"This... is this a sign of the apocalypse?" Xu Zhengyang murmured as he watched the video sent by Lao Yang.
It was already late December.
According to the system, there were still about ten months before the apocalypse would arrive.
The system stated that the first disaster of the apocalypse would be a biochemical crisis.
Xu Zhengyang had initially thought that this disaster would be like those depicted in games and movies, a man-made catastrophe resulting from a country's overreaching biochemical experiments.
But looking at it now, it was clear that this biochemical crisis was far from what Xu Zhengyang had imagined! After all, no matter how strong the zombies were, they were still flesh and blood.
As long as they could be killed by bullets, with the firepower and organizational capabilities of a modern army, no matter how many zombies there were, they would eventually be cleared out.
The only way zombies could become an apocalyptic disaster was if the zombie virus erupted indiscriminately in a short period, infecting and transforming 90% of the global population into zombies! Only then could it paralyze all government institutions on Earth, halt civilization, and lead to a true...
apocalypse!
Thinking of this, Xu Zhengyang couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat.
At that moment, Lao Yang sent Xu Zhengyang a message: [By the way, I caught a net full of rotten fish while fishing this morning!]
"Rotten fish?"
Xu Zhengyang was taken aback upon reading Lao Yang's message. What could fish possibly look like when they are rotten? But immediately after, Lao Yang sent a photo.
In the image, the fish looked as if they had been inflated, their bodies swollen like balls, scales bursting open, and large areas of their skin rotting, with fresh blood seeping out.
Just seeing the picture made Xu Zhengyang feel a strong sense of physiological discomfort! So he continued to message Lao Yang, "Is anything else strange happening over there?"
But just as he sent the message, Xu Zhengyang was shocked to see a red exclamation mark appear in front of his message.
"Lao Yang deleted me as a friend?"
Xu Zhengyang was stunned for a moment, and just as he was about to call Lao Yang, a bad thought suddenly crossed his mind.
Could it be that Lao Yang's WeChat account was also banned?
After a moment, Xu Zhengyang calmed down and said, "Forget it.
Even if the strange blood color over there is related to the apocalypse, at least things here in Baicheng are still relatively normal.
As long as the influence from over there hasn't reached here, I can still take advantage of the stability here to continue upgrading my shelter!"
Saying this, Xu Zhengyang finally felt a sense of relief.
The next day.
After Xu Zhengyang finished his beef pie and beef soup, consuming enough calories, the boss of the small goods wholesale market delivered all the supplies Xu Zhengyang had ordered the day before.
Checking the goods, settling the bill, and moving them.
Once Xu Zhengyang had neatly organized the various clothing, shoes, socks, gloves, and other supplies in the cloakroom, the system prompt appeared before him as he wished: [Main Quest: (Cloakroom) Completed]
[Reward: [Dimensional Pocket Upgrade Device II]]
...
[Dimensional Pocket Upgrade Device II]
[Effect: Increases the space of the Dimensional Space Pocket to a spherical space with a diameter of 15 meters]
(Note: It will take effect once placed in the Dimensional Space Pocket) Initially, Xu Zhengyang's Dimensional Space Pocket had only one cubic meter of space.
After using the Dimensional Pocket Upgrade Device, the space of the Dimensional Space Pocket expanded from 111 to 555, totaling 125 cubic meters.
And now, after Xu Zhengyang placed the Dimensional Pocket Upgrade Device II into the Dimensional Space Pocket, its space had expanded to over 1,700 cubic meters! Looking at the upgraded Dimensional Space Pocket, Xu Zhengyang's face was filled with joy!
Then he put away the Dimensional Space Pocket and checked the latest main quest:
[Main Quest: Bullet Processing Workshop (In Progress)]
[In the apocalypse, bullets are essential consumables and can also serve as a form of currency in certain situations, allowing trade with other survivors.
Because of this, you need to build a Bullet Processing Workshop in your shelter to continuously provide you with bullets.]
[Quest Objective: Build a Bullet Processing Workshop (minimum area of 25 square meters) that can produce three common calibers of bullets: 9mm, 5.56mm, and 7.62mm.]
[Quest Reward: Physical Enhancement Potion Type II]
After reading the quest details, Xu Zhengyang sighed, "Another task that's easier to complete than the current situation..."
That said, Xu Zhengyang wasn't completely at a loss regarding this task.
After all, the production process of bullets was no longer a secret.
As long as he had the materials, Xu Zhengyang could even manually craft bullets in his machine shop, though it would be time-consuming and somewhat inefficient.
Thinking of this, Xu Zhengyang suddenly had a flash of inspiration and excitedly said, "Right! The task only requires me to build the production line, but it doesn't specify the efficiency of the production line.
If it's just about building a bullet production line in the shelter, then it's not as difficult as I imagined..."
Ordinary bullets consist of four parts: the bullet head, cartridge (shell), propellant, and primer.
The bullet head is usually made of copper with a lead core.
Theoretically, to make a bullet head, all you need is a stamping device that can shape copper sheets into bullet heads, and then pour lead into the copper; the shell is similar, with the core also being shaped from copper sheets.
The propellant can be purchased directly; the most troublesome part is the primer, as it not only needs to be shaped but also requires filling with some ignition material and assembling it.
"Troublesome as it may be, once I break down these processes, creating a bullet production line is not impossible..."
With that, Xu Zhengyang stored the fully charged Combat Suit in the Dimensional Space Pocket and headed out to Baicheng Mechanical City.
*Baicheng Mechanical City.
The ground here is always dark, sticky, and the air is perpetually filled with the smell of machine oil.
Xu Zhengyang wandered around the mechanical city and finally arrived at a shop called Xinding that sold stamping equipment.
This shop was the largest stamping equipment store in Baicheng Mechanical City.
As soon as Xu Zhengyang entered, a man with a southern accent approached him, "What can I do for you, Boss?"
Xu Zhengyang handed over a business card and got straight to the point, "My factory needs a few stamping devices. What types of equipment do you have for stamping small items?"
"Small items?"
The boss inquired for details, "May I ask what your factory does? What material do you need to stamp?"
"A toy factory, stainless steel," Xu Zhengyang lied.
The Brinell hardness of stainless steel is 150-500, while that of copper is 35-345.
So as long as the equipment can stamp stainless steel, it can certainly be used to stamp copper.