Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 144 - 113: Vacation Home_2

Chapter 144: Chapter 113: Vacation Home_2

Lin Wu signaled Maya to wait, slowly approaching Frenzy using the trees for cover, based on drone images. After taking a deep breath behind a tree, Lin Wu turned and pounced on Frenzy, who was out window-shopping. Before Frenzy could react to the noise, Lin Wu stabbed him in the head, plunging him into unconsciousness for the execution. A couple more stabs, and Lin Wu sent Frenzy off.

(Executing Frenzy during decay produces a special sound effect. Besides using cars and firearms, the best method is the open-door BUG. Enter, close the door, Frenzy follows, open the door, and Frenzy gets knocked out by the door. Then immediately execute him, a second’s delay is unacceptable.)

Maya exclaimed, "I think your development path is that of a stealthy assassin, you should practice your stealth more."

Lin Wu crouched down for stealth, then wobbly paced forward, speeding up to resemble a bizarrely large crab. Maya couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "Alright, slow down."

Lin Wu slowed down, approaching the roadside, using trees for cover: "The Black Bear is twenty meters away."

Maya asked, "Planning on getting revenge?"

Lin Wu questioned, "If I stab it in the head, will it pass out?"

Maya replied, "I’m interested in collecting that data."

Lin Wu said, "I don’t want to be the sacrificial data."

Maya: "Revenge is a dish best served cold, even if it takes ten years."

Lin Wu: "But what if fate brings enemies together?"

Maya, driven to frenzy: "Then go for it. Will you act or not?"

So, Lin Wu made his move, his decisiveness at Full Power Value. The only reason he hesitated was his genuine fear of the Black Bear. Lin Wu sneaked up on the bear, setting up three Beast Traps nearby. The bear was eating raspberries, and as Lin Wu quietly approached from behind, it turned around as Lin Wu was about to speed up—the Black Bear saw him.

Lin Wu, dagger in hand, froze on the spot while the bear still had raspberries in its mouth, creating an awkward atmosphere. Lin Wu slowly backed away a step, and the bear moved forward one—just like Lin Wu’s first bear encounter. Remembering that, he bravely took a step forward, and the bear bravely did the same.

Damn it! This wasn’t how the script was supposed to go. Lin Wu licked his lips, and as the bear took another step forward, Lin Wu turned and ran, with the bear immediately in pursuit. The bear’s initial speed was slower than Lin Wu’s, but the acceleration and velocity were much higher; Lin Wu burned through his stamina to jump over one of the Beast Traps, and the bear leaped over it too.

"You’ve got to be kidding?"

"Idiot, why didn’t you cover it with leaves?" Being called a Blind Bear doesn’t mean it’s actually blind. Maya took a shot at the bear with her crossbow from the side, hitting it. The bear, realizing someone was hurting it, abandoned its pursuit of Lin Wu to chase after Maya.

Maya, prepared, quickly climbed up a tree with both hands. Lin Wu, anxious, hopped about below: "Why are you climbing the tree?"

But the bear, almost as fast as Maya, quickly scaled the tree too, the chase continuing aloft until the bear was lured onto a branch. Just as the bear pounced, Maya jumped off. Lin Wu opened his arms to catch her and—ouch—missed. Hearing a crack above, Lin Wu’s face turned pale as he grabbed Maya by the collar and dragged her away; a second later, the bear crashed down where Maya had just been.

Lin Wu wouldn’t miss this chance. Letting go of Maya, he leaped forward, plunging his dagger into the bear’s head. The bear didn’t pass out but became wildly agitated. Sitting up, it slapped Lin Wu across the face and sent him flying into the forest like an arrow.

The bear attempted to continue its pursuit, but Maya had already drawn her .41 and fired three shots at its head. The first bullet hit; as the bear turned to dodge the second, by the third shot, only its behind was visible. Faced with the swift American draw, the bear decided against taking the loss and scrambled into the woods, disappearing.

"Lin Wu." Maya dove into the forest searching, "Lin Wu?"

"I’m over here." As Maya turned, Lin Wu appeared on the roadside path, leaning against a tree trunk, leisurely and casually stating, "Don’t waste time, let’s go." If it weren’t for the bandage wrapped around his face, Maya might have believed he was unharmed.

As the two walked a few steps, Maya began to tremble. Lin Wu quickly went beside her to see, and damn, she was holding back laughter, visibly struggling. Face reddening, Lin Wu said, "I, I support the protection of wildlife, which is why I didn’t take action."

Maya desperately tried to think of painful things in her mind, the exhaustion from training, the sadness of movies, but she couldn’t respond to Lin Wu at all. Frustrated, Lin Wu searched through the drone for Black Bear: "Don’t let me see you again."

