Chapter 51: Striving to Prepare for the Road Ahead

Ever since she first made pastries and sold them for money, allowing her family to enjoy a meal with meat in complete satisfaction, no one at home ever complained again when Du Yun busied herself with her pastry experiments. Instead, they eagerly looked forward to the next time she would take her goods to town.

Having profited from her very first attempt at selling pastries, Du Yun naturally wanted to make a proper business of it. The market was held every three days, and she was determined not to miss it. Earning money by selling pastries was important, but just as crucial was being able to bring back items from the zombie world under a legitimate pretext.

Now that she had a profitable trade with her pastries, her grandmother made it clear: Du Yun no longer needed to work in the fields or even cook meals. All she had to do was think up ways to make money. This special treatment left Du Yun both amused and helpless. Her pastries were indeed tasty and sold well, but she understood that making such profits in the long term was nearly impossible. Pastries were only the beginning—a way to accumulate some initial capital, arrange marriages for her two brothers and one sister, and that would be enough.

As for what lay ahead, Du Yun hadn’t yet made up her mind. After all, she was still young on Bluewater Star and had few worries. All she wanted was a simple, peaceful life, earning enough to get by. Her greatest crisis lay in the zombie world. She never knew when she would suddenly cross over, or what dangers she might face—or even if she would survive.

Take now, for instance; while nothing troubled her on Bluewater Star, the situation on Greenfield Star, the zombie world, was dire indeed.

Du Yun lowered her head, caressing the bow in her hands, quietly pondering how she could use the resources of Bluewater Star to ease her predicament in the zombie world.

The main challenges in the zombie world were twofold: the hardships of their current situation, and the uncertainty about the future. As for the future, Du Yun had already solved that problem—she would follow the eldest and take the small starship to Emperor Star. The immediate hardship, the struggle for survival, stemmed from the overwhelming number of zombies and the lack of food and weapons—especially with their journey soon taking them to even more dangerous, zombie-infested cities.

Food was less of a concern, since Du Yun had stored grains in her inventory space. She could prepare extra meals while her family was out and bring them along, supplementing with the nutrient solutions she’d left with her eldest brother’s group. For now, that should suffice.

As for the sheer numbers of zombies, that was beyond her power to change from Bluewater Star; she could only set it aside for now. The most pressing issue was the lack of weapons.

Du Yun gripped the bow in her hands—a weapon she’d acquired by chance in the zombie world, now battered beyond repair. One side of the wooden bow, split by a heavy blow, bore a deep crack. When she reached for the string, she found it slack and loose, the damage rendering the whole thing useless.

There were few weapons Du Yun could wield effectively in the zombie world, and this bow was by far the most lethal. She was reluctant to give it up. Moreover, whenever she used it, she often experienced a mysterious sensation, as if in some fleeting instant, she could clearly perceive the zombies’ weak points and magnify them in her mind.

She sensed that, if only she could fully develop this ability, her powers of observation and her combat skills would both improve dramatically. This feeling was so ephemeral, so intangible, that for the moment she could only focus on practical matters—like fixing her bow. Resolute, she took some strips of cloth from old clothes, intending to reinforce it.

“What are you up to, girl?” Just as Du Yun was wrestling with the bow, her grandfather strolled in from outside the yard. He watched her grimly struggling with the weapon, and ambled over.

“Grandpa?” Du Yun, feeling guilty, tried to hide the bow behind her back, but it was far too large, and he had already seen. Hiding it now would only make things more suspicious.

“Where did this bow come from? Let me see if it can be fixed.” Grandfather’s face betrayed no emotion as he squatted down in front of her and took the battered bow from her hands.

“The wood is all split—no wonder nobody wanted it,” he said, pinching the damaged part near the string. He turned to her and added, “Girl, this bow is badly broken. To fix it, you’d have to bind it with copper strips, which takes time, effort, and money. It would be easier just to make a new one from a fresh piece of wood. Would you like that?”

“What? We can make one ourselves?” Du Yun’s eyes lit up. She’d vaguely felt she needed a proper weapon, but had no idea how to go about getting one.

By the year 3016, when Du Yun lived, bows and arrows had long since become highly mechanized and intelligent—far beyond anything she could hope to obtain. And in the peaceful era of Bluewater Star, the original owner’s memories offered no clue about weapon-making. She’d thought she’d be lucky just to repair the bow, let alone acquire a new one.

“Of course we can! It’s not planting season, so I’ll help you make one,” her grandfather said. Seeing her eyes shine with delight, he couldn’t help but stroke his beard and smile.

He didn’t question why a young girl wanted a bow. Instead, he immediately started planning how to choose the wood and craft the weapon, feeling a rare contentment.

They set to work at once. That very afternoon, her grandfather took her to look for wood—not in the mountains, but circling around the village instead.

“Grandpa, why are we wandering around the village? Aren’t there plenty of trees in the mountains?” At this time on Bluewater Star, there were no restrictions on cutting trees. Whenever the villagers needed timber, they would gather a few men to head into the hills.

“But you don’t know, do you? Freshly cut trees are too damp to make a bow. We need wood that’s neither too dry nor too wet!” he explained with a chuckle, stroking his beard as he led her into someone’s yard.

This yard was filled with every kind of timber and half-finished furniture. Two middle-aged men, busy with their work and sweating freely, looked up at the newcomers. When they recognized Du Yun’s grandfather, the older of the two called out cheerfully without pausing his labor, “Uncle Du, you’re here! My father was just saying it’s been a while since he’s seen you.”

“Yes, I know. I happened to have some business with him. You two carry on,” Du Yun’s grandfather replied without hesitation, waving them off as he led Du Yun toward the backyard.

Watching their easy familiarity, Du Yun realized her grandfather must be on very good terms with the carpenter’s family—a relationship she hadn’t known about before.

Following him into the backyard, she was immediately dazzled by the sight that greeted her eyes.