Kingdom of Corrosion
Chapter 99 - 94: Lone Journey at the End of the World

Chapter 99: Chapter 94: Lone Journey at the End of the World

As the leader, Stone and Deputy Commander Maya were the first to receive the system message of Shana’s death, and they hurried to the command center together. Meanwhile, Lin Wu had just picked up his phone, which had been on silent mode, so he had ignored all their calls. Accompanied by the shaking of the camera and the sounds that came through, they knew that Lin Wu was also in trouble.

Three minutes later, Lin Wu shook off the horde of zombies and found a safe spot to take out his phone and contact the command center, "Shana is dead."

Stone answered, "Hmm," then turned to see that everyone had gathered around the command center.

Maya asked, "Lin Wu, what happened?"

Lin Wu replied, "It must have been Six Wings."

Horse Soul asked, "Must have been?"

Lin Wu said, "I wasn’t with Shana, I went to find Blind Bat."

Horse Soul said, "You knew she couldn’t protect herself, and you left her alone to find Blind Bat?"

Lin Wu explained, "I didn’t expect there to be a Six Wings."

Snow Egg said, "Even without Six Wings, she couldn’t have handled Frenzy. Maya group teamed you up hoping that you would handle these crises."

Their tones were quite intense, and Lin Wu didn’t want to argue because Shana’s death was indeed related to him. Lin Wu apologized, "I’m sorry."

Stone said, "Lin Wu, you should come back first."

"Feel good about coming back?"

This sentence was said in a subdued voice, and everyone wasn’t clear on who had spoken. Stone became furious upon hearing it, "Who said that? Have the guts to say it again? This is Apocalypse World, everyone who goes out could die, and Shadow’s grave isn’t the only one."

Stone looked around at everyone, but no one responded. Stone said, "Disperse, go to sleep."

After everyone had left, Stone said, "Lin Wu, be careful on your way back. Or find a place to rest, and come back during daylight tomorrow."

"Yeah," Lin Wu said, "Hanging up now."

"Okay," Stone ended the call and turned to Deputy Commander Maya, "Lin Wu is at fault, but he shouldn’t be held accountable for Shana’s death."

Maya nodded and asked, "He won’t just run away, will he?"

"He’s a man, not a boy. The fact that he can take responsibility for his mistake in the face of blame shows that," Stone said. "Why is suicide considered cowardly? Because it shows a lack of courage to continue living. Lin Wu is a responsible person; he won’t run from his mistakes, he’ll bravely face everything."

Maya was skeptical, "You had said before that Lin Wu was the most likely to go solo."

Stone explained, "Don’t you get it? Regardless of whether Lin Wu is at fault, if he thinks he is, he won’t go solo now. He’ll consider the loss that the base has suffered from losing Shana. For him to go solo now would be like committing suicide when facing setbacks, it is a way of avoiding reality and responsibility."

Though it was hard to understand, Maya grasped Stone’s point. Simply put, Lin Wu didn’t like taking responsibility, but when he did make a mistake, he wouldn’t deny it. As previously mentioned, Lin Wu didn’t like responsibility; essentially, he was a hedonistic bachelor. But if he decided to marry, he would certainly play the role of a husband and bear the responsibilities of one.

Stone said, "I can understand Horse Soul and Snow Egg. The two buddies kept encouraging each other to pursue Shana, and then the goddess is gone. It would be abnormal if they weren’t a little angry. You should go rest too, I’ll take care of this."

...

Sigh! Lin Wu scratched his head and heaved a sigh, Sigh...

How to describe Lin Wu’s feelings? To say he was sad, he was a bit sad, having been partners for half a month. But not very sad, firstly because it was just a game. Secondly, he did not regard Shana as that important to him.

To say he felt guilty, he felt a bit of guilt, having put Shana in danger. But not too guilty, first, no one had asked Lin Wu to protect Shana. Second, wasn’t it normal for people to die in an apocalypse game?

He also harbored some dissatisfaction, especially with that "Feel good about coming back?" comment. Why should he feel embarrassed? Lin Wu wasn’t about to empathize with someone who was in a bad mood and said that.

But the dissatisfaction didn’t last long, for in less than a minute, Lin Wu had forgotten the comment. He knew he could never satisfy everyone. It wasn’t just Shana’s death; even a hiccup could potentially upset someone. If he were to care about what those people think, he might as well not live.

Currently, the most pressing issue for Lin Wu was: Where am I?

Lin Wu had intended to retreat back to North Lake, but he walked a long time without seeing it. Fortunately, it was after all a park, so Lin Wu followed the road until he found a sign by the roadside, hoping it was a navigation map. Instead, it was a warning: Bears active in area, visitors without bear spray should return the way they came.

Park, I just want to ask, it’s okay to go back, but you put this sign by the roadside without any directions. How do I know where there might be bears and where there might not be?

Forward was an uphill path with stairs; backward, the path went downhill before climbing back up with stairs.

Guess: Since I didn’t see any bears on my way here, I should probably head back the way I came.

Turns out, Lin Wu’s brain was quite useful. After walking for 20 minutes, not only did he not encounter any bears, he also didn’t see many zombies. Only issue was, after 20 minutes of walking with no sight of any human structures and no navigation map, there seemed to be the false impression of an increasingly high altitude.

After another 10 minutes, the concrete road vanished, replaced by a narrow dirt path leading deep into the forest. It was then that Lin Wu was sure this was a trail heading into the mountains. Lin Wu just couldn’t understand. If he had retreated from North Lake, and after walking to the bear warning sign, then turned back, why hadn’t he seen North Lake? Instead, he’d ended up at the entrance to a mountain path?