Doomsday: Humanity shrinks 100 times

Chapter 4 Exploration
After the conversation ended in the evening, Lu Yuning couldn't sleep.

First, he felt a sense of crisis. He always felt that something outside would sneak into the tent. Although he had sealed the entire tent, he still didn't feel safe. It seemed that he had to make the shelter safer as soon as possible.

Second, I am somewhat worried about the current situation.

The most urgent things right now are food and water. I don’t know where to get these two things, so I have to seize the time to explore the surrounding area tomorrow.

As for the direction of exploration, we should first look towards the river.

There is a road over there that leads directly to the river. Although he had told Zou Yunxin before that the river water cannot be drunk directly, he had to drink it as a last resort.

There should be some dangers on the other side of the river. Even with Zhang Xinyue around, we can avoid many dangerous creatures, but there will still be some encounters, so we must try to be well armed.

He thought about it and decided that he needed to prepare at least two weapons, one for him and one for Zou Yunxin.

As for protective gear, how about a set of leaf-covered clothing? Ordinary bugs wouldn't be able to get rid of them, right? At least I wouldn't have to worry about mosquitoes.

But in this case, convenience may be a problem. Larger bugs may have to run away, and it would be unfair if you die in your own trap. It might be better to get a shield.

I also need to make a simple backpack to carry useful materials. This place is different from residential areas, and materials are relatively scarce.

These are pretty much it, you can do the rest if needed.

Thinking of this, Lu Yuning finally felt a little sleepy and fell asleep in a daze.

……

As the morning sun shone, the shelter also became brighter.

Lu Yuning woke up first. He carefully lifted the curtain of the shelter, making sure there were no bugs outside before crawling out.

When Zou Yunxin and Zhang Xinyue woke up, they saw Lu Yuning holding something like a rapier and practicing continuously.

Seeing the two of them wake up, he greeted them and handed something like a shield to Zou Yunxin, asking him to try and see if it could be used.

Zou Yunxin took the shield and looked at it. The shield was not big and could only protect his upper body. Judging from the material, it should be the plants used to build the shelter skeleton yesterday. It was round in shape and had a handle on the back so it could be held in the hand.

He waved it in his hand and felt it was quite light, so he thought it should have good defensive power. He showed it to Zhang Xinyue with some joy.

Lu Yuning originally wanted to make two sets of equipment yesterday, but after trying it today, he found that the thin stem material was still not easy to handle. He was already a little tired after making one set, and he still had to go exploring soon, so he could only leave it at that for now.

He was holding a rapier in his hand, which he kept for himself and gave the shield to Zou Yunxin, and the two of them worked together to use it.

Let Zhang Xinyue carry the backpack first, and then we can do something else after she has loaded the things. This way, the three-person team can be more mobile.

Among the thirty-six strategies, running is the best one. Run if you can. Use weapons only as a last resort.

The sword in my hand can probably only kill mosquitoes, which is better than nothing. The shield might be of some use.

Everything was ready, and the three of them set off.

The three of them had a clear goal, so they went straight to explore the riverside area. They first had to determine if they could get water there, and also see if there were any wild vegetables or fruits they could eat.

After half an hour.

On a cobblestone road leading to the river, the three of them walked down slowly. It was more like crawling than walking. The cobblestone road was too rugged, and they didn't dare to walk in the grass beside it. The three of them almost used their hands and feet to crawl forward.

Fortunately, their strength increased a lot after they shrunk. Lu Yuning had a preliminary feeling that they could at least lift objects that were more than ten times their own weight. So even though they had to cross mountains and rivers now, it was just a little troublesome and not very tiring.

They did encounter a few small ants during the process, so they had to stay away from them. Although the ants were only the size of a palm, they looked very strong and were social insects, so it was better to be careful.

The three of them were cautious.

But unexpectedly, the worst-case scenario still happened.

A huge flying insect with a black body and white patterns blocked the three people's way.

This must be a mosquito.

