《The Rules Of Living On The Wasted Land》


 Chapter 1 - The Law of the Jungle

    Chapter 1 The Law of the Jungle


    10th July 2196, somewhere about ten kilometers away from southwest Dick Town. a


    ¡°Hey, watch it, you little rat, don¡¯t have any bad ideas. It is no trouble breaking your neck!¡±


    The shouting brought me back to reality. I took a look at the middle-aged man who talked with an air of arrogance. Unshaved and unkempt, also a little bald, he was in tattered uniform for guards from Dick Town nearby. There was a homemade rifle in his hand, which appeared to be full of rusty textures. However, a shiny glitter reflected from the muzzle made me believe without a single doubt that the rifle was indeed still usable.


    It seemed that the middle-aged man was the head of the others. They all followed him obediently.


    ¡°Not far, just follow me.¡± I got a bit bored.


    ¡°I hope your collection would be as valuable as your head!¡± The middle-aged man sounded full of irony.


    People like me were called scavengers. We traveled around. If we found a treasure, we would trade it as soon as possible. We barely hid them. I was lucky that I disguised myself well back then and fooled these people by bragging. Otherwise, my body would have long become animals¡¯ feces. Those mutant animals wandering in the wild were hungry as hell.


    In fact, there wasn¡¯t any collection at all. I was just buying time, looking for a chance to escape.


    ¡­¡­


    I had a really bad day.


    The mid-day sun was quite strong. And it made people more depressed with soil-colored gravels all around. In a discarded ditch near Dick Town, I encountered a strayed mutant rat.


    After exposure to radiation, mutant rats could grow as big as an adult hound. Their fur was dark gray, their eyes were always glowing quirky red lights, and their teeth were extremely sharp. However, although these mutant rats looked fierce, for a scavenger like me, they were only preys of entry level on this discarded hunting ground. It shouldn¡¯t be too tricky dealing with them.


    I pulled out the straight-ridge machete on my waist and stabbed strongly to the rat¡¯s eye with a rush. With its blood splashing, I could feel the point of the machete ripping the flesh open. After I drew out the machete from the eye of the mutant rat, a lot of foul blood mixed with foreign matters came out from the cut. And this beast died thoroughly after struggling slightly. Cold weapons were the first choice to deal with mutant rats. Their movement was fast. If I used guns to shoot, it would be easy to miss their vital spots. Moreover, for a scavenger like me, bullets were also scarce.


    Skins of mutated rats were ideal materials to make protectors. Elbow pads or knee pads made of them had excellent performances. Meanwhile, in the low-end market of Dick Town, they were in a way hard currency. They could be fully used to exchange some stale brown bread or a few bottles of exotic-flavored water.


    I took out my sharp skinning knife, squatted in the ditch and started to peel the rat carefully. Should I make a new pair of knee pads, or exchange it for some brown bread for dinner? That was a difficult decision to make.


    ¡°Hey, you in the front!¡± Suddenly, there came a yelling from not far away.


    I raised my head and saw some armed personnel with guns were coming towards me. Judging from their clothing, they were probably guards from the town. Damn it! Why were they here? These men were only called guards when they were still in town. Once they were out of town, they were no different from marauders.


    ¡°Bloke, tell me, what are you doing here?¡± A guard stood on the earth slope against the ditch looking down at me and asked with a loud voice.


    ¡°I am hunting¡­¡± Even though this was obvious, I had to answer honestly. Surrounded by these guards with guns, I didn¡¯t have a choice.


    ¡°Hmm, hunting?! Did you have our permission?¡± The guard didn¡¯t sound like asking¡ªhe was more like teasing.


    ¡°This¡­ needs permission?¡± I replied in a low voice and started to feel ill at ease.


    ¡°Of course! Without our permission, you are poaching!¡± The guard interrupted me right away with a righteous expression on his face.


    ¡°That¡¯s enough! Jones, why wasting your breath with a wanderer, just do it quickly.¡± Another middle-aged guard said with an impatient voice and hurried him.


    The guards took away my weapons and supplies. Then they pushed me down, hit me and made fun of me willfully. In the end, they pointed a gun at me. I guessed they were done torturing me and wanted to kill me. Even though I was humiliated, I didn¡¯t dare to fight back. In the face of upcoming death, I had to lie that I had hidden something good, which I could bring them to it in exchange for my life.


    The guard moved the gun away from me. However, I knew in my heart that eventually, they would end my life, whether I could hand in the collection or not. These men would never let off a possibly existing danger even though killing me was no harder than killing a flea.


    ¡°Bloke, I didn¡¯t know that you would have Anti-radiation Capsules (Qing Fu Ning), is that possible you have hidden more?¡± The middle-aged man turned to me and asked. But his eyes were still on the capsules in his hand.


    ¡°Yes, I have more.¡± I could only keep lying.


    Apparently, the half box of Anti-radiation Capsules on me successfully intrigued these guards. Who would not be interested in some medicine that could treat radiation damage? It was a rarity.


    In Dick Town, a box of Anti-radiation Capsules could exchange for five slaves, a service rifle with bullets or even a suit of hard shell armor made of mutant buffalo skins¡ªa local product in Dick Town. Either of these was a good choice. A few days ago, some businessmen were robbed and killed. I scavenged this half box of Anti-radiation Capsules around their dead bodies. And there was only half box left.


    ¡°Oh, my, this is awesome. Suddenly I feel the savage stink of you turn so much thinner.¡± The middle-aged man laughed out. It was a windfall for him.


    Without a word, I started to lead these men on the road in the wilderness. All the way they kept talking in whispers, from mutant fruit wine to wasteland women, they didn¡¯t even get tired.


    ¡­


    In half an hour, we passed a high mutated ruderal grass. I saw a sewer line outfall next to a dry river way. Bottle-green sewage with a foul stink came out of it from time to time and permeated into the rimous ground.


    Perhaps, my chance consisted in this intricately constructed sewer.


    ¡°A rat is a rat, even his living place stinks, are you sure it¡¯s here?¡± The middle-aged man asked holding his nose.


    ¡°People like me, we are lucky even just having a place to hide. Let¡¯s go.¡± While speaking, I jumped down to the dry river way and went below the sewer opening. Then I grabbed the rusty ladder and climbed up first. Although the sewer had existed since prewar, no distinct damage could be seen from outside of it. Its structure was relatively intact. But the floodlights on the sewer wall were already out of action because of the power outage. Of course, nobody could guarantee these floodlights could still function properly even if the power came back.


    ¡°Do you have a flashlight?¡± I asked the guards who came along. Apart from the exit, it was all dark inside the channel. It was impossible to see the way without a light.


    ¡°You don¡¯t have a flashlight? Then how you enter and exit?¡±


    ¡°Before I only used oil lamps bought from the town, you know they are cheap, flashlights are too expensive for someone like me.¡± I had to find a reasonable excuse, but that was also true.


    Batteries were scarce, but not because there was no way to produce them. The ones in Dick Town were commodity brought by some trade caravan from the north. According to some men from the trade caravan, the north owned great power and took control of numerous factories prewar, where the batteries were from, but the output was comparatively limited. Batteries were valuable in Dick Town. One of them could exchange for a certain amount of food and ammunition. For defense affairs, the mayor of Dick Town equipped the guards with flashlights and a few batteries.


    ¡°Wretch! You are such a troublemaker.¡± The skinny man took out a flashlight from the hanging bag on his waist and handed it to me. In the meanwhile, he mocked me along.


    ¡°You lead the way, and don¡¯t try anything,¡± the middle-aged man said and put his gun against the back of my waist.


    ¡­


    A bunch of people moved forward at a slow pace in the sewer full of foul stinks. And the sounds of footsteps and splashing water made people sick. I didn¡¯t like this feeling.


    I knew nothing about this sewer. As far as I could see, it was intricate. If I could make full use of it, it might be my only hope for escape. If it were in the wilderness, I guessed my head would be shot into pieces before I could even run too far. After all, it wasn¡¯t just one gun pointing at me behind. It was several guns.


    After walking for ten minutes, we saw a small room in the corner not far ahead. Its iron gate was open. Looking at the collecting pipelines on the top ceiling, I assumed that it should be a switching room, which was designed for centralized maintenance of lines and maintainers to have a short break.


    Wola~hoo-ha~


    The moment we saw the switching room, waves of water suddenly clattered down from the channel behind us. It seemed something was approaching. I started to feel uneasiness. What would be in this gloomy sewer? Mutant cockroaches or mutant rats? Or would it be other adventurers?


    I looked back and saw the middle-aged man and another guard take out a flashlight, shining it to the channel behind. All the guards pointed their guns at the sound source. At this moment I was somehow neglected, but I didn¡¯t have any weapon with me. And this was how being trivial made me feel. I turned to see the open iron door to the switching room and suddenly came up with an idea.


    A horrifying sound of hiss appeared. Then a huge mutant snake with two gigantic head sprang out from the corner of the sewer. The head was as big as a grown-up human body, wagging tongues as if they were long whips. It was apparent that the guards had never seen such a terrifying creature. Their faces turned pale. And they took a step backward all together. Even their guns trembled because of their shaking hands.


    Yet I underestimated these bloodthirsty marauders. After getting shocked in the beginning, the weapons in their hands seemed to help them gain their confidence back. Perhaps, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to kill a mutated snake like this. The guards raised their rifles and aimed at the mutated snake. Looking up at the green eyes like fists, I felt scared.


    ¡°Fire!¡±


    After a short confrontation, the middle-aged man gave the order to fire. Sparks kept coming out of the muzzles of their homemade rifles, which was abnormally visible in this pitch-black sewer. Although the mutant snake twisted its body when hit by the bullet, it was just a natural reaction under attack. The horrible thing was, the bullets didn¡¯t do much harm to this huge snake. I even saw some scattering sparks. That must be caused by the bullets hitting the squamas.


    The attack was in vain. What came to the guards was the desperate counterattack from the mutant snake. Seeing the snake swirling its body coming at us, I ran without thinking. Those homemade rifles were no longer useful in this situation.


    ¡°Ah!!!¡±


    Soon enough there was screaming. I looked back and saw a guard get bit by the mutant snake. That was the skinny man. The sharp teeth of the snake impaled his chest and his body suddenly shook in a weird way. When the snake loosened its mouth and withdrew its teeth, I saw dark green liquid coming out from his chest¡ªthat must be the venom from the fangs of the snake.


    This terrible scene made the other guards start running for their lives. One of the guards probably got too scared and he fell down on the ground when he turned around. When he rushed to stand up again, he got entangled by the snake. The snake tightened his body so fast that I could hear his bones being dislocated. The guard cried in great pain and soon he died bleeding from his nose and his mouth.


    I rushed into the switching room, closed the iron door and leaned my body against it tightly. The guards who followed kept bumping at the door and swore at me. Each time they bumped, the door cracked a lot. But they couldn¡¯t open it. However, they had to quit bumping shortly and ran away fast after the snake went close to them.


    A grating sound went through outside the iron door. I knew that was the mutant snake leaving to chase its prey.


    Soon it was quiet again. I could finally give a sigh of relief.

 Chapter 2 - From the Outside of Dick Town

    Chapter 2 From the Outside of Dick Town


    Nothing was better than the feeling of surviving a disaster.


    Ordinary weapons could hardly cause substantial damage to mutant snakes. Their thick scales were as hard as iron plates, which minor-caliber guns couldn¡¯t break through, not to mention these self-made weapons. Maybe only the assault rifles or shotguns equipped by Dick mayor¡¯s escort could break through these scales. I had seen in person that mayor¡¯s escort encircled the intruders who hid in a tin house with assault rifles, and rows of bullet holes left on the wall still fresh in my mind. No one knew where the mayor got these weapons. It was said that he only was a robber before.


    It had been quiet outside for a long time. I opened the iron door carefully to make sure that there was no danger around. Then I went out of the distribution room and returned by the way I came.


    Passing the place of the previous battle, I saw a corpse lying on the ground. Although it looked more like a pile of rotten meat, it was the guard whose seven orifices bled before. I had not been too averse to bloodshed because of long-term killing, but I still felt that such a way of death was really tragic. Near the corpse, I found a combat knife. This knife had a dark alloy body and its groove was almost the same length of the whole body, and there were multi-functional barb sawteeth on the knife back near the handle. Compared with the machete which missed several holes I used beforewhich, this knife was obviously much better. I could not help practicing it and then inserted it into the scabbard with satisfaction.


    In the guard¡¯s worn backpack, I found a burst grenade. It had perfect pull ring, unrusted grip, and clear anti-skid lines. Yes, it was a powerful explosive grenade. I did not know why this fool didn¡¯t use it just now and I did not believe that a snakehead made of meat would be harder than a blown-up grenade.


    The guard¡¯s homemade rifle was tightly squeezed with his body. The barrel had been badly deformed and he looked more like a kebab now. I was sure many looters would be interested in the meat. They were always hungry and not choosy about food.


    After searching the guard and taking away his belongings, I left the sewer which didn¡¯t take me long time. It was getting dark. I had to hurry back to my hiding place because dark nights were dangerous for a solitary scavenger.


    My hiding place was in an abandoned farmhouse which was located about five kilometers southwest of the town. There was a basement entrance in a pile of collapsed roof waste. I had stayed here for nearly two years. It was mainly because of the strong concealment that I, a scavenger, could stay here for such a long time.


    When I first found this abandoned farmhouse, I just wanted to find some useful things, even a few pieces of waste wood. But unexpectedly I found this basement. The basement remained unmanned after the war, and the ground was covered with thick dust. A couple of rusty farm tools, a wooden bed that had fallen half by worms, and some useless sundries were all the things in the basement. For me, a shelter was worth far more than guns and scarce medicines.


    In Dick town, it¡¯s hard to imagine that one can own a private residence entirely unless you¡¯re mayor¡¯s right-hand man or you¡¯ve done great things for Dick Town, oh on, for the mayor. Of course, if the goods you pay are valuable enough, you can also change for a residence. Although it¡¯s just a house made of algam and woods, at least it¡¯s safe compared with the slaughters outside the town.


