Kingdom of Corrosion

Although a bow can’t compare to a repeating crossbow, it is much faster than a standard crossbow. As for accuracy, that depends on the skill of the user. In the game, archery comes with a certain degree of assistive judgment. Simply put, the game effectively enlarges a zombie’s head by a factor of two; hitting anywhere in this enlarged area counts as a headshot. If it’s not a headshot, it’s meaningless—you could shoot a hundred arrows and still not kill the target. That’s why out of all weapons, archery is the most skill-dependent.

Before Lin Ma left Shadow, Little Knife’s archery skills were passable, all thanks to Maya’s supervision. Back at the Sawmill, she demanded that Little Knife shoot at a stationary target a hundred times a day. Little Knife had her own opinions on this, like how the target doesn’t move and such, but she never rejected Maya’s demand. It was later that Little Knife understood that shooting at a stationary target was about developing a feel for it and the mechanics of the action.

One arrow struck the zombie in the chest, another in the shoulder. Lin Wu watched from the side, shaking his head, "How have you not improved at all in these past months?"

Little Knife had no retort. Since Maya’s death, the opportunities for Shadow to go out and fight monsters had been scarce, with the focus primarily on building and stockpiling resources, hence Little Knife lacked practice in real combat and had given up on target practice. Was there really no chance for practice? Of course not. If Little Knife wished, she could practice her archery on the zombies near the safe zone’s edge without much issue. Even if some materials were wasted, she could recover arrows and potentially acquire basic materials by looting corpses after killing zombies – all in all, she wouldn’t be at a loss.

This is the result of a passive personality: without someone pushing them, they don’t take action. This situation is not uncommon in daily life, with students being a prime example. Unless assigned by a teacher, they’re highly resistant to taking initiative. It’s only with some social experience that they grasp the simplest truth: you learn for yourself, not others. People work hard all day long, not for others but for themselves, whether for a promotion, a raise, or just to keep their job.

Lin Wu didn’t know what to say. The person he usually interacted with was Maya; compared to Maya, Little Knife was an example of what not to do. After death stripped away her swordsmanship, Maya didn’t get discouraged. She kept leveling up, fighting monsters, reading books – she didn’t fall behind in anything. Lin Wu could be considered proactive; whether he was active or not largely depended on his interest, and whether he felt a sense of achievement. He enjoyed the feeling of Silencer cycling the bolt of a rifle, but without the precision of the kill shot, the headshot at the end, he lacked motivation.

At the very least, in Lin Wu’s view, the bow was cooler than any firearm.

After dealing with the fourth wave of the Blood Plague Squadron, Lin Wu called a halt; it was time for a break, and he didn’t wish to provoke the fifth wave and the Blood Plague Titan. He went to check on Lin Meng first, finding her in a much better condition than the day before. After checking her infection level, he let her self-administer the IV to control it, advising her to prioritize using up the 30% fake Serum needles made by Maya, the ’doctor.’

Little Knife casually drank some tea and went off to amuse herself. Perhaps spurred by Lin Wu or perhaps having an epiphany, she used her bow to clear out all the regular zombies around the breeding farm’s building. Although no great progress was visible, as long as she maintained her momentum, she would eventually transform into an archery expert.

The only question was whether she could keep it up.