Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 525 Slaughter, Cleanup, Construction

"here."

After eliminating the sentries, Li Zhongren led Yi Yi silently across the abandoned dam. Then, in a seemingly ordinary spot, Li Zhongren created an opening.

"This is a secret passage."

Thanks to the analysis of the system map, he easily found the secret passage.

As for the claim that there is a secret passage here, it's actually quite easy to understand.

The underground space of this dam is a one-way street, essentially for work purposes. However, if it is the only space available for a survival camp, it would be easy for others to surround and trap it.

Therefore, these people dug an extra passage as a second exit.

Now, this exit has become Li Zhongren's best leverage to kill these people.

This smell is awful.

As Li Zhongren walked down the man-made tunnel, he couldn't help but hold his breath.

Because the air was filled with all sorts of strange smells.

One can imagine that the environment below must not be very good.

But thinking about it, it makes sense. From what Yi Yi said, we know that this is a group of cannibals. Who would expect such a thing to clean up?
So, rather than killing the rest of them.

Now, Li Zhongren is even more worried about how to clean up this place afterward.
Dividing line

"Well, it seems this is indeed a big job."

After cleaning for a long time, Li Zhongren couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Even when killing the remaining thirteen people, it didn't take much effort, even though one of them was a superhuman.

It possesses the most common, yet most useful, ability: physical enhancement.

It can make one's body as hard as steel and grant immense strength.

This is the most common superpower in the post-apocalyptic era.

In fact, Yi Yi's abilities can also be considered this kind of ability, but on this basis, everyone has their own focus.

For example, that second tunnel was dug out by this person.

Unfortunately, he ultimately met his end in the Northwest, defeated by Li Zhongren.

As for Li Zhongren's abilities...

It's that hammer in his hand.

It looks quite ordinary.

However, this thing possesses a Silver Overlord ability: disintegration.

Anything that is directly hit by it will be broken down.

The decomposed material contains all sorts of things, from real to virtual, such as attribute points, abilities, and the like.

Of course, the better the material, the lower the probability of it being broken down.

This time, Li Zhongren was lucky. The man's ability was extracted, and after picking up the equipment, he directly gained the ability named 'Iron Body LV2'.

Yes, in his system, abilities are also ranked, and feeding other abilities to a particular ability can raise that ability's level.

Generally speaking, there is a cap based on the rarity level of the ability.

For example, white skills can be fed up to LV5, and so on, with the highest gold skills reaching LV20.

This "Iron Body" skill is a blue-level skill, belonging to the rare category, and can be upgraded to LV10.

Don't be fooled by the blue color and think it's just average.

According to the information provided by the system, in this real world, blue skills already represent the backbone of the human population. As for the higher levels, purple and gold skills are abilities that can change the fate of a region or even the world, and are extremely rare.

Let's take this steel body as an example again.

This group of seventeen murderers had been entrenched near the dam for a long time, and no one could do anything about them. On the one hand, the area was easy to defend and difficult to attack, and there was little to gain from it. On the other hand, there was the leader of this group.

His LV2 steel body alone is enough to withstand most light weapons charges in the post-apocalyptic era; if he were to be equipped with heavy armor...

Even if they were to fire heavy machine guns, they probably wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

That is, it encountered Li Zhongren's hammer, which ignores defense and disintegrates wherever it hits.

Otherwise, taking down this dam will not be as easy as imagined.

"So, can you still hold back?"

Li Zhongren and Yi Yi cleaned each house one by one. Li Zhongren's hammer was used to deal with all kinds of garbage, while Yi Yi was responsible for washing the dirt in the houses with a water hose. Moreover, the good news was that a lot of disinfectant powder was found in the underground warehouse of the dam, which was probably used to clean the reservoir inside the dam before the apocalypse.

This is a good opportunity to clean up this underground base.

The only downside is that it's a bit pungent.

So Li Zhongren had to use a hammer to dig another passage. After the two sides were connected, fresh air rushed into the entire underground base, blowing away all the moisture and odors from the basement.

However, this problem is easy to solve. With the help of the system map, the composition of the air can be analyzed and the water vapor can be marked. Then, with one hammer blow, the air will be dried immediately.

