Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 531 - 265: The Raid_2

Chapter 531: Chapter 265: The Raid_2

"Not giving her face?"

"Not giving her face? I just won’t talk to her," said Lin Wu.

"Coward, let’s go," mocked Stone.

...

After crossing the railway bridge and entering Left County, they found that the density of zombies had sharply increased. Even near the remote mountainous tracks, the density of zombies was several times higher than in North Town, making it impossible to completely avoid them. They had to selectively kill some zombies, which made their progress slower than when they had walked in the storm.

When they got back to the sawmill sub-base, it was already 7 pm. The water at the Sawmill hadn’t fully receded, so the people from the Sawmill would spend another night at the logging site. Seeing Lin Wu and Shana return, Stone called everyone to eat. They had a meal of rice mixed with pumpkin, diced meat, and mustard greens. They prepared a box meal for Maya and then the few from Doomsday Fortress went back home in their car.

During dinner, Little Knife asked Lin Wu and Shana where they had been, but Lin Wu brushed it off with a joke, and no one else pressed the matter. On the way back to Doomsday Fortress, Lin Wu started to ponder Shana’s question, how was he to explain the source of the bullets to Maya?

The sea wall road leading to Doomsday Fortress was now above the water, although there was still some serious flooding. He believed it would be back to normal by tomorrow. Wai, sensing his master’s return, leaped to the first floor, splashing through the water to exit the south gate, jumping around Lin Wu’s feet, constantly wagging his tail. Lin Wu graced him with a pat on the head, and Wai finally settled down contentedly.

Maya had set up two chairs by the third-floor campfire. After everyone greeted her and she thanked them for the box meal, Peanut and the others went upstairs. Lin Wu went to his dormitory, changed out of his half-dry, half-wet clothes, and put on the sour-smelling dry clothes he had in his backpack. With his low earnings and Qing having bet and gone back to her maiden home, he had to wash his own clothes.

Taking up a bucket, he rolled up his pant legs to wade through the water to the south gate to fetch a bucket of yellow river water. After some consideration, he still soaked his clothes in it. He added washing powder and stomped on them with his feet. When he got tired, he called Wai over to do the stomping. Afterward, he rinsed out the washing powder in the purified area of Left County River. They smelled okay afterward.

Carrying the bucket to the top floor, he hung the clothes on the clothesline and then joined the tea party. Although there were only two chairs, Maya had thoughtfully prepared cushions. Lin Wu sat down, swung his backpack in front and said, "I have some good stuff to show everyone."

As he said this, Lin Wu opened his backpack to reveal glistening bullets, and as he dug through them, they made a metallic clinking sound.

Surprised, Maya and the others asked, "How many are there?"

"About 200, most of them are handgun bullets," Lin Wu replied.

Realizing something, Peanut asked, "Does Shana’s backpack also have bullets?"

Lin Wu nodded, "That’s right."

Dashuang asked, "Where did they come from?"

Lin Wu showed them his personal computer. Everyone already knew about Lin Wu’s personal computer, and didn’t think much of it. Lin Wu said, "I used the personal computer to open a secret room."

"A secret room?"

"Yeah, I used to live in the church on the mountain top, and one day when I was feeling down and wandering around, I discovered this secret room. Since I couldn’t unlock the electronic lock, I didn’t tell everyone. As for the exact location, I can’t say for sure, it’s about three kilometers from the mountain top church," Lin Wu explained.

Maya, being clever, immediately got to the heart of the matter, "Nightmare’s?"

"Huh? Nightmare?" Lin Wu replied, "I don’t think so. There were no signs of Nightmare, and besides, Nightmare once mentioned that they didn’t have a safe house."

Lin Wu counter-questioned defensively, "How do you know it’s Nightmare’s?" Is their name written on the bullets?

Maya didn’t arrive at a conclusion and asked further, "What else is in the safe house?"

"Guns, Skill Books, a bed," Lin Wu described the contents of the safe house.

Maya looked at Lin Wu deeply after listening, "You only took handgun bullets and a small amount of rifle bullets?"

"Yes," Lin Wu explained, "Shana and I don’t have a vehicle."

Maya asked, "After taking the handgun bullets, did you guys put the box back? Were the rifle bullets you took disassembled from the magazines?"

Lin Wu thought for a moment, "How should I put this?"

