Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 865 - 378 Uninvited Guest_2

Chapter 865: Chapter 378 Uninvited Guest_2

Lin Wu was noncommittal; he was an atheist, but he respected secular religions because they respected him in return. However, Lin Wu knew that during the era on Earth, religious topics were more daunting than landmines. In any case, it was good that Xiao Wu believed in God, for at least in the face of death, he could remain more composed.

Surviving the next 60 hours was the primary concern—they would avoid disturbing the zombies in the parking lot as they served as the best blockade. Under these circumstances, the area available for scavenging was relatively small. Unlike in the game, any action taken here could lead to an injury.

For instance, Lin Wu trying to pry open a trunk, an action certain to succeed and risk-free during the gaming period. However, here, while the lock could also be opened, a careless move resulted in Lin Wu’s left index finger getting cut by the rusty lock. In the game, a mere glance at the wound would suffice, but in Hardcore Mode, there were no such tips; to prevent tetanus, Xiao Wu convinced Lin Wu to cleanse the wound with alcohol and bandage it simply.

This made Xiao Wu fully believe that Lin Wu was from the future, as Lin Wu was unaware of the existence of tetanus bacteria. Fortunately for them, Lin Wu truly was from the future, so most of Xiao Wu’s questions were answered.

Lin Wu explained, "Blue Star uses a bilingual system of English and Chinese. Verbal communication often uses Chinese, whereas written communication mostly uses English, mainly because some Chinese terms can be hard to understand and aren’t suitable for formal documents. Terms like ’negative growth’, ’the wealthy’, ’slow-marriage youths’, ’frictional unemployment’, and so on are being coined almost every day."

"What about public safety? Are there police?"

"Public safety is good; yes, there are police."

"And the legal system?"

Lin Wu said, "We have a system of intensified penalties for deliberate and violent crimes. For instance, robbery falls under both deliberate and violent crime categories, with the death penalty being the typical consequence if there are no mitigating circumstances. Theft of property is classified in two ways: premeditated theft, which starts at ten years, and opportunistic theft, which is considered lesser and usually just results in a warning. However, this opportunity is only given once; a second instance is not treated as opportunistically."

"What if I, say, accidentally took care of other girls after marrying Xiao Mei, and got into trouble unintentionally—ha-ha—you know what I mean. What would the punishment be?"

"There are no criminal penalties, but there would be severe civil penalties. If Xiao Mei agrees, you would have to give her everything you own and pay punitive damages annually, likely for about five years."

Xiao Wu asked, "Wouldn’t it be better then not to marry at all?"

Lin Wu nodded, "That’s true. However, unmarried individuals receive lower social benefits. Marriage allows for a fifty percent deduction in individual taxes, and families get priority in medical scheduling. Say you’re single; if you die, no one grieves, so you’re less likely to get prompt surgical attention. If you have a family, their grief means your surgery would be prioritized. Most people choose to marry since divorce is also straightforward. The law only prohibits infidelity among married individuals, not the unmarried."

Lin Wu was also curious about the current situation on Earth, and as the two worked and conversed, they didn’t feel lonely.

Day 4 was tranquilly uneventful until eleven at night.

By then, they were asleep, but were awakened by shouting from the parking lot. They got up, grabbed their weapons, drew the curtains to peek outside, put on homemade gas masks, and left the vehicle to head to the watchtower. The air quality was poor, and visibility was not high, but they could still make out three survivors fighting zombies at a distance of about 50 meters.

The survivors’ weapons were a baseball bat, an iron shovel, and a curved water pipe. Zombies, attracted by the noise, were converging from around, and the three had no chance of survival.

"How did they get in?" It was impossible to enter through the main or rear gates; the only way into the parking lot was over the fence. Considering this, both Lin Wu and Xiao Wu were somewhat worried, unclear whether the survivors had broken through the fence to enter. They weren’t worried about zombies using the breach but concerned that survivors might.

The three survivors soon joined the zombie horde. Xiao Wu said with a bitter smile, "My first thought wasn’t to rescue them but rather wishing they’d die quickly, so they wouldn’t run around and possibly draw zombies near our dwelling. I see my own kind, and my heart lacks compassion, lacks pity; I haven’t turned into a zombie, but my heart is even more ruthless than a zombie’s."

Lin Wu said, "You must love yourself before others; we need to go out and check the situation."

"Now?"

Lin Wu pointed, "They must have come from the southeast direction."

"Now?"

"Yes," Lin Wu said, "We need to understand how they got into the parking lot. Besides, zombies have much lower visual capabilities at night than humans."

"But their hearing is as good as humans."

"Let’s go."

"You are truly brave."

They crossed the warning line and alarm system, moving from the southwest position along the south side of the parking lot, nearly devoid of zombies. Midway, Lin Wu raised his right fist, Xiao Wu nearly collided with Lin Wu; peering forward, a humanoid figure was about ten meters away. It was unclear whether it was facing them or not, and they could only tentatively identify it as a zombie by observing its slight body movements.

Lin Wu crouched and watched the zombie quietly, leaving Xiao Wu utterly perplexed: Are you planning to kill it with laser eyes?

After determining the direction of the zombie’s head, Lin Wu gestured downward, telling Xiao Wu to wait, then slowly and carefully approached the zombie, keeping his body low. Accidentally stepping on small stones caused slight noises, attracting the zombie’s attention, prompting Lin Wu to duck down instantly, blending into the shadows.