Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 82 - 81 Waiting

Chapter 82: Chapter 81 Waiting

Due to Lin Wu and Maya’s departure, the task of dealing with potential Frenzies was left to everyone else. Maya reminded everyone to adhere to the three main rules when confronting a Frenzy: be cautious, gang up, and use guns. According to the statistics of the few residents of North Town, 70% of player deaths were caused by Frenzies.

Lin Wu, ever impatient, had no objections to supporting Invincible Base. He returned to the base with Maya to claim three Sharp Blades, medical supplies, handguns, and an Eagle Sand. They packed a bag of food into the motorcycle, with each of them carrying an additional bag. After Stone’s reminders, the two set out on their motorcycle towards Invincible Base amidst the thunderstorm weather.

Mountain Top Church Base was located to the south of North Town, while Invincible Base was in the northwest direction. The distance between the two bases exceeded 25 kilometers, with most of the route being mountain and forest trails. On ordinary days, these trails would be enchanting, but they were not so during a thunderstorm, with trees frequently being struck by lightning along the roadside, and the roads littered with dead branches and leaves, with many pathways blocked by fallen trees.

The travel obstructions caused by thunderstorms and typhoons would only be cleared 24 hours after the end of the storm.

After all, it was system damage: cars could actually travel, but it required a high skill level from the driver. In comparison, it was much easier for motorcycles to get through. Maya was constantly alert to trees on either side that might fall due to being struck by lightning.

Despite all calculations, what they didn’t anticipate was the crosswind. That accursed Dawn had arranged for a clearing of around ten meters on the forest trail, serving as a wind vent. As soon as they reached the clearing, the strong crosswind flipped the motorcycle, Lin Wu jumped off and landed, using Wind Stingers to blast himself back to the small woodland trail. Maya was not so lucky; she fell along with the motorcycle, being dragged along the ground for four or five meters.

The wind was too loud for the two to communicate. Maya sat on the ground and, by leveraging her added strength points, dragged the motorcycle forward a little at a time, finally managing to pass the wind vent using great effort. The ten-meter-wide vent wasn’t very challenging for Lin Wu; he crossed nine meters with just three Wind Stingers. After checking the motorcycle and their injuries, they continued their journey, with Maya not uttering a single word of complaint. In fact, because of the motorcycle and weather, they couldn’t talk to each other.

Then came Highway 71. Flanked by hillsides, the highway snaked its way so that one could see scattered buildings on the slopes while traveling along it. There were buildings resembling research institutes, larger villas, farms that primarily raised livestock, and agricultural estates that grew orchards.

Regrettably, these buildings were far apart and some of the roads leading to them were blocked, only accessible through manpower, making the scavenging efficiency naturally low. Maya thought the biggest drawback of the repair shop base was the lack of zombies nearby, which meant less combat opportunities for the base members, leading to a lower overall strength and further reducing the efficiency of acquiring supplies.

After another ten minutes of driving, the pair finally arrived at Invincible Base.

This was a repair shop base located by the roadside, with most of the area protected by iron fences - a type of protection provided by the system for bases. Unfortunately, the iron fence was drafty on all sides, with zombies occasionally making their way into the base through the gaps. In case of a siege, it could very well lead to being attacked from all directions. The best solution to all this was the newly established watchtower – it commanded a high vantage point, with a view over 80% of the open base.

Overall, Invincible Base was shaped like the character "回", with its central "口" character marking the location of their main building. Compared to Mountain Top Church Base, Invincible Base had another defensive advantage; personnel could go to the rooftop of the main building to attack any zombies that breached the fence with firearms. Since the main building was only one story tall, people jumping down from the second floor would not be harmed and could quickly join the ground fight. The injured could also climb the ladder to the rooftop to provide fire support for the ground troops.

For Maya, the repair shop base required a great deal of coordination and teamwork. When well-coordinated, they could unleash 200% of their combat power.

