Doomsday America.

Chapter 267 Arturo's Rise

Hearing Li Qing's explanation, Gavin opened his mouth with amusement, remained silent for a long time, and only uttered a single word: "艸" (cao).

He pursed his lips, both amused and exasperated, and then began to sing softly.

"The bitter sand, the feeling of it stinging my face..."

"Pfft... Holy crap, boss, you...you..."

Gavin had only sung one line of his song when Li Qing burst out laughing on the spot.

Meanwhile, Nikita, nestled in Gavin's arms, gazed blankly back and forth between her husband and Lee Ching.

She really couldn't understand why Li Qing reacted so strongly to her beloved singing just one line of a song.

Gavin, seeing Li Qing nearly spitting out dog blood, shook his head in annoyance and teased him.

"Don't fucking make a fuss, Lee Sin. The first time I met you, I didn't even ask if you played LoL or had ever been to Valoran, Lee Sin." "Ah..."

Faced with Gavin's teasing, Li Qing gave a helpless, bitter smile.

"Boss, when my parents named me, League of Legends didn't even exist yet. Who knows how I ended up with the same name as Lee Sin?" "But that's not important. What's important is that the zombies you saw today with their tough mushrooms on their bodies aren't products of radiation. They're probably the result of zombies spending time in the water and then returning to land!"

"In other words, this type of zombie may be relatively rare, but it is by no means extremely rare."

"These zombies can appear wherever there is a water source!"

"Considering the hardness of this mushroom, which even my scalpel struggles to handle, guys who only use melee weapons are probably in big trouble if they encounter this kind of zombie!" Li Qing said, looking at Gavin with concern. After all, this was the real problem the new zombies were bringing to the camp.

That is, in places where new types of zombies appear, the danger faced by field explorers is obviously greater!

Listening to Li Qing's consideration, Nikita turned her head to look at Gavin on the main sofa.

After a brief silence, Gavin nodded slightly, then chuckled and said to Li Qing.

"Don't worry about fieldwork, buddy. Fieldwork has its responsibilities, its benefits, and its inherent risks. That's the duty of fieldwork, and that's why I chose it." "As for the new type of zombie, damn it, although the one I saw today wasn't fully grown yet, and those tough mushrooms weren't completely covering its body, I reckon it won't be long—three or four months at most—before those mushrooms, tougher than rubber tires, completely cover a zombie's body!" "As for the name of this zombie… let me think…"

At this point, Gavin fell silent and pondered for a moment.

At that moment, he couldn't help but recall a game he had played before he transmigrated.

The Last Survivors!

In that zombie game, the zombies were also caused by fungal infection, and there was a type of zombie in that game whose entire body was covered by a tough fungal body, similar to a mushroom. This type of zombie had extremely high resistance to attacks, and its mobility was not bad either, making its head-on combat ability terrifying.

Its fungal cells can withstand flamethrowers and dozens of shotgun shells.

And those zombies were called...

big mac!

Thinking of this, Gavin took a deep breath, then raised his hand and tapped his thigh, continuing what he had been saying.

"Let's call this new type of zombie... Juggernaut!"

"Although it hasn't fully mutated yet and hasn't reached the level of being called a behemoth, as long as the mushroom mycelium on its body continues to spread and overlap, and doesn't affect its mobility," "it will eventually become a behemoth that will cause us trouble."

At this point, Gavin gently patted Nikita's hand.

Nikita instantly understood Gavin's thoughts.

Before Gavin could remind her, Nikita moved her feet, whose blisters had already scabbed over and faded, to the ground, put on her slippers, and stood up, saying...

"I'll go get you the original zombie survival manual, darling."

"Thank you for your hard work, Nikki."

Upon hearing this, Gavin grabbed Nikita's little hand and kissed it, then let Nikita go upstairs.

He then continued to look at Li Qing.

Li Qing, meeting Gavin's gaze, pondered for a moment, then shook his head and teased Gavin.

"Wow, wow, you're feeding me this dog food? Boss, that's not fair."

"But Madam is such a good girl. I never imagined that America could have a woman like Madam."

