Kingdom of Corrosion

Before long, a zombie that moved like a dog leaped onto the roof of the pickup truck, and Lin Wu was certain it was the creature even Little Knife was wary of. All the zombies they had encountered thus far walked upright, but this one moved on all fours, and there were many features that set it apart from the other zombies.

Its eyes glowed yellow, unlike the cloudy white eyes of the regular zombies. Ordinary zombies would tumble after climbing over a one-meter fence, but this one effortlessly leaped about on the vehicle. Where the hands of a regular zombie were just hands, this one had sharp claws that glinted with a hint of crimson. Also, instead of the typical 'hungry' moan, it emitted a muffled growl that, though seemingly quiet, carried quite a distance.

Based on its movements, this Mutant Zombie resembled a human in the grips of rabies. In addition to this Mutant Zombie, there were more than twenty other zombies roaming nearby. Getting a hold of this vehicle was going to be extremely difficult.

Lin Wu said, "You were the first to spot it, name it."

Little Knife replied modestly, "That may not be true."

Lin Wu said, "Call it Big Knife."

Little Knife thought for a moment, then asked, "Agility?"

Lin Wu couldn't help but laugh and cry, "Not bad, very creative."

Little Knife also smiled and said, "It moves by knocking down its own kind without apologizing, and they even have to avoid it, it's quite arrogant and cocky."

Lin Wu asked, "Frenzy? Wild?"

As the two were naming the Mutant Zombie, Stone and Maya approached; they were only about two hundred meters from the base. Lin Wu went forward to meet them and ushered them behind a large rock, where Maya also caught sight of the Mutant Zombie. Maya took out a monocular from her backpack to observe, "Fierce Corpse."

Little Knife was surprised, not by who Maya was, but by the monocular, and asked, "May I take a look?"

Maya handed the monocular to Little Knife, who then passed it to Lin Wu after a glance. This was no monocular; it was an item-naming scope, revealing the names of the zombies. The ordinary zombies were labeled: Male Zombie, Female Zombie, Fat Zombie, Skinny Zombie. The name of this Mutant Zombie was Fierce Corpse.

Maya said, "We need to understand the basic data of each Mutant Zombie."

Stone objected, "It's very dangerous."

Maya responded, "Facing it prepared is far safer than encountering it by surprise. Only by understanding its traits can we be calm when facing it in the future."

Lin Wu looked at Maya, "Although I don't like you, what you're saying makes a lot of sense."

Maya, unfazed, countered, "Why do you dislike me?"

"Dislike, not hate," Lin Wu clarified. "You and the 5% I've encountered think on a level higher than the 95%. When we are immersed in the joy of a basketball game, you are analyzing the gains and losses of both teams, and how to score more points."

Maya answered, "Competition and thought are joys in themselves."

Lin Wu said, "Even when kissing someone from the 5%, you can feel they're not immersed in the happiness, but thinking. What about? If they're kissing well, my feelings, how to elegantly refuse to go further. I don't know if you understand, but it's a very hurtful emotion, the closer you get, the more it hurts."

Maya said, "Please forgive us. From a young age, we've been professionally trained to never stop thinking, except during sleep. It's a habit, as well as potential that the 5% must develop. Sir, let me remind you of a fact, the 5% may not hold power over Blue Star, but the 5% create 80% of society's value through outstanding contributions in science, education, medicine, and so on."

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Stone made a peacekeeping gesture, "Let's not argue over a topic that has been debated for hundreds of years without a conclusion."

Little Knife turned to Lin Wu, "How do you know she's 5%?"

Lin Wu answered, "Her name is Maya."

Realizing the implication, Little Knife glanced at Lin Wu, "Bias."

Lin Wu became agitated, "Hey, you're one of my countrymen."

Immature! The same word flashed through the minds of all three simultaneously. Stone changed the subject, "Maya, what do you think?"

Gazing at the Fierce Corpse from a distance, Maya said, "It must be faster than the other zombies. Lin Wu, I need you to lure it into the base's safe zone."

Lin Wu nodded, "No problem."

Stone added, "We have two guns."

Lin Wu reminded, "But only one sickbed."

Without directly responding to Lin Wu, Maya turned and elaborated, "Zombies during the day have a visual range of 8 meters and their hearing is worse than that of normal people. We need to clear a corridor of 20 meters to ensure Lin Wu can successfully complete his task."

Little Knife asked, "Do we just shoot them? Aren't you afraid of their screaming?"

Maya pulled out a crossbow, "I'll handle the screeching."

How annoying it was for her to speak so sensibly and considerately, which made Lin Wu involuntarily recall his ex-girlfriend. She used to be like that, arranging everything in perfect order. Initially, Lin Wu really appreciated his girlfriend's character. But he soon grew tired of it, finding himself disgruntled by his completely passive role in the relationship.

No one could understand why Lin Wu would break up with a girlfriend who loved him deeply and was remarkably outstanding. His girlfriend didn't understand either, she couldn't see what she had done wrong. At first, Lin Wu didn't understand himself either, not until after the breakup did he realize that he had reclaimed his sense of self.

For instance, his girlfriend had arranged an optimal timetable for his university courses, which minimized stress for Lin Wu and maximized benefits. Yet, Lin Wu just didn't like it, and couldn't articulate the reason, even though he passed every exam successfully, he felt no sense of achievement. After the breakup, though Lin Wu barely passed a course with great difficulty, he found immense joy in his heart because he felt the victory was truly his own.

...

The four of them began clearing the zombies, and when Maya got control of the Screeching Zombie, the difficulty of dealing with the regular zombies wasn't high.

In this process, Little Knife's way of killing the zombies deeply impressed Maya. Abandoning blunt weapons, Little Knife would grab a zombie by the shoulders and perform a throw, embedding its head into the ground. To execute this move, one must first possess the strength to seize and flip the zombie, and secondly the skill to bring it down while falling back oneself, concentrating the maximum force on the zombie's head.

When faced with an increase in zombie numbers, Little Knife would grab a zombie and use it as a weapon to throw at others, knocking down a group with each toss. Unfortunately, this move lacked lethality, and even Lin Wu didn't dare approach to finish off the downed zombies during such times.

The bad example was Stone, swinging his baseball bat to strike, strike, and strike, seizing the chance to beat a zombie a few more times in the hopes of killing it. When the number of zombies increased to three, Stone could only fight while running, optimistically calling it kiting, when in reality it was a race to see whether his stamina or the zombies would run out first.

Maya's crossbow was like a Divine Artifact, silent and deadly, and the crossbow arrows had a chance of being retrieved after use. Not only was it suitable for taking out targets quietly, but it also worked wonders with kiting tactics. The downside was quite obvious, though: its single-shot mechanism required almost two seconds to reload, and the slow flight of the arrows made it hard to hit Mutant Zombies with higher agility.

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