Chapter 104 Homemade Weapons

The second meal was still steamed dumplings with meat filling; I wasn't satisfied with just one way of eating them.

After drinking all the soup from the steamed dumplings, I picked up a whole big meatball with my chopsticks. How big was this meatball? About the size of a duck egg.

Without any sauce, take a bite, chew slowly, and savor its natural flavor.

After finishing a large meat filling in two bites, the remaining dumpling wrapper, dipped in some broth, was also delicious.

After eating three large steamed dumplings filled only with meat, I even felt a little bit full.

That won't do. I immediately picked up a steamed dumpling filled with sauerkraut and oil with my chopsticks.

Dip the inside and outside of the steamed dumpling skin in the sauce, then take a big bite from one end.

The skin of the sauerkraut-filled steamed dumplings seems to be a bit tougher than the meat filling, giving them a chewy texture.

The crisp and tender pickled cabbage is sour at first taste, then fragrant, and surprisingly sweet. The sweet and sour taste, along with the aroma of oil, blends in the mouth to create a unique flavor.

Occasionally, you might bite into a bit of grease, but it's not crunchy; instead, it's chewy, which, combined with the crispness of the pickled cabbage, makes it not greasy at all.

The steamed dumplings were really too big. I ate three more sauerkraut dumplings, making a total of six before I was completely full.

We fed the dogs and the mother wolf some sauerkraut dumplings, and they ate them with relish.

The rest were placed directly in the steamer, without being taken out, covered with a lid, and left to sit in the kitchen.

Even after my stomach had finally digested the food before I went to bed that night, I was still thinking about those steamed dumplings.

So I put it back in the warm pot to heat it up for a while, then took it out and ate it.

The steamed dumplings that have been reheated have a unique flavor that comes with leftover dumplings, and I like that flavor too.

The dough became softer, and although it wasn't as fragrant as when I ate it for the first time, it still reminded me of the feeling of eating leftovers when I was hungry at night as a child.

Eating some leftover dumplings before bed is simply divine.

I ate too much again tonight and had to walk around on the floor until I was exhausted before I finally went to sleep.

The next morning, we ate dumplings again.

However, this time they weren't steamed dumplings, but pan-fried dumplings.

Last night, I had a few leftover steamed dumplings with meat filling, so I pan-fried them in oil until both sides were golden brown.

I used the leftover dough from yesterday to wrap all the sauerkraut filling and made a dozen or so dumplings, though they weren't as big as the steamed dumplings from yesterday.

Pour some oil into a frying pan and fry one side until golden brown. Then pour a little water into the pan and cover it with a lid.

Once all the moisture has evaporated, the pan-fried dumplings are ready.

Personally, I prefer boiled dumplings to pan-fried dumplings. They are moist, not as hard as pan-fried dumplings, and not too greasy.

After breakfast, all the remaining dumplings were fed to the dog. It was enough for three meals; it definitely couldn't eat a fourth.

After we've eaten and drunk our fill, there's one more very important thing to do: make weapons.

Although the courtyard wall is now in place, we still need to have enough lethal weapons.

I realized that the spiked clubs and batons I had stockpiled were all self-defense weapons, only usable in close combat.

Since I am physically weaker than men and not at a disadvantage in close combat, it would be better to make some powerful ranged weapons that can kill the enemy before they get close to me.

The first to be affected were the crossbowmen.

This thing belongs to the category of mechanical devices; I absolutely cannot make it based on my own imagination.

Even when there was internet access, you couldn't find anything online.

Among the old books I bought on Pinduoduo, I actually found an old book that recorded how to make crossbows.

That book contained very detailed information, including a blueprint and more than ten pages of instructions on how to make the parts.

Some of the parts looked very complicated and were made of iron, which was beyond my capabilities to complete.

However, it felt very familiar. I tried disassembling a compound bow and sure enough, I found the same parts inside. It was like a godsend.

Set aside the parts that can be used directly from the compound bow, and circle them in the book; these don't need to be made.

The remaining time was used to polish and make the other parts of the crossbow.

Crossbows are best made of iron, but I don't have molds for making iron, and the process is complicated, making it difficult to implement.

So I decided to select some sturdy wood blocks to make wooden crossbows. As long as the wood is good, the effect won't be much worse than iron.

For the next two days, I used a chainsaw, drill, and grinder to make models.

On the first day, I was making an important part, but because I accidentally cut off a piece while using a grinder, it became completely unusable.

Undeterred, they continued making it the next day.

The part I made in the morning also broke. I was more careful when making the third one in the afternoon and finally made a perfect part.

I was very happy, holding the parts in my hands and rubbing them back and forth. I never thought I could make something so complex in my life.

Now that I was familiar with the technique for making this part, I struck while the iron was hot and made two more identical ones.

I don't plan to make just one crossbow; I'll make three at once so they can be used for a longer period.

The remaining parts were much simpler, and they were all made in three days.

Then I carefully began to assemble the first crossbow. Some parts were the exact same size, but I just couldn't fit them together.

I wasn't in a hurry. I slowly polished it with a grinder and finally assembled a complete crossbow.

I held the complete crossbow and examined it carefully in the sun, feeling extremely happy. I never imagined I could make such an exquisite thing.

He found a stick in the woodpile, put it into the crossbow and tested it. With a snap, the stick shot straight out, even leaving a white mark on the wall.

It is very powerful, much stronger than a compound bow.

After assembling the remaining two sets of parts, I also tried them out, and they worked just as well.

I disassembled all three sets of parts and applied anti-corrosion wood varnish to each part.

After drying, assemble the arrows and begin making them.

The book has very high requirements for arrowheads; iron must be melted and poured into molds to make the arrowheads.

This is too difficult for me; I really don't think I can do it.

So I started thinking about what could be used as a substitute. At first, I thought of glass shards, but it was difficult to fix glass shards to the arrow.

Suddenly, an idea struck me, and I remembered those barbecue skewers, both bamboo and metal.

He ran to the basement and found a box of bamboo skewers and half a box of iron skewers, and began to study how to make them.

The bamboo sticks were thinner than the arrow shafts described in the book, but when I tried them on a crossbow, they actually worked perfectly.

The metal skewers were too thin, so I had to modify them.

Find some straight, relatively thin sticks in the woodpile, peel off the outer bark, and polish them smooth with a sander.

Use a knife to cut a small opening at one end, and then cut a thin groove around it.

Insert the metal skewer and tie it tightly with the strongest rope around the slot several times.

After finishing one iron skewer, I tried shooting it at the wall, and it actually pierced straight into the crack between the bricks.

The power startled me, but after I realized what it was, I was overjoyed.

These were all controlled tools before the apocalypse, but now they're incredibly effective for self-defense.