Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 105 - 96: Cooperation_2

Chapter 105: Chapter 96: Cooperation_2

Today, it was Maya and Shana’s turn to fetch water, and during the process, Shana realized the gap between herself and Maya. On the first water-fetching trip, Maya carefully observed the terrain from the base to the riverbank. On the second trip, Maya drove the Overlord, utilizing its superior off-road capabilities, and took it all the way to the river.

Through the walkie-talkie, Maya had Su Shi make a few more buckets, which greatly reduced the physical strain of fetching water, cutting down the time from several hours to just 10 minutes.

Upon returning to the base, Maya called over Lin Wu and had him get onto the Overlord to teach him driving experience. After all, the bulk of Lin Wu’s thousand kilometers of driving experience had been on open roads.

Today’s lesson was off-roading, which sounds simple as it’s fully dependent on the vehicle’s performance to accomplish. However, if one wants to advance, the difficulty of the techniques suddenly increases. This includes assessing obstacles, estimating slopes, choosing speed, and also includes techniques for driving through water, among others.

Most men wouldn’t say no to driving, and Lin Wu, of course, had a blast. But the Overlord was such a gas guzzler, burning through a small barrel of gasoline in just one hour, prompting Stone, the president and head of cost control, to call off the training.

...

Night fell, and Bai Ban brought back 3 food packs and 2 fuel packs. Since Wilderness Farm had multiple players, based on the scavenging map designated by Maya, the resources were already scarce. Bai Ban had to expand his working area, crossing Sentry Card in the early morning, to scavenge the other end of the tent area at Wilderness Farm.

As the resources around the base dwindled, Shadow Base began looking for more resources toward Left County. The night of Shana’s second death, Lin Wu got two construction plugins from Forest Park, a composting machine and a small heater. They had searched less than 2% of the area, wasting most of their time getting lost. Maya thus speculated that it was possible to find some items with special uses within the expanse of Forest Park.

At eight in the evening, Maya and Lin Wu headed for Left County. Maya firmly vetoed Lin Wu’s suggestion to stop the car for some fun en route and they smoothly reached Left County, taking Route One directly. Compared to Shana, Maya’s technique was more skilled, and she had a strong ability to adapt on the spot. She could even bypass a horde of zombies without using the pedestrian paths, shuttling through urban areas at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour, successfully avoiding each and every zombie.

Maya said, "As long as you’re fast enough, the zombies can’t react in time, and naturally, they can’t attack the car. Get ready!"

Lin Wu climbed out of the Overlord’s window and stepped onto the footboard. As the Overlord reached near the textile factory, it executed a drift turn and stopped, and Lin Wu got out. The zombies facing the Overlord were still at some distance, while those behind the Overlord’s rear hadn’t reacted yet. The Overlord took the chance to diagonally avoid the zombies in the front and successfully accelerated to a safe speed and fled.

Taking advantage of the zombies’ attention drawn to the futile chase after the Overlord, Lin Wu climbed up a street lamp and with a jump from its top, landed on the textile factory’s perimeter wall. The zombies near the wall spotted Lin Wu and began to converge, but as Lin Wu moved swiftly along the wall, the pursuing zombies, hindered by the terrain and obstacles, were all shaken off.

Wave after wave chased after him, and the entire Textile Road’s crowd of zombies pressed against the wall, but they could only fruitlessly flail their withered arms against it.

Lin Wu reached his destination and with a leap, jumped onto the curved rooftop of the factory building. He made quite a noise upon landing on the roof, startling the zombies inside the compound. Lin Wu ignored them, climbing up to the apex of the curve and crouching into Stealth mode. As the zombies were quite far from Lin Wu, once they lost track of their prey, they quickly quieted down below and slowly dispersed.

Using this technique, Lin Wu crossed three factory buildings and arrived at the junction of the factory and the office building. Just then, a commotion came from the wall. Lin Wu looked back to see a player clad in black clothing jumping from the wall to the rooftop, with agility matching his own.

Lin Wu pulled out a display mirror to check and as the player reached the apex of the second factory building, the display mirror revealed the player’s name: Nightmare.

Wow! This guy even had the same attributes as Shana from North Nail. Nightmare also noticed Lin Wu, glanced at him, and walked forward, jumping to the rooftop of the third factory building. The two were 50 meters apart, one on the east side of the factory, the other on the west.

