Chapter 315: Hand-Crafted Nuclear Bomb

"Wangwang, wangwang…"

Haoyun barked as it dashed toward the mountain ravine, its angry cries sounding like an accusation that Zhang Su had blown up her workplace…

"What happened?"

"What went wrong…"

A powerful flashlight shone into the depths of the ravine, but under true darkness, ordinary flashlights were useless—the far distance looked like a black hole, swallowing all light whole.

"Uh… should we go take a look?"

Liu Tianji, the more curious one, pointed toward the ravine's depths and suggested it.

Zhang Su shook his head vigorously. "Damn it, if I'd known it'd be this powerful, I never would've tested it on the mountain—whether it's the blast or the landslide, it's fucking terrifying! Don't go near it unless you want your skull crushed—wait till morning, then check if it's safe!"

Safety wasn't trivial. Hearing Zhang Su say that, no one pressed further.

"Xiao Yu teacher, what do you think of this thing's explosive power?"

Zhang Su asked the question he'd wanted to ask earlier—only when both Yu Wen and Yu Qing were present did he add "xiao" before Yu Qing's name to distinguish them.

Yu Qing hadn't been scraped by debris because Zhao Dezhu reacted quickly—he'd pulled her into cover the moment Zhang Su shouted, the burly man surprisingly considerate.

Hearing Zhang Su's question, Yu Qing shook her head rapidly. "Based on my knowledge, the energy released by nuclear fission is comparable to that explosion. Even greater is nuclear fusion—and other methods humanity can't yet control."

"Then… can we quantify the explosive power of that just now in TNT equivalents?"

This was what Zhang Su most wanted to know. Others couldn't see clearly, but he'd watched that tree get obliterated—vaporized into dust in an instant. Imagine what a human would endure in such an explosion—they'd fare no better than the tree.

Yu Qing shook her head helplessly; her expertise couldn't answer this.

"Uh…" Wu Lue raised his hand. "Brother Su, I've got some data you might find useful—want to hear it?"

"Of course! Spit it out."

Zhang Su knew Wu Lue was a bit socially anxious—he couldn't speak up in crowds, and even after the apocalypse, he hadn't changed.

"I once watched a science documentary that covered approximate explosive yields. I remember…"

Wu Lue scratched his head, sorting through his mental data, then picked the most confident figure: "A fifteen-kilogram propane tank, fully detonated, equals one hundred fifty kilograms of TNT. Just two tanks—three hundred kilograms total—can collapse a six-story building. That's it."

"I think that explosion just now could've collapsed a six-story building. Fucking terrifying."

Zhao Dezhu grimaced—he'd taken a rock to the back of his head while shielding Yu Qing. No bleeding, but a massive bruise for sure.

Zhang Su nodded. "I also think the blast exceeded three hundred kilograms of TNT. Fu Wei, do you have any data?"

Fu Weijun had scraped his palm while dodging, but he didn't care. After thinking a moment, he said: "Five hundred. I'd say the blast matched five hundred kilograms of TNT. But… never mind. Mr. Zhang, just take five hundred as your reference."

After speaking, Fu Weijun fell into deep thought, as if something troubled him.

"Yeah, yeah—I just remembered! A one-ton TNT explosion, without additional shrapnel, has a blast radius of one hundred twenty meters. Brother Su, you know the approximate distance of that explosion—do the math."

Wu Lue added.

Zhang Su rubbed his cheek—the cold wind bit his skin. He raised a hand, signaling everyone toward camp. "I think Fu's estimate is most reasonable. Half a milliliter produces roughly five hundred kilograms of TNT equivalent. Fucking incredible. Did we mess up the math…?"

As he spoke, he began doubting his own calculations.

That was just in a plastic bottle. If properly engineered as a bomb, the shrapnel range would exceed the blast radius by more than double—the power was almost unbelievable.

"If you use Fu's ratio, the math is correct," Yu Qing gave Zhang Su a definitive answer.

Zhang Su swallowed hard, silent, his expression grim. He unconsciously touched the small glass vial in his bag. Simple conversion: about fourteen milliliters remained—that's fourteen tons of TNT!

This was terrifying. A Tomahawk cruise missile's yield was about five hundred kilograms—meaning he carried twenty-eight Tomahawks in his pocket. Too bad he had no launcher.

"Holy shit…"

Yu Qing suddenly froze, hand over her mouth. "If half a milliliter produces five hundred kilograms of TNT, then it's reached nuclear fission levels!"

