Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 834 - 372 - Underground Base (Part 1)_2

Chapter 834: 372 Chapter Underground Base (Part 1)_2

...

The fuel was exhausted, and Lin Shi returned to the bonfire room. As a representative, Shana said, "We have decided to choose ’Hardcore Mode.’"

This result somewhat surprised Stone, "Is this what you all discussed?"

Shana said, "There are many reasons and justifications. If you want to hear them, there’s plenty of time, but the decision is final. Now please step aside, because we need to deal with the last issue. Lin Wu, what about you? ’Hardcore Mode’ or a new home?"

"Hardcore Mode." Any questions?

Shana: "Okay, the next question is: How ’hardcore’ is ’Hardcore Mode’ really? Everyone, please share your thoughts."

Lin Wu: "When the map ends, the dagger appears; the last two months will definitely be super hardcore. While logging, Maya and I found a suspected tunnel entrance. After the cold wave ends, we’ll raid the Fortress base, taking whatever we can."

Maya: "How hardcore is super hardcore? I think the system will cut off kitchen energy and impose restrictions on buildings to make it as realistic as possible."

Lin Wu said, "I don’t think that Dawn would put all their cards on the table just like that. Maybe a Zombie King will appear."

Shana said, "I think it might eliminate the safe zones."

With that said, everyone nodded. Safe zones could be considered a bug, providing a significant sense of security. Without safe zones, you might wake up in the middle of the night to find zombies peering down at your sleeping position.

Little Knife: "Previously, there were only cockroaches, mosquitoes, and rats. Later on, farms might face various insects."

Everyone expressed their opinions, all starting from the unreasonable aspects of the base, and concluded that if Dawn really did this, it would indeed be difficult to cope with.

Stone, having nothing better to do, chimed in: "The virus transmission in ’Hardcore Mode’ will not be limited to zombies."

Everyone gasped. This was extremely fierce but closely related to the backstory. In the game about home, besides direct transmission from zombies, the virus also spread through droplets and air, some people had a long incubation period, some short. During this time, the virus kept mutating to adapt.

Lin Wu sighed, "Looks like I’m going to be the last survivor."

Stone said, "When the time comes, we’ll drain your blood for a vaccine."

Lin Meng thought of something, "Isn’t that right, if we’re talking about bugs, aren’t attributes and skills the biggest bugs?"

Lin Wu angrily said, "If it dares, if it dares to do that, I’ll complain until its CPU crashes." All of his own strength was staked on that.

Maya said, "I do think there’s some possibility in what Lin Meng mentioned."

Shana said, "I disagree. In the late autumn event, the system specifically differentiated between system buildings and non-system buildings."

Maya was noncommittal, "The cold wave ends on the 22nd; we need to hurry to stock up on materials and scavenge for ammunition. Lin Meng’s attack and defense tasks must continue, in addition to what Lin Wu mentioned about the manhole cover. Regardless of what ’Hardcore Mode’ is, as long as we are well-prepared and united, there is no challenge we can’t overcome."

Lin Wu: "Are we still supposed to work in this cold?"

Lin Wu would argue, but not sabotage; hearing this, Maya’s heart skipped a beat for lack of consideration. Even after the cold wave ended, it was still below forty degrees; not to mention the others, she and Lin Wu could barely endure it, a gust of wind could blow them straight into flight.

Lin Wu continued, "Lin Meng’s task of attack and defense is already inhuman. I think even ’Nightmare’ hasn’t gone through so many levels."

Shana: "’Nightmare’ seems very busy with tasks."

Lin Wu said, "Because of the limited terrain and the season. ’Nightmare’ used to have to travel from Left County to Right County for a task. Now, let Lin Meng try one? He’d instantly become the most beautiful ice sculpture."

Lin Meng: "You finally have an eye for beauty." Whether it’s a sand sculpture or an ice sculpture, the key is to be beautiful.

Some people just can’t handle compliments. Lin Wu rolled his eyes at Maya, well aware that it wasn’t that everyone couldn’t move, but it was just too cold, going out was torture.

Shana said while discussing, "Our supplies are very abundant, Stone can farm after spring, and the ranch has a certain scale; there’s no problem with food. I don’t believe there’s another base as well-armed as ours."

Maya compromised, "Alright, everyone rest up well, and when the time comes, Lin Wu and I will scout the situation under the turntable’s drain."

