Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 32 - 31 Hunter

Chapter 32: Chapter 31 Hunter

After Maya assigned the morning shift work, the brief meeting concluded. Maya also had private conversations with a few individuals, and Stone, bearing the mindset of a boss, listened in for a while before walking away. In Stone’s view, tactical training was dry and tedious.

For the day shift, everyone donned raincoats and got into the vehicle, escorting Su Shi to the commercial street to crack the Huarong Road puzzle. At this time, Lin Wu couldn’t rest either; he and Stone were responsible for guarding the base. After this morning’s meeting, Stone had everyone bring back any textual materials they could easily carry, as a boss doesn’t need to work in reality, but in the game, it’s different. Other than driving, Stone couldn’t do much else, and he was quite content with his ability to fill in as an intelligence analyst.

Lin Wu sat by the campfire, watching the pumpkins Tangtang had planted. They grew incredibly fast, bearing fruit just overnight. However, fruiting or not didn’t matter as long as they were planted, they would provide the base with food ingredients every day at 8 am.

As Stone boiled water for tea, he saw Lin Wu looking at the pumpkins and said, "The food situation is relatively optimistic; we still have four days’ worth of food supplies. The Maya Farm Base direction has abundant food and gasoline reserves. Even so, the consumption of 9 food units per day is somewhat alarming." As maintenance costs, the medical room consumes one unit of medical resources per day, and several buildings combined consume one unit of construction resources per day. These are minor issues, as a basic pack can yield 4 units of resources. Only the amount of food consumed is hard to accept.

Stone said, "If we completely deplete the food resources nearby without achieving self-sufficiency, we’ll be in big trouble."

"Can’t we trade for resources?" Lin Wu suggested, "There are many players near the Former Shadow Base now, and a few have Skill Books. Do you think we could trade for some Agricultural Skills Books?"

Stone asked, "Trade with what?"

Lin Wu replied, "Guns."

Stone shook his head repeatedly, "We only have three guns at the moment. We still don’t know the intensity of the sieges, and if we trade away the guns now, what will we defend our home with?"

Lin Wu said, "Maybe there’s a more worthwhile trade."

"We can trade one handgun at most," Stone looked at the pumpkin patch and continued, "The garden must be upgraded. Besides player skill upgrades, if we have water and electricity, we can also upgrade, and utilize fertilizer to increase the yield. If all of that is realized, this garden might be able to sustain half of the base’s population."

Lin Wu said, "After the skill upgrades, mastering water and electricity, we can dismantle the open-air barracks to make room for a garden, allocating three small units for dormitories. This way we can satisfy our survival needs."

Stone commented, "We have a total of 7 small units; deducting the medical room, power room, storage, and 3 dormitories, that leaves only two small units." This storage was different from that storage; this storage increased the base’s basic resource storage limit, not an item warehouse.

Continuing, Stone said, "Moreover, I think we shouldn’t put all our hopes on one person. Tangtang is playful; we can’t expect her to stay at home all day, every day. Going out always involves risks. The base needs two players with Agricultural Skills. Let’s not talk about this. Do you have any thoughts on the base?"

Lin Wu shook his head, "No, I’m quite enjoying myself."

"Correct, enjoying yourself is most important. Life is short, especially for a young person with no attachments like you, what matters most is being happy."

Lin Wu said, "There’s a bag of rice in the warehouse, and some sweet potatoes. Do you think we could cook some sweet potato porridge to make everyone a bit happier?"

Stone was interested, "That’s doable."

Lin Wu stood up, "Although I’m not hungry, I always want to eat something."

Stone also stood up: "There’s a big basin in the storeroom, let’s stew a pot and wait for them to come back."

...

Bai Ban brought back Su Shi’s team and couldn’t help but feel hungry at the sight of a pot of thick sweet potato porridge. Little Knife and Snow Egg kept expressing their admiration; though there was no system enhancement, everyone’s mood got a boost.

