Chapter 838: Clues

Chapter 838 -8: Clues

Perhaps it’s the extraordinary physique of the “new body” after the solitary island challenge.

Perhaps it’s the foundational effect of that Genetic Modification Injection from the first supply in the Prehistoric World.

In any case, the side effects written in the manual didn’t last long; by the third day, Chen Zhou had recovered to about eighty to ninety percent of his peak condition. ℴ

Apart from his original abilities, the newly injected two doses also showed effects.

The “defensive” and “reactive” medicines further enhanced his physical qualities.

Among them, the defensive injection had the most significant effect. Chen Zhou’s skin, already modified once to be much tougher than ordinary human skin, showed terrifying flexibility after this modification.

After getting up, he once tested himself with a military saber—

With his strength, stabbing with the tip required at least a substantial amount of force to pierce the epidermis.

With skin this tough, an ordinary person swinging a knife with full force might not even cause a mild injury.

As for the tissues under the skin, such as muscles, fascia, tendons, and ligaments, they probably possess far greater toughness than ordinary people.

Besides the most apparent skin defense strength, Chen Zhou’s injury repair speed also reached a level close to that seen in superhero movies.

Although not comparable to the regenerative abilities of characters like Deadpool or Wolverine, who can regrow limbs and are nearly immortal, minor injuries can instantly stop bleeding and heal at a speed visible to the naked eye.

During the healing process, the muscles even expel foreign objects from the body, giving Chen Zhou some confidence in handling firearms.

Last night, while buying food and gathering information at the store, he also bought a dozen old newspapers from the owner, which greatly helped him understand this world.

According to the newspapers, firearms used in the United States in 1947 were mostly surplus from World War II military supplies.

Among them, police handguns were primarily revolvers, mainly the Smith & Wesson Military & Police model using .38 Special cartridges.

As Chen Zhou knew, these bullets were notorious for their insufficient stopping power and poor lethality, with cases of hitting ordinary people multiple times without incapacitating them. If hit on his body, unless directly hitting a vital point, it’s unlikely to be lethal.

However, the Smith & Wesson model wasn’t the standard issue for police in backward places like Arkansas.

From the journalist’s article, Chen Zhou learned that standard firearms used in remote towns were mostly the eight US Dollar Harrington revolvers, old and possessing similar insufficient lethality, poor accuracy, and prone to malfunction.

Of course, handguns are but a small part of firearms circulating in the entire United States. In this “free” country, long guns naturally have a presence.

Winchester, Stevens, and other shotguns, including various models with both long and short barrels.

Within a 50m effective killing range, these guns could instantly bring down a grizzly bear, undoubtedly lethal to Chen Zhou.

As for the Springfield M1903, Winchester M94 lever-action rifles, though rare, a hit to vital points could result in instant death.

Especially the Springfield, this World War I relic with a long range, still widely retained and privately owned, is what Chen Zhou fears most.

Due to the far range of such guns, beyond his observational capacity, making it hard to notice the shooter aiming, it poses the greatest threat. Even wearing Light Armor, if hit in the lung or heart, given the horrific power of modern firearms, Chen Zhou cannot guarantee survival.

After shotguns and rifles, there are the infamous Thompson submachine gun and M1 carbine, both widely held, with some mafia groups even capable of acquiring them from police or military reserves. They pose equally significant threats.

Besides, gang-favored .45 automatic pistols, Browning Automatic Rifles, and the Panamanian Liberator pistol are also worth noting.

Transitioning from the Cold Weapons era to the firearms age, on one hand, Chen Zhou must guard against changes in enemy attack methods, and on the other, arm himself.

Everyone else uses guns; he can’t just keep using a knife.

While figuring out how to get a few guns, he also needs to stuff some thick steel plates into his clothes.

For ordinary people, heavy steel plates impose a substantial burden, severely impacting agility, so even if somewhat practical, they aren’t accepted.

But for Chen Zhou, thick steel plates are the best defense method.

Objects weighing dozens of pounds feel weightless on him, yet can effectively resist the pressure firearms bring, the advantages overwhelmingly larger than the drawbacks, making him able to accept a weight gain of dozens of pounds.

Moreover, if truly cornered, the steel plates on his body can be pulled out and used as weapons; even a tiger can’t withstand a blow from these.

…

Compared to the specific performance increase in defense, the enhancement in response capability isn’t as obvious.

In modern times, to understand his body’s changes, Chen Zhou had conducted various experiments testing response speed.

Data showed that even then, his response speed was nearly 2.5 times that of an average person.

After this injection, due to the lack of a suitable testing method and no reference for comparison, Chen Zhou had no idea about the degree of increase.

He estimated that the defensive injection might have had a synergistic effect, while the reaction increase might have hit a marginal utility, encountering dilution, perhaps only producing half or less of the expected effect.