Chapter 184 - 183: What is the Most Romantic Weapon

First was the group's main powerhouse, Chu Zhaozhao.

Lin Fan's spearheads were for dealing with Mutated Zombies. Pure piercing damage was extremely limited, so he needed to expand the area of damage.

But these spearheads were not only troublesome to make—requiring Lin Fan's personal attention—they were also heavy, and it was a real shame to lose them.

They weren't the best choice for dealing with the ordinary zombies that surrounded their vehicles.

Her weapon, however, was the simplest: a streamlined, sharpened iron rod weighing about one kilogram.

Lin Fan walked over to Wu Haitao's truck, casually picked up a bundle of rebar, and asked Chu Zhaotian:

"Zhaotian, do you know how to use this cutting machine?"

"I do!"

"Good. Cut this entire bundle of rebar into forty-centimeter lengths, sharpen both ends, and they'll be ammunition for your sister."

Hearing that it was for his sister, Chu Zhaotian was instantly energized. He immediately dragged the cutting machine to the side and started working.

This stuff was everywhere in the city. As long as they had a cutting machine, they could replenish their stock anytime without worrying about losses. Paired with Chu Zhaozhao's ability, it was like having a vehicle-mounted heavy crossbow.

With Chu Zhaozhao's problem solved, Lin Fan picked up a pen and paper. Next up were Su Qing and Xu Qian.

The long spears were still superior weapons for static defense or urban warfare, but the group was about to leave the residential complex and face unfamiliar environments. They needed personal sidearms for slashing out of car windows or for close-quarters combat.

'Just for slashing and thrusting, single-edged, convex blade, center of gravity forward... but it needs to be a bit longer, about eighty centimeters...'

A single-edged longsword. The center of gravity and the blade's edge just needed a bit more design work.

Lin Fan's own needs, however, were more complex. The enemies he might face were also "bigger."

Against an enemy on the level of the "tree," even if a spear could damage it, the harm would be quite limited.

Therefore, Lin Fan's current weapon requirements were: bigger, thicker, and heavier.

Lin Fan sketched out the designs in his notebook as he thought.

Once the basic designs were done, he went to the truck and casually yanked down a 1x2 meter medium-thick steel plate. With a CLANG, one end slammed onto the ground, carving two long gashes in the pavement as he slowly dragged it in front of Wu Haitao.

It wasn't just Wu Haitao and his men; even Wang Yuanhua stared at him, secretly dumbfounded. This was the thickest plate on the truck, weighing at least four hundred pounds. Even he had struggled immensely just to load it onto the vehicle.

But Lin Fan had dragged it over like it was nothing.

"Brother Wu, what's this for? Do you need it? If not, can I have it?"

Lin Fan still made sure to ask the chief vehicle modification designer, since they were the ones who had hauled the plate back.

"It's useless. We regretted bringing it back. It's too heavy, and we don't need a steel plate this thick for vehicle reinforcement. If you have a use for it, that's perfect..."

Wu Haitao paused his work and replied.

"Then how do we cut this? I'll draw a few designs on it, and you can cut them out for me."

Chu Zhaotian was still busy cutting rebar, so Lin Fan went directly to Wu Haitao. After all, no matter how strong he was, he couldn't rip through a one-centimeter-thick steel plate with his bare hands.

"With acetylene. I've got some right here,"

he said, pointing to two gas cylinders leaning nearby.

"Go ahead and draw. When you're done, we'll cut it together..."

As for what Lin Fan was cutting it for, he didn't guess, and he didn't ask.

"Alrighty..."

After confirming with the technician, Lin Fan dragged the steel plate to the side. He picked up a piece of chalk and began to show off his artistic skills. After about half an hour of smudging and erasing, he finally managed to sketch out the rough shapes of five weapons.

One single-edged sword each for Su Qing, Chu Zhaozhao, Xu Qian, and Lin Fan himself.

And another new weapon Lin Fan had designed for himself.

"Brother Wu, come help me cut these out according to my drawings."

Lin Fan shouted to Wu Haitao, looking with satisfaction at his "masterpieces."

Hearing that Lin Fan was finished, Wu Haitao, Wang Yuanhua, and the other two men who were working all gathered around.

"Whoa! Four swords!"

Wang Yuanhua exclaimed in a low voice.

"Whoa! What in the world is this thing...?"

