Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 118 - 102 Employment

Chapter 118: Chapter 102 Employment

Everyone crowded around the crafting room to watch the workbench. Although they couldn’t see Shana’s progress bar, the excitement was all about the collective atmosphere.

"Oh no," Shana held her forehead in dismay.

"Ah," everyone expressed their sympathy in unison.

Shana took out a set of clothes: "It actually succeeded, how infuriating."

Lin Wu glared at Shana as he took the clothes, to which Shana offered a smile and said, "No need to thank me."

Lin Wu, caught between laughter and tears, said, "Thank you."

Shana looked around at the circle of people and asked, "Who’s next?"

Everyone was calculating probabilities...

This was a characteristic of ancient online games. When enhancing or synthesizing equipment, everyone was superstitious about using a "cushion" item. The so-called cushion item involved using junk to synthesize; if the synthesis failed once or several times, then they’d switch to the equipment they actually wanted to synthesize. Was it effective? Those who succeeded believed in the cushion item’s effectiveness. Those who failed were too busy being heartbroken to think too much about it. If you asked someone who failed whether they would use a cushion item next time, most would say yes; they’d still use one.

It wasn’t about whether it was effective, it was about the attitude towards the game.

Lin Wu’s success meant that the cushion had failed, so the next player needed a certain amount of courage to proceed.

"Should I go?" asked Shana, who was dressed in white clothes, slightly raised cool sandals, and wore a tennis hat.

Little Knife was eager to try but lacked decisiveness. After rubbing his hands in place for a while, he ultimately did not step forward. Seeing no one come forward, Shana began a 30-second upgrade timer on her own clothes. After 30 seconds, Shana took out a set of clothes: "Success, Cold Resistance Value each increased by 20 points." The basic shirt and trousers each had 10 points of Cold Resistance, bringing Shana’s System Clothes to a total of 60 points of Cold Resistance.

After two successes, the rest were even more hesitant. It was then that Maya stepped forward. She wore a set of camouflage gear with a jungle combat style boonie hat and a pair of leather boots. It was clear that Maya was very fond of this outfit; otherwise, given her personality, she would have certainly stepped forward during the second round of no response.

The atmosphere was oddly tense now; everyone hoped Maya would succeed but also that she would fail. The only exception was Lin Wu, who was successful earlier and enjoyed the bustle without complaint: "I think you’ll succeed again. Are you sure you don’t want to have a go?"

Maya turned and asked, "Does someone want to cut in line?"

Stone pointed at Lin Wu: "The worst guy in the base is this one." If you don’t speak up, everyone waits for a result. Your words present everyone with a difficult choice.

Lin Wu chuckled.

Since no one spoke up, Maya’s clothes upgrade succeeded. She was delighted, and the typically stoic Maya even gave Shana, who had handled the clothes, a light hug.

Shana said, "I checked just now. At level two, the chances of success, failure, and damage are all very close. The next one to upgrade is..."

Stone bravely stepped forward: "Let me cushion the blow; I want the suit."

"Pfft!" A chorus of jeers. No one could deny that the basic System Clothes weren’t particularly attractive, but who needed beauty in an apocalypse? The primary element for Survival was warmth. Accursed employer, accursed capitalists, who needs a suit? A full suit outfit had only 30 Cold Resistance points in total.

After 30 seconds, Shana turned to Stone, apologetically saying, "Upgrade failed," and handed the clothes back to Stone.

Stone was relatively satisfied: "At least they’re still here." He would try again next week.

Shana: "Next one."

Su Shi: "I want lounge wear."

Everyone was more forgiving toward Su Shi, with no jeers. Shana began the upgrade, and 30 seconds later, with her head down and hand to her forehead, Shana said apologetically: "Sorry, Su Shi, it’s broken."

Su Shi took it well: "No problem, it’s from Area One." Blue Star Area One was in the southern hemisphere of the northern half of the globe, where there was no central heating in winter, and staying warm depended solely on one’s vitality.

Next was Snow Egg. 30 seconds later, Shana, with a fist to her forehead and in pain, said, "Broken, I..." She almost cursed aloud.

Clearly, according to the cushioning principle, the chances of success for the next person would be very high. Reviewing the success rates for a few upgrades, it was found that they still roughly matched the probabilities. Left were Little Knife, Horse Soul, and Snow Egg.

Little Knife and Horse Soul, the pair of friends, talked it over for a while, and with Horse Soul yielding, Little Knife went first. 30 seconds later, Shana was stunned: "How is this possible? Broken again?" In disbelief, she could not comprehend it.

Shana went forward to hug Little Knife: "I’m sorry, so sorry."

Little Knife might have been upset, but seeing Shana more distressed than himself, he ended up comforting her: "It’s okay."

Finally, it was Horse Soul’s turn. Some thought that after so many consecutive failures, success was bound to come. Others felt the run of luck was off for the day and prognosticated a disaster for Horse Soul. Horse Soul himself was also trembling; despite the odds of success being over 50%, it felt like he was facing the 15% chance of total destruction.

Lin Wu asked, "Do you need me to cushion for you?" Among everyone, Lin Wu had the best mindset – what was there to fear from failure? There were still two sets of winter clothes in the warehouse. They might be ugly, but they were warm.

Little Knife kicked Lin Wu: "What if you succeed?"

Lin Wu replied, "Then I’ll keep upgrading."

Stone said, "Experience tells me the worst thing at a gambling table is someone like Lin Wu who doesn’t care about the stakes."

Little Knife said, "That’s not it. I think Lin Wu’s outfit looks very cool."

Lin Wu looked at Little Knife: "Can coolness be eaten as food? But you’re right, if I were a bit more handsome, maybe I could be taken care of by Nightmare."

Stone and everyone laughed, watching Shana for her reaction, but contrary to expectations, Shana not only didn’t avoid the topic but joined in the fun: "You’d settle for something so ugly?"

Lin Wu responded: "As long as I get the gear, Nightmare or even you would do."

Without hesitation, Shana attacked Lin Wu with a rapid succession of blows.

In the midst of teasing and laughter, the tense atmosphere eased. Through this, Lin Wu and Stone further confirmed that Shana knew Nightmare. Because, so far, only Lin Wu and Maya had seen Nightmare’s true face – and Nightmare really wasn’t pretty.