Community Traversal: I Have a Daily Rescue Kit

10: M1911A1

After the well was built, Su Chen returned to the living room, picked up the backpack he had left there, and went into the bedroom.

He spread the blanket out, then climbed onto the bed with his backpack. Unzipping the bag, Su Chen dumped everything from his bag onto the bed, mixing it with the supplies in his personal rescue kit.

Then, he sat cross-legged and began to slowly sort and categorize the items.

"Battery, data cables, these are electronic items, put them aside." Su Chen muttered as he marked out an area in the northwest corner of the bed and placed the square solid-state battery and several neatly stacked data cables there.

After arranging everything, he suddenly remembered something, jumped out of bed, went to the desk and brought over the computer, mobile phone, tablet and charger, placing them together with the electronic items he had picked up.

"After organizing the electronic items, it's time for the food." Su Chen muttered to himself, got out of bed, opened the cabinet, and took out all the instant noodles, hot and sour noodles, spicy chicken noodles, mixed noodles, ham sausages, biscuits, etc. that he had hoarded before, and piled them on the bed next to the pile of electronic items.

Then, he began to stack the treasures he had picked up yesterday: dried beef, dehydrated vegetables, compressed biscuits, white sugar, chocolate... he piled them up one by one, until they were high in the sky.

Finally, he added the braised beef and canned luncheon meat that had been delivered as part of the special relief supplies. Looking at the wobbly food tower on the bed, a huge sense of satisfaction welled up inside him, and Su Chen smiled unconsciously.

Next are daily necessities.

Su Chen didn't stock up on these kinds of things much; he only had two and a half tubes of toothpaste, one new and one old toothbrush, three bars of soap, and half a bottle of shampoo. But Su Chen was quite content—these things were enough to keep him clean for a while.

Next up are the drinks.

Su Chen placed three 200ml bottles of strong liquor together with the ridiculously expensive Dom Pérignon champagne that required 2,000 survival points to obtain.

"Liquor can be used for disinfection!" he muttered. "This bottle of Dom Pérignon is a strategic resource; it might come in handy sometime and we could exchange it for something good. I'll have to find a place to hide it properly later."

"Wait a minute!" Su Chen suddenly slapped his forehead. "The liquor should be kept with the antibiotics; they're both used to treat injuries!"

He suddenly remembered that he still had a strip of antibiotics in his pocket, so he quickly got up and left the bedroom. He took the strip of pills out of the pocket of the coat he wore yesterday, brought it back to the bedroom, and placed it next to the liquor.

As for the bottle of Dom Pérignon champagne, Su Chen pulled it out separately and placed it in the beverage section.

After tidying up the food, drinks, supplies, and healing items, Su Chen rubbed his hands together and his gaze fell on the last four treasures on the bed: a telescope, a pistol, a Nepalese kukri, and the most crucial home compass.

"These... should be considered tactical supplies, right?" Su Chen thought for a while, resting his chin on his hand, and decided to categorize all four items as "tactical supplies."

A telescope can be used to observe distant objects and scout enemy positions; a compass can be used to determine direction in fog; a Nepalese kukri is used for close combat; and the M1911A1 pistol can kill enemies at long range and also deter those with ill intentions.

After tidying up the last of his treasures, Su Chen moved back and sat on the other side of the bed, quietly admiring his "possessions".

As he looked around, a strong thought suddenly popped into his head: "If only I could get some expansion cards and storage cards from the rescue packs for free, and create a few of my own storages..."

He became more and more excited as he thought about it—he especially wanted to immediately build his own food warehouse, armory, electronic storage room, liquor storage room, and even a collection room specifically for displaying handicrafts... It would feel even better if he could fill them all up.

After admiring the items for a while, Su Chen began to hide them one by one in various hidden corners of the bedroom. Just as she finished hiding the last bag of biscuits, her stomach suddenly started rumbling.

"How about... treating myself to a big meal?" Su Chen pondered for a long time, rubbing his stomach, and finally decided to splurge today and eat something good.

Without further ado, he rummaged through a pile of ingredients and carried them into the kitchen. First, he drew water from the well, poured it into a small pot, placed it on the stove, and started cooking.

The water boiled quickly, and Su Chen started adding ingredients: he opened the packaging of dehydrated vegetables, grabbed some dried shiitake mushrooms, dried cabbage, dried bok choy, dried lettuce... and threw them all in; he also took out the half-box of luncheon meat that he had left over, cut it into thin slices, and put it into the pot to cook together.

Once the water boiled again, he tore open a packet of instant noodles and poured in the noodles along with all the sauce and seasoning packets. Then he turned off the heat, covered the pot, and let the residual heat slowly cook the noodles.

