Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 85 - 84: Hacker

Chapter 85: Chapter 84: Hacker

On the way back, Maya slowed down the vehicle so that the two could barely manage to communicate, but an awkward incident occurred during the process. To make sure Maya could hear him, Lin Wu had to lean close to Maya’s ear, and Maya would also tilt her head to respond, which resulted in a brief, 0.1-second peck.

After the touch, they were silent for a few seconds before Lin Wu found a topic, "Can the water from the Resurrection Spring be diluted?"

Maya said, "I think, I think not." What kind of lame topic is that?

Lin Wu grinned, "Stone is in for it again, another warehouse has to be dismantled." With the water from the Resurrection Spring, Stone had to dismantle a warehouse; otherwise, if someone died in the base, Stone would become the culprit of their death. The Resurrection Spring water was a consumable, and once someone was revived, the spring would just become an ornament, necessitating the dismantling and reconstruction of a warehouse. Moreover, dismantling facilities was one of the main sources of noise.

Not very good at small talk, Maya said, "A Titan must be dealt with after receiving four fatal injuries. To handle a Titan, powerful firearms are required. Either an automatic rifle or an anti-materiel sniper rifle. I worry that in future games, Titans might become as common as Frenzy, from rare to frequent."

Lin Wu said, "Judging from the vibrations felt before it appears, I think the Titan’s speed is lower than Frenzy’s. However, the sprinting speed of the Titan is on par with Frenzy’s."

Maya agreed, "The terror of Frenzy lies in its endurance and speed, while a Titan is stronger in strength. Besides, a Titan’s movements are substantial. It doesn’t need to deliberately summon zombies; it can quickly gather nearby zombies to join the battlefield. During combat, one must not get too close to a Titan, or they will be directly knocked to the ground."

Lin Wu said, "Yeah, the guy who got torn apart was really pitiful."

Maya replied, "It’s the system showing mercy. If it maintained the intensity of siege zombies combined with a Titan and a few Frenzy, we definitely wouldn’t have been able to hold up tonight. The Wanderer is wise, abandoning the base immediately when faced with a Seven-Star Siege."

Maya considered building Sentry Towers but the mountain top base was good in all aspects except for having too few outdoor building units. To build Sentry Towers, they would have to sacrifice either the barracks or the farmland.

Maya asked, "You and Shana have been to the county town, do you think we have a chance to capture the medium-sized base in the county town in just over a month?"

Lin Wu answered, "It’s very difficult."

Maya said, "We need a map of Left County."

Lin Wu asked, "Which building unit might have a map?"

Maya answered, "City halls, public buses and other transportation systems."

Remembering the bus station near the signal tower, Lin Wu said, "We could go again."

"What?"

Lin Wu leaned closer, "I said we could go again."

"Oh." Maya dared not turn her face, fearing another accidental kiss. If both had similar thoughts, such a thing would be sweet. If neither had such thoughts, it could be rather awkward. Of course, the worst scenario would be if only one of them had such thoughts.

...

At three in the morning, the two safely returned to the base. According to the Shadow Law: if Lin Wu went out at night, do not expect the base to be quiet until dawn.

"A purple treasure chest, Resurrection Spring water." As soon as Lin Wu returned to the base, he started shouting, so everyone in the base got up and automatically gathered around the backyard bonfire.

Stone was very cooperative and issued the items from the warehouse, intending to give a long speech to praise Lin Wu and Maya for the success of their trip. But upon seeing the Resurrection Spring water, Stone nearly burst into tears: another warehouse had to be dismantled. In a 7+2 base, 2 was a given. Of the 7 slots, four were occupied by the kitchen, dormitory, infirmary, and workstations, leaving three units for warehouses. Dismantling another warehouse would further reduce the base’s storage limit to only 40 points.

As Lin Wu had predicted, Stone couldn’t veto building the Resurrection Spring. Fortunately, after dismantling the warehouse, no resources overflowed except for gasoline. Su Shi made a batch of gasoline bombs; after using up the gasoline bags, the Resurrection Spring was constructed.

Maya arranged, "Tomorrow’s day shift will prioritize scavenging for building material bags. Tomorrow night, Lin Wu and Shana will make another trip to Left County." Constructing the Resurrection Spring required 10 building materials, and it needed one building material for maintenance each day. Stone also promised to give some building material bags to Invincible Base.