    I didn¡¯t stop along the way and went back to the ruins of the farmhouse before dark. I carefully checked the warning traps laid out at the entrance and found that they haven¡¯t been triggered, so I went back to basement with relief. Human beings wandering on the Wasteland were extremely cunning. With a little inattention, we probably would be ambushed by them, even though we were in our hiding places. Hence, I had to keep vigilant all the time and setting simple warning traps was commonly used method.


    Lying on a heap of weeds, I thought of Old John and fell asleep soon.


    ¡­


    Sunshine shined through the cracks at the entrance to the basement. It was a new day on the Wasteland.


    I decided to try my luck in a small abandoned heat-engine plant nearby. The drunken old man in the town tavern said that the Dick mayor Famas, after the establishment of the town, had taken all the remaining materials from the power plant and exchanged powerful weapons with the large-scale trade caravan from the north to make his fortune. However, Farmas only searched the coal yard and some worker dormitories at the beginning. When he entered the wastewater treatment plant, he encountered very strange things and fled in a hurry after many people were killed and injured. Back in town, Farmas commanded some people to block the thermal power plant, forbidding anyone to enter. Of course, some venturers who claimed to be brave had tried many times to explore the thermal power plant. However, none of them who went into the plant appeared again.


    High risk meant high return. And what dangers had scavengers not experienced? The attacks from mutants, the robberies from predators, the raids of mutant humans, and legal robbers who wore fiber combat armor and claimed they¡¯re Free Army. Unfortunately I had experienced all and fortunately I survived.


    I wrapped the handle of the combat knife with some rough strips. I did not want to be killed by others when I was fighting because knife slip from my hands due to sweat in hands. After all, the handle was too smooth. With some air-dried mutant beef and half a bottle of exotic-flavored water, I climbed out of my hiding place and headed for my destination.


    Along the way, except several mutant rats from a distance, I only saw weeds and dead woods. I, only with a knife, couldn¡¯t deal with several mutant rats. Being torn into pieces was the only result for me if I was surrounded by them.


    On the door of the thermal power plant, the iron letters of ¡°Coussens Power Plant¡± had already been rusted. And the doors and guard rooms had been occupied by weeds. However, I didn¡¯t see anyone. I could not tell whether the mayor had asked someone to block the power plant.


    Without too much thinking, I entered the factory and what I saw first was the administrative building. Like many abandoned buildings, the exterior walls of the building had been covered with vegetation. And inside the building, almost all the rooms looked same. There were peeling walls, rotten desks and chairs, moss everywhere, and yellow and mouldy papers in drawers. Looking at these ruins, I frowned. Although I didn¡¯t hold much hope, I was still disappointed that I couldn¡¯t find anything useful.


    Of course, I would not give up so simply. Experience told me that something could be hidden in any unexpected place. A picture of unrecognizable content was hung on the wall of the manager office of the top floor. I removed it and found a secret compartment in which I took a large-caliber revolver, a box of pistol bullets, a strange card and a notebook.


    The revolver was well preserved. Except for the yellowish-brown anti-skid wood on both sides of the handle, the whole body of the revolver was covered with silver-white metallic luster. A logo ¡°Colt Anaconda¡± was carved on the barrel, and the ammunition storage capacity was six rounds. This was a pistol of the biggest caliber I had ever found, and guns made in small workshop couldn¡¯t be compared with it.


    The packing box of bullets was a bit worn-out, but sign of ¡°.44 11.1mm¡± still could be seen on it. I opened the packing box, there was a layer of kraft paper wrapped around the bullet inside. After removing all the packages, I found the bullets in front of me were different from the bullets of rifles I have seen before. These bullets were not sharp, but rather flat, and the middle of it seemed to be hollow. If sharp bullets were more penetrating, then I was sure these flat bullets could kill the enemy at close range.


    I filled the magazine with bullets and appreciated it for a while. At close range, ordinary combat armor could not completely block the bullets fired from large-caliber guns. And this gun could easily break through mutant snake¡¯s thick scales I experienced yesterday.


    I put back gun and took out the slightly yellowed notebook. I simply thought it was just a notebook of the plant manager. However, I was shocked by what I saw when I opened it.


    ¡°March 2, 2177. An outsider who tried to enter the wastewater treatment plant was executed today. He repeatedly said he had seen nothing after being caught. But who knows? Only the dead can¡¯t talk.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°April 1, 2177. The automatic defense equipments applied by general institute have been installed. Incidents like what had happened last month should not happen again.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°August 5, 2178. A soldier who was attacked by ghouls on patrol was brought in today. A large piece of flesh was torn off his cheek and he has almost mutated. The mutation stopped after he was injected the inhibitor which was tested yesterday. However, the soldier died directly and the experiment failed.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°March 5, 2179. Today a group of robbers came. Their leader who was called Farmas asked us to hand over valuable things. Ha! As a result, several of them were shot in head by the automatic gun tower, and then the leader knelt down to beg for mercy. It was so ridiculous. However, in order to prevent similar situations from happening in the future, it¡¯s good to command this leader to drive away some intruders.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°May 3, 2018. Farmas dared to demand more. Maybe he had forgotten how he beg for mercy before. It seemed that I should teach him a lesson, hey!¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°September 3, 2180. Today the mechanical guards which was on patrol sent data to us that they had killed two outsiders who tried to break in. There are eight intruders plus these two.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°December 20. 2180. The general institute suddenly asked us to evacuate today. But there was still no response from the several experimental bodies who have been injected with our newly developed drug. We were unwilling to leave. It seems the laboratory have to be sealed up temporarily.¡±


    The note ended here, and I figured out why Farmas had escaped, why he had blocked here and why those venturers had disappeared. What a big discovery! But it seemed that the notebook was of no use to me, so I put it back. And I did not know what the use of that strange card was, so I put it in my pocket randomly.


    When I was about to walk out of the manager office, sound of braking came from the factory gate. I quickly squatted down and came to the window. There was a pickup truck parked in front of the factory gate. Although the appearance of the pickup truck looked worn-out, there was no doubt that it was the truck that stopped just now. Two people stepped down from the car. One man wore goggles and slightly raunchy combat armor which was old-styled Cave Combat Gear from its appearance. He held a weapon of peculiar style which I had never seen.


    The other was a young woman with short black hair and gray, slightly tight uniform. Was a blue eagle embroidered on the chest of clothes? Some small cloth bags were hung on her tactical belt and an unknown type of pistol in the holster. The woman was beautiful. I had never seen such a beautiful woman in the Wasteland. Those women who sold their bodies for food in Dick Town or in the gathering places of scavengers are inferior to her, so to speak, to a bedbug. I was sure that if such a woman appeared in the slave market, she would be the most expensive slave, not one of the most expensive slaves.


    I had never seen them before. And they were not from some places near Dick Town according to their clothes.

 Chapter 3 - The Hidden Laboratory

    Chapter 3 The Hidden Laboratory


    They spoke loudly. I guess they did not even have the slightest clue that there were people around them.


    ¡°Fanny, I¡¯ve told you long ago- the task the higher-ups gave me of protecting you was far too simple. Just now, there were a few vagrants in the town that wanted to fight. Ha! I sent them to their maker with few pulls of my trigger! The only pity is that I dirtied my fighting gear in the process,¡± said the man who was armed rather happily, as he patted his bulletproof vest.


    ¡°Soldier, let me say this once more! Watch how you address me! It should be ¡®officer¡¯! Also, shape your attitude up! We¡¯re now on a task, and there¡¯s danger everywhere!¡± said the black haired girl know as Fanny in an icy tone. Evidently, she was a little angry.


    ¡°Furthermore, if you hadn¡¯t taunted them in the first place, would they have struck? I¡¯ll write this down in my report after this mission¡¯s over,¡± Fanny continued. She drew her pistol from her waist and followed the small path which circled round the factory toward the Factory District. The armed man scratched his head somewhat awkwardly but still picked his gun up and followed after her.


    I cannot guess their motives, but according to the journal I read in the manager¡¯s room, perhaps their appearance has something to do with that matter of the waste water management plant. I decided to follow both of them to find out, and went down the block quietly, following them from a distance with bushes as cover. We walked past the weed-filled small path of the Factory District and a few big towers, before they arrived before a spacious factory building. A huge amount of animal and human carcasses were strewn nearby the entrance of the building.


    ¡°Officer, are you sure¡­ that this is the place?¡± asked the armed man in an extremely serious tone. Even the weapon in his hand began to appear formidable.


    ¡°That¡¯s right, the marking on the map points to this factory building,¡± Fanny said. She sounded very sure of herself, but she still took out the map to seek confirmation.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯ve a feeling that we¡¯re being served as food to some wild beast. Will be turn into crap later?¡± said the man; even as he was observing the surroundings, he could not help teasing his superior.


    ¡°Shut up! Maintain your vigilance!¡± Fanny replied coldly, as distant as usual. The armed man really did not know how to adapt- did he not know that ice queens such as her did not like joking the most?


    At this moment, a chilly voice was transmitted from the loudspeaker above the main entrance of the building, ¡°Please produce your personal identification card. You have 30 seconds to do so. Non-employees should leave immediately, otherwise you¡¯ll be removed by force.¡± The center plate at the bottom of the entrance twisted open to reveal a rectangle-shaped receptacle, and at the same time, a few sentry gun towers twisted out of the surrounding floor space of the building in a similar fashion, the muzzles directed at the two strangers. Fanny appeared unflustered even when facing the guns and drew out a card from her waist pouch and slotted it into the reader.


    ¡°Identity verified,¡± a voice prompt said, as the main entrance of the factory building began opening up slowly. The sentry gun towers went back into concealment; it was as if they had never appeared before.


    After both of them walked in, the entrance shut itself automatically. By this time, my curiosity was already uncontrollable, and I took out the card I found in the manager¡¯s office from my pocket for a look. A gold chip with special markings on it was embedded on the card, and it looked like the same color as the woman¡¯s.


    With the card in hand, I walked up to the main entrance and just like I expected, the voice prompted me to insert my identification into the reader, which I did.


    ¡°Identity verified.¡±


    I heaved a long sigh of relief. To be honest, the carcasses around me made me feel uncomfortable, and if were not for the card in my hand, I would not have chosen to take such a risk.


    As I entered the factory building, all I could see were mostly some rusted factory equipment. Of course, I would not believe it if anyone told me such tight security was only meant to protect these pieces of scrap. I spotted the shoe prints in the dust-covered floor and followed them, circling around a big pile of discarded equipment until I finally came to a cabinet made of galvanized steel that was more than two meters high. I opened it carefully and noticed that there was a gate made of alloy inside, along with a identity card reader to the left of it. I inserted my card in the reader, and the gate slowly opened; I could not help but grip the gun in my hand tightly.


    After the gate was completely open, an underground passage appeared in front of me, a slightly pungent smell emanating from it. The lights on the wall of the passage were still on, surprising me. It was in the shape of a semi-circle and seemed new- its surface must have been coated with some special paint. Its roof was covered with various types of pipes and cables.


    I walked down a long flight of stairs, arriving before the entrance of an underground facility. There was many rubbish strewn on the ground before me, and many equipment that I have never seen before were placed in the rooms at the sides of the passage. I searched the rooms carefully and found some military grade adhesive tapes, batteries and some useless yellowing journals. I was pleasantly surprised to find a few cartons of bottled water in a room shaped like a canteen, and they bore the mark of ¡°pure water¡±. I opened one bottle, took a sip and found no strange taste. It was extremely refreshing, and the pure taste even made me a little intoxicated.


    Such pure water was extremely rare to find- only filtered water was sold in Dick Town, and the filtration devices were already somewhat old. Even though water filtered from such devices would not kill anyone, there was always an indescribable weird taste which accompanied them; in fact, I had a half bottle full of such water in my tattered backpack. Although I could not bring all the bottles of pure water with me, as long as I had the identity card, I could always come back. I flung the bottle of strange-tasting water away and filled my backpack with a few bottles of pure water.


    I then walked out of the staff canteen deeper along the passageway, and this part of it was pitch dark- the lighting circuitry in this area had already been damaged. I had no choice but to fish out the electric torch I got from security yesterday. I passed through the dark passage until I reached its end, where there was a lift. I hesitated a little as I looked at the indicator lights which were still on, but eventually I still pressed the button.


    I entered the lift, and there were a row of buttons labeled ¡°levels one to basement five¡± on the control panel in the carriage. Of course, since my motive was to scavenge for any useful resources, I would not directly start from the bottom most level. I pressed the button to the ¡°basement one¡± level.


    ¡°Clunk¨C¡±


    The entire carriage stopped suddenly just as the lift began to start, before it began to descend extremely quickly. A piercing sound of metal scrapping against metal accompanied my descent, and my heart nearly stopped. Could I be any more unlucky? Terrible mutants could not kill me, and the devious raiders could not stop me, yet I was going to get smashed into pulp in an old elevator that had not been maintained for years? The sudden loss of gravity made my knees weak, and I prevented myself from falling by supporting my weight with my hands against the walls of the lift carriage. Just when I was sure that I was going to turn into minced meat, the lift stopped suddenly. This time, however, there was no way I could remain standing, and I fell.


    I sat down, my legs devoid of strength. It was only after a while before I got up gingerly and picked up the torch that had dropped to the ground beside me, shaking my somewhat groggy head.


    Damned elevator!


    I had to think of a way to get out of the lift- who knew when this rotten piece of junk would continue descending again. This concerned my life! I tried all the buttons on the control panel to no avail; the lift would not respond, and I had no idea which level I had descended to. I rubbed my palms together and tried to force the doors of the lift open, but they would not budge an inch. I looked around the carriage and saw the emergency exit hatch at the top- all I needed to do was to press the latch at the far side of the protective panel to release it. The roof of the carriage was too high for me, and I probably could not reach it even if I tried jumping. Furthermore, I did not dare try doing that in this piece of junk. All of a sudden, I could do nothing.


    I sat in the carriage and there were strange sounds coming from the outside of its roof. Was it a mutated cockroach? What was that? The confined space made me feel frustrated for no particular reason at all. There was no point waiting, however, and finally I decided to give it a shot. I took out my revolver and took aim at the hinge of the lock to the control panel.


