Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 26 - 25 Blind Bat

Chapter 26: Chapter 25 Blind Bat

Lin Wu made a split-second decision to bolt, and the moment he moved, rapid guttural sounds followed him, occurring two to three times per second. Lin Wu drew his double-barrel shotgun and headed onto the highway, with Wind Stinger collapsing to the ground after sprinting for three seconds, only to see a shadow-like creature pounce on him from five meters away.

This creature had a layer of black crystal covering its body, resembling a whale barnacled with sea acorns, making it difficult to discern whether these crystals were foreign objects or growths. It lacked eyes, and its mouth, which appeared particularly massive on its face, was incredibly grotesque. Using the Quick Gunner skill, Lin Wu pulled the trigger; the shotgun blasted dozens of steel pellets out, hitting the creature’s body all at once. It was like steel clashing, the tough shell blocking most of the pellets, but still, a few penetrated the creature’s body. Hit hard by the shot, the creature flew several meters back and, in pain, rolled twice on the ground before leaping into a dark area to the left and disappearing into the darkness.

Lin Wu stood up, raised his gun toward the dark area on the left side of the highway, listening to the rapid guttural sounds, his eyes desperately searching for the creature’s presence. Due to the gunshots, nearby zombies started converging towards the highway; Lin Wu, finding nothing after a short wait, had only one option left—to flee amidst the encircling zombies.

It was more than 700 meters from the commercial district to the base, with not a single light in sight. As Lin Wu entered the darkness, he heard the guttural sounds pursue him, closely on his heels. In no time, Lin Wu had opened up a 15-meter gap, and the guttural sounds accordingly weakened. The loss of 15% morale at the barracks and the death of Cotton decreasing morale by another 20% resulted in a drop in Lin Wu’s attributes; at the same speed, his physical strength consumption increased significantly, and using Wind Stinger and Quick Gunner depleted 35% of his stamina. Lin Wu’s stamina meter was bottoming out.

Chewing a piece of gum was better than nothing; he slowed down to reduce stamina consumption. Once he slowed, the guttural sounds caught up again. Holding steadfast to a do-or-die mindset, Lin Wu stopped and turned with his shotgun in hand as his stamina began to recover. Facing the darkness, he listened to the urgent guttural sounds, eyes fixed on the stamina meter. When it reached 15%, Lin Wu decisively used Quick Gunner, firing off a shotgun round that struck like hitting a wall, sending off sparks as a creature heavily fell to the ground. Damn the headshot rate.

Lin Wu fired another shot guided by the sound, but this bullet whizzed past, missing the creature entirely.

Lin Wu’s shotgun had only one bullet left, quietly waiting its turn; the creature likely spooked by the gunfire, kept pacing on Lin Wu’s left without immediately rushing forward, looking for the perfect opportunity. Monitoring his stamina meter, Lin Wu intended to take another shot when his stamina returned to 15%, but realizing that wouldn’t be possible by the sound of the gutturals, he, full of determination, pulled the trigger again. As expected, this shot was also a miss, but it did frighten the creature, who retreated five meters. Yet, it immediately resumed its approach toward Lin Wu.

Holding his empty shotgun, Lin Wu listened quietly to the guttural sounds. When they reached three to four times per second, he knew it was time to run. During this standoff, Lin Wu used his last bullet to gain time, recovering 20% stamina. He had figured out the creature’s speed and was trying to reduce his own speed as much as possible to conserve stamina. As he ran, Lin Wu took out a lighter and lit a skyrocket from his backpack.

When the base personnel spotted the skyrocket, they quickly assembled near the intersection, soon seeing the beleaguered Lin Wu. Lin Wu shouted, "Fire behind me."

Maya raised her gun and fired seven shots, one of which seemed to strike a rock, sparking upon impact. Due to the lack of electricity, only a single candle lit the intersection, leaving no one able to see what was behind Lin Wu. He dashed into the safe zone and skillfully hit the ground, pulling the bolt of his shotgun, only to find it empty. My gun?

The Command System: When members returned to the base, all items on their person, save for one melee weapon, were automatically stored.