Due to overflow of materials, there were still four building material bags uncollected at the factory; to prevent others from taking them, these four had to be collected the next day. There were few players at Wilderness Farm, so there was likely still a good amount of food bags left. Medical bags were scarce, but only one medical unit was consumed per day, so there was no rush. As for ammunition bags, most had been turned into F4 by Su Shi.

The next act was opening the treasure chest.

Lin Wu was very humble, "I’ve already opened enough treasure chests..."

Everyone questioned, "One is enough?"

Stone immediately smoothed things over, "What he means is that others haven’t had a turn yet. How about we let Maya open this chest?"

No one objected, and Maya didn’t stand on ceremony, nor did she have the same sense of ritual Lin Wu had when opening chests. She simply flipped her hand and opened the chest. Inside the chest stood a spinning card. The opener, Maya, read aloud, "Hacker Skill Book."

"Ah..." Everyone expressed their regret. Compared to the Outpost Card that Lin Wu had obtained from a blue chest before, a Skill Book was really not much to rave about.

Snow Egg said, "Should I learn hacking?"

"Do you want to learn it, or do you feel obliged because everyone else has mastered Life Skills?" Horse Soul said, "You’ve always talked about wanting to learn Combat Supporting Skills, and hacking is clearly a support skill. Are you willing to stay at the base for long periods?"

"I... don’t know."

Seeing this, Lin Wu asked, "How about I learn it?"

Everyone was surprised, "Aren’t you a Hunter?"

Lin Wu glanced at Little Knife. Why are you surprised? Didn’t you forget? Seeing Little Knife’s suddenly realizing expression, Lin Wu felt like crying: indeed, he had forgotten.

Lin Wu explained to everyone, "I killed too many zombies today and gained the trait ’Knowledgeable’, which allows me to learn two Life Skills." As he spoke, he displayed the trait for everyone to see.

Maya couldn’t tell if it was true or false, "Well, the number of zombies Lin Wu killed tonight could fill a church hall, including some Frenzies. Oh right, Lin Wu was also the one who took down the Titan." The origins of the spoils had already been introduced earlier.

Stone wasn’t sure what to do and asked, "Snow Egg? Lin Wu?"

Horse Soul made the decision for Snow Egg, "Snow Egg is still waiting for a Combat Skill."

Snow Egg nodded apologetically. Lin Wu didn’t mind and took the card, "Learned?"

"Learn," everyone said.

The Skill Book card had an instant learning feature. The card disappeared, and Lin Wu opened the system interface. He looked at the Hacker Skill and was at a loss for words, his face conveying the difficulty of summarizing it.

"Say it," Little Knife couldn’t resist kicking Lin Wu’s foot.

Lin Wu skimmed through the lengthy introduction and said, "It allows for the creation and control of drones. Drones are divided into surveillance drones and all-in-one drones for checking and hitting. Surveillance drones require one block each of titanium alloy, carbon steel, aluminum alloy, magnesium alloy, and high-temperature alloy. The materials needed for the all-in-one drone will vary depending on the weapon attachments."

After listening, Su Shi silently walked to the crafting room, and after a long while, he came back and sat down, "Let’s first discuss the simplest carbon steel. It requires three types of materials, which are steel separation, cast steel, and Boiling Steel. To discuss the simplest, cast steel, one needs only 1 sheet of Refined steel, but it requires 20 units of cast iron. Each sheet of Refined Iron needs copper, aluminum, and tin – three types of refined materials – to produce one unit of cast iron. Refined aluminum requires scrap aluminum to be synthesized into aluminum blocks, and then refined to produce refined aluminum."

Lin Wu stopped Su Shi from reciting by heart, somewhat amused, "Got it. The second function is to upgrade the radio, which doesn’t require many materials."

Lin Wu showed it to Su Shi, who nodded in agreement, "Indeed it doesn’t. But we’re still missing some electronic components." They couldn’t possibly let Lin Wu be responsible for collecting the group’s materials.

Lin Wu said, "The third function is to make a personal computer. A personal computer can invade all kinds of systems. As for what those systems are and how to invade them, players need to explore that on their own."