Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 34 - 33 Changing Clothes

Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Changing Clothes

Due to continuous rainfall, Bai Ban finished work at five in the afternoon. Even with raincoats, some people caught colds. The symptoms were mild and would clear up after lying in bed for 10 to 30 minutes. Before the night shift set off, everyone gathered around the campfire for tea, and Little Knife brought up the issue of changing clothes. Half of her clothes were still wet.

Lin Wu immediately replied, "Yes, I’ve stripped a set of sailor uniforms off a mannequin; it should be in the warehouse."

Stone said, "Right, right, I need to say this first, don’t bring any trash back to the base. Dawn isn’t thinking straight; he dumps everything into the warehouse. Things like weeds, stones, cigarette packs, bottle caps, and so on. Not only does Su Shi have to organize the warehouse, he also has to deal with the junk..."

While Stone was speaking, Little Knife had already requested the clothes, and after reaching her room, a dressing interface appeared and she successfully changed her outfit. When she walked to the backyard, Little Knife, clad in a sailor uniform, immediately drew everyone’s attention. With her short hair and the neat sailor outfit, she looked strikingly heroic. The suit provided by the system was much stronger than everyone’s personal clothes brought into the game, both in terms of material and touch.

More importantly, after changing clothes, Little Knife’s interface added a feature: "Sailor uniform provides 5 points of warmth."

"It’s over," Stone said speechlessly. "Dawn is pushing players to their deaths." With warmth points, there also comes coldness; the base would need a player with tailor skills.

Players were like locusts, plundering the resources left by the system. If they couldn’t reproduce, resources would eventually run out. It was believed that food was the only issue, but now there was the problem of keeping warm. This was forcing unprepared players to move to the county city.

Lin Wu said, "Stone, don’t think too much. You should consider how cool Little Knife looks after changing clothes. I want to get a sharp-looking suit for myself too."

Snow Egg immediately said, "Me too. Lin Wu, I call dibs, I want a gray one."

Lin Wu asked, "Aren’t you considering the warmth?"

Snow Egg replied, "That’s a winter concern."

Stone patiently said, "People without immediate worries must have long-term concerns."

Little Knife asked, "Isn’t the trouble with Building 2 an immediate worry?"

Stone explained, "People without long-term or immediate worries must have mid-term concerns."

Lin Wu patted Stone’s shoulder, "The boss’s mid-term and long-term concerns are your business, what do they have to do with us?"

Everyone raised their teacups, cheering for Lin Wu’s words.

"Hey, didn’t you just say you weren’t going to squeeze me?" Stone found Lin Wu’s words very reasonable. That was his job, his area of expertise. Why should he impose his own worries on his employees, making them as anxious as himself? Thinking this, Stone also raised his cup to join in: "Black one’s mine."

...

The car slowly stopped a hundred meters away from the Sentry Card, Lin Wu and Maya put on their raincoats, got out of the car, and walked forward along the road barrier. Lin Wu raised his hand, and the two squatted down. Lin Wu pointed beyond the guardrail to the open field, where a Screeching Zombie was wandering aimlessly, surrounded by three other zombies.

Maya took aim with her crossbow and hit the Screeching Zombie with a single arrow. After the Screeching Zombie fell to the ground, the nearby zombies gathered around fruitlessly and soon dispersed. The two of them reached the vicinity of the sentry post without incident.

To the left of the sentry post was a cliff, and the highway was blocked by a luxury coach bus which took up most of the road, with sandbags arranged in front of the bus. On the right side of the sentry post was a wilderness, across which ran a several kilometers-long barbed wire fence, with thirty large tents set up in front of the fence.

Above the Sentry Card was a very bright streetlight. Lin Wu judged that a small car could slowly snake through the sentry post intersection in an S-shaped path.

Given the state of the Earth in 2023, even if all humans disappeared, some regions would still have power supply for many years. This streetlight should be part of the regular power supply, simply modified by someone to be extra bright.

