Kingdom of Corrosion

The blizzard raged on for a whole day and night, during which Shana clearly showed signs of discontent with being trapped at the base. She couldn’t even sit still to read a book and could only find peace while carving. Lin Wu could understand her feelings—winter in this game was worse than being in prison, with the least consolation being that you wouldn’t be confined to such a teeny-tiny space.

Lin Wu’s situation was the opposite of Shana’s; he had his own ways of relieving stress. Aside from fighting zombies and reading, he could swim in the snow, count trees through a scope, and torment a piece of meat with ten different cooking methods. He even thought about cooking various types of zombie meat, but the thought was so revolting that he didn’t pursue it further.

Thankfully, with all of Lin Wu’s diversions, Shana managed to maintain a certain level of cheerfulness overall.

On the third day, the blizzard stopped, and as soon as the sun peeked out, the two set off on their journey to North Lake. Guide-dog Shana chose a shorter route, prompting Lin Wu to tease her that she was avoiding North Lake. Provoked by his taunt, Shana abandoned the shortcut. Lin Wu’s teasing had a point, as the route Shana picked was the one where he and Maya were slapped away by the Black Bear.

In preparation for another encounter with the bear, Lin Wu brought along rocket launchers today. In a nutshell, it was either the bear’s death or Lin Wu’s demise, only one of them could survive. Carrying the launcher was a hassle—the rocket launcher couldn’t be hung on the weapon rack, so he had to carry it on his back. The rockets either had to be held in hand or stuffed into the backpack. During the ski trip, the rockets in the backpack swung back and forth, causing Lin Wu to nearly fall multiple times.

This also demonstrated one of Lin Wu’s strengths—he approached many things with great enthusiasm. For example, skiing—while others would grudgingly learn it as a necessary skill, he treated it as recreational. It was because of this passion that his skiing skills were not low, which spared him from tumbling all the way to North Lake.

North Lake was not only frozen over but also blanketed with a thick layer of snow. Lin Wu peered at the cliffs on both sides with his gun, spotting dozens of Six Wings perched, waiting for prey to walk into their trap. Turning right at North Lake, they entered a small forest path where the skiing was challenging—steep slopes and narrow paths made it hard to push off with the ski poles. Both of them removed their skis and hooked them onto the straps of their backpacks.

From the back, Lin Wu with skis, rocket launcher, and rockets sticking out of his backpack, plus weapons all around his weapon rack, looked like a peacock in full display, which caused Shana who followed to laugh silently to herself. Lin Wu didn’t notice, as he was busy cursing Dawn—can you believe walking at a speed of 5 meters every 10 seconds still consumes stamina?

Each time Lin Wu pulled his foot out of the snow, his stamina bar would twitch and drop a notch, which made him especially nervous. What if a bear chased him? Thus, Lin Wu was ready for a head-on battle. He would first launch a rocket, then empty 120 rounds from his assault rifle, followed by another 120 from his pistol. If the Black Bear still wasn’t dead by then, he would be the one to die.

A signpost emerged slightly above the snow. Lin Wu brushed off the snow on top, revealing a warning about bear appearances. Lin Wu stopped and carefully searched the vicinity with a drone but didn’t find the Black Bear, only a dozen or so scattered zombies. The target of their mission was a relatively small Stone Mountain.