Snow Egg said, "How about some Mahjong?"

"Start, start."

...

On March 24th in winter, the temperature finally rose back to minus 25 degrees during the day, followed by snowfall. This snow was not a flurry of snowflakes dancing in the sky but fell like raindrops.

Everyone sent Lin Ma and Lin Meng off in the car at the main entrance, urging them to be extra careful and keep in contact.

When the three arrived near the turntable, there were no surprises; the turntable’s flowerbed was spotless. After waiting a while, four poles rose within the flowerbed and started spraying de-icing fluid, a process that lasted about half a minute.

Lin Ma squatted at the middle manhole cover, where Maya directly went to pry it open with a crowbar, simpler than they had expected. There were no reinforcements on the manhole cover; it was directly dug up. Taking a flashlight and looking inside, there was a straight ladder, a bottomless straight ladder. Maya waved her head, "Down."

"Can’t you hesitate for a second?" Lin Wu shouldered his rifle, grabbed the ladder, and slid down, controlling his speed through friction with his calves and hands. After sliding down seventy to eighty meters, Lin Wu reached a small room on a platform, dimly lit with two emergency exit lights hanging.

"We’re here." Lin Wu said, squeezing up to a rectangular observation window on the only door. Just as Lin Wu took a glance, he quickly pressed himself against the wall. Outside, a fully-armed guard looked left and right for a while. Lin Wu pressed his ear to the door, listening to the footsteps leaving before he moved back to the observation window.

Outside was a long corridor, its walls adorned with emergency exit lights, arrows pointing toward the room they were in. It was pretty certain that this long ladder was an escape route. As an escape route, it definitely couldn’t have various restrictions; Lin Wu pressed the door handle, unlocking it.

Maya arrived, Lin Wu relayed the situation and asked, "Should we try friendly interaction, or shall we storm in?"

"Can we sneak in?" Maya didn’t want to interact or storm in.

"Let’s try. I’ll lead, you cover," said Lin Wu, looking up. "Where’s Lin Meng?"

"She walked down." Maya switched to the public channel to explain the basics.

Shana asked, "Do you need reinforcements?"

"Not for now. Engaging the armed guards head-on, even if we could win, would result in some casualties."

Shana, "But your goal is to find supplies."

Maya thought for a moment, "Then we sneak in and assassinate, switch to silenced weapons." She wasn’t clear on the situation here, thus she couldn’t be sure of their purpose.

Lin Wu had said before: All NPCs are to serve the players. The actual situation was indeed so, NPCs without players had no reason to exist.

While waiting for the foolish Lin Meng to come down the stairs, gunfire continuously came from deep within. As both grew puzzled, a guard ran toward the room, followed by a Blood Ferocious. The Blood Ferocious caught up with the guard and its sharp claw pierced into the guard’s neck from behind. The guard turned around, grabbed the Blood Ferocious again, and placed the pistol against its belly, firing continuously while shouting like a madman, covered in blood, "Die together, die together."

However, the Blood Ferocious’s health bar was tougher than he’d expected, it broke free from his hold and jumped aside. The guard fell to the ground starting to convulse, his last bit of sanity driving him to turn the gun on himself. Unfortunately, he failed, and soon he stood up turned into a zombie. Blood oozed continually from his neck, soaking his uniform and gear completely.

That Blood Ferocious walked around in the corridor; the zombie guard followed its rhythm, trailing behind it like a lackey patrolling the corridor.

Maya whispered, "See that on the ground? As the guard ran, he found the ID card on his chest swinging too much and tore it off, throwing it to the side—an action definitely not without meaning."

"I’m here," Lin Meng finally arrived, squeezing between the two and looking outside through the observation window, "What happened?"

Lin Wu peered over Maya’s shoulder and said helplessly, "Definitely something has happened."

Lin Meng asked in surprise, "Isn’t that a coincidence?"

"You fool, it’s because we’re here that we triggered a mission, that’s why something happened." Lin Wu, "Haven’t you played games before?" A kingdom is ever peaceful, but as soon as the main character tries to be a hero, the King dies. If no player enters the dungeon, the dungeon’s NPCs and monsters can coexist for eons. But as soon as a player enters the dungeon, the monsters start killing the NPCs.

Maya waved her hand, "Let’s go." Those two really talk too much.