Chapter 245: High-End Material!

On this day, Zhang Su was leading the group through daily training when Wu Lue's urgent voice came through the radio.

"Brother Su! Brother Su! There's a petrified-skin zombie! At the mountain gate—hurry!"

"Don't kill it! I'm on my way!"

Without hesitation, Zhang Su had some personnel continue training, then called out Zheng Xinyu, Lu Yu, and a few others before sprinting toward the mountain gate.

Considering petrified-skin zombies might have special uses, Zhang Su had been sending teams out to search for them, but zombie clusters were hard to handle, and petrified-skin zombies were rare to begin with—only seven had been captured in three days.

After testing, they confirmed one trait: covering the head with an opaque bag would calm the zombie. No one knew why, but thanks to this, the seven zombies were easily confined in the rear cargo compartment of the RV—quiet, untroubled, perfect…

Unexpectedly, today a petrified-skin zombie had come to them on its own.

Aowu… aowu…

"Brother Su! I've already killed the regular zombies. This one—look, definitely a petrified-skin zombie. So damn hard."

Inside the lab, Fu Wei handed Zhang Su a bizarre-looking glove.

Zhang Su examined the glove—coarse stitching, ugly pattern design, slightly heavier than ordinary leather gloves. The familiar texture startled him. "This… made from zombie skin?"

Wu Lue, seeing Zhang Su's group arrive, pointed to a hole in the wall.

As Zhang Su had said, about a hundred meters into the Tianmayu Scenic Area, a temple had been built—impressive in appearance, but without any Buddha statues, likely newly constructed, and no one knew which deity it worshipped.

Days filled with activity slipped by unnoticed, and soon it was the day before the agreed date with the Azure Dragon Corps.

Wu Lue alone struggled to capture a petrified-skin zombie, but once Zhang Su and the others joined, they subdued it effortlessly. After slipping a cloth sack over its head, they tossed it aside—it grew still, not completely motionless, but moving with extreme slowness.

Fu Wei gripped his wheelchair arms tightly. "Mr. Zhang, try it with a dagger!"

Zhang Su glanced once and said to those around him: "Open the door. Bring it in."

"Dagger!"

The cold, gritty sensation vanished within five seconds of wearing it, gradually warming to near-hand temperature. The texture was just right—non-slip, not abrasive, fitted securely. Not only did it stay on during daily work, it wouldn't come loose even in combat.

"Exactly!" Fu Wei nodded eagerly, his gaze fixed on Zhang Su. "Made from petrified-skin zombie hide—extremely tough. Try it!"

When his palm touched the glove's interior, a peculiar sensation made his heart tremble—before mutation, this had been human skin. Even after mutation, it couldn't erase its origin as human skin…

Zhang Su nodded. "Yes. Dr. Fu's research takes time, and we need the vehicle. We can't keep stuffing zombies into it. Yesterday I saw a good spot inside the scenic area—we'll move the zombies there."

Intrigued by Fu Wei's words, Zhang Su carefully slipped the glove on.

"Oh?"

"Mr. Zhang, try this glove!"

"Exactly!"

Lu Yu scratched his head, frowning at the RV parked nearby.

The temple's front courtyard was spacious. A large incense burner stood in the center, filled only with a thin layer of dust—spotlessly clean…

All agreed this place was perfect for housing zombies. After a flurry of activity, they dumped all eight petrified-skin zombies inside. With their heads covered, they behaved obediently, shuffling slowly around the courtyard, occasionally knocking over the incense burner before changing direction and continuing their slow pacing.

"Brother Su, we can't keep dumping zombies into the RV's trunk forever… find another place?"

Hearing this, Zhang Su drew his dagger from his waist, slashed hard at the glove. He felt resistance, but no damage—like cutting through impossibly tough rhino hide, as if scratching through a boot.

He increased force again, his arm trembling from the strain—yet only a dent appeared on the glove, which smoothed back to its original state moments later.

"Damn, this thing's got substance!"

Zhang Su held his gloved hand up, studying it. He ignored the faint odd odor, dismissed the eerie patterns—so long as it had practical use, none of that mattered!

