War Truck in the Apocalypse

Chapter 7: Corpses of Survivors

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

For three days straight, Shen Cong ran into “survivors”. However, all of them were just mutated creatures: earth-digging insects, fanged wolves, and large-toothed rats. It seemed like all creatures which had managed to survive had mutated.

Shen Cong could only explain this phenomenon by saying that the Activity brought by the meteor shower had changed the world. 

Even he himself had changed because of it. 

“Is this the post-apocalyptic world or a new world?” Shen Cong could not help the desire to ask this question.

No one answered him, so he could only slowly get used to the situation. 

The fact that the fang dagger managed to cut open the large-toothed rat’s head gave Shen Cong a lot of inspiration. He noticed that there were far more uses to Activity compared to just Extension, Alloying, and Exchange, which were the three abilities he had inferred previously. 

The fang dagger could be taken as an example. If Shen Cong did not infuse it with Activity and guide its properties, it would just be a rather sturdy accessory. But once he pumped Activity inside, it immediately went through changes at the core. Shen Cong tried to infuse Activity in it again and managed to cut apart a normal knife. 

Shen Cong named this ability Sharpen, and it became the fourth ability of Activity. 

Shen Cong also noticed that the fangs were the only objects that he could infuse with Activity from the fanged wolves. It seemed like the fangs were the essence of where the fanged wolves’ Activity were, or rather, the fangs were its core. 

The earth-digging insects’ chelicerae and the large-toothed rats’ incisors were also the core of their Activity. 

‘Then what is the core of Titan’s Activity?’ 

Shen Cong focused his thoughts and considered it quietly. He used his mind to guide Titan’s Activity around in an attempt to figure out where its Activity ability was at its thickest, but no matter where he looked, he did not find such a place. 

‘Just what went wrong? Could it be that non-living objects don’t have an Activity core?’

After that thought, Shen Cong directed his mind to his own body. He could sense how Activity had strengthened him. Logically speaking, he could also be said to have mutated. If the other mutated creatures had one Activity core, then perhaps he had one as well. But ten minutes later, he shook his head again. 

He did not discover any Activity core in himself. 

‘Could it be that my inference is wrong?’

However, he did not have sufficient information. In the end, he could only set aside his inference for the time being. 

Since he had to let his elbow heal, Shen Cong did not leave Carrefour Supermarket for the next few days. He used one hand to make himself a mousetrap with his welding tool. Then, he hooked in some earth-digging insect meat inside and quietly placed it in Carrefour Supermarket in preparation to get rid of all the large-toothed rats in the supermarket. If there were any left. 

As for why he wanted to use earth-digging insect meat as bait? Because if he were to rank fanged wolves, large-toothed rats, and earth-digging insects’ meat quality, the quantity of Activity in their flesh could be ranked from high to low like this: fanged wolves, large-toothed rats, earth-digging insects, and their texture could also be ranked from best to worst in the same manner. 

That was why Shen Cong no longer ate earth-digging insects. They were junk to him. 

However, it was perfect to lure out any other large-toothed rats. 

But his hunt for the rats did not go smoothly. There was no movement on the first day.

It was the same on the second day. 

On the third day, Shen Cong roasted the earth-digging insect flesh before he placed it in the mousetrap. Even so, nothing happened. 

Aside from trying to lure the rats, Shen Cong retrieved another batch of drinks, cigarettes, and wine from the supermarket, but he still did not run into any large-toothed rats. It seemed like there was really just one mutated rat. 

But on the fourth day, something happened to the mousetrap. 

The earth-digging insect meat disappeared while half of the mousetrap also vanished. It seemed like some creature had managed to bite through the steel bar that was as thick as a thumb. There were clear teeth marks on the spot where the steel bar had been broken. 

This discovery terrified Shen Cong so much that he broke out in cold sweat. 

He had thought that steel was the most straightforward method to protect him when it came to fending against monsters, but right then, he discovered very clearly that a creature had managed to gnaw off steel. 

Shen Cong’s greatest confidence in Titan was its thick steel armor. 

But this was too terrifying. 

Shen Cong threw away the remaining half of the mousetrap and went back to Titan. Then, he set off without hesitation and went straight to the drinking water plant. 

Safety first. 

