Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 945 - 409: Cooperation_2

Chapter 945: Chapter 409: Cooperation_2

The majority of the U-shaped building is a factory, part of which includes a long three-story building, mainly for administrative work and as a rest area for drivers and workers, including changing rooms and so on.

There was light on the third floor of the administration building, and that little bit of light was all there was in the vast logistics park. Maya led her group to the staircase of the administration building, where a girl dressed in camouflage was waiting to take them to the third floor. Instead of heading to the lit room, they knocked on the door of a dark room.

The door opened and they pushed aside the black curtain to find brightness within. In addition to the bearded man Maya had met before, there were two other people in the room. At the end of the room was a curtain, behind which was a metal bunk bed, clearly indicating that this place was not only their main base but also where they rested and ate. From the details, it could be inferred that Veteran Base had about seven people, which did not match the five people previously introduced over the broadcast. Perhaps they were hiding their strength, or perhaps they had recruited new members.

Lin Wu was curious why Veteran Base would allow everyone to enter their core command center and living area with guns. Maya told Lin Wu that she had identified herself as a survivor from the Railway Bridge Base, and after asking several questions related to the Railway Bridge, their caution was eased.

It was only after sitting down for a chat that they learned Veteran Base had already scouted the Railway Bridge Base, which was the closest to them. They’d not only sent out scouts but also monitored them with drones for two days. From the feedback, they had marked the Railway Bridge Base as friendly and somewhat capable.

Trust also stemmed from the conversation between the bearded man and Maya, representing the goodwill of Veteran Base.

After hearing the purpose of Maya’s visit, the bearded man immediately notified via walkie-talkie to call a meeting, then asked everyone to wait as all four of them left the room and headed to their exclusive conference room. Obviously, there were limits to the trust. Later, Lin Wu found out that Veteran Base had eleven members at the time. After they entered the logistics park, at least four hidden sentries were responsible for watching them.

About 20 minutes later, the bearded man and the girl returned to the room, first apologizing for leaving and then sitting down to say, "We can supply a batch of ammunition, on the condition that the two of us join your team, and I’ll be the team leader."

Maya said, "You don’t know them."

The bearded man replied, "And you don’t know us."

Lin Wu said, "You’re called Little Hu, and she’s called Little Girl."

The bearded man smiled and said seriously, "I have twelve years of military experience, with seven of those years as the captain of a special forces unit. She has an animal-like sense of smell and can detect danger in the air."

Maya looked at Lin Wu, who was indifferent, thinking it was no big deal if they didn’t agree. Nightmare, representing Blood Meng, nodded in agreement. Maya said, "Alright, we agree."

The bearded man said, "If you’re willing, you can hand over your guns to me. We have professional gunsmiths who can modify your guns and install accessories."

Nightmare asked, "When do we leave?"

The bearded man answered, "Is it okay to leave tomorrow evening?"

Maya said, "I would like to hear your plan first."

Little Girl brought over a map, and the bearded man explained, "We already know that raider groups are active in this area and also know that they have two bases: one is a community library, and the other is a truck. When they go out for reconnaissance and looting, they drive the truck, which contains motorcycles, bedding, and some food and water."

Maya said, "A truck?"

The bearded man said, "I get what you mean. Theoretically, because of traffic limitations, the truck’s range of activity is very limited. But for some reason, whether man-made or not, look at this road. This road is called Black Mountain Road, 10 kilometers long, threading through numerous streets and alleys. Both the exit and entrance of Black Mountain Road connect to the Northwest Ring Road. Their truck can move freely between Black Mountain Road and this stretch of Northwest Ring Road."

The bearded man continued, "There are basically no survivors in this district. They have always been using loudspeakers and fire to eliminate zombies in the area. Put simply, they’ve established a base of about 7 square kilometers using both the library base and the truck base. Their numbers exceed 25 people."

Nightmare interrupted, "Sorry to interrupt, but I think I have a reason to question how you know all this in such detail."

The bearded man hesitated for a moment before responding, "Do you know about the situation in the Eastern Base? You might not be aware, but there have been some deserters from the Eastern Base in the last ten days. Among them was one soldier who used to be under my command. He joined the raider group with two other deserters. Four days ago, they heard our broadcast and he got in touch with me through satellite phone, disclosing and explaining the situation."

