Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 298 - 175 Defending the City

Chapter 298: Chapter 175 Defending the City

There are no mice-free places, just places lacking a heart willing to find the mice.

Recalling this aphorism spoken thousands of years ago by Prawn, Lin Wu had an epiphany. Immediately, he packed his gear, strapped on his skis, and returned to the base. With the help of a drone and his diligent search, he discovered the first mouse in a spot southwest of the supermarket, close to the mountain. Following the trail of this mouse, Lin Wu found several suspected Mouse Holes nearby.

Looking at the position of the Sentry Card, Lin Wu cleared a patch of snow and placed the bait about 4 meters away from the Mouse Hole, then swiftly returned to his post. Unexpectedly, the mice were quicker than him; as soon as he aimed, he saw two mice fighting over the bait, sending it scattering in all directions.

However, the distance seemed a bit too far, over 70 meters. Without Maya there to calculate the wind speed, Lin Wu fired his first shot straight at the Crosshair, but the bullet bounced off the ground, missing its target by just two centimeters. The two mice instantly fled.

Lin Wu confirmed the bullet’s point of impact and, after waiting a few minutes, successfully killed one of the mice. Hunting zombies was no fun; hunting mice was far more interesting—it carried the true essence of hunting.

When Maya returned, she immediately spotted Lin Wu at the Sentry Card. He seemed unaware of her footsteps crunching in the snow, quietly prone on the sandbags at his post, he fired a shot. With his eyes and body still, left hand pressing down on the gun body and the right hand pulling the bolt, he continued to wait for the next prey to emerge.

Maya reached the base, took the elevator up to the rooftop, and walked to the post, only to find Lin Wu completely absorbed in his task, oblivious to her standing right beside him. Maya took out her assault rifle, peered through the scope, and saw a tiny mouse scurrying along the cleared path to the bait area. The mouse stopped to nibble on a kernel of corn and was then suddenly killed, its body flung into a pile of snow.

Looking back at Lin Wu, his whole body was still except for his hands, quickly chambering the next round, his eyes always on the Crosshair. Maya glanced at the setting sun, stretched out her hand, and used her finger to measure the distance between the horizon and the sun, confirming that there was about 45 minutes left before sunset. She decided not to disturb Lin Wu, allowing him to focus on his play.

Just as Maya was about to leave, the system alarm suddenly sounded, indicating a siege event.

Lin Wu remained motionless. Maya knew he had disabled personal base alerts communication due to zombies repeatedly breaching the safe zone; she gently tapped his shoulder and said, "Hey."

Lin Wu’s hand jerked, firing a blank. Looking up to see Maya, she said, "Siege, six-star siege."

Lin Wu checked the system information and asked, "Why is the siege mission in red?"

The two clicked on the details of the siege and found out that this siege was different from the past. Because their base was in the Blood Mist area, the appearance rate of Blood Zombies in this siege was 50%, and the likelihood of Mutant Zombies showing up had significantly increased. The biggest problem for the supermarket base was that Frenzy would climb up to the rooftop from the south; the south wasn’t a safe zone and couldn’t be guarded, meaning they could only let Frenzy come in.

As the sun was about to set, it was too late to call for reinforcements, and with heavy snow closing the roads and the Sentry Cards to pass, by the time help arrived, either the base would be gone, or the zombies would be.

Lin Ma’s group hadn’t really considered the problem of a siege. Even when they talked about it, it was casual, without any sense of pressure. Maya had checked for threats on her first day, and in her mind, she already had a fairly mature response plan.

Maya said, "See that white birch tree at the edge of the safe zone?"

"Yeah."

"You climb the tree and take charge of attacking the zombies assaulting the front gate, try to eliminate as many of them as you can. I’ll stay at the elevator and go to the rooftop when the time is right. Once I’m on the rooftop, I need you to attract as many zombies as you can, leading them away from the base to reduce the damage to the base’s facilities. Our tactic is just that, but battle is ever-changing, so adapt flexibly. The principle is to prioritize survival."

"Understood." Lin Wu asked, "Do you need me to tie a line from the post to the tree in case you get surrounded on the rooftop and need an escape route?"

"Okay," Maya replied. "Be careful, Frenzy can climb trees."

"What?" Lin Wu heard this for the first time.

"Yeah, it can climb, but not very fast. There are no branches on the lower half of the birch tree, and with the assault rifle, you should be able to manage. You haven’t upgraded your gun maintenance, so have the Uzi submachine gun ready. The Uzi fires at a very high rate but is prone to jamming. Be flexible in switching between the pistol, submachine gun, and assault rifle."

Defending the supermarket base wasn’t the problem; the question was how much they would have to sacrifice to do so. Their biggest concern was the zombies mindlessly charging at the base; they might eliminate the zombies, but odds were that the dormitory and other buildings would be destroyed and the warehouse left with little in it.

They quickly moved rocket launchers, spare firearms, unused ammunition, and supplies onto two vehicles buried in the snow. This way, even if the base was completely destroyed, they could still use these resources to rebuild the supermarket base.

Maya’s biggest worry was the library. Other buildings could be rebuilt with materials, but the library was unique as it required collecting masterpieces to unlock. However, she didn’t voice her concern, her belief in the collective good completely overrode her minimal self-interest.

...

The siege began, and zombies continuously spawned from outside the safe zone. Today’s siege mode wasn’t progressive but even. What caused Lin Ma the most trouble was the Blood Mist; zombies entering the Blood Mist moved faster, and the Blood Zombies in the mist were even stronger. In two minutes of defense, three zombies had breached the base.