Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

“Second Sister-in-law, the food supplies are steady, but what about our spiritual supplies? Hehe… How much smoke and booze do we have left?”

Lu Yubo asked with a grin.

Now, those closest to Zhang Su were used to calling Zheng Xinyu “Big Sister-in-law” and Zhong Xiaoshan “Second Sister-in-law.”

“As for cigarettes…” Zhong Xiaoshan flipped a page and said, “All brands combined, we have one hundred and thirty-two cartons. Your private stashes aside, we have a total of fifty-seven liters of various spirits.”

“Oh, not much booze left,” Zhao Dezhu smacked his lips.

Zhang Su picked up a stone and threw it at Zhao Dezhu, saying, “Opportunities to drink are rare. Having enough cigarettes is already good enough.”

“I suppose…”

Zhao Dezhu rubbed his head helplessly. The team had a rule: no one was allowed to drink alcohol. Besides a single bottle Chen Hanzhou drank when he lost his arm, the rest were untouched.

“Starting today, cigarettes will also be rationed: ten per person per day, with no changes to the ten percent commission from materials collected outside!”

Zhang Su announced a policy that was sure to displease the smokers.

Based on the consumption ratios he controlled, they were going through nearly a carton a day. In a life filled with constant stress and tension, cigarettes weren’t just for men: everyone in the group except Mo Qianlan and Zhao Xue smoked, though the amounts varied.

Heavy smokers like Zhao Dezhu would go through at least one and a half packs a day, while the female members smoked less, perhaps three to five cigarettes per day when tired. They called it “health cigarettes” back in the day.

“Hehe, no worries. My Yu Qing smokes less; she’ll share a few with me,” Zhao Dezhu boasted, not forgetting to show off his relationship.

Unexpectedly, Yu Qing retorted on the spot, “In your dreams! I’m saving them for my dad!”

“Haha…”

The group chuckled.

“Alright, enough sidetracking. Xiaoshan, you continue,” Zhang Su noticed Zhong Xiaoshan had more to say.

“Um…” Zhong Xiaoshan hesitated for a moment, then looked at Zhang Su and said, “Basic supplies are pretty full, but some living essentials are running low. They’re not necessities, but it’s better to have them than not.”

After survival comes living. With a stable environment, everyone hopes their quality of life can improve, striving to meet pre-apocalypse standards.

“I noticed these holiday homes were stocked with lots of daily necessities. What’s running low?”

Zhang Su asked curiously. While checking supplies in the afternoon, he saw plenty of items like soap, shampoo, and toilet paper.

The most distressing shortage was toilet paper; no one wanted to return to using bizarre things to clean themselves.

“Regular items are ample, but…” Zhong Xiaoshan scanned the women’s faces and smiled awkwardly, “Sanitary pads… down to less than two packs…”

Everyone went silent. It’s not a dire need, but it’s not something you can easily do without either; it was embarrassing.

“Other than finding a few packs in some homes, we took some from my Yi Rewen, but it truly isn’t much… It’s fine, we’ll definitely have to go scavenging, and I’ll ensure we watch out for sanitary pads for you ladies.”

Zhang Su earnestly promised. The team had a substantial number of female members, each with key roles, so their unique needs should be considered.

No sooner had he finished speaking than everyone’s radios buzzed.

“Uncle, Uncle, five zombies are wandering up!”

Pang Dakun’s voice crackled.

“Don’t provoke them. We’re on our way!”

Finished speaking, everyone stood up. As darkness fell, several people switched on their flashlights.

“It seems zombies can indeed sense our presence from afar…”

Wu Lue made an exaggerated face.

“Yesterday, I learned from Old Meng that even before, zombies would often wander up the mountain. It seems we can’t delay on defensive structures. Xiaoliu, how’s the planning coming?”

Walking toward the parking lot, Zhang Su asked Liu Tianji.

“The defense plans are mostly sorted out, but some materials need to be sourced outside. I’ll Bluetooth the file to you later.”

Liu Tianji replied.

Soon, they arrived at the large parking lot in front of the scenic area’s gate. Sure enough, five zombies were staggering up the mountain from a distance.

The moment the flashlight beams hit the zombies, they seemed guided by some force, accelerating toward the light source and immediately turning feral when they detected living humans, breaking into a sprint.

“Leave two alive; I want to conduct some observation experiments!”

Zhang Su gripped the Dog Leg Military Saber and led the charge toward the zombies.

Given the group’s prowess, capturing five live zombies was no challenge. After a one-sided battle, two of the burliest zombies had their limbs bound and were tied to trees, still howling defiantly despite the restraints.

“Brother Su, what kind of observation experiment are you conducting?”

With great interest, Lu Yubo asked.

“I’ve always been curious about how long zombies can last without eating or drinking, or what the energy decay process is like. We’ve been on the road before, without a chance to observe properly, but now that we’ve settled down, we can finally try it!”

Zhang Su approached within a meter of the zombie.

