Edge of the Apocalypse
Chapter 30 - 28: Brother Dong, Open the Door

Chapter 30: Chapter 28: Brother Dong, Open the Door

Fragments of memory lie hidden deep within the brain’s nerve cells, awaiting retrieval by their owner.

The first time Yu Dong heard Zhou introduce himself, he had the feeling he’d heard the name somewhere before.

But Zhou’s timid appearance had fooled him.

Though he never said it aloud, he had mentally written off Zhou Jian Country as a weakling.

It wasn’t until Zhou mentioned his laboratory... that Yu Dong remembered what he had forgotten.

A question on an online forum: What’s the best weapon for an individual to use against zombies?

The consensus among most of the answers was that polearms were the best type of melee weapon—things like spears and pikes. Yu Dong had taken the advice, buying ten manganese steel spears, and they were indeed perfect for stabbing zombies.

Over the past few days, they had been enjoying the unique advantage these weapons gave them.

As for firearms, the answers were all over the place.

There were suggestions of one man with a machine gun taking on a hundred thousand zombies, becoming a god of urban warfare with just a handgun, and using grenade launchers to wipe out entire hordes... but the vast majority of these ideas were completely impractical.

Dragon Country has a strict ban on firearms, so that was the end of that.

Yu Dong had no special skills of his own and hadn’t thought about getting a gun, so he didn’t pay much mind to these purely fantastical, zombie-slaying superweapons.

However, one answer at the time did catch his attention.

"What if you’re just an ordinary person and can’t get a gun? Is there a way to build a weapon with a large area of effect for killing zombies using materials you can buy?"

"Absolutely, my friend. Explosives. As long as you have some basic chemistry knowledge, you can easily mix up high-purity black powder. Wrap that stuff up, and you’ve got a demolition charge. Toss it into a crowd of zombies... BOOM~"

Yu Dong had considered it at the time, but since he lacked the expertise, he was afraid he’d waste time and end up hurting himself, so he didn’t dwell on it.

The idea had only been a fleeting one, so it hadn’t left a strong impression.

Now he finally remembered!

Zhou wasn’t a weakling. If put to good use, his skills could be enough to annihilate the zombies!

"Zhou." Yu Dong grabbed Zhou’s shoulder, a grin spreading across his face.

"Heh... Dongzi, I don’t think we’ll be able to kill any more zombies today. Let’s wait for them to disperse and try again tomorrow."

"Good. Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about."

The two of them returned to the third floor with Liu Ye’ye, keeping their voices down.

After clawing at the building for several hours, the zombies finally dispersed late in the night.

Yu Dong and Zhou could finally talk freely.

"Zhou, about those... explosives you mentioned today. How do you make them? What materials do you need? Is it possible for us to make some?"

When Zhou Jian Country heard this, he gave a helpless shrug.

"Mercury fulminate... It’s actually not that hard to synthesize. You just need mercury, concentrated nitric acid, and ethanol. The problem is, without my lab equipment, the purity and consistency would be very poor, and it would be much less powerful. But right now, we can’t even make an impure batch. We don’t have the raw materials..."

"I know ethanol is alcohol, that should be easy to find. But where would we get mercury and concentrated nitric acid?"

"Mercury is what you find in thermometers, barometers, and blood pressure monitors; we could get some by dismantling those. As for concentrated nitric acid... you’d need to find a chemical plant, a metalworking factory, or a place that does electroplating. Oh, and a university chemistry lab. In my lab at the Capital Institute of Technology and Chemistry, for instance, I could make anything I wanted."

When the topic turned to his profession, Zhou clearly became more talkative, and a look of intense confidence spread across his face.

"I see... So are there no substitutes we can use? Like, could we make some kind of explosive with things we can find around here?"

"If you just want an explosion, you don’t actually need to make mercury fulminate. Black powder and fertilizer bombs are more than enough to deal with zombies, and the materials are much easier to acquire. You’ve probably heard the classic rhyme for it, right?"

"Heh heh heh... The first part of that rhyme is correct. Mix them properly, and you get classic black powder. Unless you’re trying to make rocket propellant, you don’t need to add sugar. In fact, that would just reduce the explosive power. All three raw materials are relatively easy to find. You just need a fertilizer plant, a pesticide factory, or even an agricultural supply store. Once you have fertilizer, you can make not only black powder but also much more powerful fertilizer bombs."

As Zhou spoke with confidence, Yu Dong’s initial excitement gradually cooled.

"What a shame... The circumstances just aren’t right."

This was a seaside community, practically a tourist area. Yu Dong was certain there were no fertilizer plants nearby. As for agricultural supply stores... he had never paid enough attention to know if there were any.

’If only I had met Zhou on the day I was reborn...’

He swore to himself that he would have given Zhou enough raw materials to work with, even if it meant eating and drinking less.

But there were no ’if onlys.’ Being reborn once was already a blessing from the heavens; he couldn’t expect everything to be perfect.

Zhou didn’t think much more of it. After a brief chat with Yu Dong about the basic principles and methods of making explosives, he went to rest.

That night, after spending some time reading *The Guide for Dual-Use Military and Civilian Personnel*, Yu Dong became convinced that explosives were truly a wonderful thing.

They could blow up planes and tanks, or be made into simple traps and landmines.

’Zhou is a technical expert. If the right opportunity comes along in the future, he’ll definitely have his moment to shine...’

After spending the last few days with him, Yu Dong was very pleased with Zhou. He was a very level-headed middle-aged man.

He didn’t try to pull rank because of his age, nor did he shirk his responsibilities. For an academic, he had very little of that ’ivory tower’ arrogance.

Ever since they’d rescued him, he had kept up with the group and was diligent in everything he did.

The three of them were working together more and more smoothly.

The next day, the three-person team went back to luring and killing zombies.

Liu Ye’ye made no mistakes this time, and they successfully lured the zombies on the ground to the entrance one by one, stabbing them to death.

But after counting the bodies, Yu Dong felt something was off.

"There were thirty-two zombies on the ground yesterday, and we killed ten. That means we should have killed twenty-two today to clear them all out. How did we only kill twenty-one? We’re short by one."

"Really? Let me check again..."

Liu Ye’ye swapped the drone’s battery and flew a low pass over the grounds of the Xiangti Bay Community, but she didn’t spot any more zombies.

Yu Dong stood on the second floor, scanning the community grounds.

"I think I know what the problem is... Look at the main entrances to Building Two and Building Three. They aren’t closed. Perhaps one of the zombies on the ground wandered inside."

Liu Ye’ye tilted her head. "At that range... my drone’s signal will be severely weakened. If I lose control, it could crash. I can’t fly it inside those buildings to get a look."

"Okay, fly the drone over to the property management office for a pass."

"Got it."

After maneuvering the drone for a look, Liu Ye’ye reported, "The office door is closed, and so are the curtains. Same as the last few days."

"Any sounds of zombies from inside?"

"None."

"Then I know what’s going on..."

Yu Dong was now ninety percent sure there were survivors in the property management office.

He had been observing this area on the day the outbreak started. The property management office door had been wide open, and some of the uniformed staff who had turned into zombies had wandered out. He had killed those very zombies today in front of Building One.

But just yesterday, he had noticed that the office door was closed.

That was proof... there were most likely survivors hiding inside who had come out when they saw the zombies were gone.

Just as Yu Dong was speculating about who the survivors inside might be...

The main door of the property management office opened.

Three men ran out and sprinted toward Building One!

Liangzi was the fastest. He ran up to the entrance of Building One and shouted in a low voice,

"Brother Dong, it’s me, Liangzi! Open up!"