Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 447 - 232 Artillery Bombardment_2

Chapter 447: Chapter 232 Artillery Bombardment_2

Shana said, "You previously mentioned that I was Wai’s cousin."

Lin Wu replied, "I was mistaken, you should be Wai’s elder cousin."

Shana was indifferent, "What about Maya?"

Lin Wu answered, "Fool."

"Hmph," Shana didn’t believe it at all. However, the fact that Lin Wu would rather call someone a fool than tell the truth meant that the truth must be problematic. Shana beckoned, "Come here, use your thigh as my pillow."

A young woman lying on the thigh of a handsome man, the two said nothing, but it appeared as though they said everything. Such a pure and beautiful youthful love was enough to make even the immortals envious.

But how could Lin Wu allow this to happen? He decisively gave Wai an instruction, "Go be her pillow."

So, the scene completely changed. Poor Wai became the pillow under Shana’s head and didn’t seem very happy about it; Shana didn’t look too happy either. Seeing this, Lin Wu praised himself for his cleverness. If not for his intervention, he would have been the unhappy one.

Unable to hold back, Shana asked, "Even if we don’t have love, why do you refuse to get close?"

Lin Wu was taken aback. Why would you say that out loud? He explained, "What happens after getting close?"

Shana thought for a moment and asked, "A kiss?"

Lin Wu, "And then?"

Shana pondered and said, "I’ve told you that in the past 20 years, I’ve had boyfriends but I’ve never really liked anyone."

Lin Wu was nervous, "How about we talk about something lighter."

Shana said, "Don’t worry, I’m not into you. I just feel kissing you would be okay, not dislikeable, I even want to try it."

Lin Wu shook his head in rapid succession, "No no no, I promised my ex-girlfriend not to freely pass on her specially invented kissing technique. Just forget about it."

Shana sighed. Ah! She wanted to be sentimental for once, yet this idiot was acting crazy and stupid. He caught every word she said, yet none hit the mark.

Lin Wu seriously explained, "I’m afraid of falling in love with you."

Shana said, "But I already told you I’m not into you."

Lin Wu said, "That makes it even worse for me." On the other hand, if a girl likes me and I don’t like her, and she insists on throwing herself at me, it’s hard for me to refuse, right? After all, legally speaking, one shouldn’t go against a woman’s wishes.

The worst part is being seduced and falling for someone only for them to leave seamlessly afterward. No, what’s even worse is, what if you’re lying? What if you want me to take responsibility? Just for a moment of joy, do I have to pay with my lifetime of freedom?

Maybe Shana isn’t that kind of person, but what if? The oldest thieves are the most hidden; harmless until they strike, and then they’re deadly.

If it really comes to that, we could just talk first, instead of signing a contract right off the bat.

Shana turned her head toward the mountains, "In this kind of environment, if we don’t talk about love, there really are no other topics."

Lin Wu said, "Your mindset is off. Maya and I can chat nonsense for 5 hours in the dark."

Shana, "With Maya’s personality, she’s willing to chat nonsense with you?"

Lin Wu said, "I think you all have some prejudices against Maya." Besides Stone, almost no one actively sought Maya out for a chat.

Shana said, "You’re the one who’s mistaken, Maya chats with you out of necessity, it doesn’t mean she enjoys talking to everyone."

"Out of necessity?"

Shana said, "You can drop that word. Anyway, she doesn’t dislike chatting with you. If you pay more attention, you’ll realize she never initiates conversation with others. You could even say she has an automatic filter. Since that’s her personality, we don’t want to make things difficult for her."

Lin Wu said, "She seems to have a lot to say to Nightmare."

Shana said, "They have a lot in common. Both are women, both excel in male-dominated professions, and they possess remarkably disciplined characters. They see their own traits in each other, which makes it easier to trust one another and naturally reduces the social distance between them."

As they chatted and gossiped, they didn’t find it boring. After the topic ended, Lin Wu went to gather some dry wood for their night camp. When Lin Wu returned to camp with an armful of firewood, Wai was on alert. Lin Wu suddenly looked back and saw a family of black bears. Two large ones, two small ones.

