Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 668 - 317 On the Road_3

Chapter 668: Chapter 317 On the Road_3

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The situation was a bit worse than they had imagined, as they entered the desert on the first day where there was nothing but wind and sand. Maya suffered heatstroke by the afternoon, and with two horses, two people, and a dog, they took refuge behind a sand dune to avoid direct sunlight, only continuing their journey when night fell. By then, the water they brought was already gone.

By nine o’clock the next morning, the endless desert was still all they could see. Lin Ma found shelter from the scorching sun in an area of wind-eroded rocks and set up a tent, partly to rest and partly because the horses needed to feed. They had yet to find any building materials or trees that could be converted into building materials.

However, the tent campsite was more grand and beautiful than Lin Ma had imagined. It took two basic time units to set up the tent, and instantly, grass appeared on the sandy ground, with a large, round tent in the center of a circle of grass.

Inside the tent, the ground was covered with heat-insulating plastic. In the center, a red carpet was laid out, and in its middle was a hole that held a System bonfire. There were seven empty storage spaces surrounding the tent, all of which were vacant.

Using their backpacks as pillows, they lay on the carpet, overwhelmed by fatigue and an increasingly intense thirst. Maya said with her eyes closed, "We must find a water source before sunset tomorrow."

"I didn’t expect Dawn to set up a milestone trap for us," Lin Wu said. "But it’s not exactly a trap either. Both the milestones from Technology City Left County and those from Future City Left County suggest that the players’ next part of the journey will be desolate."

"Don’t talk, conserve your physical strength, and rest!"

At three in the afternoon, Lin Wu woke up with a bitter taste in his mouth. When he breathed into his palm, he could smell his own bad breath, and his obsession with water grew stronger. Maya and the backpacks were gone. Lin Wu stepped out of the tent to see the horses still grazing, and Maya stood hundreds of meters away among the rocks, surveying the surroundings with a telescope.

Lin Wu called out through the headset, and Maya responded, "Release the drone."

Lin Wu had named the all-in-one drone for checking and hitting Little Fight. Though called "little," its size was about ten times larger than the smaller surveillance drones, weighing a hefty 18 kilograms. With two 5-kilogram rockets attached, it weighed a total of 28 kilograms. Aside from guns and knives, Lin Wu’s backpack was empty. Still, carrying only the drone and tent exceeded Lin Wu’s standard carrying capacity.

Unlike the smaller scouts, deploying Little Fight was cumbersome in all three possible methods.

The first method involved constructing a 35-degree launch rack, which could be made in the workshop and weighed two kilograms. Another method was to run with the drone at a speed of 30 kilometers per hour until it could be lifted into the air. The third method was to push the drone out from a height of more than ten meters.

Lin Wu used the second method to get the drone airborne. As the propellers whirred, the hefty unit made quite a racket as it took off into the sky. Despite its many shortcomings, its flight speed was several times faster than the smaller scouts. Maya said this was because it was a fixed-wing aircraft, which generally had one disadvantage: it could not hover.

Fortunately, Lin Wu had a hacker’s computer, which could be set to various modes, such as area cruising, follow cruising, and target searching, among others.

Lin Wu reported, "About 15 kilometers to the west, there seems to be a hint of green." The road headed southeast.

"A hint?"

Lin Wu replied, "A hint." One reason was the distance; another was that the intense heat caused air fluctuations, making it hard to discern the exact situation. It might be a mirage or just the shadow of rocks.

Maya ordered, "Pack up the tent. Keep moving along the road, and release the drone every two hours."

Lin Wu affirmed, "Understood." He admired Maya’s character; even in such dire straits, her fighting spirit was undiminished.

If Yama decreed he was to die at the third watch, Lin Wu would slash his own throat at the second, determined not to let Yama have his way. And Maya would choose to fight to the death with Yama at the third watch, never giving up even without a chance of winning.