Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 156: Busy

Chapter 156: Busy

Finally, with a roar, the engine started, and the zombies had all already run towards the car. The car sprang into motion, a zombie clinging onto the hood; Lin Wu used the Silencer to kill it. A zombie grabbed Lin Wu’s car door; Lin Wu opened the door, and the zombie was crushed to death between the pillar and the door.

"Behind."

Lin Wu immediately turned around, the gun was too long and awkward to handle, but he still managed to shoot the zombie that had grabbed onto the trunk. Unfortunately, it caused a slight delay, and the car’s durability took a hit.

Perhaps out of desperation or with a preconceived escape route in mind, Maya did not follow the main road but drove over the bumpy terrain on the side. Slamming the accelerator to the floor, the car’s nose lifted sharply, mounted the curb, and then sped away. It wasn’t until they had left the vicinity of the fire station and gotten onto the comfortable Route 2 that Maya found time to high-five Lin Wu in celebration.

They had escaped death once again.

Lin Wu rolled down the window and shouted, "We’ll come back."

Maya said inwardly for the ten-thousandth time: no, we can never take such risks again. Thinking of this, Maya said, "The fire station is indeed a good place, with abundant supplies around, not something we can scavenge dry in half a month."

Lin Wu said, "Haven’t we discussed this before? The biggest problems with the fire station are two: firstly, it has few outdoor large grids, and secondly, taking over the fire station is very difficult."

Maya said, "We can consider using the sewers. During our previous discussion, we talked about players on the commercial street rooftops, drawing the zombies’ attention, which will certainly put the players in danger. But there’s a sewer near the gas station, just a hundred meters from the fire station. We can use the underground pathways to lure the zombies near the gas station. Just bring enough Molotov cocktails."

What Maya meant was, since the vertical ladders of the sewers could only fit one person or one zombie at a time, it would inevitably cause a congestion of zombies. A well-timed Molotov cocktail could maximize its value, ensuring that the nearby screams would draw all the zombies near the gas station. This way, the density of zombies inside the fire station would be greatly reduced.

Lin Wu agreed, "I concur." This was within Maya’s domain of expertise, so Lin Wu didn’t interject.

Maya apologized again, "I’m sorry about today. My arrogance almost got us trapped in the sewers."

Lin Wu replied, "You already apologized. It wasn’t all your fault, Dawn is too nasty, suddenly having a group of zombies jump out to scare people."

Though Maya also thought Dawn was nasty, she didn’t say it aloud and changed the subject, "We need to be extra careful in the future." She herself felt the weakness in her own statement.

Lin Wu remarked, "We still need to go to City Hall to accept a mission."

Is that so? Well, we’ll see. Taking risks is dangerous, but how else would we know that City Hall is a Bounty Hunter mission distribution point? Maya believed there were many more elements to this game, and that even when the game shut down, there would still be a lot of content that many players would miss.

...

Lin Wu and Maya were busy; after returning, they cleared the screamers to the southeast, northwest, caught a bit of sleep haphazardly, and then set out at dawn to take on a bounty mission before the Sentry Card zombies began their shift. Maya’s mission was particularly troublesome, as Blood Zombies were currently only found near the Blood Plague, and they respawned slowly. Hence, Maya accompanied Lin Wu back to Shadow Base first. Lin Wu’s mission destination, Highland Villa, was near Shadow Base.

Maya needed to go to her day job, so she decided to stop by the main base with Lin Wu to say hello. But as soon as they arrived at the entrance, there was an explosion of questions. Little Knife pointed at the emblem on their chest and asked, "What’s all this about?" "How many bad things have you done behind our backs?"

Lin Wu immediately leaned closer to Maya and said, "A couple, system-certified."

Shana came over for a closer look and said simply, "Bounty Hunter."

Stone commented with a mix of exhaustion and exasperation, "Every day there’s a new surprise." "Do you think it’s not thrilling enough unless you give someone a heart attack?"

The group moved forward, bombarding them with questions. Maya, ever practical, explained it all in a stream of words. Stone realized things had gone badly; these two had barely survived to earn the Bounty Hunter credentials.

Snow Egg, seeing a gleam in Little Knife’s eyes, asked Maya, "What if we go there now?"

Not just Stone, but Maya, too, shook her head emphatically, "No, we’re lucky to be alive after that. We left the car there without even warming it up; I can’t even think about bringing it back." She and Lin Wu didn’t discuss the pick-up at all—it was an impossible task. And then there were those sewers—if it weren’t for Dawn’s mercy, they would still be scrambling around in there.

Stone quickly tried to smooth things over, "Lin Wu, are you on a mission? Someone, go with him. The rest of us, let’s chop wood today; the weather is getting colder. Those without upgraded clothing, pay attention to your body condition." The daytime temperature was around 12 degrees Celsius, with the night approaching zero; those without upgraded clothing couldn’t leave the house at night.

Who was "someone"? Stone didn’t say, nor did he specify anyone, but Shana, taking the initiative, stepped up to Lin Wu’s side and asked with concern, "Do you have time to gather firewood at the supermarket base?"

Lin Wu answered, "We have several dozen kilograms of charcoal." They had looted charcoal and coal from the camping site in the park just the day before, packing it all into a pick-up truck to bring back.

The others fell silent; evidently, they lacked nothing.

Seeing this, Lin Wu quickly said, "Shana and I will head to Highland Villa first." Stirring up envy again.

Stone watched the two leave on foot, then mused, "Should we arrange for everyone to visit the Invincible Base this afternoon?" They could at least gather some sense of superiority. It was hard for the main base to stomach being one-upped by the sub-base.

...

Elsewhere, Shana, who was walking beside Lin Wu, demonstrated the Swallowtail Dart. With a quick draw from her belt with her left hand, she secured a dart in her palm. The dart, thrown with a ’whiz’ sound due to the wind, had a rhythmical and pleasant noise. The dart flew slightly faster than a light crossbow, but not as fast as a composite crossbow. A hit to a zombie’s head was an instant kill.