Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 365 - 200 Exploration_2

Chapter 365: Chapter 200 Exploration_2

Yawning, Lin Wu noticed Wai intently staring at a dark corner about ten meters away. Lin Wu patted the dog’s head, turned off his mining light, and took out his pistol to stealthily approach. Pressing his body against the wall corner, Lin Wu turned on the mining light as he pivoted around the corner, and a Night Demon suddenly appeared three meters ahead. Lin Wu tried to aim but couldn’t lock on, realizing the distance wasn’t enough. As he stepped forward, the Night Demon didn’t attack Lin Wu but turned tail and fled.

Lin Wu fired several shots but missed the Night Demon’s head, and saw the creature disappear around the corner. After only a few steps of pursuit, a frustrated Lin Wu cursed, "Cowardly as a mouse, what kind of zombie are you?"

As he finished speaking, another Night Demon lunged from a side passage, its strong left arm reaching out with clawed hands towards Lin Wu. By the time Lin Wu could react, it was too late. He could only dodge with Wind Stinger, as the claws sank deep into his flesh, leaving four bloody gouges.

Locking on, Lin Wu retaliated and took down the Night Demon.

If you didn’t kill me, then I’ll kill you. A fight with a Night Demon means life or death in the blink of an eye.

...

Stone watched Lin Wu enter the medic room, then turned to Maya, "Did you guys visit hell? Why does someone get hurt every time?" A simple bandage was enough to buy time for Lin Wu’s wound.

Maya apologized, "My fault." Lin Wu sensed the Night Demon and killed the creature. At that moment, she should have been ready with her plan to guard against Night Demons. Maya saw Lin Wu’s actions before he was wounded and thought that dealing with one Night Demon wouldn’t be a problem for him if he was on guard. She hadn’t expected the Night Demon to be so intelligent, to actually learn to lure in enemies.

In fact, back at Sentry Card when they encountered the Night Demon, Lin Wu and Maya had already discovered that the creatures used terrain to track humans and chose the best moment to strike. The presence of Demons in Tunnel 99 meant there were other unknown secrets or treasures, or perhaps Tunnel 99 led to them.

Without Lin Wu, the exploration team could only rest in place. The happiest about this situation was Little Knife, who could not only accompany the wounded family member but also had a chance to repay grudges.

Lin Wu, lying on the sickbed, immediately backed down, "Next time I won’t pick on you, nor will I let others do so."

Hmph! Little Knife turned to face another sickbed, focusing on taking care of Snow Egg. In truth, she was worried that lying down for 12 hours straight would be too boring for Snow Egg, so she chatted with him. Men and women are different; after falling in love, women sink deeper while men rise to the surface faster.

Reminded by the scene before him, Lin Wu recalled a story Blue Star Uncle had told him. The uncle had cautioned his daughter not to live with her boyfriend before marriage, not for any other reason but because men become more objective and rational about a substantial marriage afterward, leading to them feeling the responsibility and pressure of marriage. The uncle told Lin Wu that the test of whether a family is harmonious after marriage is not to look at the couple’s virtues, but at their faults.

...

At one in the afternoon, the exploration team set off again. This time, six people formed pairs for coordination and mutual cover. Maya demanded that they check every crossroad they passed, requiring everyone to keep a hand on their gun, forbidding chatting and joking around, and maintaining constant vigilance.

Around two in the afternoon, the team arrived at Exit 2. The exit was indoors, at the second basement level parking garage. There weren’t many vehicles, and those that were there had been scrapped. The number of zombies was also low, so Maya had Peanut stay near the entrance while the others split up to find a map.

After searching, they only found a route map that showed how to drive from the second basement to the first basement. However, Lin Wu made a new discovery; he found an elevator. Inside the elevator were buttons for basement levels two and one, and the fifth floor; next to the fifth floor button was written, "Happy Cinema." Only floors above the first had stairs, so the parking garage required an elevator to go up.

The next discovery was made by Little Knife. They came across a small square building with "Vertical Elevator" written beside the door. After Lin Wu and Maya dispatched three zombies and a Frenzy creature, they entered. Inside were two elevators, one going to basement level one, third floor, and the other to basement level one, fourth floor. The third floor was a food paradise, and the fourth floor was a toy kingdom.

Armed with this information, Maya could confirm, "Shopping mall, an integrated shopping mall."

Shana said, "The elevator isn’t working, so we can only follow the roadway to get out of the mall."

Maya disagreed, "Our purpose here is to scavenge. If we have to walk a few hundred meters, even up to a kilometer to reach the first floor, it’s not only inefficient but also dangerous. Lin Wu, are there any Night Demons around?"

The underground parking garage was pitch black, lit only by the illumination from everyone’s devices and the torches.

Lin Wu replied, "I don’t feel anything, nothing detected."

Shana asked, "What do you think?"

Without answering, Lin Wu pried open the door of Elevator 1, with everyone helping out. After opening it, they looked down to see a pit that wasn’t very deep and looking up, the elevator shaft suspended at basement level one.

Upon prying open the door of Elevator 2, the elevator was also suspended at basement level one. Maya led people back to the Happy Cinema exclusive elevator, which was stopped at the fifth floor.

Maya called Lin Wu up, following him closely, and asked the others to wait on the spot, staying alert. Lin Wu and Lin Ma climbed up the maintenance ladder inside the elevator shaft. They first passed the elevator door at basement level one, while levels one through four were just walls. Maya called Lin Wu back to the ground level, "No good, we need to find an elevator that has doors above the first floor. These kinds of malls definitely have freight elevators; freight elevators stop on every floor."