Huh? There’s a black bear sixty meters to the left...

Let’s pretend we didn’t see it.

...

The route Maya had planned zigzagged through the path, crossing Forest Park to reach the fire station. The pickup truck was parked in front of the fire station, and its roof was even equipped with a beacon. After Maya entered the cab to check the car’s condition and started the engine, she found that the durability was at 50%, and the fuel level was low. Lin Wu took a can of gasoline from his backpack and refilled the tank. Maya turned off the engine, took out a map, and they decided to first search the fire station, then move to the vacation cottages, followed by the four camping sites, and finally reach the RV campground. Along the way, they would pass many buildings, and Maya’s opinion was to search them all.

The spoils from the fire station:

A firefighter’s axe. The axe is categorized as a Sharp Blade, but compared to a machete, it is quite heavy, which could decrease the frequency of attacks. However, when it comes to attack power among Sharp Blades, it ranks near the top, making it a valuable find.

A White Noise Generator, a dormitory plugin, which reduces sleep time to four and a half hours.

Besides these two items, there was also a walkie-talkie, which was the child unit of a parent-child set. According to the work diary of the fire station, the parent unit should be in the hands of the fire watchtower personnel, with child units distributed among a dozen or so fire stations.

To the northeast of the fire station was a continuous mountain range. In these mountains, there was a peak with a Fire Watchtower built upon it. From the tower, one could overlook the entire mountain range and spot any fires at their initial stages.

Maya said, "The diary notes that the watchtower staff are changed every ten days by helicopter. For survival purposes, the tower is stocked with a large amount of food, including supplies with a shelf life of over ten years. Furthermore, the Fire Watchtower is also equipped with a revolver, a shotgun, and a sniper rifle."

The helicopter would ascend and descend on a meadow 500 meters away from the Fire Watchtower. To ensure the safety of the watchtower staff, during the shift change, the departing staff member would carry weapons to the helicopter to hand them over to the incoming staffer. The watchtower staff would then walk the 500 meters armed with weapons and bear repellent, carrying supplies back to the Fire Watchtower.

"Sniper rifles." Both Lin Wu and Maya were very excited. The Silencer could also be considered a sniper rifle, but it was less powerful and had a shorter range. After all, it used .22 caliber bullets, so one couldn’t expect too much.

The two of them looked towards the Fire Watchtower, which was at least six kilometers away in a straight line. Lin Wu said, "It might be better to head to the mountain-top Sentry Card." The Sentry Card was also among the mountains, but the terrain wasn’t as complex.

Maya wasn’t swayed by Lin Wu’s tangent, "Let’s take care of today’s business first. Next stop: the vacation cottages."

Lin Wu and Maya put the medical packs and food bags they had scavenged into the back seat of the pickup, and Maya placed the firefighter’s axe in the truck bed. Then they drove towards North Lake. There were north-going roads on both sides of North Lake, and both sides had vacation cottages built on them.

According to the plan, they would deal with the five little cabins on the left first. To save time, Lin Wu and Maya split up, each taking a cabin. The two were confident in their team’s strength and did not leave someone outside to keep watch.

Lin Wu quickly found a 10-kilogram bag of charcoal that could be used for a campfire for warmth, and discovered a hunting knife, which, upon checking its stats, was slightly better than Maya’s machete. He leaned down to look under the bed and pulled out a box. Since the drone had already scouted the area, Lin Wu dealt with any zombies that might scare him before recalling the drone.

The drone needed 12 hours to charge and only had a battery life of 4 hours. Fortunately, the charging cost nothing, or Dawn would have been accused of another crime by Lin Wu.

Lin Wu unzipped the large box and lifted the lid, revealing clothes inside. Just as he was about to search deeper, the sound of breaking glass came from behind him—a zombie had crawled into the cabin.

Lin Wu cursed inwardly, he stepped forward to execute the zombie, and then, next to the window, a scream let out a roar. The sharp roar pierced through Lin Wu’s eardrums due to the close distance, causing Lin Wu to instinctively cover his ears, his mind going blank. Seconds later, there was knocking at the front door, the zombie at the window was climbing in, and a Frenzy came running towards the cabin, followed by a sizable number of zombies.

Thus, Lin Wu and Maya were once again embroiled in a chaotic battle.

They could use the narrow terrain to fend off the advancing zombies, but holding out in the wilderness was a death sentence. Accompanied by the screaming roars, the number of screamers kept increasing, and so did the number of zombies. Visually estimating, the number of zombies joining the feast at the vacation cottages seemed to be greater than the number they were killing.

This was the odious nature of the screamers; even if they couldn’t kill you, they would wear you down to death.