What made Leo even more miserable was that neither of the two women really cared about beds or private rooms—one was already dead inside, the other had just come down from a battlefield.
Expecting either of them to care about things like bedding had been wishful thinking to begin with. So Leo pitifully wrapped himself up, using his tattered blanket to cover his ears, desperately trying to make sure he wouldn't lie awake all night.
And then—he really couldn't fall asleep.
Moonlight streamed in through the window he had deliberately left open, washing the room in pale light. It made Tsunade's snow-white skin stand out with striking clarity, whiter even than the moonlight itself. The graceful curves and smooth texture of her body were impossible to ignore, no matter how hard Leo tried not to look.
But…
"There's no merchant around to help relieve stress right now."
Leo lay face-down in his blanket, on the verge of tears. He was afraid that if he kept looking, his mind would go completely off the rails—and that he'd end up attacking Tsunade, only to be punched straight through by her in response.
So, naturally, he ended up suffering from insomnia again.
The reason for his sleeplessness wasn't hard to guess. When Kelly got up in the morning and saw Leo's awkward expression, she burst out laughing, which sent Leo fleeing in embarrassment to the female merchant's room. He ran straight to the shop to check on the steel frames, not even stopping to eat.
The steel frames, however, turned out to be a pleasant surprise.
When used directly through the system, they were indeed just system blocks with ten thousand durability points. But once he chose to materialize them, they became full one-cubic-meter blocks of solid steel.
Before materializing them, Leo selected the shape of the steel block in the system interface. After trying again, he discovered that what appeared before him was a deformed piece of pure cast steel.
This instantly opened up countless construction possibilities in his mind.
"I should be able to use steel frames as the core structure, then use these steel castings on the outside to form real steel walls."
Watching the steel blocks continuously morph into different shapes under his control, Leo couldn't help but feel excited. Unfortunately, there were no steel plate shapes with bolt holes. Otherwise, he would've loved to layer two or three steel plates onto the basic system steel framework.
After all, system-mode durability wasn't the same as real-world durability. While digitization brought convenience, it also meant that system items were inherently less durable than non-system objects.
Using system components as an internal skeleton and non-system steel on the exterior was clearly the most reasonable solution.
"Let's see what shapes I can work with…"
Leo quickly sifted through the deformable castings, looking for parts that could be slotted into steel frames and serve as system-compatible components. He found quite a few suitable options.
One casting caught his attention: a piece with a cylindrical lower half and a steel plate upper section. It could fit perfectly into another steel block's deformed shape—but unfortunately, there was nowhere to secure ropes or fasteners, so it couldn't be the final choice.
In the end, Leo continued searching and finally settled on a workable design.
He selected several cylindrical deformations from the frame options and placed them onto the invincible wall. Then he reshaped the steel frame into a hollow cylinder, preparing to materialize it and slide it over the system cylinder.
If everything worked as planned, then when zombies attacked, they would be striking the outer steel cylinder rather than the inner system frame.
"This should work…"
Leo licked his lips and separated out a hollow steel pillar, materializing it into the world.
In an instant, a steel cylinder one meter long and one meter in diameter appeared before him. Even though it looked like it was formed from two thick steel plates, each plate was a full ten centimeters thick.
That sheer thickness brought an overwhelming sense of security. Leo patted the steel pillar, his smile slowly twisting into something feral.
"There's no way those zombies are digging through this with their bare hands…"
The memory of his RV being torn open was still fresh in his mind. He really didn't want to experience that again. But then he noticed something rather awkward.
"This thing is insanely heavy…"
No matter how much strength Leo put into it, he couldn't lift the pillar.
He stared blankly at the steel cylinder at his feet, then silently calculated its approximate weight.
With a circumference and height of one meter each and a thickness of ten centimeters, the math was straightforward.
"Damn it… two and a half tons. If I remember right, even human strongmen can only lift two or three hundred kilos at most…"
Staring at the structure, Leo felt completely dumbfounded.
This was the truly awkward part—he had found the perfect defensive solution, but because of its sheer mass, the plan was impossible to execute.
Just as he was worrying about it, Tsunade and Kelly walked over, pickaxes on their shoulders. Seeing the helpless look on Leo's face, Tsunade approached curiously.
