Chapter12: Weapon is ready

Jack immediately brought up the information from the radio, asking, "Have you heard about these two things? The first is that the virus is only temporary; the second is that the virus's mutations are all over the place."

Bob waved his hand dismissively. "The virus is indeed temporary. Carbon-based life forms can't survive the impact of firearms—this much I'm sure of. What worries me is just not knowing when it will stop."

He paused and then asked, "What do you mean by 'mutations of all sorts'? I haven't heard that."

"We encountered the pale-faced zombies last night," May added, her voice tinged with unease. "They only move at night, they're faster, and they like to pile up bones into mountains."

"The radio said the mutations could be pretty wild," Jack continued. "Some might have wings, or there could be superhuman zombies, even zombie groups with intelligence."

"Intelligence?" Bob's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah," Jack nodded. "There's talk of a potential zombie legion."

"A zombie legion?" Bob shouted, his voice now tense. "That's a whole different ballgame. If such mutations exist, weapons might not be enough to stop them. This could be two species fighting over territory—like an alien invasion of Earth."

Hearing Bob's description, everyone felt a chill run down their spines, but there was little they could do. They decided to let the topic drop for now.

"By the way," Jack suddenly asked, "where did you get the guns? Firearms are illegal around here."

Bob chuckled, his expression mischievous. "Haha, do you know about Luigi? He used 3D-printed guns to kill people. After seeing that news, I secretly learned how to do it. Conveniently, my company sells 3D printers, so I made a lot of guns—handguns, even sniper rifles."

"Those are essential survival tools for the apocalypse!" Lily's eyes lit up as she picked up a sniper rifle, clearly enamored with it.

"You like sniper rifles?" Jack asked.

"Not exactly," Lily replied. "I prefer long-range shooting. It keeps everyone safe that way."

"Everyone should carry three days' worth of supplies, and the rest of the space should be filled with guns and ammo," Tom spoke up, his earlier worries about Bob now fading away. "Let's take a short break, and then we can head out."

Next, they started organizing the 3D printing materials. Jack suggested everyone carry two extra handguns, just in case.

Jack and Lily sat by the printer, chatting casually.

"What guns do you want?" Jack asked, adjusting the printer's settings. "One sniper rifle, two handguns—will that work?"

"That works, but we should make fewer rounds for the sniper rifle since it's big and hard to carry," Lily said, sitting down in the nearby chair and sighing. "I really don't understand why this is happening. Is there no reason for it, or no way to fix it?"

Jack laughed, his tone light and confident, as if he were the mastermind behind everything. There was a certain playfulness in his expression. "Right now, it feels like we're in the middle of unraveling a mystery. Sometimes the outcome will hit you hard, but as you peel away the layers, you find little glimmers of hope. Have you ever heard of postmodernism? The meaning itself doesn't matter. What matters is the journey of seeking that meaning."

Lily heard his words and felt a sense of relief wash over her. Back when she was studying, she always focused on finding solutions and getting good grades. Now, with everything that had changed, she realized that surviving was the foundation. The journey of exploration and finding meaning was the real scenery along the way.