The factory was about 50 meters wide from the office building, and the open space was densely packed with zombies. Lin Wu stayed atop as he observed the movement of the zombies, looking for the best landing spot. The office building had four floors, with a staircase on both the left and right and five rooms on each floor.

Both players silently waited for a while, seemingly not finding the right opportunity, but in reality, both were wary of each other and neither wanted to jump down first.

A small stone was thrown onto the open space. Lin Wu turned to Nightmare, who waved at him. Lin Wu hid his dagger in his sleeve and walked towards Nightmare; the two met in the middle of the factory rooftop.

Nightmare appeared to be a person who cared a lot about his image, or to put it colloquially, liked to show off. In a zombie game, why have your face concealed? Are you afraid the zombies will identify you?

Nightmare, with only his eyes visible and hands empty, gestured with his hands, pointing at the office building four times and curled his index finger into a question mark: Which floor do you want?

Lin Wu held out 1 finger on the left hand and 4 fingers on the right: I want floors 1 and 4.

Nightmare shook his head and held out one and two fingers. Then he held out three and four fingers: Either choose floors 1 and 2, or choose floors 3 and 4.

What Lin Wu wanted was exactly Nightmare’s attitude. Anyone with life experience knows that if the other person haggles over the details of the rules, it indicates they are someone who tends to follow them. Suppose Lin Wu said, "I want 1, 2, 3," and Nightmare immediately agreed, then Lin Wu would be especially cautious around Nightmare, not ruling out the possibility of striking first.

After pondering for a moment, Lin Wu reciprocated by showing his own commitment to keeping his word. He finally extended one finger on his left hand and two fingers on his right hand: floors 1 and 2.

Nightmare pointed to his wrist and extended a palm. Lin Wu shook his head, indicating he didn’t understand. After Nightmare gestured a few more times, Lin Wu impatiently took out his phone and handed it to Nightmare.

Startled by the phone for a second, Nightmare took it and looked at Lin Wu suspiciously before typing: Retreat in half an hour.

Lin Wu took back the phone: One hour.

Nightmare: Forty minutes.

Lin Wu: I have a car.

Nightmare paused for a second: Shadow?

Lin Wu: Mhm.

Nightmare: A task?

Lin Wu: No.

Nightmare: What do you want?

The question was somewhat difficult for Lin Wu to answer, but given his Full Power Value in decisiveness, he replied without hesitation: A Tailoring Skill Book.

Nightmare: I’m on a task, looking for a contract stamped with the Fortress seal, right on the folder’s seal.

Nightmare: I get the Skill Book for you, you get the contract for me.

This proposal made Lin Wu, with his Full Power Value in decisiveness, hesitate. He didn’t know whether he should trust Nightmare. Lin Wu never agreed to something he couldn’t commit to. The problem was that Lin Wu getting the task documents was useless, while Nightmare acquiring the Skill Book would be a gain. Moreover, the office building might not have a Skill Book, but it definitely contained the task item.

No matter how Lin Wu thought about it, he felt like he was getting the short end of the stick.

On second thought, Lin Wu considered that if the two failed to reach an agreement, they would inevitably turn on each other. Not only would they kick the other while down, but they might also launch a surprise attack. In such a scenario, there was no basis for trust on either side.

Cooperation might lead to several outcomes: Lin Wu gets the Skill Book, Nightmare gets the Skill Book, or neither Lin Wu nor Nightmare gets the Skill Book. The result of cooperation was that Lin Wu still had a chance to get the Skill Book.

The non-cooperation scenario: Lin Wu dies, Nightmare dies, or both die.

Lin Wu typed: Agreed.

The two shook hands, and Nightmare pulled out a firework. Lin Wu nodded, and Nightmare lit the firework. Both ducked and ran in opposite directions.

The firework spewed forth flames, with crackling sounds, drawing the zombies in the clearing under it. Lin Wu spotted two Frenzies mixed in with the horde of zombies, but he didn’t have time to deal with them now. Lin Wu and Nightmare each leaped into the clearing, with Nightmare rolling forward a couple of times upon landing to dissipate the force of the fall. The moment Lin Wu’s feet hit the ground, he activated Wind Stinger to slide sideways, nailing Newton’s coffin shut.

The pair exchanged a glance at the first floor, and Nightmare pointed at his wrist, signaling Lin Wu to keep track of the time. Lin Wu touched his forehead with two fingers, signaling his understanding. Nightmare turned to go upstairs, while Lin Wu entered the first office.