"If I could breach all four walls of the merchant's house, creating a giant hole around it, turning the merchant's house into an isolated island, wouldn't I be able to make this an absolutely safe haven?"
Li Ke couldn't help but think this, looking at the stones that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere on this invincible wall. If it were an invincible wall, then there was no need to consider its defensive capabilities; he could simply build up defenses elsewhere.
However, the problem was that this was an enormous undertaking. He couldn't possibly complete it alone before the next Blood Moon. Forcing it would undoubtedly result in being overwhelmed by the endless horde of zombies.
If there were three of them, it might be somewhat possible, but the cost would be that they couldn't do anything during that time, and this place would become their only escape route. If they misjudged the number of zombies, there would be no way to escape.
Until they had flying devices or enough people, this was undoubtedly out of their reach.
"It's true... but now that the problem is found, why don't I build an even more formidable bunker..."
Li Ke was speechless, looking helplessly at the invincible wall.
If he had dozens of people, then let alone a defensive wall, with enough machine guns and ammunition, they might even be able to cut through these zombies head-on.
These zombies die from a gunshot wound to the head, and their bodies are incapacitated if torn apart, unlike the zombies of the fantasy world.
Just set up a dozen or so machine guns, build a sturdy fortress, and add various Molotov cocktails and the like, with the others filling in the gaps, dealing with special zombies, holding the line wouldn't be difficult...
But the problem is, he doesn't have that many people.
If he had that many people, he wouldn't need an invincible wall.
"What a pity, let's see if I can dig a big hole through the mines later."
Li Ke sighed helplessly, shuddering as he thought of the mountains of corpses and seas of blood he had experienced before, before continuing to mine.
Time passed quickly. Just as Li Ke began to feel hungry, darkness fell. He glanced at the RV, now reduced to scrap metal, sighed helplessly, and then began building his own shelter.
A two-story wooden frame, with an opening for a window, was then upgraded piece by piece using a stone axe. In no time, a standard firewood box appeared before Li Ke.
Then, Li Ke added some wooden frames as a fence to prevent zombies from attacking the house directly and to make it easier for him to fight, but it looked strange no matter how he looked at it.
Fortunately, he remembered to assemble some wooden blocks at the bottom of his little firewood box, creating a wooden floor so he wouldn't have to sleep on the asphalt road.
However, there was no bed.
Flipping through his building list, Li Ke found no beds or sleeping bags. Reluctantly, he returned to the houses that had been refreshed for the quest, rummaged through them for bedding, and decided to make do for the night. He planned to see if the quest room had a bed the next day, or perhaps assemble one himself.
Afterward, Li Ke went to the shop. He didn't do anything strange to the female merchant; he simply bought some meat, added fuel and raw materials to the furnace, and continued smelting iron ingots. Just as he was about to make something, he was suddenly teleported out, completely bewildered.
"So, the reason I was suddenly teleported away last time was because I couldn't stay in the shop at night..."
Looking at the shop's suddenly closed doors, Li Ke sighed, then returned to his house, took out some branches, shaved them clean, and started barbecuing outside.
The aroma of the barbecue gradually spread, but Li Ke felt a pang of loneliness.
Previously, Erina would always be by his side. Although the little girl didn't dare to speak loudly at night and attract those Bolt-like zombies, Li Ke was no longer afraid of them. In fact, he was now eager for zombies to come and give him experience points.
Looking at his experience bar, which was just a little bit away from leveling up again, Li Ke grilled meat while pondering his next move.
He didn't understand construction, so he couldn't build a defensive base using the reinforced concrete of the real world; he could only use the defensive facilities of this world.
So, it was essentially stacking armor.
"I need to find a mixer quickly," Li Ke thought.
Although the merchant's house had a mixer, both the mixer and something called a chemistry table were broken. They were unusable.
However, Li Ke looked at the chemistry table; it didn't require many materials. He should be able to gather enough parts to make it by tomorrow. This way, he wouldn't have to manually churn gunpowder, and the production would increase.
"I'm so lonely."
He glanced at the woman's location. He had actually leveled up while mining, but hadn't dared to add points because of important matters. By the time he was almost finished, the woman had closed her shop.
So, he was currently in a state of not daring to add points. But even without doing anything, just having someone by his side would make him feel much better.
A sense of loneliness overwhelmed Li Ke. He looked at the campfire, then at the deathly silence around him, where only the wind could be heard. A profound sense of loneliness and isolation enveloped him.
