Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 54 - 53 Lichens

Chapter 54: Chapter 53 Lichens

Lin Wu, with his new toy in tow, was anxious to return, hurrying along the way which nearly resulted in Shana crashing the vehicle into a mountain in their potential joint demise. Once back at the base, Lin Wu couldn’t wait to claim the Silencer and headed to the cliff’s edge to aim down at the commercial street. The 6x scope has a normal viewing range of 100 meters, with a system penalty beyond that distance, and it becomes ineffective past 160 meters. The cliff is about 100-120 meters from the commercial street.

Lin Wu sat leaning against a rock. After he aimed the red dot of the scope at a zombie and pulled the trigger, the zombie’s head burst and it fell to the ground. He aimed at the next one, then another... So much fun, infinite ammo is just so much fun, Lin Wu liked this gun.

"What are you doing?" Stone asked, running over in a huff.

"Providing support for the team," Lin Wu replied with a chuckle, "Having such a diligent member like me, don’t you feel extremely honored?"

Stone rolled his eyes and asked, "How much noise does it add?"

In noise calculations, constructing systematic rooms, such as building barracks, will add a huge amount of noise. Apart from defending the city, firing a gun within the base’s safe zone will accumulate noise based on the suppressor’s performance. For example, every shot fired from an Eagle Sand with 10 points of silencing increases noise by about 4%, and every 25 shots the Threat Value increases by one star.

Upon learning that the Silencer only increases the Threat Value by 1% for every six bullets, Stone dropped a remark, "You can only play with it for 3 minutes a day at most."

Shana, having returned to the base, first went to treat her infection on the sickbed. Stone left Lin Wu and called Su Shi to a logistics meeting in the medical room. Stone planned to have the field agents specifically collect trash to stockpile a batch of medical supplies at the base. These could be used internally or for trading.

Taking the painful lesson from Tangtang’s death to heart, Stone deeply understood the principle of making the best use of resources. Under favourable conditions, it’s crucial to exploit the skills of skill players as much as possible. Why not shift the mindset to protecting skill players? Other than Su Shi, no one else wanted to stay at the base for a long time. Even Stone would use the excuse of gathering wood to patrol around the base and kill a few zombies in the process.

Poor newcomer Shana had been busy all day, doing all the dirty and tiring work. Even lying on the sickbed didn’t offer her rest. Luckily, there were not many materials, and the production of medical supplies was quick, soon depleting the base’s basic materials. Just when she thought she could finally rest for a while, Lin Wu took the Silencer to the medical room, "Can you drive?"

"Yes."

Lin Wu could also drive, but his experience was limited, with no more than a thousand kilometers behind the wheel. Lin Wu said, "Let’s set off at seven tonight, we’re going somewhere."

Stone asked casually from the side, "Where to?"

Lin Wu looked at Stone, "A place." He realized he had made a mistake, but wasn’t sure if it really was a mistake, so he decided not to tell Stone just yet. It was like the time he killed Shana, as long as he didn’t tell Stone he had killed a doctor, Stone wouldn’t know he had killed a doctor.

Stone, whose heart wasn’t in the questioning, because where Lin Wu went was more of a concern for Maya, merely needed an answer. Faced with Lin Wu’s evasive response, Stone replied noncommittally, "Oh," as if he knew which place Lin Wu meant.

Seeing Lin Wu leave, Shana curiously asked Stone, "Is it that casual? His answer was so nonchalant."

Stone replied, "My question was equally nonchalant, purely out of politeness and courtesy."

Have you eaten? Yes. Was it good? Not bad. The weather’s really hot, isn’t it? Yeah. Are you tired? A little. Was the exam difficult? Pretty standard. Such conversations themselves aren’t very substantive, but their purpose is to facilitate smooth everyday communication among humans and to prevent awkwardness.

Shana said, "In distributing work, it seems that Maya doesn’t take Lin Wu into account."