Feeling a human nearby, the zombie opened its foul-smelling mouth, gnashing its teeth at Zhang Su, its eyes sunk into sockets, blood-red without a trace of emotion, its body twisting violently, causing the hemp rope to creak.

“But… Brother Su, it seems like this experimental data isn’t really helping us much?”

Wu Lue asked with some confusion.

“How could it not be helpful?” Yu Qing explained, “If we can figure out a detailed decay curve, we’ll better understand the capabilities of zombies at each stage. The more detailed habits we know, the better we’ll be able to deal with them.”

Liu Tianji realized, “Just like in monster hunting, the more you understand a creature’s habits, the more you can find the monster’s weaknesses and attack patterns. This information will definitely be useful when dealing with zombies in the future.”

“Exactly!” Zhang Su nodded, saying, “Knowing your enemy as well as yourself ensures victory in a hundred battles. Knowing more about unknown information is always a good thing!”

Two zombies, one locked in the ticket office room under the scenic spot’s archway, the other tied under an outdoor tree, observed from the simplest indoor and outdoor differences.

After finishing these tasks, the newly appointed chef team, Tan Huajun and her daughter, Zhao Dezhu, and Lü Leiyang, hurriedly prepared dinner—egg and vegetable porridge.

All along the way, Zhang Su never forgot to collect seasonings, coupled with the stock from various homestays, salt was particularly abundant, calculated to suffice for twenty people’s daily needs for three to five years…

Any resource becomes extremely abundant when the number of people decreases sharply, but many have become, in a sense, non-renewable resources. Enjoying the present doesn’t cause anxiety, but thinking about the distant future promptly leads to unease.

After dinner, at everyone’s request, Zhang Su organized a movie screening again. He chose a rather hardcore film, “First Blood,” as an educational piece, also as a hint, a hint not to forget the ever-present crisis just because of a comfortable living environment!

The movie started, but he wasn’t in the audience, instead sitting on the second floor with Liu Tianji, discussing matters related to the security base.

“Brother Su, it’s transferred, take a look.”

Liu Tianji swiped his phone, saying.

Zhang Su opened the document and couldn’t help but exclaim, “So much content?”

Noisily packed small characters, he had to enlarge the font size to see clearly.

Base Security Construction:

1. Wall and Watchtower Design: Consider using sturdy materials like reinforced concrete when designing walls to increase resistance. Set inclined or sufficiently high protective walls on the barrier to prevent zombies from climbing, the higher the better, the lowest should not be below three meters, ensure the number of watchtowers and their views cover the entire base and main roads leading to it.

2. Trap system, divided into preventing zombies and preventing human invasions…

3. Secure entry and exit management…

4. Automated monitoring system…

5. Emergency evacuation routes…

…

A total of more than ten items, Zhang Su took over half an hour to basically browse through them. After reading, he fell silent, because the difficulty and amount of work exceeded his expectations.

Just the first item poses difficulty; whether it’s rebar or cement, they don’t know where to find them now. Using local materials yields only a large amount of timber!

“Xiaoliu, this plan you wrote is very comprehensive…”

Zhang Su first affirmed Liu Tianji’s work, and then said, “But on feasibility, it’s slightly lacking. Many materials are hard to get now; can we modify it with existing conditions?”

Liu Tianji said, “Downgrading the materials isn’t impossible, but the corresponding effect will be greatly reduced. Brother Su, if we plan to live here long-term, the best is to get safety measures in place outright. Our current advantage is firearms; besides that, our defense is too thin. We’re basically relying on geographical advantages, which isn’t a long-term strategy.”

Then Liu Tianji shared some dangerous situations he had encountered in games with Zhang Su, although some were exaggerated, they correspond to some realities.

“Actually, most raw materials can be found nearby; coming along here, I noticed some factories selling cement, rebar, and doing steel plate cutting. If there’s no stock in the factories, it must have been taken by nearby villagers, we can trade, think of a way to get it.”

After chatting for a while, Zhang Su found Liu Tianji, this programmer, has quite a plan in his mind.

“Alright, we’ll start detailed division of labor tomorrow!”

Zhang Su wanted to rest for a few days, but he also knew that building fortifications was urgent; humans are afraid of slack, once they live comfortably, they become lazy.

Beginnings are always tough; as long as materials can be found, especially with some equipment, the difficulty of construction will greatly decrease.

The next morning, Zhang Su gathered everyone in the parking lot, starting detailed division of labor according to each person’s expertise.

Planting and breeding, in charge of managing the greenhouse, chicken, duck, and fish raising.

Equipment maintenance focused mainly on water and electricity, with temperature gradually decreasing, pipe freeze protection needs attention. Issues with solar panels and generators, but if the water pipes rupture, life will become extremely inconvenient.

There are also logistics, logging, crafting weapons, going out…

Many people took on multiple roles, no choice, manpower was too scarce. Everyone understood the current situation, though busy, they knew what they were busy for, they were willing and very enthusiastic.

Even Corgi Good Fortune couldn’t avoid being assigned tasks; she needed to patrol in the valleys difficult for people to access, making rounds each morning and evening…