Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 297 - 174 Mouse Hunt_2

Chapter 297: Chapter 174 Mouse Hunt_2

Maya said, "This person must be the one distributing business cards, aiming to take high-value targets out of Left County before the residents notice."

Lin Wu said, "We’ve got to check out Shuixi Middle School, my gut feels there’s something there—either a plot task, treasure, or both."

Maya took all the cards, saying, "Clear out any special zombies nearby to prevent others from getting the information."

"Really? Besides us, who else would come here?"

Despite his words, Lin Wu still followed Maya and searched the area, finding no special zombies. The two entered the last search location: the women’s restroom. A female zombie dressed in a red suit was killed, and Maya, looting the corpse, found a black card with the Fortress Company emblem on it. Interestingly, besides the emblem, the card had no other information.

Maya examined the material, asking uncertainly, "A key?"

"Don’t know." Seeing no bar codes or chips, Lin Wu said, "Just keep it for now."

The remaining search didn’t yield much, but they did find several mobile eateries, and Lin Wu’s backpack was stuffed full, carrying 50% overweight back to base. A speechless Maya had no choice but to carry some of the food for Lin Wu.

...

After Maya returned to the supermarket base, being on pins and needles became part of the routine, and Lin Wu’s life changed as if he had switched to a different mode.

The night after Maya returned to the supermarket base for the fourth day, she planned the work for the fifth day: continue cutting at the cement factory.

Sister, aren’t you tired of it? You’ve been cutting for two days straight, and you want to keep going? There’s so much serum now that you could practically drink it like soda. Therefore, Lin Wu raised his doubts, while also stating that he wanted to go to the sewers to hunt rats and buff his Hunter’s skill. Maya agreed, but she wasn’t going to idle in the sewers; she would continue at the cement factory. With the Repeating Crossbow and swordsmanship, there was no safety issue in fighting from a distance or shooting close up.

That was Lin Wu’s character. The first day at the cement factory was fun. The second day, not so much fun, but he went along to give face to Maya. On the third day, when Maya suggested going to the cement factory again, agreeing would have added pressure on him, so Lin Wu voiced his objection. Many human stresses come from not knowing how to say no, from being unable to refuse.

"Leo, could you help me with the annual report?" Although reluctantly, one might agree in order to save face or because the other person pleads so humbly. But Lin Wu would decisively refuse. Sorry? If you have the nerve to ask for my help, why should I feel bad for refusing? If you can understand after being refused, that’s the best scenario. But if you can’t understand and blame me for not helping, you’re just being petty, and why should I help you at all? Sometimes there’s no need to overcomplicate things. A simple and direct approach can make your life simple and direct, too.

If you don’t refuse, the next time they will come to trouble you again, and you will still need to refuse. Unless you’re willing to keep inconveniencing yourself.

...

The rare opportunity for a solo mission made Lin Wu feel somewhat odd, but carefree people adapt quickly. Particularly someone like Lin Wu who could roll in the snow or confide in rats; his dictionary had no word for loneliness.

Descending into the sewers, Lin Wu didn’t dare venture too far. After walking five meters, he reached a pit where foul water was flowing, scattered bread crumbs and corn kernels in the nearby dry area, then retreated to lean against the wall ten meters away, sitting down and quietly waiting with the Silencer in hand. To rack up Hunter points, he had brought all of his more than two hundred .22 caliber bullets today.

.22 bullets are cheap; manually pressing one ammunition unit could make five bullets, and with a power system, you could make ten. It’s a pity that Shadow did not have a player with Ammunition Crafting skills, otherwise, production could be increased even further. The materials consumed for 200 .22 caliber bullets equalled five ammo packets. Of course, most of the .22 caliber bullets were exchanged at the market with rifle or handgun bullets at a very reasonable rate.

Thinking it over, he felt like he was still being somewhat wasteful, so he stopped thinking about it.

The first prey appeared quickly. Lin Wu, leaning against the wall, stretched out his left leg, bent his right knee, rested the rifle barrel on his knee, looked through the scope with his head tilted, and pulled the trigger with his right hand. The rat was sent flying half a meter away, kicking its legs in the air for a few seconds before meeting its demise.

