Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 41 - 40: Defending the City

Chapter 41: Chapter 40: Defending the City

As time ticked away second by second and they watched the countdown, everyone except for Maya seemed quite tense. The church’s main entrance was fortified with a safe and benches as the first line of defense. At the back door, they built barricades with some of the church’s own furniture.

Although it had no medical effect, Su Shi still squeezed onto the sickbed with Lin Wu, covering their heads with the bedsheet and leaning back against the headboard.

Lin Wu leaned against the headboard, holding a small pistol and watching the doorway of the infirmary. He asked, "Su Shi, talk about it."

"Talk about what?"

"Dizzy Zombies."

Su Shi couldn’t explain it clearly either. He never watched any zombie-themed movies or read novels, nor did he play zombie-themed games. As long as he knew the other party was a zombie, Su Shi would feel nauseous for no apparent reason. It was like getting carsick, which people think is due to motion nerves getting disturbed while riding in a car. However, many who get carsick don’t actually feel ill in the car; they feel sick just at the car station, or at the smell of gasoline, or even knowing they will ride a car soon.

"Then just stay put, and don’t talk, especially don’t scream."

"I’ll try."

As the two chatted idly, the countdown finally ended, and the siege timing began.

Maya stood alone in the open space outside the church, waiting a while before she saw a zombie appear at the intersection, struggling to run toward the church. Maya aimed her crossbow and took it down with one shot. If there was a difference between Siege Zombies and regular zombies, it was that Siege Zombies could keep running, even though they weren’t very fast. Regular zombies at most could sprint or pounce, and that would only last about three seconds. Siege Zombies were just a slightly enhanced version of regular zombies.

After 25 seconds, another zombie came, and Maya killed it, wondering to herself if this was really a Four-Star Siege. Soon another zombie arrived. Maya began to feel uneasy. The first zombie appeared after 15 seconds, the second at 25 seconds, and the third at 30 seconds, meaning the frequency of zombie appearances increased as time went on.

After 60 seconds, screams accompanied a small wave of zombies. At 90 seconds, a horde of zombies emerged, and with screams growing louder, Maya retreated inside the church—the battle for defense had officially begun.

seconds later, a large number of zombies flooded into the church. Some attacked the main entrance, while others circled the church, smashing through windows to crawl inside. In no time, the church hall was filled with continuous gunfire, but for now, the situation was relatively stable.

"Frenzy!" Snow Egg shouted and swung her hammer in a wide arc. The action wasn’t fast, but Frenzy was too quick and got caught up in the sweep. Snow Egg’s sweeping move was a system skill which rendered her invincible during the action. The hammer struck Frenzy, sending it flying feet up in the air. Snow Egg shouted, "It’s dazed!" The sweep had a low chance of being lethal, and Frenzy, having left the house without checking the almanac, ran straight into those low odds. Unfortunately, its thick skin turned the lethal blow into mere unconsciousness.

Little Knife was closest and immediately ran over. As Frenzy staggered trying to stand, Little Knife stepped on its head, flipping Frenzy over, dazing it again. Lifting her foot, Little Knife stomped down hard, this time crushing Frenzy’s head completely.

With many zombies already in the church hall, Little Knife, enjoying the stomping, didn’t notice a zombie from the side running and pouncing on her, knocking her to the ground and rolling over together. Little Knife quickly stood, pulled the zombie down, and stomped it to death. A crossbow arrow from Maya flew in, bursting the head of the zombie that attacked Little Knife.

Keeping the church’s doors defended with three guns had a prerequisite: zombies had to charge in a straight line. Today was different, as zombies came from all directions. Stone was good with his gun, but Maya made a big mistake. She had given the Eagle Sand to Stone. Every time he fired, Stone had to wait 1.2 seconds for the recoil to settle, preventing rapid fire like a small handgun. Worse, the Eagle Sand’s bullets were too powerful, unable to be stopped by just one zombie body. With luck, he could score double headshots, but with bad luck, the bullet would go through the zombie and risk hitting a comrade, so Stone’s shooting range was frequently limited.

