Days in the Infinite

While the ladies were bathing, Li Ke was busy.

Because he had just maxed out his Stamina stat.

The moment he reached the maximum level, he could immediately feel that his body was completely different from before. The sensation of swinging his fists had changed entirely! Every movement he made seemed to cost no energy at all. Even if he pushed himself to his absolute limits, he could still feel that, as long as he willed it, he could keep going!

Even when he threw a full-force punch, he could briefly feel the exertion, but within seconds, his body would restore his energy back to full.

It was safe to say that he had completely surpassed human limitations!

"Incredible."

Supporting himself on the merchant woman's rear, Li Ke marveled at his body, which was still full of energy and vigor.

It wasn't just about endurance and hardness—even his production capacity had increased! Before, it took three rounds to fill her up, but now, just one was enough!

On top of that, his recovery was lightning-fast—he only needed a minute or two before he was fully reloaded again!

There was just one issue…

"This burns through nutrients like crazy…"

Feeling the hunger gnawing at his stomach, Li Ke immediately realized that this powerful strength didn't come without a price. The cost was his body's nutrients, proteins, and hydration.

But that was to be expected. If there were no drawbacks at all, that would be the truly strange part. He had already been eating more due to his increased workload, and it was only thanks to the high-fat, high-calorie canned food and meat he had been consuming that he was still holding up. But if he kept recklessly burning through his nutrients like this…

"Could I starve to death?"

As he felt his little brother shut down due to a lack of nutrition, Li Ke nodded in understanding.

That made sense.

But he also knew that if he ate his fill and got in the mood again, this thing was going to be an absolute menace.

"I need to find some clean, soft fabric and make some underwear—fast. Damn it, why did I never realize what a brilliant invention underwear was?"

Since Li Ke didn't like feeling constricted, he usually slept naked. Sometimes, if he was in a rush for work, he wouldn't even bother wearing underwear. It had never seemed like a big deal before, but now, he was really starting to feel just how inconvenient it was to go without.

After giving her soft, water-like yet surprisingly firm chest one last squeeze, Li Ke pressed the [E] key in his mind and opened the merchant woman's shop menu again.

In an instant, her messy hair, the fine sheen of sweat on her forehead, and the flush on her face all vanished without a trace. Meanwhile, Li Ke began browsing through the various goods.

And that's when he noticed—the inventory had refreshed!

Not only were there dozens of new slabs of meat available, but there were also a bunch of other useful items. As he casually stretched, he skimmed through the new additions.

Among them were several types of seeds that had never been listed before. There was even an option to buy rotten meat, which he had never seen in her inventory until now.

However, none of these were immediate necessities. His focus went straight to the weapons section.

The iron-pipe machine gun still only had a 15-round magazine, which was way too small. No matter how fast he could reload, there would always be a gap between shots. But weapons were still absurdly expensive in the merchant's shop, with most of them costing several thousand casino tokens each. Even though he had accumulated over ten thousand tokens through missions and trades, that didn't mean he could afford to splurge.

And besides…

"Wait, she's selling a furnace and a chemistry station this time?"

Li Ke eyed the chemistry station in her inventory while idly rolling the merchant woman's strawberry-shaped tip between his fingers, deep in thought.

Gunpowder was not an issue—although manually crafting it was slow, production wasn't a concern thanks to Tsunade's insane mining speed. With her around, they would never run out of raw materials.

Still, he decided to buy both the chemistry station and the furnace. His goal was to ensure that all three of them could stay light and mobile, ready to strike quickly when needed.

After giving them a quick glance, he set them aside and continued browsing through the merchant's stock.

In the end, he only purchased some medical supplies, food, the furnace and chemistry station, 40 incendiary grenades, and all available gasoline. He left the rest untouched, keeping 5,000 casino tokens in reserve.

"I'll let Lady Kiri and Tsunade have a look later and see if there's anything they need."

Half an hour later, Li Ke stepped out of the merchant's hut. Starving, he checked the crafting bench to see what new items he could make, and that's when he noticed something.

"Steel frames…"

After thinking for a moment, he immediately queued up 300 steel frames for production. The description stated that each one had 10,000 durability points.

And logically speaking, steel frames should have much higher defensive capabilities than wooden structures, right?

The only downside was the crafting time—it took two and a half minutes to make just one. By the time this batch was finished, it would be well into the next morning.

"I'll make some first and see how they turn out. Lady Kiri mentioned she could repair the cement mixer, so if reinforced concrete turns out to have better defense than steel frames, we won't waste materials on this."

With that in mind, Li Ke opened up his furnace and was immediately greeted by the sight of over 10,000 steel ingots stacked inside. The iron reserves were still completely full, continuing to smelt away.

"…Tsunade's mining speed is unreal."

He couldn't help but mutter in disbelief.

It was so ridiculous that he had been forced to craft dozens of storage crates just to hold the raw materials she had dug up. Even the smelting speed of the furnace couldn't keep up with her mining output.

Without hesitation, he grabbed some steel ingots, tossed them into the crafting bench, and started making steel frames. He also took all the bullets that had been produced and stored them in his inventory.

"This should be enough bullets, right?"

Looking at the 10,000+ rounds in his inventory, Li Ke wasn't entirely sure. He had no idea if it would be sufficient—after all, there were just so many zombies out there.

That overwhelming feeling of despair still lingered in his memory—the sight of countless zombies, densely packed together, seemingly endless.

"…Let's hope it's enough."

Taking a deep breath, Li Ke returned to the camp and exchanged some items with the two women, handing over a portion of the food and ammunition. Then, he went to take a bath.

Dinner passed without any surprises. The area around the shop had already been dug out, leaving only a single narrow path for them to enter and exit. This meant they didn't have to worry about zombies getting too close.

But…

As Li Ke lay down to sleep, he suddenly realized something.

He had forgotten—again—to build a new house and bed.