Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 471 - 242 In the Mountains (Part 2)_2

Chapter 471: Chapter 242 In the Mountains (Part 2)_2

The game of chess ended, and Shana went to wade in the brook, while Starlight took a cup of coffee and sat in the rocking chair with her eyes closed to rest. Lin Wu and Wai exchanged a glance: why do I feel like I don’t exist.

Lin Wu didn’t solve the riddle; he had no interest in the girls’ puzzles or in couples’ quarrels, except for a bit of gossip. Seeing that no one paid attention to him, he then focused on the task that Maya had assigned, using a drone to find a suitable route to the cliff top.

Lin Wu never gave a discount on work tasks assigned by Maya, unless it was assembly line work. That year, when Maya cut down the cement factory for several days in a row, Lin Wu almost threw up before he stopped Maya. On the contrary, Lin Wu always completed the tasks that Maya assigned with great focus and professionalism. Reason: because he got along well with Maya, so he couldn’t drag her down.

Once in Waste City, Maya treated Lin Wu as expendable, which bothered him for a while. The main reason he eventually let it go wasn’t because of a change in status or putting himself in someone else’s shoes, but because Lin Wu found that many people stayed away from Maya due to such thought processes and felt somewhat sorry for her.

In their later interactions, perhaps Maya also realized her behavior wasn’t appropriate or maybe influenced by Stone, she started to act with people in mind, rather than being solely task-oriented.

After occupying the Sawmill base, the cooperation between Lin Wu and Maya increased significantly; it could be said that Maya is now one of Lin Wu’s best friends.

After completing the reconnaissance, Lin Wu returned with Wai and saw Shana lying in the stream, entertaining herself, so he didn’t disturb her. He then saw Starlight feigning sleep and decided to take a walk nearby. When he passed by Starlight, she suddenly opened her eyes and asked, "Lin Wu, isn’t Shadow still missing a doctor?"

Lin Wu: "Yes."

Starlight sat up properly and asked, "How about me? The medical books shouldn’t be a problem."

Lin Wu said, "Not good, right? You have a family to look after. To be honest, if you insist on bringing Fire Dance into the base, I can only live out my days alone in these deep mountains. I don’t want to turn the game into a soap opera."

Starlight burst into laughter, "What if it’s just me, no one else?"

Lin Wu asked, "What about Sunlight?"

Starlight said, "I want to be part of Hardcore Mode." She didn’t answer Lin Wu’s question, but it seemed like she did.

Lin Wu said, "I have no objections to you joining, you talk to Stone later. He’s in charge of personnel."

Starlight questioned, "Isn’t Shana the one recruiting?"

Lin Wu said, "Stone is the Chairman and HR manager, Shana is the head of HR."

Starlight laughed again and asked, "What about Maya?"

After thinking for a while, Lin Wu replied, "CEO."

"And you?"

Lin Wu answered, "I’m the sales champion."

"Haha." Starlight’s smile faded and she gestured for Lin Wu to sit down. "You might not know, but Sunlight hired a private investigator to check up on you, and he is quite satisfied with what he found."

Lin Wu: "Don’t believe it."

Starlight said, "His dissatisfaction with you stems from your breakup with Fire Dance, not from dating her."

Lin Wu pondered, "He also thinks Fire Dance is hot potato; better marry her off sooner."

Seeing Lin Wu spout nonsense, Starlight knew he didn’t want to discuss this topic with her, so she said, "I heard your points are quite high."

Lin Wu said, "Not just high, but extremely high. Blood Heart first kill, Titan first kill, and having survived so long, doing all kinds of... no, eliminating many bad NPC characters."

Starlight: "But you don’t really care."

"Don’t talk nonsense, I do care. But indeed, I don’t care that much." Lin Wu asked, "What are your plans? To punch in on Earth and then take the shuttle back to Blue Star, or to stay and become King of the Fortress?"

Starlight said, "We never intended to compete for The Ring of the Fortress."

Lin Wu: "No chance?"

This blunt counter-question made Starlight hesitate. She wasn’t angry and frankly answered, "Yes, we didn’t even plan to stay on Earth. But now I want to try to compete, I wonder if it’s too late?"

Lin Wu answered, "Too late, Maya is already streets ahead of you."

Starlight said, "It seems I can only aim to become a Pawn of the Fortress now."