Shana tensed up, gun at the ready, "A mother bear with cubs is extremely fierce, and she’s unlikely to back down." She had only two bullets. Lin Wu had more, but the forest and the underbrush greatly affected their field of fire and visibility.

The black bears also noticed the humans. They seemed to be heading towards the berry bushes near Shana’s treatment spot. The two large black bears growled as they slowly approached, with the two adorable cubs following behind, tumbling over each other, seemingly oblivious to the humans’ presence.

At twenty meters apart, Shana said, "Drag me away."

It was like enemies locked in an intense rivalry. Apparently not hearing Shana’s words, Lin Wu slung his assault rifle over his shoulder and pressed his earpiece: "Calling for fire support."

Stone: "Support your sister."

Lin Wu: "Otherwise, get ready to collect Shana’s body." After speaking, he took a marker smoke grenade from his backpack and tossed it seven meters ahead, where it began to emit red smoke. This smoke grenade was the first to be unlocked for production after taking over a firepower point.

Lin Wu grabbed a makeshift stretcher and started dragging Shana to the side to retreat, causing the black bears to increase their pace upon seeing the humans’ cowardly escape. The two cubs even played with the can as they passed the smoke grenade.

Then came a whistling sound, followed by an artillery shell landing precisely on the smoke grenade’s position. Accompanied by a violent explosion, all four black bears were sent flying. This was followed by a second and third shell, with the bombardment area growing larger. This stressed Lin Wu out, so he threw the stretcher with all his might, it tumbled down the hillside, and he leap after it along with Wai. Behind them, explosions continued to roar.

After a round of twenty-four artillery shells, they went back to check the bombardment site. It was a scene of devastation, with craters and broken trees everywhere. It was Lin Wu’s first taste of the terror of heavy artillery. After the shock, he hurried to find Shana, relieved that she was still alive, although he had sustained a light injury to his left foot.

As per Shana’s request, Lin Wu and Wai dragged her stretcher back to the bombardment site. Shana said, "Actually, if we had slowly retreated from the underbrush, it’s very likely the black bears wouldn’t have attacked us."

Lin Wu said, "But you didn’t object to the artillery strike."

Shana giggled, "I wanted to see the results of my work as well."

Lin Wu asked, "How does it feel?"

Shana replied, "It’s stunning." First is the speed, twenty-four shells fell within a minute. Then, the magnitude of the noise, each explosion made it feel like her eardrums would burst and her head would spin. Finally, the power, four carbon-based life forms, the black bears, were left without a trace of fur. The shockwave from the bombardment cleared the surrounding bushes – something ordinary firearms couldn’t achieve.

Shana observed the bombardment site, saying, "A shell every two seconds, with a blast radius of about 50 meters. We need to be about a hundred meters from the center to be relatively safe. The marker smoke grenade is not very practical; we need to make infrared or laser guidance devices."

Lin Wu questioned, "21st-century shells don’t seem to have guidance capabilities, do they?"

Shana said, "Guided artillery shells aren’t rare in the 21st century; they’re just expensive. But artillery has a lot of limitations."

Lin Wu said, "Really?"

Shana said, "The noise produced by bombing a hundred-meter radius can attract zombies from a kilometer away."

Lin Wu agreed, "Do that near the base, and the whole base would be done for." Hm? Hm! What a pity, without an enemy base, tossing a smoke grenade would wipe them out.

They re-established contact with the base for medical assistance, and Shana reported the situation to Maya, who wasn’t far off. Nightmare, itching to join in, learned through communication that the task for the Hanxiala Monument was located in a valley, and it was almost impossible for the artillery to hit the alien spaceship.

(On a recent trip, I was surprised to find a road sign next to the Qinghai expressway that read: Alien Ruins. Could it be real?)

Later, Maya contacted Su Shi, who said that making a laser guidance device required a lot of electronic components. The base needed a lot of electronic components to upgrade to level three; Lin Wu’s personal hacker computer needed large quantities of electronic components; and the base inventory only had a medium amount, making it impossible to produce the guidance devices the two Deputy Commanders wanted in the short term.

Laser or infrared guidance devices are convenient; just point at a location and illuminate it for a while, and the artillery can pinpoint the position. Smoke grenades require manual throwing, have limited range, and risk friendly fire.