*****

It was very difficult for Shen Cong to form any connection between a pile of debris scattered all over the place and the drinking water plant. There was originally a reservoir beside it, and while it could not be said to be huge and filled with so much water that even the slightest wind could make waves in it, it was still large enough that a thin layer of mist formed over it. But right now, all Shen Cong saw were scattered debris and sand, not the plant or the reservoir. 

‘I should be around the place by now. I’ll dig around and see whether I can find the storage.’

The number of mineral water bottles he took from Carrefour Supermarket was just too little. If he added them together, they would be no more than two bottles used for water dispensers, which took up a lot of space. 

The bulldozer blade worked hard and shoveled away a layer of sand and debris from the ground. But this led to Shen Cong spending a lot of fuel, and he felt his heart ache at the loss. The amount of fuel he used could never be replaced, and before he found a new energy source that could replace diesel, this was a strategic resource that was even more valuable than gold. 

‘Once I finish replenishing my water, I’ll have to head to the provincial capital and see whether I can find any gas stations. If I can preserve some diesel or gas, Titan will be able to continue moving forward. If I can’t, then I will have to use solar power to recharge electricity and wander around slowly.’

Cleaning up the area took one and a half hours before he finally found the entrance leading to the underground storage. 

Once he cleared up the entrance until it formed a tunnel that he could pass through, Shen Cong did not enter the place recklessly. The encounter in Carrefour Supermarket had traumatized him. 

That was why Shen Cong brought out his high-tech equipment—a remote toy car with a surveillance camera fixed on it. 

The toy car zoomed into the underground storage, and the surveillance camera began to send the images it caught back to Shen Cong. The storage was rather large and divided into various cubicles. The toy car did not discover anything in the first cubicle. There were only some debris and black marks. 

When it reached the second cubicle, its door was shut, and the toy car was blocked outside. It could not go inside. 

Shen Cong could only have the remote toy car return so he could make preparations to go down personally. Normal stab proof vests could no longer provide much protection, so to increase his sense of safety, he intended to make himself a suit of armor—an Activity armor. 

This inspiration came from how the fang dagger had managed to cut open that large-toothed rat’s skull. 

Since he could pour Activity into the fang dagger, logically speaking, he could use Activity cores like the fangs to craft himself a set of Activity armor. But his conditions were limited right then, and he did not have a lot of Activity cores that he could use. That was why he thought of Titan, because Titan’s entire body was filled with Activity. 

When the steel armor on Titan was infused with Activity, it provided a defense that was basically the same as that of a pure steel panel. It was much stronger than before. 

Then, could he use the Activity-fused steel panels on Titan to create an Activity-fused battle armor?

Even though once the components were cut off from Titan, they soon lost their Activity, they would still possess it for half an hour, and during that time, they would be enforced by the Activity. Shen Cong could use this period of time when the component would progressively lose their Activity for an Activity armor that he could use for half an hour. 

Once that half an hour time limit was up, the battle armor would lose its Activity. 

Then, he could hand over his battle armor to Titan and have it assimilate with the war truck through Alloying. Titan would then pump Activity into the armor, and when Shen Cong needed it again, he could cut off the connection of the armor with Titan and use the Activity armor once again for half an hour. 

This was a genius move!

Shen Cong could not help but feel a little smug about himself. 

While he created the Activity armor, he began indulging himself in his wildest fantasies again. If he embedded an Activity core into the Activity armor and used his own Activity to guide it, could he increase the length of time Activity could last in his battle armor?

As of then, Shen Cong had fourteen fanged wolf fangs, a pair of earth-digging insect chelicerae, and a pair of large-toothed rat incisors. 

They were enough to verify whether his theory was true. 

For an expert among the common people whose abilities in DIY were off the charts, it was very easy to create a suit of battle armor. Besides, Shen Cong was as strong as a bull now, so he did not even need to bother about the weight of the battle armor, because no matter how heavy it was, he could carry it. 

Hence, two days later, Sky Lifting Pillar 1.0, a crude Activity battle armor formed by pieces of steel panels and two fangs embedded into it was born. 

It was plain fugly. It was even uglier than Iron Man’s most primitive armor. 

But when Shen Cong wore it, he felt incredibly safe. 

