Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 745 - 348

Chapter 745: 348

Stone welcomed Maya’s rule, saying that after a day of work, everyone deserved a proper rest. Currently, the entertainment facilities at the base were not yet complete, so Lin Meng’s safe house became the hub of everyone’s nightlife. There, one could enjoy free cold beer, play pool, throw darts, and listen to music. However, electricity generated by fuel was needed to support the lighting.

Given the current fuel shortage, tonight’s activities at the base would only include card games and chatting.

After charging Little Fight again, Lin Wu returned alone to his tent at the base. He groped his way into the tent, tossed a few lumps of charcoal into the fire pit, and with that, the fire was lit. Though it wasn’t bright, it was comfortable. In contrast, the fire pit at Shadow’s new base was poorly situated – sitting around it was too crowded, standing was uncomfortable, and sitting on the ground felt ice-cold.

Even though the floor of the tent base was carpeted, Lin Wu still placed his bedding by the fire pit. In such an environment, one could not only lie down but roll around freely on the ground. In fact, he was rolling around with Wai. After they got tired, he pulled over the quilt and fell asleep with Wai by his side.

Maya entered the tent and asked from the entrance, "Are you asleep?"

"Asleep," Lin Wu answered.

Maya came over and added some charcoal to the fire, then sat down and said, "Like it or not, the base needs Snow Egg and Little Knife, not just two people doing odd jobs."

Lin Wu sat up, looking at Maya with a slight confusion, "Isn’t that Stone’s issue?"

Maya said, "I believe you can convince Stone. I understand his thoughts, but let’s not even talk about the Doomsday Fortress, not even in the guard army, or even in one’s own family business, there will be employees that the boss dislikes. To be honest, our workload is huge. Nightmare and Blood Meng may not have made a move today, but that doesn’t mean we can let our guard down."

Maya continued, "Whether it’s constructing buildings for both bases or manually creating farms, we need a large amount of materials. Currently, we only have one team, and even though everyone is working hard, it’s not enough to meet our needs. Next is food – the gourmet food alley has provided us with a lot of ingredients, but it’s not sustainable. Farming yields are low in winter, so we need people to fish and to hunt."

Lin Wu said, "Why don’t you talk to Stone about this?"

Maya replied, "Stone is quite stubborn on this issue, and the biggest problem is actually romance; he thinks love is harmful to the community. After the split from the Doomsday Fortress, when the Sawmill was on duty, Little Knife and Snow Egg frequently slacked off, but because of the abundance of supplies, everyone just laughed it off. Do you remember the typhoon day? While everyone was working, they found a place to whisper sweet nothings. At the time, because I wasn’t supervising the Sawmill, and I wasn’t there, I didn’t bring it up." To others, such matters could be brushed off with a laugh, saying love is beautiful. But in Maya’s eyes, their actions significantly disrupted work discipline.

Lin Wu said, "So you think Stone is right, their love is not doing the community any good."

Maya said, "I can split them into two different shifts."

Lin Wu asked, "So not only do I have to convince Stone but also convince them to accept different shifts? Since when did you, Maya, start to survive by talking?"

Maya nodded, "This is the apocalypse, in Hardcore Mode, the scarcity of players is common. Never believe just grabbing anyone will do. Dashuang is a prime example, she performed well when she first arrived at Shadow, but as time passed, because of laziness and such, she started to test the management’s tolerance for slacking off at work. Like, being one minute late today, ten minutes tomorrow."

Maya said, "The biggest difference is that Dashuang lacks a sense of belonging. She sees Shadow as just a well-paying company and doesn’t consider herself part of it. Her good performance at work is to secure her position, not out of love for Shadow. In this regard, Dashuang and Cotton are nothing compared to Peanut and Emerald Feather, not to mention Snow Egg and Little Knife. They are willing to sacrifice themselves to protect Shadow."

Lin Wu: "Okay, I understand."

Maya nodded, "Get some rest, we have to hit the road early in the morning."

Lin Wu nodded, watched Maya leave, then switched to channel one, "Old Man, let’s chat."

"Chat my ass."