The team went to Store No.1, where Maya found the safe’s combination, and upon opening it, they discovered a firearm part: a 4x scope that could be mounted on any firearm. In practice, they found that this thing was a divine artifact. After installing the 4x scope on a handgun, one could snipe zombies wandering on the road under the cliff from the edge of the cliff.

The effective range of the 4x scope was 50 meters; zombies and the crosshair were clearly visible within this distance, without the need to account for humidity, wind direction, or even consider the bullet’s trajectory. However, without the enhancement of a skill, the crosshair would drift slightly. Once beyond 50 meters, the system’s penalties increased gradually, and past 80 meters, the 4x scope completely lost its function.

Even any novice in firearms had a chance to score a headshot. Five meters away from a zombie, many might not manage a headshot with a single shot, but with the 4x scope attached, it turned into a little game.

As someone with extreme intelligence points, Su Shi faced a 3x3 sliding puzzle game, which he easily cracked open. Inside was a Skill Book, titled Hunter.

This was another Skill Book that had everyone unsure of what to do. So far, the base already had Piping Study and Electronics as Skill Books. Compared with them, Hunter was more intuitive and easier to understand. However, since entering the game several days ago, no one had seen any large wild animals.

Maya said, "We’ve obtained four Skill Books but have only learned one. Let’s not talk about Piping Study and Electronics for now; I think Hunter could definitely contribute to the base’s food supply. Exclude Su Shi and Tangtang for now, Su Shi is in need of a matching skill book, and Tangtang has already learned Gardening."

Horse Soul raised his hand and said, "I have a Chef entry, and I want to wait for a cooking-related Skill Book."

Maya nodded, then looked at Snow Egg, who said, "I... I might as well learn Gardening." She candidly confessed that she was a farm machinery engineer back on Blue Star and also had a corresponding entry. After discussing, everyone agreed that apart from despising Snow Egg, she should wait for an engineering-related Skill Book.

The remaining few were Lin Wu, Little Knife, and Maya. Maya said, "I don’t know if it exists in the game, but personally, I aspire to master tactical skills. For instance, when I’m the team leader, everyone’s morale could rise, or maybe have enhanced combat capabilities like accuracy for the team."

Lin Wu looked at Little Knife, who extended her hand, and they played rock-paper-scissors. Lin Wu won. Before he could even console Little Knife, she already congratulated him: "Congratulations on becoming Hunter." Her words bore no deception, and for a moment, Lin Wu couldn’t tell if this was Little Knife being deceitful through innocence, or innocent through deceit.

With a carefree personality, Lin Wu went straight to the warehouse to claim the Skill Book and learned it on the spot; as he had not invested points in intelligence, it took him three minutes to learn. While everyone was making conversation, Lin Wu gained the Hunter’s skill and read aloud to everyone else: "’Novice Hunter: automatically adds 1 food to the base daily, 10% increase in system shooting accuracy.’ What does that mean?"

Upon hearing this, Maya understood right away, "Your Quick Gunner system data is a 15% chance of a headshot, and due to the Hunter’s enhancement, when you use Quick Gunner, your headshot probability rises to 25%. It’s tailored for you."

Everyone congratulated him, and Lin Wu gratefully accepted the praise, thanking everyone at the base for their support. This skill was good for Lin Wu, but for others, it was just average. Although all could provide one food for the base, hunting and gardening were fundamentally different; gardening could increase food production through fertilizers and irrigation.

Maya announced the next task for Bai Ban: to bring back the 300-kilogram safe that Lin Wu had found. Having a vehicle made them quite bold; who would try without one? But isn’t the point of a safe to unlock it? Just as curious baby Lin Wu was about to ask, Maya had already left with the team, instructing Lin Wu to rest while Stone and Su Shi were on duty.

Not long after falling asleep, Lin Wu began to dream. As a lucid dream controller, he didn’t reject any dreams, whether they were terrifying or nightmares, as he could change the course of events with his will and turn them into beautiful dreams.

In the midst of a pleasant dream, Stone knocked on the folding screen and shouted from outside: "Little Knife has gone mad."