Maya asked, "What was his purpose?"

Bearded man answered, "North City Base was established by some young ex-servicemen from the Veteran’s Club, just rookies who had only served two years of military service. North City Base was completely wiped out in an attack by a bandit group, and one of the deceased was his sister. He hadn’t planned on taking revenge, knowing he lacked the power to do so. But unexpectedly, he encountered the bandit group and even recruited them."

Bearded man continued, "His current job is scavenging fuel near the Library Base. He doesn’t know much about the bandit group’s truck base, and he’s only seen the leader once. The leader’s name is Nightmare; he’s primarily responsible for robberies and clearing out zombies. The deputy leader is named Starlight, a woman, and she’s in charge of all the work and personnel arrangements at the Library Base."

"Starlight?" several people asked in surprise. If the personnel from Sawmill Base are core members of the bandit group, that’d be interesting. Strictly speaking, whether it’s Starlight, Peanut, or Emerald Feather, Lin Wu still treats them as ordinary friends, and he gets along quite well with Peanut. As for Starlight, Lin Wu declined to comment, but he knew Starlight was a formidable woman in reality.

That explained why the lone demon Nightmare formed a bandit group.

"Do you know Starlight?" Bearded man asked.

"We do, an exceptional woman," Maya responded, "Are there people named Peanut and Emerald Feather?"

"I’m not sure about that," Bearded man replied after observing their expressions, "Should the bandit group’s leader actually be this woman called Starlight, not the guy named Nightmare?"

Maya nodded.

Lin Wu said, "I’m interested in killing Nightmare, not Starlight."

Blood Meng commented, "I’m fine with either."

Maya said, "Our stance is to prioritize eliminating Nightmare. As for Starlight...to be honest, we used to be friends. Later, we parted ways due to differing ideals, but we never became enemies."

Bearded man, being a soldier, saw things in black and white during operations, whereas Maya and her group spoke of friendships amid the grey areas, which involved personal feelings. Bearded man asked, "Maya, Lin Wu, does that mean you wouldn’t shoot Starlight yourselves?"

Maya nodded, "But we won’t stop you from shooting."

Bearded man nodded, "Good, I prefer to deal with villains first and then the nobles. It’s better to make things clear from the start, which is conducive to our cooperation."

After knowing Bearded man had access to a substantial amount of information, Maya said, "It’s not even midnight yet. If it’s convenient, we can leave now, no need to wait until tomorrow night."

Bearded man looked at Little Hu, who nodded, signaling she was fine with it. Bearded man said, "Alright," and after speaking, he pulled out a walkie-talkie, requesting someone to bring up ammunition.

Maya speculated that Veteran Base had a considerable reserve of ammunition, as with just a word from Bearded man, someone delivered 500 rifle bullets and 500 pistol bullets. Bearded man and Little Hu began to prepare, with Bearded man giving some instructions regarding the base to his comrades.

At 12:30 am, the squad set out.

By 7 am, they reached the vicinity of the last distribution point and set up camp under a water channel bridge. During last night’s march, Little Hu served as the vanguard, stealthily taking out zombies along the way, her movements skilled and her footwork light. Most impressively, she could even break a zombie’s neck with her bare hands without the need for a dagger.

After setting up camp, they took turns on watch in pairs, with one flying a drone and the other on guard against zombies. Lin Wu chose to take the same shift as Little Hu, asking her to teach him the technique of neck-twisting. Lin Wu didn’t find neck-twisting more practical than using a dagger, but it did seem cooler.

The other four cleared protruding stones from both sides of the water channel, laid out sleeping bags on them, and then lay down to rest.

At 5 pm, after everyone ate canned biscuits and drank water, the team continued on. Tonight’s target was the community housing the Library Base of the bandit group. They couldn’t determine a place to stay just yet and would have to decide when they got there.

The squad marched in silence, nearly refraining from chatting during the day to avoid disturbing others’ rest. Although there wasn’t much verbal communication, Bearded man appeared quite satisfied with everyone’s performance.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.