At this moment, Daryl and Merle leaned shoulder to shoulder, their turned-off radio resting at their feet, about 10 kilometers away from the convoy.
"Phew--" Taking a deep drag, Daryl handed the half-burnt cigarette butt to Merle.
Merle didn't mind, directly taking it with his somewhat chapped lips and finishing it in two puffs.
"Damn it, you think if Shawn also came out to find us, the Camp would start that dog-damned democracy again?"
Merle cursed with a laugh, but his voice was very low.
Daryl didn't want to bother with Merle, just keeping his eyes tightly closed, holding his crossbow to conserve his strength.
"Maybe they're already arguing now, haha."
Seeing Daryl ignore him, Merle wasn't annoyed, just let out a few dry laughs.
"Can't you just shut your mouth!" Daryl glanced at him, also lowering his voice.
"Bro, you think... will Shawn really come to save me again this time?"
Merle, however, changed his usual demeanor, holding the burnt-out cigarette butt, raising his head, his tone forlorn, and his eyes somewhat distant.
Daryl's mouth twitched, but he said nothing.
In their current situation, Daryl couldn't say.
He followed Merle's gaze to the sky, a clear blue sky, a sky with a hint of sunlight peeking through...
If the scene at this moment were to gradually zoom out from the two brothers:
First to appear are the two brothers, huddled together, their bodies trembling slightly.
They seem to be on a high platform, the rooftop of a building.
The low growls of Walkers blend into the scene.
As the camera moves, a tide of Walkers, numerous enough to make one's scalp tingle, is swaying beneath them!
Their motorcycles are parked next to a gas pump not far away; this is clearly a small gas station, and the two brothers are leaning on top of the 711 convenience store.
However, at this moment, only Walkers would visit here.
...
Cold--
His finger suddenly twitched slightly, feeling as if he was lying in a pool of icy water.
A ray of sunlight passed through the window on the second floor of the church, shining into his eyes.
Beneath Shawn's closed eyelids, his eyes suddenly fluttered.
A few seconds later, he slowly opened his eyes, and the world before him gradually changed from blurry to clear.
His breathing quickened, and he heavily exhaled a long, hot breath, forming a white mist in the sunlight.
Smelling the scent of Antibiotics from his nose, Shawn used all his strength to prop himself up, leaning precariously against the stone wall beside him.
"Damn it, good thing no one saw that, this was really f*cking embarrassing..."
Shawn dragged his broken right arm; the pain had not decreased with time, but rather intensified.
Shawn raised his head, grimacing, and after catching his breath, he finally managed to look around.
He saw the bodies of Walkers haphazardly strewn across the floor, almost filling the entire second floor of the church.
And his Stone Hammer was quietly inverted in the middle of the corpses, its long handle pointing upwards, standing perfectly straight.
Standing amidst the mountain of Walker bodies, dried blood covered every corner of it, exuding an indescribable aura of dominance.
Shawn shook his head, expelling the last trace of wildness from his mind.
"How long was I unconscious?"
Shawn looked towards the window; the first ray of morning sunlight was slowly shifting.
Feeling the thin, cold morning mist, he vaguely sensed that he had been unconscious for at least a day and a night.
"System." Shawn silently chanted in his mind.
Immediately, a light screen opened before Shawn's eyes.
[Shawn]
[Level Lv22]
[Skill Points to Use: 7]
[Health: 119 / 122 (Initial 100, Level Bonus 22)]
[Stamina: 31 / 61 (122) (Continuously slowly decreasing)]
[Food & Water: 7 / 122 (Continuously slowly decreasing)]
[Body Temperature: 60°F]
[Walkers Killed: 231]
[magazine: Archery Manufacturing Level Lv5]
[Skills: Strength — Attribute Lv8, Skull Crusher Lv4, Exterior Strength Internal Activity Lv1; Fortitude — Pain Tolerance...]
[Status Effect: Exhausted (You need rest)]
[Status Effect: Hypothermia (Body surface temperature too low)]
[Status Effect: Fracture (Unable to use right arm, health bar continuously decreasing)]
[Status Effect: Weakened (Your stamina cap is temporarily reduced, combat power is restricted)]
[Status Effect: Thirsty (Zeroing out the health bar will continuously decrease until death)]
A large string of negative effects popped up instantly, making Shawn click his tongue.
It wasn't until he saw the line 'Thirsty' that Shawn changed his tired demeanor and suddenly woke up.
He quickly closed the system, opened his backpack, and took out the quick-eat dishes he had found in the treasure room of the motel.
These dishes wouldn't spoil in the backpack, and when Shawn opened the thin packaging, steam even rose from them.
Instant food
Not caring what kind of dish it was, Shawn picked up the accompanying spoon and began to eat large mouthfuls.
"Although physical consumption decreased while I was unconscious, food still continued to decrease."
"I'm afraid when I was fighting the Walkers earlier, most of my food was already consumed."
"But it's also good that it wasn't completely depleted; healing factors require satiety to recover automatically."
"Without healing factors and the repair from Antibiotics, I'm afraid continuous bleeding would have caused my health to drop to zero."
Shawn ate and thought, feeling a sense of relief in his heart, thankful that he hadn't lost his mind as he had at the beginning.
The two skill points he had forced himself to add, and that handful of Antibiotics, were indispensable.
Otherwise... Shawn might never have woken up again.
After eating three boxes of the system's pre-made meals in one go, seeing his satiety rise from 7 all the way to 112, Shawn's face finally gained some color.
His body temperature also rose with the eating and the rising sun, and the hypothermia status gradually receded.
Shawn got up and scanned the second floor of the church a few times, his gaze finally falling on the wooden bed where the priest usually slept.
Stepping over countless Walker remains, he picked up the hammer with his left hand from the sea of corpses and blood.
He came before the wooden bed and swung the hammer at the large bed.
Bang--!
The large bed shattered into pieces on the floor.
Shawn tore off the bedsheet, wrapping some relatively intact wood fragments in it, and then found a small roll of tape from a drawer.
Scrap cloth, wood, tape.
"All set." Shawn's heart filled with joy, and he silently chanted 'Construct'.
Immediately, he heard the sound of hammering and gears turning in his ears, but in just a few seconds, a fresh'splint' appeared on Shawn's right hand.
The'splint' had a simple appearance, merely two wooden boards fixing the arm in place.
But under the system's effect, the'splint' as a medical tool could exert a far greater effect than its appearance suggested.
[Splint — Can heal a fractured arm or leg that you've messed up, but don't be too greedy... this isn't a Walker's teething toy, it can't prevent further damage]
Splint
At the same time, the 'Fracture' status in Shawn's bottom left corner disappeared, replaced by this indicator:
[Fracture (Healing) — Time 05:00:00]
"5 hours healing time, that's acceptable," Shawn murmured to himself.
If he could make a 'cast' now, the healing speed would be much faster, but that would require magazine Level — Medical Lv19...