Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 448 - 233: See You Again, A1

Chapter 448: Chapter 233: See You Again, A1

The bombing brought Lin Wu some trouble. Although there were few zombies around, the loud explosion sound was irresistible; within ten minutes, zombies continuously arrived at the site of the explosion, inevitably encountering Lin Sha and another resting on the ground. There was also good news: during the combat, Lin Wu found special zombies, a few in white lab coats.

This indicated that the signal interference in the forest might not be due to natural factors, but rather, artificially set up. This forest was very likely concealing a laboratory. Of the ten secrets, Lin Wu and Maya had cracked two. They now knew the precise location of A1 and had an idea of where the next lab might be. This gave Lin Ma, who had not held much hope for completing the secret mission, a glimmer of hope.

The bombing wasn’t as bad as Shana had said. Theoretically, Shana was correct: the noise would attract zombies within a kilometer range. But the actual situation was somewhat different. The zombies, lured by the blast, would abandon the original noise if they encountered a new sound source while en route, instead turning to investigate the new one.

Lying on the ground, looking up at the starry sky, listening to the unidentified insects chirping by his side, a bored Lin Wu drifted to sleep. This sleep was not recognized by the system. After entering summer, there were no system-regulated sleeps—everyone’s sleep depended on their own schedule and quality.

At nine in the evening, after Shana finished her treatment and got up to stretch, she sat down at the edge of the clearing, hugging her knees and gazing into the dark distance. It was unclear how much time had passed when she turned back, only to see Lin Wu sleeping soundly by the campfire, with Wai as his pillow. It was an unnecessary sleep; Shana knew Lin Wu resorted to sleep to avoid deeper contact between the two in a specific environment.

Shana made a decision that once back on Earth, she would certainly give him a piece of her mind. Games won’t work, for Lin Wu possessed the trait of a pig not fearing scalding water: with painkillers in hand, do whatever you please.

...

The next morning, Lin Sha safely returned to the base, and the field agents were off for the day. Coincidentally, it was mahjong night, and the following day was the Labor and Gourmet Festival, another day off. The wager for this mahjong game was roasted fish, with Shana being the biggest loser as she had to catch 50 fish. The winners were Lin Wu, Dashuang, and Little Knife.

In the previous mahong night, Shana and Maya, with their superior intelligence, had dominated. Thinking they would be invincible today as well, the two decisively teamed up. However, they ended up in the same group as Lin Wu, Stone, and Dashuang.

No one expected Dashuang to be a mahjong deity. While others arranged their tiles after drawing them, grouping by suit and even grouping them in threes or pairs, Dashuang needed no adjustment. He scanned them once and knew what he needed, and could infer their opponents’ hands from the discarded tiles.

It should have been an utter domination by Dashuang, but Lin Wu was incredibly lucky, repeatedly winning on his own draws. Although Shana could remember most of the tile positions, she just couldn’t draw the ones she needed. Whenever she was about to, that idiot Lin Wu would declare a kong. The more anxious and frustrated she became, the worse her mindset, allowing Stone to profit, though in the end, Stone still lost, but only five fish.

At the other table, Little Knife swept all three opponents – poor skills but addicted to mahjong, Little Knife compensated with luck. In mahjong, luck is most crucial, and in one game, Little Knife even scored three "traveling jokers" terrifying everyone. "Three travels" means hitting the joker after two continuous jokers already in hand, and drawing on one’s own turn. (Joker, a wild card.)

No one knew that the agile Lin Wu had already begun practicing card sleight, trying a few times without anyone noticing. But since he had enough chips, he did not use his agility to cheat. Lin Wu knew that in future mahjong nights, he had already secured an unbeatable position.

During the night of the gourmet festival, Maya discussed the A1 lab issue with Nightmare and finally decided that Nightmare, as a Fortress special agent, would visit A1 lab once more. If Nightmare’s mission failed, Lin Wu and Maya would visit A1 lab as ordinary players.

...

The staircase leading down was the same as before, the lab remained in place, and even the statues and koi were all intact, as if the battle a few days ago had never happened.

Armed with previous experience, Nightmare took a handgun and went through the statues one by one, only to find that the statues were simply statues.

Turning to the entrance, Nightmare declared, "It’s safe."

Only then did Lin Wu and Maya come out, and as Nightmare took a step forward, she stepped on a rope trap that matched the floor color perfectly. Then Lin Wu watched as Nightmare was pulled down and dragged into the bamboo forest by the road. During the whole event, Nightmare put up no effective resistance. After watching the meteorological station graveyard for about seven seconds, Nightmare’s gravestone suddenly appeared.

Lin Wu called out, "She’s dead, let’s go."

Maya could only leave with Lin Wu. As they walked down the long staircase, Lin Wu asked, "You have a Plan B, right?"

Maya replied, "I wouldn’t call it a plan, just anticipated this outcome. I’m glad you agreed to keep our pact and did not insist on splitting up for the tasks."

Lin Wu said, "I just wanted to see how so-called Fortress special agents die."

They reached the underground parking lot and descended the stairs again. However, they were not certain this method was effective, nor could they be sure A1 would welcome ordinary players in some other fashion. So upon reaching the entrance, Lin Wu, as the vanguard, went ahead. He was different from Nightmare; he had Wai. As long as you were human, Wai would sniff you out.