"Boss, you really got a great deal. Seriously, I think only an old-school, traditional upper-class family in America could raise a woman like Mrs. Kim." "Especially in Texas, my God, only a Lone Star state like Texas, which is so determined to crack down on drugs and whose culture is completely at odds with Los Angeles, New York, or Chicago, could have such a miracle!" After saying that, Li Qing smiled shyly at Gavin.

Gavin leaned forward gently and patted Li Qing on the shoulder.

"What, are you envious, young man?"

"If you're envious, find one yourself!"

At this point, Gavin casually pointed towards the second floor of the manor, and continued to laugh.

"We have dozens of women in our camp now, don't we? Although the total number isn't huge, it should be enough for you to choose from!" "You, Li Qing, have thick eyebrows and big eyes, and you're a scholar, a rare find in post-apocalyptic life. You have both knowledge and status, so you should be a hot commodity in the eyes of women." "Finding a partner shouldn't be difficult for you, and Texas women are really loyal to marriage."

At this point, Gavin couldn't help but recall the divorce rate in Texas before the apocalypse.

After a moment, Gavin, who had finally remembered the matter, laughed.

"Texas has a divorce rate of only 0.21%, which is far better than major cities like Los Angeles and New York." "So, at least in Texas, feelings are still something to be trusted, aren't they?"

"Li Qing, don't complain about white girls having more downy hair or a slightly stronger body odor."

"That's just an isolated incident, not as exaggerated as you think. So, you should pick a nice girl you like and start a family. Passing on your intelligence is the most important thing." As he finished speaking, Gavin revealed a mischievous smile.

Li Qing stared blankly at Gavin.

He really didn't expect that he would encounter this kind of pressure to get married even in America!

Shouldn't this be a regular part of his routine when he goes back to his hometown and faces all his relatives?

As a result... his seven aunts and eight cousins ​​possessed the eldest brother's body?

Li Qing swallowed hard and then quickly stood up.

"Cough cough..."

He coughed twice, cleared his throat, and then responded helplessly.

"I'll consider it, boss. Um... I'll go back to my experiments now!"

"On the one hand, I need to continue investigating whether the giant mushroom contains the radiation-related substances you mentioned. On the other hand, I need to cultivate my experimental bacteria to determine whether the post-apocalyptic environment of zombie fungus proliferation will affect the natural growth and extraction of bacterial colonies such as penicillin."

"Well... cough cough, that's it, I'm off, boss!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qing, like every young person being pressured to get married, hurriedly ran away from Gavin.

As Li Qing pushed open the manor gate and left, at the second-floor guard post...

Madison, who had been idly standing guard with his gun, suddenly couldn't resist stumbling over to the handrail and peering at Gavin, asking, "Boss, that Asphalt kid...did he just swear at me? I think I heard him say that..."

"Haha, don't fucking overthink it, that's Chinese, you old bastard, what do you know about Chinese anyway, haha~"

Gavin immediately laughed and gave Madison the middle finger, and then the two of them burst into laughter as they looked at each other.

Madison and Gavin had been hanging out for ages, playing basketball and partying together. They'd been inseparable for four or five years, and Madison was practically Gavin's loyal follower. He wouldn't be angry at Gavin for using that kind of word.

And so, amidst their loud laughter...

The workers on the estate became much more enthusiastic, even the cleaning staff worked much faster. They didn't understand what Gavin and his companion were laughing about.

But the fact that the camp leader and core members were all in high spirits was enough to make them feel good as well.

Simon's death ultimately cast a shadow of both absurdity and helplessness over the camp.

Gavin's return and his laughter did indeed somewhat alleviate this gloom.

In the distance of the lobby on the first floor, Abel, carrying two Switches from the game room to the medical room, also heard Gavin's laughter. After the laughter subsided, Abel paused briefly, then smiled slightly and walked into Arturo's ward with the game consoles. After a month of recuperation, Arturo had almost fully recovered.

Although his injuries were initially very serious, fortunately they were treated in a timely manner, and old Bert's medical skills were swift and efficient.

Moreover, Arturo's wound did not become infected, even though there was no shortage of antibiotics at the camp.

