Even if it meant death, Li Ke had no intention of surrendering here. Although the vehicle was still collapsing under the constant pushing and tearing of the zombies, Li Ke still managed to force his way to the nearly destroyed vehicle, holding onto the wooden frame beside him.
Li Ke could hear clearly that the first layer of sheet metal on the vehicle had already been torn off. If he didn't hurry, the wooden frame he had laid inside the vehicle wouldn't last until he finished preparing his items.
"You sons of bitches..."
Li Ke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and abruptly pulled out a set of gunpowder.
His inventory contained a thousand stacks of gunpowder, and a stack of gunpowder in reality appeared as a large handful of black powder. So, without hesitation, Li Ke opened the burlap sack in front of him—an absurdly large container of a thousand stacks of gunpowder—and poured the black powder inside towards the front of the vehicle.
Instantly, a large amount of gunpowder continuously spewed from the small burlap sack, falling into the already sealed carriage, burying the entire front of the vehicle, even sealing the entrance door.
"Phew... I remember something from MythBusters saying that a single wall can block most of the explosive damage?"
Li Ke continued pouring gunpowder while reinforcing the seemingly loosely sealed areas. The next moment, amidst the screams of countless zombies, he heard the sound of large pieces of sheet metal being torn apart, and the scraping of zombie hands against the blocks he had created.
Li Ke immediately threw the burlap sack, still spewing gunpowder, at the front of the vehicle, instantly placing several blocks of dirt and rubble in front of him.
The instant he finished, he clearly saw the wall of the RV's front window smash open, revealing a zombie's face.
Without hesitation, Li Ke took out his lighter, lit a piece of plastic, and threw the burning plastic towards the gunpowder.
As the burning plastic flew through the air, Li Ke instantly blocked the only opening with rubble, then curled up into a ball.
The next moment, amidst Li Ke's trepidation, or rather, unease, a powerful tremor struck, followed by a burst of fire and an explosion.
Li Ke felt his body being thrown into the air, then the car crashed into him. The roars and rumbles of the zombies vanished instantly; he could only hear a buzzing in his ears. Then, in a daze, he saw the crumbling wall he had built, and experienced a strange sense of dizziness and disorientation.
A strong feeling of weightlessness followed, but then, another tremor, this time much weaker.
The next moment, Li Ke collapsed onto the wooden frame he had built, his head buzzing. He could clearly feel that his left and right arms were too painful to move, and the world before him was a blood red, making it impossible to see anything.
But he wasn't dead yet, nor was he completely unconscious. Looking at the stone wall he had built, he was surprised to find that it wasn't severely damaged. Instead, the roof of the RV had been blown off, giving him a glimpse outside.
He was no longer outside the town; he was only a short distance from the female merchant and the gas station. Unfortunately, this distance was teeming with countless, densely packed, burning zombies.
...Burning?
Li Ke's mind went blank for a moment, then cleared. Looking at the zombies engulfed in flames, and the raging fire of the front half of the RV, along with the engine and fuel tank, he finally understood his situation.
The thrown gunpowder not only exploded successfully, but the force of the blast also ignited the fuel tank, setting the surrounding zombies ablaze.
However, due to the extremely high density, zombies that hadn't even approached were also ignited by the flames on other zombies and were being burned continuously.
Li Ke took a deep breath, trying to clear his head. Several zombies, engulfed in flames, were charging at him, and the remaining zombies were still pushing and shoving the vehicle.
Li Ke tried to move his body, but unfortunately, he couldn't. He then realized that his legs were pinned under the RV's cabinet, and the entire RV, except for the bed, was in disarray.
Gritting his teeth, Li Ke used his mind to adjust the gun, firing with one hand. Scorching bullets sprayed out; he didn't bother with burst fire, emptying the entire magazine in one go.
But when it came time to reload, he couldn't because his arm was pinned down.
Then, a strange thing happened: even though his hand hadn't moved, the bullets were successfully reloaded. Meanwhile, the zombies had pushed the wrecked car further towards the merchant's house, allowing Li Ke to see the motionless female merchant again.
The next moment, just when Li Ke thought the wrecked car would be pushed into the shop wall by the burning zombies, he felt another wave of intense dizziness and disorientation. Before he could react, everything before him changed.
The oppressive feeling was gone, the burning sensation was gone, and not only that, the dense, seemingly endless swarm of zombies had vanished.
In their place were intact zombies, not yet on fire, running towards the RV!
Li Ke was stunned for a second before realizing he had been suddenly teleported to a pillar at the gas station. Without hesitation, he rushed towards the steel pillar, and the zombies abruptly changed direction, lunging at him.
He leaped onto a wooden block, then, ignoring the pain in his legs, barely managed to jump onto a second wooden frame.
However, by then, the first wooden frame he had placed had already been torn to shreds by countless zombies. Li Ke dared not waste any time, immediately leaping again and placing another wooden block beneath his feet.
His foot landed on the wooden block again, but the intense pain nearly caused him to fall. He had to sit on the block, panting, watching the burning zombies rushing towards his RV and the zombies surging in from all directions.
However, although he was temporarily safe, Li Ke clearly saw that in less than three seconds, the zombies below had already begun to form a human pile, trying to climb up.
Enduring the pain, Li Ke glanced at the pillar, then refrained from jumping directly. Instead, he built two handrails on either side before continuing to build the wooden frame upwards.
With each jump, Li Ke could feel his body weakening, his life force fading, but he had no choice but to continue struggling.
