Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 691 - 326 Rainforest_2

Chapter 691: Chapter 326 Rainforest_2

Lin Wu said, "Rest up well, we still have to strike the tent in the middle of the night." His tone was somewhat dejected.

...

Avoiding the bustling downtown, they turned to penetrate mountains and forest, a bizarre situation only possible in a post-apocalyptic world.

The mountain was a proper mountain, with trees of all sizes, not too dense, allowing for easy passage. The main challenge was the constant uphill and downhill trekking that tired them out, but not the horses. Lin Wu had considered tiring the horses as well until he was thrown to the ground by a tree branch while riding.

Standing at the edge of the mountain, they had a panoramic view of the better part of Fantasy City, but no matter how they looked at it, they could only follow the mountains to the west. During this process, Phantom’s hooves occasionally slipped on the steeper slopes, clearly not as well-suited to the terrain as Sandstorm, the all-terrain enhanced model.

The first night was a miserable camping experience. Even with foresight, countless insects attacked like bombers through the blankets. With high temperatures and humidity, staying close to the fire or inside a sleeping bag was stiflingly hot, and to make matters worse, it started raining in the late night.

The second day brought overcast skies and exceedingly muddy paths where even stepping on leaves could cause a slip. The forest today was denser, not only preventing horseback riding but also requiring them to lead the horses through the trees. Maya gave Lin Wu some bad news, from ten in the morning the previous day to ten this morning, they had only covered 18 kilometers while camping.

In the afternoon before setting up camp, they faced a choice: take the high mountain range route or the lower jungle route? They could either climb the mountains, advancing along the ridges with the risk of facing cliffs impossible for humans to scale, or they could traverse the dense forests at the foot of the mountains, which should not have impassable sections but would be extremely difficult to navigate.

Their camping spot was next to a small stream, the only open area nearby, formed by the impact of flash floods during the rainy season. Lin Ma didn’t know if it was the local rainy season or not, but there were no better options—they just had to adapt as needed.

Lying amidst the rocks of the small stream, Lin Wu felt blissfully refreshed. In the past two days, aside from the insects, their greatest challenge had been the humidity. With humidity levels exceeding 85%, their body heat couldn’t be expelled through sweat, forcing them to constantly drink water since the high core body temperature left them feeling uncomfortable all around.

This journey had indeed been a trial of all sorts. The worst part was that it wasn’t over, as they had only covered 20 kilometers of the 100-kilometer journey.

Maya stepped in the creek, enjoying a momentary coolness, and said, "The forest ahead is even denser, we need to make a batch of stone knives. Starting from tomorrow, I’ll use a stone knife to clear a path."

Lin Wu picked up a pebble, "We’ve got the stones."

Maya said, "Our food reserves are running low."

Lin Wu picked up a small fish, "And now we have meat."

There was a murderous air! Lin Wu sat up, tossing the fish to one side, "We’ll stay here for two days to hunt."

Maya looked up at the mountains where rain clouds hung above, "I’m worried about the possibility of flash floods, we can stay at most one more day."

"You work on the smokehouse; I’ll take care of the hunting. Help me up," Lin Wu extended his hand and, with Maya’s assistance, stood up. He snapped his fingers at Wai, who was playing on the riverbank, "Time to work, all you ever do is play."

...

With the diligent Hunting Dog and high attributes assistance, it took Lin Wu less than an hour to return with the meat of three wild boars, a total of 40 kilograms. Taking advantage of the freshness, Lin Wu arranged for roasted meat and a wild vegetable meat soup, also boiling a pot of rice and bringing out the pickles previously made in the kitchen.

Rice mixed with chopped pickles, along with roasted meat and the rich-flavored soup, made them forget the hardships of the past few days. The campsite’s proximity to the stream and the open space around it brought cool breezes now and then; combined with the good food, it felt no different from a vacation.

After a satisfying meal, Maya got busy smoking meat, while Lin Wu played with Little White Rabbit by the creek. As the sun neared the western hills and the mosquito army was about to deploy, the tent was set up. Lin Wu couldn’t help but sigh: What a wonderful day.