    ¡°Blam!¡±


    The huge roar of the gun in the confined area nearly deafened me. Luckily, the lock was destroyed with one shot, and the protective plate fell off, exposing a rectangular hole which allowed a person to squeeze through. I took off my oily short sleeved shirt made of coarse cloth and tore it into strips, linking them together with knots. I then removed all of the bullets from my revolver and tied one end of the rope to its trigger guard. Even though I could not create a grappling hook, my improvised device had the same function.


    Grabbing on firmly to one end of the string of cloth, I tossed out my gun from the escape hatch and heard it clunk on the roof of the lift¡¯s carriage. I began pulling downward, and the revolver fell back down the hatch. After repeated attempts, I finally managed to secure the gun outside of the carriage. I tugged a few times to test the tolerance of the cloth and began climbing up with my arms.


    After climbing out of the lift¡¯s carriage, I saw that there was only one cable left supporting it- the others had snapped. The lift had gradually stopped because the wheels at its sides were distorted and jammed in their tracks. I lifted my head to look and saw that the lift had stopped between the fourth and fifth basement levels. As I was standing at the roof of the lift, I could easily reach the doors of the lift entrance on basement four, and I pried them open with a little force. Finally, I could leave this damned elevator.


    I sat at the entrance of the elevator, feeling lucky that I could escape from my ordeal. When I lifted my head up, however, the scene before me made me tense up and draw my weapon instantly.


    Blood! A fresh trail of blood began from the entrance of the lift up till the dark spots where the beam of my torch could not reach. I could even see discarded, blood-soaked medical gauze nearby.


    Danger was nearby!

 Chapter 4 - The Way Down

    Chapter 4 The Way Down


    I did not see any emergency exit near the lift, and it seemed that this underground laboratory was designed with the intent to protect each level¡¯s uniqueness. As to what this motive was meant to achieve, who knew? Grudgingly, I could only follow the trail of blood forward- perhaps the wounded person had a way of escaping from this hellish place. After all, he or she should be more familiar with this laboratory than me.


    The trail of blood led me past a few big rooms until it disappeared as I reached another gate of alloyed steel bearing the symbol of medical treatment. I believed the wounded person must be inside this place, but I hesitated as I stood before the gate. Perhaps, if I was trespassing, I would be beaten into pulp the moment the gates opened.


    ¡°Is there anyone in there?¡± I asked loudly, smacking the entrance. The echos reverberated clearly around the dark corridor, but there was no reply.


    ¡°Hey! Is there anyone in there?¡± I repeated, this time using more force to knock. 30 seconds passed with still no response, and as such, I took out the identity card to open the gates.


    Just at this moment, a woman¡¯s voice came from the intercom of the identification reader, and she sounded a little weak. ¡°Who are you? Why are you here?¡± the woman sounded full of doubt. Perhaps, in her eyes, no one could enter such a heavily fortified place without proper identification.


    ¡°Cough¨C I¡¯m just a scavenger from nearby who happened to chance upon this place,¡± I said. It did not sound convincing even to myself- a scavenger, finding this place by luck? Obviously impossible.


    ¡°What I want to know is, why did you appear here!¡± the iciness in the woman¡¯s tone intensified, evidently displeased with my half-hearted explanation. Fine, I thought. I still have to rely on her to escape from this accursed place, no matter how much I hate her coldness.


    ¡°I found a card in the manager¡¯s office and really reached here by accident. I came here to find resources,¡± I said. For a long while, there was no reply from the intercom.


    ¡°The elevator¡¯s broken down, do you know how to get out?¡± I asked again. I was getting impatient, as I hated staying in the dark for a prolonged period.


    At this moment, the metal gates suddenly opened and I raised my weapon. Similary, another black muzzle was staring right back at me, and the woman was Fanny, just as I had expected. We stood there, standing off against each other, and she swept her gaze up and down my body, making me feel uncomfortable.


    ¡°Why are you undressed?¡± Fanny asked, her sudden question making me feel somewhat embarrassed. ¡°That¡¯s right, all you vagrants are the same. Raggedly looking, covered with filth and dirty,¡± she continued.


    Vagrant? Seems like she really was from out of town- everyone around Dick Town called us scavengers. I looked around the room and did not see the armed man- Fanny was alone, and I had no idea where the soldier, who was supposed to protect her, had went to. It was at this moment that I noticed Fanny¡¯s arm was covered in gauze, and I could still vaguely see fresh spots of blood. Also, her action of raising her gun had caused the blood stain from her wounds to grow.


    ¡°I bear no ill will. I just want to get out of here,¡± I explained, trying to dissolve the tension. I then kept my gun as a sign of goodwill, and Fanny shifted the muzzle of her weapon away from me after a moment¡¯s deliberation. She lowered her head slightly, and I could not figure out what she was thinking about.


    ¡°Don¡¯t you need these things?¡± I said, pointing at the huge amount of medical supplies left behind in the treatment room. There were packs of blood plasma from universal donors, morphine and anti-radiation capsules, and there were even large amounts of medical products rarely seen even in big chain stores.


    ¡°I don¡¯t need them,¡± Fanny replied. Just as well. I stuffed those slightly rarer medical products into my backpack, and finished looting quickly under her disdainful stare. If I could make it out of here, I could barter for better gear using these expensive items.


    ¡°Do you wish to get out?¡± Fanny asked as she stared at me.


    ¡°Er¨C that¡¯s right,¡± I replied. Her stare was making me uncomfortable, but I still replied firmly. Her tone, though, sounded a little strange.


    ¡°Fine, follow me then.¡± Fanny walked straight out of the treatment room after she finished speaking, and I had other choice but to follow behind her. She remained silent while walking in front of me, but her gun hand was slightly cocked, perhaps as a cautionary measure against any possible danger that might suddenly appear. I did not question her about the whereabouts of her male companion, as I could not guarantee if she would not turn around and shoot me if she knew I had been tracking her all this while.


    We circled around a few rooms and passed through a narrow corridor. Fanny had brought me to a vast equipment storage room, and I had never laid eyes upon such kind of items before.


    ¡°My companion is at the fifth basement level, and I need to link up with him below,¡± Fanny said, voluntarily offering news about the man¡¯s location.


    ¡°How can we go down? By using the equipment in this room?¡± I asked, feeling lost- I could not see any large drill-like machines here.


    Fanny did not reply but instead she walked up to a piece of equipment and fiddled around with the machine, continuously stripping its parts away, eventually removing an item the size of half a palm from it. It looked familiar, and I had seen it sold by merchant caravans before, but I was not sure what it exactly was. I remembered that it was pretty costly to purchase, and a scavenger such as myself totally had no way of buying such an item.


    ¡°It¡¯s a nuclear power cell. One piece can keep these machines running for many years. Most importantly, it¡¯s very potent if it explodes,¡± Fanny said. She seemed to be muttering to herself, but I knew her words were meant for me. Perhaps, she thought that there was little chance of a vagrant knowing what such an item was, and there was some haugtiness in her tone.


    ¡°What are you planning to do?¡± I asked, immediately regretting my question. I had an uneasy feeling that this crazy woman was planning to use the explosion created by this power cell to blow a hole up somewhere.


    ¡°Blow up the ground. We can only go down a level by this way,¡± Fanny replied, making herself perfectly clear that without a doubt, she was planning to create an explosion. ¡°We can ignite it by gunshot or using other explosives,¡± she added. ¡°Let¡¯s go. We should find another spot- if this place blows, so would the other nuclear power cells in the other machines.¡± She then pocketed the power cell and left the room without even pausing to observe how I looked after hearing her insane plan. Even though I was reluctant, I still had to follow her lead, and we left the equipment room and came to a rest room. Fanny decided that we would ignite the nuclear power cell in it.


    ¡°You do the igniting. I¡¯m wounded and can¡¯t shoot straight,¡± Fanny said, as she passed the nuclear cell to me. She had found the perfect excuse.


    Bullshit! I cursed silently. If the explosion was as powerful as she described, would I still be able to escape from such a big room?


    ¡°Can I refuse to do that,¡± I said. Even though the chances of her accepting were slim, I still had to ask.


    ¡°If you still wish to return back to the surface, you¡¯d better act fast,¡± Fanny replied with a look of impatience before walking out of the rest room.


    It felt awful to be in the control of somebody else, but just like she said, I could only follow her instructions if I wanted to leave this damned laboratory. perhaps, I could threaten her in some way, but everything was still uncertain, what with the still missing man. Sigh, it would still be better for me to find a way to safely ignite the power cell.


    I dallied around the room for a while, and had no choice but to take out the fragmentation grenade from my backpack. It was of pre-war design, and would only explode four or five seconds after I released its safety pin. They were sold in the weaponry shops of Dick Town, but they were far too expensive- even a bundle of mutated rat skin could possibly not even be worth half a grenade.


    I secured the nuclear power cell and retreated back to the entrance of the rest room. I then took a deep breath and released the safety pin, throwing the grenade in an arc toward the battery before turning tail.


    ¡°Boom¨C¡±


    There was a loud explosion, and also another loud sound which came at nearly the same time. I leaped to the ground immediately, the shockwave of the explosion making my head giddy and my chest feel extremely uncomfortable. My ear was filled with a buzzing sound, and I knew that I had gone temporarily deaf. I turned around and lay on the floor for at least 30 seconds before struggling to sit up by supporting my weight on the walls. The power of the explosion was beyond potent! I had nearly been killed by this woman.


    I turned to look at the direction of the rest room, and three of its walls had already been blown off, while the only one left standing had a gaping hole. A huge hole with a diameter of approximately two meters had been blown away from the floor, and the entire room was in a state of chaos.


    At this moment, Fanny appeared, and she looked surprise after noticing me sitting on the ground, alive. She opened her mouth several times but I could not hear her. I pointed to my ears, signaling that I had lost my hearing. She waved her gun hand indifferently and walked to the edge of the hole in the ground, leaping down after observing the lower level for a while.


    It looked like my hearing would be gone for a while, and I had no choice but to follow suit. The ground of basement five was about four meters below the floor of the rest room, and I was still feeling unwell from the blast. My legs grew weak as I leaped, and I nearly performed a somersault.


    Other than those surrounding the blast radius, all of the lights on the walls of basement five were still switched on. Fanny was squatting at the corner of the corridor at this moment and she peaked her head out to look at the other end. I walked toward her, and she seemed to notice my footsteps and hurriedly turned back and signaled for me to squat down with her hand, before placing a finger on her lips. Even though I did not really understand her motive, I still followed suit and duck walked to the corner of the corridor before peaking out in the same manner as her.


    It was ghouls!


    That¡¯s right, I caught sight of a ghoul, and there were two of them to boot. They looked exactly like the monster diagram pasted in the tavern of the small town.


    Ghouls were actually humans who survived the nuclear blast by sheer luck, but their faces had been destroyed and their outer layer of skin badly burned. Not only had over exposure to radiation and radioactive rays killed them, it altered their physiology miraculously, giving them the ability to live for centuries. Their lifespan had far exceeded that of normal humans, but as time passed, their features would become more sinister and scary. Their brains had also been affected by the nuclear fallout, and they would gradually lose mankind¡¯s gift of autonomous thought and turn into savages. They would become bloodthirsty and violent, instantly attacking any living creature they saw. If the blood of a human was tainted by the poison of a ghoul, he or she would rapidly turn into a ghoul.


    As I saw the two ghouls approaching slowly, I gripped the revolver in my hand tightly.

 Chapter 5 - Exploding Flesh

    Chapter 5 Exploding Flesh


    About 20 meters away from us, the two ghouls suddenly opened their murky eyes wide and turned violent all of a sudden. They then began running toward our corner of the corridor with big strides.


    This is bad, we¡¯ve been spotted!


    Fanny immediately raised her weapon and fired. The ghoul in front was hit and stumbled, a black fluid spurting out of its chest. Another bullet flew across its face, taking off a huge chunk of rotting flesh along with it, exposing its mutated, razor sharp teeth. It did not fall, however. The bullet had only slowed it down slightly, and it leaped toward Fanny in a frenzy again.


    Because of my temporary loss of hearing, I could not hear the huge roar of my revolver and could only feel its terrible recoil. The round from my gun hit the second ghoul on its upper arm, the huge impact instantly breaking its arm, and its foul blood immediately spurted out. It did not fall as well, and the sudden loss of its right arm did not even slow its speed down in the least.


    I believed Fanny¡¯s wounded right arm was affecting her aim- why else would she have missed a few times at such close range?


    The bolt of Fanny¡¯s gun suddenly extended, signaling that there were no more bullets left in it. Just as she was reaching for an additional magazine in her technical belt, the ghoul had already charged in front of her. The revolver hit the ghoul that was about to pounce on Fanny, and huge chunks of blood and flesh burst out from the exit wound in its neck. Its head was about to fly off from the impact, but it was still connected to the ghoul¡¯s neck by sliver of flesh and ended up hanging off its back after being tugged back down. It was as dead as it could be. Before I could fire off a third round, the other ghoul had threw Fanny on the ground and opened its mouth, wanting to bite off her flesh with its sharp teeth. Fanny was quick-witted, however, and stuffed her empty gun into its mouth, temporarily stopping it from biting her.


    The ghoul squirmed violently on top of her, and there was no way I could take good aim. As such, I drew out the combat knife from its sheath on my thigh, pressed its head backward and stabbed my knife into its eye. As it passed cleanly through the ghoul¡¯s head, plenty of its brain matter came spilling out from the back, and it stopped moving after twitching violently for a couple of times. Fanny¡¯s neck was covered with the ghoul¡¯s filthy blood.


    Many wanderers were adepts in knife fighting. After all, there was little chance of them getting to use a firearm, mostly due to the prohibitive cost of ammunition. Most of it was left to their unscrupulous fellow humans and mutants who knew how to use firearms. The most common form of danger to these wanderers came from smaller sized mutated creatures in the wild, and ordinary firearms had little effect on these rapid creatures- they were better off using knives.


    Fanny pushed the ghoul¡¯s corpse away and climbed up, wiping her neck with a look of disgust.