Stone replied, "It’s a long story that can’t be summed up in a few words. Maya’s attitude towards Lin Wu is laissez-faire, but not in a derogatory sense. It’s just that Maya feels incapable of assigning work to Lin Wu. You must be very tired, so you should rest first. My trading time is almost here."

Stone went to the warehouse to take a bunch of items, called Lin Wu, who was into guns, and the two waited at the base entrance. Two players drove to the Shadow base. The four of them formed a normal team, checked each other’s backpacks for items, and after reviewing the goods, they began to haggle. Stone took an interest in a Skill Book from the other party: Lichenology. The other party seemed unaware of the significance of lichenology, treating it as junk. Stone casually chatted without revealing his interest and sorted out the materials that the other party was interested in.

The other party was from Invincible Base, which had taken over another medium-sized base in North Town—a car repair shop. Their main goods were low-cost car repair tools, while Stone primarily peddled the finished pharmaceuticals that Shana had just made. The members of Invincible were drooling over the Sawed-off Shotgun, showing a very strong desire to trade.

The Sawed-off Shotgun’s advantage was its high lethality at close range, simple operation, and no need for precise aiming. The disadvantages were also clear: the farther the distance, the lower the lethality and accuracy. In addition, it had other inherent flaws, such as loud noise and being unable to add a scope.

As they were getting along well, Stone invited the two to have tea in the backyard. They toured the Shadow base and were envious of the electric power system. However, the lodging system in the church on the mountaintop was far inferior to their repair shop. In addition, the repair shop base also had an additional feature, allowing for direct vehicle repairs using scrap metal.

Invincible Base had integrated the resources of three bases and had set out at eight o’clock yesterday morning, taking down the repair shop base. Unfortunately, out of the 10 members, 5 had died in the siege battle. After the base construction was completed, their Threat Value exceeded three stars.

The Boss of Invincible, on one hand, personally went to North Town to recruit people, and on the other hand, contacted the Shadow base, sending the Deputy Commander and one member to trade at the Shadow base. Recruiting doctors was their prime target for recruitment, while guns were the focus of the trade.

Hearing this, Stone gave the Wanderer base’s radio frequency to the other party, telling them that there was a doctor who wanted to leave the base. In order to maintain the harmony of the base, the Wanderers also agreed to let the doctor go. However, since the doctor’s combat ability was too low, the Invincible Base needed to cross the tunnel to pick them up.

The other party expressed their gratitude, explaining that they were in dire need of firearms at the moment, especially interested in the handguns from the Shadow base, particularly the Sawed-off Shotgun. In the end, Stone gave up the Sawed-off Shotgun and a small handgun, and in exchange, the other party gave up the Lichenology, two car repair kits, and two fuel packs. However, they did not bring the fuel packs with them, but promised that they would definitely deliver the fuel packs to the Shadow base tomorrow.

...

After seeing the guests off, Lin Wu curiously asked, "Stone, why did you want fuel packs instead of just exchanging them for three more car repair kits?"

Stone answered, "Because they brought car repair kits but didn’t bring fuel packs."

Lin Wu didn’t understand.

Stone explained, "It’s about fostering potential allies. If they can deliver the fuel packs tomorrow, it means that people from Invincible Base are somewhat trustworthy, and in future dealings, we won’t need to be too concerned about small gains and losses. If they break their word, then we’ll have to meticulously calculate every transaction from now on."

Lin Wu asked, "Aren’t you worried about our base not having enough guns?"

Stone looked at Lin Wu, "Because of the issue with bullets, besides the small handguns, other firearms can basically only be used for defending the base. Currently, our base’s Threat Value is under two stars, and I believe we will still be able to acquire firearms shortly. But if we miss out on Lichenology, there won’t be another chance."

Lin Wu asked, "Lichenology?"

"Lichen is a field of botany. Many medicines, including antibiotics, are extracted from lichen plants. If I’m not mistaken, Lichenology is a type of herbalism," Stone said. "Our medical room consumes one medical unit daily. If Lichenology can provide one medical unit, then we won’t have to worry about running out of medical supplies."

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