"Is this the result of Dr. Fu's petrified-skin research?"

Fu Wei smiled proudly. "Correct. A remarkable discovery: once separated from the zombie body, petrified skin hardens faster, yet retains the flexibility of normal skin. Unfortunately, we lack instruments to observe molecular changes—I can't comprehend this technology!"

"In the same time frame, look at the zombie's skin on its body—it's tough, but with enough force, we can still damage it. Yet the detached skin? It's hardened beyond my ability to measure!"

Speaking of scientific discovery, Fu Wei's eyes gleamed.

"No limit tested?"

Now it was Zhang Su's turn to be excited—he'd assumed Fu Wei had gathered data. He hadn't.

"Maybe the knives I brought from the Survivor Alliance aren't sharp enough. Either way, I couldn't damage the glove at all!"

Fu Wei spread his hands, beaming with pride—deeply satisfied with this discovery.

But Zhang Su waved him off. "Dr. Fu, you might have overlooked something."

"Huh?" Fu Wei stared at Zhang Su, thinking: Could there be something I missed that you noticed?

That couldn't be.

Zhang Su pulled out a lighter from his pocket. "You may not have seen how wildly zombie skin burns. From past observations, zombie skin is highly flammable. If petrified skin ignites just as easily, then…"

As he spoke, he flicked the lighter on and carefully held the glove over the flame.

Fu Wei frowned—he'd forgotten about fire. He watched with intense tension.

"Hmm?"

Zhang Su held the glove over the lighter's flame. No ignition occurred. He was pleased, then wore it and kept it over the flame—no fire, and the heat insulation was excellent!

The lighter's flame reached about 400°C, yet his hand felt no more than 60–70°C—like a drop of candle wax (melting point ~70°C) touching skin.

"How is it?"

Fu Wei was eager for an answer.

Zhang Su nodded. "Fireproof, heat-insulating, withstands 300–400°C without deforming. Damn impressive!"

"Clearly exceeds ordinary materials!"

Fu Wei punched the air, thrilled.

"If this existed in the old world, Dr. Fu—just with this material, you wouldn't be a billionaire. You'd be a multi-billionaire!"

Materials science had always been cutting-edge tech. If this material could be mass-produced, unimaginable wealth lay ahead.

"Talking about money makes me ashamed. I've spent over a hundred million from my family since childhood, but never earned a single cent… I have no interest in money."

Fu Wei quoted Master Ma's famous saying, his face tinged with rare nostalgia and melancholy—likely thinking of his parents.

Good, good, Zhang Su thought—so this guy's family was worth billions before…

If he could spend a hundred million, his family's assets must have been at least ten times that!

Sensing the mood turning awkward, Zhang Su cleared his throat. "Since the biggest threat is ruled out and regular blades can't pierce it, let's try something stronger!"

As he spoke, he drew his USP—long unused—from the small of his back.

"Let's see if it can stop bullets!"

"So exciting! Come on, let's begin!"

Fu Wei snapped out of his memories, even more eager than Zhang Su.

"Let me find somewhere to secure the glove."

Zhang Su took off the glove, glanced around, found no suitable spot, then thought for a moment and simply hung it on a wall hook.

He then wheeled Fu Wei to the balcony, found a safe spot himself where bullets wouldn't rebound, aimed at the glove on the wall, and fired.

Bang.

The muffled report struck both their eardrums.

The zombies confined in their beds reacted too, letting out aowu aowu cries.

While plucking earwax, Zhang Su strode over, removed the glove, and said: "No penetration. Just some scorch marks. Phew. Hah, a few pats cleaned it up nicely!"

"Excellent!"

Fu Wei waved his arms excitedly.

Knock knock knock.

As they celebrated, a knock came. Zhao Dezhù called out urgently: "Brother, was that you shooting?"

"Yes, just an experiment. Nothing to worry about!"

Zhang Su opened the door to find four people gathered outside. After a brief explanation, he dispelled their concerns and shut the door again.

(End of chapter)