For Li Ke, this was undoubtedly a setback. With this limitation, they could only earn 6,000 Duke Casino Tokens a day.
If this amount represented the upper limit of their daily income, it was barely acceptable. But achieving "bullet freedom"—an endless supply of ammunition—was starting to look more like an impossible dream.
Bullets were incredibly expensive, as were the firearms marked with colorful numbers. A single bullet cost 48 tokens, and even the bullet tips alone were priced at 30 tokens each. This wasn't just robbery—it was outright daylight extortion! Adding insult to injury, a three-digit tactical assault rifle demanded an astronomical 10,000 Duke Casino Tokens.
Honestly, Li Ke didn't want to rely on buying bullets here; he'd rather make them himself. Unfortunately, without acquiring the necessary blueprints, they still couldn't unlock a furnace or a workbench.
"This is such a pain," Li Ke muttered.
Now that he had deepened his relationship with Nakiri Erina, Li Ke felt an even greater urgency to obtain sufficient firepower to fend off the zombie hordes. However, despite his abundance of raw materials, he had no viable way to convert them into usable resources.
"What's wrong with this game? Why is it blocking us at such a crucial point?!"
Li Ke was baffled and frustrated. Scavenging was clearly a dead end—besides some food, there was nothing of value to be found. The merchant's inventory had strict purchase limits, and crafting equipment was out of reach due to the locked systems.
"Is the world's resolution too low? I'm almost level 20!"
Fuming, Li Ke vented his frustration by slamming his fist on the merchant's counter. Begrudgingly, he bought four bottles of glue, deciding to focus on crafting a gun first and dealing with other issues later.
But as Li Ke was leaving the merchant's store, something caught his eye: the merchant's furnace and a nearby table stacked with boxes.
He had seen these objects before. Back then, even when he mentally "pressed E" on them, nothing had happened—no interaction menus had appeared. He had dismissed them as mere set dressing, part of the environment.
Now, looking at his current level, Li Ke decided to give it another shot.
Taking a deep breath, he stood in front of the furnace and pressed "E."
This time, an interface appeared before him. Having played plenty of survival and crafting games, Li Ke immediately recognized the various features of the menu.
The grayed-out items at the top were clearly slots for furnace components, while the flame icon below was designated for fuel. Most importantly, on the left side of the interface was a list of materials like brass and lead, along with corresponding quantities—undeniable proof of stored resources.
Li Ke's lips curled into a delighted smile, but when his gaze shifted to the nearby table, his joy turned into unrestrained elation.
"It works! I knew it! This world's exploration depth is tied to level progression! Leveling up unlocks more functionality!"
Overjoyed, Li Ke quickly placed several brass fittings he had collected into the furnace, ignited it via the interface, and watched as a 20-second countdown appeared above the brass doorknob he had inserted.
When the brass doorknob melted away, the resource counter for brass increased by 50. Excited, Li Ke immediately added a stack of clay to another slot. He knew from memory that both brass casings and lead bullet tips required clay to craft.
One brass and one clay made a casing, while two lead and one clay produced a bullet tip.
Not stopping there, Li Ke added two stacks of lead to the furnace, ensuring all three key materials were being processed. However, as he observed the sluggish melting speed, he couldn't help but let out a sigh—it was painfully slow.
Still, slow was infinitely better than nothing.
Experimenting further, Li Ke noticed that his Duke Casino Tokens could also be smelted into brass. This discovery meant that if they refrained from purchasing other items, they could theoretically manufacture 1,000 rounds of ammunition in a single day!
Taking a deep breath, Li Ke, whose nerves had been tightly wound, finally allowed himself to relax a little.
"What's going on, Li Ke? Did you find something new? You look so happy," Nakiri Erina asked curiously. She had just stepped out of the merchant's store, holding a few carefully selected food items, and was now eyeing the burning furnace and the smile on Li Ke's face.
Previously, when they had searched the area around the merchant, they hadn't found anything useful. The furnace and table had been completely unresponsive, so they had ignored them altogether.
Now, however, Li Ke had already crafted an improvised pipe machine gun in the system's item menu and equipped it in his inventory. Without hesitation, he prepared to test it out.
The moment it materialized in his hands, the "machine gun" looked like it had been salvaged from a junkyard. Its ramshackle appearance was punctuated by a bolt replaced with a screwdriver, embodying a makeshift weapon seemingly straight out of a Warhammer Ork workshop.
From a glance, Li Ke found it impossible to connect this contraption with the wood, glue, and scrap metal he had thrown together moments earlier. No conventional process could produce such a weapon without access to a proper machining facility.
