Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 31 - 30 Morning Tea Meeting

Chapter 31: Chapter 30 Morning Tea Meeting

The rain had fallen all night, and by dawn, it still hadn’t stopped, leaving Lin Wu no choice but to brave the rain and return to the base. The first thing he did was go to the backyard bonfire to dry his clothes; how he wished he could have a hot shower and change into a set of clean clothes. Although doing this had no effect on the system’s values, it felt very comfortable to a person.

The open-air barracks truly affected morale, with the beds shielded by a rain cover, but the road leading into the barracks was wet and muddy, making it uncomfortable to walk on. He couldn’t wait to take off his shoes and jump straight into bed. Groggily sitting by the bonfire, Little Knife mumbled while staring into the fire, "Slept so good."

Lin Wu always had many issues, "Is that vacant look in your eyes because you’re comfortable?"

"That’s called purity, even the sleep in my eyes is the freshest, get it?" Little Knife glanced sideways at Lin Wu, "Really feel like having a cup of coffee."

"Will boiled water do?" There were coffee beans, but no coffee machine, and even if there was a coffee machine, there was no power. Manually grinding coffee beans for a cup was a laborious task.

Little Knife sniffled, "Add some tea leaves, green tea."

Lin Wu went to boil water, found two cups, added tea leaves, and brewed two cups of tea. Maya passed by and took one cup, "Thanks."

"This..."

Maya pointed, "Your cup is that one."

There were many different mugs placed on the table next to the radio station, collected as part of the furnishings during scavenging. These items had no impact on the game’s stats and therefore had no place in the inventory. Lin Wu found his labeled cup, which turned to be a high-end insulated mug.

Maya explained, "It gets quite cold at night, carrying a flask of hot water with you isn’t a bad idea."

"Thank you."

Maya raised her cup as a gesture to not mention it.

Gradually everyone woke up and gathered by the bonfire. As the leader, Stone took the opportunity to hold a meeting, "Last night, Lin Wu brought back an Electronics Skill Book, who’s interested?"

Tangtang looked at the firelight, "Without power, who would learn that?"

Lin Wu chimed in, "The batteries in my flashlight are dead."

Stone said somewhat helplessly, "I can build a generator room, but we don’t have a generator." The generator room provides power for the base and maintaining it every day consumes two points of gasoline reserve. The advantage is that it only takes two points of gasoline to provide unlimited power.

Snow Egg said, "Most factories should be equipped with their own generators, usually located in the basement."

Speaking of basements, Lin Wu informed everyone that a Frenzy was in the changing room of Factory No. 1’s basement. This was a headache for everyone; to deal with a Frenzy, guns were necessary, and a small pistol did minimal damage. Shotguns were highly effective against Frenzy, but with only seven bullets left, he had to save them for Lin Wu’s nights.

Unlimited bullets within the base meant that shooting within the base didn’t consume bullets, not that bullets could be replenished infinitely.

Regarding guns, Lin Wu shared all the information he had collected.

After he finished, everyone was still looking at Lin Wu, could this guy not explain things on his own? He just blurted out whatever came to mind. Maya asked, "What other information did you collect?"

Lin Wu replied, "Information on a Fortress operative, the magazine is in the warehouse. The magazine mentioned an arms expert who possesses an assault rifle with a 150-round magazine. He lives in Room 405, Apartment No. 2."

Maya said, somewhat frustrated, "The games developed by Dawn are more detailed than I thought, we can’t miss any text materials; there might be very valuable supplies among them."

Due to Lin Wu’s nighttime activity, Bai Ban had a lot to do. First, they had to escort Su Shi, who was a bit dizzy from the double intelligence boost, to Shop No. 1 to solve the riddles. Then there was the continuation of staking out Apartment No. 2. They also needed to investigate a Highland Villa located not far from the commercial street, as a family photo indicated they had two fungus people; who knew if weapons or important information could be found inside the villa.

In addition, they had to scavenge for building material packages at the factory, dismantle items, transport trash, and look for a generator. Maya needed to scout Apartment No. 1, and since Blind Bat was guarding Apartment No. 2, Bai Ban was responsible for the tasks in Apartment No. 1.

After Maya finished planning, Lin Wu remembered the briefcase he had retrieved from the park. After claiming the briefcase, he returned to the campfire and emptied its contents. Inside was something resembling a map, yet it didn’t seem to be an actual map.

Maya took it for a look and said after a while, "This is a map of three sentry posts in the nearby area. It’s presumed to be the safety points and checkpoints set up by the Fungus Side after the outbreak of the epidemic. Mountain Observatory Tower..."

Maya walked into the rain, toward the edge of the cliff, pointing in the direction of the farm base, three kilometers away on a mountain, "There is a watchtower on the top of the mountain, overlooking the suburban road of Left County."

After looking at the map for a while, Maya pointed to the highway heading towards Left County, "Seven kilometers away, there’s a military checkpoint set up on the Left County suburban road, with a medical camp arranged alongside it. This is a good spot; there should be a large amount of weapons and medical supplies there."

Maya said, "The last one is the Rail Command Base, which is the headquarters of the Fungus Side for dealing with the epidemic. The railway line is six kilometers to our west, running through North City and between the two Left Counties. We cannot determine the exact location of the command train."

After finishing, Maya looked at Lin Wu, who looked around at everyone, puzzled, only to realize everyone was looking at him, "What?"

Little Knife said, "Is there anything else?"

Lin Wu responded innocently, "That’s it."

Maya continued, "The daytime work remains unchanged. Tonight, Lin Wu and I will drive to the highway checkpoint to see if we can scrounge up some supplies. Su Shi, make two raincoats for everyone."

"No problem," replied Su Shi. Although he couldn’t deal with something as big as a generator, he was confident with something as simple as raincoats. After finishing, Su Shi asked, "Can I not go to the commercial street?"

Maya said, "Make yourself a blindfold. As long as you don’t look around everywhere, you won’t see the zombies."

Su Shi accepted this ostrich-like solution.

Maya instructed, "Su Shi is a permanent logistics member. When Lin Wu is resting, Su Shi should not leave the base, nor should he rest; someone must be left to guard the base. Personnel guarding the base should carry a skyrocket with them, and if the base is under attack, they should ignite it."

Lin Wu glanced at the sky, "With rain this heavy, can we hear any movements?"

"It’s better than nothing," Maya said. "We’re short on walkie-talkies."

Lin Wu recalled, "Speaking of walkie-talkies..."

Without any restraint, Little Knife stepped on Lin Wu’s foot, "Didn’t you lose them all?"

Lin Wu looked at Little Knife, puffing with indignation, "I reported this news before. Maya had a fever at the time and didn’t write it down."

Maya remembered, "Inside the factory, there’s a specific zombie carrying a walkie-talkie, along with a cumbersome safe."

Little Knife gave Lin Wu a sly smile, then lifted his foot and placed it on her own, "We’re even now."

Lin Wu nodded, "Mhm."

There was a philosophical undertone to the childishness. Even if you lived for decades, when someone hit you, you would instinctively hit back, or else you’d feel at a loss. Perhaps this was an innate pursuit of fairness embedded in human subconsciousness.