On this day, Zhang Su was leading the team in their daily training when Wu Lue’s urgent voice came through the walkie-talkie.

"Brother Su, Brother Su, there’s a Petrified Skin Zombie! At the mountain gate, hurry and come!"

"Don’t kill it, I’m on my way!"

Without a second thought, Zhang Su instructed some of the team to continue training and called for Zheng Xinyu, Lu Yubo, and others to head toward the mountain gate.

Given that Petrified Skin Zombies might have special uses, Zhang Su had been leading searches outside during these days. Unfortunately, with zombies gathering in difficult-to-handle clusters and the rarity of Petrified Skin Zombies, they had captured only seven in three days.

After testing, they identified a trait of the Petrified Skin Zombies: as long as their heads were covered with an opaque bag, they would calm down. The reason was unknown, but leveraging this trait, they easily trapped seven zombies at the back of the RV’s garage, docile and quiet as can be...

Unexpectedly, a Petrified Skin Zombie had come knocking today.

Howl, howl...

"Brother Su! I’ve taken care of the normal zombies. This one, look, it’s definitely a Petrified Skin Zombie—stiff as hell."

Wu Lue pointed to a hole in the wall as Zhang Su and the others approached.

"That’s right!"

Zhang Su recognized it immediately and instructed the group, "Open the gate, let’s get it in here."

While Wu Lue struggled to capture a Petrified Skin Zombie alone, once Zhang Su and his team joined in, they easily subdued it, put a burlap sack over its head, and tossed it aside. It stayed calm—not entirely motionless, but moving very slowly.

"Brother Su, tossing them into the back of the RV is hardly a long-term solution... How about we change the location?"

Lu Yubo scratched his head, looking worriedly at the RV in the parking area.

Zhang Su nodded, "Yes, Dr. Fu’s research needs time, and we need to use the RV, so we can’t keep storing them there. I saw a good spot in the park yesterday that we can move the zombies to."

As Zhang Su mentioned, about one hundred and eighty meters into the Celestial Horse Island park stood a temple that appeared quite imposing. However, it was without any statues, likely just recently finished, leaving its divine purpose unknown.

The temple’s courtyard was spacious, with a large incense burner standing prominently in the center, merely dust-covered and clean...

They all agreed that this location was perfect to confine the zombies. After some busy work, they tossed the eight Petrified Skin Zombies into the temple. With their heads covered, they behaved well, leisurely wandering around the courtyard, occasionally bumping into the incense burner and changing direction.

The busy days passed unnoticed, and soon it was the day before their meeting with the Cyan Dragon Corps.

"Mr. Zhang, try these gloves!"

In the laboratory, Fu Weijun handed a bizarre pair of gloves to Zhang Su.

Looking at the gloves, Zhang Su noticed their rough stitching and grotesque patterns. They were slightly heavier than typical leather gloves, with a familiar design that startled him. "These... are made from zombie skin?"

"Precisely!" Fu Weijun nodded eagerly, a hopeful look directed at Zhang Su, "Made from the skin of Petrified Skin Zombies, they are extremely durable. Give them a try!"

"Oh?"

Intrigued by Fu Weijun’s words, Zhang Su carefully put on the gloves.

As his hand touched the interior of the gloves, the unique texture caused his heart to tremble. Before mutation, this was human skin, and even after mutation, it couldn’t shake its origin as human skin...

The cold, sluggish sensation quickly faded once the gloves were on, slowly warming up to match his hand temperature. The once-cloying texture adjusted perfectly—a firm grip without chafing, securely fastened, ensuring they wouldn’t slip during work or combat.

"Knife!"

Fu Weijun leaned on the wheelchair handles with both hands, eagerly saying, "Mr. Zhang, try it with a knife!"

Hearing this, Zhang Su drew a knife from his waist with his left hand, slashing it forcefully across the glove. He could feel the pressure, but it caused no damage, as if slicing into the toughest rhino hide, akin to scratching an itch through a boot.

Once more, he increased the pressure, his arm trembling from the force, yet only a groove was left on the glove, which quickly returned to its original form moments later. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"Wow, this is something else!"

Holding his glove-clad hand up, Zhang Su inspected it repeatedly, ignoring the faint peculiar odor and its odd pattern—practicality outweighed everything!