While waiting for the noodles, Su Chen didn't rest. He took out half a pound of braised beef, carefully sliced ​​it into thin slices, arranged them neatly on a large plate, and sprinkled some of the refined chili powder that came with the package.

Just then, the noodles were cooked—as soon as the lid was lifted, the delicate aroma of meat, the rich fragrance of noodles, and the fresh scent of mushrooms, cabbage, and other vegetables instantly filled Su Chen's nose, making him swallow hard.

……

At the dinner table, Su Chen ate his dinner heartily while wondering how long he could keep eating like this.

Instant noodles and biscuits are enough carbohydrates to last 15 days; there are two boxes of luncheon meat left, enough for two days; braised beef and dehydrated vegetables are the most plentiful, enough to last at least 20 days; add chocolate, white sugar... all the food adds up to enough to last a month. If you include special relief supplies, the time could be even longer.

Lost in thought, Su Chen unconsciously leaned back in his chair.

He felt unusually relaxed at that moment. He gently put down his chopsticks and wanted to turn on the TV to watch some programs while eating to pass the time.

The TV was turned on quickly, but the screen was just filled with static—there was no signal, and not a single channel could be received.

Su Chen narrowed his eyes, got up and went back to the bedroom, found a portable hard drive, plugged it into the TV port, and opened an old Blu-ray movie that he had downloaded before.

Rumble, rumble, rumble... The sound of a steam locomotive rushing by came from the television, and the screen showed the classic scene of a horse-drawn train running on the tracks.

Su Chen picked up a mouthful of noodles, glanced at the movie, and relived the story of "Goose City" in this apocalyptic situation. The light and shadow flickered in the living room. Suddenly, he thought of something, shoved all the beef into the noodle bowl, got up, turned off all the lights in the living room, and drew the curtains tightly shut.

In an instant, the whole world fell silent. The only sounds in the room were the movie playing and Su Chen's gradually fading slurping of noodles.

……

Su Chen did not finish watching the movie.

In this day and age, two hours of entertainment is still a bit too much of a luxury.

After dinner, he turned off the TV and went back to his bedroom.

At this moment, he was holding the M1911A1 pistol, carefully stroking every inch and millimeter of it. From a young age, Su Chen had a particular fondness for firearms. Later, after being exposed to FPS games like CF, CS, Battlefield, and Delta Force, his interest in guns only intensified.

But he lived in Xia Country after all, so he couldn't handle real guns.

"In the game, it seems like this is how you hold a gun..." Su Chen imitated the action from his memory, holding the gun in his right hand, with his index finger on the trigger and the remaining four fingers gripping the handle tightly. His left hand supported the right hand below the hypothenar eminence, providing extra support for the gun-holding hand.

Feeling the cold, hard texture of the gun, Su Chen's breathing gradually slowed down, and finally he held it completely.

After practicing with the pistol for a while, Su Chen felt a soreness in his wrist and stopped.

His knowledge of guns comes almost entirely from video games.

This allowed him to assume a proper stance and also taught him that holding his breath could reduce gun sway and increase accuracy.

But having never actually handled a gun, he didn't know how much recoil the M1911A1 had, nor how accurately he could hit a target at a distance of several meters with the gun in his own hands.

"If the person who harmed me was that blond guy, the moment he pulled out this gun, that cowardly guy would probably kneel down on the spot," Su Chen thought. "Even if Wen Fei and 'Chengdu Ruby Lin' have strong mental fortitude, they would probably be scared out of their wits when faced with a gun."

"But that woman carrying the Miao sword is different." Su Chen's expression turned serious. "She might also have a gun."

He recalled the attire of the woman carrying the Miao knife when he set off yesterday.

The woman's belt had eight long, rectangular objects arranged in two rows, front and back. Su Chen couldn't tell what they were until he got the pistol.

But at this moment, after repeatedly handling the M1911A1, Su Chen felt more and more that... those long, thin objects stuck in the women's waists were very likely pistol or rifle magazines.

"What are my strengths?" Su Chen asked himself.

"Is it a pistol? No! I'm not familiar with this gun at all!"

"Could it be a Nepalese kukri? No way! I've never practiced swordsmanship!"

"Thinking about it that way, my advantage is my exclusive rescue kit, the information gap, and the fact that nobody knows I have a gun!"

He has prepared a "surprise" and only hopes that his opponent will "like" it.

sleep!

……

"Ugh!"

A strange cry burst from his throat. Su Chen was stunned for a moment, and then subconsciously reached out to scratch his throat.

But at that moment, he suddenly realized that his arms had been covered with feathers without him noticing!

