"The effects of this Combat Training Safety Action Manual look pretty good, it seems I can learn some useful skills..." After reviewing all five items, Zhang Yanhang felt the treasure box's loot was quite satisfactory and indeed contained some useful things.
"So, I choose '10 Soul points,' 'Raccoon City Police Department Special Weapons Tactical Team Standard Police Combat Boots,' '10 Soul points,' 'Raccoon City Police Department Special Tactical Rescue Team Standard Police Waist Bag,' 'Raccoon City Police Department Special Weapons Tactical Team Combat Training Safety Action Manual.'"
Zhang Yanhang quickly made his choices and took the items out of the metal treasure box one by one. It was strange that something as small as a fist could hold a pair of combat boots, a waist bag, and a combat training safety manual. Although it was unscientific, Ashen World wasn't exactly about science.
First came the combat boots, just a pair of ordinary black police boots. But before putting them on, Zhang Yanhang had something important to do, what was it?
Wash his feet!
That's right, washing his feet was really important, because Zhang Yanhang's feet were really dirty at the moment. He had just been walking barefoot around apartments 301, 302, and in the halls and stairwells, making the bottoms of his feet pitch black and even turned a bit green from goblin blood stains.
So, Zhang Yanhang unscrewed a bottle of precious mineral water, preparing to wash his feet. Normally, one bottle of mineral water certainly wouldn't be enough, but he was frugal with it.
Zhang Yanhang found a clean piece of old clothing in the closet, tore it into strips, moistened these strips with mineral water, and then used them to wipe the dust and goblin blood off the bottoms of his feet.
When the dust was mostly wiped off, Zhang Yanhang used the remaining mineral water to rinse his feet, then wiped the remaining moisture with dry cloth strips.
Only after all these steps were finished, did Zhang Yanhang blissfully put on his new shoes, quickly tied his shoelaces, walked around the room a few steps, and then stomped his feet, "Perfect fit, not only the right size but also light and comfortable."
Before entering Ashen World, Zhang Yanhang had never imagined that he could become so happy simply by having shoes to wear.
"Now that I have shoes, the next step is to find myself a watch, after all, not knowing the time can really be troublesome. Because relying on physical sensation for the flow of time is definitely unreliable."
When people are happy, time seems to pass particularly fast, but when sad, time seems especially slow. For Zhang Yanhang, being mostly happy meant his perception of time was definitely unreliable.
As such, regarding how long he had been in Ashen World, Zhang Yanhang could only give a rough estimate, somewhere between half an hour to an hour.
You might wonder why so much had been done, and yet only a bit more than half an hour had passed, well that's because… Zhang Yanhang could pause time!
A significant portion of his activities were done while time was paused, and since time pauses did not count towards the time in Ashen World, that resulted in the current situation.
After trying out the new shoes for comfort, Zhang Yanhang sat back down on the worn wooden bed and picked up the waist bag beside him. He then froze because he realized that this item was probably, possibly, maybe meant to be hung on a belt.
Zhang Yanhang knew he was stating the obvious, since it was called a "waist bag," where else could it hang if not on a belt? But the problem was, Zhang Yanhang didn't have a belt.
So, this made things a bit awkward.
Zhang Yanhang tried hanging the waist bag on his arm or leg but found it completely useless, as the waist bag wouldn't activate in those positions.
"No way, am I really unable to use storage items just because I don't have a belt?" Zhang Yanhang felt it shouldn't be this awkward for him, but sometimes, life is just that helpless.
"Wait, if I don't have a belt, why don't I just make one? I almost forgot the alchemy skill I just learned. Besides, if I don't mind getting dirty, I could also strip a belt off the police zombie next door..."
As long as one doesn't lose hope, there are always more solutions than problems. With this revitalized mindset, Zhang Yanhang soon discovered many ways to overcome his predicament.
After figuring out how to obtain a belt, Zhang Yanhang pulled out an old piece of clothing from the wardrobe and quickly crafted a fabric belt for himself using alchemy.
By the way, there are hardly any old clothes left in the wardrobe now, as the supply was already scant and Zhang Yanhang's usage was so great that old clothes had become even scarcer than bottled water.
During his subsequent zombie hunts, Zhang Yanhang would need to collect not only bottled water, food, firearms, bullets, and watches but also old clothes that fit his size; otherwise, he might end up with nothing to wear.
After all, when killing zombies, the rotten blood splashing out of their bodies could easily stain his clothes. If it were just a little, Zhang Yanhang wouldn't mind too much, but a substantial amount, like soaking through the entire garment, would be unbearable due to the foul smell of decay.
Without a direct experience, one would never understand how awful the scent of a zombie could be—a smell as pungent as standing next to an open trash bin in midsummer, undergoing severe fermentation due to the heat. A breeze at that moment would send a strong odor rushing through one's nostrils straight to the brain, involuntarily inducing the urge to retch.
And if that level were doubled, it would approximate the scent of a zombie, varying to possibly include smells like a stagnant drain or a rural dry toilet depending on the body part.
So, relatively speaking, Zhang Yanhang was really enduring a lot. He believed his extraordinary tolerance was likely due to his far superior constitution than an ordinary person's. If it were a normal person encountering a zombie, they'd be absolutely bewildered by the stench and then faintly bitten by the zombie.
Of course, the zombie scent wouldn't be so intense in an outdoor setting, but the problem was, the zombies Zhang Yanhang encountered were in a confined space where the stench of decay would continually accumulate, exacerbate, and eventually undergo a qualitative change.