Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 133 - 107: Return to North Lake_2

Chapter 133: Chapter 107: Return to North Lake_2

Ah... a vehicle! We need to get a vehicle. I wonder if Lin Wu and Maya run to the Invincible Base, will Invincible and Peanut take pity and send us a car? Pfft, as a man with hands and feet, can’t I just steal one myself?

Lin Wu recalled the cars around the sub-base, and they all seemed to be scrapped cars. Scrapped cars have one thing in common: they are very dilapidated, with visible damage. A car that can still run has at least 50% durability, or 5 out of 10 new. If you drive a car until it explodes, then it will look like a scrapped car on the outside. The difference is that scrapped cars can’t be repaired.

While Nightmare and Maya were exchanging gaming experiences, Lin Wu approached and said, "Sister Nightmare."

Everyone ’swished’ their gaze to Lin Wu. Knowing him as they did, if Lin Wu wasn’t about to do something embarrassing, he wouldn’t speak so gently to Nightmare.

"Speak up!" Nightmare didn’t understand Lin Wu, but she didn’t think there was anything inappropriate. Lin Wu’s tenderness wasn’t just because he could play in mud with Little Knife; it was also in his appearance, fresh, tender, and juicy.

Lin Wu said, "Sister Nightmare, you often hang around Left County, have you come across any cars?"

Nightmare glanced at Maya and, seeing that Maya was also waiting for her response, said, "There are two good cars near the bus terminal: one is an ambulance under the community building and the other is a survey vehicle near the car wash at the bus terminal. The ambulance has nine resource slots, a large trunk, and can carry seven passengers. The survey vehicle only has four resource slots, a small trunk, and a five-person load."

Nightmare continued, "The survey vehicle has a special function; it can scan and display the buildings near the vehicle, presenting zombies as red dots on the screen inside the car, like the electronic maps from the era of ancient computer online games. Its scanning radius is 15 meters."

Maya asked, "Is there a pickup truck?" She had taken a liking to pickup trucks after they used one to kill a Titan last time. Pickups have certain off-road capabilities, high chassis, and enough cargo space, but their speed and acceleration are both quite average.

Nightmare asked, "Don’t you guys have a pickup truck?"

Maya explained that Shadow had built a sub-base, to which Nightmare said, "The supermarket base? There are quite a few building materials there."

Lin Wu almost strangled her right there. So it was her who had been taking the building materials.

Nightmare continued, "There’s a pickup truck at the Forest Park fire station. I haven’t tried it, but it should not be a scrapped car."

Having obtained the information he wanted, Lin Wu quietly retreated, leaving Maya to deal with Nightmare. Maya and Nightmare had quite a few topics in common, but most of the time, Maya was just politely responding rather than initiating topics. People from the Invincible Base had noticed that Nightmare seemed quite fond of Maya.

Lin Wu returned to Shana, watching her knock a zombie leftover from the front team with a water pipe. Shana smiled at Lin Wu, "This guy’s head is really hard."

The front team was slaying left and right, and Shana was taking on zombies by herself in the rear team...

Lin Wu felt a tinge of bitterness and said, "It’s just a game, don’t take it too seriously."

"What?" Shana seemed not to have heard clearly, finally knocking down the zombie. She moved forward to hit it a few more times and finally took care of it.

Lin Wu changed the subject and asked, "What do you think about Nightmare?"

Shana looked at Nightmare’s silhouette, thought for a moment, and said, "She’s not a bad person, but I don’t like her."

"Why?"

"She’s so full of herself." Shana smiled and said, "I also don’t like when people talk behind my back."

This line was what Lin Wu had said during their night shift. To this, Lin Wu could only chuckle.

...

After leaving the tunnel, as per Stone’s instructions, Bai Ban left two bags of building materials for Maya and Lin Wu. Additionally, Shana traded some medicine to Maya. This made Lin Wu feel somewhat guilty, for it was only after he’d done the scavenging himself that he realized scavenging was a foundational task for a base.

Maya had arranged to meet with Bai Ban at 8 a.m. the next day; she was currently at the lower farm and could help Bai Ban draw away the zombies at Sentry Card so that Bai Ban’s vehicle could pass through.

Returning to the supermarket sub-base, they were surprised to find a zombie in the dormitory and another at the radio spot. It took them five minutes to clear out the zombies near the living area. As discussed on the way back, the two first quietly went to repair the motorcycle near Left County Bridge, then rode to Forest Park. One goal was to search for the fire station at Forest Park, and the other was to head to North Lake.

