Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 648 - 310 Ambush_2

Chapter 648: Chapter 310 Ambush_2

Maya asked, "Can you handle it?"

I hate this person! Of course, I can handle it, otherwise it wouldn’t be a question, but rather a prompt for Maya to make an immediate choice. The cost of handling it was exhausting oneself to death, and Lin Wu was very clear that exhausting oneself to death would definitely not be a reason for disassembling the carriage.

Hong Yi said, "I’ll cook sticky rice for everyone as a late-night snack."

Lin Wu questioned, "This is the first time I’ve heard of this meat and rice thing."

"Sticky rice, always thinking about meat, meat, meat," Hong Yi replied, then suggested, "How about rice with meat filling?"

Qinglang said, "We could just skip the ’rice with’ part."

"Exactly," Lin Wu agreed.

"Don’t eat," Hong Yi said resignedly. "There’s a lot of lamb. I’ll roast some lamb instead."

"Okay," everyone agreed.

Maya said, "Don’t idle away on the channel with chitchat, Qinglang, full speed." Maya’s previous command had been drowned out by several foodies, which is a downside of traditional walkie-talkies. When two people talk at the same time, both communications are invalidated. Therefore, when using these walkie-talkies, people often repeat themselves and end with a closing statement. For example, "Lightning, lightning, I want to become immortal, I want to become immortal, over."

Due to this episode, a meteorite fell three meters behind the carriage, startling everyone into a cold sweat. Although being hit would mean entering a defensive battle, the formidable descent of the meteorite was truly alarming. For the rest of the night, nobody used the channel for idle talk anymore.

"Even dogs aren’t this tired," Lin Wu complained to Maya after running to the flatbed carriage and then began repairing it.

Maya, turning a deaf ear, asked, "How much material do we have left?"

"480! Materials aren’t the issue, the task for repairing 20% durability only needs one material," Lin Wu replied. "Dawn doesn’t want the carriage, it wants my life."

"Oh!" Maya spoke into the walkie-talkie, "Speed 100!"

Qinglang responded, "Speed 100, received."

Ugh, that damn woman, as Lin Wu walked away, Maya called out to him, "Lin Wu."

"Hmm?" Lin Wu turned around, could she be concerned about me? But how should I respond to appear casual yet unfathomable?

Maya said, "I don’t want to see any carriages destroyed before you drop dead from exhaustion."

"What a childish thing to say!" Lin Wu left after tossing back that remark.

Another statement from Maya came through the walkie-talkie, "Lin Wu, pace yourself. If you can’t keep up, consider abandoning the flatbed carriage."

"Ha, as if I can’t keep up?"

When one is busy, time flies. Lin Wu scrambled through carriage after carriage, grabbing a piece of lamb whenever he passed the dormitory carriage. Dawn seemed to find this too dull and, for a while, the barrage of meteorites and pebbles ceased, bringing a sudden calm to the heavens and earth. Lin Wu, with a large piece of lamb in hand, handed it over to Maya at the flatbed carriage.

Maya took the lamb and, staring into the dark sky, muttered, "Damn Dawn."

What could drive a loyal guard to turn? It was Dawn, the damned Dawn.

Maya continued, "It’s playing a game of intermittence. Just when you think you can relax because it’s a break, it suddenly starts to attack. When you’re on guard for its attacks, it stops, forcing you to keep your eyes on the sky, unable to relax for even a moment."

Lin Wu said, "Maybe it’s just being kind, letting us rest for a bit?"

Maya gave Lin Wu a strange look, which left Lin Wu baffled, "What do you mean? What’s with that look?"

"I support something, and you’re against it. I’m against something, and you support it. You’re just being contrary, right?" Maya said. "If I say something good about Dawn, you’ll find something bad to say. If I bitch about Dawn, you turn around and make excuses for them."

Maya concluded, "You’re totally going through a rebellious phase."

"The only one in a rebellious phase is you, your whole family is in a rebellious phase." You can call me childish, but you can’t call me rebellious. Lin Wu snatched the lamb from Maya’s hands and shoved it into his mouth with a "Humph!" before stalking off to fix the carriage.

Later, Hong Yi called everyone for a late-night snack, and Maya waited another five minutes before heading to the sleeper carriage. Just as she sat down, ready to reach for the delicious roasted lamb, Qinglang, who was standing watch at the front of the train, shouted, "They’re coming."

