Chapter Thirty-One: Blood Moon Rising (Part One)

In this shop, the rooftop was undoubtedly the safest place. The doors and windows on the first and second floors had all been sealed, which made them appear secure. Yet, it was precisely because of this that if a zombie managed to slip in somewhere, Qin Fei would find himself trapped inside, unable to escape due to the tightly sealed exits.

But the rooftop was different. The view there was wide and unobstructed. Even if zombies suddenly appeared, Qin Fei could immediately leap from any side of the rooftop and make his escape. Though he would likely be injured in the process, a broken bone was still better than being devoured by the undead.

Qin Fei climbed up to the rooftop. After laying out his sleeping bag, he carried up some cardboard boxes, wooden planks, and other miscellaneous items from the warehouse below, using them to block the rooftop entrance. This was the only way up to the roof.

While moving the boxes, he found a length of sturdy rope among the warehouse clutter. It was just what he needed. He looped one end around his waist, then circled the rest around his sleeping bag. In this way, he set a simple tripwire trap, often used when camping in the wild. If any zombies approached while he slept, they would be forced to cross the tripwire. Should one pull the rope, the knot tied at his waist would ensure he was jolted awake.

Only after these preparations did Qin Fei allow himself to relax and settle into his sleeping bag.

In the world of Seven Day Slaughter, perhaps due to the aftermath of the Third World War, the skies over the Naviigan region were shrouded in a perpetual, gloomy mist, both day and night. Within the clouds, faint streaks of crimson could be seen—ominous signs heralding the coming of the Blood Moon.

Since his arrival in this world, Qin Fei had survived six nights. In other words, tomorrow would bring the most perilous time in the world of Seven Day Slaughter: the night of the Blood Moon.

On the night of the Blood Moon, no matter where one hid, no matter how far away zombies might be, they would sense your presence. The undead would immediately converge on the nearest living target, attacking relentlessly. Qin Fei knew that, on his own, he stood no chance of surviving the Blood Moon.

So early the next morning, Qin Fei hurried back to the Baishui River Camp with the food he’d scavenged from the bakery. After taking inventory, he exchanged his haul for over five hundred casino tokens based on the camp’s standard value system.

No sooner had he finished than the female doctor called him over to help mix cement. Including Qin Fei, there were four of them working together. Their task was to finish mixing the cement and use it to reinforce the camp’s outer walls.

The original Baishui River Camp had actually been destroyed by a horde of zombies during the last Blood Moon. Everything Qin Fei now saw had been rebuilt in haste by the surviving refugees who fled here. The main materials were bricks mixed with mud, making the structures far from sturdy.

The cement was made the old-fashioned way: stones were fired in a furnace, then combined with sand to produce a rough, quick-drying cement. While not especially strong, it was said to be sufficient for withstanding tonight’s Blood Moon.

Everyone in the camp had only one mission today: strengthen the camp’s defenses. Five others wielded axes, knives, and planes at the workbench, tirelessly whittling sharp wooden stakes—caltrops to ring the walls.

On the night of the Blood Moon, zombies were driven purely by instinct, attacking any survivors and destroying every obstacle they encountered. Lacking intelligence, the undead would charge straight into the caltrops rather than avoiding them. And although they felt no pain, injuries to their legs would still slow them down, sometimes forcing them to crawl instead of run.

This gave the survivors atop the walls a chance to pick them off one by one with ranged weapons.

In addition to the caltrops, they crafted a large supply of wooden arrows. Fighting zombies with bows and crossbows during the Blood Moon was not the same as clearing out a house while scavenging. So long as the Blood Moon lasted, there would be no chance to retrieve and reuse fired iron arrows. Besides, zombies during the Blood Moon were already in a heightened state of aggression, so there was no need to use iron arrows to ensure a one-shot kill as when cleaning houses.

Thus, for defense during the Blood Moon, cheap and plentiful wooden arrows became the survivors' weapon of choice.

Generally, firearms weren’t needed for the earliest Blood Moon, despite the camp's decent stockpile. The real issue was the scarcity of ammunition. Guns were primarily reserved for dealing with mutant zombies. Of course, sometimes they were also used against other survivors—some people in the apocalypse were far more terrifying than the undead.

Apart from ranged weapons, long spears were also invaluable for defending against zombie hordes. They had good reach, were easy to make, and, most importantly, were virtually inexhaustible. Ammunition for guns diminished with each shot; arrows and bolts, though simple to craft, suffered high breakage rates and could rarely be recovered. But these wooden spears—everyone could have one.

Additionally, several Molotov cocktails were prepared for the walls. These were simple to make, needing only some cloth, bottles, and fuel—usually gasoline scavenged from abandoned cars and gas stations. Gasoline was precious in the apocalypse, useful for generators and machinery. The Molotovs were reserved for emergencies; to conserve fuel, they would only be used as a last resort.

In the world of Seven Day Slaughter, the Blood Moon came every seven days—a fact known to nearly every survivor in the Naviigan region. There was another rule: every seven Blood Moons constituted a cycle.

The first Blood Moon in a cycle was the least dangerous, with the fewest and weakest zombies. The most perilous was the seventh Blood Moon, on the forty-ninth night, when not only did the undead multiply, but mutant zombies with unique abilities began to appear—each more difficult to deal with.

Tonight’s Blood Moon was the first of the cycle, the easiest of the seven, and the best chance for survival.