Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 387 - 209: Blind Box_2

Chapter 387: Chapter 209: Blind Box_2

Stone fired a grenade and said, "Take it and hurry up."

"I’ll go first." Lin Wu took the one closest to himself, opened it, and threw the box away, resting his forehead on his hand, he said speechlessly, "Damn!" It’s just a piece of iron!

Stone said on the side, "With your luck, you really expected a birthday cake?"

Lin Wu angrily retorted, "Old Man."

Stone shot back equally angry, "Little guy."

"I’ll take the second one." Maya stopped their bickering and took the closest box, opening it to reveal a capsule: "Attribute Drug, Agility increase by one star."

"Wow." Everyone exclaimed in surprise, as Attribute Drugs in loot crates were considered top-tier items. Not to mention their effects, Attribute Drugs as rewards appeared only in system missions and expedition instances, and were extremely rare.

Maya sat down, reaching out to Lin Wu. Lin Wu looked at the capsule for a second, took it, and Maya withdrew her hand without ever looking at Lin Wu.

Horse Soul pulled out a large pistol, "Mauser military pistol, 20-round magazine, 7.62mm bullets. What? This big pistol uses such bullets?"

Pistol rounds are typically 9mm, with some smaller caliber guns using .22 bullets. Apart from the larger caliber .45 and .50 Eagle Sand, there’s also .38 and .357. Players had never seen a pistol that used 7.62mm bullets, nor could they imagine a pistol equipped with a 20-round 7.62mm bullet magazine.

Snow Egg said, "Isn’t this just a mini assault rifle?"

Maya explained, "The Mauser pistol, also known as the Broomhandle or Box Cannon, was a weapon produced by Germany from World War I to World War II. It actually used 7.63mm bullets. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles restricted Germany’s development and production of semi-automatic rifles, which is why they developed this powerful police pistol. Pistols weren’t included in the treaty’s restrictions. Before and after World War II, the Mauser pistol could be found all over the world. However, this gun has a high malfunction rate and a strong recoil."

Maya’s serious lecture made everyone bored, the entertainment atmosphere diminished, and the moment turned awkward. Lin Wu started to clown around, chanting, "Peanut, Peanut, scrap iron, scrap iron."

Peanut, taking his cue, rolled up his sleeves with an invincible air, but the moment he opened the box, he slumped over the conference table, slapped a piece of scrap iron onto it while looking at Lin Wu, and bellowed to the sky, "Heavens, is there no justice left?"

"Wow." Everyone was shocked, astonished by Su Shi’s expertise and Lin Wu’s jinxing ability.

Lin Wu himself was also stunned. Little Knife brought a box to Lin Wu and threatened, "Blow on it."

Lin Wu took a deep breath, ready to blow, but when he saw Little Knife’s clenched fist, he asked with a pleasant expression, "What do you want?"

Little Knife paused, looking back at Snow Egg, "What do I want?"

Snow Egg was also puzzled, "I don’t know either."

Lin Wu suggested, "How about a pair of shoes?"

After a moment of thought, Little Knife said, "I want them to be pretty."

Lin Wu addressed the box, "Pretty shoes."

Little Knife opened the box, but instead of shoes, it was a Fairy Wand. A mysteriously glowing wand from which little points of starlight floated in every direction when waved. After swinging it a couple of times, Little Knife paused again, uncertain if this was good or bad. In principle, it was a toy, but the game granted it special effects—nuclear-powered perpetual effects that didn’t require batteries.

Everyone looked at each other, uncertain whether to applaud or to offer sympathy.

Emerald Feather said, "Hanging it on the backpack, it must look really beautiful at night."

Little Knife was very satisfied with this idea, nothing could beat looking good. She imagined herself running at night with twinkles of starlight accompanying her figure – the scene was beyond beautiful. Besides, it was definitely better than iron and scrap.

It was then Emerald Feather and Shana’s turn. They opened their loot together. Emerald Feather got a Sentry Hot Water Plug-in, which could be used to make tea, coffee, or even just hot water on sentry duty. Shana got a Special Effect Bow which was similar to a Fairy Wand, except it released butterflies of various colors with glow effects.

Lin Wu turned to Stone and asked, "Does Dawn think we’re easy to bully?"

Stone clapped and whispered, "It thinks Shana and Little Knife are easy to bully."

Shana was very happy, hugging Little Knife, and thus the ’Luminescent Sisters’ duo was formed. From then on, at night, two women would often run in the dark areas on the edge of the safe zone.