Compared to Lin Wu, Maya was very methodical in her work; first, she followed the System Map to the park management office set up by the roadside. The office had detailed maps of Forest Park,

The Forest Park is roughly a heart-shaped structure, with North Lake at the center of the indentation, flanked on both sides by roads leading north into the forest and south, one returning to the highway and the other to the fire station.

Maya pointed to the map and said, "We’ll go directly to North Lake, then to the fire station. Then we’ll take this road back to the highway."

"Why can’t we go to the fire station first, then to North Lake?" Lin Wu asked, then added with frustration, "Although I know it’s not right, I always want to retort."

Maya replied, "Rebellious remnants of character, hoping others will agree with your own opinions, resisting agreeing with someone else’s. Everyone has such traits to a certain extent."

Lin Wu asked, "Is there any hope for me?"

Maya replied, "No need for that, your condition is not severe. You just want to find flaws in my decisions to boost your position in the team. On the contrary, deep down you admire me a lot, trusting all my decisions. Thanks."

Lin Wu was infuriated, denying emphatically, "I do not!"

Maya said, "Whether you do or not, you know best. Let’s go."

Lin Wu fumed, filled with an indignant air.

As Maya walked ahead, she said, "You must be making faces behind my back."

"I did not," Lin Wu replied, then weakly added, "Just made two bunny ears. How did you know?"

Maya sighed, "Because whenever you grudgingly accept something, you always make some childish gestures to vent your dissatisfaction."

Lin Wu uttered an ’Oh,’ which surprised Maya, who turned around curiously and asked, "According to my understanding of you, shouldn’t you be making another childish gesture to show opposition, instead of just ’oh’?"

Lin Wu asked, "Have you had psychology classes?"

Maya replied, "Of course."

Lin Wu said, "They all have 5%, so why don’t I sense any exceptional abilities in Shana, anything that surpasses ordinary people?"

Maya explained, "You’re completely misunderstanding. 5% merely means having some innate advantages. I can assure you that I’ve put in far more effort in learning and training than Shana has. There are many mediocre people in the 5% club. Conversely, there are elites in the 95%. Innate talent is a gift, effort is key."

Maya continued, "Besides, the 5% doesn’t solely refer to intellectual advantages, it also includes physical, artistic, and other genetic strengths. A regular person, no matter how hard they try, cannot surpass a hardworking genius. Genius denotes the ceiling, but geniuses, like ordinary people, have no floor."

Maya hadn’t told Lin Wu her true opinion of Shana. In Maya’s view, Shana had grown up in a warm and happy family where happiness in education was given more weight than capability. As a result, Shana hadn’t shown particularly outstanding abilities in areas that didn’t interest her. However, in the fields of music and art which she enjoyed, she excelled beyond ordinary people.

Maya wasn’t lying; she indeed could talk, but just chose not to. Today, she talked more than usual. Though a lot of it was teaching-oriented, it was still rare for her to initiate so much conversation. Compared to their initial acquaintanceship of one-question-one-answer, it was a world apart. Maybe one shouldn’t judge others by first impressions, as only time reveals true character.

...

By the shore of North Lake, Maya and Lin Wu observed the red dots on the cliffs on either side. Lin Wu asked, "What now?"

"Six Wings have the advantage of surprise attacks," Maya said. "I’ll handle them."

After saying that, Maya stepped into the lake and couldn’t help but let out an ’Hmm!’ She turned her head to see Lin Wu pretending to be frightened and laughed in spite of herself, "The water is colder than I expected."

Lin Wu responded earnestly, "I understand."

Ignoring Lin Wu’s childish antics, Maya walked about ten meters before reaching No.3 small island, where she began clearing zombies. Meanwhile, the red dots on the cliffs started to increase. Lin Wu waded over to island No.1, ready to support Maya. Soon, an extensive aerial assault from Six Wings commenced.

Maya, facing the bombardment from Six Wings, didn’t opt for shooting them down but instead moved swiftly to change her position. Although Six Wings could glide, they were only capable of that, and their ability to correct their fall couldn’t keep up with Maya’s evasive moves. Along with Maya’s movements, the Six Wings plummeted from the sky like hailstones, crashing onto the island or into the water. When falling from a height exceeding 50 meters, hitting the water’s surface was almost no different from hitting concrete.

In this way, a swarm of Six Wings completed half of their kamikaze attack mission – the suicide was successful, but the attack failed.