Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 761 - 345 Layer 53_2

Chapter 761: Chapter 345 Layer 53_2

Lin Wu nodded, went to take a look, and came back, "No change."

Maya was taken aback. She went to take a look herself and whispered in Lin Wu’s ear, "A zombie is just standing in front of the door."

"Wait for me." Lin Wu went again, still no change. This time he gestured to Maya. As soon as Maya made a move, the zombies started moving, scattering from the desks to separate points, each rocking their bodies slightly and gazing at their respective spots.

Lin Wu gestured for Maya to stay still. The zombies began to move, and after just a few steps, a "ding" came from the desk—a message notification from a cellphone. The zombies immediately clustered around the desk, shaking their heads and staring at it. As for the Exploding Carnage, it remained as usual.

Exploding Carnage had the flattering nickname of ’sleeping king.’ As mentioned before, it liked to sleep on grass or in the middle of the road, and any careless touch or bump would make it explode right there and then. A single Exploding Carnage sleeping on the road could wipe out everyone in a vehicle.

Lin Wu returned and explained to Maya, who then pricked up her ears and quietly waited. After the "ding," Lin Wu pushed the door, Maya entered the office, raised her crossbow, and blew the Exploding Carnage’s head off. Then she retreated, Lin Wu closed the door, and Maya reloaded her crossbow. Another "ding," and Maya re-entered, taking down another zombie. With such a clumsy method, Maya killed four zombies with her crossbow, and Lin Wu took down two others with backstabs.

Maya called everyone into the office and closed the door; there was a fire evacuation map here.

The 53rd floor was quite unique and also a waste of building space. Lin Wu’s earlier mention of the Y route was misleading because of subjective perspective. In reality, the 53rd floor was divided into twelve small areas; each area was diamond-shaped, with a door on the east, south, west, and north of each diamond, each leading to an office.

Shana pointed at an office marked with an ’X’ to the west: "The boss of this floor? Maya, do we search and kill our way through, or go straight to this room?"

Maya said, "Ordinary zombies drop some basic items, elite zombies just drop a bit more. If we want good stuff, we either find the boss or elite mutant zombies."

Shana said, "You mean to search and kill our way there? This is the 53rd floor; according to logic, to break through the dungeon, we should be going from the 54th floor to the 1st. If we search like this, I estimate we won’t complete this dungeon within a day."

Lin Wu: "Don’t you two deputy commanders think too much? Since we’re here, let’s take what comes. If there’s loot, grab it; if not, just enjoy the game. If we die, we die—haven’t you all prepared to leave hardcore mode behind?"

Little Knife was caught off guard: "I’m not ready."

Lin Wu nodded: "I believe you." He scorned those who thought too much and then scorned Little Knife, who did not think at all.

Snow Egg said, "This room is the closest to the stairwell, and this room has a fire evacuation map. Could it be that this room is the hint room for this floor? The room that hides information? The three elite Frenzy zombies in the corridor are the threshold to entering this floor."

Everyone looked at Snow Egg, who said embarrassedly, "I spent three of my four college years playing games. For a dungeon type game like this, every time you go down a floor or enter a separate scene, there’s usually some hint. For example, a side quest may require you to go to the cellar to eliminate rats. Some games use magic to detect monsters, bosses, or teleportation gates. Some skills can reveal the properties of monsters in the current scene, like fire or water attributes. Exploring dungeons through fog is very common, relying on the players to map out the entire area. As they uncover the map, the players also face various challenges."

Snow Egg: "Some games have notes left by fallen heroes to guide players, others just spell out the information."

Shana asked Lin Wu, "Don’t you play games too?"

Lin Wu said, "I play more high-end games."

"What kind of high-end?"

"Pixel-based, idle games, management games—I’ve seldom dealt with dungeons."

Maya: "Search the whole room. Lin Wu, open the electronic safes and display cabinets."

Shana sat at a workstation and began typing on a computer, "There’s a surveillance feed."

The computer had a total of forty-nine surveillance feeds—all of the corridors. Maya watched for a while: "Elite Frenzies, in monitor 3 and also in 5. The corridor only shows elite Frenzies, no other zombies."