A tent base was far superior in warding off insects compared to a standard base, where only the interior buildings were safe from insect harassment. Inside the tent base, they were completely immune to insects.

As daylight dimmed, Maya, who had been busy all afternoon, also sat down to enjoy a well-deserved dinner. Although there were no candles or champagne, the red glow of the setting sun and the cool creek water created quite a pleasant dinner atmosphere.

Thinking of staying one more day, Lin Wu contentedly returned to his quarters and fell asleep before long. Not knowing how long he slept, he was awakened by Maya, who had burst into his quarters.

"Hmm?"

"Water levels are rising, dismantle the tent immediately."

Lin Wu said weakly, "Our tents are set up on high ground."

"Now!"

Lin Wu walked out of his tent, feeling extremely annoyed, only to be greeted by a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Wow, the dorms really have good sound insulation. No, that’s not what I should be thinking about right now. With the help of a candle provided by the tent system and a flashlight he got from Lin Meng, Lin Wu saw the rising water levels, fifteen meters from his tent and two meters high.

Maya was already drenched by the rain, trying to cover the smoking shelter with large leaves, hoping to keep the meat smoking for a bit longer. Lin Wu went over to help, "Is it necessary to dismantle the tent?"

"Yes!"

Lin Wu said, "Can’t be that coincidental."

Maya replied, "Since when did you start believing in probability? And in a situation set by Dawn, no less."

With that, Lin Wu’s heart dropped by half. Oh right, Dawn.

Maya said, "Scientifically speaking, there have been signs already; it’s been raining continuously in the direction of the mountains since noon. How are the tents? If they get submerged or destroyed by a mudslide within the next six hours, how do we calculate the loss?"

"I don’t know," Lin Wu said. "I’ll ask."

After summoning Little White Rabbit and asking a series of questions, Lin Wu understood the situation. The tent base had a durability level that wouldn’t fall as long as the durability wasn’t zero, with the total durability being the sum of the durability levels of all facilities. For instance, if the total durability was 100 and decreased to 80 due to a zombie siege or other reasons, the lost 20 points of durability would be distributed evenly among all facilities. Facilities could be repaired to restore durability.

Being soaked at the bottom wasn’t a big issue. Of course, setting up in the middle of a river wouldn’t work due to the impact and pressure of the water flow causing damage to the tent’s durability. Once the durability reached zero, it would be the same as the base being destroyed, and the tent would cease to exist.

Looking towards the mountains, Maya said, "So the only thing we need to consider is the mudslide."

Lin Wu shrugged, "Perhaps also lightning."

As if on cue, lightning struck a tree more than twenty meters away, which fell over and lay across the creek. Maya looked at Lin Wu in astonishment, and upon seeing his equally shocked face about to speak, she said, "You, shut up, go back to the tent, and don’t talk."

"Okay." Lin Wu returned to his tent.

The tent was in the process of being dismantled, and during this time, all the tent base facilities were unusable, including the dormitory. Of course, you could still sleep in the hall. The size of the tent hadn’t changed until the process was completed. Once you started dismantling the tent, it couldn’t be interrupted; the first thing to be removed was the carpet on the ground, leaving the original moss, mud, and stone flooring. Furthermore, the tent lost its ability to keep out bugs.

The one humane feature was that the campfire remained. Lin Wu stood beside the campfire, getting as close to it as possible, since even the insects knew this was the best place to avoid the rain. Luckily, this was a forest with plenty of wood; chopping down a couple of trees could keep a fire burning all night. After adding fuel, the fire’s glow rose, keeping the darkness and mosquitoes five meters away.

"Lin Wu." Maya entered the tent.

"Here I am."

Maya said, "The creek water has turned muddy. First, tie the horses up high on the slope." If the tent couldn’t be saved, at least the two horses had to be secured.

"Alright." Lin Wu left the tent, his clothes instantly soaked by the rain after just having been dried by the fire, making him extremely uncomfortable. He led the two horses uphill into the woods and tied them to a tree. He was the only one who could do this, as Sandstorm recognised him, but Phantom didn’t recognise Maya.

So, being trusted was such a painful thing.

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