Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 729 - 342: The Old Days

Chapter 729: Chapter 342: The Old Days

"Should be dead," Maya stood up, making herself a target, ready to dodge at any moment. If she couldn’t evade the first bullet, she could still dodge the second.

Shana maintained vigilance and said, "Is it possible that the fortress issued a mission to its agents? In the eyes of the NPCs, we are neutral, and they have no reason to attack us directly, but they can assign dirty work to fortress agents. The resources of a non-Hardcore Mode town, in exchange for being hunted by fortress agents, sounds fair."

Maya said, "The top priority now is to restore the power supply. With Lin Wu’s drones, we can effectively avoid being ambushed." She wasn’t afraid of the enemy breaching the base because an alarm would sound as soon as they entered the safe zone. However, with so many buildings across the street, she was concerned about becoming the target of a sniper. But the terrain was favorable for Shadow — the area was filled with zombies, and the fortress agents could only make it to the rooftops, where, with the help of the drones, they could be easily spotted.

The more she thought about it, the more tasks she seemed to have. But don’t think Maya was tired or sighing over this; in fact, she relished these challenges. As long as she hadn’t lost all her chips and wasn’t cornered, she would do her utmost to steer things in a favorable direction. It was at the signpost of Fantasy City Route 77 that she felt mentally exhausted for the first and only time.

For Maya, losing Dashuang and Cotton affected her as the loss of two manpower resources. The remaining members were different; none could be replaced by another. Still, Maya was relatively optimistic about the situation. Shadow’s strength wasn’t fundamentally compromised. She had already considered the factors involving Snow Egg and Starlight — her concern wasn’t whether these people would cause infighting within Shadow, but gasoline.

Shadow had nearly burned through all of its gasoline, and with Dashuang, the oil producer, gone, they could only rely on scavenging to stock up for the trip to Left County. Judging by her and Shana’s haul from that morning, gasoline didn’t seem to be a problem; it was just that she didn’t want to waste it unnecessarily.

Therefore, although Maya had many things to do, lacked many things, and time was short, everything was still under control and moving in a positive direction.

As Stone had appraised Maya’s hormone levels: as long as Maya had faith and confidence, Shana wouldn’t despair. If the emotional Shana didn’t despair, then no one else would. Lin Wu, heartless and carefree with a tent in hand, could make any place his home. Stone and Su Shi had planned to live in seclusion, just getting by until death.

The trouble came from fortress agents, which resulted in Maya leaving Shana at the base’s sentry post to monitor the highway bridge in the following time. Being on duty alone made her more cautious and careful; naturally, her efficiency took a hit.

...

At eight o’clock in the evening, the pickup truck, sporting a new license plate, brought Double Ma and three others back to the Shadow base.

Maya announced dinner time; tonight’s meal consisted of fried chicken and beer. Without wasting time, she ate while discussing the day’s events, noting they needed someone on 24-hour watch at the highway bridge. As manpower was low, Stone would have to put in some hard work, which Stone claimed was no big deal.

Maya continued, "Lin Wu, I’ve picked out your tent sites; there are two good options. The first is to build on the edge of the safe zone to the west of the base, near the food street on that open ground. We connect both bases’ safe zones and disable the road surveillance in between, turning half of the top left road into a safe zone."

Maya said, "The second option is to build at the museum opposite us. I’ve checked the terrain — the museum has two floors, about seven meters each, with stairs leading straight to the rooftop, which is suitable for running. One location is on the museum’s first floor, and the other is on the museum’s rooftop."

Lin Wu, with his Full Power Value decision-making ability, never knew what hesitation was, and immediately responded, "Choose the first one. The second option would require clearing out the museum, and I don’t think we have the time for that right now."

Maya said, "Okay, we’ll build the base after dinner. Lin Wu, you and Shana should make a trip to the park to sort out the power issue. Once the tent cools down tomorrow, we can finish the alliance mission." Others were eating while Shana was on sentry duty, keeping an eye on the highway bridge.

Stone explained, "The pickup is probably out of gas now."

Maya said, "This morning, I got two barrels of fuel from the fried chicken shop. There’s a hardware store across from it, and I believe it holds a lot of building materials. Right now, Shadow needs two things the most: building materials and food. Food is no issue, but we need electricity to use the refrigerator to store it."

Lin Wu said, "I can go alone."

Maya said, "The pickup has license plates; the danger isn’t great. Shana’s task is to map out, to draw architectural plans of the core area so we can systematically scavenge. Additionally, I have good news: we don’t need a washing machine to build a laundry room. But the laundry requires a water source, and considering Laimeng Town’s water source is towards the airport, my plan is to make a trip to Left County once we obtain the new Outpost Card."

Stone said, "That’s fine, I’ll take the opportunity to visit Angel’s Alliance and bring Little Knife and Snow Egg back."

Maya asked, "What about Starlight and the others?"

Stone said, "Forget about them."

Maya said, "But we don’t have a doctor."

Stone replied, "Chop Blood Zombie."

Maya pointed out, "Laimeng Town doesn’t have Blood Heart."

Stone suggested, "Then let Lin Wu take his tent to Left County and stay for half a month."

"That’s not what I mean," Maya said. "The situation is the same with Snow Egg and Little Knife, Starlight and the others. Why choose Snow Egg and Little Knife?" Clearly, the trio including Starlight was more valuable to the base. The impact on unity was not within Maya’s considerations.