Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 519 - 260: Water-Avoidance Base_2

Chapter 519: Chapter 260: Water-Avoidance Base_2

"No, ever since Snow Egg lost the sound insulation technology, Shadow stopped cutting down logs, let alone using equipment to saw wood." Previously, due to the increased Threat Value, the leaders consulted and decided to fortify the fence of the Sawmill. The fortification project consumed a lot of building materials. Maya spoke in more detail. She initially disagreed with reinforcing the fence, instead proposing to expand the Doomsday Fortress and to use the Universal Card to build a ranch.

Stone believed that the Doomsday Fortress currently could not provide the necessary conditions for the survival of everyone, which persuaded Maya, and she then agreed to fortify the fence. At the same time, Stone made it clear that he would definitely relocate the base when conditions matured. Right now, all of Shadow’s building materials were being used to strengthen the defense of the Sawmill. The Doomsday Fortress would need to solve the issue of building materials needed for base expansion on its own.

Maya: "The coming days will be quite tough. We need to collect building materials, we need to secure food, and to achieve our goals, everyone will need to put in more effort. Although hiring NPCs solves the problem of doing laundry, it’s ultimately a luxury, and this benefit will have to be cut sooner or later. Stone hoped to find one or two volunteers for laundry in Shadow."

Can’t they wash on their own? Of course, they can. But as Maya said, everyone’s workload would increase in the future, making having dedicated personnel for laundry the most scientific approach. So, the question came full circle again: who would be willing to be a full-time laundry worker?

There were two other practical methods. The first method was to seize the laundry room in the living area as an outpost, thereby enjoying free laundry services. The second method was to build a laundry room, which had a hard requirement of needing a washing machine.

Since starting the game, whether in Normal Mode or Hardcore Mode, all appliances were in a state of disrepair and deemed irreparable, only useful for being dismantled into parts. Let alone washing machines, just about any item containing chips and hardware was fundamentally damaged and beyond repair.

In the summer month, Maya checked a lot of material in the storage area but never found any clues related to appliances, much less washing machines.

Does that mean obtaining a washing machine is impossible? No, if it was impossible to obtain a washing machine, then the laundry rooms would be meaningless. The only known way to obtain household appliances like washing machines and televisions is through the Fortress wandering merchants. Since the game launched, North Town and even the entire country had only seen a Fortress wandering merchant appear once. A Fortress wanderer would stay in a place for 12 hours, and to trade with him, you not only needed to find him but also had to bring trade goods sufficient to satisfy him.

The first time the Fortress wandering merchant appeared in North Town, Lin Wu and Shana were diving into the sewers and didn’t pay much attention to the Fortress merchant. Those who were fated and eager found the Fortress merchant and discovered that besides selling high-level Skill Books, he also sold various advanced add-ons, blueprints, and all sorts of appliances. Among them was a design called Fortress Barracks, which, though it had the same six individual beds as regular barracks, added five meters in height, effectively increasing personal living space.

The next day passed in casual chats and sleep.

On the third day, dawn broke, and the water levels in both bases had receded slightly. This was typhoon weather’s unique "calm before the storm," not signaling the typhoon’s end but instead indicating you were in the eye of the typhoon, right at its center.

Maya had planned to set up a temporary base on Highway 99, where not only was the terrain high, but the wood resources were plentiful, and there might even be a chance to find wild animals. Even if they came up empty-handed, it would be better than being trapped in the Doomsday Fortress. However, due to a lack of manpower, Shadow, with a total of 12 people, had spent 5 manpower to ally with the Meteorological Station and another 5 to ally with the Doomsday Fortress, leaving no extra manpower to open a sub-base.

After discussion, Shadow decided to abandon the sub-base at the Meteorological Station and establish a base near the mountain’s logging field. Each base left the necessary personnel for housekeeping, and the rest went to the temporary base at the logging field.

No sooner said than done. After spending 10 manpower points to ally with the logging field, the Sawmill began constructing a kitchen. The function of beds was to improve morale and was now decoupled from sleep. It didn’t matter whether you slept in a bed or in the wild, as long as you had enough sleep and a bed of your own at your base, everything was OK.

