Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 502 - 254: Bulk Goods_2

Chapter 502: Chapter 254: Bulk Goods_2

Lin Wu said, "Of course we’ll take it, how cool is that? Even just letting it sit there, it looks powerful." There was only one vehicle at the two parking spots by the south gate of the Doomsday Fortress. With Maya gone, he could drive the armored car out for a ride and casually take on a horde of zombies.

Maya admitted Lin Wu was right. Since they had seen it, they should bring it back, so she asked, "Lin Wu, can you go back on land to get some fuel? Are you confident about it?"

With the warehouse surrounded by open space and quite distant, Lin Wu thought for a moment and honestly replied, "I’m not sure."

"Everyone, get on the rubber duck."

All of them returned to the dock, got into the sea, and used the buoyancy of the rubber duck to get back to the Doomsday Fortress. They grabbed three barrels of oil and swam back to the dock warehouse.

After adding a barrel of oil to the armored car, Maya started the vehicle. The armored car roared to life and smashed through the large rolling door effortlessly. The three people waiting outside dragged the rubber duck and entered the armored car from the back. Before they were surrounded by zombies, they closed the hatch.

Dozens of zombies clung to the armored car, biting and clawing, but Maya checked the durability and, watching the road through an external camera, she pressed the accelerator. The armored car charged forward, crushing the zombies that came head-on. Accompanied by everyone’s screams and shouts, it smashed open the iron fence, leveled the green bushes, and snapped saplings. Like a monster, it rammed through all the obstacles and successfully made it onto the highway.

Once on the highway, the armored car quickly picked up speed. Maya made a sharp turn when entering the coastal road, flinging off most of the zombies clinging to the vehicle’s body and simultaneously sending the three people and a dog inside flying.

Having driven the armored car back to the parking spot at the Doomsday Fortress, Maya got out with her knife and took care of the remaining zombies. After a long while, the hatch opened, and Lin Wu, holding his head, stumbled out from the inside, followed by Cotton, who was also holding his head. They were lucky to have only headbutted each other, as Peanut’s head had smacked right into the interior of the car. Lin Wu and Cotton grabbed Peanut by the feet, dragging him out of the car with their free hands.

Pain doesn’t cause unconsciousness; there is only one reason for fainting: concussion.

Thus, another long-distance call took place, and Stone sarcastically remarked, "Maybe you should just have two doctors move into your base."

Lin Wu responded, "If you knew what we got, you’d kneel down and call me daddy."

Stone, putting aside his argumentative mood, asked, "What?"

"Not telling you; we still have to go get another daddy."

’Machine’? Thinking of ’machines’ as a unit, Stone had an intuition that something was amiss. So, he called Maya, but Maya responded, "I don’t get involved with you and Lin Wu’s affairs." Too childish.

Call ended, they had lunch, dragged the rubber duck into the water, and several of them splashily made it back to the dock warehouse. But, during the transport, they encountered trouble.

Driving the armored car would not matter if it triggered an alarm, as it could roll over everything. But towing the ship was different, requiring everyone to work together to push it out and get it into the ocean.

Lin Wu slapped his thigh in frustration, "We should have used the armored car to tow the ship."

Peanut said, "We can just use the armored car to smash through the outer wall."

Maya: "You want to go again?"

Everyone nodded in agreement.

The four of them plus the dog plunged into the water for the nth time, paddled back to the Doomsday Fortress, refueled the armored car, and then drove with a fierce momentum back to the warehouse. The armored car rammed through the back wall of warehouse 307. Without the need for the alarm to warn them, the nearby zombies had all converged. The armored car turned around on the spot, charging and killing all the way, until they met a Titan.

Maya floored the accelerator and collided head-on with the charging Titan. The armored car came to a stop, while the Titan was knocked down, its legs shattered. Maya reversed the car. The painless Titan managed to stand up on its knees and let out a furious roar; the armored car rammed into the Titan again, sending it flying two meters away. Not giving it a chance to stand, Maya drove the armored car over it, crushing it in its tracks.

The people inside the vehicle cheered and applauded. Lin Wu gave the very quiet Wai a pat on the head, prompting Wai to join in with everyone else, barking loudly, immediately drowning out the others. After another tap, Wai adjusted its volume and finally fit in with the group.

"We’re going to make a sharp turn," Cotton warned, and everyone hurried to find their seat belts.