Although it's only a temporary solution, at least there's a way to resolve it.

Once we acquire enough supplies, we can consider building a central air conditioning system here, and then the problem will be solved.

It sounds a bit surreal; this is a post-apocalyptic era, where there's no such thing as central air conditioning.

However, the hammer in Li Zhongren's hand won't tell you any of that.

It can disassemble all kinds of items, and the various parts that are disassembled are like building blocks. As long as the operation is reasonable, Li Zhongren can assemble anything by himself.

Night falls.

Li Zhongren, shirtless, lay on a rocking chair at the dam's outlet. Thanks to the ventilation shaft he had made himself, a cool breeze blew through the air, making it quite comfortable. Meanwhile, Yi Yi had run off to swim in the water.

It's clear that she's a clean person and really loves water; right now, she's frolicking in the water like a fish.

The night sky is full of stars.

Perhaps because humanity has not engaged in heavy industrial production for too long, the planet's atmosphere has been purified and restored, and stars like the Milky Way have returned to humanity's sight once again. Of course, in the post-apocalyptic era, few people are able to calm down and appreciate all of this.

Li Zhongren knew very well that he could peacefully enjoy the night sky here.

That's because he has a cheat code, but ordinary people don't.

In the post-apocalyptic world, most ordinary people live lives worse than animals; how could they possibly have the time or inclination to look at something as trivial as the night sky?
Therefore, he won't make any emotional remarks; that would be like someone who talks without understanding the situation.

I'll just enjoy it quietly by myself here.

As for saving the world or something.

At this stage, he doesn't have such thoughts or will. Ultimately, he is an outsider to this parallel world and needs to get to know it better. Or, to be more precise, he should wait until he is strong enough before talking about these trivial matters.

"What are you thinking about?"

Accompanied by the sound of flowing water.

Under the moonlight, they swam naked to a spot not far from Li Zhongren. Their hair, which had only been washed with water and was incredibly smooth, was spread out over their bodies, shimmering in the moonlight.

Water hibiscus.

Looking into Yi Yi's eyes, Li Zhongren could only think of this word from his limited vocabulary.

"I'm thinking I should renovate our safe house properly."

"What do you need me to do."

Yi Yi smiled, placed her hands on the shore, and with a push, jumped out of the water.

As always, with a gentle shake, all the water on my body was washed away, not a single drop left.

The moonlight made her skin look like solidified cream.

He took a deep breath and walked step by step to Li Zhongren.

A pair of eyes stared straight at him.

“My mom said…” Yi Yi’s face turned a little red.

"The next step was to go to sleep, but unfortunately, she didn't have time to tell me how to go to sleep."

"."
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Dividing line

At dawn, Li Zhongren opened his eyes, grabbed a hammer and swung it around, instantly making the room incredibly dry. At the same time, he also put the matter of installing central air conditioning on his mind.

It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality. Once you've experienced a comfortable life, your ability to cope with a bad life will be much lower.

Fortunately, Yi Yi next to him was dry and cool.

In the sweltering summer heat, holding her while sleeping feels like holding a cool mat.

Li Zhongren slowly sat up and rubbed his lower back.

Fortunately, he had acquired a body of steel; otherwise, he might not have been able to defeat this little girl.
"Woke up."

Yi Yi rubbed her eyes, yawned, and sat up. After waking up for a moment, she looked at Li Zhongren.

"Now I understand why my parents often put me in the next room when I was little. Oh, that's why. Will I have children someday?"

"Maybe."

Li Zhongren shrugged.

"Let's go, we have a lot to do today."

"oh oh."

Yi Yi stood up and started getting dressed. Although she was very curious about Li Zhongren's elusive hammer, she wisely refrained from asking.

What are we going to do today?

"Let's start by rectifying the base."

Li Zhongren said.

"Let's make this place more like a base that's easy to defend and difficult to attack. Only by demonstrating sufficient defensive and offensive capabilities can we be qualified to strive for a better life."

"But, what to do?"

"I'll teach you then, come with me."

"Oh."

Yi Yi nodded as if she understood, but also felt a sense of anticipation.

"Activate build mode."