The tearing pain made Li Ke's head increasingly dizzy. When he finally jumped to the top of the gas station and saw the steel beams, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Using stones to build a platform between these steel beams, Li Ke finally had time to look down at the zombies.
But what he saw made him unable to help but smile bitterly.
"This world really wants to kill me..."
What he saw was a pile of zombies that had reached halfway up the steel pillar. Those frog-like zombies he'd seen before were now trying to leap towards him.
As he spoke, Li Ke couldn't help but cough up blood. He didn't care; in this situation, what did a mouthful of blood or a missing arm matter?
"Damn it, I have to find a way to take a few more."
Spitting out blood and panting, Li Ke looked at the wooden frame in his hands. He materialized the last two sets of gunpowder, then violently tore open the absurdly small sacks and threw them directly at the zombies below.
The two absurdly small sacks sprayed black gunpowder through the air, splattering it onto the zombies.
Then, nearing his limit, Li Ke pulled the trigger, a burst of bullets hitting the scattered gunpowder.
In an instant, two fiery clouds exploded in the air. To Li Ke's surprise, the two small burlap sacks also ignited and then burst open, creating a shockwave.
Li Ke, whose upper body had been ejected, was naturally also hit by the shockwave. He was thrown back for a moment before crashing heavily onto the stone slab.
A sharp pain followed, along with another buzzing sound and a burst of flames.
But this time, Li Ke didn't care about anything.
He took out the grilled meat made by Erina Nakiri from his pocket. This was a reserve he had kept in his pocket, prepared to eat if he had a chance to escape.
But in his current state, forget about escaping; surviving for even half an hour would be lucky.
Eating the grilled meat bite by bite, Li Ke's consciousness grew increasingly blurred. Finally, amidst a series of hazy explosions and burning sounds, his eyes slowly closed.
"I..."
Am I going to die?
Darkness descended.
Li Ke's last conscious thought was:
It's over…
————————
The night passed, a refreshing breeze caressing Li Ke's face. He opened his eyes, somewhat dazed, only to see a blackened ceiling.
A sharp headache made him dizzy. He struggled to sit up from the broken stone wall, looking around blankly.
Then, he saw a vast expanse of charred corpses, the entire town burned to the ground, and the forest still emitting thick smoke—all indicating what had happened here.
Of course, the merchant's building remained intact.
"Was this hell from the beginning?"
This thought crossed Li Ke's hazy mind, but the next moment, the pain in his body and the hunger in his stomach brought him back to reality, realizing he was still alive.
"So, how did I survive?"
Li Ke was confused. He looked down at the gas station and found that the area beneath it, once intact except for the empty pumps, was now a ruin. Several large craters were visible in the ground, and even the location of the fuel storage tanks at the back had a huge, deep crater.
Even so, scattered flames still burned below, as if they would erupt into a raging inferno at any moment.
Li Ke was stunned for a while before he realized what had happened.
"The flames ignited the fuel tanks? Then a bunch of zombies were burned and killed, and the flames have been burning ever since?"
That was indeed the case, but not entirely: after Li Ke fainted, the gunpowder he ignited successfully ignited the gasoline remaining in the pump, and the flames directly spread to the fuel tanks, causing them to explode and turning the entire area into an inferno.
But the endless horde of zombies continued their relentless charge, only to be burned to death by the flames.
However, four hours after Li Ke fell unconscious, these zombies suddenly lost their vitality, all losing interest in the place. They scattered and left, just as they had arrived, leaving only those who had died from the flames.
Li Ke didn't know the details, but he felt incredibly lucky to have survived.
"Although I don't know how I survived, since I'm alive, I'll continue to live well..."
Heavy coughing, Li Ke looked at his system panel, and a long list of negative statuses appeared on it.
Concussion: 54 hours 36 minutes.
Fracture: 68 hours 7 minutes.
Internal Hemorrhage: 72 hours 21 minutes.
Healed Infection: 23%.
Laceration: 36 hours 21 minutes.
Erina Nakiri's Love: 38 hours 42 minutes.
"Hmm?"
Li Ke understood the others, but the last one piqued his curiosity, so he opened it to take a look.
"Erina Nakiri's Love: After consuming dishes from the Erina Nakiri series, you will receive an additional 50 points to your maximum health and 50 points to your maximum stamina, 200% stamina recovery, and 20 health regeneration per hour, based on the love Erina Nakiri has poured into you. You will also be immune to all negative buffs, injuries, and diseases.
"Heals 50% of Infections."
Li Ke immediately thought of the grilled meat he had eaten earlier, so he looked over and, sure enough, saw something different.
A large "E" appeared on the grilled meat.
Li Ke added it to his inventory, and then noticed that the name of the grilled meat had changed.
Erina Nakiri's Newlywed Barbecue: Increases maximum HP by 50 points, maximum stamina by 50 points, restores 200% stamina, restores 20 HP per hour, and is immune to all negative buffs, injuries, and diseases.
Heals 50% of infections.
The barbecue, imbued with a girl's affection, is incredibly delicious!
Li Ke couldn't help but burst into laughter. He glanced at his remaining 6 HP and laughed even harder.
Then, he stood up, intending to continue his life and face the next zombie horde.
But at that moment, something unbelievable happened before his eyes.
Two orbs of light suddenly appeared above the town, now ablaze with ruins. The next moment, two figures appeared before Li Ke, looking completely bewildered.
One was blonde, dressed in what appeared to be a kimono, while the other, Li Ke recognized at a glance.
"Lady Kiri?!"