Su Shi, Starlight, and Emerald Feather stayed at the Shadow Sawmill. Su Shi’s stay was due to his fear of corpses, and the two doctors stayed at the base because they were needed for remote medical consultations. On the other side, Maya stayed at the Doomsday Fortress. Lin Wu handed over the temporary guardianship of Wai to Maya to prevent her from feeling too lonely while staying alone at the base.

Establishing a sub-base, dissolving alliances, forming new ones—all these activities spanned the entire morning. As everyone sat around the campfire in the lumber camp eating simple noodles, dark clouds obscured the sun, and a heavy rainstorm returned.

The lumber camp’s sub-base was a kilometer away from Highway 99, with a plantation to the north and the rolling mountains beyond that. There were two separate large buildings at the lumber camp—one for the woodcutter’s accommodations, dining and living. The other was a large warehouse for storing tools and vehicles. The lumber camp was surrounded by open space, with neatly stacked huge timbers along the edge of the safe zone, each weighing hundreds of kilograms.

The temporary base was set up in the woodcutters’ living area. Just as anticipated, there was no standing water either inside or outside. After lunch, everyone spread out their blankets and sleeping bags on the floor, donned raincoats, and began to work.

The team split into three groups. The first was led by Stone, tasked with felling logs to obtain construction materials. They could chop down trees in the plantation or logs stacked in the yard. The second group consisted of Little Knife and Snow Egg, who were to look for medicinal herbs while also enjoying a romantic flirtation. The third group included Lin Wu and Shana, who would venture deep into the plantation forest and even near the mountain ranges in search of game.

The reason Shana was paired with Lin Wu was partly because they were old partners, and partly because someone needed to keep an eye on Lin Wu to stop him from messing around. Although it was often trouble that found Lin Wu, it also indirectly showed that he was a magnet for trouble. From a metaphysical perspective, Stone thought Lin Wu had caused too much mischief, attracting divine retribution. Scientifically speaking, it was possible that Lin Wu had the highest score in the entire server, so he didn’t discount the possibility that Dawn was up to something behind the scenes.

The main purpose of everyone going to the sub-base was to seek refuge from the flood. The two bases had a good stock of building materials, and for the first group, who had grown accustomed to a lazy lifestyle, motivation was lacking, giving rise to instances of shirking. Stone wasn’t great at supervising work—on one hand, he lacked the authority, and on the other, it seemed somewhat inhumane to have the employees work in the rain. Consequently, the first group was split into two: one to guard the home front, the other to chop wood; they worked in shifts, taking breaks in turns.

Although Lin Wu’s duo didn’t encounter any wild beasts when they entered the plantation, they discovered a berry thicket. After receiving the report, Stone sent the home guard to the berry thicket to gather berries. Lin Sha’s duo continued deeper, heading towards the old-growth forest area.

The dense foliage of a mighty tree shielded them from the rain, its roots surrounded by soil that was still somewhat dry. Lin Wu removed his raincoat hood and gestured for Shana to rest under the tree, then launched a drone, switching on the thermal imaging search mode to track wildlife. The thermal mode took more time compared to the visual mode because it required hovering in an area, constantly scanning it, and also used a lot of battery power.

There was one upside to going out with Shana—she would take the initiative to chat, talking about gossip and amusing stories. Perhaps due to the weather, the topics today were not particularly cheerful.

"Complaints?" Lin Wu asked, "Are they the kind of complaints I would make, or a different kind?"

"What kind of complaints do you make?" Shana asked.

Lin Wu replied, "Dawn, why do you do this to me, making me go out on missions with an ugly freak."

Shana burst into laughter, giving Lin Wu a playful punch, and then said with some concern, "The other kind. There was a previous dispute over noodles versus rice. Emerald Feather and Snow Egg preferred rice and didn’t like noodles. Starlight and Su Shi liked noodles and didn’t care for rice. When the mood was good, they could tolerate each other’s preferences."

Lin Wu said, "Those who tolerate may develop a sense of moral superiority or feel wronged. The problem is that food can be artificially chosen, not randomly acquired. If the choice was random, no one would have an issue. ’Wow, today I get to eat shit with everyone, I’m so happy.’