Invincible arranged a small welcome party, allowing everyone to meet Lin Wu and Maya who were temporarily staying. The base personnel were very enthusiastic, introducing themselves one after another. Invincible also explained the defense plan he had arranged for the upcoming fortress defense; ten people were divided into four groups, with one group responsible for the watchtower’s fire support and the other three groups tasked with defending the main building. Lin Wu and Maya were in Group D, their post at the top of the main building, defending the southern frontline facing the highway.

The southern frontline had two small iron gates that allowed players to enter and exit; Invincible parked two cars outside, sealing off both gates. The core of the defense was a low barrier, five meters long, located between the two iron gates. Invincible placed Group C and D, a total of five people, at the southern frontline. Group B, made up of three people, was in charge of the east and west gaps, while two members of Group A were stationed at the fixed watchtower; not only did they have to provide fire support for the base, but they also had to keep watch for any enemies coming from the northern hillside. If needed, one person from Group B could split off to support Group A in defending the north.

Even with two groups of five people deployed on the southern defense line, Invincible still had serious concerns about it. After all, other directions required only the defense of a single breach, while the southern line had to defend an entire length. Judging from the distribution of the zombies, the other three sides were either forest or hillside, where zombies were rarely seen, except for the highway to the south, where groups of zombies often passed by in groups of a dozen or so.

...

Invincible Base implemented silence; if there was no need, it was preferable to refrain from speaking altogether. After Lin Wu and Maya reclaimed their equipment, they, led by an old acquaintance Emerald Feather, walked a round along the perimeter of the base to become familiar with the environment.

The distinctive feature of the Garage Base was its repair workshop. Besides that, the base lacked small rooms. Space in the single-story main building was allocated for different purposes, with the repair workshop and dormitory all housed within the same large structure. This brought about a significant problem—if zombies breached the main building, they had to be eliminated as soon as possible, or they would tear the facility’s interior apart.

By the afternoon, the thunder and strong winds had greatly weakened, but the torrential rain continued unabated. Even with raincoats, the three who had gone out for a round were completely drenched, and with the temperature dropping, wearing wet clothes was very uncomfortable. Consequently, after familiarizing themselves with the basic terrain, Lin Wu and the others went to the base’s repair shop to warm up by the fire.

Emerald Feather informed the two that the truck parked in the repair shop was a power supply vehicle. It could provide continuous power to the base with the consumption of two gas cans per day, but due to noise reduction requirements, it had been shut down in recent days. The newly built watchtower had added 25% more noise, and now the noise level of the base had reached 6 stars and 75%.

At present, what tormented Invincible Base the most was the wait. The morale at the base was somewhat low, and the assistance from Shadow Base in defense hadn’t changed that at all—most people were skeptical of Lin Wu and Maya’s capabilities. They believed that Shadow wouldn’t risk sending capable hands through a thunderstorm to participate in a high-star city defense. Nevertheless, despite such beliefs, they were all sincerely grateful for Shadow’s assistance.

Night fell, and the lightning seemed to become active again, periodically streaking across the sky, illuminating the whole land. Standing on the south side of the main building, one could see the group of zombies walking on the road through the glass, seemingly unaffected by the typhoon.

Lin Wu asked in Maya’s ear, "Do you think the timing of the siege is related to the number of zombies killed around the base?"

Maya had never considered that point. There were many leveling fanatics in Shadow Base, who often actively sought out zombies around the base. Although there was some logic to Lin Wu’s idea, Maya couldn’t be certain of its validity.

At eight o’clock in the evening, the storm and the typhoon finally stopped, but the thunder and lightning continued to rampage through the sky. Invincible arranged for the staff to rest while coordinating with his key members for work, planning to make a trip to a residence six kilometers away in the morning to scavenge for some food.

At nine o’clock in the evening, Lin Wu and Maya returned to the dormitory and discussed climbing a signal tower the next morning to survey the surrounding buildings from a high vantage point.

At ten o’clock at night, the system gleefully informed everyone that the thunderstorm and typhoon had passed.

At one o’clock in the morning, an alarm sounded throughout the base, and a six-star siege lasting 10 minutes entered the countdown, bringing collective cheers from the long-oppressed members. Invincible ordered the activation of electrical equipment, and everyone claimed materials, heading to their respective posts to wait for the countdown to end.