Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 44 - 43: Seeing the Night Demon Again

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Seeing the Night Demon Again

Lin Wu readily agreed and slipped past the zombies to open the iron gate, then clambered atop the container in the tent area, a place he knew well. He randomly took out a skyrocket and lit it, making a not insignificant noise, and the zombies at the sentry post squeezed through the iron gate. Lin Wu held a sawed-off shotgun, watching the zombies below the container, ready to respond to any sudden Frenzies. There were only two bullets left in the gun.

The zombies couldn’t climb straight ladders and kept banging against the container, creating a disturbing noise that attracted nearby zombies, including, naturally, the Screeching Zombies. Seeing that the sentry post was devoid of zombies, Maya ordered the vehicle to start. Snow Egg cautiously drove, winding through the sandbags and obstacle-laden path, narrowly avoiding scrapes several times but eventually made it out of the sentry post area.

Seeing the car pass through the sentry post and head towards Left County, Lin Wu jumped to another container from the top of the existing one, shaking off the zombies through multiple barriers. Lin Wu sat on the container, waiting for the zombies to return to their positions, when he unexpectedly discovered some movement inside the container opposite of where he was sitting. So, Lin Wu wrapped his legs around the container and hung upside down, only to find a Night Demon hiding at the very back of the container.

The Night Demon also saw Lin Wu and charged out of the container toward him, startling Lin Wu, who immediately climbed back on top, ready to flee. Just then, the Night Demon reached the edge of the container, and a beam of sunlight shone upon its body, causing a wisp of green smoke to rise. The Night Demon, appearing to be in unbearable pain, howled miserably and retreated back into the container.

Wow, dude, did you chase after me?

Lin Wu opened his backpack, rummaged for a while, and took out a flashlight with a dead battery, initially planning to charge it at the hydroelectric station that day. Lin Wu lay on the edge of the container, raised the flashlight towards the sun, and reflected the light into the container housing the Night Demon. Wherever the reflection hit, the Night Demon seemed to be burned by high temperatures, smoking and jumping erratically. Lin Wu continued to hold the flashlight, continuously inflicting damage, and the pitiful Night Demon, with nowhere to run or hide, succumbed.

The Night Demon’s agonized howls were unlike the roars of zombie monsters and did not attract others of its kind. After enduring persistent torment, the Night Demon eventually fell to the ground, dead.

Lin Wu jumped across, grabbed the top edge of the opposite container, swung inside, and began Corpse Looting: two painkiller pills. Strange, was it coincidence? Or did Night Demons only yield medical supplies? Last night, Lin Wu had found alcohol on a Night Demon.

After searching a while longer, Lin Wu found another unfortunate Night Demon and burned it to death, continuing the looting: a bottle of iodine.

The third one: a bottle of fever reducer.

The fourth one: a bottle of antibiotics.

The fifth one finally yielded something good: a bottle of serum. The serum could be processed into a vaccine serum in the base’s laboratory, which could eliminate all infection values and prevent infection by the zombie virus for 24 hours. The serum could be used directly to reduce the infection value by 50%.

Lin Wu searched around for a while, confirming that the Night Demon group in the tents had been completely eradicated by him. He wondered if they would respawn; if so, he could make a trip to the sentry post every day. Currently, with no doctor at the base, the Night Demons that provided medical supplies were the best doctors.

Even though he had sharp daggers for assassination, Lin Wu didn’t want to tangle with armored zombies. He found an opportunity to leave the tent area, stood on the road, and looked around. Lin Wu decided to take a walk on the wilderness. According to Maya’s prediction, with Lin Wu in the team, it would take at least an hour and a half for the team to complete the occupation of the outpost. Lin Wu planned to come back after an hour and a half to lure the zombies away from the team once again.

...

This was the first time Lin Wu encountered a wild animal; it was a black bear. Oddly, the black bear seemed to have reached some sort of agreement with the zombies—they weren’t attacking each other. With limited bullets, Lin Wu didn’t want to provoke the black bear and chose to bypass it.

With rare time and mood to idle in the fields, Lin Wu slowed down his pace. There were many round bales of straw in the wheat field. Passing by them, Lin Wu couldn’t resist the urge to kick at a bale, wondering if it could be knocked over. However, the straw bale did not give the slightest face, not moving an inch. Lin Wu then climbed onto a bale and lay down to sunbathe, feeling comfortable and content.

In the meantime, Lin Wu met two other players. They exchanged distant hand waves as greetings, without deliberately approaching each other. This rather indicated that both parties were good people. Besides players, Lin Wu noticed three player bases. From a distance, they looked pitifully shabby, incomparable not only to the fortress at the mountaintop but even to the original Shadow base.

The sparseness of the farm buildings was alleviated by the temporary absence of food shortages, but the possibilities for development were nearly nonexistent. This made Lin Wu somewhat admire Stone, who from the start had aimed to scour the town and discussed merging with nearby bases, sending Lin Wu to scout the medium-sized bases. Even without meeting Maya, Stone would still have rallied people to take over the church on the mountaintop. North Town only had two medium to small bases, and the church on the mountaintop was the prime location. Securing it was everyone’s effort and Stone’s strategic success.

As for the deaths of Cotton and Tangtang, Lin Wu saw them as normal casualties. Lin Wu considered himself expendable, including everyone in the base along with Stone—no one knew when they would die. Even those like Su Shi who stayed indoors faced the test of Siege Zombies.

Once idle, Lin Wu’s mind wandered. Getting up to continue his idle walk, Lin Wu unexpectedly discovered a farm emitting Blood Mist, clearly indicating the presence of a Blood Plague here. He didn’t know how to categorize the Blood Plague—should it be referred to as a head, a piece, an individual, a strand, a thread, a stalk, or a spot?

Lin Wu approached the farmstead, hoping to see the cute Blind Bats during the daytime. Barely 50 meters close, Lin Wu heard a tremendous roar. It was not the deep sound of a Frenzy, not the cooing of a Blind Bat, nor the shrill scream of a Screeching Zombie, but a roar that signified immense and boundless power. It was not ear-piercing but felt like heaven and earth were cracking. It was not deep, yet it sent shivers down one’s spine.

Lin Wu moved a few meters further, stopping by an abandoned harvester to observe the farmstead, where he could only see Blood Zombies strolling inside. The roar came again, and a small portion of the Blood Zombies inside the farmstead fell to the ground with the sound. They weren’t scared to the ground, but rather shaken down.

He could not advance any further; his gut told Lin Wu that this creature was definitely beyond his ability to contend with. If it focused on him, there would not even be a chance to escape. Lin Wu took out paper and pen, marking the location of the Blood Plague farm with a skull, annotating: Super Strong Zombie. He should bring the Fortress agents here as guests the next time he meets them.

Lin Wu enjoyed adventures for their challenges. Venturing without the space for challenges was tantamount to seeking death, and he could tell the difference between adventure and recklessness. What could two shotgun shells achieve? Lin Wu had just struggled against the Blood Plague the previous night, and he was beaten black and blue. He certainly wouldn’t go looking for trouble in the farmstead today. As another roar erupted, accompanied by trembling, zombies were shaken to the ground; Lin Wu made a stealthy retreat.