"Xiaotian, it's over. Everything is fine now."

"Really? Oww..."

"... Are you all right?"

"I b.u.mped my head against the wall with your pathetic driving..."

Silence stretched for several moments. Lius.h.i.+ was stunned to hear her say that about his driving skills with such certainity. Wen Xiaotian was blus.h.i.+ng a storm. She didn't mean to say it out loud at all, she didn't want to hurt him with her words or disrespect him. She was still a bit affected by the earlier hit, so her mouth moved faster than her brain. She was happy to be out of sight, she would be to embarra.s.sed to face him.

"I'm sorry brother Lius.h.i.+!! I mean! As a long distance transportation driver, my father is quite a good car and truck driver. He taugh how to drive both since I was 15 years old, and on the way here, I couldn't help but notice that, well... You're a beginner driver... Your driving is a bit clumsy?"

Lius.h.i.+ lowered his head in shame. She was right. He understood now why she glanced at him from time to time.

"It's fine... I don't mind (too much). Critisism is good to improve oneself. I'm going to check on the boar's body."

Xiaotian perked up. She spoke as she unstrapped herself.

"Boar? The thing that attacked us was a boar?"

"Not just a normal. The outbreak didn't only affect us humans, but also animals. It was a mutant boar, as very large one. You can check it on the camera. Please keep an eye on the surroundings for me, the noise may have attracted more unwanted visitors."

"Really? It's incredible, and frightening..."

Lius.h.i.+ turned on the lights, including the rear ones used to light the construction/repair area, and got out of the truck. He remembered that the Sta.r.s.eed had detected something it called an energy core. The only thing that was new since they stopped there was the mutant boar. It was carrying some kind of power generator somewhere on its body.

Standing next to the corpse, he could fully appreciate its size... and its filth and smell, though it seemed to belong to whatever it killed earlier. He observed the wound he inflicted on it, and realised that both strikes had been made on the same spot. He didn't think that the first strike killed it though, knocked out yes, but not killed. He would need to properly arm his truck soon, as the wilderness proved to be much more deadly than he expected.

He put a gloved hand on the corpse, and scanned it with the Sta.r.s.eed. The energy core that it had detected was a nucleus located in the heart of the beast.

'... Haaa? That's not a machine. Isn't it like... like the monster core from some video games and novels? What's going on?'

Lius.h.i.+ asked for some details from the Sta.r.s.eed. It seemed that mutated being generated some kind of bioenergy and ac.u.mulated it into a nucleus. That energy boosted the capabilities of the body, and when enough would be acc.u.mulated, induce another mutation, an upgrade. In other words, mutant beasts could evolve into stronger forms. As a consequence, mutant beast meat was highly energetic and stayed fresh longer, and the Sta.r.s.eed confirmed it was safe, even beneficial, for consumption if properly cooked. Finally, the Sta.r.s.eed could absorb the energy of the nucleus, and use it for more complex material trans.m.u.tation, like making superior alloys, ceramics, polymeres and chemicals.

"It's good and all, but now I have to dismantle a truck sized beast with tough skin and meat, and bones as hard as metal..."

Before doing that, he checked his truck, both visually and with the Sta.r.s.eed. The plow was distorted and the mechanical arms lightly bent. There was some structural damage but nothing too serious. The engine had been shacken, some structural damage there as well but nothing hindering its performances. Everything else was fine, so most of the damage could be easily taken care off.

He got back into the truck and moved it to be perpendicular to the body of the boar. He used the mechanical arm to put the corpse on its side, retracted it, released the pile driver and equiped a power chain saw. The next hour was spent cutting the body in pieces, a b.l.o.o.d.y process that Xiaotian refrained from witnessing. The nucleus was the first thing he recovered, and put it in a container behind the driver seat. Poor Lius.h.i.+ had to nearly dive in its belly to remove the internal organs, and he cursed under his breath every 10 seconds. He used one of the abandonned car to transport the organs at the edge of the inhabited area.

Work didn't end for him after dismantelling the beast. He realised that mutant beasts meat, and probably other body parts, would be very sought after. It already helped a lot with nutrition, and he just couldn't find it in himself to abandon nearly 7 tonnes of quality food. He had to enlist the help of Xiaotian to cut the meat in 10 kgs packages, which he transported to the restaurant kitchen's freezer. In the end, Xiaotian couldn't avoid some b.l.o.o.d.y work, though she was fine with it as it was close to cooking. After taking a break for cleaning himself and eating, he went to the auto repair shop. He got his first direct confrontation with zombies at that time.

He was in his motorbike gear, with his weapon harness, his machete in one hand and the hatchet in the other. He opened the door as silently as he could, and hearing nothing, stepped in and turned on the light. The electricity was still running in the place, which pleased him greatly. As soon as that happened, he caught some noise to the side, and when he turned his head, the zombie was already only 3 meters away from him, bloodshot eyes and dried blood on the bottom half of its face. The rest of its uniform was darkened with blood as well.

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He jumped in both fright and surprise, a scream stuck in his throat. That wasn't the reaction he wanted to have, and definitly not the one to have when confronted with a zombie. With a growl, it jumped at him and tackled him to the ground. At least, Lius.h.i.+ had the reflex of putting his arm in front of his face. As he was struggling on the ground, the zombie bit his arm. Hard.

"Aaaaargh!!"

As the zombie tried to tear the flesh from his arm, he raised the other, and with as much strenght as he could use in his position, drove the hatchet into the skull of the zombie. It spasmed for 2 seconds before falling on top of him. Lius.h.i.+ hurriedly disentangled himself from it, breathing hard. He checked his arm in fear, and relaxed. The zombie hadn't been able to bite through the protective material. He released a deep sight of relief. His first battle with a zombie could have been the last if not for the preparation he made. He was also angry with his reaction. In other situations it may be fine, but not when one's survival was at stake. He vowed in his heart that it wouldn't happen the next time.

He checked the whole building, finding only a corpse. The place was good enough for what he had in mind. He was going to make a reinforced 7m long 4 wheels storage trailer, around 2x1m dry storage at the back, 2x1m fridge in the middle and 2x2m freezer at the front, 2 wind turbines, 3 cameras and movement detectors, and a tail lift. He was also going to turn the pallet mover of the repair shop into an electric rought terrain pallet mover. While Xiaotian slept, he spent the whole night working, using one of the abandonned trucks as material, along with whatever was usefull around, using extension cords to remain connected to the electrical system for energy.

In the morning he was finished, and quite tired. He used one of the abandonned car to bring the new trailer at the back of the destroyed restaurant, and turned on the cooling unit. The rear entrance had been unlocked earlier to transport the meat to the kitchen. He left the newly made electric pallet mover there, with a pallet. He got to his truck, to find out that Xiaotian had woken up earlier. When she saw his tired face she paled a bit and got worried.

"What have you been doing? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just tired. I got us a storage trailer with a freezer and a fridge. It's parked at the back of the restaurant."

He moved his Doomsday Ride there, and connected it to the trailer.

"Please put as much boar meat as possible in the trailer, even in the dry section, with whatever else you deem good enough. There is an electric pallet mover, and the trailer has a tail lift. Wake me when you're done."

With that said, he walked past her, absently undressing himself, and collapsed on the bottom bed. He instantly fell asleep, so drained mentally that he didn't think about security. Xiaotian looked at him dumbfounded for several moments before she sighted and got to work alone.