Chapter 50: Armor

Wei Dalei had just gotten new gear, and it was the perfect time for that fresh feeling—one hand gripping an axe, the other holding a shield, constantly doing actions like charging, swinging, chopping, and blocking.

Because of his huge build and exaggerated weaponry, he indeed looked very eye‑catching, giving the impression of a monster charging wildly.

The crowd stood not far away, watching him while laughing and clapping.

"I thought you would make a set of armor for everyone."

He Ying is a newcomer and still has many doubts about the team; Chen Mu doesn't talk much, but he is easygoing, so communicating with him feels easier, whereas the other two girls, Dong Junwei and Tang Jing, put some pressure on her.

"Armor?" Chen Mu chuckled: "I've indeed considered it, but we might have to wait a while."

"Why? I think it's better than a shield."

"Even if it were good, it wouldn't help—I'd still rather have a charging gun, even a crossbow bolt would do, but we really can't make one." Chen Mu felt a mix of laughter and exasperation.

"Is armor hard to make?" He Ying looked puzzled,

"If it were just an iron bucket to encase the body, of course it wouldn't be hard, but what good would that be?" Chen Mu spread his hands.

Tang Jing suddenly walked over at that moment, seemingly having overheard their conversation, and she smiled as she interjected: "We've discussed this issue too; Chen Mu even made a few armor prototypes, but in the end we had to give up."

Seeing Tang Jing approach, He Ying's expression immediately became a bit more formal, no longer as relaxed as before, and she asked seriously: "Is it because manufacturing is difficult?"

Chen Mu nodded: "It really is hard—just the connectors between the parts, I've tried over ten times and still can't make them both flexible and sturdy; besides, body armor needs to fit the human body as closely as possible, which is also tough. Poorly made armor, once worn, might grind your skin raw before you even get into a fight."

"If it's just a heart guard, helmet, knee guards and such, those can be made, but their usefulness is really limited."

"Why?" He Ying didn't understand.

"If we ran into a centipede, unless we had Iron Man–style armor, what could a helmet possibly do? Our best option is to rush back to the room and lock the door—then any armor we're wearing would just be dead weight."

"But our enemies are also human." He Ying's experience is clearly different from Chen Mu's and the others'—Gu Ping and Luo Hui died in the mouths of flying birds and insects, while her companions were all killed by people.

"Indeed, in human‑vs‑human combat armor is useful, but that kind of crude protection I'd guess is still inferior to a shield, and more importantly, we don't really need to engage the enemy in close combat."

"Not need close combat?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Tang Jing sold a little suspense.

As for armor, Chen Mu and the others had indeed discussed it.

Tang Jing's view is that before the craftsmanship reaches a certain level, armor is actually a burden, especially for members like us who don't need to go out; with hand grenades and a house, we only need a few shields to deal with some ranged projectile attacks.

Chen Mu, however, had some ideas of his own, but realizing them before his abilities reach a certain level is difficult, so he didn't say much more.

With Tang Jing's addition, He Ying no longer felt so free to ask questions; soon after Wei Dalei settled down, Dong Junwei and the others also came over to join the three of them.

Hearing that they were discussing the armor issue, everyone became interested.

For a while, all kinds of strange ideas kept popping up.

……

At night, when going to sleep, He Ying naturally went to the girls' room, while on the guys' side, with Sun Yuan present it became noticeably livelier—this guy is a flattery machine, able to praise anyone with a few words, and meanwhile there's an equally goofy Chang Junyan; the two are like‑minded, and once they start chatting they just won't stop.

It wasn't until Wei Dalei suggested splitting their beds that things finally quieted down.

Before bedtime, Chen Mu hurriedly made a few shields suitable for ordinary people to use, but since we're heading out tomorrow he didn't want to work too late, so he only made five thin stainless‑steel shields and then stopped.

Just as he was about to sleep, he suddenly remembered something.

He didn't disturb anyone, silently walked to the place where materials were stored, and took a small piece of stainless steel……

……

The next morning.

Chen Mu still followed his own biological clock, waking up early, but he discovered that He Ying was up even earlier, and from her appearance it seemed she had just finished her morning exercise.

"I'm used to training early."

"Hmm." Thinking of her talent in sports, Chen Mu didn't find it strange, and half‑jokingly said: "Even the apocalypse can't interrupt your morning training—your self‑discipline is quite impressive."

He Ying gave a faint smile, then sighed: "Now everything has changed; if I couldn't even stick to this, I'd feel like I'd lost any meaning to keep living."

"Do we still need meaning to keep living?"

"You don't need it?" He Ying countered.

"I don't know—I've always just known I have to survive, but as for meaning… I guess I've never really thought about it."

Because of his background, Chen Mu rarely sets any lofty ideals.

Nowadays social welfare is still decent; even as an orphan he can get by, but his material conditions are obviously nowhere near those of an average high school student.

Perhaps precisely because his starting point is so low, Chen Mu's goals are usually practical—for example, doing a bit more work today so he can add a pork chop to his lunch.

Someone like He Ying, who needs morning exercise to remind herself of life's meaning, is beyond Chen Mu's comprehension.

He rarely opens up about his feelings, seeming unaccustomed to it, and immediately changed the subject: "We'll probably set off around 8 o'clock; we still have an hour and a half—if there's anything you need to prepare, finish it now, and of course you can also catch some extra sleep."

He Ying smiled: "No need."

Suddenly she seemed to realize a problem and asked: "How do you guys tell the time?"

"Generally we go by feeling; if we need accurate time, we have to find Tang Jing."

"How does she know?"

"Apparently she calculates it from the date and the sun's position."

"That's impressive." He Ying gasped.

"Right." Chen Mu chuckled: "We've gotten this far—Tang Jing is probably our biggest contributor."

"What about you?"

"Me? … I'm just a tool." Chen Mu spread his hands.

He Ying burst out laughing.

"Almost forgot." Chen Mu suddenly said, then hurried back to his room, and when he returned he was already holding a long, strip‑shaped object.

"It's for you."

He Ying took it in her hand.

She lowered her head, puzzled, to examine the object.

Afterwards.

Eyes lit up.