C53 After Searching for a Long Time, They Finally Found the Sticky Soil, and the New Method to Lure

The Ocean's Heart's +5 perception attribute was truly formidable. Zombies entering Tang Bing's sensory range were immediately detected.

Thanks to the substantial agility boost from his upgrade, Tang Bing could stealthily strike and eliminate zombies before they even had a chance to react, clearing any roadblocks in his path.

Naturally, when faced with a horde of zombies, he could promptly evade them and opt for an alternate route.

Solo travel proved to be far more manageable than having Zhao Dagang in tow.

Carrying someone else meant being vigilant about their safety, cautious of their noise attracting zombies, and more. Alone, Tang Bing could deftly dispatch isolated zombies or dodge larger groups, ensuring his safe passage.

Zombies littered the streets, and despite the perceptual advantage of the Ocean's Heart and the silenced pistol's firepower, Tang Bing spent a full hour navigating circuitous paths before finally reaching the street corner opposite the toy store.

His heart sank as he saw the toy store's doors flung open, with hordes of zombies wandering inside.

A head-on assault was out of the question; even with the silenced pistol, silently taking out all the zombies was nearly impossible, and he risked drawing even more of them, a perilous prospect indeed!

Should he abandon the mission and return home? That would render his hour-long trek a complete waste.

Furthermore, without the clay, he couldn't craft a furnace. No furnace meant no iron bars for the workbench!

While it was possible to salvage iron bars from certain machinery, he had no clue where to find them. And with 25 bars needed, who knew how long it would take to gather them all.

Resolved, he knew he had to make his way into the toy store.

But how could he do so without engaging the zombie swarm, drawing them out safely instead?

After a moment of contemplation, a stroke of inspiration hit Tang Bing.

He pulled out his phone, pausing for a brief second. Then he set the alarm for ten minutes later and cranked up the volume to its maximum.

This phone, once a prized possession, had lost its utility in the post-apocalyptic world where zombies had overrun the power systems. And with no one left he cared to contact, what use was it to him now?

He gently set the timer on his phone and placed it on the ground, scanning the area to ensure no zombies were in sight. With the coast clear, he dashed to a secluded alley about sixty meters away. There, he crouched behind a trash can, using it as a shield while he covertly watched the toy store.

Ten minutes ticked by, and the phone alarm went off as planned.

"Huala!" The aimless zombies nearby snapped to attention. They swiveled their heads, homing in on the sound, and swarmed toward the phone like a flood.

Inside the toy store, the zombies reacted similarly, spilling out the front door in a steady stream. Some of the less savvy ones even shattered windows to make their escape.

Tang Bing remained hidden in the alley, vigilant of his surroundings, while keeping an eye on the toy store's activity.

After a few minutes, once he noticed that the street zombies and most from the toy store had converged on the spot where he'd left the phone, he sprang into action. He sprinted to the entrance of the toy store, axe in hand, and after ensuring no zombies were watching, he barged in.

"Roar!" To his surprise, a zombie lunged at him right as he crossed the threshold.

Tang Bing was ready for it. He swung his axe with precision, cleaving its head before it could sink its teeth into him.

Using his keen senses, he navigated deeper into the toy store, cautiously moving along the aisles. He dispatched several zombies that were either trapped or too confused to navigate around the shelves.

In the restroom, he found another zombie lurking and swiftly eliminated it with his Fire axe.

What he didn't anticipate was that after the kill, his Fire axe vanished from his grip. In its place, a broken Fire axe materialized in his backpack.

Upon inspection, he realized that the once-sturdy Fire axe had worn out from overuse and had finally given out.

Luckily, the damaged Fire axe could be fixed with iron bars. This only reinforced Tang Bing's resolve to find clay and construct a furnace.

With the toy store cleared of zombies, Tang Bing secured the door and used shelving to barricade the windows marred by zombie scratches. This precaution would prevent any zombies from barging in, even if they were drawn by noise during his search.

With his preparations complete, he could finally relax and began a thorough search of the shelves.

Clay was surprisingly scarce, even in the toy store.

Tang Bing scoured the shelves, which were mostly stocked with dolls, rubber duckies, toy planes, cars, electric vehicles, mini basketballs, footballs, and trains—just a mishmash of children's playthings. There was some plasticine, but the system didn't recognize it as a substitute for clay.

After nearly turning the place upside down, he finally unearthed a small stash of clay tucked away in a corner cabinet.

Upon depositing it into the system, a notification popped up: he had acquired ten units of clay.

That was hardly sufficient! A look of frustration crossed Tang Bing's face. He had spent an hour taking a roundabout route to get here, and it certainly wasn't for a mere ten units of clay!

But the shelves were bare of any more. Surely, there couldn't be just this paltry amount? Why all the effort for nothing?

