Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 43 - 42 Outpost

Chapter 43: Chapter 42 Outpost

Before the siege, Lin Wu and the Blood Plague fought a round, chased by the zombies like a dog that had lost its home. But during this time, Lin Wu continuously killed Frenzy, including a Blood Ferocious Ma that took three powerful headshots to kill. After eliminating the Blood Ferocious Ma, the system prompted that loot was acquired, but Lin Wu had no time to check. He had just laid down in the sickbed when the zombie siege erupted. It wasn’t until they were idly chatting while eating potatoes, and Little Knife asked about Building 2, that Lin Wu remembered the loot.

The loot was a chest, a small box with "Card Treasure Box" written on it. The system explained that upon opening the chest, a random card would be obtained. Chests came in four grades: gold, purple, blue, and green, and the cards corresponded to these four colors. The Loot Chest Lin Wu obtained was a blue one.

With the chest placed in the middle, everyone sat around to watch. Lin Wu rolled up his sleeves and reached for the chest with both hands. Little Knife called out, "Wait."

Lin Wu asked, "What’s up?"

Little Knife rubbed Lin Wu’s right hand back and forth with her own, closing her eyes and muttering under her breath. When she finished, Little Knife released Lin Wu and said, "I have now transferred my three days’ worth of luck to your right hand."

After listening, Lin Wu and everyone else were stupefied. After a while, he asked, "Can I open it now?"

"Open it, open it." Everyone was impatient, as it was their first time seeing a Loot Chest.

"Wait," Snow Egg said. "Little Knife didn’t get the chest; Lin Wu did, which means Lin Wu is luckier. Could transferring luck reduce Lin Wu’s luck?"

Stone: You two are crazy, right? You’re killing me with the suspense.

Lin Wu asked, "Is it okay if I use my left hand?"

"Yes, yes," Maya, Stone, and Horse Soul said in chorus.

Seeing that Little Knife was about to say something else, Lin Wu quickly used his left hand to open the lid; a blue card lay quietly inside the box. Lin Wu picked up the card and read, "Outpost Card; allows the occupation of a facility as an outpost."

An outpost was similar to a base, with a certain safety zone, but much smaller in size. Outposts were equipped with system warehouses, and the warehouses of the base and outpost were shared. An outpost could neither be constructed nor destroyed. The biggest feature was that different types of outposts offered different rewards. Occupying a Sentry Card would add one unit of ammunition to the base per day. Occupying a restaurant would add one unit of food to the base per day. Occupying a petrol station and so forth worked similarly.

The most impressive part was the ability to occupy substations to provide free electricity for the base, water pump houses to provide a free water source, or residences to add two extra regular beds to the base.

When Lin Wu read about electricity, everyone erupted in excitement. Little Knife was especially thrilled, hugging Lin Wu and jumping around joyfully, elated at the prospect of having electricity.

Stone hurriedly said, "Calm down, calm down, let Lin Wu finish. There might be a cannon."

Horse Soul shouted, "Who needs a cannon? We need electricity, we want electricity."

"We want electricity, we want electricity," everyone chanted in unison.

Doer Maya had already taken out a hand-drawn map and the System Map; the hand-drawn map marked the buildings by Bai Ban. There were two substations near the church on the mountain top. Three kilometers away from the farm base, near the railroad, stood seven wind turbines, and there was a substation nearby. Its advantage was the close distance, but the downside was that there were no resources to scavenge around, which reduced the usefulness of an outpost’s storage capability.

To reach Left County, one had to either take the railway or cross a bridge to enter the outskirts of Left County. Near the bridgehead was a small hydroelectric power station with a substation inside. Close to the power station, there was a supermarket and a parking lot, with a camping park nearby, including a small store, restrooms, wooden cabins, and tents left by visitors scattered around.

Shortcoming one, the power substation is 7 kilometers away from the mountaintop base. Shortcoming two, it is estimated that the zombie density in this area is relatively high. The advantage lies in effectively utilizing the Outpost Card’s function to establish a scavenging point.

Seeing everyone’s excitement, Maya did not speak, because she knew that at this time, everyone would definitely choose the nearest farm base.

Maya said, "Everyone, rest well, I will look for the location of the substation. We will confirm the target at the morning tea meeting tomorrow."

"Oh yeah."

Everyone got up to go to sleep. Stone gripped Lin Wu’s shoulder, saying, "Nicely done." The Outpost Card dispelled the gloom in everyone’s hearts and greatly boosted morale.

Lin Wu flashed a toothy smile, indicating it was nothing. Seeing everyone happy made Lin Wu happy too; perhaps this is the sense of achievement one gets from sharing joy.

After Lin Wu left, Stone leaned close to Maya and whispered, "Don’t you think it’s more advantageous for our future development to keep the cards?" After all, the mountaintop church is a transitional base; they would have to move towards the county seat after surviving the winter for three months, at most six months.

"You make a lot of sense, and I believe they understand your reasoning as well, but I don’t think anyone is going to be reasonable," Maya added, "And on this matter, I don’t want to be reasonable either."

Stone sighed, "Neither do I."

Maya suggested, "Currently, the base has ten beds and seven members; we can consider merging with a smaller base."

Stone glanced around and, seeing no one nearby, said softly, "I’m poaching." Stone had his own understanding of the game; it was essential to follow a strategy of elite forces, especially in the early to mid-game.

Stone thought that seven people were not too few, he could even accept five. The reason was that he believed that the seven people currently in the base each had distinct personalities, and randomly adding more would ruin the harmonious and friendly atmosphere. However, combat losses also had to be considered. Stone had a clear idea of how to recruit and who to recruit; he did not accept Maya’s suggestion.

...

The next day, after the morning tea meeting, everyone unanimously decided to go to the hydro station to establish an outpost. Leaving Stone and Su Shi to hold down the fort, the rest set off for Left County in a repaired pickup truck with 30% durability, only to be stopped at the Sentry Card. The zombie density around the sentry station and the tent area was very high during the day, with half being helmeted and armored zombies, like a wall blocking the only road.

Maya: "Lin Wu, draw the enemies, Little Knife, go."

Lin Wu approached a zombie, which stumbled over a sandbag and fell, sprinting towards Lin Wu as he retreated. Little Knife stepped forward, grabbed the zombie’s arm, pulled it down at her feet, and placed her foot on the zombie’s head; it didn’t break, and the zombie fell into a brief stupor. Little Knife stomped again, and it still didn’t break. Frustrated, Little Knife shouted and stomped down, cracking open the steel helmet, and after another stomp, finally killed the zombie.

Maya: "Lin Wu, draw the enemies, Snow Egg, go."

Snow Egg knocked down a zombie with a hammer, continuously pounding its head. The zombie got up only to be knocked down again and again. After 12 seconds, Snow Egg finally smashed the zombie’s helmet and killed it.

The third test subject was Sharp Blade Maya, her blade striking the helmet and bulletproof vest with a grinding sound of metal on stone, hacking for 15 seconds, yet the zombie was still lively. Horse Soul stepped up to help, using a blunt instrument to kill it in 10 seconds.

The result was clear. Looking at the zombies piled up at the sentry station, Maya felt an intense headache—there was no getting through this. She looked at Lin Wu, "We can only pull them away." She didn’t want to do this, as pulling away so many zombies would definitely cause Lin Wu to fall behind. Without Lin Wu, Maya felt nervous, knowing that the remaining Snow Egg, Horse Soul, Little Knife, and herself would have difficulty confronting Frenzy without injury.