Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 533 - 266: Crossing_2

Chapter 533: Chapter 266: Crossing_2

Maya showed the map she had drawn to Lin Wu, "From west to east, labeled as 1 and 2. From south to north, labeled as A, B, C, D."

Lin Wu thought for quite a while, "2G."

Maya indicated on the map with the tip of her pen, Lin Wu nodded, and Maya circled to record: one.

The four of them continued to move forward, positioning themselves as they went. Based on Maya’s map, they had been in the western area of the living quarters the entire time, maintaining a considerable distance from the central point, 9M.

After the rope was laid out, Maya retraced her steps, searching for diverging paths. At the tenth manhole cover, Lin Wu brought good news, "8L."

Wow! Cotton and Peanut exclaimed in surprise. Having stayed in the foul-smelling sewer for over two hours, anyone would hope to finish the job and leave this dreadful place as soon as possible.

Using 8L as a reference, Maya began a search in all directions. Unfortunately, the closest to 9M was only 8L.

The 8L exit was located at the open-air parking lot on the side of One Sail Hotel, 35 meters in a straight line from the 9M fire station. To go there normally, one would have to go around One Sail Hotel, reach the hotel’s backside, and then walk 30 meters on the main road.

Maya ordered, "Get your pistols ready, and remember to attach the silencers."

Cotton reminded her, "Maya, do we need to leave someone to guard the manhole?"

Maya looked at the three of them; she was the most suitable person to guard the manhole, but she must lead the team to the fire station because there might be other challenges there. She also did not trust Lin Wu to lead, as no one knew what might happen.

Maya said, "No need. Lin Wu and Cotton will lead the way, I will provide support from the middle, and Peanut will use his pistol to eliminate any zombies that come close to our route on both sides."

The hotel had a perimeter wall, and the squad walked close to the wall, managing to make their way around to 9th Street. Lin Wu continued to scout ahead and glanced at the hotel’s back door before immediately pulling back and pressing himself against the wall motionless.

"Titan."

The back door consisted of two simple manual glass doors. Now, without glass, and with no trace of the doors, in their place was the imposing back of a Titan.

Maya saw that the street was four point two meters wide. Walking on the sidewalk opposite the hotel would still alert the Titan. Could they take advantage of the moment the Titan turned its head to cross? It was possible, but the narrow street would expose them to the zombies on the other side of the street, potentially alarming the Titan.

At that moment, a zombie from the leather shop across the street spotted the squad crouching by the hotel’s perimeter wall. It immediately ran out from the doorway, and Maya preemptively shot an arrow through its head. Looking back at the narrow street, not only were there numerous zombies on it, but there were also many inside the buildings on both sides of the street.

Thirty meters wasn’t far; after taking over the fire station, the safety zone of the forward outpost could well extend that distance.

Maya took out two corpse-smell-covering medicines from her backpack. Once consumed, the medicine would make her emit the smell of corpses, masking her own scent. The medicine was made using zombie eyeballs by subsidiary pharmacists or biochemists from the medical branch. Within one minute after taking it, she wouldn’t be attacked by zombies, and taking multiple doses within ten minutes would be ineffective. Before the update, the side effect of this medicine was poisoning, losing one point of life every second. After the update, the medicine manifested its toxic state on the body.

Players who took the Concealment Medicine would enter a state of semi-zombification for one and a half minutes, resulting in uncoordinated movements of their limbs. Repeated dosing would affect their thoughts. Whether it would impact memory, judgment, or other aspects wasn’t specified by the system. At this time, the rubbish attribute, Will, became crucial, as players with high Will could be immune to most symptoms of the side effects.

"Maybe we shouldn’t?" Lin Wu said, "What if, after taking the medicine, I don’t run towards the fire station but instead go and take a selfie with the Titan?"

Nobody had taken this stuff after the update, and Lin Wu’s question stumped Maya; indeed, she couldn’t rule out such a possibility. The system had stated that one of the drug’s side effects was a low chance of causing cognitive illusions in the user, somewhat similar to a certain flour effect.

Maya said, "Cotton isn’t married yet, so you and Lin Wu stay behind. Peanut?"

Peanut declared boldly, "Life has always been..."

Lin Wu gave Wai a thump on the back of his head, "Keep it down."

Wai looked at Lin Wu aggrievedly, I didn’t make a sound.

Lin Wu forced a smile, I know.

Peanut bowed to express his apology.

Cotton said, "I might be able to get there." The chaotic street created the conditions for her to use her Dive skill.

"Are you sure?"