Shana said, "They seem to be patrolling, not staying in one place for long."

Maya said, "Once we’ve pinned down all their locations and figured out the timing, we’ll take them down using the time difference, all of them."

Shana was stunned, "This is a massive project, I have no idea about the surveillance locations."

Maya said, "But you can infer their positions through the appearances of Frenzy in the footage." Two Frenzies disappeared at the east side of Monitor 1, and later, two appeared at the west side of Monitor 10. This allowed them to conjecture that Monitors 1 and 10 were connected. This was also a characteristic of the diamond-shaped building layout, where one surveillance camera could only cover one area.

Shana asked, "Can I just turn off the computer and pretend I didn’t see any surveillance footage?"

"Don’t let Lin Wu’s influence rub off on you, you can do it," Maya patted Shana’s shoulder and stood up, "Little Knife, Lin Wu, you two are in charge of hunting the Frenzy. Expect about 30-45 Frenzy, spread two or three at a time along the corridors of this floor. Be very careful in your actions, you never know if you’ll encounter them around a corner."

Maya forbade anyone from leaving the office until Shana was done, so they could only fuss within the confines of the office. It was clear that Shana’s work wasn’t going smoothly; whenever there was a noise, she would glare over, frightening everyone into tiptoeing quietly, wishing they could keep their hearts from beating altogether.

Apart from the Tang Sword and an all-purpose medical kit in the safe, the rest were informational documents. These were divided into two parts: one part was information about the building, which belonged to a certain business conglomerate, with a total of 54 floors. Below the 30th floor was a hotel, and floors 31 to 54 were corporate offices. Except for floors 54 and 53, the rest had a similar main structure, divided into four areas, each equipped with four elevators and a fire escape.

The second part was game information. In Hardcore Mode, the appearance rate of mutant zombies increased substantially, elite mutant zombies slightly more so, and there was a slight enhancement to the boss battles.

"There are modes?" Everyone wondered internally and continued browsing.

In Hardcore Mode, the key to obtaining information about secret portals lies with the surviving humans; treat your kind well, and offer help when necessary.

Many scenarios offer weapons, ammunition, slot machines, and collecting cash which can be exchanged for playing chances. Everyone looked at Lin Wu, who raised his hand to indicate that he understood, then headed out to retrieve the 200,000 in cash from upstairs.

Elite monsters and bosses might drop Teleportation Scrolls that allow a single person to travel to and from the base once.

Pay attention to collecting information, as some scenes have a strong security system that requires authentication to pass through.

Stay away from electronic devices; sudden sounds they produce could threaten your safety.

The last two important pieces of information: every ten units of the scene form an integrated instance. You don’t need to fight your way from the 54th floor to the 1st floor; reaching from the 54th to the 44th is enough to find the stage’s portal. However, unlike the secret portals, the stage portals cannot be returned to once left.

Defeating the instance’s final boss is the only way to open the stage portal.

To ensure everyone’s survival while departing, besides Teleportation Scrolls and secret portals, the likely route will be through the stage portals. To access these, one must beat the final boss. And to defeat the final boss, collecting as much material, weapons, and information as possible is essential. Conclusion: arm yourselves as much as possible.

Lin Wu’s suggestion to directly take the safe passageway and fight the boss on the 44th floor was immediately rejected. Moreover, this piece of game information did not indicate that the final boss was on the 44th floor.

Meanwhile, Shana, through her own observations, had organized the chaotic videos onto a sheet of paper. After shuffling the footage and adjusting the positions of several surveillance screens, she checked everything for five minutes and finally completed her task.

Shana called over Maya, who observed the movements of Frenzy and confirmed the result, "Impressive."

"And quite easy," Shana replied casually.

"Less contact with Lin Wu," Maya called out, "Lin Wu, are you back yet?"

As soon as she finished asking, Lin Wu entered through the door, "I’m back."

Maya asked, "Do you have a map?"

"It’s all in my head," Shana replied.

"Good, you’ll be in charge of commanding. Lin Wu and Little Knife, get ready to move out. Little Knife, take the medical pack with you. Remember, stay out of the offices and only deal with the Frenzy in the corridors," Maya instructed.

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