Li Zhongren picked up the hammer, silently chanted a mantra, and the hammer's power changed.

During battles, you can activate the dismantling mode to obtain valuable items from enemies, but the probability is low. The building mode, on the other hand, restores the original items.

For example, if there is a broken generator and you want to repair it, you can use a hammer to beat the engine. Then, the engine will turn into a bunch of modules that can be assembled. These modules can be assembled into a complete generator. And if there are any broken parts in the generator, they will also be sent to the assembly modules. However, the basic materials can be consumed to repair the broken parts.

This repair simply involves extracting materials; it doesn't require any specialized technical skills.

Of course, this is the most basic application of the build mode.

Simply put, this thing is like Lego bricks.

As long as you dare to imagine, and as long as you have enough basic modules, you can assemble anything you want, even a spaceship.

So, starting in the morning, Li Zhongren began the large-scale construction project with Yi Yi.

First, everything usable inside the dam—machinery, metal, even collapsed rubble—was hammered into basic modules.

Li Zhongren was in charge of striking.

Each person was responsible for moving the modules, neatly arranging them in a categorized manner.

It can be said that the entire dam, except for the dam itself, was broken down into modules.

After a night's rest, the assembly plan began the next day.

With the help of the system map, Li Zhongren began a completely new construction project centered on the underground base of the dam.

The entire renovation process lasted a full week.

Fortunately, the previous cannibal squad had some clean food in the warehouse, enough for the two of them.

Otherwise, it might not be possible to complete it in one go.

Now, after seven days of hard work, the dam has been completely transformed.

Of course, judging from appearances.

This place remains a dilapidated dam.

Broken walls, rusty and dilapidated, desolate and ruined.

At first glance, no one would be interested in it.

But in reality, there's more to it than meets the eye.

The rearmed underground base not only has extremely thick external defenses, but also three secret passages to the outside world, as well as various small ventilation openings hidden in every corner to ensure air circulation inside the underground base.

There is also a generator.

The modified generator produces almost zero noise and can operate silently, at least imperceptibly to human senses.

It can provide a continuous supply of electricity to the underground base.

This underground base, serving as a legitimate work location before the apocalypse, was fully equipped with many electrical appliances, although they were all broken. Li Zhongren disassembled, repaired, and reassembled them, and once everything was repaired, they were put into use.

This includes, but is not limited to, refrigerators, televisions, computers, washing machines, and other household appliances in the human world.

Of course, Li Zhongre wasn't someone who couldn't distinguish between important and unimportant matters, and only knew how to enjoy himself.

The part that consumed the most of his energy during the entire construction process was the defense system.

Of course, due to limitations, you can't expect to get things like firearms. Building mode can cheat, but it can't create something out of nothing. You can't just knock a seamless steel pipe out of a washing machine.

Therefore, Li Zhongren chose to live off the land and water.

Electricity.

Guided by the system, he transformed countless metals into metal wires, then insulated them, and laid out a large-scale power grid on the ground, generating electricity continuously from afar with the help of generators.

This turned the entire area into a huge leakage zone.

Unless they are exceptionally powerful superhumans, no matter how many people come, that many will die.

Of course, the biggest drawback of this system is that Li Zhongren and Yi Yi themselves will also be protected, since electricity does not distinguish between enemies and friends.

Li Zhongren's solution to this was quite simple.

Using the materials at hand, they hammered out a pair of super insulated shoes.

The so-called super insulation means that, on the basis of insulation, basic elements are continuously added to the insulation module to improve its insulation performance. Therefore, as long as you wear these shoes, you can freely pass through the leakage area and reach the safe area.

"very nice."

Yi Yi linked arms with Li Zhongren, looking at the underground base that the two had worked so hard to rebuild over the past seven days, and couldn't help but sigh. It was a sense of accomplishment and a feeling of peace that she had never experienced before.

She knew that this was what her parents had pursued their whole lives.

Family.

Of course, this is Li Zhongren's home, not hers.

This is what her father taught her.

You reap what you sow, especially after the apocalypse.

That's all she can do.

It's about constantly strengthening yourself to become an asset to this man.

Only when that day comes can she hold her head high and proudly say, "This is also my home."
(End of this chapter)