Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 827 - 369: Extreme Cold (Part 1)_2

Chapter 827: Chapter 369: Extreme Cold (Part 1)_2

Lin Wu took it and said, "I already told you I don’t like shrimp crackers."

"Jerky, actually." After saying that, he took out another can of snacks. Lin Meng said, "These are the shrimp crackers. After a hard day’s work, you deserve a little treat."

"Thanks." They tasted good.

Lin Meng asked, "Hey, you’ve been going to the tent alone a lot lately. Is something bothering you?"

Lin Wu replied, "Mind your own business."

Undeterred, Lin Meng inquired, "Feeling down? Or is it heartbreak?"

Lin Wu questioned, "I’ve been going to the tent alone frequently lately?"

Lin Meng confirmed, "Absolutely, when you returned from scavenging the office building in the early mornings, you never went to the warm room but said you were going to check on Phantom, until breakfast time. This began happening since the latter part of last month. I asked Shana, and she told me not to bother you, saying you needed rest. I said, ’Can’t you rest and chat in the warm room?’ Shana said, ’You just didn’t want to talk.’"

Lin Wu asked, "And you still came here?"

Lin Meng said, "If you’re not talking, I can talk. I just feel it’s so pitiful to see you alone in the dark corner."

With a flick of his finger, Lin Wu retorted, "You’re the pitiful one."

Lin Meng indignantly said, "Hitting people is wrong."

Lin Wu responded, "I didn’t say it was right. Have you seen me hit anyone else?"

Lin Meng challenged, "So you only pick on me?"

Lin Wu said, "Little girl, in the darkness with just the two of us, what you’re saying is really..."

"What is it?"

Lin Wu asked, "Have you ever heard of ’Hooligan’s Excited Fist’?"

"You, you, this is workplace harassment." Lin Meng said, "I’ll tell Stone."

"Fine, I apologize, and I won’t hit you again," Lin Wu offered. "What do you think of Shadow?"

Lin Meng didn’t immediately answer Lin Wu’s casual question, and after some thought said, "I think it’s difficult for Shadow mode to be maintained long-term."

Lin Wu was genuinely surprised and asked, "Why do you think so?"

Lin Meng explained, "Shadow relies on individual quality to maintain group harmony. Just now when we brought back the firewood, they immediately came downstairs to help. I know it’s hard for them to withstand the cold outdoors given their Cold Resistance Value, but they overcame that."

"And why do you say it’s difficult to maintain long-term?" Lin Wu queried.

Lin Meng said, "I studied finance, and I know that without a standard and regulated financial system, we could make a mess of the accounts. My professor asked, why do we need a financial system? Why not focus on education and teach financial personnel to follow professional ethics? She answered her own question, ’Never trust that morality and conscience alone can restrain people. Only a comprehensive financial system can regulate financial personnel.’"

Lin Meng continued, "I think Shadow is in that situation. But we only have less than seven months, I believe we can grit our teeth and hold on."

Lin Wu retained her surprise, "So you’re not dumb after all."

This angered Lin Meng, who glared at Lin Wu with steam practically coming out of her head, "I’ve always been smart. I graduated from a prestigious university and was recruited directly into Fortress Company as a finance officer."

Unmoved, Lin Wu teased, "But you seem pretty dumb."

"I’m not dumb," Lin Meng held her ground adamantly. "You can hit me, scold me, boss me around, but you cannot insult my intelligence."

"Alright, you’re not dumb."

They chatted for a while longer, without any substantial content, just aimlessly shooting the breeze and joking around. After everyone had finished their tasks, Stone announced dinner, with tonight’s main dishes being pumpkin cakes and pumpkin buns.

Lin Wu and Lin Meng stood up, and as Lin Wu stretched out her leg, Lin Meng tripped and fell. Lin Wu quickly said, "Sorry, sorry, are you okay?"

Faced with his sincere attitude, Lin Meng had to decide whether to trust him. She said, "I’m fine. Let’s go."

Lin Meng stepped ahead and stretched out her foot to trip Lin Wu, but he stepped right onto her toe instead, causing Lin Meng to double over in pain. Lin Wu quickly said, "Sorry, sorry, are you okay? Ha ha..." Damn, couldn’t hold back.

Realizing everything, Lin Meng retaliated with her little fists at the ready.

The two laughed and frolicked their way to the fire room, standing out against the quiet of the room. Shana jokingly asked, "Has spring arrived?"