"It’s still just a kid." Lin Wu pulled the bolt of his rifle and looked through the scope as he waited, "Where’s the motherly love? Dear mother, where are you? Your darling is dead... and why did you bring your husband along?" Lin Wu killed another one, and another mouse seized the chance to scurry away.

One shot, one mouse. What Lin Wu found regrettable was that there weren’t many mice and the damned respawn mechanism further reduced efficiency. According to the game’s respawn mechanism, mice wouldn’t respawn in his vicinity, which meant Lin Wu had to maintain two hunting grounds. Lin Wu was self-aware; he wouldn’t leave his small patch of territory to develop a new hunting ground, otherwise, he’d be the one who ended up dead.

After an hour of playing, he had only killed nine mice. Seeing that the mice were slow to respawn, Lin Wu crawled out of the sewer to wait for them. With nothing else to do, Lin Wu used his stealth and tap-fired, starting to pick off the zombies around him. The zombies on Route 1 were much denser than on Route 2, consisting mostly of Violent Blood Zombies. Lin Wu did not want to engage them in close combat.

Feeling bored after a while, he rolled over to the snowy ground, lay on his back, and stared up at the blue sky. As he daydreamed quietly, suddenly a face blocked the sky. Lin Wu hastily sat up, "Nightmare, what are you doing here?"

Nightmare looked at Lin Wu, "Homeless?"

"Mind your own business," Lin Wu asked, "What are you doing here?"

"Bounty task," Nightmare glanced at the sewer entrance nearby.

Lin Wu said, "Just you?"

Nightmare took out a cellphone and clicked it, and a voice announced, "Fortress navigation at your service."

Lin Wu asked in surprise, "Where did you get that? Are there still satellites in the sky?"

Nightmare was quite pleased with Lin Wu’s surprised expression and said, "Fortress Company is still around, how could there be no satellites? Goodbye."

Lin Wu asked, "You’re not going to ask if I’m coming with you?"

Nightmare replied, "I’m not asking." Not waiting around for a response, Nightmare descended the straight stairs.

Lin Wu said, "You’ll regret this."

"Ha!"

Lin Wu couldn’t be bothered to stand up, using his hands instead to crawl to the edge of the sewer to listen. That woman wasn’t joking; she really left on her own. Lin Wu could only sigh: Human nature has changed, Titan is pleased. But that navigator is a handy gadget. Suddenly remembering something, Lin Wu gave up using his legs and used his hands to crawl around on the ground.

After completing his circuit, Lin Wu was deep in thought. Last time Shana broke a bone, he made Shana crawl once to see whether it would be faster for him to carry her or for her to crawl on her own. Shana had struggled to crawl, so why could he crawl so quickly? Lin Wu circled the county marker again and was still fast. With legs, he wouldn’t be much slower than Frenzy.

There was only one explanation: Shana was too lazy to crawl.

Lin Wu’s thoughts were interrupted by a mouse. A mouse appeared 20 meters away at the corner of a building complex. It was nestled next to a zombie, clutching something as it ate, looking plump and chubby. Lin Wu unceremoniously sent it and the zombie to their demise. Reaching the corner of the wall, Lin Wu discovered a mouse hole and took out some bait to scatter around, then returned to the county marker. He climbed to the 7-meter-high top of the marker and, looking down from above through the scope, kept his eye on the bait.

This was hunting: laying the bait, hiding up high, waiting quietly, and dealing a fatal blow when the prey appeared. Three minutes later, another mouse fell victim to the wicked muzzle. It was actually kind of fun. Unlike in the sewer, the mice here were very agile and moved along the wall edges, where accumulated snow and stones often blocked the line of fire. Lin Wu had to keep a steady eye through the scope and wait quietly, where having enough patience made the reward far more interesting than simply receiving it outright.

Since Lin Wu was more than 15 meters away from the mouse hole, the mice kept respawning. The only downside was that the targets were small, especially the baby mice; their long and slender bodies made sniping much more challenging, and Lin Wu wasted several bullets and lost several of his quarry as a result.