Even if he ran into the creature that could bite through a steel bar and could not win against it, at the very least, he now possessed the ability to run away. 

Interestingly enough, the Activity in the battle armor seemed to have had an amazing reaction with the fangs. They had merged together with the armor as if they were still organic beings, and Shen Cong could sense that the rate at which the battle armor lost its Activity greatly reduced. 

His original estimation was that his Activity battle armor could only retain its Activity ability for less than three hours, but based on the current rate of loss, Shen Cong could use his battle armor for three hours with certainty. 

Cling clang…

Shen Cong put on the Activity battle armor and took hold of an imitation Type 64 pistol which had been assimilated by Activity before. There were two fang daggers hanging at his waist, and on his back was a handheld crossbow. Equipped from head to toe, Shen Cong walked into the warehouse. 

It was empty. Only Shen Cong’s footsteps could be heard. 

The infrared thermal image scanner he set above his left eye did not manage to scan any objects possessing high heat. 

Shen Cong went to the first cubicle. He had been very curious as to what the black smudges discovered by the toy car were, and when he went inside, he noticed that they were highly similar to smudges left behind by blood. 

“Blood prints?”

This discovery instantly made Shen Cong nervous, but he could not tell whether the blood was from two months ago or whether it was from after the apocalypse. 

He could only become even more cautious than before. 

He pushed open the door to the second cubicle. 

The moment he did so, a rotten smell instantly wafted into his nose. He saw at least ten human corpses stacked up in a messy pile, and it was in the cubicle which was the place where the bottled water for water dispensers was supposed to be. The human corpses were not alone though; there were also a few rotten carcasses belonging to monsters Shen Cong could not name. 

“Urk!”

Shen Cong had never personally witnessed something this disgusting before, and he started dry heaving. 

After retching for a little while, he felt much better, and he began to accept what he saw with a logical mindset. He did not leave, because while corpses were disgusting, they were safe, and Shen Cong was instinctively not afraid of corpses. 

What else was more harmless than the dead?

…Of course, a world infested by zombies was not to be counted in that. 

‘This seems to have been caused by survivors fighting against monsters. Judging by the rate at which they have rotted away, they’ve been dead for at least a month. Did this happen before the storm stopped?’

Shen Cong observed the corpses for a while before turning around and leaving with his nose covered. He then entered the third cubicle. 

Just as he expected, he noticed signs of survivors once living in this place. There were scraps of food, along with bedding, chamber pots, and other living utensils. Since there was water, the survivors had hidden themselves in the underground storage, which helped them live through the storm raging through the land. But regrettably, they ran into mutated monsters. 

‘If that’s the case, there might be a lot of survivors in large cities or military posts!’ Shen Cong thought. 

There were plenty of underground basements in large cities, and many supermarkets were built underground, which meant a lot of resources. There were also air-raid shelters along with other facilities around, which could be used to avoid the storm brought by the apocalypse. Military zones naturally had such places to avoid disasters as well. 

And if Shen Cong had managed to survive through the apocalypse by hiding in Titan, he could easily imagine others surviving by hiding underground, as long as they did not run out of food to eat and water to drink. 

‘Survivors…’

A solemn look appeared briefly in Shen Cong’s eyes. 

He quietly walked out of the third cubicle and arrived at the fourth cubicle. It was filled with bottled water for water dispensers. Shen Cong intended to transport ten bottles back, then use two to take a bath. For nearly two months, he had only used a wet towel to wipe his body. He had never taken a bath. 

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But when he bathed, Shen Cong’s heart was filled with complicated emotions. His thoughts were also in a mess, because he did not know how he should communicate with other survivors. 

He knew that it was impossible for him to wander around the world alone for the rest of his life, but he had not liked coming into contact with other people even before the apocalypse. 

It would be quite accurate to say that survivors and mutated monsters were not that much different in Shen Cong’s eyes. At best, survivors provided Shen Cong with the option of trading resources. The human heart was the most difficult thing to understand in the world, and it was even more nerve wracking to get along with humans than with monsters. 

Cases of people attacking each other for personal gain never stopped happening in novels and movies. 

As someone with a persecution complex, Shen Cong lived in a world in which he was constantly alone, and he only believed in himself.