Chapter 246: The Mysterious Little Girl

"We need to capture more petrified-skin zombies—this stuff is bulletproof, incredible!"

Zhang Su, seeing Fu Weijun carefully examining it, sighed in admiration.

"Hmm... Mr. Zhang, the reality may not be as optimistic as it seems—the bullet's kinetic energy still caused some damage to the gloves. Look here."

Fu Weijun pulled and folded the spot hit by gunfire. "See? There are fine cracks here—nowhere else on the glove. This shows the pistol's power is nearly at its limit! And... you can't ignore the impact force when the bullet strikes a human body!"

Bulletproof gear only prevents bullets from penetrating the body; absorbing impact still relies on your own body. Even the best cushioning design that stops rifle rounds might still knock you unconscious from the shock.

"Let's set impact force aside for now—this level of protection is already insane. By the way, how did you even sew the thread into it?"

Zhang Su's gaze toward the gloves had fundamentally changed. When Fu Weijun first handed them to him, he'd been disgusted—the stitching was terrible, some parts leaked air, and wearing them felt sticky and unpleasant. Now that he knew they were bulletproof, he wanted to make a full suit out of them immediately!

Fu Weijun pointed to a nearby workbench. "A needle punch can pierce through. This material has non-Newtonian fluid properties—the faster the impact, the stronger the defense. But if you push hard enough, you can still puncture it."

"Oh?"

Zhang Su exclaimed in awe, feeling even more amazed by this thing—he found it hard to believe it was Earth technology, and grew ever more convinced this catastrophe was tied to other civilizations.

"Forget non-Newtonian fluid for now—I want to know if it can stop rifle bullets!"

"Target spotted, target spotted—turned from provincial road onto self-built road, repeat..."

As the group stepped toward the mountain hollow, Zhang Su's waist-mounted radio crackled to life.

"Zhu Zi, lend me your rifle!"

Finding a rifle in camp was easy—some carried them everywhere. As Zhang Su stepped out of Cuilengxuan, he spotted Wang Xin and Zhao Dezhu nearby, studying rapid-aiming techniques and footwork.

"Heh!" Zhang Su grinned mysteriously. "Come on—let's go over the mountain. I'll show you something cool!"

Zhang Su handed the gloves to Fu Weijun and pushed him out of the lab.

"Boss, surveillance shows a person appeared on the provincial road from the south, then turned onto the self-built road and sat down at the spot of the previous explosion. Looks like... not an adult!"

Wu Lue waited a long time without a reply from Zhang Su, then asked directly.

Zhang Su and the others exchanged glances.

"We'll know once we test it—shall we go?"

"Let's go!"

"Body shape suggests a girl—yes, confirmed: a little girl!"

Fu Weijun immediately urged Zhang Su to test it, even more eager than Zhang Su himself.

Zhang Su took off his radio. "Lue Zi, what's the situation?"

Zhang Su frowned, deeply suspicious of this mysteriously appearing survivor—even if she looked like a child.

"What are you guys doing? Don't you have enough with pistols? Now you want rifles?"

Wu Lue had a sharp eye for women—even if the screen was pixelated to mush, he could still tell.

Wu Lue watched the monitor screen and reported to Zhang Su.

"Boss, what should we do?"

"Not an adult?"

Zhao Dezhu, curious, engaged the safety and handed the rifle over.

"Keep observing. She probably doesn't know people are on the mountain—maybe it's just coincidence!"

"Alright..."

Wu Lue gave a half-hearted reply. He'd assumed Zhang Su would bring the girl into camp. He wasn't in charge, so he didn't think about safety—he just thought a little girl would liven up camp, and what harm could a child do?

After instructing Wu Lue, Zhang Su and the others headed again toward the hollow.

"What's this cool thing? You need gloves just to touch it? Too mysterious!"

Zhao Dezhu noticed Zhang Su pulling out a ragged glove with such solemnity—it looked strange.

"Haha, it's this!" Zhang Su waved the gloves. "Dr. Fu discovered this bulletproof material—I tested it with a pistol and it didn't penetrate. Now let's try a rifle!"

"Bulletproof? That's insane! Quick, quick..."

Zhao Dezhu instantly perked up.

"Whoa, if it stops bullets, it should stop zombie bites too, right?" Wang Xin asked.