The other two men muttered quietly.

Everyone recognized the four swords, but the other weapon didn't look like a weapon at all.

It looked like a door panel with a handle attached—a weirdly shaped door panel at that.

The left side was a jagged line, while the right side was basically an axe head.

It looked like an axe, a sword, and a hammer, but overall, it mostly resembled a car door.

"Brother Lin, are these swords meant to be used? This material won't be hard enough after cutting... Alright, alright, let's get to work!"

Wu Haitao questioned the strength of the swords out of professional instinct, but he suddenly remembered the "Three Rules for Working with Lin Fan" issued by Liu Bin. He wanted to slap himself twice and quickly shut his mouth.

Lin Fan, however, didn't pay any mind to his muttering. He wasn't planning to use them directly anyway.

But seeing Wang Yuanhua, he thought that he should make a weapon for him as well.

He had over four hundred HP, was stronger than Su Qing and the others, and his combat power surpassed all four of Ye Qingzhou's Awakened Ones combined.

Besides, Lin Fan felt that Wang Yuanhua's mysterious "HP regeneration" mechanic was perfect for charging into the fray.

Once armed, he would be a great general capable of protecting the convoy.

While Wu Haitao and his men put down their own work and began cutting, Lin Fan took the opportunity to ask Wang Yuanhua:

"Wang, when you fight zombies, do you prefer smashing or chopping? If I made a weapon for you, what type would feel more natural in your hands...?"

"I used to use a crowbar, and now I use a long spear with Brother Liu and the others. But if I could choose... I'd want something that can both smash and chop!"

He was in the middle of unloading a roll of wire mesh from a truck. Hearing Lin Fan's question, he threw the roll onto the ground and said thoughtfully,

"The axes we find are either too short or too light. If I could have one this tall, this big..."

As he spoke, he gestured to his shoulder height and then used his hands to frame out a size.

"Like in those TV dramas, a big axe weighing eighty or a hundred pounds! I could sweep through a whole bunch of zombies with that!"

Lin Fan watched him gesture, then looked down and sketched in his notebook. When he finished, he showed it to him:

"How about this...?"

"Yes, yes, yes, exactly like this... But where could we possibly make it? We don't have the right materials."

Wang Yuanhua nodded excitedly at first, but then his expression fell with disappointment.

"Hey... what if we get a chance in the future? Maybe we'll stumble upon it somewhere..."

Lin Fan said noncommittally.

The two chatted idly like this for a while. Before long, Wu Haitao had finished cutting out all the shapes Lin Fan had drawn.

"Brother Lin, all cut..."

"Wait a sec, Wu. Help me cut one more."

Seeing he was done, Lin Fan quickly grabbed the chalk and began drawing on the remaining part of the steel plate. In a moment, he had sketched the rough shape of an axe.

"This one, too..."

"Okay..."

...

Once he was finished, Lin Fan instructed Chu Zhaotian to make as many "darts" as possible, then gathered all the weapon blanks and headed into his own apartment building.

He went straight to the rooftop.

He sat on the edge of the northern building's roof and scanned the complex, but he couldn't see Su Qing or the others. He had no idea which building they were in.

Ever since he'd last forged a weapon here, Lin Fan had grown fond of the feeling of being up high.

It was quiet, and vast.

The noisy sounds of cutting from the people downstairs became distant, as if filtered through a layer of water. The only sound in his ears was the faint whisper of the wind, which allowed him to focus more intently on his work.

He laid out the heavy steel plates beside him. With a thought, several badges appeared in his hand.

Two blue, four black.

The drop rate for interface modules was still quite low. Last time, he'd killed over forty Mutated Zombies and only got six medium ones and eleven small ones.

He didn't even need to count the materials; he had over four hundred pieces of scrap metal in his pockets. Judging by the drop rate, the last explosion must have killed over a thousand zombies.

He even had over two hundred pieces of Rare Metal.

Based on his observations of the drops from the zombies killed today, Lin Fan concluded that this new batch of unfamiliar materials—like Rare Metal, plastic, textile fibers, and leather—must have come from those 500-HP zombies.

He just didn't know if these 500-HP zombies were created by the "tree" or if they had mutated naturally.

Lin Fan was no stranger to the process of forging weapons. He picked up the steel blanks beside him one by one and began to shape them, piece by piece.