The armored vehicle was compartmentalized, with Maya possibly having given notice, but the soundproofing was so effective that those in the back couldn’t hear due to the noise, and Lin Wu and his group didn’t catch a word.

Following that was another classic fishtail turn. Lin Wu grabbed Wai and flew into the air, crashing into Cotton across from them. In that instant, Cotton felt as if he would vomit out his intestines. Poor Peanut, having guessed the wrong direction of the swerve, clutched at his seat belt and got slapped against the ceiling.

History has a surprising way of repeating itself; Cotton and Lin Wu each grabbed one of Peanut’s legs and dragged him out of the compartment.

They continued to connect to Shadow Therapy, and at that point, Stone’s curiosity was at its peak. However, no one wanted to take sides between him and Lin Wu. Moreover, if they did have to choose a side, they would obviously side with Lin Wu since he was right beside them. Therefore, no one shared any information with Stone.

The four of them and the dog went into the water N+1 times.

...

Handling a boat was clearly more troublesome than dealing with an armored vehicle. First, they had to push the boat into the sea. The good news: the water was deep enough. The bad news, however, was plentiful, starting with the first piece of bad news: the boat was heavy, and the four people and the dog could barely push it. Pushing it 12 meters wasn’t an issue, but the presence of zombies nearby posed a risk; any loud noise could attract them.

The second piece of bad news: Could they push it straight down without scraping the bottom? Would the boat be planted down or dropped in? To solve this problem, they needed to push it another hundred meters or so to reach a slope that led into the sea.

The third piece of bad news: no one had ever operated a boat. Maya initially thought that piloting a boat might be similar to flying a plane or driving a car, but after examining the cockpit’s control panel, she realized it was a completely different ballgame.

First of all, starting the boat required "warming up" the engine. Why it wasn’t called "warming up" the boat, no one knew.

Warming up the engine needed at least 10 minutes, but one barrel of fuel would only burn for 5 minutes. This was also peculiar since fuel consumption was calculated by time, not distance. Fuel wasn’t the biggest issue; they brought two more barrels of fuel this time, plus the two they had already placed earlier, providing enough fuel for 20 minutes of towing the boat.

Maya picked up the boat’s manual for a crash course in operation. Most of the processes had been simplified, requiring manual actions to give the warm-up order, turn the rudder, and stop the boat. Stopping the boat was not so simple; even when the power was cut to zero, it would still advance, and how far it would go depended on the tonnage of the vessel and the current. If they couldn’t stop the boat before docking, they would have to reverse, which again was a technical task. Hence, during the initial warm-up phase and the docking phase, the crew on the boat would be at their busiest.

The question was whether to cut and run with the barrels of oil or to sail the boat back?

Maya was inclined towards the former. In her view, towing the boat had no practical value, especially since fuel was so precious. But then she remembered the dream that she and Lin Wu had previously discussed with Peanut. Considering how Peanut had worked so hard all day long without a single complaint, Maya found herself hesitating.

After some thought, Maya said, "Peanut, you learn to steer the boat. Cotton, Lin Wu, we clear a path," a path that would lead to the slope a hundred meters away.

Peanut nodded excitedly, eager to board the boat and earnestly began reading the driving manual in the cockpit.

The zombie density around Warehouse 307 had significantly decreased due to the assault by the armored vehicle. Clearing the city was a challenging task. If they persisted in spending two hours a day cleaning the warehouse district, in less than a month, the density of zombies there would be lower than in North Town.

The trio of Maya, Lin Wu, and Cotton had somewhat awkward cooperation.

Maya could snipe zombies from a distance with the repeating crossbow; hence, the two assassins could only take charge of retrieving the arrows. When Maya used a machete, the two assassins were unable to cover her flanks. And when the two assassins advanced stealthily, Maya could only wait idly behind.

Fortunately, Lin Wu was someone who had risen above base pleasures; he let Maya take on the honorable task of killing the monsters. Cotton was responsible for luring the enemies, drawing small groups of up to ten zombies away from the main horde for Maya to eliminate. Lin Wu and Wai returned to Warehouse 307, ostensibly to protect Peanut, but actually, to find a shady spot for a nap. With Peanut nearby for protection, the nap was relatively safe.

Wai, of course, couldn’t sleep; it had to keep watch. It was more reliable to trust Wai than to trust Peanut.

After half a day’s struggle, Lin Wu was indeed tired. Swimming had drained his physical strength, and so had all the shouting. He lay down on the canvas with profound fatigue, and within ten seconds, he was fast asleep.