    ¡°Your marksmanship is nothing to shout about,¡± she said, not thankful that I had just saved her life. That said, since I could hear her, it meant that I had regained my sense of hearing, even if the first words I heard after being able to hear again were so unsavory.


    ¡°If it weren¡¯t for my wounds, you wouldn¡¯t even have a chance,¡± she continued, a look of superiority on her face. She did not care how I felt and fished out her handgun from the ghoul¡¯s mouth, before reloading with a magazine from the ammunition pouch hanging on her waist, as if I were not there.


    This woman is really full of herself. Perhaps, in her eyes, it was a disgrace to be rescued by a vagrant she despised, and I started to take a real interest in her identity. She was prideful to the core, wore clean clothes, could handle a firearm, and was extremely knowledgeable about machinery- she must be somebody important. In the wasteland, people could kill each other for a bottle of clean water, but this was somewhat comical when she was in the picture. That¡¯s right, we would not even be fit to drink the water left over from her shower. It¡¯s not comical, but rather, pitiful.


    ¡°Take the lead, I¡¯ll guide you along,¡± Fanny said. I shrugged my shoulders, completely unable to tackle her. We left the corridor where we met the two ghouls and went past many other passageways and rooms. Even though we remained alert along the way, we did not encounter any more ghouls. However, this strange, quiet ambience only lasted until we walked into a meeting room. It was then that I heard the insane roar of a man coming from behind the walls of the room.


    ¡°This noise¡­ is that your companion?¡± I turned around to ask Fanny.


    ¡°Damn it, he¡¯s been surrounded!¡± Fanny sounded anxious upon hearing his shouts, and she pulled the door of the room open, wanting to dash inside without any hesitation. However, when she opened it, a few ghouls that were standing behind the door turned to look toward the source of sound. The man with a gun was lying on the ground behind them, and a few other ghouls were ripping the flesh off his body. Evidently, he had already died.


    ¡°Run, quickly! What are you stoning out for!¡± I shouted loudly at Fanny as I ran, raising my revolver and shooting the ghouls at the same time. The woman¡¯s legs, however, seemed to filled with lead, and she still had not moved. Was she struck dumb with fear upon witnessing the gory sight of her companion being eaten? The ghouls, however, paid no heed to whether you were stunned or not, and very quickly, they had already leaped in front of her.


    ¡°Bam!¡±


    I blew off the head of the ghoul running at the front of the pack with one shot, and I was sure that the brain matter that exploded out of its skull would have splattered on Fanny¡¯s face. She began moving, perhaps because of said gore from the ghoul, and I saw her about to raise her right arm, but the other ghoul close behind its deceased companion flung her unto the ground. Fanny kept squeezing the trigger of her weapon as she pumped bullets into the chest of the ghoul, but it had no effect.


    I killed another ghoul, but it was too late. The suppressed Fanny could only afford to cry ¡°Help¡± once before her throat was bit off by the ghoul on top of her. Her screams of terror and pain turned into the gurgling of blood as it spurted out from her wound. Her eyes were wide open and her body twitched violently for a few seconds before her head slumped to the side and she lost her breath.


    The two ghouls that were on top of her did not notice me drawing close- they were busy feasting on the tender flesh of Fanny. I shot them at nearly point-blank range, disrupting their joyous meal time. The two gunshots finally raised the attention of the other ghouls, and the one that was feasting on Fanny¡¯s male companion stood up slowly, turned around and stared at me with its green, murky eyes.


    I lifted my arm without hesitation and fired off two rounds in quick succession, instantly taking away half of a ghoul¡¯s head. Blood and sticky matter flew out, creating another explosion of carnage. I quickly took aim at the other ghoul and pressed the trigger, but there was only the slight sound of the firing pin hitting air- the gun was empty. Without a speed loader, it was difficult to reload a revolver at high speed. As such, I threw the gun on the ground and drew my combat knife.


    I tried to shut the door again, but the corpse on the floor jammed the entrance. I could only force it shut until a gap of about a person¡¯s body was left, but it was enough. Upon hearing footsteps draw closer, I could not help but grip the hilt of my knife tightly.


    Suddenly, a ghoul stuck its head through the door crack, its eyes glowing green. Its skin was rotting and shriveled slightly, and its mouth was stained with fresh blood. Without hesitation, I stabbed my knife into the ghoul¡¯s mouth, piercing through to the back of its skull, with bits of its flesh on my arm. It stopped moving, and I released my grip on the door and pulled out the combat knife from its mouth before I kicked its still erect body away, knocking it into the path of the second ghoul that had come leaping toward me. I went up and stepped on the ghoul¡¯s chest, squatted down and stabbed my knife violently into it¡¯s eye socket. It did not gasp in pain and stopped moving after twitching for a few times. Just like this, I had killed all the ghouls present.


    I turned around to look at the late Fanny and her male companion lying in the corner, before eventually deciding to confirm their deaths with a supplementary stab into their skulls- I did not like surprises. I picked up my discarded revolver and reloaded it slowly with bullets from my pocket.


    Now that both of them were dead, my next major problem was going to be how to leave this place. Of course, if the woman had not been lying to me, there would be a way out to the surface at this level, but the question was where was this passageway? I was completely unfamiliar with the layout of this underground laboratory and could not help but scratch my head- I was completely clueless as to how to proceed.


    Right¨C Familiarize, woman, map!!!


    A message suddenly appeared in my mind, and I thought about what the woman had said at the entrance of the waste water processing plant. I searched through her pockets and waist pouch, managing to find a map from a small pocket of the pouch, along with an identity token engraved with her full name- ¡°Fanny Darcy¡±. I took her pistol and both magazines along with me.


    The man¡¯s chest had been completely torn apart, and his ribs were exposed. Even though it was a little disgusting, what have I not seen before? Perhaps just the sight of human flesh being consumed. I picked up the strange weapon dropped at his side and took aim at a target far away before squeezing the trigger, but there was no reaction from the gun. There was a rectangular slot at the top of the gun, however, and its shape was somewhat similar to the nuclear power cell I used to blow the rest room apart. I¡¯d still better keep this, I thought. It must be high-grade weaponry, and I bet I can get some valuable items from exchanging it.


    It would not fit in my backpack, and I could only sling it behind my back. There were some compressed army rations in the man¡¯s pocket, along with a identity token that said ¡°Jones Magdalene¡±. After keeping my loot, I opened the map and there was a mining shaft indicated on it which was shown to lead to the surface. It was situated at the northwest corner of this level, beside a store room. My current position was not too far away, and I could arrive there after passing through two corridors a few dozens of meters long and another few more rooms.


    I pocketed the map and advanced toward the exit.

 Chapter 6 - Full Armed (1)

    Chapter 6 Full Armed (1)


    I didn¡¯t encounter any ghoul on the way to exit.


    These ghouls were experimental subjects whose number would not be too large. And the sound of Jones¡¯s fighting has attracted ghouls, which at the same time caused the tragic death of him and Fanny.


    I did identification at the exit, but the gate didn¡¯t open immediately. As the prompt voice sounded, an option appeared on the screen of the access control system: ¡°Are you sure to open the escape door? After opening, the laboratory will be destroyed automatically in five minutes.¡± I didn¡¯t want to stay here for one more second, so I chose to open the door with any hesitation.


    When the iron gate was opened, I saw a shaft, which should be the exit. Grabbing the rusty ladder, I climbed quickly and climbed out of the wellhead after opening the top metal cover. The exit located outside the southwest wall of the thermal power plant, about 200 meters away from the thermal power plant.


    I returned to the solid ground. Standing by the wellhead, I was silent. I didn¡¯t care about Fanny¡¯s death, it was just¡­ it was a pity that I couldn¡¯t take away so many goods and materials.


    Before turning around and leaving, I took out two identity cards from my pocket, held them in my hand for a while, and finally decided to throw them back into the shaft.


    Before long, the ground suddenly began to shake slightly. I could not help but squat on the ground, seeing that the houses in the thermal power plant collapsed one after another, the ground continued to sink, and the dust soon spread throughout the whole plant. When everything went quiet, the factory was left in ruins. Looking back at the Wasteland in the dusk, I felt familiar with that. This was the Wasteland where human beings lived.


    I went back to my hiding place before dark, set up warning traps at the entrance, and then fell asleep.


    ¡­


    The sky in the Wasteland world was always somewhat dark and the daytimes were particularly long.


    Breakfast was half a piece of military compressed cereal bar. I never felt foods found on corpses are taboos, so did anybody. It tasted bad, but it was much better than the brown bread sold in small towns. The brown bread tasted bitter and astringent, just like eating bark. Maybe the owner of the workshop made it with the bark. With my full packed backpack, I was going to Dick Town to change for some equipment today. If I encountered a merchant caravan from the north, maybe I could get some better equipment.


    In front of the gate of the town, the guards on duty did not cross-examine me too much. They opened the gate directly to let me in, not forgetting to tease me.


    ¡°Hey, boy, did you pick up a backpack of china today? We don¡¯t accept antiques, you know.¡±


    ¡°Ha-ha, it¡¯s better to pick up some excrement and give to Old John to fertilize potatoes. Maybe he¡¯ll give you some pieces of brown bread!¡±


    ¡°I guess you want to be lectured. You don¡¯t even wear clothes in the early morning. It smells bad. I¡¯m sure those fat girls won¡¯t like you.¡±


    ¡­


    Guards often killed boring times by teasing someone. Of course, they only teased scavengers just like me, who were bedbugs in their eyes. The scavengers were frequent visitors to the town, they always came here to change for some brown bread or buy a few bullets. Those guards knew that we were not powerful.


    Dick Town was surrounded by simple and crude fences which was mostly made of old iron sheets and woods, and mainly used to defend against the attacks of mutant creatures. Most of the dwellings were built next to the fence, and all of them were simple tin houses. As long as the wind blew, the sand would go into the houses along the cracks. Weapon stores and taverns located in the center of the town, which was also some places where residents of the town and scavengers nearby often gathered. Mayor Famas¡¯s residence was a three-story building lied in the most central place, which also was the tallest building in the town, with a heavy machine gun perennially erected on the roof.


    Yes, it¡¯s my familiar Dick Town.


    I walked into the weapon store. Because it was still early, only bald owner Powell was there. Powell was a middle-aged man in his forties. An inch-long scar was on his left cheek, which showed a bit of ferocity of him. And the lower part of his left leg was a prosthesis. Now, Powerll, in a grey overalls, was sitting in front of the tool stand of the shop, fiddling with the parts in his hands, as if he were refitting guns.


    Perhaps hearing the footsteps at the door, Powell raised his head.


    ¡°Sir, do you accept this gun?¡±


    Saying that, I took down the strange long gun from my shoulder.


    I heard that Powell was a mercenary in the North before. In a sneak attack, he was ambushed by the enemy because of misinformation. Faced with enemies who were several times more than his teammates, he had to break through the siege desperately and was shot in the calf in the fierce battle. Although he succeeded in escaping in the end, he was forced to amputate his limbs because the wound hadn¡¯t been cured in time. And Powell ended his career as a mercenary. As for the reason why he came to Dick Town, maybe just because of a coincidence.


    ¡°Tut tut tut~¡±


    Powell took the gun and grope it, sighed from time to time, and finally looked up at me, showing an inexplicable expression.


    ¡°Gun is a good gun. Young man, you¡¯re so lucky! Tell me, where did you pick it?¡±


    Why did he say I picked it up? His words were interesting.


    ¡°Sir, I¡¯ve never seen this gun before. You check it out for me.¡±


    I directly ignored his question.


    ¡°This gun is called laser rifle. It was made by some big powers in the North using their pre-war technologies. And it¡¯s usually only equipped for elite soldiers.¡±


    Powell said slowly.


    Everyone in town knew that he used to be a mercenary. Of course, he said that. Several big powers often found his team behind the scenes to cooperate in some unseen activities, and the weapons were provided by these powers.


    ¡°This gun has strong power, but it also consumes a lot of energy. So it must be used with nuclear power cell which could not be produced by small workshops. It is impossible to make nuclear power cell without advanced equipment.¡±


    I could get Powell¡¯s generous admiration for this gun, and I also understood what he means. I, a scavenger, could only pick up a weapon equipped for elite soldiers unexpectedly somewhere. Moreover, without nuclear power cells, there was no difference between it and a piece of scrap iron even though it has great power.


    ¡°Well, sir, do you have nuclear power cells?¡±


    I just asked, without any hope.


    ¡°Of course not. It¡¯s almost ten years since I came to Dick Town, and it¡¯s the first time I see this gun.¡±


    Powell¡¯s answer was not unexpected.


    ¡°If you want to buy nuclear power cells, I don¡¯t have. But if you want to sell this gun, I can buy it.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t understand his words this time.


    ¡°I have almost all kinds of firearms here. If there¡¯s any, I still can make it by myself as long as I get components. But this kind of high-tech product is totally impossible for me to get or make!¡±


    Powell sighed with emotion, looking at this gun with great fondness. His words implicated that he wanted to collect this gun.


    ¡°Okay. What can I change this gun for?¡±


    Since I couldn¡¯t get cells, this gun was of no use to me. So it was more practical to change for some useful equipment.


    ¡°You can pick any gun hanging on the shelf and I¡¯ll give you a hundred rounds of bullets.¡±


    Powell turned his head, pointing to the wall behind him.


    Walking to the wall full of weapons, I really felt dazzled and a slightly thick odor of dog oil came on my face. Weapon maintenance usually needed special maintenance oil which had been replaced by dog oil made from mutant wild dogs¡¯ fat on today¡¯s Wasteland.


    There were all kinds of weapons: home-made adjustable three-shot pistols, pre-war pistols, double-barreled shotguns, repeater shotguns, assault rifles¡­ And there also were several odd-looking firearms. It seemed that a firearms exhibition was held here.


    It was really hard to decide. A lot of guns looked awesome.


    ¡°Boy, take that sniper rifle in the lower right corner.¡±


    The boss on the other side advised me suddenly.


