Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 27 - 26 Illness

Chapter 27: Chapter 26 Illness

The factory had a new type of common zombie distinguished only by the safety helmets they wore, which were particularly unfriendly to the Sharp Blade clan. Fortunately, Lin Wu had a dagger with a sharp edge, but after piercing seven or eight zombies, he noticed the durability drop by about ten points, leaving him quite distressed. He mused about visiting Olive Manor again tomorrow, hoping to encounter the lovely and charming Amanda.

From the safety-helmeted zombies, Lin Wu speculated that the game probably had a very troublesome type of common zombie: soldiers clad in helmets and bulletproof vests.

Scavenging in the factory wasn’t Lin Wu’s forte, so he took out paper and pen to record the locations of the construction material packs. Aside from those, more construction material packs. Other heavy items like nails were plentiful too, but precious goods were nowhere to be seen.

The factory was vast, a main factory building with two floors; in front of the factory lay piled-up machinery like forklifts and loads of plank crates. The rear of the factory housed a row of small stores, also primarily filled with plank crates. Due to its size, the zombie density here was much lower than in the business district, allowing Lin Wu to stroll leisurely, as if he were wandering around his own backyard.

Upon reaching the second floor, there were three offices: the general manager’s office, the HR office, and the finance office. The general manager’s office was unbecoming of his role, cluttered with various kinds of trash and a disappointingly small desk. The only item that caught Lin Wu’s attention was a safe in the corner.

Lin Wu tried to move it, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. Checking the safe’s nameplate, it read 300 kilograms. Not bringing Little Knife was truly a misstep. Lin Wu retrieved a key from the desk drawer and upon inserting it, realized it was indeed for the safe. But where to input a password or fingerprint?

After searching for a while, Lin Wu could only find a rotating dial on the front of the safe. Illuminated by the flashlight, he could see that the dial was split into two sections: a ring on the outside and the dial on the inside, engraved with lines similar to those on a watch, marked with 0, 5, 10, 15...up to 60.

Lacking the patience to deal with it, Lin Wu decided to ignore the safe and continued searching. He found a fishing rod, a booklet of sticky notes, two pencils, a water pen, and also several silver coins and five thousand in cash. Lin Wu picked up a photo frame from the desk; it showed a family of three in a happy pose. The background displayed Lake Island, where the trio sat on a picnic mat laden with food and beverages.

Putting down the photo frame, Lin Wu opened a folder and blew away the dust inside to reveal a supply contract. As he prepared to put it back, a small notebook slipped out from the folder. Lin Wu’s spirits lifted upon picking it up—it was a firearm license. Inside were a photo of a gun and its specs, an AK assault rifle with a 30-round magazine using 7.62mm rifle bullets.

Compared to the small handgun and shotgun he had found before, this was a real firearm. Lin Wu began searching high and low, eventually finding an electric bill which revealed that the general manager lived in Apartment 5, on the 7th floor, Room 01.

Interesting, the game is interesting. It arranges clues logically, allowing players to find them on their own.

Lin Wu tossed the electric bill into his bag and, after a more thorough search turned up nothing, he moved on to the finance office. The whole factory was pitch black, the flashlight a bright spot amidst the darkness, giving the whole place an eerie atmosphere. But Lin Wu, often face-to-face with zombies at night, had grown accustomed to it. Even if he suddenly saw a zombie before him, he could maintain his composure and deal with the crisis. After dealing with Frenzy and Blind Bat, Lin Wu knew that silence wasn’t the scary part—it was the eerie noises that were truly terrifying. Lin Wu really did not want to be the guinea pig again, getting intimately acquainted with other unknown creatures.

This was his job. At the whole base, Lin Wu was the best fitted to be the guinea pig. Especially after Cotton’s death, Lin Wu felt if he weren’t the guinea pig, who else had the right to be?

Lin Wu wasn’t very familiar with Cotton, but thought he was a decent person. It had only been two hours since his death, and Lin Wu already found himself unable to recall Cotton’s face.

Amidst his wandering thoughts, Lin Wu finished ransacking the finance office. As he stepped out and turned around, a zombie appeared right in front of him. Lin Wu was startled and instinctively activated Wind Stinger, ducking and sliding behind the zombie to finish it off with a single blow. With a mix of boldness and attention to detail, Lin Wu now considered himself a veteran of nighttime scavenging with the added experience.

Shining a flashlight through the window, I first checked the layout of the office. After entering the office, I kept my back to the wall while moving to avoid being attacked by zombies that might suddenly appear from either side. I eliminated any zombies that were sleeping or wandering inside the office. After clearing the room, I first went out to check if there were any zombies in the corridor. Once I was sure there were none, I returned to the office, closed the door, and began to rummage while lost in thought.

The most conspicuous thing in the human resources office was a stack of documents on the desk, which contained the information of all the factory workers. Lin Wu casually flipped through a few and discovered some important clues hidden within. The documents included employee photos, one of which belonged to a crane operator. In the picture, he wore a helmet over his head and a yellow work suit over his clothes, with a small object pinned to his undershirt. It resembled a walkie-talkie.

Having a walkie-talkie would enable the people outside to establish contact with the radio at home. In the game, a walkie-talkie is an indispensable item. Lin Wu took the photo, leaving the task of identifying the body to Bai Ban.

Reviewing a few more documents, Lin Wu saw a photo of a telescope. It seemed the person in the photo was a foreman or a supervisor. The factory was so big that using a telescope would allow for better observation of the workers’ activities. The background showed a row of lockers, with the foreman’s locker open as he was about to place the telescope inside. The locker number was 011.

Where were the lockers located?

Lin Wu made a quick decision. Instead of searching blindly within the factory, it would be better to go back and ask Bai Ban. Poor Maya was woken up by Lin Wu again, and this time she woke up with a noticeably downcast spirit. Intermittent sleep could restore fatigue in the game, but it could not mend the mental wounds of the players.

Damn Lin Wu, always having important matters to attend to. As the Deputy Commander and the supervisor of field operations, Maya couldn’t get angry; she even had to conceal her displeasure.

Maya first looked at the photo, scrutinizing it for a while with a candle and the flashlight, "It might be a walkie-talkie; I’ll arrange for tomorrow’s Bai Ban to prioritize searching for the target zombie."

Lin Wu asked, "Isn’t tomorrow’s Bai Ban supposed to prioritize opening the safe in store number 1?"

Maya, groggy and unsure of what to say, raised her hand and after a long time finally responded, "We’ll do both."

Seeing Maya’s condition, Lin Wu instinctively touched her forehead with two fingers and was shocked, "Damn, you have a fever." What the hell? Lin Wu was stunned not by the fact that Maya had a fever, but by the presence of fevers in the game.

Maya couldn’t believe it either. When she opened the interface, she indeed saw herself in a feverish state. The reason for the fever: prolonged immersion in water led to a temporary decrease in immunity, resulting in fever caused by a cold virus. Maya remembered going to explore the river next to the factory at six in the evening. After coming ashore, her wet clothes had been uncomfortable, showing as ’damp’ in her body status. Unlike splattered blood, which the system refreshed differently, water wouldn’t dry up by itself. It wasn’t until nine at night that Maya had dried her clothes by the campfire.

The system still had some conscience. It provided a detailed explanation for the fever: During a fever, the maximum life, stamina, and infection values are halved. Different players would have different reactions based on their individual differences.

How to cure a fever for the poor: stay warm for more than 12 hours. For the middle class, lie in a sickbed for a full three hours to recover. For the rich: take fever-reducing medicine, which instantly clears the feverish state.

System notification: After obtaining two specific drugs, fever-reducing medicine can be synthesized in the medical room.

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