The fire on the insect's body was still burning, and at this point, Lucas couldn't dig out the insect nucleus.
Fortunately, the fire in the yard had diminished significantly and did not spread beyond the two rows of houses that were already destroyed.
Lucas looked around and felt relieved.
Outside the entire yard, the trees on the roadside in front of the gate were closer to the yard compared to the trees in the other directions, which were several dozen meters away, and there was no possibility of them catching fire.
The bus and the gasoline in the yard had run out, so Lucas took the opportunity to go to the underground warehouse and tow some more gasoline up using the trailer.
While towing the gasoline, Lucas remembered that he also had a powerful electric drill and a small diesel generator.
The electric drill and the small generator were also brought out.
Lucas was preparing to do something: destroy the mushrooms closest to the yard.
This process was a bit dangerous, as there might still be zombies around, even though he didn't have to worry about being infected by spores with the oxygen mask on.
But before that, Lucas opened the recently obtained red capsule.
The system panel instantly popped up.
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining a pistol (9mm caliber, weight 1.1 kilograms) with three magazines, totaling 24 bullets.]
[Congratulations to the host for obtaining a stamina boost, +10 stamina.]
After clicking accept, a pistol and three magazines appeared on the ground in front of Lucas.
The gun and magazines were all black, and they felt good in his hand.
However, Lucas didn't know much about guns and couldn't tell if this gun was good or not.
He loaded one magazine into it, followed the instructions on the panel to release the safety, and fired a shot at the yard wall.
Pop—
The gunshot wasn't as loud as he had imagined, but the recoil was strong. When the gun went off, Lucas's body trembled, and his arms felt a bit numb.
Lucas was quite satisfied because with this shot, a hole was directly pierced through the yard wall. Looking through the hole, the area behind it appeared to be scattered.
To put it another way, the back part of the wall within a five-centimeter range was almost empty, like a hole caused by a meteorite impact.
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This reward came just in time.
Lucas estimated that with this gun, it shouldn't be a problem to take down a zombie with one shot.
Even if the shot didn't hit the zombie's head, it would leave a big hole in the zombie's body, most likely rendering it incapable of movement.
With the gun in hand, Lucas suddenly felt empowered.
He casually checked his attributes.
Stamina: 77 (within the range of a normal adult, normal).
Don't underestimate the 10-point stamina increase. At this point, Lucas felt much less exhausted than before. Otherwise, he didn't know if he could get rid of the nearby mushrooms.
Carrying the fire axe and putting the pistol in his pocket, Lucas went around to the road in front of the yard gate. There was a mushroom there that had to be cut down first.
Although the mushrooms were huge, they weren't particularly hard. They were no different from the blue star mushrooms.
Lucas successfully chopped down five mushrooms that were growing in prominent positions. Now, there were only three or four mushrooms left around the yard.
Lucas hesitated a bit, worried that there might be zombies in the woods.
But the woods were too close to the yard, and it would be troublesome if those mushrooms attracted insects again.
Moreover, Lucas wasn't sure if the mushrooms he was about to plant would be effective.
With a determined mindset, Lucas entered the woods, with one hand already gripping the pistol.
In the woods, he chopped down three more mushrooms in succession, but he didn't find any trace of zombies.
Lucas estimated that the nearby zombies must have followed the insects towards the city center, and his state of mind gradually relaxed.
With three swings of the axe, just as Lucas was about to chop down the fourth mushroom, he suddenly heard a noise from behind a nearby tree.
"Who's there?" Lucas shouted, dropping the fire axe and quickly gripping the pistol with both hands.
In response to his shout, another sound came from behind the tree.
The sound was deep and low, resembling an animal's noise, but it was difficult to discern.
Lucas's mind was clear, and he instantly realized that there was undoubtedly some infected animal behind the tree.
In an instant, Lucas thought of the dog's bark he had heard earlier.
He shone the strong flashlight bound to his arm directly towards the tree.
Almost at the same time the flashlight beam hit the tree, something emerged from behind it.
Lucas had guessed correctly; it was indeed a dog, an infected dog.
Under the illumination of the flashlight, Lucas quickly saw the appearance of the infected dog.
It was a large black dog, belonging to a breed with above-average intelligence. It was commonly used as a working dog in many countries and was also a popular pet known for its loyalty to its owner.
In the previous life, before the apocalypse, Lucas actually liked this breed of dog.
However, now that the dog was infected, Lucas wouldn't show any mercy.
In the apocalypse, one careless move could turn someone into food for the infected, and being transformed into an infected oneself was the real tragedy.
Especially considering that all creatures and plants in the apocalypse would evolve, and the further the timeline progressed, the more difficult it was to survive.
Not to mention, Lucas belonged to the kind of creature that couldn't evolve in his previous life, so he had long developed a tough heart.
Although the seven emotions and six desires of humans couldn't be completely eliminated, they were definitely numb.
Although the dog not far away already had a large hole in its belly and was missing a chunk from its left eye, looking quite miserable, Lucas didn't hesitate to shoot it.
Pop—
The first shot hit the tree and missed.
The tree was directly cut in half, but at the same time, Lucas's arm was numbed by the recoil.
The second shot was evaded by the dog, still missing.
Even after firing five shots, Lucas hadn't hit the target, and both of his arms had become numb from the recoil, making it a bit difficult to lift them.
Lucas had overestimated himself.
At this moment, the pistol in his hand felt like it weighed a thousand times more.
"Let's get out of here!"
Lucas decided to act decisively. Without raising his arm to shoot again, he grabbed the fire axe and walked out of the woods.
After firing a few shots just now, Lucas had also observed something.
The dog didn't seem to have a strong desire to attack. It was only evading the bullets and didn't show any intention of charging at him.
Normally, newly infected creatures had no intelligence, or their intelligence was very low. They only had an insatiable desire for blood and would pounce on any normal creature they saw.
Lucas couldn't quite understand the situation with this dog.
But it didn't matter if he couldn't understand. Lucas certainly wouldn't go and ask it to bite him.
"Don't come any closer!"
After taking a few steps, Lucas suddenly turned around and shouted. Seeing that the dog still hadn't followed him, he continued walking out of the woods.
He looked back every three steps, finally managing to leave the woods without any danger and quickly returned to the gap in the yard wall.
The fire where the insects were burning had diminished quite a bit and would probably go out in a few minutes.
Lucas entered the yard and dragged the small diesel generator and high-powered electric drill close to the insects.
Clang, clang—
The diesel engine started running, and Lucas connected the electric drill. He started attacking the insects with it.
Even after being burned for so long, the exoskeleton of the insects remained tough.
Strictly speaking, this insect was not burned to death but rather roasted alive internally due to the excessively high temperature, with its internal moisture dried up before it finally perished.