One kilogram of uranium-235 fully fissioned releases about fifteen thousand tons of TNT equivalent, but one gram of hydrogen fusion releases energy equivalent to one hundred forty tons of TNT—nearly ten times that of fission.

But these are theoretical values. In practice, losses are severe. Little Boy carried fifty kilograms of uranium-235 and yielded exactly fifteen thousand tons—meaning actual output was fifty times lower than theory!

By that ratio, one gram of uranium-235 in real detonation yields only three hundred kilograms of TNT—slightly less than the venom's potency.

With this assessment, everyone stood silent in the cold wind.

Gulp.

Many swallowed at once. Nuclear weapons—humanity's ultimate weapon.

"No, uh… will there be nuclear radiation?"

Wu Lue asked, face twisted.

"No radiation!" Fu Weijun answered quickly. "I tested the venom zombies—no radiation detectable by our tech."

"Even without radiation, it's insane—hand-crafted nukes… my god…" Zhao Dezhu shuddered, suddenly standing straighter.

"Uh, everyone, disperse. Go back."

Back at camp, Zhang Su shooed away the onlookers, leaving only himself, Fu Weijun, and Duan Wu, pushing a wheelchair.

Duan Wu sensed Zhang Su had something to discuss with Fu Weijun and asked politely: "Brother Zhang, should I step aside?"

"No need."

Zhang Su shook his head. Seeing Fu Weijun still lost in thought, he tapped his shoulder. "Dr. Fu, hand me that vial of venom concentrate from the lab. Other uses can wait—just the explosive potential alone is valuable enough."

Comparable to a nuke, Zhang Su couldn't trust anyone else with the venom concentrate. Plainly put: half a vial could flatten the guesthouse zone; two vials could collapse this entire mountainside!

The power was too terrifying—it had to be in his hands to feel safe.

Fu Weijun nodded absently at Zhang Su's words, then muttered: "Strange… there was no fire. That's interesting. So what's the actual mechanism of this explosion?"

"Fire? Right…"

Hearing Fu, Zhang Su's mind snapped awake. He'd had no time to consider anything else during the blast—but now, with Fu pointing it out, he realized: only purple light had flashed, then total darkness. Not a single spark!

If this were a normal explosion, with all the dry leaves and grass around, some fire should've ignited.

Of everyone present, only Fu Weijun noticed this—and thought deeply about it. Even Yu Qing hadn't noticed; she hadn't seen the explosion at all, only felt the wind rush past her.

Zhang Su suddenly realized: "If venom concentrate doesn't ignite combustion… could it be used against zombies?"

That level of blast—even if we're conservative—would clear every zombie within a fifty-meter radius. That's a circle of eight thousand square meters. At zombie density, it could hold over twenty thousand zombies!

And that's just from half a milliliter. Fu Weijun extracted about thirty milliliters from one venom zombie's brain.

"Definitely a zombie-killing weapon. Detonation isn't an issue—use a walkie-talkie to make a simple remote trigger. No interference, and you control it easily within four to five hundred meters. Amazing—we'll be safe from now on!"

Duan Wu kept muttering in awe. Having a heavy weapon to defend the camp was cause for celebration.

"Safe? Not quite—but our safety margin just shot up massively!"

Zhang Su exhaled slowly. The venom concentrate was devastating—a double-edged sword. But if the wielder mastered its use, it would be unstoppable.

"I wonder if any more of these zombies are still wandering out there…"

Now that he understood the venom's importance, Zhang Su worried about its supply.

The three walked toward the lab together. Duan Wu said: "Today, with the folks from Daqiao Fortress, we lured away at least twenty to thirty thousand zombies. There might still be venom zombies among them!"

"We can't let these zombies roam free!"

Zhang Su frowned.

Fu Weijun quickly added: "Yes, we should capture them alive for research."

"No…" Zhang Su chuckled at Fu's obsession. "It's not that. This substance is too dangerous. If no one knows about it, fine—but if someone else discovers it, we're in trouble."

Exclusive secrets are valuable. Unless we learn to artificially create mutated zombies, this venom concentrate is a finite resource—use one drop, lose one drop. I can go without—but no one else can have it!

Thinking this, Zhang Su decided he must go out tomorrow himself. He had to do it personally—he had superior vision. Venom zombies barely differed from regular ones unless attacking. Luckily, most zombies are now hairless—if they wore down jackets, he'd never spot them!

Plus, zombie hordes don't inspect closely. His solo search efficiency matched ten people.

(End of Chapter)