"What's wrong?"
She looked at the steel pillar Leo had mounted on the wall. This wasn't what they had discussed earlier—back then, it had just been small steel boxes.
"Uh, Tsunade, you came at the perfect time. I need your help. We need to figure out how to fit this over that, then test whether my idea actually works…"
Leo was still talking when Tsunade rolled her eyes, casually grabbed the steel pillar that Leo could barely lift, raised it effortlessly, and slid it onto the system cylinder.
The entire process was smooth and effortless, as if she were lifting a sheet of plastic instead of a massive steel column.
Watching how little effort she used, Leo couldn't help swallowing hard, his gaze drifting to Tsunade's pale palms and arms. They looked soft and slender, with barely any visible muscle.
...
Good thing I'm rational enough.
Leo was deeply thankful for that—and also thankful for the existence of the female merchant, who helped him vent his excessive energy. Otherwise, if his overabundant stamina led him to try using Blood Fear Syndrome on Tsunade, she wouldn't even need to get serious. One punch would probably punch straight through him.
"This should work, right? But if we do it this way, the system component inside won't lose durability, will it?"
Tsunade tapped the steel pillar she'd mounted, having already understood Leo's idea.
"Right. That's why we need to test it with an attack."
Leo nodded. If the system component still lost durability after being encased, then the problem wasn't solved.
"Then let me do it."
Before Leo could say anything else, Tsunade raised her fist and punched the steel.
In an instant, a shockwave and piercing noise erupted from the point of impact. The hollow steel cylinder, which had merely been resting on the system pillar, was knocked out of position.
When Tsunade withdrew her hand, Leo could clearly see that a deep fist mark had appeared on the steel pillar—something that should've been impossible to damage with bare flesh.
"I didn't use much strength. Still stronger than zombies, though. If this can hold up, there shouldn't be any major issues."
As she spoke, Tsunade removed the hollow steel pillar from the system cylinder.
The next moment, she raised an eyebrow.
The durability was still full.
"Looks like the rules of this world are pretty interesting."
Leo let out a sigh of relief. If that was the case, then it would work. As long as they built two layers of this kind of wall, they should be safe.
With that thought, Leo was about to hand all the steel frames over to Tsunade and let her build the steel house. But the next moment, he saw her slide the hollow steel pillar back into place and raise her fist again.
Leo froze, then quickly covered his ears along with Kelly and moved out of the way.
The next punch was clearly far more serious.
The same ear-splitting sound rang out—but this time, Leo watched in horror as the steel pillar he'd placed all his hopes in was sent flying, crashing into the massive pit below. It was so badly deformed that its original shape was unrecognizable, with the punched-through section completely destroyed.
Leo stiffly turned his head to look at Tsunade, who was casually rotating her arm.
One punch equals ten thousand durability?
"Yeah, I used a bit more force that time. Had to punch through it to finish the test. It should still be able to block the zombie horde you mentioned."
As she spoke, Tsunade casually stretched her arms, her chest bouncing slightly with the motion, her expression calm and indifferent.
Yet in that moment, she looked overwhelmingly domineering.
"My god… are you even human? You sure you haven't been modified or something?"
Kelly stared at Tsunade in shock. The strongest people she'd ever seen could maybe swing concrete pipes around. Anything beyond that required body modification or powered exoskeletons.
And even then, she'd never heard of an exoskeleton capable of punching straight through steel—though maybe she just hadn't seen enough of the world.
After all, she was just a wandering gunner from the lawless zones.
"This is chakra. But even among ninja, not many can reach my level."
Tsunade shrugged and turned as if to go back to mining. But Leo once again stepped firmly in front of her, earnestly pulling out all his steel frames and holding them out to her.
"Please also take on a side job as our construction worker!"
There was no doubt about it—the best possible builder here was Tsunade.
"Hey, don't keep dumping weird jobs on me… but fine. Looks like only I can do this anyway, and my only real use here is brute strength."
Tsunade twitched at the corner of her eye as she accepted the bag, taking all of Leo's steel frames. Just to be safe, she added a warning.
"I'll do it my way. Don't expect it to look pretty."
