Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 191 - 133 Waste City (VII)

Chapter 191: Chapter 133 Waste City (VII)

The security post was at the signal tower. After the five people climbed up the ladder, Lin Wu returned to the base of the tower, leaned against the ladder, and took out a sleeping bag to spread on the ground. It wasn’t that Lin Wu couldn’t face them; he just didn’t like the awkward atmosphere after meeting, much less being the protagonist of that discomfort. There was a complete difference between watching the fun and being watched.

After scanning the surroundings, Maya called out, "Hunter."

Lin Wu: "Hmm?"

Maya said, "Your position is not safe, there’s a dead tree twenty meters to your east."

Lin Wu asked, "Aren’t you afraid I’ll fall to my death?"

Maya replied, "The sleeping bag has a hammock function, figure it out yourself."

Lin Wu: "I’ll catch a cold."

Maya knew Lin Wu was trying to argue again and ignored him. Finding no response from her somewhat boring, Lin Wu studied the sleeping bag for a while, stealthily approached the dead tree, climbed up, and after some setup, a simple hammock was hung. Dawn didn’t want to push players to their deaths; aside from dead trees and signal towers, there were plenty of other places to spend the night, like climbing up a utility pole and tying yourself to it to sleep, and so on.

Once Lin Wu lay down, he called Maya and asked, "Tell me, how did those three come together?"

Maya, curious about this question too, asked Starlight. Starlight told Maya that players’ appearances in a city were not random. The crucial factor was that they all replied to Dawn at four in the morning at the same time.

When the game began, Dawn would deploy players into certain game scenarios in groups of a hundred, and these hundred were arranged according to room sequence. Therefore, as long as the three of them replied to Dawn at the same time, they would get adjoining room numbers and thus be in the same group of a hundred.

The three of them chose to live together, to take care of each other, and thus Starlight married Sunlight, and Fire Dance married Yellow Hair after Nightmare introduced the Marriage System. Yellow Hair was a little brother saved by Sunlight from zombies on the first day of the game and was utterly loyal to him, with a bright future ahead.

Currently, Starfire Base had a total of 12 players, the largest base in Right County of South City. Their development was similar to Shadow, seizing medium and small bases quickly to gain an early advantage before focusing on growth. Unlike Shadow Base, they did not focus on crafting guns and messing with supplies, and at present, their base was relatively poor in resources; the only true experts they had were the four of them.

Maya asked about Lili from Left County of South City, whom Lin Wu had mentioned. The group was surprised and then told Maya that their Doomsday Alliance had disbanded due to internal discord. The trouble began with an incident fueled by jealousy; some individuals instigated and encouraged one party to fight, resulting in two deaths from the other side. The Alliance attempted mediation, but the aggrieved party was greatly dissatisfied with the decision because, according to Alliance rules, the instigating party should be eliminated.

In the affair, the instigating party had been in the right, and eliminating them would have caused dissatisfaction among other minor bases. So why hadn’t the Alliance intervened from the start? It was because it had been made clear during formation that the Alliance would not involve itself in the private affairs of smaller alliances.

After careful consideration, the Alliance decided to expel the instigating party, pleasing neither side. In the end, a vote was held, demanding the aggrieved party leave the Alliance and fend for themselves; this outcome breached Alliance principles. Naturally, the aggrieved party was even more displeased and, along with their sympathizers, drew a horde of zombies their way.

Due to infighting and other reasons, the Alliance’s combat abilities sharply declined, and some took this as an opportunity for revenge. In the end, over half the members of the Doomsday Alliance died in the incident, leading to its dissolution. Lin Wu’s acquaintance Lili was the third highest-ranking member of the Alliance, but since Lili had a girlfriend and was not interested in reviving the Alliance, he took his fiancée to join Starfire Base in Right County where he became a reclusive Fishing Man.

Maya then inquired about post-winter plans and learned that Starlight Base had yet to make preparations to enter the county town. Maya didn’t say much, as it was them who owed her a favor; she answered their questions when they had them, but she didn’t necessarily have to provide answers to theirs.

Facing thanks from Starlight Base, Maya remained calm. She wasn’t one for many words; aside from game information, she hardly spoke of anything else. Starlight Base was quite curious about Maya’s brother Marlon, and after much questioning, Maya had no choice but to contact Lin Wu: "Marlon, shall we have breakfast together tomorrow morning?"

Lin Wu answered, "No, Marlon has social anxiety and doesn’t want to talk to anyone other than you, sister."

Maya relayed the message, "My brother has social anxiety; he declines the breakfast invitation but thanks you for it."

Sunlight, who hadn’t spoken much, drew a small booklet from his pocket and handed it over. Maya opened it and read, "Operational Guidelines?"

This was a soldiers’ codebook, which stated that soldiers should protect scientists during missions as much as possible. Moreover, the booklet listed three rallying points. If the team was scattered, soldiers were required to escort scientists to one of these three points.

The nearest was a straight-line distance of five kilometers away, around the park’s lake, through the woods by way of the slums, to a hilltop situated in the slums, an estimated eight-kilometer journey with four kilometers going through the slum area.

The second rallying point was eight kilometers away from the first. From the first point, soldiers have to pass through three kilometers of slums, then enter the commercial district, and find the 17th building to reach the rooftop.