    ¡°The revolver hang on your waist is good. It¡¯s powerful enough for short-range shot. I think you always come and go alone. So what you need is a gun that can keep you at a safe distance from enemy. This gun, I changed its caliber to a general caliber in which you can use the usual .45 bullets. And the rifle bullets you found in the field can basically be used too.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help admiring Powell. Hearing what he said, I felt that this gun was made for a scavenger like me.


    ¡°Okay, I change for this sniper rifle.¡±


    Thinking for a while, I said firmly.


    Powell took away the laser rifle with a smile. He came to the counter, took the sniper rifle from the wall and handed it to me. Then he squatted under the counter and searched for a while, and took out two boxes of .45 bullets.


    Holding this brand-new sniper rifle, I couldn¡¯t help but gently wipe the body of the rifle, which would accompany me to make a living on the Wasteland.


    I put away bullets, carried the sniper rifle, and left the weapon store after farewell to Powell.


    ¡°Good luck!¡±


    The good wishes of the boss came to my ear. Even though he said that to every customer, it still made people happy.


    Wasn¡¯t it?

 Chapter 7 - Full Armed (2)

    Chapter 7 Full Armed (2)


    The clothing store was not an ordinary clothing store, nor was I going to buy a Wasteland-style fashion jacket that exposed my chest muscles. What I need was a combat-specific armor.


    The shop owner was a grey-haired old man with presbyopic glasses and a little rickety. Originally he was only an authentic tailor, and what he ran in Dick Town was also a real clothing store. But the world after the nuclear war was quite different. Many people couldn¡¯t even fill their stomachs. So who cared too much about the quality of their clothes? Except for some people who still insisted on their social identities, most people wore worn-out clothes, and some of them even were of shreds and patches.


    Obviously, the old man had been aware of that situation and began to change his business strategy.


    At first, some lightweight and wearable tactical clothes were sold to meet the needs of ordinary residents. Then, armors adapted to fighting on Wasteland appeared in the shop. Of course, the old man now could process and transform the armors according to customers¡¯ personal needs, making it more versatile in function and excellent in protection. And I usually just looked around the shop because I was too poor.


    ¡°Old man, do you have any good combat armor here?¡±


    I entered the room and saw the old man lying on the bench, then I asked.


    I didn¡¯t know the old man¡¯s name, and he never mentioned it to anyone. When he came to Dick Town a few years ago, everyone called him old man.


    ¡°Combat armor? That¡¯s it!¡±


    Perhaps because of seeing that I was naked, the old man looked contemptuous and pointed impatiently to the hard leather armor hanging on the wall, which was made of mutant buffalo¡¯s hides.


    Even yesterday, I might have been satisfied if I had this armor made of buffalo¡¯s hides. The reinforced double-deck armor of buffalo¡¯s hides was completely unable to be cut by most of the sharp knives. And it could also resist multiple shocks of mutant rats and wild scorpions which could be seen commonly near Dick Town. However, what I was thinking about now was that¡­ could it block bullets? Obviously not.


    It seemed that the old man treated me like a tramp.


    ¡°If I can exchange these for something better?¡±


    Then I took out two boxes of Anti-radiation Capsules which I got in the laboratory from my backpack and shook them in front of the old man. Whoever lived on the Wasteland knew the value of the capsule.


    As expected, the old man sat straightly at once and stared at the medicine in my hand.


    ¡°You have Anti-radiation Capsules! Moreover¡­ you have two boxes?¡±


    The old man was slightly excited in the first sentence, but doubtful in the latter.


    I knew his feeling. After all, this was rare medicine.


    After the nuclear war, the drastic changes in the environment caused obvious harm to the human body. Although more than a hundred years had passed, it was undeniable that radiation hazards were still everywhere. For example, direct drinking of water in rivers, eating the flesh of mutant creatures, being wetted by rain, or even picking and eating mutant berries grown in the wild may lead to direct contact with radiation, resulting in chronic damage to the human body. A single Anti-radiation Capsule could cure this damage completely, and now I took out two boxes.


    Feeling the old man¡¯s doubts, I unpacked the package and pulled the tablet out of the box.


    ¡°The package is out of damage.¡±


    I shook the medicine in my hand.


    The old man stared at the tablet for almost ten seconds, and finally looked away.


    ¡°It¡¯s genuine. It can¡¯t be faked. Without a professional factory, one even can¡¯t make the package, let alone in the damn Dick Town.¡±


    Saying that, the old man stood up and looked at me.


    ¡°Fine, tell me what you want, as long as I have.¡±


    The old man didn¡¯t ask me where I got the medicine, maybe because he knew I wouldn¡¯t tell him. But he had to get the two boxes of Anti-radiation Capsule in front of him.


    ¡°The best combat armor, which can keep out most bullets.¡±


    My request wasn¡¯t high.


    Hearing my words, the old man twinkled his eyes and struggles could be seen from his look.


    ¡°As long as the combat armor is good enough, I can give you more medicine!¡±


    This sentence fired the old man¡¯s eyes immediately, and it seemed that he stood more straightly, instantaneous hesitation completely disappeared.


    ¡°Wait a moment!¡±


    After saying that, the old man rushed into the inner house and I couldn¡¯t know what he was looking for.


    I looked at the store shelves. In addition to some simple protective gear and daily clothes, there also were maternity clothes. I could not help but feel a little funny, the old man¡¯s interest was too¡­


    It wasn¡¯t long before the old man pulled a large box out of a small room and it looked heavy. The old man lifted the box with both hands and carried it to the table.


    ¡°I¡¯m old.¡±


    The old man gasped and sighed.


    ¡°Look it, young man. This is the best set of armor in my shop. I¡¯ve tried my best to remould it.¡±


    As the old man said, he opened the box with a sense of pride on his face.


    ¡°Light green body protective armor whose surface is inlaid with a one-time forming alloying shell and to some extent it can resist the impact of short-distance fighting. There is also an intelligent bullet-proof board inside. The double protection is strong enough to withstand most bullets. Near the waist there is a circle of ammunition bags, so you can carry hundreds of rounds of bullets. On the shoulder strap, you can plug into a flashlight or other available devices.


    ¡°Light green shoulder protector, arm protector, and leg protector. They are of one color and inlaid with the same alloying shell outside and intelligent bullet-proof board inside. Elbow protector and knee protector are double-layer leather which is wear-resistant and easy to move.


    ¡°The special backpack whose back fully fits your back and the stress points are scattered so that you can carry more things.¡±


    ¡­


    ¡°By the way, do you need a pair of combat boots? Besides, you can¡¯t be naked of your upper body when you wear the armor, I have¡­¡±


    The old man¡¯s continuous words made me a little confused. Although I hardly heard what he said, I had one feeling that this was an excellent combat armor.


    ¡°Okay, yes, yes.¡±


    I nodded subconsciously.


    ¡­


    I put on the close-fitting long-sleeved shirt provided by the old man, all parts of the armor one by one, and a pair of wear-resisting military boots.


    ¡°How do you feel?¡±


    The old man saw that I had finished dressing and asked me, staring at me.


    ¡°It¡¯s very comfortable! What¡¯s more, there¡¯s a sense of security when I put it on.¡±


    I couldn¡¯t help praising it. I really felt wonderful.


    ¡°It¡¯s normal to feel this way. As long as you are not shot in the head, it¡¯s hard to die with this armor!¡±


    The old man seemed to be satisfied with my reaction. Perhaps he was confident in his armor. Of course, it was my armor now.


    I did not ask the old man about the origin of these armors. Obviously, they were not produced in Dick Town. But, everyone had their own secrets. So long as one could get what he or she wanted, why we cared about the origin?


    I gave the old man two boxes of Anti-radiation Capsules, and gave him another two ampoules of morphine from my backpack. The deal was done. As the old man watched, I packed all the items in the old backpack into the new backpack. The old man was surprised to see that I kept moving medical items between the two backpacks. I just put my hand on my mouth and made a silent gesture.


    I was afraid the old man would cry out. Even in Dick Town, no one could guarantee that there were no desperados.


    ¡°Thank you for your armor!¡±


    Before the old man regained consciousness, I hurried away.


    In the bakery, I traded a box of cold medicine for a week¡¯s bread, not bark-flavored brown bread, of course.


    Fresh meat was seldom sold in butcher shops in Dick Town. Most were preserved mutant beef or dried meat which were not cheap.


    Mutant rat meat, mutant cockroach leg, and mutant mole meat and so on were cheap. Of course the taste of them was naturally inferior to mutant beef. Moreover, compared with artificially raised mutant cattle, you never knew what these creatures who liked to shuttle in various dirty places brought on their bodies.


    ¡°Hey! Scavenger, what do you want today? Cockroach leg or mole meat? This cockroach¡¯s leg is high in protein. It¡¯s very good!¡±


    The bareheaded butcher grinned. With his fat belly, he was born to be a butcher.


    The butcher was the butcher, having no intelligence at all. Although I had been here many times, at least today I didn¡¯t look like a poor man.


    ¡°One kilo of dried beef, can I exchange it with something?¡±


    Ignoring the boss¡¯s surprised eyes, I took out two cure syringes from my backpack.


    ¡°Yes! Yes! Of course, you can!¡±


    The butcher laughed, and almost all the fat on his face squeezed together. It was really a little bit¡­ ugly.


    I packed up my stuff and walked towards the town gate.


    As I walked out of the gate of the town, several guards who mocked me before seemed to recognize me and felt astonished¡­

 Chapter 8 - A Task Team (1)

    Chapter 8 A Task Team (1)


    ¡°Tuk-tuk-tuk, tak-tak-tak~¡±


    The voice of gun shots rose one after another, accompanied by splashing blood. Crazy ghouls kept falling, and the place in front of the iron guardrail around the gate was full of the debris of ghouls.


    ¡°Captain, we¡¯re running out of bullets!¡±


    A soldier refilled gun with bullets and shouted at the captain next to him at the same time.


    This was the police station of City St. John southern district. It was a three-storey concrete building which was about 30 kilometers northwest of Dick Town.


    ¡°Damn, fucking ghouls!¡±


    The captain clenched his fists tightly.


    ¡°Attention! All come back to the third floor in two minutes and block the stairs! ¡±


    The captain had to order them to evacuate. Although he was very unwilling, the lives of the soldiers were more important.


    ¡­


    The task of the team was to go to the east district of City St. John to find a special device in a biological pharmaceutical company called Herod. As for the purpose of the device, the officer who released the mission did not tell him, only giving him a photo of the device.


    Searching for objects was a low-level task, which was usually considered to be of low risk. Therefore, the military had arranged several recruits in the team in order to carry out actual combat training for them.


    The captain hated recruits. He was different from these raised soldiers, he joined the army later and had wandered in this Wasteland before. In his opinion, with these arrogant and foolish recruits to execute a task, one was simply making troubles for self.


    But he could not disobey the orders of the army.


    Helicopters carried team members to the pharmaceutical company. The broad St. John¡¯s Revolutionary Memorial Square, which was not far from the company, was the planned landing place.


    However, the helicopter was attacked by a rocket from mutants when they were less than two kilometers away from the planned landing place. For the sake of safety, the pilot landed the helicopter on a middle school playground which was about four kilometers away from the destination.


    ¡°Soldiers, good luck! See you in six hours!¡±


    Leaving that sentence, the pilot flew away quickly.


    The captain looked around the playground and found nothing unusual, so he gave instructions for action.


    ¡°Soldiers, action!¡±


    The team left the playground quickly.


    On the way to the pharmaceutical company, the team encountered several groups of looters. But these looters did not take any action, just looked at them from a distance, and then left.


    Obviously, this armed team was very deterrent to looters. Uniform rifle, simplified Cave combat armor, and a laser rifle in team leader¡¯s hands. So they could be invincible as long as they didn¡¯t meet regular forces.


    ¡°Ha-ha, these vagrants are really cowards. But for I have a mission now, I would surely shoot them in their asses!¡±


    A recruit was sort of excited. Looking at these looters who left rapidly, he could not help being arrogant and even waved his gun.


    According to those people who were raised and grew up with protection, the vagrants on the Wasteland were inferior, unreliable, and could be eliminated at any time. Those who hid in the ruins were doomed to be eliminated, and they were the hope of human civilization.


    ¡°That¡¯s right. Look at their rags, what¡¯s that?¡±


    Several recruits burst into rapture.


    ¡°Be quiet!¡±


    The leader glared at these recruits.


    ¡°Never underestimate anyone, never! This is my advice to you. You despise vagrants, but they also can blow your heads with guns in their hands.¡±


    The captain was quite serious when he said this. Actually, he was not very talkative. But looking at the silly recruits in front of him, he had to remind them. He may not care about the life of these recruits, but he was unwilling to bear the punishment of the army if any accident happened.


    The veterans kept silent together at this time. They all heard what the recruits said, but they didn¡¯t care. When they first joined the army, they might have gone too far. The veterans paid their attention to surroundings, noticing any possible ambush place.


    Several reprimanded recruits didn¡¯t take it seriously, but they still chose to shut up.


    Rusty abandoned vehicles were seen everywhere in the streets. Worn street lamps were in a mess, some of which had fallen and hit the roof of the car. Most of the buildings on both sides were dilapidated. The exterior walls had faded and became gray. The cracks in roads, corners and walls were covered with vegetation which was all-pervasive.


    Just as the team arrived at the abandoned supermarket on the corner of the street, a tall figure suddenly stood on the roof of the opposite building, and then a sharp scream came.


    ¡°A rocket!¡±


    The leader shouted, laid his hands on the head of a recruit and then they lied down together. The veterans also fell down quickly.


    ¡°Boom~¡±


    The rocket was shot into the supermarket beside them, and the rubble mixed with rubbish splashed everywhere. Unfortunately, a recruit was hit by shrapnel on his left shoulder, bleeding like a pig at once. The veterans reacted quickly. They got up quickly, rushed to the nearest bunker beside them, and fired back directly with rifles, ignoring the dust on their bodies.


    ¡°They¡¯re mutants!¡±


    A veteran shouted.


    Mutant was the product of nuclear radiation. The symptom that first appeared in humans was that a part of the body became extremely large, and then this symptom gradually spread to the whole body. The strong body gave these mutants powerful physical strength. But on the other hand, their IQ gradually decreased, and they began to become irritable and later bloodthirsty, and gradually separated from the human group.