But this world clearly didn't play by conventional rules.
Even stranger was the functionality of the weapon. The moment he equipped it from his inventory, a crosshair appeared in his vision. Moving the crosshair caused his body to instinctively adjust, while pressing the imagined "right-click" tightened the crosshair and zoomed in on the target. It felt effortless—like he was being trained by the system itself—turning him into a marksman without any practice.
Clutching the oddly miraculous gun, Li Ke couldn't contain his excitement. He ran to Erina Nakiri, who had been watching the spectacle in awe. Before she could react, he wrapped his arms around her, burying his face into her chest and breathing in her intoxicating scent. Then, in a burst of joy, he spun her around.
"We're finally safe!" he declared, a mixture of relief and triumph in his voice.
"W-what's gotten into you?!"
Blushing furiously, Erina tried to wriggle free while gently pounding his head with her fists, her flustered expression adding to her charm.
"Workbenches and forges—they work!" Li Ke exclaimed, his grin stretching ear to ear. "We don't have to keep searching anymore. Everything we need to survive can be made right here! And as we level up, we'll unlock even more capabilities!"
Erina's eyes widened in disbelief. Breaking free from his embrace, she dashed to the forge and inspected it carefully. When she confirmed it truly worked, she let out an elated cheer and hugged Li Ke tightly.
Weapons equated to safety—a truth ingrained in both of them. The ability to produce firearms and ammunition filled them with uncontainable joy.
"We can finally craft our own gear!" Erina beamed.
Their happiness was almost childlike as they gawked at the numbers ticking down on the forge's timer. One by one, the brass doorknobs and casino tokens they had melted down were converted into molten brass. They fed the forge everything they could spare—6,000 casino tokens earned earlier that day—keeping just 1,000 tokens for emergencies.
While the brass melted, they mixed coal and nitrate powder in the system to craft gunpowder. They also smelted lead and prepared molds for bullets.
However, brass was their bottleneck. Despite having ample gunpowder and lead, they could only produce 1,000 brass casings. The two of them watched the workbench churn out each bullet, grinning like fools as the ammunition piled up.
To test the results, Li Ke equipped the scrap-built machine gun again. He aimed and fired a single round, marveling at how seamlessly his body adjusted. It felt just like a game—his thoughts directly translating into precise actions.
Seeing it in action cemented their newfound confidence. Erina clapped her hands together, announcing their success with pride.
Before heading back to the RV, they used some leftover scrap to craft iron pipes to maintain their rudimentary firearms.
Later that evening, Li Ke finally got a taste of Erina's renowned cooking skills. Her dish was delicious, but neither could finish it, their excitement still bubbling over. Instead, they retreated to the RV's bed, sharing a rare moment of peace.
Thankfully, their foresight had led them to extinguish the forge's flames before turning in, ensuring their hideout remained inconspicuous. They spent a sweet, restful night—one of the few they'd had in this dangerous world.
The following morning, Li Ke stretched with contentment, brimming with hope for the future. Today would be the start of their next step.
But when he opened his eyes, he saw only darkness.
"Is it still night?" he murmured groggily.
He turned to Erina, who was still sound asleep. Unable to resist, he teasingly fondled her chest, giving her a playful squeeze on the tender "berries" that still bore evidence of their previous night's activities.
The soreness in his waist and legs reminded him of just how energetic they had been. Smiling to himself, he prepared to drift back to sleep.
Then he saw it.
The sight before him made his blood run cold, nearly prompting a shout that he quickly stifled.
Zombies.
An unending horde of zombies.
The landscape was filled with them—an ocean of undead trudging forward in droves. Their car was surrounded on all sides. No matter which way he looked, there was no end to the sea of rotting bodies.
The sky above was no less ominous. A swirling storm of yellow sand choked the air, blocking out the sun. Only now did he realize what he had initially mistaken for night was the eerie dimness created by the sandstorm.
Li Ke's body stiffened. He clamped a hand over his mouth, trying to steady his breathing as his mind raced. He glanced toward the RV's front, hoping for an escape route. What he saw crushed his hopes.
The road ahead was the same—an endless tide of zombies shuffling toward them.
Despair began to creep in. They were trapped in the middle of this apocalyptic nightmare with no clear way out.
One mistake would spell their doom.
Yet even amid the suffocating tension, something else caught Li Ke's attention—something far more unnerving.
He looked up at the sky.
Despite the sandstorm blotting out the sun, the moon hung high and radiant, its light cutting through the haze. But there was something deeply unsettling about it.
The moon's glow wasn't comforting. It was... unnatural.
Eerie.