"Is this the experimental result with the Petrified Skin Zombies?"

With a satisfied smile, Fu Weijun replied, "Exactly, an astounding discovery! Petrified skin, once removed from the zombie body, rapidly becomes more resilient, yet remains as pliable as normal skin. It’s unfortunate we lack the instruments to observe molecular changes, a science beyond my comprehension!"

"While intact on the zombie, the skin is tough, but with some effort, we can damage it. In contrast, once separated, its resilience exceeds measurable limits!"

Discussing his research findings, Fu Weijun’s eyes shone brightly.

"Unmeasurable limits?"

This time, Zhang Su was excited, expecting Fu Weijun to have accumulated related data, yet there was none!

"Maybe the knives I brought from the Survivor Alliance aren’t sharp enough, but I can’t cause any damage to the glove regardless!"

Fu Weijun spread his hands proudly, clearly pleased with the discovery.

However, Zhang Su waved him off, saying, "Dr. Fu, you might be overlooking something!"

"Huh?" Fu Weijun was surprised, thinking what could I have missed that you’ve noticed?

That couldn’t be!

Zhang Su drew out a lighter from his pocket, stating, "You may not have seen the frenzy of burning zombies. From past observations, zombies’ skin is highly flammable; if the petrified skin ignites easily as well, then..."

Mid-sentence, he clicked the lighter on, cautiously moving the glove to the flame.

Fu Weijun frowned, indeed having forgotten about testing it with fire, now tensely observing.

"Hmm?"

Testing it against the flame, Zhang Su found no signs of ignition, much to his satisfaction. Continuing to wear it while exposing it to the flame, he realized it neither caught fire nor did the heat penetrate easily!

The ordinary lighter’s flame reached about four hundred degrees Celsius, yet the heat felt in his hand was no more than sixty or seventy, resembling the sensation of candle wax dripping on skin (typically, melting occurs at seventy degrees).

"How is it?"

Fu Weijun eagerly awaited an answer.

Zhang Su nodded his approval, "Fireproof, heat-resistant, showing no deformation at three to four hundred degrees—impressive!"

"Truly exceeding typical material capabilities!"

Pumping a fist in excitement, Fu Weijun agreed.

"In the past, Dr. Fu, this material could have made you not just a billionaire, but potentially the world’s wealthiest man!"

Material science being a highly advanced field, if producible en masse, the wealth it could generate would be immense.

"Speaking of money, I’m embarrassed. I’ve spent over a hundred million of my family’s money since I was a kid but have never earned a penny... I’m not interested in money."

Fu Weijun quoted Teacher Ma’s well-known axiom, his face showing rare nostalgia and melancholy, likely remembering his parents.

Well well well, thought Zhang Su, so this person was already from a billionaire family...

Spending over a hundred million implies assets of at least ten times that!

Noticing the mood shift, Zhang Su coughed slightly, "Since we’ve eliminated the biggest risk, and ordinary blades can’t breach the defense, it’s time to try something more powerful!"

Saying this, he pulled out the USP from his back—unused for quite some time!

"Let’s see if it’s bulletproof!"

"So exciting, let’s start quickly!"

Fu Weijun quickly snapped out of his reverie, appearing even more eager than Zhang Su.

"I’ll find somewhere to fix the glove."

Zhang Su took off the glove, looked around, and finding nowhere suitable, hooked it directly onto a wall hook.

Afterwards, he wheeled Fu Weijun to the balcony and sought a safe spot from bullet ricochets, aimed at the glove on the wall, and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

The muffled sound echoed, reverberating through their eardrums.

The zombies confined to beds sensed it too, letting out strange howls.

While cleaning his ears, Zhang Su rushed to the wall, retrieved the glove, and said, "No penetration, only a few burn marks. A quick brush and a lot of it cleans right off!"

"Fantastic!"

Fu Weijun excitedly waved his arms.

Knock, knock, knock.

While they were celebrating, a knock interrupted them, Zhao Dezhu’s anxious voice calling out, "Brother, was that you shooting?"

"It was me, just conducting an experiment, no worries!"

Zhang Su opened the door, finding four people gathered outside, and after explaining to dispel their concerns, shut the door again.