    The captain got up from the ground and hid behind an abandoned car next to him, looking up at the huge figures on the roof of the building.


    ¡°John, Clive, Johnny, you three go upstairs and kill the enemies. Watch out for ambushes. Others fire on them!¡±


    The leader took up the laser rifle and gave commands. The recruits soon calmed down and began shooting at the roof.


    Laser rifles hit the bricks and stones, leaving black marks. The bullets fired by the rifles continuously splashed small gravel along the wall. Several mutants were suppressed by shoots and they could not raise their heads for a time. They could only lift their homemade rifles and shot downstairs in a random way. The three veterans found a proper time, jumped out of the bunker and quickly moved to the building gate, kicked the door and rushed in.


    Before long, voice of violent gunshots came from the roof, followed by a loud explosion of grenades.


    ¡°Pa~¡±


    A mutant¡¯s head suddenly fell beside the supermarket, which startled the recruits. And they pointed at the head on the ground together. The leader looked at these new recruits with some amusement.


    After the mutants were eliminated, several veterans took away the loot and the team continued on its way.


    Since encountering the mutant, the several recruits had been cautious along the way, looking around carefully for fear that rockets would fly out from a corner. But until they entered the pharmaceutical company, the team did not encounter any more attacks.


    This was a biological pharmaceutical company. On the desktop in the laboratory, there were some notes which recorded that the company had researched biological weapons that harmed human body. The captain was unexpected about this discovery. It seemed that the superiors wanted the equipment they were looking for to¡­ The captain did not dare to think anymore.


    ¡°Whatever it is, I just need to complete the task.¡±


    The leader consoled himself


    In the lab¡¯s operating room, a veteran found the device. Unlike the magnified task picture, the real device was not very large, only about the size of a fist, and looked delicate.


    The leader put the equipment in his battle backpack and then searched the laboratory with soldiers. No abnormalities were found.


    ¡°Let¡¯s rest for fifteen minutes and go home!¡±


    At the command, several veterans took out their dry food and began to replenish their physical strength, while several recruits just chatted freely.


    The team leader was changing the gauze for the wounded recruits. Looking at several recruits who had already talked about good wine, he said, ¡°Eat something. Don¡¯t think you only need to eat when you¡¯re hungry.¡±


    ¡°You don¡¯t know when the battle will take place, or how long it will last. What you need is to sustain abundant energy at all times! You can¡¯t eat anything even though you want to eat when you¡¯re in fighting!!¡±


    ¡°I hope you will keep it in mind in the future.¡±


    This was not the captain¡¯s personal experience, but the lesson paid for with blood.


    A qualified soldier could not be trained overnight. Captain knew that, but the mutants outside didn¡¯t know, the ghouls didn¡¯t know, and the looters didn¡¯t know. They would not give you a second chance, because their heads served as stepping stones to your strength.

 Chapter 9 - Task Force (2)

    Chapter 9 Task Force (2)


    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s set out.¡±


    The task force, which had been temporarily restructured, began to advance toward the pre-determined extraction point.


    It had not left the biological company for long when the already dim skies suddenly turned dark, and rain began falling on the broken down city, accompanied by the sound of rolling thunder.


    ¡°Damn! It¡¯s raining. Everyone find a spot to put on your raincoat.¡±


    The team leader gave his orders, and the task force quickly entered an abandoned shop by the side of the street they were on. A portion of them remained on alert as the others drew out lightweight rain coats main from special materials and donned them.


    The people of the wasteland called rain water as ¡®rain of disaster¡¯. Even though the mildly radioactive dosage in rain water was not lethal, it could still damage the human body if one was exposed to rain for a long time. As such, unless it was absolutely necessary, everyone stayed indoors. If one had to venture out, one would try all means to shield one¡¯s body from the rain, to reduce the harmful effects of radiation.


    ¡°Boom~¡±


    The sounds of thunder increased in frequency, and the rain grew bigger.


    ¡°Our damned luck!¡±


    The team leader could not help but curse.


    ¡­


    Raindrops splattered on the dim, long stretch of pavement as the task force continued its advance, the sounds of the soldier¡¯s boots dwarfed by the thunder and rain.


    Only three hours had passed, and there were less than two kilometers left to the extraction point. The team leader estimated that it would take at most half an hour¡¯s time for his team to reach the rendezvous location at its slowest speed, and the mission seemed to be proceeding quite smoothly.


    Fate, however, always went against one¡¯s will, and today was going to be a bad day for the team leader.


    ¡°Splish splash¨C¡±


    The dim skies were suddenly split apart by a huge, terrifying flash of lightning, and it struck a spot in the forest of mutated Chinese parasol trees beside the secondary school, the searing temperature instantly igniting the trees.


    The task force was still advancing toward its extraction point along the long street.


    ¡°Team leader, something¡¯s amiss!¡±


    An experienced soldier said suddenly as he halted.


    ¡°What? Are there mutants?¡±


    The team leader signaled for this team to stop as he questioned the old soldier. The old hand¡¯s instinct had always been very accurate- it was a sense of danger he had acquired after going through many life and death situations, and it had helped the team escape from the jaws of death many times in the past.


    ¡°I¡¯m not completely sure, but I seem to sense a presence near us.¡±


    The old soldier said honestly.


    ¡°Everyone, be on alert and watch your surroundings carefully!¡±


    The team leader slowed down on purpose and glanced around for any sign of danger.


    ¡°Team leader, is this too¡­¡±


    A recruit said, as he could not spot anything after looking around. He felt that the team leader was being overly cautious.


    ¡°Shut up! Remain on alert!¡±


    The team leader did not hesitate to cut him off.


    The recruit acknowledged the order dejectedly before scanning the surrounding area again.


    The team leader¡¯s face was shielded by a mask, and no one could see his features clearly. From his stance, however, one could confirm that he could handle danger that came in any direction.


    ¡°All of you have heard it, right?¡±


    The faces of a few experienced soldiers turned a little more serious as they heard their team leader¡¯s words, but a few recruits were still clueless.


    ¡°Something is sprinting at the front the street ahead of us.¡±


    A veteran shouted.


    ¡°Right, and there are¡­ quite a number of them.¡±


    The team leader had confirmed the veteran¡¯s hunch.


    As the task force neared the junction of the streets, the soldiers could finally see the huge column of flames shooting into the sky in the school¡¯s direction, and they could fee the heat wave surging toward them even at such a great distance away. The team of soldiers were stunned- that was supposed to be their extraction point.


    At this moment, a few figures appeared in the streets and strode toward the flames, evidently very excited. The way these ¡®people¡¯ ran was, however, very strange, but with the dark skies and rain, the soldiers could not make out what they were. Therefore, they decided to draw closer and ask these ¡®people¡¯ what had happened.


    The appearance of the task force successfully drew the attention of these ¡®people¡¯. They turned and cocked their heads sideways to observe the soldiers, and a few recruits opened their eyes wide to look back. They noticed that the eyes of the ¡®people¡¯ were glowing green, and their faces looked hideous. Their skin looked sickly and seemed to be rotting¡­


    ¡°They¡¯re ghouls, prepare to fight!¡±


    The team leader ordered in a low voice. He dared not and could not shout, without proper information on how many of these creatures there were in the surrounding area.


    ¡°Damn! Why are there so many ghouls here. There¡¯s no mention of them in the intelligence reports.¡±


    ¡°All the veterans- fix your bayonets! The recruits remain on alert!¡±


    To prevent attracting more ghouls to them by gunfire, the team leader chose to instruct his soldiers to use their silent weapons instead. The veterans were happy to follow his orders; they were already well-versed in how to deal with these humanoid creatures.


    The bayonets plunged into the skulls of the ghouls, and in the blink of an eye, all of the ghouls before them had fallen. The veterans withdrew their bayonets from the skulls of their opponents and wiped them on their tattered clothes.


    ¡°Team leader, the ghouls are running toward our extraction point. What should we do?¡±


    A veteran asked, sensing that all was not going to end well.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go over to take a look first. We¡¯ll make plans again if things can¡¯t work out.¡±


    The team leader said, as he glanced toward the figures sprinting toward the fire, feeling uncertain himself.


    The soldiers could no longer avoid using their guns, and the sound of gunfire rang out. The nearer they got to the school, the more ghouls appeared. Even though hundreds have already fallen, there seemed to be an infinite amount of them, and more began emerging from the surrounding area.


    The ghouls shrieked as they charged at the veterans. Before they had even managed to open their arms, however, the experienced soldiers had already blasted a hole the size of a thumb out of their skulls, and the bodies of the ghouls fell to their sides. The recruits were a little flustered when faced with so many ghouls, and the creatures kept breaking through their line of fire. The team leader would always appear at the right moment and place around through the skulls of any ghoul that got through, however.


    The ceaseless crackling of gunfire attracted even more ghouls to their location, and dark waves of the creatures began swarming toward the task force.


    ¡°Retreat! Retreat!¡±


    The task force had to temporarily abandon its plan of advancing to the extraction point, as there were too many ghouls. They fought their way out and quickly escaped from in the southwest direction, where there was a smaller concentration of ghouls.


    ¡°Fire in the hole!¡±


    The team leader tossed an explosive grenade out, blowing up the ghouls that were chasing after them into bits, as a veteran who was guarding their rear caught up with the team.


    The number of ghouls chasing after them was undiminished by the task force¡¯s attack, and the sound of gunfire drew even more of the creatures to take part in the pursuit. Gradually, the amount of ghouls behind the team grew larger and larger.


    ¡°Team leader, there¡¯s a police station in front of us!¡±


    A veteran at the front shouted as he marched.


    A signboard identifying it as the ¡®St. John City Southern District Police Station¡¯ was barely hanging on at the entrance, and a few abandoned police cruisers sat in the parking lot outside. The main body of the police post was a three-storey cement building, and its surface area was small. The police insignia hanging on the outer walls had already begun to peel off.


    ¡°Retreat back into the police post!¡±


    The team leader shouted loudly.


    With one look at the building, anybody could see that its design allowed it to be easily defended, and there was only one door that served as its entrance and exit. It was also surrounded by a steel fence, another feature that would help restrict the ghouls¡¯ movements considerably.


    ¡°All veterans remain on alert, and the recruits shall block the main entrance with tables!¡±


    They had created a significant gap between themselves and the ghouls, and as such, the team leader decided that there was enough time to barricade the main entrance of the building, while the structural qualities of the police station would allow them to defend it easily.


    The recruits quickly brought a few tables out and used their ropes to bind them together before blocking the main door. They stacked the tables up, completely blocking off the entrance.


    The veterans on watch outside the building retreated in, crawling into the police station along the recruits from a window on the first level. There were a total of six windows at ground level, and the team leader ordered one veteran and two recruits to each.


    The ghouls appeared again, their smell preceding them. They were thirsty for living flesh and began to get worked up and started sprinting forward when they saw the soldiers behind the windows.


    The windows of the first floor of the police post were about two meters above ground level, and the ghouls could not reach them. Only their hideous heads appeared, and they could not break through the walls of the building. They began clawing on the walls after being unable to get at the objects of their desire. Soon, streaks of filthy blood appeared on the wall.


    ¡­


    The soldiers did not tire of such mindless killing. In fact, they were a little excited. The team leader, however, had quickly noticed a problem.


    After the few ghouls at the windows were gotten rid off, their bodies remained on the ground. The creatures behind them could step on top of their carcasses, and soon the ghouls were at chest level with the windows. If this continued, the soldiers would be in deep trouble.


    ¡°Abandon your targets at the windows! Shoot those ghouls behind!¡±


    The team leader thought that this was the only way to solve their problem. Since the ghouls in front could not enter anyway, they should try to eliminate those at the back first.


    As such, the soldiers switched to their rifles and began firing.

 Chapter 10 - Task Force (3)

    Chapter 10 Task Force (3)


    Too many. There were simply too many ghouls, and even though the soldiers hit all of their targets, the number of creatures was growing rapidly.


    Fresh meat was before them, and the ghouls were smashed against the office desks that were blocking the entrance of the police station in a frenzy. The barricade was going to collapse soon.


    The team leader looked at the time. There was still half an hour left to the appointed evacuation time, and even though they were not at the rendezvous location, the problem could be solved by signaling to the helicopter pilot with a flare. They would then be able to escape via the roof of the police station.


    The most pressing problem for the team leader was how to last for 30 more minutes.


    After countless repetitive motions of aiming, firing and reloading, the soldiers were soon nearing exhaustion. The veterans could still hold out, but the recruits¡¯ trigger fingers were already beginning to tremble.


    Furthermore, this was not all.


    ¡­


    ¡°Team Leader! I¡¯m running out of bullets soon!¡±


    A soldier shouted at the team leader beside him while reloading.


    ¡°Me too!¡±


    ¡°I still have a magazine left!¡±


    The lack of ammunition was going to be their most lethal mistake. The soldiers were no match for such a huge number of ghouls barehanded or with bayonets.


    ¡°Attention! All of you retreat back to the third floor in two minutes and block the stairs! ¡±


    With no choice left, the team leader could only give up defending the first floor of the police station and adopted the strategy of concentrated defense.


    ¡°Boom¡­¡±


    Just as the team leader was preparing to give the order to retreat, the wooden tables that blocked the door finally gave in and were smashed into bits onto the ground. The first wave of ghouls stumbled out of habit and was crushed into pulp by the stampeding horde behind them.


    The wave of ghouls rushed past the entrance of the police station like a flood and cut off the only passage leading to the stairs. They then leaped toward the few veterans that were standing near the windows.


    The veterans killed off the ghouls nearest to them with a few rounds before discarding their empty firearms without hesitation, as they drew their bayonets and engaged their enemy in close combat. The recruits were stunned upon seeing wave after wave of ghouls crashing into the police station, their firing arms trembling uncontrollably while their legs stood rooted to the spot.


    ¡°Quickly open fire! What are you guys stunned about!¡±


    The team leader shouted, unable to control his rage as he saw the recruits who were about to wet their pants.