Before, he and Erina had supported each other, so this feeling wasn't very strong, but now, Li Ke truly experienced loneliness.
Especially in this dangerous world.
After quickly eating the roasted meat, Li Ke returned to his room, curled up in the not-so-warm, even smelly, quilt, and quietly fell asleep, drifting into a dream.
But at this moment, the other two outsiders were in unfavorable situation.
"There are so many of these guys."
Kiri rapidly pulled the trigger. The discarded machine gun Li Ke had forged seemed to come alive in her hands. Each shot easily pierced through a zombie's eye socket, then plunged into its skull, obliterating it.
Beside her, a trembling Tsunade stood, eyes closed, clutching a small tree. When Kiri cried out due to the approaching zombies, she swung the tree, sending them flying.
"This world is truly... strange!"
Kiri was quite helpless. Since arriving in this world, she couldn't use many of her practical martial arts and marksmanship skills, and her physical strength had even been reduced to the level of an ordinary person in the Celestial Realm.
Furthermore, the type of bullets provided by Li Ke was incompatible with her revolver, significantly diminishing her strength.
Tsunade, on the other hand, was in an even worse situation. Hemophobia in this world had already pushed her strength to its lowest point, and the food here rarely provided any satiety. The air also lacked chakra, weakening her stamina and strength by dozens of times. Otherwise, even with the extremely chakra-consuming treatment methods, Li Ke's injuries wouldn't have caused her any discomfort.
"Damn it..."
Kiri cursed, then quickly threw out the hand grenade she had made during this time, and pulled the blindfolded Tsunade, retreating towards the bridge they had come from.
After saying goodbye to Li Ke, they had been looking for another small town, but things changed when they entered this town and Kiri fired the first shot. They were scavenging for food and killing ordinary zombies, which wasn't difficult, but they misjudged the strength of the nighttime zombies Li Ke had mentioned because of the daytime appearance of the zombies.
So when Kiri saw a zombie approaching their camp, she pulled the trigger without thinking.
Then, all the zombies in the town charged towards them.
"Looks like what that guy said was true!"
Running quickly to the bridge, Kiri, panting, spoke to Tsunade, who was also starting to catch her breath.
"Damn it, I really have become a player!"
Looking at the "Pick Up" option on her gun, Kiri couldn't help but curse, her trust in Li Ke increasing.
"Hmm, it seems he didn't lie to us about most things... but why did he say that? Also, these are explosive tags, throw them out quickly!"
Tsunade, feeling slightly better now that she was away from the stench of blood, suppressed her fear and took out two strange talismans. She stuck them to a rock and told Kiri to throw them.
Kiri threw them without hesitation, and a horde of zombies chasing them flew up. The problem was, even more zombies were coming from the distant jungle.
"This is never going to end!"
Kiri was exasperated. She fired rapidly with her gun, and just as she was about to find a high vantage point, Tsunade suddenly grabbed her waist and hoisted her onto her back.
"What are you doing!"
Kiri exclaimed. The next moment, she saw strange patterns covering Tsunade's body, and then Tsunade sped off like an off-road vehicle.
Tsunade's panting stopped, and she explained the situation calmly.
"This is a secret technique of mine that temporarily increases my strength and speed... These monsters have a limited attack range, so we just need to get out of their detection range!"
"Oh!! I see."
Kiri's first sentence was a cheer, but she immediately shut her mouth, and the gun in her hand stopped.
Tsunade, using all her strength to keep her footsteps quiet, sprinted two hundred meters at incredible speed before stopping, then collapsed to her knees, trembling uncontrollably.
When Kiri landed lightly on the ground, she noticed that Tsunade's snow-white skin was now covered in fine beads of sweat. Although the strange patterns were still visible, it was clear that Tsunade was unable to move due to psychological pressure.
She looked at the zombies that resembled Usain Bolt. The zombies had stopped at their previous location, wandering around aimlessly, seemingly searching for something. "A detection range of about a hundred meters? That's ten times greater than during the day... This is definitely a big problem in this situation."
Feeling her dwindling ammunition, a timid Kiri gently hoisted the trembling Tsunade onto her back. Without much thought, Kiri headed back towards Li Ke's direction.
Now that some of Li Ke's words were true, they could cooperate.
However...
"That method of returning still can't be trusted, can it?"
Kiri couldn't help but complain.
