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“Goodness, lucky I didn’t use it! But might those who did be in danger? They consumed zombie cores but didn’t acquire any abilities…”

Chen Zhuang and the few soldiers looked at each other, their eyes filled with concern.

Wang Tao explained:

“There’s no immediate danger, but eating too many could cause problems.” “That’s a relief.” Chen Zhuang sighed, then added, “But it seems the probability of acquiring abilities from zombie cores is quite low! We had three people conduct experiments, but not once did they succeed…”

Wang Tao had reason to suspect that the cores these three unfortunate souls had merged with all had success rates below 50%.

But the fact that they could produce three cores for experimentation suggested they had plenty more!

After becoming a committee member, he should be able to use these cores right?

Wang Tao thought to himself sneakily.

Regarding Wang Tao’s potential committee membership, Wei Zhenguo had woken up once in the middle and mentioned that several committee members were currently out and about; he couldn’t make the decision alone. When everyone returned, they would discuss some of the details with Wang Tao, and if there were no issues, he would become a member of the base’s committee right away.

Only then did Wang Tao learn that, out of the base’s seven committee members, aside from Commissioner Liu, who was knowledgeable in electronics, and Commissioner Zhou, who managed personnel, the other five members were out scavenging for resources.

Of course, that didn’t mean they were completely selfless in their actions.

Wei Zhenguo told Wang Tao straight out that their choice to scavenge for resources, on one hand, was indeed for the betterment of the base. On the other hand, it was to accumulate contribution points, but there was another reason: killing zombies could enhance their strength!

Even though they couldn’t see HP bars, killing zombies also increased their own, particularly when their HP reached whole hundreds. The sensation of their physical condition improving was quite distinct.

They might not actively seek out zombies to kill, but they would definitely take action against any that blocked their path. Becoming stronger and bringing benefits to the base could go hand in hand.

Moreover, Wei Zhenguo was very clear in his mind that in this post-apocalyptic world, strength was the fundamental key to survival; without strength, one couldn’t command respect.

They had guns, but bullets would run out one day.

If the time came when they were out of bullets and they lacked substantial personal strength, he was certain that there would be people wishing to overthrow him and take his place.

So, improving their own strength was crucial. Whether he was a member of the committee or not, Wei Zhenguo would go out to scavenge for resources and, while at it, hunt down zombies.

Wang Tao deeply agreed with this sentiment: in a post-apocalyptic world, strength was everything. Everything else was secondary.

After Wei Zhenguo fell asleep again, Wang Tao chatted with Chen Zhuang for a while longer before leaving.

In truth, he wanted to scoop up more information, but Doctor Chen was always thinking about studying him, which made Wang Tao rather uncomfortable, so he decided to leave sooner.

Before Wang Tao left, Chen Zhuang reminded him to attend the welcome ceremony that evening, saying he would definitely be popular with the girls in the base and, if he was single, he might consider looking for a partner.

Wang Tao shook his head in speechless amusement. Was he that kind of person?

However, he still planned to go in the evening, not so much to meet girls but to get acquainted with other residents of the base.

That afternoon, Wang Tao didn’t rush out to farm materials but wandered around the base instead. He took in the atmosphere of the Survivor Base and used ration tickets to exchange for a meal, which… was edible, to say the least. In the evening, the rain stopped.

In the square outside the multipurpose building, over two hundred people gathered together, which was quite a sight. Especially for Wang Tao, who hadn’t seen so many people in a month, the sight of such a crowd brought back a sense of “humanity.”

However, Wang Tao’s gaze did not linger on these people for long; he looked at the fires on the perimeter of the base and immediately clicked his tongue in wonder.

He had considered before that if he were to establish a Survivor Base, how would he prevent zombies from entering. The simplest method would probably be to build perimeter walls.

At the very beginning of the apocalypse, walls indeed could stop the zombies. But a month into the apocalypse, walls were not very effective anymore, or rather, the low walls were ineffective because zombies that could climb appeared.

Building taller and stronger walls should be able to hold them off, but constructing such walls needed a lot of people. Ordinary Survivor Bases, including this Shuize Base, didn’t have enough labor for infrastructure construction.

Then, Wang Tao thought, since zombies were afraid of fire, if the surroundings of the Survivor Base were set ablaze, wouldn’t the zombies stay away?

Wang Tao felt this idea should be feasible, but he never had the chance to test it.

And now, he saw that Shuize Base was doing exactly that.

When Wang Tao arrived, he saw many iron barrels with burn marks at the entrance of Shuize Base. Now that it was night, flames were lit inside these barrels, including on some walls-seeming to engulf the entire base in flames.

Outside the base, some zombies, upon sensing the light, subconsciously wanted to approach, but the heat of the flames made them hesitate and not dare to come closer. They could only roar from a distance.

“Hey!”

Chen Zhuang patted Wang Tao’s shoulder.

“These fires, pretty good, right? When we accidentally discovered that zombies were afraid of fire, we thought of the method to surround the base with it. Turns out, it was a very wise decision! You might think that the light from the flames would attract zombies-and indeed, it does attract some-but they dare not come close. They naturally leave by day. You probably know that zombies are particularly active at night, and if we didn’t do this, our walls might not hold them off, not to mention the ‘crazy demon’ zombies that can climb have now appeared…”

Watching Chen Zhuang’s somewhat self-satisfied demeanor, Wang Tao did not want to burst his bubble by saying that he had already known zombies were afraid of fire and had thought of using fire to keep them at bay.

“Indeed, it’s impressive.”

Wang Tao praised.

His praise made Chen Zhuang quite pleased.

At that moment, a woman dressed in a black police uniform appeared beside Wang Tao.

“Huh? Are you… new here today?”

Chen Zhuang was somewhat surprised upon seeing Han Rui. He did not recall the base having such a policewoman.

“Hello, my name is Han Rui. I came to our base today with Mr. Wang Tao.”

Han Rui shook hands with Chen Zhuang forthrightly.

“You came here together? Are you husband and wife?”

Chen Zhuang looked at Wang Tao and Han Rui, thinking they made a good match.

‘You’ve misunderstood; we met on the way here. Han Rui’s husband is also a member of our base, right?”

Wang Tao took the initiative to explain.

“Oh, sorry about that!”

Realizing his blunder, Chen Zhuang quickly apologized.

Han Rui first gave Wang Tao an apologetic smile and then her face showed a worried expression.

“My husband… he hasn’t come back yet….”