Kingdom of Corrosion

Lin Wu stealthily entered the cave, stepping onto solid ground, and immediately, his feet were liberated. He gave Shana an OK sign and walked in with his assault rifle. The cave was about two meters and thirty centimeters high, the floor was wet and slippery, and the lighting was average. Lin Wu turned on his flashlight, rounded the corner, and smelled an even stronger scent—it seemed he might meet the bear at the next turn.

Lin Wu took a deep breath and considered whether to squat here for 10 minutes and then tell Shana that he killed 200 black bears but didn’t find the so-called dog chain? That was an option after all. He was doing it for Shana’s sake. What if he provoked the black bear and it hurt Shana?

It’s just death, right? What’s there to be afraid of? And it’s not just death—being slapped by a bear feels like a sheer contempt for power, especially when after slapping you, the bear doesn’t even deign to look at you directly. That kind of insult is extremely strong. Lin Wu convinced himself again, so what if he was humiliated? Even at the risk of being defiled, he had to go for it!

He peeked around the corner and quickly pulled back. There was another big hole at the side of the cave path, lined with dead branches, with a bear lying inside. Taking a deep breath, Lin Wu advanced again, then came back, damn, there were two. Taking another deep breath, going on and back again, there were three. Two adult and one juvenile, three black bears were lying in the nest asleep.

Continuing to inhale deeply, this time Lin Wu did not come back. He stealthily moved to the edge of the bear den and peered in, only to see a chain under the little bear’s bottom that seemed not to be a dog chain, but that didn’t rule out the possibility that this chain might be pretty thin.

Lin Wu held his breath, reached his hand out to grab the chain, and tried to pull it out. It didn’t budge, and he didn’t dare to use force, afraid to hurt the little bear. So Lin Wu shouldered his assault rifle, then, with his left hand, he lifted the little bear’s bottom. The feel wasn’t bad at all. Pfft!

Lin Wu tugged at the chain bit by bit, pulling it outwards. It was a black cloth strap. After pulling out most of it, he found it was stuck. Apparently, there was something else on the other end of the strap. Having come this far, Lin Wu could not afford too many concerns—as his left hand scooped under the little bear’s bottom to lift, his right gently pulled the chain out.

At one end of the cloth strap was something resembling a cross with many notches. Item description: Armored car key. This reminded Lin Wu of the tracks in Right County. Legend had it that there was a mysterious military train on the tracks, which was the highest command center fighting the zombie virus in Right County. But this place was tens of thousands of kilometers away from the tracks, so why would the key end up in a bear den?

The railway was built along the mountains, and black bears were common in the area. Perhaps the key was part of a bear’s dowry. One day, Shuai ran away from home after being scolded by his mother, and came to the beautiful lower farm, where he met the love of his life, Emerald Feather. Emerald Feather, who had just slain humans and acquired the key, fell in love with Shuai at first sight, convinced that she had obtained the lucky key. Eventually, Emerald Feather followed Shuai back to North Lake Park, and the two bears lived happily together.

Lin Wu interrupted the love story in his head, pocketed the key, and tiptoed away from the bear den. After hesitating for a while, Lin Wu continued to walk deeper into the cave. Soon, he had a basic understanding of the cave’s structure. There were a total of nine passages under the mountain, and although each one was different, all led to the center of the mountain.

In the central position, which was about twenty-plus square meters, there was another bear den made of dry branches. Unlike the previous dens he encountered, the den’s owner was not asleep. A huge black bear sat on the branches of the den munching on bright red berries, in front of it was a mountain-sized heap of berries. Aside from this bear, there was a dog, a dog with a collar on. The dog, while eating berries, rubbed against the black bear as if it had taken the bear to be its master or friend.