"Ha ha, spring would only slow down my shooting," Lin Wu said as he took his seat. "Are we planning out the next half-month’s living?"

Maya nodded, "It’s going to be a tough half-month."

Stone said, "Is Dawn really trying to starve us out? Oh, right, once winter ends, Dawn will reset the base. Anyone interested?" A prefecture-level city and two towns would become the new homeland, and all players could take their bases and relocate there. However, in the last two quarters, the active area would be limited to within the new homeland.

Shana said, "Interacting with other players is good for mental and physical health, but I suggest we don’t do it because it can bring more uncertainty to our stable life."

Lin Wu added, "I’ve always felt that Dawn is up to something. I’m not too sure about spring, but summer will definitely be problematic."

Lin Meng asked, "Because of the low prices of air conditioners and electric fans?"

Lin Wu replied, "Exactly. These items appear in the auction every day, and the starting bid for an air conditioner is even as low as 100 rounds of ammo. We all know how unbearable last summer was."

Maya said, "Ever since the number of survivors went down to a thousand, Dawn announces to the entire server every time the population decreases by 100. Do you get the feeling that this is like a countdown?"

Stone asked, "Do you think the game will undergo a major change?"

Maya nodded, "The new homeland could be considered a major change, but..." not sure how to continue.

Shana said, "The countdown is clearly meant to put pressure on players. Imagine if we weren’t in Leimeng Town but in a decaying world with completely depleted resources. Under that stress, we might opt for the new homeland. The choice, then, is to either move to the new homeland or stay in the old one and face the final test."

Maya said, "It seems we need to keep doing missions and stockpile more bullets."

Lin Meng raised her hand and said, "On the first day of this month, I received a message from Fortress Company that I’m not supposed to disclose."

Lin Wu said, "We’re all insiders here, it’s like an internal announcement."

Maya said, "Since there’s such a request, let’s not talk about it."

Lin Meng said, "The content doesn’t seem like something that can’t be discussed. It just said that the Fortress missions will be closed at the end of this month. I thought it wasn’t that relevant to everyone, so I didn’t mention it."

Little Knife, displaying his cultural flair, said, "It’s like an ominous hush before a storm."

Lin Wu continued, "We have to survive this month first."

"Not rhyming, do it again."

Lin Wu replied, "The clouds cling to the Rain Lacking House but never pour."

Little Knife joyfully said, "Dead in front of the door."

Su Shi quickly answered, "Life inside the house."

Snow Egg chimed in, "Cooked in the pot."

Stone: "Awake in the nest."

Shana clapped her hands, "Good, good, good."

This was the norm for their casual chats: meaningless, yet full of meaning.

...

On the fifth day of the third winter month, there was no wind. It seemed as if the whole world had frozen over. Lin Wu, with a Cold Resistance Value of 90, stepped outside and was instantly invigorated by the biting cold air. The temperature was minus 60 degrees Celsius; what kind of concept was that? A breath exhaled could turn to ice scraps that hung on one’s beard if one had a beard, that is.

There was no helping it; people still needed to eat. Lin Wu could only shiver his way to the kitchen. Though he lit the stove, he couldn’t feel any warmth. He had complained about this before, and while waiting for the water to boil, he complained again. Little White Rabbit provided a tiresome explanation: the kitchen was part of the welfare system and thus didn’t have heating functionality. The gas, salt, and other supplies in the kitchen were free, as were the complete set of appliances including the dishwasher.

After the water boiled, Lin Wu said goodbye to Little White Rabbit, peeled the pumpkin, chopped it casually into several pieces, threw them into the pot, added sugar, and waited for it to boil into a pumpkin soup.

Lin Wu checked the fridge and surprisingly found a 3-kilogram piece of belly pork hidden at the bottom. It must have been stashed by someone who didn’t like fatty meat. Lin Wu went to the training room, studied hastily for 5 minutes, and returned to start kneading the last half bag of flour he had.

Lin Meng leaned against the kitchen door, shivering all over, "What’s for eat?"

"Pumpkin soup," Lin Wu said. "You go back and stay warm."

Lin Meng nodded, "What about lunch?"

"We’ll make dumplings," said Lin Wu. "The most frequent activity in the university collective gatherings was making dumplings."

Lin Meng said, "Our university’s most frequent activities were club activities."

Lin Wu replied, "We also had club activities, but they always involved eating. If there was no food arranged, basically no one would attend. You only have a Cold Resistance Value of 70; go back inside."

Lin Meng said, "I’ll take the dishes up."

"Okay."

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