Chapter 48: The Shotgun Turret

[Your experience points have reached the required threshold. Your level has increased!]
[Skill acquired: Master Engineer Expertise!]
[Master Engineer Expertise: You are now a master-level engineer. You’ve learned how to craft shotgun turrets and submachine gun turrets, the finest long-range base defenses available.]
[Skill acquired: Shotgun Specialist]
[Shotgun Specialist: If there were a clay pigeon shooting contest, you’d hit every target—everyone would call you a shotgun expert. Shotgun damage increases by 50%, with a chance to stun enemies.]
[Skill acquired: Demolition Expert]
[Demolition Expert: You are now a demolition master. Explosive damage increases by 50%, with a 20% higher chance to dismember or cripple enemies.]

Qin Fei hadn’t expected that, after felling those three green-skinned zombies, he would finally level up. He had slain countless regular zombies before, yet his level had never budged. But with the death of these three mutants, not only had he advanced, he had also gained several new skills. Could it be that leveling up was tied to the types of zombies defeated?

Now, aside from the practical survival skills he had gained from his long nights, Qin Fei possessed only one combat ability: “Stealth Strike.”

[Stealth Strike: Skilled at ambushing resting or aimlessly wandering enemies while sneaking. Stealth attacks deal 50% extra damage.]

Each of the skills Qin Fei gained after leveling up seemed linked to what he frequently practiced. Through assassinating zombies with his iron crossbow, he earned “Stealth Strike.” Defending against a horde, he acquired knowledge relevant to the “Master Engineer” skill. After using shotguns and pipe bombs repeatedly, he unlocked “Demolition Expert” and “Shotgun Specialist.” He speculated that skill acquisition was closely related to the abilities he used most often.

As for how to actually level up, neither Xie Nai Nai nor Qin Fei truly understood.

With the green-skinned zombies dead, the remaining horde posed little threat. Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai had little trouble holding them off. Soon, dawn broke, and it was six in the morning.

After a horde, repairing the shelter always took considerable time. Whether it was the electric defense system or the concrete pillars, almost everything had sustained some damage. They also had to clear out the corpses. With Xie Nai Nai’s help, the cleanup went much faster than before.

Because Qin Fei and Xie Nai Nai were in a party, when Qin Fei leveled up the previous night, Xie Nai Nai also gained a level. Unlike Qin Fei, the skills she acquired were “Pain Endurance” and “Hiker.”

Pain Endurance mainly reduced the damage she took.

And Hiker increased her running speed and reduced her stamina consumption while running. These two skills, though not as obviously practical as Qin Fei’s “Master Engineer,” were much more broadly applicable. Qin Fei’s electrical engineering knowledge might prove useless in another world, but enhanced running speed and reduced damage were essentially physical improvements—useful anywhere.

Qin Fei guessed that Xie Nai Nai’s new abilities were tied to her actions the night before—running for a long stretch to lure away zombies had earned her the “Hiker” skill, while dying to the horde granted her “Pain Endurance.”

Once the shelter was fully repaired, Qin Fei planned to begin constructing automated turrets. He had two choices: a shotgun turret or a submachine gun turret. Based on his gaming experience, the most common submachine gun in the Navigan region was the SMG-5. Turrets required a good supply of ammunition, and this particular submachine gun used nine-millimeter rounds, the same as most pistols. However, the temperature in the shelter’s primitive furnace was insufficient to manufacture nine-millimeter cartridge cases.

This meant that if he built a submachine gun turret, he couldn’t provide enough bullets for it. Shotgun shells, on the other hand, were much easier to produce. To build a shotgun turret, aside from various electronic components and raw materials, the most crucial requirement was a shotgun to serve as the firing mechanism.

Qin Fei could craft a makeshift shotgun, but unlike homemade pipe bombs, a shotgun needed a proper steel barrel to withstand the force of buckshot and gunpowder without deforming. The shelter’s furnace couldn’t even smelt iron properly, much less produce steel piping.

He decided to make a trip to the Baishuihe Camp, where there should still be some firearms stored. Since the night it was overrun, the camp had been occupied by zombies. Both the shelter and the Baishuihe Camp sat within the same small town. It didn’t take Qin Fei long to reach the vicinity of the camp.

The wall, collapsed by the horde that night, had never been rebuilt. Half the iron gate was missing. The camp was in shambles, with zombies lying dormant everywhere.

Qin Fei picked up a stone from the ground and began banging it against the remaining half of the iron gate. The loud clamor quickly roused the slumbering zombies within.

They began shambling towards him. Unlike before, when he had only his iron crossbow and had to act with utmost caution, now armed with a shotgun, Qin Fei no longer needed to be so careful. He could afford to wake them all and let them swarm.

Baishuihe Camp had fallen to the second wave of the horde. This wave, aside from spider and bloater zombies, lacked the stronger variants like bursters or green-skins. So, while numerous, these zombies weren’t truly dangerous.

Daylight slowed their movements. Qin Fei lured them, herding the zombies to the camp gate, then lit two pipe bombs and tossed them into the clustered mass. The tightly packed zombies made easy targets—some were instantly blown apart. He finished off the survivors one by one with his shotgun.

Qin Fei soon reached the supply warehouse. Having lived here for some time, he knew the layout well. Most of the food had already been taken during the night of their escape, leaving only a few bulky canned goods that were hard to carry—mostly beef and lamb.

[Beef Canned Food: This may not be from your favorite steakhouse, but it’ll fill your belly. Bon appetit!]

Meat cans were valuable—he took them all. Behind the cans lay an assortment of firearms. Of course, while there were guns, there was no ammunition to be found. With no way to produce cartridges, Qin Fei ignored most of the weapons, only taking the shotguns.

There were two kinds: double-barreled and pump-action. The former could hold two shells and had to be reloaded after each shot; the latter could be loaded with multiple shells and fired repeatedly.

There were four shotguns in total. Qin Fei’s luck was good—all four were pump-action repeaters.