Besides, although Abel is a bald guy with a scorpion tattoo on his face, he is very dedicated to taking care of his brothers.

In short, Arturo has now taken off his hospital gown and is doing back extensions between two hospital beds in normal clothes, as part of his rehabilitation exercises. The past month of recovery has resulted in a significant loss of muscle mass.

This broke Arturo's heart.

For these former low-level gang members, muscles are one of their calling cards, and also one of the core elements of their self-expression and intimidation. Texas gangsters who want to intimidate others either have fierce tattoos, fierce muscles, or simply transform themselves into filthy fat monsters. In Texas, piercing culture isn't as prevalent as in other states. Trying to scare people in Texas with various facial piercings and heterochromatic eyes injected with ink is impossible; it would only elicit genuine laughter from Texans. At this moment, Abel entered the ward and saw Arturo doing push-ups, so he gripped his game console and asked...

"Starting training? Bro? Are you sure your body's okay?"

"Of course, not meat! If it weren't for the apocalypse, I could have found Angela and given her a good time to prove that even though I only have one egg left, I'm still a fierce and fearless man!" Arturo replied as he got up from the ground.

More than a month of rest eventually caused his physical fitness to decline; he was exhausted after only doing about seventy push-ups.

You know, back in prison, he could do 150 push-ups in one go and only break a slight sweat; this past month in the hospital has really made him degenerate. As for Angela he mentioned…

Well, to put it simply, with this name, one in every twenty prostitutes in America is bound to name herself after an angel.

Even every professional brothel has its own Angela (a female brothel staff member)...

A stereotype becomes a stereotype precisely because the phenomenon must be extremely common.

For example, Black people don't have fathers; prostitutes are called Angela; sticking out one's tongue means sexual consent; people from Northeast China love to brag, etc. These phenomena are really very common.

Of course, the perception that lower-class Black Americans don't have fathers is largely due to the fact that families with multiple children and no fathers tend to receive more financial assistance. In a situation where a Black mother is raising multiple children alone, unless the Black father has a middle-class or higher job, families with fathers often fare worse off than those without. Besides financial reasons, another reason for the prevalence of fathers in Black families is the high rate of imprisonment for lower-class Black men. Even if a Black child happens to end up with a family-oriented Black father, that father is frequently imprisoned, effectively ending his family's life. In short, the reason stereotypes persist is because these situations are so common.

As for now.

Looking at Arturo panting heavily, and listening to his boastful tough-guy act.

Abel chuckled and casually tossed the game console onto the hospital bed.

"Now that you're physically fine... Arturo, it's time to get to work!"

"You fucking want to start the Odin cult again, don't you? You can't afford to go down that path!"

"Let's go, while the boss is at home, let's go and apply to join the internal affairs team, or the external affairs team, or even the logistics team to farm and build houses!" "Anyway, we can't stay idle here any longer. Damn it, as the number of people in the camp increases, some bitches have already started rolling their eyes at us guys who don't do much work!" At this point, Abel chuckled and shook his head.

As the number of people in the camp increased, subtle comparisons and disdain gradually emerged among the crowd.

Upon hearing this, Arturo nodded, then turned on the game console, glanced at it, and said with a smile.

"Let's go see the boss now. After we get the results, we can come back and continue playing games."

"These past few days, the boss has been focused on Lake Livingston. Hopefully, the astronauts will return unharmed, otherwise, his mood will be absolutely terrible for the next while!" "At that point, forget about asking the boss to let me join the internal affairs team; I'm even afraid he'll remember how stupid we were in the past and shoot me!" "Of course, the boss won't do that. He's a rare and wonderful boss."

"But I'm afraid of him, damn it, I'm really afraid of him!"

"Although he rarely killed, it was precisely because he rarely killed that the indifference he showed when he did kill was all the more terrifying!"

"Because my damned gangster life taught me one of the most real things."

"If feeling indifferent about something isn't because you've done it too much, then it must be a problem with the person themselves!"

"The boss himself... he's the kind of tough Texas cowboy at heart."

"I doubt even his own life holds much importance for him!"

"He's a real thug!"