Chapter 6: The Weapons Have Arrived

Zhang Xiaoqiang poured himself a glass of water, lit a Taishan cigarette he had obtained, and took a deep drag. After all, it was an 18-yuan cigarette. Compared with the 5-yuan Huangguoshu cigarette, it had a smoother and more fragrant taste.

Squinting his eyes, he sat on the sofa and looked at the various supplies piled up like a small mountain in front of him, feeling a surge of joy in his heart. The curling smoke carried his thoughts, dancing leisurely in the air. Zhang Xiaoqiang was just a homebody, a small person with petty-bourgeois thoughts. He didn't have any lofty ideals and never wanted to be a heroic figure who sacrificed himself to save the world.

He liked Mencius' words: "Fish is what I desire; bear's paw is also what I desire. If I cannot have both, I will give up the fish and choose the bear's paw. Life is what I desire; righteousness is also what I desire. If I cannot have both, I will give up my life and choose righteousness. Life is indeed what I desire, but there is something I desire more than life, so I will not seek to live by improper means. Death is what I loathe, but there is something I loathe more than death, so there are troubles I will not avoid. If there were nothing people desired more than life, then what means could not be used to stay alive? If there were nothing people loathed more than death, then what could not be done to avoid trouble? From this, we can see that there are ways to stay alive but people do not use them; there are ways to avoid trouble but people do not do them. Therefore, there is something people desire more than life, and there is something they loathe more than death. It is not only the virtuous who have this kind of heart; everyone has it. The virtuous just do not lose it.

A basket of food and a bowl of soup – with them, one can survive; without them, one will die. If you shout at someone and offer it to them, even a passer-by will not accept it. If you kick it to someone, even a beggar will disdain it.

For a large amount of wealth, if one accepts it without considering propriety and righteousness, what good does it do me? Is it for the beauty of my house, the support of my wives and concubines, or to be appreciated by the poor people I know? In the past, I would rather die than accept it, but now I accept it for the beauty of my house. In the past, I would rather die than accept it, but now I accept it for the sake of the poor people I know. In the past, I would rather die than accept it, but now I accept it because the poor people I know will be grateful to me. Can't I stop doing this? This is called losing one's original heart."

It didn't mean that he would become such a sage. He was originally a selfish little person. He just wanted to live well in this apocalyptic world. Being able to wake up every day and breathe the air with a faint stench of corpses was also a kind of happiness.

After taking stock of all the food and supplies, the total was as follows: about 50 jin of rice, about 20 jin of pork, two fresh fish of about 1 jin each, about 3 jin of various dried seafood combined, 47 eggs, a crock of pickled vegetables, a small amount of various vegetables, two cured chickens and two cured ducks each, about seven or eight jin of oranges in half a box. There were also an unspecified amount of soy sauce, cooking wine, and other seasonings, 12 packs of Taishan brand cigarettes, two cartons (20 packs in total) of Huanghelou cigarettes in blue boxes, one and a half cartons (15 packs in total) of Honghelou cigarettes in red packaging, making a total of 47 packs of cigarettes. There were two bottles of high-quality Daohuaxiang Baijiu, one bottle of Great Wall Cabernet Sauvignon red wine, two bags of milk powder, six bottles of beverages, 22 bottles of mineral water, several kinds of medicines, and a number of other daily necessities.

After arranging all kinds of daily necessities one by one, Zhang Xiaoqiang rubbed his hands and took out a crossbow, a pair of binoculars, and a high-imitation Huya military knife from the backpack.

When he went to search for supplies on the opposite side of the platform, he entered a bedroom filled with gun stickers. The owner of the bedroom should have been a military enthusiast. He found this crossbow and military knife in the closet, and the binoculars were hanging on the wall. Zhang Xiaoqiang didn't know much about crossbows, so he also found the instruction manual for the crossbow.

MP9 Military Anti-Terrorism Sniper Crossbow:

Tensile force: 48kg; Range: 180m; The effective range can reach more than 100m. Net weight: 4.6kg; Equipped with 1 spare string, 1 large crossbow bag, 1 LED strong light for the crossbow, 1 laser sight, 1 mechanical sight that can be adjusted in four directions, 1 4x32 optical sight, 1 set of tools for assembling the crossbow, 3 long arrows, 1 pack of steel balls, 2 calibration arrows, and 4 ordinary arrows.

Zhang Xiaoqiang used his foot to string the MP9, placed a steel ball, aimed at the calendar hanging five meters away, turned on the safety catch, and pulled the trigger:

"Bang..."

The MP9 jerked backward sharply, hitting his scapula so painfully that he almost dropped the crossbow body. He rubbed his shoulder and looked at the calendar. On last year's beautiful woman calendar, the beauty's headshot had disappeared without a trace, and the floor was covered with bits of paper.

Zhang Xiaoqiang took down the calendar, and some cement residues fell sparsely to the ground. A cement pit the size of a cup mouth appeared before his eyes, and a slightly deformed steel ball was embedded in the wall tile. "Hiss..." He sucked in a breath of cold air.

"What a fast speed..." "What a great power..." If a zombie were hit in the head at this distance, its skull would probably be blown off, right?

His shoulder was still aching faintly. He gently stroked the crossbow with his fingertips, as if stroking the delicate and tender skin of a girl, for fear that he might hurt it by using too much force. The textured paint surface glowed slightly with a reflective sheen, like the delicate and charming lips of a gentle maiden, exuding a hint of mystery and allure.

Zhang Xiaoqiang put down the MP9 military anti-terrorism sniper crossbow and picked up the binoculars. This was a silver-gray high-powered binoculars. The instruction manual stated:

10x50mm Binoculars. Observation magnification: 10 times; Diameter of the objective lens. Field of view range: 114 meters at a distance of 1000 meters. Minimum focusing distance.

Zhang Xiaoqiang removed the protective lens, walked to the window, and raised the binoculars to look outside. The sky was still overcast, and the gloomy and oppressive clouds still made him feel depressed and torn. The zombies downstairs were brought into sharp focus in front of his eyes. Looking at the sharp teeth in the zombies' mouths, he seemed to be able to smell the stinking odor from their mouths.

Zhang Xiaoqiang stood by the window and observed carefully. After 20 days of mutation, the zombies had begun to evolve towards a mummified state. Their hair had become sparse, and the flesh on their faces had gradually disappeared, leaving only a shriveled layer of old skin. The zombies didn't move very fast. Without vision, they would only change direction and move aside when they collided with obstacles such as walls and cars. After 20 days of continuous wear, many zombies' shoes had started to deform. Some zombies had a shoe on one foot and were barefoot on the other, staggering along with an uneven gait.

Zhang Xiaoqiang's home was far from the city center. The surrounding buildings were not very tall, with the tallest being only about eight floors. The population density was relatively low. On the road wide enough for four construction vehicles to drive side by side, hundreds of zombies were scattered along the road within nearly a thousand meters around his house.

Zhang Xiaoqiang observed everywhere. The binoculars in his hand became heavier and heavier, and his arm began to ache faintly. The food at home would be eaten up one day, and he needed to find a way to escape from the city. Hundreds of zombies surrounding the building where he lived made him feel helpless and at a loss for what to do.

Zhang Xiaoqiang's gaze turned towards the direction of the city center. A column of thick smoke rising into the sky came into his view through the binoculars!