"My hands!" Su Chen stared at his hands in utter shock.

Under his gaze, the arm, which had originally been covered in feathers and seemed salvageable, began to twist and deform rapidly in an incomprehensible manner.

Su Chen felt his elbow joint moving inside his arm, and it quickly flipped over, causing his forearm to bend backward.

At the same time, more feathers sprouted from Su Chen's arm.

In just a few breaths, Su Chen watched as his hands gradually transformed into wings resembling a human-faced owl!

"Am I just going to stop being human like this?" Su Chen was completely bewildered by this sudden change.

"I refuse!" Su Chen roared after a long pause.

With a "whoosh," he jumped straight out of bed, his head almost hitting the ceiling.

"Phew! That scared me to death! It was just a dream!" Su Chen looked at his perfectly intact arm, a look of relief on his face. "I really thought I'd turned into a monster like Jiahao!"

Recalling Jiahao's encounter yesterday and connecting it with the nightmare he had just experienced, Su Chen once again felt the danger of this world.

"I need to be more careful when I sleep in the future, I can't sleep like this anymore," Su Chen thought to himself, constantly reminding himself to stay vigilant at all times.

However, at that moment, he heard a noise coming from outside, like shouts of fighting.

Something's happened... Su Chen quickly got dressed and ran to the window, sticking his head out to look.

At this moment, a crowd had gathered near the community wall, all carrying homemade weapons: sharpened steel bars, wooden sticks with fruit knives tied to the tops, and some people had even hammered nails into bare mop handles to make bootleg nine-toothed rakes...

People are attacking the owls with human faces that suddenly appeared, trying their best to prevent them from damaging the fence.

Su Chen remembered that when the face-obsessed owl first attacked, the notice board had given a warning: if the wall was damaged, the community's defenses would be weakened.

To ensure the community's defensive capabilities, people will naturally do everything in their power to drive away the human-faced owl as soon as possible and reduce the rate of damage to the wall.

The attack by the human-faced owl was quickly repelled. The victorious men cheered, their faces beaming with joy and satisfaction.

Seeing that the battle was over, Su Chen prepared to retreat to his bedroom and put on his coat. But just then, he caught a glimpse out of the corner of his eye that the rooftop of the building next door had been used to grow a patch of vegetable seedlings.

"Truly, the farming gene is ingrained in the bones of the Great Xia people," Su Chen couldn't help but exclaim. "In less than two days, the rooftop has been put to use for farming. In the face of disaster, we indeed possess the most astonishing potential..."

As he looked at the traces of people's efforts to save themselves, a smile gradually appeared in his eyes.

A moment later, Su Chen, now dressed, came to the window again.

By this time, the men who had previously fought off the human-faced owl at the wall had put away their weapons and gathered near the notice board.

A faint, chattering argument drifted up from above.

Su Chen could tell from their actions that they were arguing intensely, but from the height of the 18th floor, he couldn't hear what they were arguing about.

"Should we go down?" Su Chen hesitated.

"For most people, I should be out exploring right now, not resting at home!"

But then he realized—he had to go down.

When he returned yesterday evening, some people had already seen him carrying a large bag.

His whereabouts had already been exposed, so it didn't make much difference whether he went down or not.

With this in mind, Su Chen grabbed his Nepalese kukri and concealed his pistol inside his clothes. He practiced drawing the gun quickly in front of the mirror several times, and after confirming that he was in the right position, he pushed open the door and went out.

Soon, Su Chen arrived downstairs.

He walked calmly toward the notice board.

At first, no one paid any attention to Su Chen.

People were discussing heatedly, their chatter creating a chaotic mess, as they all had important things to argue about and resolve.

Su Chen was happy with this arrangement—the less trouble, the better.

But soon, Su Chen realized that someone was watching him.

The man was leisurely swaying on the exercise equipment in the community. But when he inadvertently saw Su Chen, he suddenly froze, looking puzzled. He even rubbed his eyes, as if he couldn't believe what he had just seen.

"Eh eh eh..."

Soon, a second person spotted Su Chen. He patted his companion on the shoulder, then pointed at Su Chen, his expression a mixture of surprise and confusion, muttering something as if seeking confirmation from his companion.

Then came the third person, the fourth person...

Many gazes turned toward them, some with surprise and doubt, some with confusion, and some with bewilderment.

In the corner, another person leaned against the wall of the residential building, resting his chin on his hand, gazing thoughtfully in this direction.

Su Chen glanced at the person secretly, a sense of familiarity rising from the bottom of his heart: "This person seems to live in the same building as me. When I came back yesterday, she seemed to be looking at me."