    ¡°Ah!!!¡±


    The terrible shrieks of the veterans rang out, and even the combat-hardened soldiers were no match for the swarm of ghouls. The team leader gritted his teeth and stomped a ghoul, who had been charging in front of the others, to the ground. He then shot frantically with his laser rifle, piercing through one ghoul after the other, but yet seeming so helpless at the same time. His heart bled as he saw the ghouls rip off the protective plates of the veterans and tore out chunks of their flesh.


    ¡°Team Leader! Run, quickly!¡±


    A veteran suddenly shouted in agony as he was flung to the floor by a ghoul, his flesh being ripped apart by the creature. He pulled out an explosive grenade and bit the safety pin off, before tossing it toward the group of undead in front of him.


    ¡°Boom¡­¡±


    Bits of flesh began flying around as a huge explosion rang out. The entire front portion of the station was blown cleanly away, and even those ghouls that were standing further behind were knocked to the ground from the shockwave, unable to get up for a while.


    By this time, all of the veterans had perished in battle, and the recruits were still traumatized and unable to move.


    ¡°Damn! Damn! Those damned fools!¡±


    The team leader said as he looked at the shocked recruits. He could not afford to worry about their safety any longer and took the opportunity to dash up the stairs. Hordes of ghouls soon began pouring in, instantly filling up what used to be the entrance of the station.


    Shortly after, a few screams rang out, and the team leader, who was shifting file cabinets to block the corridor felt his hand jerk. He could not help but heave a sigh of relief. The screams died off quickly, replaced by the chewing sounds of the ghouls, along with occasional crunching sounds when they chewed on tender bones.


    The team leader slumped onto the ground with his back against the wall after he completed blocking the walkway, looking very dejected.


    It was supposed to be the most basic of missions, but all of his soldiers were dead now.


    ¡°The mission was extremely simple, but their deaths were caused by those damned ghouls! No, those ghouls weren¡¯t the problem. It¡¯s due to my stupid decision to enter the police station; if we had remained outdoors, perhaps we could have broken through their ranks easily. That¡¯s right. Even if we entered this station, we could have defended the stairs, but yet I ordered them to split up and defend different spots. It¡¯s my mistake in command, mine! It¡¯s all my fault!¡± he thought.


    He had personally seen the veterans die in vain as they fought to their last breath, while the recruits were howling in fright. He eventually blamed everything on himself.


    ¡°I hate this damned world!¡±


    The team leader said as he gritted his teeth.


    ¡­


    ¡°Hunter Dog! Hunter Dog! This is Vulture, answer if you can hear me!¡±


    Calls of the helicopter pilot suddenly came from the wireless radio on his shoulder. The team leader hesitated slightly but still switched the communication channel open.


    ¡°Hunter Dog, copy. Speak.¡±


    ¡°The extraction point has been overrun by ghouls, report your current location.¡±


    ¡°The new extraction point is at the Southwestern District Police Station. I¡¯ll release red smoke on its roof.¡±


    ¡°Copy that, we¡¯re moving toward there now. Hang on!¡±


    ¡°Roger.¡±


    ¡­


    The helicopter flew northward.


    The team leader leaned against the wall of the helicopter cabin, his face entirely void of any feeling of joy from being rescued. Instead, he felt lost. As he gazed at City St. John, which was bathed in the rain of disaster, he kept thinking about the purpose of such a war.


    ¡­


    South of St. John City, on a broken down public road.


    A long crack nearly divided the road into two, and the various signs painted on it had already been disfigured. The withered trees at its sides looked on as the sandstorm raged on, covering the road with a thick layer of dirt. Once in a while, there were abandoned vehicles strewn across the road.


    The cars had been stripped of their leather, and many of their spare parts had been taken away. The leather could be used to stitch up protective gear or simple clothing, while undamaged vehicular components could be sold to certain technicians.


    I followed the road toward St. John City. I had been walking for a few hours now, and could already see the tall buildings from afar.


    As I traveled for the last few hours, I encountered not only the merchant caravans from the North that were going to Dick Town, but also several looters that were spying on me from afar.


    I never showed any mercy to raiders of the Wasteland, as they never had any good intentions. Before they could come close to me, I shot off the head of one of them with my sniper rifle, and the others scattered. It was easy, wasn¡¯t it?


    I walked up to the corpse and used the tip of my leg to scoop some sand onto the gaping wound to prevent more sticky brain matter from oozing out. I did not find the wound disgusting, but rather a nuisance.


    Hmm? A bone necklace? I plucked a necklace from the corpse¡¯s neck. From its structure, it seemed to be human, and it was most likely that of a deceased woman of the Wasteland, as it was light.


    In the past, humans had turned the Earth into the Wasteland, but now, the Wasteland had turned mankind savage. Cannibalism was widespread, and it was also common for the psychotic looters to use the human bones that they had just picked clean as accessories.


    I threw the necklace away and searched around the body, only managing to find a short nicked knife. It was useless to me, and it seemed like I¡¯ve killed a poor fool. I grabbed a handful of sand and rubbed it between my palms. This was my usual habit¡ªEverytime I touched something as unlucky as that, I would always clean my hands. I did not know if the carcass would fall to a mutated rat or wild scorpion, but it was none of my concern.


    I returned back to the road to St. John City.


    When I was in Dick Town, I heard many merchant caravans who transited mention the city.


    Human relations had become extremely complicated after the nuclear war, and there were many factions within St. John City itself. There were the ¡®Blaze Gang¡¯, the largest group of looters, the ¡®Gun Team¡¯, an organization made up of surviving army and police personnel, as well as the criminal organization ¡®Mozark¡¯, which had survived since the beginning of the war.


    The Blaze Gang was a paradise for looters. Its members did not produce anything and got their resources like the other looters in the Wasteland by scavenging and robbery. Their main area of activity was in the Southern District.


    The Gun Team was like a paramilitary organization that could help protect normal civilians, but at the price of their labor. They possessed fine weapons and iron discipline, and their area of operations was at the Northwest District.


    The Mozark was a criminal organization that existed before the war and was more low-profile in nature. All of their members wore black gloves and they were active in the Southwest District of the city, where they had interactions with the other two factions.


    As for the Eastern and Northern districts of City St. John, they were restricted zones for humans.


    The day that nuclear war broke out, as the trajectory of the bombs were slightly off, one of them that should have hit the Central district landed unexpectedly on the mountainous Northeastern District, thus greatly reducing the fallout. Even so, the Eastern and Northern districts were badly affected, and most of the houses there were badly damaged badly by radiation.


    Now, this piece of land had become a paradise for ghouls and mutants.

 Chapter 11 - The Woman in the Wasteland

    Chapter 11 The Woman in the Wasteland


    It wasn¡¯t great news to my ears that the looters were in control of the Southern District, as the path I was heading to was that part of St. John City. I should take a long way round if I really couldn¡¯t make it past them, I thought. Perhaps the district controlled by the Gun Team would be much safer.


    That said, Fate always made a fool out of all of us.


    A fishy stench emanated from the huge river in front of him, and the murky green water looked a little strange. Chain of bubbles kept appearing on its surface, and I wondered if carnivorous fish were the cause of them.


    I shook my head helplessly as I gazed at the river. There was no way for me to circle past the Blaze Gang¡¯s territory. I had to take the bridge into the Southern District.


    A wooden shack had been raised at the other end of the bridge, and a simple wooden fence was erected outside of it. Two looters, who had pistols tucked into their waistbands, were leaning against the fence, chatting about some unknown topic.


    The looters had already taken over control of the only passage in and out of the Southern part of the city, and this would aid them in looting the merchant caravans that passed by and even kill any stragglers.


    To be honest I was a little hesitant. Even though I didn¡¯t want any trouble, I wasn¡¯t quite as sure about the other party.


    ¡­


    The sky turned dark, and there were even tiny clumps of sand in the raging wind. It was about to rain, and I did not have any gear to shield me from its radiation. I had to find a place to hide quickly.


    I had no choice but to walk toward the other end of the bridge. I gripped the gun in my hand tightly, luckily the protective plates on my body made me feel bolder as well.


    I tried to tread lightly, and it was already dark, but when I reached the middle of the bridge, the two looters still noticed my presence immediately and drew their pistols.


    ¡°Who¡¯s there?¡± the slightly thinner looter shouted in my direction.


    How should I reply? In an instant, various names flashed in my mind. ¡°Merchant¡±, ¡°Dick Town Guard¡± or ¡°One of you?¡±


    ¡°So-soldier?¡±


    I had a sudden inspiration. Even though I sounded uncertain, I knew that if I identified myself as a merchant, one that was wandering the Wasteland on his own, they would have killed me. What about a Dick Town Guard? They probably would have heard of Dick Town, but what was a Dick Town Guard? I took a look at my gear, and they looked somewhat military, especially the combat armor. Calling myself a soldier¡­ would do for now.


    ¡°A member of the Gun Team? Get on your way then!¡±


    The thin looter waved his hand impatiently, hurrying me away.


    ¡°Hey! What are you blanking out for? If you don¡¯t go, I¡¯ll strip you clean, even if you¡¯re one of the Gun Team? Get lost!¡±


    I was really stunned. They let me go after only hearing I was from the military? Even though I did really look like a soldier.


    Gun Team? I suddenly remembered what the thin man said. So, they had mistaken me for one of the Gun Team. It seemed that these people had a very complicated relationship with each other.


    I noticed a few weirdly dressed looters occasionally as I walked on the broken down pavement, and they carried weapons of many designs. There were re-modeled knives, wooden cudgels wrapped with steel wire and even broken beer bottles. I would not be surprised if some of them even carried toilet brushes that were broken off.


    Any looter that laid eyes on me would quickly walk away, and this made me feel considerably more assured.


    ¡­


    ¡°Boom¡­¡±


    Thunder rumbled and rain finally began falling.


    I looked at the abandoned buildings at the sides of the streets and walked toward one with its entrance still intact. Even though the front doors were already hanging by its hinges, the entrance was still covered up. Unexpectedly, it was inhibited¡ªtwo people, women, to be exact, were sitting by a corner of the wall and looked like they had come indoors for shelter from the rain as well.


    Their clothes were a little worn and tattered, and their skin showed underneath the holes. They seemed to have been bruised and their faces were covered in dirt, while their hair was a little unkempt.


    I did not have any intention of chatting with them. Conversing with strangers in the Wasteland was not a good practice.


    I leaned on the other side of the wall and sat down. I was hungry from walking for many hours and took out a piece of bread to eat.


    The women did not keep quiet for long. It was not their mouths that emitted noise, but rather their stomachs, from being starved for too long. I lifted my head to look at them before turning my gaze away again, resuming my meal.


    ¡°Can you give us a little of that?¡±


    The short-haired woman asked by the time I had finished eating half my bread. She could no longer contain her hunger, but her voice was weak.


    I looked at her and did not speak. The younger woman beside her was looking expectantly at me though.


    ¡°Is this woman too naive?¡± I thought, ¡°Why should I give you some of my bread, just because you¡¯re hungry?¡±


    ¡°I can sleep with you.¡±


    The short-haired woman said hesitantly when she saw that I was unmoved. The younger girl could not help but turn toward her when she heard that.


    Most of the women led harsh lives in the Wasteland. Their natural physical disadvantage allowed them to be taken easily, and some bands of looters targeted females only. Of course, on the other hand, they could use it to their benefit and easily survive. After all, the Wasteland was full of sex-crazed men, and they could provide extra services in exchange for food. This was the way of surviving the Wasteland, and no one could change the fact.


    I did not reply and continued observing them, my mouth still chewing on the bread.


    ¡°I, I can get her to sleep with you too; she¡¯s my younger sister! We¡¯ll do it together with you! Is that okay? Is that okay?¡±


    The short-haired woman grew excited all of a sudden and pulled her sister¡¯s hand, trying to get up and walk closer to me.


    ¡°Don¡¯t come over!¡±


    I instinctively drew my pistol and shouted at them to stop. Even though they seemed pretty harmless, I never trusted strangers easily, even if they looked like these two starving women.


    ¡°We¡¯re unarmed, really. I¡¯m not lying to you, really! Don¡¯t shoot, don¡¯t¡­¡±


    The short-haired woman was obviously terrified as she stared at the cold barrel of my weapon. Her sister, however, remained silent.


    Unexpectedly, the short-haired woman began disrobing. Perhaps, she wanted to prove that she was unarmed, or maybe she wanted to insist on sleeping with me for some of my bread. She could also purely be wanting to survive¡­


    ¡°Stop that! Put your clothes back on!¡±


    I shouted at her to stop, before she could release the sash on her pants, and holstered my weapon.


    They were obviously constantly malnourished, and about as filthy as me. I did not understand how they had managed to survive till now. Could it be that the men they encountered so far were all ¡®compassionate¡¯ creatures?


    Something stirred within me.


    I sighed softly when I saw the short-haired woman sobbing pitifully. I then took out a big loaf of bread as well as some dried mutant beef from my backpack and passed them to her.


    ¡°Eat, you don¡¯t have to sleep with me.¡±


    I told her.


    The black-haired girl¡¯s eyes turned red and she looked at me in a daze.


    ¡°Eat, both you and your sister don¡¯t have to sleep with me.¡±


    I repeated.


    The black-haired woman tried to confirm if I was joking before taking the food from me somewhat fearfully. She did not begin to eat immediately but tore half of the bread and meat for her sister.


    ¡°Eat, sister. We¡¯ve food now.¡±


    The woman was a little emotional and I did not know if she was crying or laughing, as her voice trembled a little.


    Her sister looked at me before receiving the food from her elder sibling. She then lowered her head to eat. Pieces of bread fell out of their mouth occasionally, but she quickly picked them back up and stuffed them back into her mouth. She had been starving for too long¡­


    The sisters kept looking at me as they ate. I did not know if they wanted to thank me or confirm if I really did not want to sleep with them, and I tried very hard to control my laughter.


    Perhaps I was in a good mood, and I took out a bottle of pure water from my backpack and gave it to them. They had possibly never drunk water of such wonderful taste before, and quickly drained the bottle of water.


    They began to feel awkward after noticing that I was staring at them.


