Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 777 - 351: Level 3-2

Chapter 777: Chapter 351: Level 3-2

At Shana’s pause, Maya took the opportunity to interject, "Third floor."

Shana glanced at Lin Wu, who was puzzled, "What’s up?"

"It’s nothing." Although it wasn’t Lin Wu who interrupted her, she still felt it was him somehow. Shana continued her analysis, "The third floor is the administrative office layer, where the offices of various hotel departments are located, and it’s also the most likely location for the hotel manager."

Little Knife said, "Isn’t it a nighttime instance? Shouldn’t he be sleeping?"

"The instance is set at night, and it will never dawn, but the time isn’t nighttime. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many people in the restaurant, there might even be nobody," Shana explained. "We found information on the 32nd floor, something happened on the 17th floor, and security from the 32nd went to respond. Since we can see a security department on the third floor, the security on the 32nd floor is just a post, not an entire department. I think it’s used for services like receiving helicopter clients."

Maya nodded, "If the other guards were sent to the 17th floor, then it’s highly possible that the hotel manager is on that floor."

Shana said, "Currently, the third and the seventeenth floors are the most likely. We know there’s an NPC on the third floor—the NPC there is definitely a hotel staff member. I suggest we first head to the third floor to locate the NPC and gather as much information as possible. After all, we have yet to meet a single living staff member."

"We control two elevators, and only the one with a capacity for four people has a button for the third floor. The other elevators can’t operate," said Maya. "Snow Egg, Shana, and Little Knife—who has the biggest guts?"

Everyone together said, "Me." No one wanted to miss out on the action.

Little Knife pried the others’ hands away, "Me, hehe."

Maya nodded, "Okay, then you stay behind on the 32nd floor, keep an eye on the elevator."

Little Knife was stunned, "Big guts mean this?"

"Being alone in the hotel, cut off from everyone, and it’s night," Maya said. "It takes a certain amount of courage."

Little Knife cried out, "Actually, I’m really timid."

Maya ignored the act, "Get in the elevator."

Elevator one first returned to the 32nd floor, then everyone except Little Knife proceeded to take elevator two down to the third floor.

Little Knife had previously crouched inside the elevator without feeling much, as it was a small space and his companions were all fighting. Now it was completely different. Even though there was lighting on the 32nd floor and every room had been searched, the sight of the silent corridor and each open door gave him the feeling that an evil spirit might suddenly pounce from behind.

Little Knife didn’t look for a place to hide with his head covered either. Instead, he stood in the corridor outside the elevator, pistol in hand, cautiously turning his body back and forth, looking for possible changes. For instance, a piece of A4 paper on the floor seemed to have moved further away—was it blown by the wind? Was it luring him over to pick it up? The quieter it was, the more his mind raced.

On the other hand, as the elevator opened on the third floor, fighting immediately ensued. Zombies from both sides of the corridor heard the noise and continuously rushed towards the elevator lobby, around ten-odd square meters in size. Shadow Squad kept emptying their magazines, with the firing sounds of pistols and rifles unceasing. After a long while, the gunshots stopped, and Maya thought to herself with gratitude: Thanks to Stone. If he hadn’t stayed up all night playing the slot machine to earn bullets, they wouldn’t have been able to take even the first step on the third floor.

From the second floor to the third, it was apparent that the instance was testing the players’ reserves of ammunition. Considering their current rate of consumption, Maya estimated they could make it through three floors, but to be safe, they could only afford to fight through two more at most. The biggest pity was that because the fighting had been so fierce, most of the cards had disappeared since they weren’t retrieved in time.

Snow Egg let out a sigh, "I haven’t fired as many bullets in fifteen months as I have today."

Maya casually nodded, "With such a commotion, it should draw out all the zombies. Shana and Lin Wu, clear the rooms on the left. Snow Egg and I will clear the rooms on the right, to eliminate any on-floor threats first."

"Understood."

Snow Egg pressed the button to set the elevator to stay on this floor, then they split up.

While Lin Wu was still picking locks, Maya had already kicked down a door. Lin Wu asked, "Aren’t you afraid there might be a legion inside?"

Maya replied, "I knocked on the door." If there had been a zombie legion, there would have been some noise.

Lin Wu looked at Shana, who said, "I don’t have the strength."

