Wasteland Survivalist: A Scientific Guide to Post-Apocalyptic Survival

Gu Lang followed this winding mountain road, making his way through the woods.

There are many vegetable plots cultivated on both sides of the mountain road, presumably planted by the scenic area staff.

Unfortunately, all the crops inside had withered and died.

Upon reaching the summit, the view suddenly opened up.

From here, you can get a clear view of the entire town.

While observing through his binoculars, he planned a feasible route south on the map.

Although the town has many roads, most of them are blocked by abandoned vehicles or roadblocks.

There are not many sections that are actually passable by vehicles; both smaller bridges are blocked by abandoned vehicles.

Only the bridge in the central area is barely passable.

The town hall building is located on the only road leading to the other side of the bridge, and the infected people mainly reside in that area.

The mountain road stretches from the top of the mountain all the way to the other side of the mountain.

After walking down the mountain, Gu Lang arrived at the river that runs through the entire town.

On the riverbank, a small wooden boat was clearly moored.

Everything made sense; the phone's owner had used this small boat to jump out of the town.

Back at the mountaintop, he discovered several undeveloped caves.

Several boxes of bottled water and some durable food were piled up at the entrance of the hole, which were obviously placed there by the group to which the phone owner belonged.

This should be one of the supply points in their evacuation plan.

But before it could be used, something unexpected happened.

So Gu Lang settled down here as his temporary base.

He then spent his days recording the findings and his nights analyzing patterns.

Two days later, Gu Lang sat in a folding chair.

Chewing on matsutake mushrooms dug from the mountain, he summarized the observations he had written in his notebook.

"Yes, at least five small groups of berserkers can be observed in the town at present."

Each team has approximately a dozen people.

They were all in a state of wandering, without a fixed place to live.

They would try to catch and torture any living creature they saw.

The berserker squad that occupied the town hall building was rather special.

Their numbers far exceeded those of other groups, at least thirty people, which could already be called a settlement.

They are highly organized, settled, and rarely go out.

When there are no living creatures around, berserkers may kill and eat weaker members of their own kind.

Encounters between berserkers from different teams can sometimes lead to clashes.

What started as a brawl quickly escalated into a life-or-death struggle, where the losers were also devoured.

Gu Lang marked the key points with a red pen and fell into thought.

Based on the current situation, there are no normal people to be seen in the town anymore.

With "food" becoming scarce, these berserkers will likely prey on each other until they all die, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

Suddenly, a commotion came from the town.

Gu Lang went outside and used binoculars to observe the situation.

It appears that a full-scale conflict broke out between several berserker teams that were roaming the outskirts.

Unable to feel pain, they laughed wildly as they hacked at each other, unleashing their killing instincts.

"Oh dear, this is complete infighting. Looks like we'll be able to get through here safely soon."

Seeing the berserkers killing each other, Gu Lang cheered inwardly.

However, at that moment, something strange happened.

The berserkers in the town center made their move, gathering in the central square and surrounding the area.

Ten minutes later, several rioters emerged from the building.

Behind him were several normal people who were extremely terrified and moved slowly.

The person in the lead was none other than "Brother Tiger" from the mobile phone video.

Then, an organized public massacre began.

The victim's screams immediately attracted all the rioters in the town.

The infighting among the berserkers was instantly quelled.

"He even keeps normal people as pets!"

Gu Lang felt a wave of despair wash over him.

He originally thought that as long as he waited patiently...

These berserkers will soon destroy themselves.

But the intelligent berserker that appeared before them changed the outcome.

He finally figured out the point that had been bothering him all along.

Why do the berserkers continue to linger here instead of setting off to other areas to "hunt" living people?

This group of berserkers is not only able to form gangs and build teams.

What's even more terrifying is that they know how to systematically carry out killings according to certain rules.

If this kind of sustainable, depletion-driven approach continues, Gulang won't be able to pass through here safely anytime soon.

After the third victim was devoured alive, Tiger Brother placed his head steadily on the "Jingguan" (a mound of corpses).

One of the berserkers tried to go up and mess with the head, but was killed by Tiger Brother in a single blow when he was enraged.

Then, the rioters gathered at the scene picked up the man's body, laughed maniacally, and left the scene.

The berserkers gradually dispersed, and everything returned to normal.

Late at night, the moonlight was obscured by thick volcanic ash, and the town was shrouded in darkness.

Taking advantage of the fact that the berserkers had just finished venting their anger, Gu Lang quietly slipped in in his small wooden boat.

All around was quiet except for the gentle murmur of the flowing river.

Using night vision goggles, they located the large rainwater pipes on the riverbank.

He used a crowbar to open a rusty iron fence and crawled inside.

The interior space was narrower than I had imagined.

Underfoot was thick mud and sediment, each step making a "gurgling" sound.

The echoes continued to reverberate within the enclosed space.

Walking through it reminded Gu Lang of the movie "The Shawshank Redemption".

He was glad that he was luckier than the protagonist Andy, at least he had put on a full-body protective suit in advance.

The texture underfoot was soft, sticky, and disgusting; each step required extra effort to pull it out.

The pipe is only 1.2 meters in diameter; one can barely walk by bending over, but cannot lift one's head.

You must also pay attention to the inner wall of the pipes above your head at all times to avoid bumping into protruding steel bars or valves.

Fortunately, the gas mask filtered the gas, so I couldn't smell anything.

The underground was like a maze, and to avoid getting lost, Gu Lang kept going along the main pipe.

Ahead, there was a vertical well wall and an upward iron ladder, but no light could get through the holes in the manhole cover above.

After counting the steps, he decided to get to the ground from here.

Carefully push open the heavy manhole cover; outside lies the street in the northwest corner of the town.

The streets were deserted, with only occasional distant roars and crashes of unknown origin.

After confirming that the area was safe, Gu Lang climbed out.

His destination was a food street, and he quickly found the signs of the shops along the street.

He entered the kitchen of a noodle shop and found what he was looking for—a household liquefied petroleum gas cylinder.

After prying open the glass doors of several shops, a total of seven gas cylinders were found.

He picked out three of the full jars.

An empty household gas cylinder weighs over 15 kilograms.

With the liquefied gas inside, the total weight of a full tank is more than 30 kilograms.

After some investigation, Gu Lang decided to move them into a five-story building.

His plan was simple: lure the snake out of its hole and then create a massive explosion.

Finally, taking advantage of the chaos, they crossed the town and escaped.