One could see with the naked eye a zombie soldier pacing back and forth behind the sandbags, wearing a helmet and camouflage uniform, with a white cloth bearing a red cross tied around his left arm.

Maya gestured forward and Lin Wu widened his eyes at her. With a hint of resignation, she whispered in Lin Wu’s ear, "Corpse Looting around, I’ll cover you from outside." Su Shi had made one hundred and twenty Crossbow Arrows, so Maya hadn’t planned on having Lin Wu take the lead on this excursion, but upon seeing the helmet-wearing zombie, she knew it had to be Lin Wu’s job.

Lin Wu used Stealth to get to the edge of the sandbags and watched the zombie. Once the zombie turned its head away, Lin Wu flipped over the sandbags and used his dagger—at the cost of 3 points of durability—to score a kill. He propped the falling zombie and searched its body. Of course, there was no need to actually rummage through pockets; as long as his hand touched the general area with items, the system would display them, and taking them just required a pick.

Two system bandages: one for treating external injuries, such as fractures, and another for treating bleeding. Both had a shelf life of ten years. After carefully circling around for five minutes, Lin Wu returned to the front of the sandbags and waved, signaling for Maya to come forward and join him. Lin Wu whispered to her, "There are more vehicles behind, including a communications vehicle and an electric power supply vehicle."

Walking forward for more than ten meters, Maya saw the power supply and communication vehicles parked on the side of the road. Maya motioned for Lin Wu to check out the communication vehicle, while she observed the power supply vehicle for a moment, then pulled on the door handle; it was unlocked. Pleased, she opened the door, only to be pounced upon by a zombie from the driver’s seat. Maya quickly braced herself against the zombie’s shoulders to prevent it from biting her.

As Maya was in her primary and secondary form, theoretically, she should have been able to push the zombie away, but the zombie’s heavy gear and losing the initiative meant she could only struggle against it. The zombie howled as an indistinguishable liquid dribbled from its mouth, and Maya barely turned her face aside. Luckily, the strength of the zombie quickly weakened, and Maya took the opportunity to push it away and drew her machete in a flurry.

Hearing the commotion, Lin Wu rushed back from the rear and saw Maya wielding her machete. He wasn’t worried and sat down to enjoy the show. He wanted to know if the Sharp Blade really couldn’t penetrate the helmet. As Maya’s machete struck the helmet, it made a sound like metal striking metal, much like a blunt weapon hitting. The poor zombie kept being struck into rigidity, unable to fight back. After about a dozen chops, the helmet split in two and fell to the ground, after which the zombie was no different from an ordinary one.

After dispatching the zombie, Maya approached and crouched next to Lin Wu, the two sitting in silence, listening to the surrounding sounds. Perhaps the rainy night masked the noise or maybe for some other reason, but they waited for a long time without seeing any other zombies.

Mustering up the courage to open the car door again, Maya backed away; without a flashlight, she couldn’t see what was inside the vehicle clearly. Lin Wu climbed into the vehicle, searched it, then got out, "Nothing."

Maya nodded, sat in the driver’s seat, and searched around for the car keys. Lin Wu passed her a set of keys, and Maya asked, surprised, "Where did these come from?"

Lin Wu replied, "The body."

Maya slapped her forehead, recalling how she had been frightened earlier, and after breaking free, pretended to crouch next to Lin Wu out of tactical need, forgetting to loot the body. Lin Wu wouldn’t miss a fresh corpse; while Maya was mustering the courage to pull on the car door, he had found a set of keys on the body.

Maya started the vehicle and a loud noise erupted, making Lin Wu wish he could cover his ears, "Sis, that’s too loud."

The noise eventually subsided, and Maya got out of the vehicle, "The integrity is at 80%, it’s just short on fuel."

Lin Wu said, "There’s some on the car, I’ll get it." Carrying a can of spare gasoline was necessary when driving out.