C135 The Water Was Met with the Zombie Mouse!(1)

For Tang Bing, drawing water was a breeze thanks to the system. All he had to do was place one end of the hose in a clean water source and piece it together towards his home, block by block, just like building with Legos. The water would naturally follow the path of the hose.

The system turned what would have been a complex task into something surprisingly straightforward.

He found himself looking forward to taking a hot bath that evening. It had been several days since his last one, and he felt sticky and uncomfortable all over.

A nice bath and a fresh set of clothes could do wonders for his mood.

As he was connecting the hose, he couldn't help but think about the items Zhao Dagang and the others insisted on bringing back today, shaking his head in bemusement. They must have been incredibly bored to come up with such ideas.

When Tang Bing was by himself, he never entertained such notions. At most, he'd consider settling down with a good book.

Were their ideas too outlandish, or was it his own thinking that was off the beaten path?

He couldn't quite figure it out.

For some reason, when he was alone, it felt like a fight for survival in an apocalyptic world, with a constant, intense sense of urgency, always strategizing on how to stay alive. Yet, in the company of his team, he found their thoughts influencing him, and the struggle for survival oddly shifted to simply living through the apocalypse.

His sense of urgency had all but vanished!

Apart from the initial crises they caused, relocating to a nearly zombie-free wilderness had brought a significant amount of relief.

Lost in thought, he was jolted back to reality by a noise that was neither the whistling of the wind nor the growl of a beast.

Tang Bing snapped to attention, quickly abandoning the half-attached hose and letting the clear water spill onto the ground. He retrieved the silenced pistol from his virtual backpack, disengaged the safety, and cautiously scanned his surroundings.

"Shua La La!" Something was hurtling towards him through the dense foliage.

The speed was unnatural, certainly not that of a regular animal. Tang Bing took aim and fired without hesitation.

But the bullet missed. In an instant, the creature was at his feet, leaping out from the leaves.

"Chi!" Before he could even react, his suit pants were ripped open, and a searing pain shot through his thigh as a vicious wound oozed bright red blood.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!" Tang Bing winced in pain as he repeatedly squeezed the trigger, but the creature's speed was astonishing. Despite his enhanced agility, he couldn't match its pace.

Luckily, the creature seemed to lack intelligence. It managed to bite Tang Bing's thigh, his most vulnerable spot, before aimlessly attacking his scrap iron armor and boots to no avail.

With his pistol emptied of all six rounds and realizing shooting was futile, Tang Bing stowed his weapon. A quick thinker, he offered his left hand as a lure—a tactic frequently employed by Zhao Dagang when dealing with zombies.

To his surprise, the creature was just as foolish as he'd hoped, lunging straight for Tang Bing's arm and chomping down on the scrap iron glove.

Seizing the moment, Tang Bing dropped to the ground, pinning the agile creature beneath his weight.

The creature, strong and frantic, writhed in an attempt to dislodge Tang Bing's grip.

But Tang Bing was determined not to let it escape. Pressing down with his left hand, he quickly reached under with his right to grasp the creature's body, yanking it out forcefully.

"Roar! Roar!" Upon closer inspection of the thing in his grasp, Tang Bing recoiled in horror. It was a grotesque zombie, its body covered in decaying flesh and its mouth filled with protruding, razor-sharp teeth. It could have been a weasel or a squirrel in its former life, but the severe decay made it impossible to tell.

Even in captivity, the small zombie animal continued to snarl and gnash at the scrap iron glove with its sharp teeth.

Tang Bing pinned it to the ground, stepping on it to hold it in place. He retrieved a mace from his virtual backpack and delivered a crushing blow to the creature's head.

[You have slain a weasel zombie and earned 5 experience points!]

[Was it truly a weasel? It might have been transformed after drinking water tainted with the zombie virus or consuming the flesh of other infected creatures.]

