Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 709 - 334: Shadow Mutation (Part 1)

Chapter 709: Chapter 334: Shadow Mutation (Part 1)

Day 74: With the second group of Auto Turrets destroyed by Little Fight, Lin Ma finally stepped onto Highway 99. Now, they were a mere 250 kilometers away from Left County. Before, 250 kilometers seemed so far, requiring a lot of fuel, but for Lin Ma, who had already traveled thousands of kilometers, 250 kilometers was nothing.

Still, 250 kilometers couldn’t be covered in one jump. After 9 hours of travel, they covered 200 kilometers. Around 9 o’clock at night, after some calculations confirmed they couldn’t reach Shadow, they set up camp by the side of the highway.

One big reason for choosing this spot was the view of North City. The highway was about 20 kilometers away from North City, which was brightly lit and looked stunning at night.

The next morning, North City overturned Lin Ma’s impression of it. It was a rare river city with interlacing waterways. Because of its foundations, the west side of North City was all low-rise buildings, and in this area, boats might be more important than cars.

The southeast of North City was filled with towering skyscrapers, a typical commercial district. The southwest was the industrial new zone. Outside the city to the east was a vast plain wetland, cut into pieces by several rivers. From a distance, the green expanse of the wetlands swayed with the wind, a breathtaking scene bestowed by nature.

Breakfast was still smoked meat, and Lin Ma was almost sick of it, but he had to eat. Both of them grabbed a piece of smoked meat and, facing the rising sun, chewed and swallowed it mechanically, their longing for grains etched deep in their hearts.

They packed up the tent at nine in the morning and continued on their journey. Their conversations were more numerous and lasted longer. Maya had completely relaxed as well.

About 20 kilometers away from Left County, a farm consisting of a few simple buildings appeared by the side of the road. A battle was unfolding on the farm, with a player or NPC wielding a pistol, using the farm’s fences to kite around more than a dozen zombies in circles.

Lin Wu stopped the horses at the roadside and clapped, "Nicely done, he’s about to be finished."

The player didn’t notice the slowly approaching Screamer, which howled for a long time, attracting a nearby Titan. Maya put down her binoculars and said in disbelief, "Shana?"

"Oh? Shana?" Lin Wu said, "We can help." Was it necessary to point out that it was Shana? He considered himself someone with a kind heart.

"Seems like it." Maya handed the binoculars to Lin Wu, who took a look and exclaimed, "Oh no, it’s that unlucky woman! Hurry up!"

Seeing the Titan alarmed, Shana used the act of climbing over the fence in an attempt to shake off the zombies and escape. Just as she turned around, two horses flew past her, so fast she didn’t get a clear look at them, and inexplicably, she felt a poke in her head. When she looked back again, the two horses split and passed on either side of the zombie horde. Maya, leaning to one side, sliced off the head of a zombie with one swing of her knife. Lin Wu was in charge of patting Phantom’s back; with every pat, Phantom would kick and send a zombie flying that got too close.

The frantic Titan arrived, and a five-kilogram rocket hit it in the head at supersonic speed. Not to mention the explosion, just such a heavy piece of metal falling at that speed was enough to execute it on the spot.

Lin Ma dismounted, Lin Wu drew his pistol, and Maya took her knife, and they quickly cleared the remaining zombies. Lin Wu turned around and saw Shana’s pouting face, so he put away the pistol, a smile on his face, arms open wide: "Shana!"

Shana ran over in cooperation, pushed Lin Wu aside with a hug, and embraced Maya for a long time without letting go. Maya seemed to sense Shana’s distress and kept patting her on the back.

Lin Wu on the side said discontentedly, "Hey, is it my turn yet?" Both women kicked him in unison.

Shana released Maya, looking around and said, "I have tons of questions." Apart from Wai, they were all questions.

Maya said, "I think I have questions too." Regaining the Deputy Commander’s tone, calm and serious.

Lin Wu said, "I don’t have questions, I just need a hug."

That line was ignored. The three of them sat down on the grass, Lin Wu offering smoked meat to Shana, hoping she would get the hint to hand over bread or something, but she brushed it off with a ’thank you.’

Maya asked, "This place is quite far from the Doomsday Fortress, why are you here by yourself?" Although it was just two questions, explaining them would cost Shana a kilogram of saliva.

...

The death of Lin Ma led to internal problems within Shadow. Or rather, Lin Ma’s presence before had masked existing issues within.

The outbreak of internal problems had many causes, which Shana explained to the two while eating the smoked meat.

The first issue was the train activities.

Shadow No. had initially made a major mistake; they sold most of their coal in order to buy Divine Artifacts that would delay Blood Mist and black holes. This meant they had to keep the train moving and dig for coal along the way based on clues. When the train stopped, Blood Mist and black holes would begin to spread.

The first person in danger was Dashuang, and as the highest commander, Shana, calm and composed, waited until the last moment to let Dashuang, who was blocked by a mechanism, get on board.

The second in danger was Horse Soul. They had made an impromptu stop to enter a roadside coal mine to dig for coal based on clues provided by a town mayor. Inside the mine were many forks, and most people returned with coal before the set time, but only Little Knife and Snow Egg didn’t appear until five minutes before departure. Shana sent Horse Soul to investigate.

Two minutes later, Little Knife and Snow Egg came back, informing everyone that Horse Soul’s leg got stuck. They came back in a panic, looking for the others to come up with a solution.

Shana immediately led people to one of the forked entrances, and after inspection confirmed that it was impossible to free Horse Soul’s leg before the train departed. Shana’s emotional side surfaced; holding the only machete, she couldn’t bring herself to do it, looking with her eyes for someone willing to act. But those who came with her couldn’t either. Su Shi, Stone, and Starlight stayed on the train; Starlight was organizing the supplies. Seeing that Blood Mist was about to arrive and Shana had not returned, Starlight came to check.