Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 55 - 54: Night Exploration

Chapter 55: Chapter 54: Night Exploration

At six in the evening, under the afterglow of the setting sun, Bai Ban finished work and headed home. Stone solemnly introduced the new member, Shana, to everyone in the backyard, and all members welcomed her warmly. Having seen Shana abused by Lin Wu during the day, they involuntarily shaped an image of her in their minds as a fragile and delicate sister who was exploited and oppressed.

Shana had strong social skills, and she scored points during her self-introduction and casual conversation, which increased everyone’s goodwill toward her, making it easy for them to accept the new member.

After introducing Shana, Stone took out a Skill Book on Lichenology and explained his views. Excluding Su Shi, who awaited a craftsman skill, Lin Wu the Hunter awaiting his own Skill Book, Maya waiting for the squad command Skill Book, and Shana with her chemistry, that left Snow Egg, Horse Soul, Little Knife, and Stone.

From Stone’s description, Lichenology seemed to be a purely collective skill, slightly less beneficial compared to the Hunter’s skill which offered both individual and collective benefits. However, Snow Egg and the other two expressed their willingness to learn it. After confirming everyone’s eagerness to learn, the decision of who would study it was left to Maya.

Maya said, "This is a long-term pure base enhancement skill. In my view, the learner should not undertake high-risk tasks on a daily basis. Lichenology includes at least harvesting medicinal herbs to even food, which means to maximize Lichenology’s benefits, the learner will need to frequently venture outside. I would have been the most suitable candidate." Crossbow Arrow Maya had a strong tactical awareness and remained calm in facing issues. Her steady personality and knowledge of combat data were her greatest safety guarantees.

Maya said, "For the collective benefit, I need a squad command Skill Book more. Considering the above, the next suitable learners are Little Knife and Stone, and I recommend Little Knife."

Horse Soul turned to ask Snow Egg, "What does this mean?"

Snow Egg translated, "It means Little Knife is less likely to encounter danger than us, making her the most suitable among the less suitable ones."

Horse Soul nodded and asked, "What do you want to learn?"

Snow Egg, "A skill with combat benefits. How about you?"

Horse Soul replied, "Cooking."

Snow Egg, "Doesn’t that get boring?" Horse Soul’s profession in Blue Star was a chef.

Horse Soul, "Different from you, I studied cooking because I love it."

Snow Egg, "Hmph!"

Horse Soul, "Reverse hmph."

Snow Egg, "Rebound."

Everyone gave the two Juvenile Ghosts a salute of attention, which finally put an end to their back-and-forth antics.

Lin Wu didn’t understand why the two went from being at odds to friends, and Curious Baby had no curiosity about such matters.

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Little Knife immediately began learning Lichenology on the spot, and the general situation was roughly as Stone and Maya had speculated. Lichenology: Adds 1 unit of medical supplies to the base each day. In the wild, one can discover medicinal herbs, which can be processed into medicine at the base or converted into several units of medical supplies.

What Stone and Maya hadn’t anticipated about Lichenology was an additional personal skill: Basic Poison Resistance. Poison resistance increased by 20%. The skill might be somewhat insignificant, but as a bonus personal ability, it was better than nothing.

After the meeting, Lin Wu applied for supplies, and Stone agreed without even looking. Maya didn’t ask Lin Wu and Shana where they were headed, just told them to be careful. With Shana around, Maya was relatively at ease because if someone had to die, it would likely be Shana. Shana had already exhausted the base’s supplies, having been squeezed for maximal value. Because she wasn’t well-acquainted with everyone else, her death wouldn’t leave too much regret for the base.

Of course, Maya didn’t wish for Shana’s death. But if forced to choose, Maya would rather Lin Wu survived. If she had to pick a time for Shana to die, Maya hoped it would be before eight o’clock tomorrow morning, as it would save the base one food ration.

...

The place Lin Wu wanted to go was the Sentry Card. Yesterday morning, when the Shadow base attempted to take over the substation, Lin Wu had drawn away the zombies from Sentry Card to clear the road. Wandering idly around the tent area, Lin Wu discovered five Night Demons and killed all five that were hiding inside a container, using the sunlight’s reflection.

