Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 70 - 69 Nightmare

Chapter 70: Chapter 69 Nightmare

Lin Wu dragged two 30-centimeter-tall cabinets from rooms 202 and 203 to block both sides, so wandering zombies would trip over them, and he could step forward to finish them off. The obstacles couldn’t be too high; if zombies couldn’t climb over them, they would desperately beat against them, not only making noise but also damaging the barrier. System barriers could be repaired, but non-system barriers lacked such functionality.

Something seemed off, though, as this meant he would have to guard for at least five hours. Boredom truly rendered humans exceptionally foolish. After entering the inner room and explaining the situation to Shana, Lin Wu dismantled the setup. Base 01 was declared closed, and Base 02 was established. Base 02 was located in room 203 with an escape tunnel.

The owner of room 203 was a burly man who, from the information left at the scene, seemed to be a single scull rowing enthusiast. His room was even more empty than 202, lacking even a copy of this novel. However, with the escape tunnel, Lin Wu felt at ease as he lay on the couch reading.

...

Perhaps because of the safety zone, or maybe the zombies hadn’t found the door, or possibly because zombies completely relied on their poor vision and hearing to locate humans. The night was much quieter than anticipated. Shana and Lin Wu had completely recovered their condition. But for exiting two bases within 24 hours, they received a penalty of 10% reduction plus an additional 10% for the period, effectively weakening their attributes by 20%.

By six in the morning, it was already light outside. Lin Wu explained the escape tunnel to Shana, who, well aware of Lin Wu’s decisiveness, spoke up before Lin Wu could put forward his idea of retreating through the escape tunnel, "You are very clever, not only thinking about the escape tunnel but also the rooftop escape plan you made last night was very good."

Shana further explained, "The widest distance between the two buildings is only three meters. Walking on the ground, it’s very difficult to know whether we’ll encounter zombies around the corner, and we could easily get surrounded. Considering the dense zombie population within the community, once surrounded, it would be hard to break free. The apartments are roughly the same height, which makes the rooftops as flat as a plain; we can see farther without any obstructions for Crossbow Arrow and Silencer."

Shana knew that Lin Wu wanted to choose the escape tunnel, and if she let Lin Wu share his thoughts first then contradicted him, Lin Wu would have a much harder time accepting it. Even if she persuaded Lin Wu, he would somewhat resent it internally, as he saw Shana as a rookie underling. Indeed, after several conversations, Shana had come to understand Lin Wu’s character quite well. He was someone responsible, yet simultaneously resistant to taking on responsibility.

For example, if Lin Wu were a father, he would dutifully fulfill the father’s role, but he would initially refuse to take on fatherhood. When faced with a crisis, Lin Wu psychologically accepted the responsibility to protect Shana, so he demanded control for himself. If Shana objected to his methods, it would be equivalent to shaking Lin Wu’s sense of control and responsibility, and he might step back, reducing his responsibility, and handing control over to Shana.

Quite reasonable, Lin Wu nodded, "Of course my plan has no problems, are you ready?"

"Ready."

"Let’s go."

After dealing with a few zombies at the door, the two of them proceeded like special forces operatives, guns and crossbows at the ready, moving forward carefully step by step up the stairs. Shana still had plenty of arrows, taking the lead as the main shooter, with Lin Wu providing cover. Fortunately, there were only two or three zombies per staircase, and with their decent shooting skills, they successfully reached the rooftop.

Standing on the rooftop with unobstructed views, they could see the hundred-meter-high signal tower at a glance. Lin Wu removed his silencer and, together with Shana, eliminated the zombies on the opposite side. After clearing the zombies, the two of them sprinted back and jumped over the three-meter gap, landing firmly on the other side. Three meters was not a problem for the players; the world record for the triple jump was over 18 meters. The standing long jump record was also over 3.4 meters.

"Frenzy," Lin Wu pointed to the rooftop of the adjacent building, "Let’s circle around."

The two jumped onto the side building, creeping along the edge. The Frenzy was flipping and jumping about ten meters away, having the time of its life, completely oblivious to the two players.

When they were nearing the county landmark, a screeching zombie’s howl came from the far distance behind them. The two exchanged glances and walked to the edge of the rooftop to check. They didn’t see a horde of zombies, but they spotted a person. This person, dressed in black, was nimbly moving from ledge to ledge, grasping the external unit of an air conditioner on the second floor, and standing atop it. With a leap, he reached the neighboring building, grabbed the third floor air conditioner unit, and by using such maneuvers, he successfully climbed onto the rooftop. Then he took out a whistle and blew it, drawing all the nearby zombies toward the building.

The man stretched and limbered up leisurely, performing a backflip on the spot. As the horde of zombies rushed up to the rooftop, he easily jumped to an adjacent building’s rooftop. By now, he had finally entered the range of Lin Wu’s six-times scope. Using the "Silencer" with the six-times scope and display, Lin Wu saw the man’s name: "Nightmare." Removing the display, Lin Wu began to take aim. Enemies cross paths in narrow lanes indeed!

But Nightmare was seen clutching the edge of the rooftop, flipping over, swinging inwards, then releasing his grip, embracing a downpipe and swiftly sliding down to the ground. Moving about ten meters, Nightmare blew his whistle again, using the air-conditioning unit to climb another building’s rooftop. Blowing the whistle once more, he directed all the zombies in the unit to his own apartment building. Then he flipped out from the rooftop and slid down the water pipe.

Shana glanced at Lin Wu lying prone beside her: "Why didn’t you shoot?" She believed that Lin Wu had a chance to hit Nightmare as he flipped out, and Nightmare might have ended up falling to his death.

Lin Wu looked back at Shana: "Why do you think I would shoot? Let’s go."

Lin Wu stood up, and seeing Shana still somewhat puzzled, said: "When people follow us, whatever the purpose, we need to kill them to protect ourselves and our companions. Our issue with Nightmare is only a matter of verbal dispute... Oh!"

It was unclear why Nightmare kept provoking the zombies. As he continued to jump from air conditioner to air conditioner, a Frenzy hustled down the corridor, smashed through a window, and collided with Nightmare standing on the external unit. The Frenzy and Nightmare fell together from the fourth floor into the midst of the zombies. In less than three seconds, a white light rose, the horde scattered, leaving behind a broken body.

"Haha, what goes around comes around," Lin Wu said as he turned to Shana to explain: "It’s still okay to take joy in someone’s misfortune."

Shana, pressing her forehead: "Juvenile Ghost."

Shana pointed to a white light to the side, another white light, and yet another white light: "Is he protecting a teammate?"

Lin Wu said: "It seems to be a base trying to establish itself in the county."

Shana: "It’s too early. With the current strength of the players, it’s not enough to survive in such vast numbers of zombie hordes. Not to mention scavenging, even just going out normally would greatly reduce efficiency and significantly increase danger. Even if a medium-sized base is occupied, the risk of going out remains very high."

Lin Wu said: "I think the bigger bases won’t have the kind of terrain like the mountain-top church does." The mountain-top church is surrounded by cliffs on all sides, with only one road leading to it, and zombies rarely wander into the safe area.

"Let’s go."

"Okay."