Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 974 - 421: Differentiation

Who should go? Maya is not a suitable candidate for contact as she believes that communication is a waste of time, implying that doing is better than talking. As the boss, Stone does not hold a boss’s status at the base. Therefore, the best candidate would naturally be Shana. She can’t go alone and needs to have someone accompany her. If Shana needs two people to accompany her, there are many choices. If Shana only needs one person to accompany her, the choice could only be Lin Wu. After all, it’s a ten-kilometer journey, and who knows what might happen on the road.

Before leaving, Shana, Stone, and Maya held a high-level meeting with only one agenda: Southeast Refinery or Zhongcheng Veterans Club. The reason it’s a high-level meeting is that everyone can’t stand the lengthy half-hour meeting and excused themselves under reasons like needing a restroom break or going to see someone else.

Maya is particularly torn about this issue; the key is whether there is aviation kerosene at the Southeast Refinery. For fuel-guzzling armed helicopters, a fruitless trip would consume at least 30% of their fuel. But, discovering aviation kerosene would make helicopters a practical means of transportation for the base, given the expertise of Veteran Base specialists with helicopters.

To gamble or not? Stone and Shana left this question to Maya, asking her to give an answer by tomorrow morning. Recently, having a new toy, Maya has been too distracted to care about the base’s work, which Stone criticized tactfully. He was tactful because he was unsure whether the helicopter could be maintained. If it really works out, his criticism would hinder the base’s progress — wouldn’t that give Lin Xiaoren a chance to catch Xiao Bian?

...

On the second day, Day 98, it rained, bringing a hint of chill. As a bachelor, Lin Wu couldn’t really feel a temperature difference of 10 degrees and prepared to go out in yesterday’s clothes, only adding an undergarment at Xiao Yi’s suggestion.

Shana discovered for the first time that going out with Lin Wu was a mistake — he isn’t good at slacking off, but his results are surprisingly excellent.

"Keep going."

Wearing a raincoat, Lin Wu twisted his body and looked around cautiously: "I’m on alert."

Forget it, Shana also started slowly to hand-crank the car: "Hey, I’m saying we don’t have much time..."

Lin Wu: "You won’t die just because you reached Earth."

Tapping her umbrella a few times, Shana said, "After we leave, Xiao Wu and the others won’t be able to hold the base, it will eventually be swallowed by the Survivor Alliance or other bases. I have an idea, I want to recruit a batch of people before winter ends, five to six people."

Lin Wu asked, "Why are you so concerned about NPCs? You don’t even play the game anymore, still care about their life and death? Besides, we can still log into the game once we get to Earth."

Shana laughed: "Believe me, once you have money, you’ll find many things and events are more fun than the game. Don’t change the topic, what do you think?"

Lin Wu thought for a while: "Let Xiao Wu and them handle it themselves, there is a large number of survivors in the southern district. If not, there are also many in the suburbs. But I am not optimistic about the future of the railway bridge. We, as players, are tolerant of each other, but for them, it’s about survival. If you really want to play this way, you need to issue a legal document to regulate the operations of the base."

Lin Wu continued, "First, you need to confirm the system, whether it’s a Xiao Wu chieftain system or an electoral system. How to allocate work, how to distribute resources. Currently, we distribute based on need, everyone has face and won’t waste intentionally. But human nature is dark; for collective property, many people will adopt a free-for-the-taking attitude."

Lin Wu believes that the stability of the railway bridge is because the Shadow People are stable, and Shadow is stable because this is a game. From this, Lin Wu feels Shana is too sentimental, thinking too much, unnecessarily.

Shana posed a philosophical question: "How do you know that we are not NPCs of a game world? Perhaps society’s elites, successful people are players, and we are merely NPCs." Free players are the NPCs of paying players.

Lin Wu said, "If you ask for my advice, I have two suggestions. The first is to merge with Veteran Base, but Veteran Base has already been threatened by the Survivor Alliance. The second is to send people to Starlight before the end of winter. Starlight Base is more mature, with systematic management, public rules and regulations, and unfixed social strata. Speaking of which, why does Starlight have to care so much? She can completely build a small base."

Shana smiled, "Support wants to play DPS."

Lin Wu was puzzled.

Shana explained, "Starlight has always appeared as Sunlight’s support, always assisting and helping Sunlight. But in my opinion, she and Peanut might actually be true loves, decided to take on the main responsibility. Whether it’s Sawmill Base or Starlight Base, it’s just her testing ground."

Lin Wu asked: "Mismatched, can it be happy?"

Shana thought for a while: "It’s challenging, I hope she can manage well, achieving success both in career and family."

Lin Wu nodded and asked, "Who do you think will get the Ring of the Fortress? Maya?"

Shana said, "Maya has no right to compete for the Ring of the Fortress... No, I don’t mean that. Assuming Maya is the first among the top 5%, once she gets 51% of the shares of Earth Fortress Company, she will also lose her identity as a guard. The guards are not allowed to participate in any commercial operations. With Maya’s personality, she would definitely choose to become the commander of the guards."

Lin Wu said, "I heard from Stone that Maya could compete for the Ring of the Fortress and it wouldn’t affect her identity."