Apocalypse: the Most Ruthless Person

Chapter 359 - 308: Handmade Nuclear Bomb

"Woof, woof..."

Good Fortune roared as she ran toward the mountain stream, her angry voice seemingly accusing Zhang Su of blowing up her workplace...

"What’s going on?"

"What went wrong..."

The strong flashlight shone deep into the mountain stream, but in the true darkness of the night, a regular flashlight was almost useless. The distance seemed like a black hole swallowing all light sources.

"Hey, should we go over and take a look?"

Liu Tianji, who was very curious, pointed to the depths of the stream and suggested.

Zhang Su shook his head with a sigh, saying, "Damn it, if I had known it was this powerful, I wouldn’t have conducted the test on the mountain. Whether it’s the explosion’s power or the landslide, it’s too damn scary, alright. If you don’t want your head flattened, don’t go. We’ll wait until it’s safe tomorrow night."

Safety is no small matter, and after hearing Zhang Su say this, no one insisted further.

"Teacher Xiaoyu, what do you think of the explosive power of this thing?"

Zhang Su asked the question he had been meaning to ask. Usually, when both Yuwen and Yu Qing were present, he would add "Xiaoyu" to Yu Qing’s title for distinction.

Yu Qing wasn’t scratched by gravel because Zhao Dezhu reacted quickly and protected her in a rough yet considerate manner when Zhang Su called out.

Upon hearing Zhang Su’s question, Yu Qing quickly shook her head and said, "To my knowledge, the energy released by nuclear fission can be compared to the explosion just now! Even more powerful are nuclear fusion... and some methods that current human technology finds difficult to control."

"Then... can we quantify the power of that explosion just now in terms of TNT equivalent?"

What Zhang Su most wanted to know was this; others couldn’t see clearly, but he had a clear view of the tree’s destruction, instantly torn to shreds by the light. One could imagine that humans in such an explosion wouldn’t fare any better than the tree.

Yu Qing shook her head, a bit bewildered, unable to answer this question with her professional knowledge.

"Uh, well..." Wu Lue raised his hand and said, "Brother Su, I’ve got some data that might help you. Want me to share?"

"Of course, go ahead."

Zhang Su knew that Wu Lue was a bit socially anxious, afraid to speak when there were many people, which hadn’t changed even in the apocalypse.

"I once watched a science program that introduced the approximate power of some explosives, and I remember..."

Wu Lue scratched his head, organizing his thoughts, and shared the most reliable data: "A fifteen-kilogram gas cylinder, if fully exploded, is equivalent to one hundred and fifty kilograms of TNT. Just two gas cylinders, that’s three hundred kilograms, can blow down a six-story building. That’s it."

"I feel like the explosion just now was enough to collapse a six-story building, pretty damn scary."

Zhao Dezhu grimaced, stating that while protecting Yu Qing, he got hit on the back of his head by a rock; it didn’t bleed but surely swelled up.

Zhang Su nodded and said, "I also think the explosion’s power should exceed three hundred kilograms of TNT. Dr. Fu, do you have any relevant data?"

Fu Weijun had skinned his palm while dodging earlier but didn’t care. He leaned on his chin, pondered a moment, and said, "Five hundred, I think the explosion’s power was similar to five hundred kilograms of TNT. Just... never mind, Mr. Zhang, consider the five hundred kilograms as a reference."

After speaking, Fu Weijun fell into deep thought, seemingly troubled by something.

"Right, right, I remember it was said that a thousand kilograms of TNT, without adding other lethal materials, has a blast radius of one hundred and twenty meters. Brother Su, you know the approximate distance of the explosion, calculate it."

Wu Lue added.

Zhang Su touched his cheek, feeling the cold wind chill it, and gestured for everyone to head back to camp while saying, "I think Dr. Fu’s answer is quite reasonable. Zero point five milliliters can create about five hundred kilograms of TNT’s power. Damn, is it really this powerful? Did we miscalculate..."

As he spoke, he couldn’t help but question his arithmetic.

It was just stored in a plastic bottle earlier. If it were made like a bomb, the shrapnel’s lethal range would be more than double that of the blast wave, almost unbelievably powerful.

"If according to Dr. Fu’s ratio, there was no miscalculation." Yu Qing gave Zhang Su a definite answer.

Zhang Su swallowed a gulp of saliva, remaining silent, his expression exceedingly serious. He unconsciously felt the small glass bottle in his bag, making a quick calculation: there were roughly fourteen milliliters left in the bottle, equating to fourteen tons of TNT!

This was terrifying; the standard payload of the beautiful Tomahawk cruise missile was around five hundred kilograms, meaning he had the equivalent of twenty-eight Tomahawk missiles in his pocket, but unfortunately, there was no launch system.

"Oh my god..."

Yu Qing suddenly realized something and covered her mouth in shock, saying, "If zero point five milliliters can create a five hundred kilogram equivalent explosion, it’s already at the level of nuclear fission!"

