World Exploration Value: 31.72%.
With the arrival of Carlos's convoy, Yang Tao's exploration value surpassed 30% and reached nearly 32%.
Carlos, having injected the T-Virus antidote, walked down from the tanker truck with somewhat wobbly legs, step by step, towards the barn.
The people on the yellow bus watched towards the barn through the windows, but not a single person got off the vehicle; in this apocalypse, they had witnessed too many things and were now wary of everything.
Yang Tao, who had rested for half a day, noticed Carlos approaching out of the corner of his eye, a slight smile playing on his lips as he stood up to meet him.
"Thank you, my friend. Your cigarettes are excellent."
Carlos was somewhat disheveled now, but that could not conceal his handsome appearance.
Yang Tao took out a pack of cigarettes from his backpack, pulled one out, and offered it to Carlos, who unceremoniously reached out and took it.
"Carlos, I admire you…"
He lit the cigarette, took a light puff, and some green particle effects appeared on his body; Carlos, who had just lit his own cigarette, was startled, but having just walked through the gates of hell, his composure was clearly much steadier.
"You… this…"
"Don't be surprised, some special effects just appear on me when I smoke… It's like how a protagonist gets a BGM when fighting in a movie."
Carlos nodded slightly.
In the current situation, he had no choice but to believe it; what other option was there?
"Friend, we'd like to rest here for a few days…"
"You can, but only in the barn or nearby. I will prepare some essential supplies for you, considering it's for your sake. As for other matters, don't think too much about them."
Want to enter the base?
Yang Tao had already regarded this base as his stronghold in this world; unless absolutely necessary, he would not invite outsiders into the base.
Hearing Yang Tao's words, Carlos forced a smile. His initial goal was indeed to help Alice enter the Umbrella Corporation's base together, but now the Umbrella Corporation's people had been eliminated.
Unless they turned against the man in front of them, it would be impossible for them to enter this base again.
"I'll tell them."
…
In the evening, because they were in the wilderness, the stars appeared early in the sky.
Several vehicles formed a circular defensive position, and the survivors of the convoy all sat around the central bonfire, enjoying a rare meal.
Claire sat on the car roof, holding a plate and staring blankly at the pond in the direction of the barn.
To be honest, she hadn't showered in a long time; now the entire North America had been destroyed by the T-Virus, and even the river water was polluted. Pure water sources were an extremely precious resource for them.
The barn was brightly lit, and exclamations occasionally came from within. Claire felt a little irritable. She quickly finished the food on her plate in a few bites, then agilely jumped down from the car roof.
After cleaning the plate, Claire walked towards the barn. Alice saw her and asked, "Hey, Claire, where are you going?"
"I'm going to ask that mysterious man some questions."
Alice hesitated for a moment and said, "I'll go with you."
"No, I can go by myself. Don't worry, he shouldn't have any ill intentions towards us."
With that, Claire walked straight out of the encirclement and headed towards the barn. As soon as she arrived at the barn door, two of Alice's avatars stopped her.
"What do you want?"
Claire looked at the clone, who had the same appearance as Alice, and said, "I'm here to see Mr. Yang; I want to ask him some questions."
"Claire?"
Yang Tao's voice sounded from inside the barn: "Friday, let her in."
Friday stepped aside, allowing Claire to enter the barn. As soon as she entered, Claire saw some strange humanoid 'sculptures' standing inside the barn.
The 'sculptures' in her eyes were precisely the Mutated Iron Golems that had finished clearing the zombies and were waiting in the barn.
At this moment, Yang Tao and several Alice avatars were watching a clone running on a treadmill, and in a square box nearby, a body was slowly forming, looking just like a 3D printer.
"Claire, why are you here? Is there something you need from me?"
Claire, who was observing the cloning chamber, heard Yang Tao's voice and said, "I… I just wanted to ask if the pond below is clean? Before I came, I saw Monday and the others swimming. Can I get some water to take a bath?"
"Is that all?"
Yang Tao had never experienced survival in the apocalypse, so he naturally couldn't understand Claire's feeling of not showering for a month or two and seeing clean water.
"Go ahead and take it. If you want to wash directly in the pond, that's fine too."
Minecraft's water source blocks have a self-cleaning function. The seemingly ordinary pond outside actually has water source blocks constantly flowing and refreshing inside. Even if a bottle of dye is poured in, it will be 'purified' in a few seconds.
At this moment, Claire noticed that the cloning chamber, which originally only had two legs, now had half a body. At this rate, a complete body would appear in this strange glass room in just a few minutes.
Seeing this, Claire couldn't help but ask, "What is this? Is it 3D printing?"
Why would Yang Tao print a 'silicone doll'?
Yang Tao smiled and nodded. He had also noticed this problem; the body from the cloning chamber, rather than being cloned, was indeed more like 3D printing. After all, whose clone cultivation 'grows' bit by bit?
Moreover, during 'printing,' the cross-section did not show any muscles, blood vessels, bones, or internal organs; it only looked like a human from the outside.
"Something like that. If you're interested, I can print you out too."
Claire looked at the lifelike body and quickly shook her head, saying, "Thanks, I think I'll pass. I'll go get water first; I won't bother you…"
With that, Claire ran out of the barn without looking back. Monday, standing nearby, watched Claire's retreating figure and smiled, "She must be thinking something interesting."
Then she looked at Yang Tao and asked, "Yang, are you sure this thing is really cloning?"
"I'm not sure either. Anyway, trying it doesn't cost money."
Initially, Yang Tao wanted to try it himself, but after some thought, he decided it would be safer to let Monday and the others act as guinea pigs first.
A few minutes later, the green indicator light on the cloning chamber lit up, and a brand new Alice clone appeared inside.
Everyone watched curiously.
"It's exactly the same!"
"It's incredible that you can clone just by running."
Yang Tao reminded, "Don't just stand there, Tuesday, stand in the Shell Storage Chamber."
Tuesday heard this, got off the treadmill, and walked into the glass display case next to the cloning chamber.
In reality, the models of the cloning chamber and the Shell Storage Chamber were basically identical. The only difference was that the Shell Storage Chamber only had three glass sides, with one side being a black metal plate.
Tuesday walked into the Shell Storage Chamber. Sensing a body entering it, the glass door of the Shell Storage Chamber closed automatically.
The next moment, the clone in the connected cloning chamber opened its eyes and said, "What an wonderful feeling! I felt my soul fly out of my body, and then I saw the convoy in the distance and Claire getting water."
"After reaching a certain height, my soul quickly fell and entered this body…"
Yang Tao had also encountered this mod before he transmigrated, so he wasn't surprised by Tuesday's description, because it was the same process when he played.
The same thing happened after a clone died; at that time, the perspective would rapidly rise and return to the main body.
"Alright, come out and feel it, see if there's any discomfort in your body."