Zhang Su shrugged. "Not necessarily. Dr. Fu says this material has non-Newtonian fluid properties—if a zombie's bite force is strong enough, it might still pierce through."

"Hmm, okay... uh, where should we put the glove? Hang it on a tree? Put it on a rock, Boss?"

Wang Xin didn't dwell on it—he eagerly helped brainstorm.

"Best to have something soft behind it, like human tissue, to better observe the protection effect!"

Fu Weijun suggested.

Zhang Su and the others exchanged odd glances—where would they find soft tissue?

"How about I bring out a pig?"

Zhao Dezhu pointed to the pigpen in the distance.

"Nah... we'll kill a pig later for testing—it's too inappropriate. Seriously, are you just craving meat? Didn't you eat a whole pig a few days ago?"

Zhang Su strongly suspected Zhao Dezhu's motives.

"I—I wouldn't! I didn't mean that!"

Zhao Dezhu protested vigorously, but his guilty expression made it obvious he was lying.

"Soft... soft... hmm, what about that?"

Zhang Su pointed to a pile of discarded tires in the corner.

Everyone agreed. They finally secured the tire with stones and stretched the glove over it.

"Bro, the glove's double-layered—will that work?"

Zhao Dezhu spotted the issue.

"No problem—double layer's fine. Let's fire one shot first!"

After speaking, the group quickly hid behind Zhang Su.

*Tap!

*Puff...

At a distance of over ten meters, aiming directly meant no chance of missing.

When the bullet struck the tire, the tire visibly deformed—but because heavy stones held it down, its position didn't shift.

Everyone rushed forward to inspect the glove.

*Puff... puff...

Zhang Su patted the glove's surface, then blew on it, face beaming with delight: "It pierced one side—only a small hole—and the other side suffered minimal damage!"

The USP pistol's muzzle energy was 550 joules; the Type 95 rifle's was nearly 2, 00—almost four times as much. And this had only made a tiny hole in the petrified skin!

"This is fucking invincible! Bro, wear two layers of this, and even rifles won't kill you!"

Zhao Dezhu's eyes bulged in shock.

Wang Xin shook his head. "No need, Brother Zhu—just one layer of this material, plus a composite plate to disperse pressure, and it'll fully stop the Type 95."

"Heh..." Zhang Su looked at Zhao Dezhu and Wang Xin with amusement. "I need to correct you both: this isn't fabric."

"Huh? Then what is it? Did Dr. Fu invent a new material? That's impossible..."

Wang Xin shook his head doubtfully—under these conditions, who could possibly invent anything?

Zhao Dezhu picked up the glove and examined it closely, then his face changed: "Bro, this... hahaha—is this petrified-skin zombie skin?!"

He'd been up close with petrified-skin zombies—he knew exactly what they looked like. The patterns on this glove weren't identical to zombie skin, but they were 70–80% similar.

"Correct," Fu Weijun nodded. "I stitched this together from the skin of mutated zombies. Of course, I processed it with special methods first."

Hearing the gloves were made of zombie skin, Wang Xin's lips twitched slightly, then he said with a strange expression: "Well... given it stops bullets, I can accept it..."

"I can accept it way too easily!" Zhao Dezhu didn't care at all—he slipped the glove onto his hand, then placed it on his head, looking utterly ridiculous.

"Bro, look—make some helmets, line them with zombie skin, and you've got bulletproof helmets!"

Zhang Su nodded thoughtfully—the idea was feasible. Ideally, they'd find military-grade helmets for better results.

Zhao Dezhu happily fiddled with the gloves. "Dr. Fu, we've captured several zombies these past few days—can we mass-produce this bulletproof skin?"

Fu Weijun gave Zhao Dezhu a flat, uninterested look, clearly unwilling to answer, and turned to Zhang Su instead: "Mr. Zhang, does the camp have any professional hunters? Someone with extensive experience skinning animals?"

Though he didn't directly answer Zhao Dezhu, his indirect reply was clear enough.

"This..."

Zhang Su was about to speak when his radio crackled again.

"Boss, boss—the woman's moving toward camp! Repeat, the woman's moving toward camp!"

This time, it wasn't Wu Lue speaking—it was his partner, Qi Xiaoshuai, his voice cautious.

(End of Chapter)