Lin Wu questioned, "Are you okay?"

Starlight: "I’m fine, what could be wrong with me?"

"I’m off for a stroll." Talking to anyone today just doesn’t feel right.

Starlight nodded, "Go ahead."

Lin Wu stood up, and Starlight said, "I’m really envious of you."

"Envious of me running around the mountains with a dog?"

Starlight said, "Envious of your unattached, carefree life. The sky is there for birds to fly, living only for yourself."

Lin Wu asked, "Sunlight dumped you, didn’t he?" With someone like Starlight, it would only be after taking a hit and feeling down that he’d spout something that seemed philosophical but was totally off-kilter.

Starlight just smiled without speaking and gestured for Lin Wu to go.

Lin Wu was not low on emotional intelligence; he simply chose not to engage deeply, preferring to deal with others’ emotional issues in a straightforward manner. During his university days, the chaotic romantic relationships within the film club he joined made his head spin. So, Lin Wu stepped out of the fray, stripping the club’s romantic entanglements away and interacting normally with everyone as a regular junior member. Regardless of whether others were comfortable with it, Lin Wu was, and he was quite popular within the club.

Why did he join the film club? It seemed to Lin Wu like an effortless way to entertain himself and earn extra credits. Only after joining did he realize he had fallen into a trap. It was called a film club, not a movie-watching club, and it was really a theater club. Luckily, everyone in the club had a strong desire to perform, and Lin Wu managed to begrudgingly play the role of a stone, a tree, without needing to rehearse, just standing still during performances.

Except for that time the dimwit pirate sat on him for ten minutes, which led Lin Wu to quit the club and instead join the badminton group.

...

Team Three successfully completed the task and met up with the two other teams of three at the waterfall. The descent was relatively smooth since lessons were well learned – Lin Wu let Wai handle all the dangerous tasks. Along the way, Lin Wu, Horse Soul, and Peanut joked and laughed. Starlight, Shana, and Sunlight were more silent. Maya was characteristically terse, managing to kill any conversation, even when Starlight tried to initiate one.

Starlight, "This Tang Sword is really pretty."

Normally, Maya would explain the origin of the sword and share her experiences. Planning to reply with just a "Hmm," but feeling that was impolite, she said, "I think so too."

Starlight, "You seem really busy all the time."

Maya felt she was being impolite with her previous answer and worried Starlight might misunderstand, initially wanting to explain her recent work on the shipping container Fortress project. But then she thought the details were too much to delve into. Suddenly she wondered why she should change her character just to please someone else.

Thinking Maya hadn’t heard him, Starlight asked again, to which Maya responded, "It’s just trivial matters from the base." She wasn’t accustomed to using words like ’I’m fine, not too busy’ as they felt insincere.

After several shut-down attempts at conversation, Starlight finally gave up and caught up to Lin Wu to ask in a low voice, "How do you talk with Maya?"

"Step aside for a start." Once Starlight fell back, Lin Wu turned to look at Maya, grinning, "Miss, nice figure."

Maya stared at Lin Wu for two seconds, "Your brain acting up again?"

Lin Wu, "Does my brain have to be acting up to think you have a good figure?"

Maya replied helplessly, "Thanks for the compliment."

"Don’t mention it." Lin Wu walked backwards, asking, "Hasn’t anyone ever praised your figure before?"

"No, and it’s none of your business."

Lin Wu, "Now you have. I, Sir Lin, think you’ve got a good figure, and you’re not inferior to anyone else. From now on, you can stand tall and proud as a woman."

Maya drew her Tang Sword.

"So cliché," Lin Wu turned and walked normally again then looked back after a while, "Hey."

Maya caught up with a few quick steps, "What is it?"

Lin Wu in a low voice, "I keep feeling there’s a bear around."

Maya holding back a laugh, "You have a smoke grenade, what are you afraid of?"

Lin Wu, "Why aren’t you afraid of Black Bear?"

Maya, "I haven’t been swatted by a black bear."

Lin Wu, "Hmph! Who’s tougher, brown bears or black bears?"

Maya responded, "Brown bears."

Lin Wu, "The evidence?"

Maya, out of words, "Whatever bear you think is tougher."

Lin Wu felt talking to Maya wasn’t that hard and glanced back at Starlight. Starlight shook his head, indicating he just couldn’t learn.