To meet the need, Su Shi made twenty lock picks. Lin Wu picked the lock, looked at Shana, Shana nodded, Lin Wu pushed the door open, and Shana entered the room with her gun—there were no zombies.

Just as they were relaxing, there came a thumping noise from a wardrobe in the office. Shana tensed up, while Lin Wu moved to one side and pulled open the wardrobe door—a female NPC tumbled out and, looking up at them, said, "Save me."

As Shana moved forward, Lin Wu stopped her with his body, "Stand up."

Shana whispered, "NPC."

"Heh, all NPCs are afraid we’ll find out, except her who’s afraid we won’t find out." Lin Wu barked, "Take off your clothes."

Shana immediately froze, "Isn’t that inappropriate?"

Lin Wu ignored her and fired a shot at the ground, "Take off your coat."

The girl looked to Shana for help, and Shana said, "Take off your coat, or I’ll kill you."

So the girl took off her coat. She was wearing a short-sleeved summer work outfit, and after removing the supervisor’s suit jacket, a blackened bite mark was revealed on her little arm. The flesh around the bite seemed to have already started to rot.

The girl pleaded, "I was bitten, but I didn’t mutate, I have antibodies."

Lin Wu said, "Then I’ll ask you a few questions first. Where is the hotel manager?"

"The manager’s office is just across, but I’m not sure where he has gone. I saw zombies when I opened the door, so I shut it and hid away."

Lin Wu asked, "Second question, have you heard any legends about the hotel, related to Hell’s Gate?"

"Yes, the manager mentioned this legend to us during casual conversations. It’s said to be related to, to, to..."

The girl’s face began to twitch, and her expression turned fierce as she fell to the ground and started convulsing. Lin Wu angrily said, "Are you kidding me? This isn’t a movie, having to time your death so precisely."

Shana ended the girl’s life, saying, "She was just here to confirm that the manager knows about the transmission gate, she wasn’t authorized to divulge more information."

"Search the place."

No NPCs were found in this room, but a little bit of cash was found. This was the office of the housekeeping manager, provided for the housekeeping supervisors to rest at night. Inside the office desk, a diary was found, wherein it was recorded that the expensive string of beads played with by the director of hotel catering was very pricey, with guesses on its price reaching five million. Only the person writing the diary knew that these beads were a gift from the catering director’s father, worth over ten million.

"Beads? Ten million?"

"In the eyes of someone you love, ten million is just a price."

"No, I mean why not sell the beads and retire?"

Shana laughed, "Lin Wu, with your high score, you’d be a rich person on Earth anyway. You should know, among those who wish to retire early, there are few who are successful. As a person ages, they tend to seek a sense of accomplishment more. The more status one has in society, the less they want to retire, as retirement means their social status drops to zero."

Lin Wu: "I will retire."

Shana: "Sure, your goal is to eat, drink, and be merry."

Lin Wu asked, "What about you?"

Shana was taken aback and thought for a long time, "I want to have my own business, but I don’t want to become an old maid. I want to have a happy family, yet don’t want to be shackled by it. I want to travel everywhere, but don’t want to be alone."

"Find yourself a sugar daddy to meet all your needs." In the old days, this was referred to as living off women, but with social progress, just as there are full-time housewives, there also are full-time husbands. It’s not a shameful profession.

Shana said, "It’s hard for me to fall for a guy who’s much worse off than me, and guys who are on par with me aren’t willing to be kept men." Looking at Lin Wu.

"Forget about it, I’m not willing. When we get to Earth, I could crush you with money in a minute," Lin Wu said. "Let’s clear this place and go check the manager’s office."

Shana took one last look around the office before following Lin Wu to the manager’s office. The door was open, but it was empty inside—no zombies and no NPCs. The manager’s desk was neat and clean, which seemed to indicate that he was both meticulous and poor. They found only about ten thousand dollars’ worth of belongings and cash in the entire office.

Shana: "Do we really have to go to the 17th floor?" From the information gathered so far, the 17th floor was likely the most difficult one.

Maya’s voice came through the earpiece, "I found an NPC here."

Shana: "You used to count NPCs in ’places.’" She glanced at Lin Wu, knowing only he would count NPCs in terms of ’heads’ or ’pieces.’

Lin Wu displeased: Do you like birds? If you had a bird, what do you think is more important, the bird or the NPC? Since even a more important bird can be counted by ’piece,’ why can’t an NPC be counted that way?