Despite feeling disheartened, Tang Bing didn't give up. He continued to roam the toy store. Spotting the locked warehouse, a flicker of hope sparked within him. "Perhaps the clay isn't a hot seller, and with such a small market, the store didn't bother to display it? Could there be a larger supply in the warehouse? It's implausible that this sizable toy store would stock only ten units of clay."

It was no big deal if his fine Fire axe was damaged; he had a standard one as backup.

He was ready to force the warehouse door open with the axe when he hesitated.

The door was reinforced with sheet metal. Smashing it would certainly cause a racket. Maybe the warehouse key was at the cashier's station—if not, he'd resort to using the Fire axe!

Tang Bing, with the Fire axe in hand, made his way back to the cashier's desk and hastily rifled through the drawers.

He pocketed the copious amounts of cash and coins—had this been pre-apocalypse, Tang Bing would have been considered wealthy! But now, aside from vending machine purchases, money seemed practically useless.

Fortune smiled on Tang Bing; he struck gold with the warehouse key nestled in one of the drawers.

The system tagged it clearly, and he couldn't help but grin at the sight.

He swiftly unlocked the warehouse door and stepped inside, greeted by towering stacks of cardboard boxes brimming with toys.

He was overwhelmed by the array of unmarked boxes, clueless as to their contents. Didn't the store owner and employees think to label them? It would be so much more convenient if the boxes were clearly marked with their contents.

Muttering to himself, Tang Bing had no choice but to search through each box methodically. "Nope, not this one... nothing here..." He hauled box after box down to the ground, opened them, and sifted through the contents. The ones without what he needed were tossed aside into an empty corner as he moved on to the next.

After an exhausting hour, drenched in sweat and his back screaming in protest, he finally unearthed the item he'd been searching for.

You have obtained 500 pieces of clay!

The box was crammed with clay, coated in a layer of dust that spoke of long neglect.

With weary limbs, he checked the remaining boxes one last time to ensure no clay was left behind. Then, he stood, stretched, and shook out the stiffness from his muscles.

The clay wasn't abundant, but it was sufficient to construct a smelting furnace. He could now smelt the clay, fulfilling the workbench requirements and allowing for the production of more iron bars.

The day was still young, and he wasn't about to pass up the opportunity to scavenge further.

Beyond the shelves and storage area, the toy store housed a bedroom for sleeping. Tang Bing wasn't sure who it belonged to, but he discovered two smartphones and several thousand dollars in cash and coins there.

He dismantled everything—clothes, bedding, and more—into scraps of fabric, wood, cotton, iron pipes, and springs. Furniture like wardrobes, desks, bookcases, and nightstands were broken down into lumber and nails. Even the electronics, such as TVs, computers, and air conditioners, were taken apart with wrenches and screwdrivers, yielding a variety of useful materials.

Once he was certain he had combed through every nook and cranny of the toy store, leaving no stone unturned, Tang Bing, satisfied, picked up his fire axe and readied to depart.

But as he reached for the door handle, a sound caught his attention. He spun around and headed back to the warehouse, overturning boxes and shelves in a renewed search.

Soon, he dragged out an entire box of toy cars and a heap of batteries.

It wasn't a desire to play that drove him but the realization that these toys might serve a different purpose.

He knew that once equipped with batteries and switched on, these toy cars would emit a loud noise and inch forward. There were sounds of police sirens, fire engines, ambulances, and even tank engines. The volume of these toys was impressive, rivaling that of a cell phone's ringtone.

Since cell phones can be set to ring and attract zombies, why not these toys?

True, cell phones have timers, an advantage these toys lack. Tang Bing could set the phone's alarm and leave the area before it went off, drawing the zombies to it when the time came.

Toy cars, on the other hand, start making noise the moment they're switched on, so he'd need to make a swift exit before the zombies caught on. Otherwise, instead of diverting the zombies with the toys, he'd only end up endangering himself.

A remote-controlled toy car would be ideal, but sadly, he hadn't found one in the toy store.

Still, Tang Bing wasn't overly concerned.

With his Awareness attribute boosted by +5, he could timely detect the movement of zombies within a certain radius. Once the toy car was activated, he'd have ample ability to evade them.

No time like the present!

Having secured a whole box of toy cars, Tang Bing cautiously stepped out of the store, scanning his surroundings. Once he had his escape route down pat, he quickly grabbed a toy car, popped in the batteries, flipped the switch, and set it zooming in the opposite direction before taking off at a run.

"Ratatat!" The toy car emitted a loud, gunfire-like sound as it trundled along.

The nearby zombies stirred, converging on the toy car's location.

Tang Bing stayed hidden where fewer zombies roamed, discreetly monitoring the situation. Once he was sure the toy car had successfully drawn the zombies' attention, he made a beeline to safety.