One kilogram of Uranium-235, fully fissioned, releases about fifteen thousand tons of TNT equivalent energy, but one gram of hydrogen atoms through nuclear fusion releases energy equivalent to one hundred forty tons of TNT, nearly ten times the fission.

That’s just the theoretical value. In actual use, there are significant losses; Little Boy carried fifty kilograms of Uranium-235, and it ultimately released about fifteen thousand tons of energy, indicating a fifty-fold discrepancy between actual and theoretical values!

Based on this ratio, one gram of uranium-235 in an actual explosion is only equivalent to three hundred kilograms, slightly lower than the Venom Liquid.

When this assessment was released, everyone stood silent in the cold wind.

Gulp.

Many people swallowed hard, nuclear weapons, humanity’s ultimate destructive tool.

"Um, will there be nuclear radiation?"

Wu Lue asked with a peculiar expression.

"No nuclear radiation!" Fu Weijun quickly replied, "I’ve tested the Venom Zombies, and at least no radiation that our technology can detect."

"Even without nuclear radiation, it’s strong enough, crafting nuclear bombs, oh my!" Zhao Dezhu shook his hands, suddenly feeling his spine straighten!

"Well, everyone, let’s disperse, disperse."

Back at the camp, Zhang Su dispersed the crowd watching the spectacle, leaving only him and Fu Weijun, along with Duan Wuhu pushing the wheelchair.

Duan Wuhu noticed Zhang Su had something to discuss with Fu Weijun, and tactfully asked, "Brother Zhang, should I step aside?"

"It’s fine."

Zhang Su shook his head, seeing Fu Weijun still engrossed in thought, patted his shoulder and said, "Dr. Fu, let me take care of the Venom Liquid in the lab, we can discuss other uses later. Just the explosion feature is quite valuable."

Comparable to the power of a nuclear bomb, Zhang Su did not trust anyone else to handle the Venom Liquid. It’s no exaggeration to say that just half a bottle could flatten the residential area, and two bottles would be enough to collapse the mountain on this side!

The power is too terrifying; it must be in his control to feel at ease.

Fu Weijun absentmindedly nodded upon hearing Zhang Su’s words and muttered, "It’s strange, there was no flame just now, which is interesting, so what’s the principle behind this explosion?"

"Flame? Yeah..."

Upon hearing Fu Weijun’s words, Zhang Su’s heart moved, as he hadn’t had time to consider other issues earlier. Now, listening to Fu Weijun, he realized that during the explosion, only purple light flashed, and it ended directly in darkness, without even a spark!

If it were a normal explosion, with the surrounding dry leaves and weeds, it should have ignited some of them.

Among all these people present, only Fu Weijun noticed this phenomenon and delved into it, even Yu Qing didn’t care because she didn’t witness the explosion herself, only felt the gust of wind brush past.

Zhang Su suddenly reacted, saying, "If the Venom Liquid explosion doesn’t cause combustion, does that mean... it can be used to deal with the Zombies?"

That level of explosion just now, without exaggeration, would definitely clear a fifty-meter radius of Zombies. This area is a circle of eight thousand square meters, enough to hold more than twenty thousand Zombies!

And this is just the power of 0.5 milliliters; Fu Weijun extracted about thirty milliliters from a Venom Zombie’s brain!

"It’s indeed a powerful weapon against Zombies, triggering it wouldn’t be a problem. Simply using a walkie-talkie to make a remote ignition device, if there’s no interference source, it can be controlled easily within four or five hundred meters, truly badass. We can rest easy in the future!"

Duan Wuhu was amazed. Having a heavy weapon to defend against Zombies in the camp was a joyful matter.

"Can’t say rest easy, but at least the safety factor will increase significantly!"

Zhang Su exhaled deeply, the destructive power of the Venom Liquid is immense, it’s a double-edged sword, but as long as the sword-wielder masters Swordsmanship, they will be invincible.

"Don’t know if there are still such Zombies wandering outside..."

Understanding the importance of the Venom Liquid, Zhang Su began to worry about the source issue.

The three headed towards the lab, Duan Wuhu said, "Today, we and the Bridge Town folks led away at least two to three thousand Zombies, maybe there’s a Venom Zombie among them!"

"Such Zombies can’t be left wandering outside!"

Zhang Su frowned and said.

Fu Weijun quickly chimed in, "Yes, we should capture all the Venom Zombies for research."

"No..." Zhang Su was amused by Fu Weijun’s perseverance, shook his head and said, "The main issue is this substance is too threatening, it’s fine if no one knows, but if others discover it, that would be problematic!"

Exclusive secrets are valuable, unless in the future we can master how to artificially create Mutated Zombies, otherwise the Venom Liquid will just deplete over time, I can do without it, but others certainly cannot have it!

Thinking of this, Zhang Su decided to go out and search tomorrow, as this matter requires a personal touch because his vision is impressive, and the Venom Zombies are not much different from regular Zombies when not attacking. Fortunately, nowadays all Zombies are mostly bare-skinned. If they wore down jackets, you couldn’t tell them apart!

Coupled with the fact that Zombie hordes don’t favor close observation, his efficiency in searching alone is equivalent to ten people.