This afternoon, while playing with guns, Lin Wu suddenly remembered this incident. The zombies from Sentry Card would return to the containers after sunset, and at that time, there would only be five Night Demons active in the tent area. If someone blundered into the tent area last night, they could potentially have looted it completely.

Lin Wu hadn’t reported this to Maya or Stone; if a mistake had indeed been made, Lin Wu preferred they not know about it. It wasn’t for fear of their blame, but rather fear of them keeping it to themselves, bottling up their words. The good news was, the squad led by a man named Brother Cheng would probably have no chance of survival.

As Lin Wu was still unsure whether the Night Demons would respawn, he had Shana park the car 20 meters away from the sentry. Under the streetlight, a lone soldier zombie was respawned. Lin Wu took it out, pried open the iron gate, and entered the tent area. With a flashlight in one hand, Lin Wu searched the containers for Night Demons. He wasn’t too worried about being ambushed, thanks to the light. After waiting a few minutes and taking another run around the road, Lin Wu found no abnormalities, except that the zombies in the containers were packed tight like sardines in a tin, in disarray, seemingly asleep.

Lin Wu slipped out the small iron gate and saw Shana with her hands crossed in front of her chest, leaning back on the car hood. Seeing Lin Wu emerge, she watched him and ran a hand over the hood. Lin Wu should have felt guilty for a few seconds, since the car was familiar to Shana. But by now, after a day’s interaction, Lin Wu felt that Shana no longer harbored any suspicions. Lin Wu gestured, and Shana walked to the iron gate, crouching beside him as they entered the tent area with stealth.

The game manual explained that stealth was simply moving while crouching, reducing the chance of zombies noticing you. According to Maya’s practical experiences, this reduced the chances by 10%, making it a relatively insignificant system action. Lin Wu felt that whether it was insignificant or not wasn’t important, the key was that sneaking around at night like this was interesting. Walking upright would scare you if a zombie suddenly appeared, but sneaking might surprise the zombie that suddenly appeared.

In plain language: It can effectively prevent being so scared by a suddenly appearing zombie that you go weak in the knees.

Although it was a sunny day, the light in the tent area was extremely poor, the only brightness coming from Lin Wu’s flashlight. Shana held onto Lin Wu’s clothes and took a while to adjust to the darkness as they walked.

The two entered a tent, and Lin Wu used his flashlight to scan the entirety of it. It was a tent with its own generator. With healthy skepticism, Lin Wu inspected the generator and, of course, found it damaged. Haha, Dawn! Although the generator was broken, however, this tent was a world of gasoline. They found two gasoline bags and five barrels of gasoline, all in plain sight, no deep searching required.

They brought this batch of supplies to the car first. Shana pulled Lin Wu to wait, took out a glass bottle from her backpack, the mouth tied with a string, and hung one end of the string on the rear of the car, placing the bottle near the iron gate and pressing it down with a rock. If the car started, the glass would shatter, and they would hear the noise inside the tent area.

After setting up, Shana looked seriously into Lin Wu’s eyes and said, "To prevent someone from stealing the car." Under normal circumstances, the sound of shattering glass and the engine starting would be similar. Shana’s special trap was to prevent someone from pushing the car away before stealing it.

"Very smart, it can prevent others from pushing the car," Lin Wu waved his hand, "Let’s go."

Shana was sure Lin Wu wasn’t foolish, so why had he acted a bit foolish today? There was only one explanation: Lin Wu’s brain cells were mostly occupied with things he wanted to think about and liked to think about. For example, in the Hun Dan incident, Lin Wu showed no curiosity about the reasons or processes for their reconciliation.

In plain language: In Lin Wu’s view, Shana was no different from any passerby; he didn’t care for Shana’s thoughts. On the flip side, he paid attention to Little Knife, he would cheer up a distressed Little Knife. But that was just a general concern, Lin Wu treated Little Knife as a regular friend.

Lin Wu possessed a strong characteristic: he would filter out people and things he wasn’t concerned, curious, or cared about.