Maya slapped her forehead. That’s right, Lin Wu knew it was Nightmare’s safe house. He not only looted Nightmare but also planned to keep Nightmare alive, periodically going back to the safe house for a haul. Guns? They weren’t valuable now, so he didn’t take a single one.

The reason Maya could be so certain was that Lin Wu didn’t take the Skill Book. Skill Books aren’t heavy, and given her understanding of Lin Wu, he would have carried the books back in his mouth if he had to, so how could he possibly pass up on the Skill Books? The only possibility is that he thought taking the Skill Books would alert the owner of the safe house.

What to do about it? Glancing at Lin Wu, who looked like a dead pig, Maya sighed internally. She could only pretend to be confused and act as if she didn’t know. As long as she didn’t ask and as long as Lin Wu didn’t admit it, then she wouldn’t be aware that Lin Wu had taken the bullets from Nightmare’s safe house. The reasoning could also be plausible, after all, it was just a guess.

Given Maya’s temperament, she wouldn’t secretly take a partner’s supplies. But she was aware that Lin Wu and Nightmare were at odds. Not only were they not friends, but if it weren’t for the potential for mutually beneficial cooperation, they would have already come to blows. Moreover, Maya believed she couldn’t persuade Lin Wu to give up, so just let it be.

Furthermore, Shana was also involved in this. Shana and Stone acknowledged the cooperation between Nightmare and Shadow but did not recognize a long-term cooperative relationship with Nightmare, never considering Nightmare as one of their own or as a friend.

Maya nodded, "Put the bullets in the ammo box later."

Everyone continued chatting over tea for a while when Cotton asked, "Do you guys feel it’s a bit hot?"

Lin Wu replied, "Unless something unexpected happens, tonight will be the coolest night for the next several months."

Looking up at the sky, Dashuang said, "This is the first time in my life that I’ll be facing the heat wave without air conditioning."

...

The chirping of cicadas woke Lin Wu up. As he opened the dormitory door, a wave of heat enveloped him. Stepping out of the dormitory, the sun at eight in the morning seemed capable of scorching the skin. The coffee table and other items had been moved next to the kitchen into an empty grid, where the Apocalypse People greeted each other and sat down for breakfast.

Today’s breakfast consisted of bread and pumpkin soup, made by Cotton. Dipping the tasteless bread into the pumpkin soup made it fairly edible.

"Hot, isn’t it?" Lin Wu asked.

"Hot," Peanut replied, with a wet towel around his neck, wiping away sweat, "The container doesn’t insulate well or ventilate, it’s going to be a tough summer."

Maya didn’t talk about the weather, but said, "Today our task is to take over the pump house. Does everyone remember where the pump house is?"

Dashuang answered, "It’s on the first basement level of the residential area’s fire station." Its purpose was to provide water to the various buildings in the residential area and to supply firefighting water.

After one month of drone reconnaissance, they had identified the location of the pump house. However, the fire station was in the middle of the residential area. The internal traffic of the residential area was like a Go board, with countless crossings and roads. It was also a gathering place for sea crew, sailors, merchants, white-collar workers, etc., containing facilities and buildings like hotels, bars, theaters, office buildings, supermarkets, dormitories, law offices, labor markets, restaurants, saunas, foot baths, and more. Not to mention essential infrastructure like police stations, fire stations, and clinics.

The street where the fire station was located was called Administration Street, surrounded by administrative units. There was an administrative hall where you could reapply for passports, apply for visa extensions, apply for labor certificates, as well as maritime administration, inspection and quarantine, safety, environmental protection, storage, and other administrative units.

Maya took out a self-drawn map from a small pocket in her backpack, "Using Waste City’s method of advancing, we’ll go upstairs from the bar to the rooftop and cross over by bridging. There are 12 bridges to be built across 13 buildings in total, and I have numbered each building."

Maya said, "Based on drone reconnaissance, we need to carry bridges at least 4.7 meters in length, so I’ve decided to use large logs that are 5 meters long. Each log weighs 100 kilograms, which poses objective difficulties in handling. I hope everyone can work together to solve the base’s water supply issue."

No one ever questioned Maya’s task assignments, but today Peanut had a question, "There are water pump houses in more remote locations, and there are hydroelectric plants. Why choose a place that’s so difficult and thankless?"