The corpse was covered with a thick quilt, but even so, it couldn't hide its foul, rancid stench.
Tang Xiaoquan pinched his nose, his forehead tightly furrowed, as he reached out to lift a corner of the quilt.
Goodness, a wave of unbearable stench immediately assaulted him, causing him to retch on the spot.
After a moment to compose himself, Tang Xiaoquan stood up and walked into the bathroom, where he grabbed a wet wipe, tying it around his face to serve as a makeshift smell shield.
Though the smell shield couldn't completely block the stench, it was better than nothing; at least now he no longer showed any signs of nausea like earlier.
With measures to ward off the smell in place, Tang Xiaoquan bent down again and... with two gloved hands, began to fumble randomly over the corpse.
Compared to Tang Xiaoquan, quietly giving the corpse a "massage" at the entrance, Wang Qiang, who was holed up in the kitchen, appeared much busier.
What was he doing? He was making something.
What was he making? Something that could smash a zombie's brains out.
As the saying goes, "With a brick in hand, I own the world," Wang Qiang had always been thinking of crafting a handy weapon to deal with zombies.
And with the experience of fighting zombies before, his determination grew even stronger.
Furthermore, he gave considerable thought to the matter.
First of all, the primary issue in dealing with zombies is distance.
The farther you are from a zombie, the safer you are.
So Wang Qiang chose a mop; this thing almost measures 1.5 meters in length. With such a distance, it's believed that no zombie could reach his body, thus jeopardizing his life.
Once the distance issue was settled, he also needed to consider how to avoid the weapon getting jammed in the zombie's body parts during combat.
After all, in the last battle, Wang Qiang nearly lost his life because the blade got stuck in a zombie's skull.
Wang Qiang had already thought of a solution for this.
He first used a fruit knife to whittle the mop handle, with its head removed, to a sharp point. Then, he secured two sharp knives to it with packing tape, and finally, to ensure the knives wouldn't come off during use, he wrapped several loops of wire around them for fixation.
By the time he finished all this, Wang Qiang was already drenched in sweat, a veritable water man, but still, looking at his masterpiece lying on the ground, he revealed a satisfied grin.
Picking up the weapon, Wang Qiang weighed it in his hand, and he could clearly feel that its weight was much less than that of a baseball bat.
This means, under the same usage, this DIY weapon would require much less energy than a baseball bat.
Undoubtedly, in a battle against zombies, perhaps this extra bit of energy could save your life in a crisis.
He rose and wielded the weapon a couple of times, striking some flamboyant poses.
In the end, he shamelessly named his first ever DIY weapon with a mighty name,
calling it: The Eight-footed Snake Spear!!
Simply cleaning up the mess on the ground, Wang Qiang lifted the Long Spear and lazily walked out of the kitchen.
As the saying goes: A person might become so engrossed in one thing that they ignore everything around them; Wang Qiang was just like that.
Because he had just been wholly focused on his great creative pursuit, his nerves were taut, and he was completely absorbed, feeling no exhaustion at all.
However, at this moment, when everything was settled and relaxed, that deep-seated fatigue suddenly engulfed his entire body.
Casually touching his nose, Wang Qiang couldn't help but frown slightly as he vaguely caught a whiff of a nauseating smell in the air.
Instinctively, he reached his hand to block his nose, then slowly raised his head.
"Shit!" He cried out in surprise, instinctively stepping back two steps, then immediately held the Eight-footed Snake Spear horizontally across his chest.
No wonder he reacted so strongly, because just as he looked up, a young man with a mask on his face, smeared with blood and bits of flesh, appeared in his view.
And who was this person? Undoubtedly, it was the one who had just finished the corpse "massage," Tang Xiaoquan.
Tang Xiaoquan was equally startled by Wang Qiang, the latter drenched through like a water man, and the strange weapon horizontal across his chest made Tang Xiaoquan see him as an African native.
"You are?" Almost simultaneously, both of them voiced their internal doubts.
"It's you!" Then, almost simultaneously, they each made their response.
Wang Qiang turned his face, took a deep breath, put down the weapon across his chest, and said in a low voice, "I say, what the hell are you Y doing? Playing COSPLAY? Do you TM know I almost stabbed you?"
Indeed, Wang Qiang wasn't merely scaring Tang Xiaoquan, had the latter not spoken up promptly, he might really have pierced the other's head.
"Uh~" Tang Xiaoquan grinned awkwardly, realizing his outfit did look a bit quirky, so he couldn't refute Wang Qiang's rebuke.
But the more Wang Qiang looked, the more puzzled he felt, and couldn't help but continue questioning, "You Y didn't mess with that corpse, did you?"
With a definitive nod, a few sparks brightened in Tang Xiaoquan's eyes.
Speechless, utterly speechless, Wang Qiang put his hand to his forehead, twirled around twice on the spot before opening his mouth, "Did a donkey kick your head, messing with that corpse for no reason? Who knows if that thing is contagious! What if you get infected?"
Not expecting such a big reaction from Wang Qiang, yet seeing his brother's indignant expression, Tang Xiaoquan felt a wave of warmth flow through his heart.
After all, in these apocalyptic times, people's hearts are unpredictable, and even family might fight over a bit of supplies.
But from Wang Qiang's words just now, it was clear their friendship hadn't changed. Although his expression was somewhat gruff, the genuine concern in his eyes was unmistakable.
Smiling, he extended his palm and adjusted the gloves on it, smiling, "Don't worry, Qiangzi, I've taken complete protection. It'll be fine."
Wang Qiang raised an eyebrow, obviously unimpressed, and snorted, "I don't care if you've done protection or not, I just ask you, what the hell are you touching that beast for when there's nothing else to do?"
"Well~" Dragging his words meaningfully, Tang Xiaoquan revealed a mischievous smile, "I'm preparing for the upcoming actions!"