The meteor shower lasted a few minutes before stopping, and Hong Yi carried the lamb to the flatbed carriage. Just as Maya was about to dig in, the meteors came again. Lin Wu on the other hand was different; despite being continuously busy with repairs, he only fixed carriages with 50% damage, so he had plenty of time on his hands. He kept passing by and grabbing a piece of meat from the grill, the delicious food fueling his drive to work.

Maya had a strong will, but not strong enough to resist the mischievous instigation of others. Lin Wu, while repairing the flatbed, dropped a bombshell: "Dawn hates me, but they hate you even more."

After a night of hard work, Maya truly felt she was being targeted by Dawn.

Until 8 o’clock on the sixth morning when the cursed mission finally ended, Maya couldn’t rest, for Nightmare had already informed her there would be an attack today.

Lin Wu said, "We still have stuff to do the day after tomorrow, we have to survive the Day After Tomorrow."

So, after breakfast, the train set off on its cruise control, with Hong Yi in charge of screaming in case of trouble, while the rest went off to rest.

The inconsequential guide’s announcement informed them that they would arrive at Empty Nest Town around nine in the morning. There wasn’t a soul in the town, not one zombie, but Hong Yi observed and concluded there were suspicious creatures playing hide-and-seek with her. The shortest stop time at this station was five minutes, with a maximum of four hours. Reward: Points for scavenging treasures.

This was usually Hong Yi and Qinglang’s favorite segment, but Hong Yi didn’t wake everyone up. Even in the secure areas of the train station and town where they wouldn’t be attacked by agents, she just disembarked for a stroll. It wasn’t long before she spotted two players who deliberately appeared before her. Clearly, both were Fortress agents, trying to lure her into pursuing them.

Hong Yi wasn’t fooled, so the two players went near the station and, hiding behind cover, started hurling insults. From stature to facial features, from erudition to personality, they viciously disparaged Hong Yi. As a former water police officer, Hong Yi knew well the rhetoric and psychology of trolls from her police academy days, and no matter what they said, she remained unshakably calm.

Her indifference successfully infuriated them, which was exactly Hong Yi’s counterattack strategy. In a fit of anger, one of the trolls forgot the risks and stepped out from behind cover, cursively pointing at Hong Yi, only to be shot down. Hong Yi ran over to finish the job, but the other, committing suicide first, left her with only a revolver and a map.

The map showed a very regular, somewhat strange area, looking as if a cake had been evenly cut into four pieces. A railroad ran north to south, while an east to west highway crossed it, with offshoots winding around the back of each "cake piece" and climbing the slopes up to the mountain tops.

Maya was roused from sleep and surveyed the map for a while before saying, "This is an ambush circle. If the train stops in the center, they’ll attack from all four mountaintops. With a distance of 30-50 meters, they can—and probably will—use repeater guns."

"How do we get the train to stop here?" asked Hong Yi.

"They’re running their own missions," Maya responded. "From high ground, they can blind fire and damage the carriages. With some luck, they might even snipe Sasha or us. Our view is obstructed, making it hard to retaliate. And we can’t leave the carriage; if we do, we’ll be sitting ducks. Close enough for visibility, if we get trapped, our chances of turning the tables are slim."

"No," Hong Yi said, "I mean we have three routes to choose from, how do they know we’ll take this one?"

"I’m afraid this time we only have one way to go," Maya pointed at the map. "We need to stop early and take the initiative to clear the two southern mountaintops. That’s the only way." We absolutely can’t let the train stop at the crossroads. Stop early and attack the mountaintops via the gentle slopes. This plan also carries risks, and we have to leave someone on the train to prevent hidden assassins from sneaking in and killing Sasha."

With limited manpower, what’s the plan? Lin Wu had to join the fight, and so did she; without them, they wouldn’t even stand a chance. Her attributes weren’t high, she had no special skills, and she needed Qinglang and herself to attack the right slope together, while Lin Wu tackled the left slope alone. Hong Yi would have to hold the fort inside the train. If all went well, they stood a chance.

Maya asked, "Hong Yi, do they know you got your hands on the map?"

"Not quite certain," replied Hong Yi. "The other one ran off; I think he probably doesn’t know."

"We need to set out immediately," Maya declared, "aiming to enter this terrain within two hours." Once the enemy revived and learned their map had been snatched, they’d face too many variables. For now, they could only respond in kind, catching the opposition off guard.

"Understood!"