This realization struck Tang Bing with the potential danger of such creatures. He thought of his base—how catastrophic it would be if a zombie like this snuck in during the night. With the new generator, the team had brought back TVs and computers, and the noise would only make it easier to attract more zombified animals.

The defenses beyond our perimeter can't wait any longer!

It seems that, save for the birds, all zombified creatures must approach the house from the ground. By layering barbed fences around the house, any that come near will be impaled, rendering them incapable of scaling the walls to get inside.

We haven't spotted any zombified birds yet, but we can't let our guard down. We need to get our defenses in place now!

The unexpected assault by the zombified animals caused Tang Bing's once-eased heart to tighten a bit. Luckily, in these woods, there's no shortage of timber. He could fell trees and create a multitude of wooden spike traps, ensuring the house is thoroughly protected, keeping any threat at bay.

I wonder if there's anything valuable on this tiny zombified creature.

Tang Bing stooped to gently search the weasel's corpse and, to his surprise, found some loot.

You've received an egg!

You've received a feather!

What in the world? A weasel laying eggs and feathers?

Tang Bing nearly passed out at the sight of the loot. But after a moment's thought, it clicked. "Ah, this zombified weasel must've recently eaten a chicken! But how did it swallow the egg whole? And it's still intact..."

There's no point dwelling on the incomprehensible. The System often produces things beyond my understanding.

Feathers could be used for making arrow shafts, but with firearms at hand, their importance seems diminished. Still, it doesn't hurt to hold onto them—in case the bullets run out, I'll have to resort to the bow and arrow.

Eggs are great cooking ingredients and can be turned into delicious meals. If I had a chicken coop, I could hatch chicks!

A chicken coop? I don't have the blueprint for that, but it shouldn't be hard to acquire. A quick trip to a nearby village or town should yield one.

I wonder if the hatched chicks will lay eggs. If they do, that would be excellent! But is one chicken enough?

Ah well, it doesn't matter! Whether they lay eggs or not, raising chickens means meat on the table either way!

Tang Bing carefully tucked the eggs into his virtual backpack before swiftly swallowing an antibiotic and a painkiller. After bandaging his wound to stop the bleeding, he resumed dragging the water hose toward the base.

At home, his teammates were intently huddled around the television. Each one was decked out in jewelry and dressed in particularly nice clothes, the room devoid of any hint of a post-apocalyptic struggle for survival.

The DVD player was indeed operational, and the allure of the oversized LCD TV was undeniable. The sound system enveloped them, creating an immersive cinematic experience.

Currently, a domestic comedy flick was on, eliciting laughter from the five teammates perched on stools, completely oblivious to Tang Bing's presence.

Resigned to their lax attitude, Tang Bing silently routed the water pipe into the house, dividing the flow to the kitchen, bathroom, and everyone's washrooms.

Next, he utilized the system's features to hook up the water heater, connecting it to the solar panels and the electrical circuit.

Having completed these tasks, he popped into the studio to check on the generator. If the power supply was under strain, he'd have to construct a backup generator.

Upon closer inspection, he was astonished to find that despite numerous appliances running, the power consumption hadn't even reached half of the generator's output! Intrigued, he decided to switch on every light and computer in the house. Returning to check, he was amazed to find there was still excess power!

He hadn't anticipated that the system's generator could produce such an impressive amount of electricity. It was incredibly robust! Plus, the power output was tied to the engine's quality; upgrading to a higher-quality engine would mean even more electricity generated!

It turned out that electricity consumption was the least of his worries, which came as a pleasant surprise to Tang Bing.

Still, he couldn't afford to overlook the most pressing issue.

With daylight fading, he grabbed the fire axe and made his way downstairs quickly.

"Bing, come watch the TV! It's absolutely thrilling!" Sun Meng, engrossed in the show, finally noticed him and eagerly beckoned.

Alerted by Sun Meng's call, the others turned their attention to Tang Bing. Lin Leyan quickly grabbed the remote to lower the volume, "Tang, is there an issue with the power? If we're using too much, we can just turn off the TV, right?"