Both Maya and Horse Soul stood armed beside Lin Wu, firing their guns into the dark with abandon. Little Knife, although not seeing the creature in the display mirror, did notice a name: Blind Bat Zombie. Little Knife immediately shouted, "Blind Bat Zombie," pointing out the location of the name to direct the shooter’s aim.

"It’s gone," Little Knife said incredulously. "It actually fled?"

"The guttural sounds it made must have been sonar," everyone concluded, hearing the sounds fade away into the distance. Maya reholstered her gun, "Guessing that Blind Bats only roam at night, let’s try to steer clear of any sounds during the night shifts."

Stone helped Lin Wu up from the ground, "If you’re not dead, go lie down in the sickbay."

"No injuries, no infections," Lin Wu muttered dejectedly, "and still no luck." With Quick Gunner, he’d hit the Blind Bat twice, but neither shot had triggered the 15% chance of a headshot; they just hit the Blind Bat’s body. From the creature’s reactions to being shot, Lin Wu surmised that a headshot from his shotgun could kill the Blind Bat in one hit.

"No injuries is good," Stone patted Lin Wu on the shoulder, "Now go grab your supplies and head to the factory area for mine detection."

"Stone’s skinflint," Lin Wu complained, "I’m still shaken up."

"Shaken up doesn’t make you bleed," Stone replied somewhat helplessly, "If you don’t detect mines, others who encounter them will surely die."

Lin Wu exclaimed in surprise, "A new entry obtained—Mine Detector."

"Really?" everyone asked in astonishment. There was such an entry.

"Fake." Lin Wu went to collect the supplies.

"Tch."

The only one unmoved was Maya, who stared into the darkness and said, "Although Blind Bats and Frenzy are both Mutant Zombies, Frenzy should belong to the respawnable zombies, while Blind Bats are fixed-location zombies. That means, Frenzy can appear anywhere, but Blind Bats will only appear in certain places. There must be a huge secret in Building 2."

Stone added, "Or a treasure."

Horse Soul suggested, "We should get more guns. Tonight, everyone should have an assault rifle in hand, and the Blind Bats will surely die."

Tangtang suggested, "Let’s take down Building 2 during the day tomorrow."

Maya disagreed, "We are short on supplies, out of gasoline, not many shotgun bullets left, and most of us lack systematic attack skills. Keep the action schedule unchanged and move everything we can from the vicinity as quickly as possible."

Little Knife asked, "Do I take the night shift in a team with Lin Wu?"

Maya disagreed, "If we encounter Mutant Zombies, you’ll become a burden to Lin Wu."

Upon hearing this, Little Knife angrily placed her hands on her hips, but since the reasoning was sound, she could only turn her head away dismissively.

Amidst their conversation, Lin Wu gathered his supplies and reached the intersection, speaking heroically, "Brothers, if I die, remember to light incense for me every day."

Stone said, "I’ll light two for you."

"Thank you."

"You’re welcome. Now off you go." Stone called out, "According to the duty roster, leave one person wandering around the base, and the rest should go rest." When members are inside the base, an electronic map appears in the lower right corner, with green dots representing base members. If outsiders or zombies invade, they will be shown as red dots on the map. To ensure the safety of the base, there must be one person on night or day watch.

At the moment, apart from infinite bullets, the only advantage of the mountaintop base is double stamina recovery. To further strengthen our defense and reinforce the advantages of the defenders, various defensive structures need to be built, such as guard posts, Mine Defense Arrays, Auto Turrets, etc. Given the current level of players, the only defensive structure that can be built is the guard post, which greatly increases the accuracy of firearms within visual range. The guard post also has the function of reducing the threat level generated by base noise.

As the Boss of the base, Stone felt uneasy about the threat level. After establishing the base today, three guns made continuous noise to deal with zombies. For the Blind Bats, two guns fired continuously for a minute. The current threat level of the base has reached three stars. No one knows what three stars mean, nor is it clear when a zombie siege might occur.

Additionally, there was a minor nuisance—Snow Egg snored, which was an ability that came with the entry, and there was nothing Snow Egg could do about it. Snoring could affect other people’s sleep, leading to slower fatigue recovery. Fortunately, under normal circumstances, each player only needed five hours of rest per day; the nights were long, so the impact wasn’t significant. It was just a minor nuisance.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.