"A miner…"
Tsunade's eye twitched. Although she had decided to quit being a ninja and graduate from that profession,
she never imagined she would become a miner, or rather, a construction worker.
At the very least, she would be a doctor or something similar. But now, Li Ke had entrusted her with this important task, making her a miner. She was speechless.
"After all, a huge horde of zombies will appear in a few days, so we can only rely on your strength to dig up enough materials for construction and defense… Of course, I will help too."
Li Ke quickly smiled and explained.
"Alright, after all, in my current state, I can't help you fight."
Sighing, Tsunade picked up the shovel Li Ke had given her, nodded helplessly, and accepted the situation.
"What about me, Brother Li Ke?"
Kiri jumped out, patted Li Ke's shoulder, and asked expectantly.
"Well, it's the same thing. Since you can't get any missions right now, you can only mine together. Don't worry, once I finish my mission, I'll come down and mine with you. And most importantly, you also have the mission of protecting Tsunade."
Li Ke took out a shovel and a pickaxe from his inventory and placed them in Kiri's hands, who was eager for battle.
Kiri: "..."
Kiri looked at the pickaxe and shovel in her hands, exchanged a helpless glance with Tsunade, and then both sighed.
"Alright, what can you do when this world is so strange? But you said you wanted to build a fortress, shouldn't we start now?"
She hoisted the pickaxe onto her shoulder and asked curiously.
"Yes, that's necessary, but right now we need to mine enough resources before we can make reinforced concrete. Basically, just keep mining. Here are your supplies; eat if you're hungry."
Li Ke smiled and handed Kiri a large pile of food and water, two short iron pipes, and over a hundred rounds of ammunition.
He then ate the last piece of roasted meat in his bowl and pointed to the shop not far away.
"I have to go do some missions now. After you've mined enough iron ore, you can make some robotic turret ammunition. This will allow you to save up some coins and buy whatever you want."
"Okay, okay…"
Kiri rolled her eyes, finished the last of her meat broth, and tossed the jar onto the side of the camp.
"In short, focus on development first, right?"
"Yes."
"No problem."
Kiri and Tsunade headed towards the mine Li Ke had dug, while Li Ke watched them begin their descent before heading towards the shop. As usual, he blocked the door, greeted the female merchant, then expertly flipped over the table, opened his skill panel, allocated skill points, and then…
"What's that guy doing at that merchant's place? He hasn't come out yet."
Keri looked curiously at the merchant's room with its closed door and asked with some doubt.
"I don't know, but it probably isn't anything good."
Tsunade paused, saying nothing. In her opinion, Li Ke wasn't a respectable person. What could he possibly be doing living in this world?
"Oh, I think I understand."
Keri's face showed disgust. Although she considered herself quite modest, she had still lived through war and naturally knew what male soldier under pressure would do.
But at least in the Celestial Realm there was music, simple video games, plus comics and novels, and comrades-in-arms.
As for this man...
"It's not entirely incomprehensible, but… um, does that female merchant he mentioned actually offer such a service?"
Kiri patted her pockets, finding no cigarettes, and sighed helplessly.
She had wanted to get some tobacco before, but unfortunately, she couldn't find any. This world was very strange; it seemed like a world full of life, but inexplicably, many things were missing.
For example, she wanted to find a lathe or pliers, but she simply couldn't find them. She could only carry the machine gun Li Ke had given her, unable to modify it herself or make a couple of revolvers.
"I don't know."
Tsunade diligently dug into the ore on the ground. What took Li Ke three or four strikes to break open, she accomplished in a single blow, even damaging other parts of the ore. Her digging speed was incredibly fast.
She understood why Li Ke wasn't building a fortress right now. At this speed, building a stronghold would probably only take a day.
While they were talking, Li Ke finally emerged. He waved to the two of them and quickly headed towards the mission location.
After watching him walk away, Kiri thought for a moment and then asked Tsunade beside her.
"Um, interested in going to take a look?"
Kiri pointed to where the female merchant was. Tsunade glanced speechlessly at the equally well-built female gunslinger and spoke with a hint of exasperation.
"I'm not interested."
"But I am!"
Kiri threw down her pickaxe and headed straight for the female merchant. Tsunade glanced at her retreating figure and followed helplessly.
The two quickly entered the female merchant's house. Although they smelled a strange odor, the female merchant's clothes were intact, and there were no unusual marks on her body.
"She really isn't moving."
Kiri looked at the motionless female merchant, curiously waving her hand in front of her and nudging her, but received no response.
Tsunade, arms crossed and flexing her massive pectoral muscles, watched Kiri groping the female merchant and spoke with a hint of exasperation.
"So what are you expecting? And aren't you worried about touching something strange?"
The lingering smell in the air didn't escape the notice of this medical ninja. She knew what was happening the moment Kiri opened the door, so she simply didn't go in.
On the contrary, Kiri, already accustomed to the various unpleasant smells, wasn't as sensitive as Tsunade, who was just about to leave the village. She simply searched the female merchant's body from head to toe, then sighed helplessly.
"No cigarettes."
She sighed, then noticed a blind spot.
"Um, but he doesn't seem to have done anything to this female merchant?"
Kiri looked at the female merchant's clean body and couldn't help but speak up, startling Tsunade.
Tsunade glanced at the female merchant while Kiri was pulling at her clothes and indeed found no signs of tampering. But realizing this, she immediately slapped her forehead in exasperation.
"So why do you care about something like this?"
"Of course, I want to see what kind of person he really is. It might sound like bragging, but you and I are both quite good-looking and have great physiques. If one day I'm sent away and you're alone, and he does something to you with his blood, I won't be able to help you. So I want to know if he's the kind of guy who's driven by lust, and if he has any outlet for his desires. But now it seems this guy is a little too innocent... the calluses on his hands..."
Kiri thought of the calluses and wounds on Li Ke's hands and couldn't help but tremble.
Tsunade fell silent, because it was the truth.
"It doesn't matter. To me, even if I end up like that, it doesn't matter."
Tsunade spoke indifferently. She was practically dead, and had left her own world. Living was better than certain death; if she faced a situation where death was inevitable, she wouldn't care.
"How can you say that? As long as you're alive, there's always a chance. Besides, you should still have people who care about you, right?"
Kiri waved her hand dismissively, then opened the merchant's inventory and bought two beers.
These were robot turret ammunition she'd just bought with scrap metal she'd dug up, but her main purpose was to see if the merchant would sell her usual weapon.
And she did.
But it was incredibly expensive, over ten thousand coin, completely different from the guns she remembered that cost a few hundred coin each.
"Ha..."
Tsunade chuckled, remaining silent.
Those she loved, and those who loved her, were mostly dead.
But Kiri was different.
She handed a beer to Tsunade.
"After all, I plan to go back alive."