Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

Anyhow, since everyone present could eat like competitive eaters, it didn't take long before Anne accompanied me to check the body I was machining for Mr. Alvarez. With that said, even if I left it running overnight, it didn't mean that the whole thing would be finished by the time I checked on it.

I just punched in the measurements for the main body but the other parts such as the doors, the hood, the logo, a few artistic liberties, and even the wheels needed to be done at a different set.

Anne was shaking her head when she saw the finished body—the main body, "You did this by eye?"

"Yep," I answered as I punched in the measurements for the hood.

"You aren't even checking the one you just made?"

"Already did, it's not as perfect as I wanted it to be but it'll do."

"..."

"What? We can't do it now, we still have a lot to—"

"I'm not thinking about that! I j-just have nothing to say!"

"Ah, I see. Wanna start working on your stuff?"

"My stuff— Don't say it like that! Say we should start working on the thing we talked about earlier?"

"But… we also talked about that earlier—"

Anne let out a playful chuckle, "Ugh! You're so annoying! I don't know if you really wanna do it now or what! I'm talking about the filters and the rain collectors we talked about!"

"Ah~ I see, I see… Anyway, the rain collectors are pretty easy to do without a guide but do take note that filtering water and purifying it are a little different, okay? We might use it interchangeably—which often gets people confused but there's more to it than that. Up for a short one?"

"A s-short one?"

"A lesson, I mean… Sorry for confusing you—"

"I swear you're doing it on purpose!"

"I dunno what you're talking about. You're the one confusing what I meant with other things."

"Yeah, yeah, sure~" Anne shook her head, "Anyway~ do tell me about the difference between the two."

"Alright, I said filtering and purifying but what I think is the more understandable way to… you know, understand it is just to know what kind of things we filter from the water so it's safe to drink."

"So… can't we just stick to saying the word filtering instead of purifying?"

"Again, it gets really confusing because 'filtering' water is a process to remove contaminants from our drinking water but it's mostly just sediments or other larger stuff. But 'purifying', on the other hand, also removes contaminants—like the filtering process, but it also removes… bacteria, viruses, and other pollutants."

"I see… so purifying is just like an advanced form of filtering."

"Oh! Right, that's one way to look at it, yes. But do know that purifying water can be done in a number of ways like distilling water or by using a reverse osmosis machine that could be used on salt water to make it drinkable. But don't forget about the tried and true method of boiling water for 5-10 minutes. Most of the time, that's all you would need but you can't be sure every single time. But yeah, boiling water or drinking it through a lifestraw or something similar might be better compared to just getting them from the tap."

"I heard some tablets or chemicals also work."

"Yeah, water-purifying tablets work but they should be treated as luxuries. We don't have a lot of them now and if we're talking about iodine, bleach, or something similar, it does leave a nasty aftertaste so there's that."

"Hmm~ These options are out of my range and I dunno—"

"You don't have to stress about it right now because there's already a solution for that. In fact, I've seen a few of those still sitting pretty outside with no one bothering to take them inside."

"Huh? I don't remember there being filters outside except for those ones that had some sand or something in those 5-gallon jugs. We already took some of them but it's easier to use the tap."

I waved her off, "Not those ones. Well, they could also help filter your water but we're talking about filtration/purification machines at the moment. From the time we entered this town and got inside this place, I've seen eight stores that have them."

"You've seen eight stores that sell them? Really?"

"No, not sell. They have it for the purpose of selling what goes through them. Do you—"

"Oh! The places that sell mineral water! I get it now!"

"Right. They might have different brands of bottled mineral water but the machine they use is almost always the same. And don't worry, it's not that hard to use those machines to filter your water because most of the time, you'd just have to turn it on and it does the work for you. I can help you with that once we bring a few of those over here."

Anne nodded with a smile, "That'll be great! I'll tell— Wait, what else are you hiding in that head of yours?"

I was slightly taken aback, "Hiding?"

"I mean… Do you have more ideas to help me improve this place?"

I chuckled, "There's a few more like making gym equipment for doing pull-ups or dips—you know, bodyweight stuff, but we can't do everything at once, right? Besides, I just took in a new disciple so I have to see what he got, your crew too."

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"C'mon being strong does not equal being good in a fight. It's a requirement, sure, but there's more to it than that."

Anne just had a realization, "I just remembered. They told me you beat Benjie—even Mauro. Talking to you like this made me think that you're just like me but you're pretty strong in a fight too. You're the Champions of Champions or whatever… Hmm~"

"Something wrong about that?"

"Not really but… I do need to ask for a favor."

"Hmm?"

"I've never beaten Quinn in a fight— Heck, landing even a clean hit is out of the picture. Can you help me with that? I'll do anything you ask for a day."

"You mean I can't already do that? Huh. I thought I already impressed you."

Anne cutely rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms, "Hah! You wish! Well~ You're not too far off. You have 15 minutes though, we can go over that corner before you go out…"

"Good enough for me."

"C'mon! I can't wait!"

With that said, Anne and I sneaked away for a short bit to have some fun but by the end of those 15 minutes, I had to carry her to her room. She never looked so embarrassed when everyone saw her in my arm but she hammered her fists on my back when I carried her like a sack of potatoes.

She completely denied my help when I tried to clean her up so but I waited for the feeling in her legs to come back before I gathered half of my crew and a few others for the small retrieval mission. Surprisingly enough, Myke and Coleen came with us and they brought another guy—Joe, Number 466, who helped me hook up a trailer to my Raptor.