Zou Yunxin nervously raised a plant shield and protected Zhang Xinyue behind him.

Lu Yuning stood beside him, holding the rapier in his hand. He didn't know if mosquitoes would suck human blood, but the one in front of him clearly had no good intentions. From a microscopic perspective, the mosquito looked quite terrifying, its two compound eyes looking densely packed, and its long legs covered with fine hairs.

The overall look is huge and the visual impact is quite large.

The mosquito circled in the sky for a few times, and finally spotted its target and flew towards Lu Yuning.

Zou Yunxin hurried forward to protect him.

"Don't worry about me, just protect Xinyue," Lu Yuning said quickly.

As soon as he finished speaking, the mosquito flew down. Lu Yuning calmed himself down, waited for the right moment, and at the moment the mosquito landed on his body, he quickly turned sideways, and then thrust the sword upward at high speed, directly stabbing it in the abdomen.

The mosquito made a few strange flapping sounds with its wings, and flew away crookedly in the air, obviously injured.

"Yu Ning is awesome!" Zou Yunxin and the other man hurried over and gave him a thumbs up.

Lu Yuning seemed to be thinking about something. The mosquito's attack speed was really slow, so it wasn't a big threat. The main thing was to overcome the psychological barrier.

"We're here, be careful."

Lu Yuning and the other two dealt with the mosquitoes and did not encounter any other insects along the way. They arrived at the river smoothly.

The river water looks very clear, and you can even see a few fish swimming around in it. The water flow is not fast, and there are quite a few algae in it.

"There are so many fish, it would be great if we could catch two," said Zou Yunxin.

"No, it looks too big and a little scary." Zhang Xinyue looked into the water and shrank her head in fear.

"Not now, but this river will probably be an important source of food for us in the future. Let's talk about it when we have the ability." Lu Yuning said as he looked into the river.

"If you want to get water, you probably need to make a bucket. The shore is at least half a meter above the water surface." Lu Yuning said, touching his chin.

"The water looks very clean." Zhang Xinyue stared at the river.

"Can I drink it directly?" Zou Yunxin asked.

"It's better not to. Cleanliness is just a superficial phenomenon. The biggest problem is bacteria, but I'm afraid we have no way to sterilize it now." Zhang Xinyue shook her head.

“How can we sterilize it?”

"Bleach or boiling are not possible for us," said Zhang Xinyue.

"I don't know anything about bleach, but boiling it shouldn't be that difficult. Can't I make a fire-making tool? I'm familiar with this. I often watch wilderness survival shows where people make fire by rubbing two sticks together. Why don't we try it too?" Zou Yunxin rolled up his sleeves, wanting to show off his skills.

"I'm afraid not," said Zhang Xinyue.

"Yes," Lu Yuning agreed.

"why?"

"First, my body is too small now and I don't have enough strength to generate the heat required to make a fire through friction. Second, have you ever thought about the issue of combustible materials?" Lu Yuning replied.

"What do you mean?"

"For example, if you use this shield in your hand to start a fire, it might burn out in less than a second.

In order to obtain a stable fire source, there must be enough combustible materials, but the wood-drilling fire-making tools we make now are not even as thick as a needle in the real world.

Even if you could create a spark, the kindling would probably burn out in an instant, and there would be no way to ignite anything else because the heat wouldn't be enough."

"It's so complicated... Then we came here for nothing?" Zou Yunxin scratched his head.

"We need to explore the terrain around here in advance. We'll see if it works after we drink. Let's go and take a look at the other side." Lu Yuning explained, then signaled the two to leave.

They had three purposes for this trip. They had already looked at the river water and knew they needed to make some tools to get it. Lu Yuning already had this idea in mind, but they found nothing about food or materials.

The lawns nearby were obviously trimmed and cleaned regularly, with only some weeds. The ground was unusually clean. There was garbage floating in the water from time to time, but it was a bit far from the shore and could not be fished out.

(End of this chapter)