After much selection, Wang Qi finally chose the smallest fire ax as his main weapon in the future. He did not consider using a logging ax as a weapon because the long handle would affect indoor performance, and most fire axes were designed with indoors in mind. use.
Time is of the essence in a fire scene. For this potentially life-saving barrier-breaking time, fire axes have also been derived into various specifications. In the early days, fire axes used in factories were no different from logging axes, and then some were equipped with pickaxes, and gradually evolved into ones designed for various construction environments.
The handle of this hatchet is less than fifty centimeters, which is only half the size of the ax he used for logging before. However, its ax head is particularly large compared to the shorter ax handle. In addition, it uses a metal handle and is almost as heavy as a logging ax.
From the perspective of force application, metal handles are not better than wooden handles, especially so-called outdoor axes that are unwilling to use materials for the ax surface and lightweight alloy for the ax handle. When swinging, it feels similar to an iron rod.
However, the enlarged head of this short ax makes the center of gravity similar to that of a wooden-handled ax, which is suitable for Wang Qi's subsequent needs to use other axes, and can also be used for alternate training with logging axes.
What Wang Qi also likes is its metal handle, which can reduce the probability of the handle breaking when the movement is not standard enough.
It was not yet dawn, so I ate something and went out with my ax to find a tree for practice.
Fire axes can also cut down trees. Since the ax handle is short and does not have enough acceleration stroke, it requires more physical energy to produce the same destructive force on trees.
With dozens of kilograms of mantis meat to back him up, Wang Qi didn't mind spending more energy getting familiar with the axe.
This time he chose the thickest oak tree in the corner park to practice.
The trunk diameter of this oak tree is nearly one meter, which is thicker than the unknown tree in the garden next door. Unfortunately, the branch point of the oak tree is relatively low, more than four meters above the ground. Compared with the height of the floor, it is obviously less than five meters, and the crown width is fifteen to seventeen meters. During the period, based on the growth rings of the small trees that were cut down previously, I estimated that this one must be fifty years old and probably the source of the oak trees in the corner park and nearby.
Fifty years old is relatively young among oak trees, but it is probably the largest oak tree in the entire city, and it must be at least among the top three.
The unknown tree with a diameter of 80 centimeters in the garden is completely incomparable to the quality of the oak tree. Judging from the growth rings of the small tree, it also grows faster than the oak tree. From the analysis of the root position, it was at most a small tree less than five meters in height before the disaster, or even Maybe it landed after the disaster.
In short, Wang Qi plans to knock down this big oak tree by practicing using an axe!
The felling area for attack practice would be higher than normal logging, and there was definitely a suspicion of wasting natural resources, but this was not the time to care about this, and he didn't need to sell it for money.
In order to save nutrition, he did not practice stupidly. He would stop after cutting for a while to recover his strength and think about improvements.
The so-called improvements are actually just fine-tuning. The ax matches the human body very well. After all, it is one of the earliest tools that humans learned to make and use. If it is difficult to use, can it be passed down?
Wang Qi also considered this direction when choosing steel bars in his early days. Spears and axes represent the earliest hunting and cutting tools used by humans respectively. There were no martial arts schools hundreds of thousands of years ago, which means that they are at least easy to learn and effective.
What needs to be fine-tuned now is the habit of exerting force to ensure that the correct exertion of force gradually forms muscle memory, so that cutting wood will not be so tiring.
…
At the same time, at the place where Wang Qi had fought, Luo Xiu and Shana looked at the corpse of the mantis monster and the surrounding traces of the battle with a smug look on their faces.
"A person... no, ghost, it must be the nocturnal ghost we saw that day." The bearded man concluded about the scene.
Shana said nothing and nodded to support his point of view.
It was easy to judge the number of people on the snow, and the other party did not make any cover.
The weapon information provided by the special puncture features on the mantis can help identify the murderer.
The weapons are made of 25mm steel bars, crowbars and thinner steel bars. According to their knowledge, no deserter would use 25mm thick steel bars as weapons because it is too heavy.
A logging ax with a total length of 90 centimeters weighs 2.2 to 3 kilograms depending on the wood and ax surface. A 25mm steel bar of the same length weighs about 3.2 kilograms. The steel bar on the back of the Night Walker they saw seems to be longer, plus The hand wrap may weigh four kilograms, which is heavier than a 1.2-meter-long logging ax.
The heavier the weapon, the more energy-consuming it is and not necessarily more effective. The deserters don't have enough food and have limited energy, so they won't use pure steel bars as weapons. Even if they do, they will change them into spears to reduce weight, and they won't use weapons as thick as 25 mm.
Beard followed the traces of the scene and found the site of the first battle, which was the ruins of a cafe more than 20 meters away.