Cotton shook her head, "No." Once the Dive skill was broken, its cooldown was too long, which meant she had no opportunity for systematic attempts. In fact, she hadn’t fully understood the mechanics of the skill herself.

"You and Lin Wu stay here," Maya looked at Peanut, "Are you ready?"

Peanut holding eyeballs-turned-Concealment Medicine swallowed hard and said, "Wait, who is my wife?"

Everyone fell into thought, with Lin Wu asking, "Emerald Feather?"

Maya said, "It should be Dashuang."

"As long as I have a wife, that’s enough." Peanut nodded, "I’m ready."

The two took the Concealment Medicine together and then ran out, but Peanut fell to the ground before making it five meters. It was clear that Peanut had kept his senses, but he had lost partial control over his limbs, making it very difficult for him to get up.

Maya wanted to reach out but her movement was very strange. Frustrated, Maya let out a roar that sounded somewhat similar to the dry howls of zombies. Finally, Peanut grabbed Maya’s arm and, exerting his strength, stood up. The two stumbled towards the fire station like drunkards. Maya tripped and fell, rolling on the ground before standing up and continuing to run forward, slamming straight into a streetlamp.

Peanut crashed into a female zombie, fell over embracing her, and even kissed her. Lin Wu and Cotton winced at the sight. With difficulty, Peanut raised his head, his hands unable to turn, so he propped himself up with his elbows to stand. Once upright, he didn’t move on but instead stomped on the female zombie’s head, but the movement wasn’t executed properly, so he ended up sitting on top of her.

Peanut howled and crawled forward, looking like he had evolved into a Frenzy, only much slower.

"Thirty seconds left," Lin Wu reminded.

But only two muffled growls could be heard through the radio, evidently, they had lost some of their ability to speak.

Just then, a Frenzy leapt onto the wall of the hotel. Lin Wu hastily stepped sideways, shielding Cotton with his body, confident that his Stealth skill wouldn’t be detected at a distance of eight meters. As for Wai, there was no problem at all; zombies didn’t treat animals as hostile unless Wai attacked first. How did Lin Wu know? Of course, it was through complaints—he complained that zombies wouldn’t attack Wai, thereby confirming that zombies genuinely wouldn’t attack Wai.

"Don’t move." Feeling Cotton about to act, Lin Wu quickly uttered a warning.

The scene fell silent. The Frenzy stood upright and raised its head, apparently searching for the source of the sound. Lin Wu waited with Silent Night in hand; he was worried that if the Frenzy continued to walk across the top of the wall, he wouldn’t be able to kill it with one shot. If the Frenzy fell against the wall, many possible scenarios could unfold.

After an unsuccessful search, the Frenzy stayed on the wall, moving closer and then away again, making Lin Wu quite uncomfortable. Either come down and face off, or just go away. What kind of hero positions themselves at four meters? Wind Stinger couldn’t charge, Lock Head couldn’t lock on, Stealth could easily be detected, and it was on the wall — a difficult spot for Lin Wu.

Maya’s voice came through the earpiece, "Safe."

Peanut: "Safe."

Lin Wu touched his earpiece mic as a response. He reached behind with his left hand, and Cotton proactively handed over hers. Lin Wu guided both of them to step back in sync. He had seen through the drone that Titan had turned its attention to the Frenzy and was looking at the drone. As Lin Wu and Cotton retreated past the back door of the hotel and reached the other side of the hotel wall, the Frenzy hadn’t followed.

Lin Wu didn’t relax his vigilance, though, because there were zombies in the shops across the street, the closest being just over five meters away. So he still had to shield Cotton.

Lin Wu whispered, "The surroundings are getting more dangerous." As time went on and the activity level of the Hardcore Zombies increased, any route they cleared would quickly be overrun by zombies.

Cotton tugged at Lin Wu, and when he turned around, he saw ornamental spherical shrubs about 1.2 meters high planted outside the hotel’s walls. The two and the dog squeezed between the wall and the shrubs, then Cotton entered her Dive state. She could move freely between the eight-meter stretch of shrubs and the wall without being detected.

Not only were the zombies unable to detect her, but Lin Wu couldn’t either. After looking left and right for a while without seeing her, Cotton poked Lin Wu from half a meter away, scaring Lin Wu, who almost screamed.

Cotton and Lin Wu didn’t communicate with earpieces because their earpieces were filled with Maya and Peanut’s voices. They had already entered the fire station successfully and found the layout map. Now they were dealing with scattered zombies. Under normal weather conditions, the density of zombies indoors was lower than outdoors, which allowed them to advance towards the basement smoothly.