After the loot box event, the meeting for the work assignment began. The difficulty of the rescue task lay in collecting clues and information without killing the zombies, making kidnapping the only viable method. However, due to the scavenging team not focusing on gathering ropes recently, and the warehouse being almost full of snacks, there was a serious shortage of rope.

The second difficulty was the need to tie up the zombies, which could lead to injuries among the members. Therefore, Maya divided the seven people into three teams. Before grouping, they needed to draw lots to leave one person to assist Stone at the base.

Because of the prize issue, there was a small matter that needed discussion: should everyone except for Stone and Su Shi draw lots?

Lin Wu said, "The 34th floor focuses more on puzzle-solving rather than combat, and the rescue task on the 33rd floor doesn’t seem to involve intense fighting either."

Peanut said, "Everyone should take bludgeons, and use lassos to capture the zombies. With clear division of labor, there won’t be too much danger."

Lin Wu didn’t want to do any fucking tasks anymore, crawling through sewers day in and day out. Especially walking through sewers with Shana for eight hours, talking about everything from the universe to bacteria, they had exhausted all possible topics of conversation. Peanut saw Lin Wu’s reluctance and supported it.

No one objected, so everyone participated in the draw. Stone laid out playing cards on the table, and each person picked one. Lin Wu revealed his card: "I’m on base duty tomorrow." His mood brightened instantly. The sewer was a minor issue, but he knew the main reason was his unsuitability for group activities. To slack off or not? If he slacked off, he felt sorry for the others; if he didn’t, he felt sorry for himself as he had no motivation for repetitive work.

The next step was the grouping, and after forming groups, they had to retrieve ropes from the air corridor. This part of the meeting was unrelated to Lin Wu, so he sneaked off to the edge of the safe zone and took advantage of the safe zone’s stamina regeneration attribute to grind zombies and practice his Agility. He just ran along the edge of the safe zone, ducking back in when his stamina was depleted.

Why not run within the safe zone? Apparently, the experience gained inside the safe zone was much lower than that outside.

Running is a very healthy exercise. Not only does it increase Agility, but also Physical Strength and Willpower. After consuming the Attribute Drug that Maya gave, Lin Wu’s Agility was at 18 stars and he was sprinting towards 20 to learn Sharpshooter. Once he mastered it, he would be a Sharpshooter.

In the meeting, Maya divided the people into three teams. For instance, if A was injured, A and team member B, along with the support team, would retreat together. The support team consisted of Emerald Feather, Shana, and Snow Egg. Maya and Peanut were in a team, whether they withdrew due to injuries or individually, they were stronger than a single Night Demon. Little Knife and Horse Soul formed a team, Little Knife good at fighting and Horse Soul able to tank.

Everyone went to the power station to retrieve three ropes, brought out all the ropes they had and practiced roping at the base. Lin Wu, seeing their enthusiasm, did not disturb them and told Shana before returning to the Meteorological Station Base.

Walking into the living room of the Meteorological Station Base, there was a box next to the radio. Lin Wu opened it to find a small cake with ’Happy Birthday’ written on it. There was also a card from Stone: The system notified me that today is your birthday. Instead of a surprise, you seem to prefer sulking alone, so take the cake and find a secluded place to eat it yourself.

Ha! The system really likes to meddle. Looking at the cake’s ugly appearance, without a chef’s touch, it was either made by Stone or Su Shi. Oddly enough, where did the cake come from without a kitchen? Oh, they built the kitchen, made the cake, and then dismantled it. Why dismantle it? Simply not wanting others to know it was his birthday.

Lin Wu took the hot water plug-in and cake up to the sentry post where Wai was lying on the bench. Lin Wu brewed a cup of hot tea and gave a piece of the cake to Wai. They say dogs can’t eat this and that, but here it was no problem at all. Lin Wu ate the cake himself, washed it down with the tea, and casually wiped his hands on his clothes, as they would refresh anyway.

Each person has a different understanding of birthdays. For Lin Wu, who grew up in a public environment, a birthday and life might be his only personal possessions. Since supporting himself through college, he gradually had his own private property but never shared his birthday or life with others. In his view, they were entirely his own.

After eating his fill, Lin Wu casually played a Sentry Card to reduce his Threat Value. He then used Wai as a pillow to lie down, enjoying a peaceful night unlike any other, with a cool breeze washing over him.