Kingdom of Corrosion

Lin Wu had just ignited the Molotov Cocktail when an explosion was heard at the front door; clearly, the front door had also set off the Exploding Carnage. Seeing the church become a hub of activity, the intersection couldn't be held back any longer, and the designated pitcher Tangtang began to hurl Molotov Cocktails.

One had to admit that incendiary devices were king. With one bottle thrown, the fire spread rapidly, burning a large hole in the zombie horde. However, the number of zombies at the intersection was simply too great, and the hole was quickly filled in. The Molotov Cocktails only served to give the defenders a breather to recover their stamina. Everyone's injuries and infection levels were slowly rising. The good news was that no Frenzy had been spotted, yet even so, the intersection wouldn't hold much longer.

In the face of the zombie tide, the effectiveness of blades greatly diminished, while that of bludgeons increased significantly. Maya had foreseen this and therefore allotted all the Molotov Cocktails to the Sharp Blade players. The main assault teams at the front and back doors no longer considered conserving supplies, tossing Molotov Cocktails at the zombies as if they cost nothing.

With the Molotov Cocktails, both the front and back doors of the church gained an advantage, and the zombies began to thin out. Now it was a race to see whether the zombies would breach the intersection first or the players would clear out the church zombies. If the zombies broke through, they would have to clear out all the zombies in the vicinity before they could establish a base, a task that was nearly impossible.

All seven players were seeing red, but, fortunately, there was the exceptionally calm Maya. She first checked on the defenders' injuries, then ordered, "Tangtang, keep back three Molotov Cocktails."

Tangtang replied, "Only the last three are left."

Maya commanded, "Everyone, fall back to the last defensive line. Light the Molotov Cocktails to block the zombies."

The fighters turned and ran, and Tangtang threw a Molotov Cocktail behind them, creating a fire wall that temporarily held back the zombie onslaught. A few unlucky zombies were pushed by their comrades onto the wall of fire and soon met their demise. As the first wall of fire began to dwindle, Maya ordered the second bottle thrown, then the third.

The three walls of fire allowed the fighters to regain some stamina. Snow Egg charged ahead, his hammer whirling and knocking down a swath of zombies, briefly stemming their advance. Maya, knowing that Stone and Snow Egg's infection levels had exceeded 70% and their health was at rock bottom, couldn't help feeling a sense of despair. Had she made a grave mistake? Looking up at the seemingly endless swarm of zombies, she felt overwhelmed.

System notification: The base is available for capture, condition: five or more people.

Maya shouted, "Stone, form a team." She herself picked up a long sword to fill the gap left by Stone.

Stone sprinted toward the church; the two attack teams ran out of the church and, after covering a certain distance, Stone sent out the invitations to form a team, four people agreed. Stone continued the process, selecting the leadership system, and confirmed the establishment of the base.

A flash of white light surged, the safe zone appeared, signifying that the base was officially established. Maya immediately called the defenders to retreat toward the church, yelling, "Grab some weapons!"

After the leadership system was established, everyone was left with only one melee weapon. Stone and the others rushed into the church yelling, "Where's the storage?"

Lin Wu responded, "This way." He was quick on his feet and had already reached the storage to claim a pistol, which Stone, of course, approved.

Armed with a gun, Lin Wu met up with the retreating defenders at the church's main entrance. He fired several shots, only managing to take down one zombie. Maya grabbed the pistol, but the system notified that the item needed to be stored before it could be claimed and hence could not be used.

Seeing it was too late, Maya hugged Lin Wu from behind, her hands grabbing Lin Wu's gun for point shooting, and the zombies that charged to within two meters fell one by one with the sound of gunfire. Soon, Cotton arrived with a second gun, and not long after, Tangtang joined the battlefield wielding a sawed-off shotgun. The zombie horde charged fiercely and closed in, allowing the three guns to unleash their full power. Within a two to three-meter range, every shot was a hit, each a headshot, and the zombies, which took a minute to disappear after death, quickly piled up like mountains.

In the midst of constant gunfire at the front door, Stone prioritized constructing a medical room, which would take three minutes to complete. Stone arranged for those seriously injured or with an infection rate over 50% to line up for the beds, with each person lying down for a minute first. Victory was in sight, and he didn't want anyone to fall before dawn.

When the medical room was completed, the gunfire at the front door finally stopped. For a full three minutes, two pistols and a shotgun had not ceased firing. Looking at the mountainous pile of zombies before her, Maya said, "Everyone report injuries and infections."

Lin Wu opened the character interface: "34% infection, 60 life points." Huh? Agility had increased to six stars, and he had acquired the skill: Quick Gunner. It consumed 15% stamina to lock onto a target and shoot within a 10-meter range. The skill was at level one currently, with a 15% chance of hitting the head. For players with extensive shooting experience, aiming directly would suffice, rendering Quick Gunner a useless skill. However, for a shooting novice like Lin Wu, the skill was a helpful aid; although the probability of a headshot was low, at least it ensured hitting the target and not missing entirely.

Stone, on the other hand, was worried about the first siege on the pinnacle church. The noise made by the three guns was estimated to be off the charts, and the intensity of the zombie siege would be very high. If it were just ordinary zombies, the three guns could still hold them, but if one or two Frenzy zombies were added, the pinnacle base couldn't escape a GG fate.

Maya rearranged the sickbeds, letting Snow Egg, with an 80% infection rate, lie down for five minutes, then swapped with Horse Soul. She had Stone expel Tangtang and Cotton from the base; they rushed back to the farm base to take turns lying in bed. Once their wounds were healed, they would dissolve the farm base, protect Su Shi to the pinnacle church, and complete the procedures to join the base.

Under Maya's arrangement and allocation, the farm and pinnacle bases' two beds miraculously saved eight injured, including five critically wounded. Four hours later, Su Shi abandoned the farm base and, protected by Tangtang and Cotton, reached the pinnacle church. Thus, the mission to capture the pinnacle church was completed without a single loss.

Through a battle at the edge of life and death, the integration of the farm base and Shadow base could be called perfect, as the members of both bases accepted each other, and all previous concerns vanished into thin air.

...

Everyone carried a basic pack, and upon storing the basic packs, they could make minor civil engineering adjustments. The pinnacle base was a medium to the small base, with nine building units, including two open-air large building units.

Stone gathered everyone in the medical room for a meeting to explain the base's situation: "Large units can construct powerful facilities, such as a field hospital and barracks. The field hospital can accommodate two beds, and the barracks can fit six beds. Also, because they are open-air units, we can build vegetable gardens and livestock farms, provided that at least one base member has skills in agriculture or animal husbandry."

Maya said, "The small units are for building dormitories, with a maximum of four beds. We have nine people, so we'd have to sacrifice three small units. I suggest we build a barracks and then use a small unit for a dormitory. That gives us ten beds, allowing us to recruit one more member."

Stone said, "Occupants of the open-air dormitory will suffer a 15% morale decrease." The problem was who would live in the open-air barracks and who in the indoor rooms.

Maya said, "Before that, I suggest we first assign roles. Support personnel can make do with living in the barracks, to ensure that we can maintain the morale of the field personnel as best as possible." Currently, the only pure support personnel were Stone and Su Shi, with the rest being combat personnel.

Stone said, "You handle the specific work assignments."