Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 370 - 202 - Passage Number 4

Chapter 370: Chapter 202 - Passage Number 4

Seeing everyone getting restless, Stone laid out the bottom line for trade negotiations, "No exchange for assault rifles." Who knows if the next merchant would arrive first or the zombies would besiege us. The collected Maya? No, no, no, judging from the way Maya’s eyes glittered and she scratched her head in eagerness, she was already in too deep.

Shana exclaimed in surprise, "Raiders are expensive, one gun could be worth two." The assault rifle with a 150-round high-capacity magazine for 7.62mm bullets.

Lin Wu said, "You take off the magazine."

After removing the magazine, Shana found it could only count as one gun. She glared at the NPC, "Lin Wu, bite him."

Lin Wu scratched his head and made a biting gesture toward Shana, who dodged and laughed ceaselessly.

With his hands behind his back, Stone walked around like a supervising leader and reminded outside the heated discussion, "Shana, you should put all the items up there to see which has higher trade value."

After several trials, Shana said, "If an assault rifle is worth 1, then a Skill Book is worth 4, basic packs like food packs are 0.05, and a White Noise Generator is 3? 3? Stone, give me the White Noise Generator."

Stone leisurely turned around and headed to the main base, while Little Knife couldn’t stand it and quickly ran to the base to grab the item and bring it back for Shana. When Shana placed it, she fumed, "My White Noise Generator is worth 0.1, and yours is 3. I’ll kick you to death." Shana is truly angry. A 3000% profit margin is something no one but a politician would have the nerve to reach.

Stone replied casually, "Calm down, they’ve run out from the zombie horde, who would do this if not for high profits? Continue."

Shana continued with the trials, and the price arrangement matched the players’ understanding quite closely. .50 caliber bullets and guns were very expensive, followed by somewhat expensive 7.62 bullets, while assault rifles were valuable but not extremely so. Kitchen knives, baseball bats, and the like were junk. If anything was exchangeable, it was the Serum. A serum syringe was valued at 0.1, and the base currently had ten of them.

Maya said, "We still need to keep chopping at the Blood Heart."

Busy times - both clearing the underground tunnel and chopping down the Blood Plague zombies were crucial tasks. Obtaining more serum would allow for the exchange of advanced skill books, which would significantly benefit the base’s future development. However, opening the underground tunnel would provide a continuous stream of materials, equally beneficial for the future.

The trouble was that Lin Wu was only one person. If Lin Wu went to chop Blood Zombies, the risk would increase for the team in the underground tunnel. And if someone else were to chop them down? Why use others when there are survivors of the Blood Plague?

It seemed this merchant’s visit wouldn’t yield exchanges; even if they scraped together 4 points to trade for a Skill Book, they would still be one reset skill book short. More importantly, whose skills would be wiped? And even more crucially, which skill book to buy?

Time’s up. The NPC merchant squeezed through the players, walked casually to the edge of the safe zone, then started running. Surrounding zombies began to chase, and everyone watched the NPC disappear into the night. They did not lament the opportunity that had slipped by, for they knew the merchant would appear again. Their focus now was to earn more money.

Learning from the day’s events, Maya started arranging for emergency defense measures at the base. Just one merchant’s appearance had sent both bases into chaos. Maya demanded that everyone carry a gun with them at all times within the base, even if they did not wish to carry a backpack.

The next morning, Maya didn’t arrange for any teams or work but instead focused on defensive training, targeting the leaky main base. The Sawmill’s biggest weakness was the lack of strategic defensive terrain, making multi-level resistance to invasions the core of the training exercise. The greatest pressures came from the north and south, with the north entrance leading directly to the small cubicle structures inside the factory building, and the south entrance leading directly to the large cubicle structures outside. The east and west parking lots, although featuring gates, had iron fences to block Titans, providing some defensive depth.

Whether it’s the watch posts at the Meteorological Station or the east and west outposts of the main base, their fundamental purpose is to reduce the impact of zombie assaults; it’s challenging to completely resolve the threat of zombies.

To address the defense of the indoor factory, Maya introduced a three-dimensional combat approach. She proposed creating three man-made platforms about 5 meters high. These platforms would hang from ropes, akin to swings. Before the start of the defense, players would climb the swings using rope ladders or A-frame ladders, turning them into firing points that could cover the entire factory. The downside of this method was that platforms made of ropes would sway, and the recoil would affect shooting precision. In the long run, Engineer Su Shi would need to devise a way to build aerial watchtowers.

Solving the southern backyard gate’s defenses was particularly challenging. Initially, Maya planned to dig a "death road" with a deep trench at the entrance that would trap any entering zombies. Players could stand by the trench and attack from there, but the terrain damage would be repaired by the system. Following Lin Wu’s suggestion, Maya proposed the obstacle defense skill.

The obstacle defense skill leveraged the feature that allowed furniture to be freely placed, stacking large wardrobes, sofas, beds, and even safes at the north entrance to slow down the zombies’ charge.

The three defenders of the swing defense in the factory were Shana, Stone, and Emerald Feather. With weaker direct combat abilities, firearms were their primary means of fighting. As an assassin, Lin Wu wasn’t much help in large sieges; with decent Gun Skills, he was stationed at the Meteorological Station outpost. His job was to eliminate Titans and Frenzies using the Forest Wolf.

The main base’s two outpost personnel were Snow Egg and Horse Soul. Compared to Maya and Little Knife’s melee strength, they still had room for improvement. The backyard’s main defenders consisted of Maya, Little Knife, and Peanut.