Chapter 48: Weapon

The afternoon was relatively free.

Because they needed to go out again tomorrow, Chen Mu focused on strengthening his practice with the plastic cover.

This was a method he had thought up a few days earlier—a relatively high cost‑performance emergency refuge—and its effect was fairly satisfactory.

Of course, using metal would be ideal—the defensive effect would be much stronger—but for Chen Mu, metal deploys far slower than plastic, and its weight makes it inconvenient to carry.

Chen Mu had even considered building a wheeled mobile metal shield, but the uneven ground and high craftsmanship requirements forced him to shelve the idea temporarily.

Still, the idea is worth keeping.

……

Around 5 p. m.

Du Jia Jia took charge of dinner.

I have to say, she's got a bit of cooking talent; copying Chen Mu's moves, she did a decent job.

Unfortunately, hand‑pancakes are much harder to make than rice cakes; Du Jia Jia's version tasted okay, but it looked terrible.

After dinner, Chen Mu pulled Wei Dalei to the side.

"Boss, are you sure you don't need me to come with you tomorrow?" Wei Dalei was still a little worried.

"We need you to guard the home base; my side should be fine." Chen Mu said.

"But…"

"No more buts—I've got it figured. I called you over to talk about your weapon." Chen Mu said.

"Weapon?"

"Is your wolf‑tooth club still easy to use?" Chen Mu asked.

"Not bad, what's up?"

"I'm thinking of giving you a bladed weapon instead; it would be more effective." Chen Mu explained.

"A bladed one?" Wei Dalei blinked.

"For example, something like an axe."

Chen Mu has been pondering weapon choices lately.

Before leaving last time, he gave each person a close‑combat weapon for self‑defense, but lacking combat experience or weapon preferences and pressed for time, he quickly made a few spears and similar long arms.

But now that he grasps how grave the outside situation is, it's time to properly equip everyone.

Naturally, the first person he thought of was Wei Dalei.

Old Wei originally wanted a sword, because he thought it looked cool.

Indeed, just look— which story's hero wields a wolf‑tooth club or an opening‑mountain axe?

A three‑foot green blade, with flowing sleeves—that's got style.

At the very least, a sword would do; something like Moon in the Well would be barely acceptable.

But later he realized that stories are all lies.

In a real world without sword techniques, a longsword is a thankless, labor‑intensive weapon.

And given Wei Dalei's strength, using a sword would be somewhat wasteful.

So Chen Mu made him an oversized wolf‑tooth club, effectively kicking his good buddy out of the hero role.

And after receiving that somewhat intimidating big stick, Wei Dalei actually grew rather fond of it.

Wei Dalei's original height was 1.97 meters; even in an era of generally tall students, he stands out like a crane among chickens.

And this giant rod, its front section studded with steel spikes, when stood upright reaches up to Wei Dalei's eyebrows, and its thickness is terrifying.

Although Chen Mu made it, he could barely lift it; when first finished, onlookers even thought it was meant to be a fence.

Fortunately, Wei Dalei's strength is astonishing and still growing; he can lift this huge thing with one hand without effort.

"I think it's pretty good."

When Wei Dalei heard Chen Mu wanted to replace his weapon, he immediately gripped the staff tighter, seeming reluctant to let go.

"You've never tried anything else—how do you know it's definitely better?" Chen Mu laughed.

"This thing is heavy; swinging it does a lot more damage." Wei Dalei explained.

"That's exactly what I wanted to tell you." Chen Mu said helplessly: "You might be under an illusion—actually, at our size, a weapon's weight doesn't matter much."

"Huh?"

"The reason you think this club will do more damage is because your own strength is great; the inertial momentum from the weapon's mass is actually far less than you imagine." Chen Mu tried to explain.

"Ah… ah?" Old Wei grew more and more bewildered.

"Put simply, using your wolf‑tooth club and using my iron rod here give about the same effect."

"How could that be?" Wei Dalei stared at the two, which differed in appearance by an order of magnitude, obviously unable to imagine such a thing.

"When we smash someone with the same object, the destructive force usually comes from two sources: our own strength and the weapon's weight; before scaling down, the latter can actually have a greater effect."

"A frail girl could kill someone with an iron hammer, but if she swapped it for a wooden hammer of the same size, she might not—this is thanks to the iron hammer's own weight."

"Right." Wei Dalei nodded.

"But once we shrink down to our current scale, things change: an object's kinetic energy is proportional to its mass, so for two weapons of the same kind, if we shrink them while keeping speed constant, the difference in their kinetic energy shrinks as well… You can imagine: an iron rod and a wooden rod feel very different when swung, but a stainless‑steel chopstick and a wooden chopstick differ much less, and down to an embroidery needle and a wooden needle, they're almost indistinguishable."

"Take a more intuitive example: if you try to kill an ant with a staple, the staple's own weight does nothing; the force that actually kills it must come from your own strength."

"Oh…"

"Do you get it now?" Chen Mu brightened.

"No!" Wei Dalei declared firmly.

Chen Mu laughed: "You don't need to understand it; the point is, because your own strength now makes up the bulk, your perception of a weapon's weight is skewed, but I've confirmed this through experiments these past few days, and after discussing it with Tang Jing today, I've reached this conclusion."

"What should I do then?" Wei Dalei, still not getting it, but since Chen Mu said so, he couldn't be bothered to think about it.

"Since the weapon's weight no longer matters much, the wolf‑tooth club loses its significance, whereas a bladed weapon would work better." Chen Mu explained.

"For example, the Opening Mountain Axe?"

"Yes, although generally speaking, compared to swords, the advantage of an axe still lies in its own weight, which seems to contradict what I just told you, but from the perspective of being not easily damaged and visual intimidation, it is also a good choice for you."

"It's just that it looks intimidating?"

"Yes." Chen Mu laughed.

"Alright, then I'll give it a try." Wei Dalei readily agreed, immediately taking out his Wolf-tooth Club and laying it horizontally on the ground.

Chen Mu stepped forward, extending both hands.