now.
But in reality, it didn't change anything. Crippled by her hemophobia, Tsunade knew it was utterly impossible for her to survive in this horrific world all by herself.
After walking a few more paces, the two women spotted the wooden "coffin box" house Li Ke had built right next to the trader's compound. The architecture completely clashed with the art style of the surrounding buildings. That visual cue, combined with the lingering aroma of cooked food, was definitive proof that Li Ke was inside.
The two women exchanged a meaningful look. Instead of disturbing Li Ke right away, they quickly pitched a simple tent, started a small fire to roast some meat, and quietly waited for dawn.
The rest of the night flew by. The moment Li Ke woke up, the rich scent of roasting meat immediately wafted through the gap he had left for a window. He stood up, pushed open his wooden door, and instantly spotted the two women sitting around a campfire. They had actually lit up another fire right outside.
"Good morning, handsome! Come grab a bite!"
Kiri waved cheerfully, inviting Li Ke over to join them for breakfast. Observing their slightly disheveled and exhausted appearance, Li Ke tactfully chose not to pry into whatever nightmare they had faced last night. He simply walked over in silence, reached into his inventory, and pulled out two jars of honey.
"Having something sweet first thing in the morning is the best way to start the day."
Li Ke had already explained the practical uses of honey to them before. Tsunade and Kiri both smoothly accepted the jars, but neither showed any intention of opening them to drink. This subtle cue told Li Ke everything he needed to know—neither of them had been injured or infected during the night.
The meat Kiri roasted still tasted pretty subpar and was far too greasy for a breakfast meal. To balance it out, Li Ke pulled out a few cans of chili peas from his inventory, and the three of them quietly shared the bulk of the food.
Once they finished eating, Tsunade finally brought up the most critical matter.
"Make me a player. I cannot fight because of my hemophobia, so I will have to rely on you two."
As soon as she finished speaking, a notification popped up on Li Ke's side, showing a party invitation and a friend request sent over from Kiri.
Without a shred of hesitation, and without asking Tsunade why she didn't just have Kiri convert her into a player instead, Li Ke reached out directly. He pressed his hand against Tsunade's shoulder as the prompt flickered into view before his eyes.
Accompanied by a sudden, draining sensation that felt like his body was being emptied out, Li Ke watched his experience points take a sharp dive. Simultaneously, Tsunade felt a fraction of the invisible weight that had been suppressing her entire body lift away.
"A very intriguing sensation. I can feel a bit of my strength returning."
Kiri blinked in surprise. Grunting with a mix of doubt and curiosity, she squeezed her own arm and gave it a couple of practice swings in the air.
"So it wasn't just my imagination after all?"
She had honestly thought she was just imagining things before.
"No, it definitely isn't," Tsunade concluded. "I can feel the recovery rate of my Chakra accelerating slightly, though it's still not much. It seems that if we want to restore our full power, we really do need to constantly level up."
Li Ke didn't chime in. This whole power scaling business had absolutely nothing to do with him anyway since he was just a regular guy. Still, evaluating the combat strength of his newfound companions was a vital necessity.
"So powerful individuals get heavily suppressed when they enter this world? Miss Tsunade, what exactly are you capable of doing right now?" Li Ke asked cautiously.
Tsunade tilted her head. She stood up, strolled over to a lone concrete utility pole that had somehow survived the destruction, and slammed her fist straight into it.
CRACK!
With a deafening snap, the concrete pole shattered completely at the point of impact, collapsing heavily onto the surrounding ruins.
"Roughly about this much," Tsunade muttered, looking rather annoyed.
The suppression in this world was simply too severe. With the exact same amount of physical output back home, she would have torn up at least fifty meters of solid ground. Here, she could barely smash through a single utility pole.
A utility pole per punch?
Li Ke nodded slowly, processing the data. "How many of those strikes can you unleash right now?"
"About three punches. After all, my Chakra recovers at a snail's pace at the moment. But if we are talking about just swinging my bare fists using raw physical strength, I can go all day."
Li Ke sank into deep thought for a brief moment. Then, he stood up, reached into his inventory, and pulled out his iron pickaxe and iron fire axe.
"In that case, Miss Tsunade..."
Li Ke looked down from his height at Tsunade. She stood at barely five-foot-three, yet possessed an incredibly massive chest. His expression turned completely serious as he bowed his head low toward her.
"Hmm?"
"From this day forward, I am leaving all the mining and trench digging in your capable hands!"
This is top-tier labor right here—the ultimate miner!