Tangtang’s shotgun was the most ferocious. After cocking the gun, firing had a rhythmic feel. She would blow heads off if she could; if not, she would still send zombies flying or even kill them outright.

According to Maya’s original plan, melee weapons were to protect the firearm users, who prioritized shooting zombies grappling with melee fighters. The tactics weren’t wrong, but several problems arose in the actual execution. First, the coordination was off. Then, there was the issue with Eagle Sand’s piercing power. Moreover, once Little Knife saw red in battle, she completely lost sight of tactics, pulling and stomping anything that came near. Twice she pulled at Stone, and if she hadn’t failed to knock him down, she probably would have crushed his head by now.

Two and a half minutes had passed, and everyone had sustained minor injuries. As the number of zombies increased and they began splitting the team, Maya ordered, "Fall back to the corridor."

Lin Wu’s voice came from the corridor’s medical room, "The zombies have broken through the back door."

Quick Gunner, Quick Gunner... Lin Wu was surprised to find that using the Quick Gunner on the sickbed didn’t drain his stamina. It wasn’t that it didn’t consume stamina, but that his stamina recovered very quickly. Even after firing ten shots in rapid succession, he only lost half of his stamina. Lin Wu stood at the foot of the bed, shooting from a vantage point to block the zombies entering the medical room. There weren’t many zombies, and he quickly cleared them out. The others all entered the corridor, blocking the zombies rushing from the hall while clearing out the few zombies in the corridor, and they quickly stabilized their position.

There were six rooms along the corridor, each with windows. Hearing the sound of breaking glass, Maya immediately stood firm, "Be alert for zombies coming from the rooms."

Little Knife and Horse Soul said in unison, "We’ll handle it." Lacking guns, they were best suited for taking out a small number of zombies.

Stone stood at the entrance to the medical room, "This gun won’t do. Lin Wu, let’s switch."

"We need to go to the warehouse to get one."

"Hurry."

Helpless, Lin Wu had to get up from the sickbed and follow Stone toward the hall. This was where the base’s radio and supply warehouse were located. Stone took the small handgun, and he immediately felt refreshed.

Exploding Carnage was the type of mutant zombie that Maya was particularly worried about. If one of them got close and was killed, the poisonous gas would explode, and anyone caught in it would end up fighting Lin Wu for a bed. The drawbacks of Exploding Carnage were very clear: it was over one meter ninety tall, with a large belly and a small head, making it impossible to miss in a crowd.

Stone was defending the front of the corridor and said, "There’s a Frenzy."

Frenzy was the opposite of Exploding Carnage; it moved on all fours, staying hidden in the midst of the crowd. Maya couldn’t spot the Frenzy, and as Lin Wu took the Eagle Sand from the warehouse, he heard Stone calling out for Frenzy and moved beside Stone, raising his gun to search. Stone said, "It’s hiding in the pile of corpses."

Lin Wu replied, "Step back one meter, Snow Egg will join later, we’ll use dual guns to blockade."

Snow Egg and Stone stepped back one meter from the barricade, firing their small handguns simultaneously. Each fallen zombie built up a new layer of corpse barriers, and the unfortunate zombies trying to cross the barrier would stumble. Lin Wu, holding the Eagle Sand, waited quietly. The space was cramped, and the targets would come straight at him...

Frenzy appeared, seemingly affording Lin Wu a great deal of respect as it leapt over the barrier and lunged towards him. Lin Wu, with his extensive experience fighting Frenzy, remained calm and pulled the trigger, and Frenzy’s head exploded in response.

Maya shouted, "Lin Wu, Snow Egg, and Stone, defend the front door. Little Knife, Horse Soul, clear the room of zombies. Tangtang and I will defend the back door."

Tangtang yelled, "Ah, they’ve ruined my garden!"

Stone glanced at the base, "Damn, the barracks are gone." The six-bed barracks had been destroyed, and five base members were left without beds, causing morale to drop by 20%. This condition could only be resolved after they were assigned beds.