The return journey was much smoother, because they had cleared most of the zombies along the way during the day. However, by the time Kiri and Tsunade cautiously returned to the town, it was almost two or three in the morning. Fortunately, Tsunade had recovered from her hemophobia, so Kiri didn't have to carry her the whole way.
Looking at the charred buildings nearby, and then at the few houses that stood out abruptly, the two instinctively thought they had taken the wrong turn. But when they looked at the collapsing gas station and the intact shop, they recognized where they were.
"Did these houses appear because of that person? Could they also be related to these options I've seen? This is like a video game only the big shots of the Imperial Army can play!"
Kiri pointed at the houses, a slight smirk playing on her lips. She remembered clearly that this place had been a complete ruin before!
"Probably. There are just too many strange things about this world."
Tsunade wasn't surprised. Her grandfather knew how to build houses instantly, so she wasn't particularly astonished. More importantly, Kiri had also gained a similar ability, able to put the gun in her hand directly into a strange space and then create strange things.
Exactly as the man named Li Ke had said. This was one of the main reasons they had returned.
As for whether Kiri was Li Ke's accomplice...
Glancing at Kiri, who was smiling quite boyishly, she stopped thinking about it.
Her weakness had been completely exposed to Kiri. If Kiri really was Li Ke's accomplice, then she should act now.
But in reality, they are not all the same, because with hemophobia, it is impossible for her to survive in this world alone.
The two hadn't walked far when they saw the woodshed Li Ke had built next to the merchant's hut. This building, completely out of place with the others, along with the lingering smell of food, proved that Li Ke was here.
So the two exchanged a glance, not immediately disturbing Li Ke, but instead hastily setting up a tent and roasting meat while waiting for dawn.
The night passed quickly. When Li Ke awoke, he immediately smelled the aroma of meat through the window he had specially left open. He stood up, opened the door, and saw the two people sitting around the fire they had lit it again.
"Good morning, buddy! Come eat!"
Kiri greeted Li Ke and invited him to eat. Li Ke glanced at their slightly disheveled appearance and, without asking about their ordeal, silently walked over and took two bottles of honey from his inventory.
"Something sweet is best in the morning."
Li Ke had told them about the uses of honey, and Kiri and Tsunade accepted it without drinking it, indicating they weren't injured.
Kiri's grilled meat still didn't taste very good and was a bit greasy for breakfast, so Li Ke brought out some canned peas, which the three of them shared.
After eating, Tsunade finally said the most important thing.
"Let me become a player. I can't fight because of hemophobia, so I can only rely on you guys."
As she finished speaking, Kiri received a message asking her to join a party and add her as a friend.
Without hesitation, and without asking Tsunade why she wouldn't let Kiri turn her into a player, Li Ke reached out and placed his hand on Tsunade's shoulder, the option appearing in his eyes.
A feeling of being completely drained washed over him, and Li Ke saw his experience points decrease. Simultaneously, Tsunade felt something that had been suppressing her disappear slightly.
"An interesting feeling. I feel like my strength has recovered somewhat."
Kiri was also taken aback, then gripped her arm with a hint of doubt, and swung it twice.
"So it wasn't my imagination?"
She had initially thought it was just her imagination.
"Yes, it wasn't. I feel my chakra recovery speed has recovered somewhat, but not by much. It seems that to recover our full strength, we definitely need to keep leveling up."
Tsunade summarized, and Li Ke didn't interrupt, because this matter had nothing to do with him.
He was just an ordinary person, but assessing his companions' strength was still necessary.
"So, it's true that strong individuals are suppressed upon entering? So, Miss Tsunade, what level are you capable of now?"
Li Ke asked cautiously. Tsunade tilted her head, then stood up, walked to a surviving concrete utility pole, and punched it down.
Instantly, the utility pole snapped at the point of Tsunade's attack, crashing onto the rubble.
"About that level."
Tsunade was somewhat annoyed, because the suppression was too severe. With the same effort, she used to be able to leap at least fifty meters of ground, but now she could only break a utility pole.
A punch to a utility pole?
Li Ke nodded.
"How many attacks like that can you throw now?"
"Three punches, I guess, since my chakra recovers very slowly now. But if it's just swinging my fists, I could do it all day."
So he thought for a moment, stood up, and took out his pickaxe and axe.
"Then, Miss Tsunade."
Li Ke looked down at Tsunade, who was only 1.6 meters tall but had an incredibly large heart, and earnestly lowered his head.
"Hmm?"
"From now on, I'll leave the mining and pit-digging to you!"
This is top-notch labor—a miner!