Except for the smashed countertops, fragments of tables, chairs, and barstools at the scene, no traces of the trap being triggered were found in the dust.
"There is no doubt that he is more dangerous than we previously guessed in a head-on solo kill."
The early night ghosts were the victims of an experiment before the disaster. The reason why they were classified as "ghosts" was said to be because they had genes from another world.
They can only tell through their eyes, which have nearly pure white pupils during the day and turn to pure black at night. Occasional mental and behavioral abnormalities make it impossible for these "ghosts" whose intelligence is no different from humans to live among the survivors.
In the process of the survivors gradually becoming deserters, due to some conflicts and contradictions, the close relationship with the Night Walker has also gradually become distant. It has been a long time since I heard about someone who got good things from the Night Walker. There are rumors. It is said that all the night ghosts are dead or have run away.
Under normal circumstances, if you encounter a nocturnal ghost with no obvious hostility, just treat it as contact with a strange deserter.
But it is obvious that ordinary deserters cannot kill the scorpion ant guard alone.
From a safety point of view, if you find any traces of it in the future, you must take a detour. Considering the future of the family, a powerful night ghost may be able to collect garbage that ordinary deserters cannot obtain, and have enough food surplus for trade. If it can be exchanged for it, it can help the family improve their living conditions.
The act of only taking the insect legs also proves that the hunting efficiency is very high, and it does not care about the parts that are more difficult to obtain. It may become a stable insect meat trading point.
"Walia, what are you thinking about? We won't be delayed for long." Shanna called to Beard softly.
"Nothing, let's get started."
Varya walked back to the corpse of the scorpion ant guard and worked with Shanna to dismember it.
The legs and head have been removed, but the abdomen and torso remain intact, so a lot of food can be recovered.
It had been a while since they last saw the night ghost, and they went back halfway. This was their second time out.
The first time, only a dozen wild Bricks (Xiaoqiang) were caught. Except for the ones they ate to replenish their energy, only eight were transported back. They don't have a second winter breeding ground now. Even if they save these bricks, they won't last more than three or five days, which is far from enough.
They had to rest briefly before going out again.
For the survival of their family, they really risked their lives this time, and then they approached this area very close to the scorpion ant nest, and accidentally discovered that they could pick up the leaks.
In the eyes of the deserters, the scorpion ant guard is a monster on the same level as the witcher. Legend has it that the scorpion ants are fighting against the witcher, so the guard gradually grows in size.
In addition to protecting the nest, the scorpion ant guards will only leave the nest when a group of scorpion ants encounters a hunter outside. In fact, it can be guessed that the scorpion ants must have mistook the nocturnal ghost for a demon hunter, which is why they let the body fall into this position.
In any case, the two of them didn't have to venture further.
The two of them each took a pair of wire cutters and opened the doorman along the gash in his abdomen. After being frozen for a while after death, the skin and flesh are easier to separate. However, the frozen meat on the surface of the surface is difficult to remove. You need to break the depth and separate from the parts that are not yet frozen.
The meat of the guard's abdomen is concentrated on the sides and bottom of the abdomen. It can be eaten after the intestines are cleaned and cooked... In fact, the deserters eat most of them and classify them just so that they can selectively abandon the weight when encountering situations. Leave the ones with the highest heat. Moreover, there were too many parts left on site, and they only had two people who had to at least shell them and some of the low-value parts, and put them on sleds for transportation so as not to affect the efficiency of the operation.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, the two arrived at the temporary settlement carrying food.
In fact, they were following someone's movements, and for a very good reason.
Realizing that the nocturnal ghost can defeat the scorpion ant guard alone, it is easy to draw a conclusion - his activity area will become the scorpion ant's dead zone, which can greatly reduce the physical energy and time consumed by security reconnaissance.
Although there is no trust between the two parties, judgment based on strength does not require trust as a prerequisite.
Along the way, you can see many traces left earlier that have been gradually covered up by the light snow in the morning, proving that the person has inspected all the street-facing buildings along the way.
Without this route taken by the Night Walker, they would have to stay outside for at least two nights before arriving around the insect nest.
The foothold is very close to the Night Walker's base. The straight-line distance may be only more than a hundred meters. If there is enough trust, there will be enough time for them to go to the Night Walker's base to stay... Of course, it is impossible. No one will show their back to them. Any stranger, especially one with a nocturnal lifestyle, is more at risk.
Arriving here meant that they had obtained dozens of kilograms of high-quality food in a total of three days and two nights. They could even make another trip if the weather did not change significantly in the next few days.
"After I go back, I want to take Anna out and have some contact with that guy." After settling down at the place of stay, the bearded Huwalia said to Shana.
Shana frowned slightly as she listened and shook her head: "I'll bring her here, and you stay at home to recuperate."
Varya did not insist, nodded silently, and fiddled with the fire.
