Kingdom of Corrosion

Following that little episode, the work pace of Group A dropped instantly. Snow Egg and Maya, following Lin Wu’s example, started rummaging through each new room, only beginning the demolition work if there was truly nothing to be found. The trio also boiled a pot of water with scrap wood to make tea, a convenience for drinking while reading. Unfortunately, after finishing all the books in 16 rooms across four floors, they did not find any more specialized books. Instead, they found two recipe cards for Horse Soul.

With the day’s work over and a break in the thunderstorm, everyone returned to the base. A lot of food ingredients had been gathered today, so Horse Soul immediately went to the kitchen to get busy. Learning how to cook was just the first step; producing the dishes was the only way to increase one’s maximum health by 1 point.

Due to the thunderstorm weather, everyone set up tables and chairs in the main hall of the church. Facing the oppressive darkness outside, everyone felt blessed to have electricity. After three dishes were served, Maya shared the day’s events with everyone, which made the main strategist Stone see hope. He would soon transform into a Hexagon Warrior, master thousands of skills, and become invincible...

Luckily, Stone was an old man and could content himself with a little daydreaming, keeping his thoughts to himself since he knew it was unrealistic. Even if he had the luck to learn a few Powerful Skills, would Stone dare to venture out? With his slow reflexes, a zombie might eat his brain one day.

Everyone gathered in the warehouse and took all the collected magazines, novels, and newspapers to the table for a night of reading by lamplight. After going through dozens of pounds of paper materials, not a single professional handbook was found. The passion rose quickly and left just as fast, and Little Knife suggested playing a zombie version of the game "Werewolf Killing" that she had developed. Everyone agreed enthusiastically.

An incident occurred in the middle of this; a player requested to join the base at the gate was refused by Stone. However, Stone agreed to let them rest for one night inside the base. Non-base players entering the base’s safety zone could not take any items from the base, and their weapon skills would be locked and could not be activated.

The next morning, under Stone’s guidance, the player headed to North Town. Little Knife was puzzled by this; the player had a good attitude and did not show dissatisfaction at not being taken in by the base, instead expressing gratitude for the overnight stay. Stone explained to Little Knife that, in contrast, the person was a great actor with not a shred of sincerity, skilled at flattery and playing up to others, a toxic presence for the team.

Still puzzled, Little Knife turned to Lin Wu, who asked, "If you had to flatter Stone every day, would you feel uncomfortable inside?"

Little Knife looked at Stone for a moment and nodded.