A minute later, Stone arrived with hot milk tea in hand, handing a cup to Lin Wu before sitting down and asking, "What’s the situation?"

Lin Wu tapped on the personal computer, and the video started playing. It showed the recent conversation between Maya and Lin Wu. As the Deputy Commander, Maya had an abundance of tasks to attend to, tasks that she enjoyed, with staffing being her greatest challenge at the moment. And she needed skilled workers, not interns.

After listening, Stone thought for a while and began, "Well..."

"You can go now!" He who strikes first succeeds; he who strikes late is constrained. Better to sleep well first than to listen to nonsense later.

Stone rolled his eyes and stood up to leave, perhaps too preoccupied with thoughts to express his disdain strongly.

...

On the morning of the 21st during breakfast, personnel assignments were adjusted once again, with Lin Meng replacing Shana to go to Left County. The reason was that Su Shi could act as a temporary Sentry, and Maya needed a combat member to assist with scavenging work. As the simple-minded Meng only had basic firearm combat experience, it made sense for Lin Meng to take Shana’s run to Left County. Another reason was Lin Meng’s acute ability with finances as the junior financial officer. Even when Lin Wu had first found the safe house in dire poverty, she was still calmly calculating.

Whether it was weapons or vehicles, or farm produce that could be preserved for a long period, Shadow had little to trade with players at the moment. After setting aside 20 .50 caliber bullets and 50 rounds of various other types, the remaining bullets were included in the trade goods. Maya made a list of the base’s needs and handed it over to Lin Meng.

After breakfast, Stone drove, with Lin Meng as his co-driver, Lin Wu and Wai in the backseat.

This was Lin Meng’s first long road trip, and she had a barrage of questions, to which Stone patiently and gently replied. Only after driving for over ten kilometers to the armored vehicle location did their question and answer session come to a halt.

The armored vehicle lay still in the roadside grass. Stone got out of the car, ran his hand over the vehicle’s cold body, and promised, "I will definitely tow you back."

Lin Wu asked from the side, "To use as a decoration?"

Lin Meng chimed in, "It would make a great decoration too; which other base in the server could boast such display?"

"Heh, exactly, that’s the idea," Stone’s mood instantly brightened as he said, "Let’s get going, we still have a road to travel."

Their first destination was Angel’s Alliance, roughly 50 kilometers from Left County.

Following Shana’s speculated coordinates, Little Fight took off after they parked, quickly finding the approximate location of Angel’s Alliance. Guided by the route feedback from Lin Wu, Stone steered the jeep off the main road and onto the wilderness, finding a thoroughfare and driving for about 20 kilometers to successfully reach Angel’s Alliance.

Angel’s Alliance, under the jurisdiction of South City, Right County, Southward Town of Fantasy City, was a remote mining town at the southernmost tip of Fantasy City. Unlike the common horizontal-vertical layout of buildings, the town of Southward was elongated with one street running directly from the east end of town to the west.

Located on the western side of the town in the mining area, Angel’s Alliance was a separate district composed of more than 20 buildings. Residential villas semi-encircled the area, with six scattered shops forming a commercial street in the middle. If all the over 20 buildings were occupied as a base, the central area would become a safe zone.

The villas were constructed against the cliffs, facing almost no pressure from enemies to the rear, with zombies from the town only able to enter Angel’s Alliance territory via the main road. More than the zombies, they needed to worry about the possibility of fierce animals appearing from the side forests. The forest connected to a mountain range, with a simple mountain path, posing threats to the residents while also providing them with a plethora of renewable resources.

This place could be considered an excellent comprehensive base, integrating defense and building material resources. In addition to a large amount of land suitable for cultivation, there was also a stream flowing down from the mountain, meeting the needs for irrigation and the residents’ daily water supply.

However, Angel’s Alliance was not without its drawbacks; its buildings were scattered, and the overall area was rather large. Only by occupying all the buildings within the circle could they create an artificial safe zone. The fewer the bases of the Alliance, the smaller the coverage area of the safe zone. After the train events, Angel’s Alliance was left with only eleven bases, all relocated to the area west of the commercial street, leaving the area east of the commercial street to the zombies.

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