Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 491 - 250: Search

Chapter 491: Chapter 250: Search

In just a moment, zombies charged out. Unfortunately, they were too hasty—only two managed to get through before the small iron door was jammed shut by three other zombies, crushing them to death. At this time, Lin Wu and the others remained calm, easily dealing with the zombies, watching what unfolded before them like a dramatic scene. That is, until a zombie was squeezed out and then a tidal wave of zombies came at them.

Although these were all ordinary zombies, and their numbers weren’t exactly overwhelming, they seemed more ferocious than before the update. Lin Wu quickly spotted the issue. Previously, zombies basically had the same movements, but those after the update were different—some zombies ran faster, some shouted louder. Most importantly, they didn’t rest after a sprint; they just kept running until they dropped dead.

This shockwave of a horde caught the Doomsday Fortress survivors off guard, even for Maya who wielded a giant 40-meter blade, she couldn’t withstand it. What’s more outrageous was that the zombies started diving to the ground to bite at her ankles.

"Run!"

Maya kicked away the zombie on her left leg and used her shoulder to shove off another, leading the trio in a desperate sprint. Lin Wu ran the fastest. Seeing the zombie horde hot on their heels, he took out a Molotov Cocktail, lit it, and threw it behind Maya. The flames roared to life, but the zombies didn’t hesitate to charge through the inferno, catching fire. They ran a few more meters before falling to the ground, turned to charred corpses. The wind swept away their remains as if they had never existed.

As the flames died out, five zombies were still standing, but the survivors each took one down with ease.

Afterwards, everyone was shaken.

They had checked on the crops after the summer update, studied the base, and encountered NPCs, but they had never thought the zombies would be updated as well. No wonder the density of Mutant Zombies had decreased, a horde of just over twenty ordinary zombies was already a significant threat to four players.

Maya’s understanding was slightly different from Lin Wu’s. She acknowledged their force but believed it stemmed from different systems. Before the update, in the narrow corridors, Maya could singlehandedly take down an entire squad. After the update, the zombies no longer lined up to be Beheaded; zombies from behind would desperately push forward, stepping on and toppling the ones in front without a second thought.

Maya’s stark realization was summarized: Hardcore Mode was not suitable for going solo anymore.

Players without agility or physical strength needed to carry Molotov Cocktails, which seemed to be the cheapest and most effective means against the hordes for now. Of course, the best strategy was to not provoke a horde at all. If there had been a screamer in just now’s horde, the four of them would have had no choice but to flee towards the Doomsday Fortress.

Maya shared her encounter with Shana, concluding, "Personally, I think you should consider centralizing our combat tactics around little fighters like Little Knife." With ammunition becoming a luxury, fists were now the most cost-effective weapons.

"Let’s head back to the base to heal our wounds, and we need to practice formations," Maya said. In just that brief encounter, both Maya and Cotton had been wounded and infected, Peanut was also injured. Why was Peanut only injured and not infected? Because in his panic, he ran into a wall.

"What kind of formation?"

"Kitchen Knife Formation," Maya said, "modeled after the Qi Family Army." The soldiers in the Qi Family Army had one principle in training and combat: never evade or retreat, you chop at me, I chop back at you. It was simply about hacking away.

The biggest mistake just now was that, when moving in a group, everyone dispersed instead of forming an unbreakable barrier, unable to withstand the onslaught of the horde. Although they would avoid confrontations with hordes as much as possible in the future, who knew what the next moment could bring. Injuries and infections didn’t mean the end for players; if they could hold their ground, they could use their weapons and other advantages to fight back against the horde. Of course, if they couldn’t hold back and were overwhelmed by the zombies, even the miracle workers Starlight and Emerald Feather would be out of reach.

You can get hurt, you can get infected, but you cannot die.

Lin Wu, whose imagination ran wild, remarked, "I’m only realizing now how kind Dawn has always been." If players had to face such hordes, such zombies during these nine months of gaming, the death rate wouldn’t be just double—it would be much, much higher.

This reminded them of the last operation in the Waste City during the second expedition, where they were assailed by countless zombies. At that time, Lin Wu and his group ultimately triumphed by taking a circular formation, squeezing tight together. Because there was no space, the zombies couldn’t charge effectively.

But what kind of warehouse was this? How could there be so many zombies here?

...

There wasn’t much to practicing the Kitchen Knife Formation—it was all about hacking away with blunt or sharp weapons, with only one thing to note: move together with your companions. After only five minutes of practice, everyone felt they had mastered the essence and Maya had no choice but to let it be.

After healing, the four ventured out again, no longer walking and chatting but stealthily moving down the path, taking out any lone zombies they encountered. Upon entering Warehouse No. 1, they saw it was a super-sized warehouse that connected the front, back, left, and right warehouses, with an actual area equivalent to ten warehouses put together.

It was a cement warehouse, with neatly stacked piles of cement and enough space in the middle for forklifts to cross paths.

Inside the warehouse, there were dozens of zombies, relatively dense in numbers. Peanut’s scouting skill scanned and pinpointed seven Resource Points. Maya took down the only screamer with a Repeating Crossbow and then used rocks to draw zombies out in smaller numbers, thus taking half an hour to wipe them all out.

Out of the seven resource spots, six were construction materials, and one was located inside the warehouse’s only office—a paper cutter, categorized as a short blade.

Peanut’s scouting ability might seem very useful and indeed it was, but it had a drawback. Scouting could discover resources but could not uncover clues.