"That's perfectly fine!"
Leo had absolutely no objections.
"Then it's settled. Kelly, you help too. Oh, and since you're asking me for help, bring me some alcohol, or maybe cards, mahjong tiles, dice—something. Doing nothing but this every day is boring."
Tsunade took the opportunity to make a few small demands. Leo didn't hesitate at all and immediately agreed.
"Of course!"
"Can you say something else?"
"Of course!"
"..."
Watching Leo's inexplicable excitement, Tsunade rubbed her forehead. She had the strange feeling that Leo was a bit too fired up.
And she wasn't wrong.
Leo was genuinely ecstatic. Once he realized Tsunade could build a fortress capable of resisting the zombie horde, he wasn't just excited—he was downright manic.
Because it meant he could finally relax. He no longer had to fear the zombie tide.
Even after assigning Tsunade the task, Leo still watched her test things with wooden frames first, then switch to steel frames. He couldn't help praising her reliability.
Kelly was the same. With both of them working together, a solid-looking defensive barrier was taking shape at an astonishing pace.
Leo left halfway through to do quests. In under an hour, he finished all four.
As usual, the loot was disappointing. The best find was twenty bullets, which left him speechless.
The quest rewards, however, were quite good. He obtained twenty Molotov cocktails, a revolver—perfect for Kelly—and some medical supplies, all useful items.
This time, Leo put all four skill points into Strength.
His Strength level instantly jumped to level five.
Level five Strength made him feel that he could perform his usual actions with just one-fifth of the effort. When using full force, he could unleash five times the power.
Level five Strength.
Five times the power.
Five times the might.
Five times the dominance.
Leo had gone from a weak office worker to someone five times stronger in an instant.
This wasn't a flat numerical increase—it was a five-hundred-percent amplification of his own strength.
For a moment, Leo's confidence skyrocketed.
He grabbed a steel frame from the workbench, materialized a hollow steel pillar he previously couldn't lift at all, and dropped the massive object onto the ground with a twisted grin.
Then he confidently rolled up his sleeves, grabbed both ends, and—
It lifted.
But not all the way.
...
Staring at the pillar he could only partially lift before instinctively letting go—completely unable to hoist it like Tsunade—Leo fell silent.
Tsunade, passing by to collect more steel frames, couldn't help but find it amusing.
"You got that strength boost from skill points, right? But if your base strength is weak, no amount of amplification will really help, will it?"
That perfectly timed remark made Leo release the steel pillar and walk away in silence like a defeated prisoner, prompting laughter from both Tsunade and Kelly.
Indeed, compared to trained strongmen who conditioned their bodies through rigorous training, proper nutrition, and hardship to lift hundreds of kilos, what right did an office worker like Leo have to compare himself to them?
Still, accidents happened during construction.
When Tsunade had built the steel pillars up to fifteen meters and prepared to turn a corner, the moment she placed the next system pillar, everything they'd built collapsed in an instant.
Caught off guard, Tsunade and all the system pillars mounted on the invincible wall fell straight down.
Leo instinctively lunged forward—but there was no need. Tsunade threw a kunai attached to a wire, embedding it into a remaining dirt pillar. She punched through the steel pillars blocking her path and swung safely onto a staircase on the other side, escaping danger.
However, countless solid steel pillars rolled into the massive pit below. Even the pillars Tsunade had materialized for convenience were knocked loose, tumbling into the abyss.
The system pillars, meanwhile, warped midair and turned into piles of I-beams.
Looking at the mess below, all three wore grim expressions. The drop was nearly thirty meters.
"Damn it… I didn't expect the system to have limits like this."
Leo cursed under his breath. He'd warned Tsunade that system blocks had limits—but he never imagined that a simple corner would cause total collapse.
"It's fine. After we eat, I'll go down and retrieve them. Should only take about an hour. Too bad about those system pillars… and don't worry about me. A fall from that height won't kill me."
Tsunade walked back up, still a bit shaken. If she hadn't carried steel wire and kunai as a precaution, she really would've fallen.
Though…
Even if she had fallen, she wouldn't have died anyway.
Leo: "..."
I…
I really don't understand you ninja.