    ¡°Thank you¡­¡±


    They thanked me softly after eating. Perhaps, they had never said a word of thanks to anyone else in their life, but it was also likely that no one else had ever done anything kind for them.


    Even though I did not reply, I felt quite good about myself.


    ¡°Pa¡­¡±


    Lightning flashed, and the rain grew stronger. I could not spot anyone running in the streets now, and did not know which abandoned buildings the looters were hiding in.

 Chapter 12 - Its Not Easy

    Chapter 12 It¡¯s Not Easy


    I sat at the corner of the room and gazed at the streets, quietly observing the increasingly heavy downpour.


    ¡°Splish splash¡­¡±


    A white flash of light flew past the door, accompanied by the rumbling sound of thunder. I lost count of how many times lightning flashed in the skies, but they grew increasingly blinding, and I could not help but feel a little perplexed.


    I turned my attention back to the sisters who were snuggling in the other end of the room. They had fallen asleep leaning on each other after satisfying their hunger, and the sight amused me.


    They were physically disadvantaged and in a room with a fully armed man in the Wasteland, a place fraught with danger. I did not understand how they could have fallen asleep nor how they dared to fall asleep.


    Sigh, I was still a little soft-hearted.


    ¡­


    The sounds of a flurry of footsteps came from the streets, and even though they were indistinct with the cover of thunder, I could still hear them. I drew my pistol and stuck my head out of a window slightly, observing the roads outside.


    The people running in the rain were dressed like looters, but they evidently looked different from your usual looter who wore better equipment. Even though they wore leather armor, they were covered with steel plates, and this was capable of stopping small caliber rounds. All of them carried semi-automatic hunting rifles, and from the length of their barrels, I could deduce that their effective range was quite far. Each of them was grabbing on to a discarded plastic mould to shield them from the rain as they ran.


    ¡°Hurry, hurry, hurry! There¡¯s a lot of them at the entrance of the Central Subway Station!¡±


    The burly man running in front of the pack said as he hurried the others.


    What happened?


    I looked in the direction they were running to and did not notice anything different. Was that¡­ fire? There seemed to be a fire burning somewhere in the distance?


    No matter what that was, I was not interested in joining in the party. There were too many looters gathering around now.


    In a short span of time, many waves of looters had already run past our end of the street. A few of them even noticed my presence, but they continued running toward the fire after throwing me a short glance.


    There were sounds from the room. The two sisters had probably been awake for a while now and they looked to be struggling with their emotions as they observed the looters running across the streets. If they wanted to survive, I believe they would have to join the gang of looters operating in the vicinity. That said, how were they going to do that? I found it hard to believe that they could even kill a mutant rat with a small knife.


    They were not vicious or bold enough. Such characters were unwelcome amongst the ranks of looters, and this was probably why they were outcasts. Think about it¡ªwho would provide food for two women who were unwilling to raid yet unwilling to starve in this looter controlled territory? It would not matter how many men they slept with¡ªthey were not the only women around, and the men would not be so free everytime.


    I felt that it was a miracle both of them could have survived till now.


    They lowered their heads, and I had no idea what they were thinking about.


    ¡­


    Another band of looters ran past our building, but the strange thing was that they were heading in the opposite direction from their counterparts. They seemed to be panicking and kept turning their heads back, but I did not pay much heed to them.


    Soon after, however, I could clearly make out even more footsteps on the streets outside above the sounds of rumbling thunder. This was unusual, and I walked out of the entrance, looking in the direction of the fire with a pistol in hand.


    The fire had now covered half of the horizon, and waves of panicky looters were fleeing from its direction into the various streets.


    What happened?


    I holstered my pistol and unslung my sniper rifle, aiming the telescopic sight at the far end of the streets. However, I only managed to see the fleeing looters and damaged pavement soaked in lead-colored radioactive rain.


    Hold on!


    A figure in my sights suddenly fell onto the ground, and another figure behind him immediately leaped onto his back. The two of them tangled with each other, and I could not see clearly in the darkness. Soon, more figures appeared behind them and charged toward them in a strange stance, quickly drowning them out from my view. I began to have a bad premonition¡­


    ¡°Pa¡­¡±


    A bolt of lightning cut across the skies, instantly filling the streets with white light.


    Ghouls! The huge wave of figures running in our direction were ghouls!


    The clear and sudden danger made me incredibly tensed. I had to leave this district as soon as possible, weather be damned.


    I turned around quickly and nearly knocked the two sisters, whom I had not expected to be standing behind me, to the ground. I did not know when they had walked out of the building and stood beside me. Their faces had turned deathly pale after having seen the ghouls heading in our way as well.


    ¡°It¡¯s about time; let¡¯s leave this area quickly.¡±


    I skirted around the short-haired woman who was in a daze, giving her a warning before I left.


    I turned back toward the direction of the approaching ghouls, but saw that they were still standing at the same spot in a daze. The small knife that had been in the sheath of the elder sister¡¯s leg was now in the hands of the younger girl, and her hands trembled as she held the weapon.


    ¡°Sigh¡­¡±


    I sighed, suddenly realizing that I had never been as wishy-washy as I was now.


    I walked back to them and fished out a pistol and two clips, placing them in their hands.


    ¡°Live on in good health.¡±


    I then left them looking on in surprise, never turning my head around again.


    ¡°Hey! I¡¯m Casilia and my sister is Evelyn¡­¡±


    ¡­


    The short-haired woman took a long look at the departing figure of the man, her emotions in conflict. When she finally came back to her senses, her expression had turned resolute, and she held the pistol in one hand and her sister¡¯s hand in the other. They ran in the rain toward a small, dark alley¡­


    ¡­


    I believed that I was heading in the right direction, but more and more looters kept appearing everywhere around me. What exactly happened?


    ¡°Ah¡­ no¡­!¡±


    Shouts of agony rang out from the end of the street on my left but stopped after a while. A looter was pressed onto the ground by three ghouls, and his flesh was being ripped apart. His shouts finally stopped when his throat was torn away.


    Damn! The ghouls were already near, and they were everywhere. Shouts of pain rang out around us, and I decided to take cover for the time being. I looked around my surroundings and chose an abandoned tower about 20 storeys high.


    I saw the words ¡°Meiko Tech¡± on the background of the reception area of the building, and it should have used to be an office building. I found the emergency stairway and decided to climb up to the upper levels to escape from the ghouls. Even if I shot at them from the roof of this tower, I believe they could not get to me.


    I saw a lift at the ground floor with its indication panel still lit, but after my traumatic experience in the laboratory, I did not dare to try taking lifts in abandoned buildings again. I did not want to take the risk of being squashed into pulp after falling from the 10th storey.


    There were 18 floors on this building to be exact, and I took five minutes to climb to the top. I found an office that could be locked and decided to rest inside after confirming that the lock still worked.


    I blocked the entrance of the office with a cabinet and unslung my backpack, before patting away the dust on a chair and sitting down on it. I was tired indeed, and fell asleep shortly after I closed my eyes and leaned back.


    ¡­


    ¡°Beep beep beep¡­ boop boop boop¡­¡±


    At first, sporadic gunfire rang out, but a large roar rang out shortly after.


    ¡°Boom¡­¡±


    A large explosion rang out.


    The sounds of battle below me shook me awake. I walked to the window and looked down with the telescopic sight of my rifle, and what I saw shocked me.


    A few figures wearing combat armor were moving swiftly in the southwest direction, and they looked behind before firing from time to time. The weapons they were using seemed to be standard issue, and there was a swarm of ghouls behind them, numbering a few thousand. Furthermore, waves of the creatures were congregating upon them.


    After increasing the distance between themselves and the ghouls, the figures quickly entered a small building. Oh? A police cruiser? It seemed to be a police station, but what did they go inside for?


    A few of them then blocked the entrance of the station with desks. What was this? Why were they not running away but barricading themselves in for? Were they planning to kill all of the ghouls here? What a joke. I believed that the ammunition they were carrying were not enough for all those ghouls.


    The wave of ghouls soon surrounded the police station. At this moment, a few bayonets appeared one after another from the windows on the ground level and pierced accurately into the skulls of the ghouls.


    This group of people were really out of their minds¡­


    They were really making a stand against the ghouls, and they were very well trained.


    The ghouls, who were in a frenzy, had surrounded the station and could not reach beyond the walls of the building to the tantalizing flesh that they desired. The soldiers slew them effortlessly, and soon there was a pile of ghoul corpses below the windows. I did not know the purpose of their appearance, and I did not believe that God had sent them to exterminate the ghouls from this world.


    Not long after, they switched to using their firearms. I did not understand why. Were they tired from stabbing? Who knows.


    The slaughter continued, but the number of ghouls did not diminish. Instead, there were more and more of them congregating upon the police station.


    The satisfying show lasted for a while more before the ghouls smashed through the blockade at the entrance of the station, allowing the ghouls to swarm in.


    That¡¯s the end of those soldiers!


    ¡°Boom¡­¡±


    A large explosion disrupted the sporadic gunfire, and the door of the building was blown cleanly away. From my spot, I could see an eruption of blood, and it seemed demonic.


    ¡°Annihilation!¡±


    Even though their bravery was commendable, they had overestimated their own capability.


    The clearing created by the explosion was soon filled, and the bloodthirsty ghouls swarmed into the station, fighting to get to the tasty meals.


    I did not know how long it would take for them to disperse, and this was my most pressing concern now. The food in my backpack could last me for a few days, but if this dragged on, I would have to put myself in danger again.


    ¡­


    What noise was that?


    A strange sound came from outside the building, and it seemed to come from the air.


    It was a helicopter! I caught sight of a ¡®Big Iron Bird¡¯, something that only existed in the legends of Dick Town.


    The helicopter flew above the station and a pilot ladder was flung out of its side. A figure appeared on the roof and began climbing up.


    This person was lucky to have survived.


    Where did they come from?


    It seemed like the Wasteland was more complicated then I had thought it would be.

 Chapter 13 - Guns and Roses

    Chapter 13 Guns and Roses


    Not only was I interested in the Big Iron Bird, but the ghouls that surrounded the police station were obviously more interested than I was. Seeing that the delicious flesh and blood climbed on the Big Iron Bird, the ghouls all raised their hands to the air and scratched it meaninglessly. When the Big Iron Bird left to the north, the ghouls turned their direction and chased it even though they would never be able to catch it.


    I was relieved to see the ghouls downstairs faded away. I didn¡¯t determine to go downstairs immediately. It was still raining. At this time, the sky was getting cloudy and it was late. It was obviously unwise to travel at night in this strange city. Of course, the main reason was that I was not sure whether all the ghouls had left and decided to wait for a while.


    I stood in front of the window and looked at the night scene of City St. John. The night made the dilapidated house more gloomy and terrible. But you could still see the stars in the distance, which was the lights of the gathering places of human beings. And the refraction of rain made it more brilliant.


    It was not peaceful at night. Sounds of gunshots, whistles, and the roars of mutant beasts which arose from time to time indicated that dangers were everywhere. That was why a lonely scavenger like me didn¡¯t want to go out at night. Night made your actions more secret, but it also made it hard for you to perceive the dangers that were close at hand.


    From a distance, I saw a dazzling white signal bomb burst out of the buildings in the northwest and shoot into the sky, followed by faint intensive sounds of gunfire. The battle was obviously fierce. And with the continually rising of the signal bombs, there was no sign that the gunfire was going to stop at all.


    The nightlife here was so rich and colorful¡­


    ¡­


    St. John¡¯s morning seemed brighter than Dick Town¡¯s, perhaps because yesterday¡¯s heavy rain washed away the accumulated dirt.


    I didn¡¯t go downstairs immediately after having some bread, but I spent about two hours searching the building carefully. Except for finding a roll of strong tape in the corner of a broom closet, nothing of value was found. It was obvious that looters had thoroughly searched here.


    I walked out of the building and then hid in the abandoned post near the entrance, being alert to the ghouls that might hide around. The fact proved that I worried too much. Besides a few worms-covered remained near the building, there was only rubbish all over the floor, which had been here yesterday.


    I decided to go to the Gun Team.


    When I came to the city, the attitudes of the two looters showed a situation that the Gun Team was strong enough to make them afraid. In the Gun Team, I might be able to exchange for something useful to me, or maybe found something to do in exchange for considerable rewards. I thought they may not reject a fully armed assistant.


    I didn¡¯t know the exact location of the Gun Team and the members of the merchant caravan just said it was in the northwest of City St. John, so I was walking along the street leading to the northwest blankly.


    Along the way, besides a large number of abandoned vehicles, ghouls which totally had died lying on the ground could be seen from time to time. As I went deeper into the Northwest, more bodies appeared on the ground, which reminded me of the shooting last night. What had happened in the northwest last night?


    I passed an urban square and a dilapidated truck pulled up to the side of the road, beside which stood two men wearing black gloves. Were they gang members? They were cramming a corpse into the carriage which was going to be full. The densely laid corpses looked very horrible.


    ¡°Hey! Young man, how was last night?¡± Seeing me approaching, they were not on any alert, and the man with a beard asked me.


    ¡°I heard that you sent out mechanical guards last night. Is that real? That¡¯s a crazy slaughter! Haha!¡± another lame little man said with a little excitement.


    I thought they were talking about the Gun Team. But I didn¡¯t know. Mechanical guard? Slaughter? What had happened?


    ¡°What¡­ do you mean?¡± I asked the man with the beard, feeling somewhat guilty, as if I had been identified, although I was not a member of the Gun Team.


    ¡°Aren¡¯t you from the Gun Team?¡± The man with the beard looked at me curiously.


    ¡°It¡¯s my first time in City St. John. I¡¯m looking for the Gun Team. I¡¯m not the member.¡± I told the truth.


    ¡°Well, if you¡¯re looking for the Gun Team, just go along the northern street of the square and follow the sign. We¡¯re busy dealing with these corpses, so we can¡¯t talk any longer.¡± The man with the beard looked friendly.


    ¡°Thanks.¡± I also didn¡¯t want to talk too much.


    Following the road the man with the beard told me and passing the street at the north of the square, I saw a board nailed to the wall near the intersection.


    ¡°This way for Gun Team.¡±


    The contents on the board were simple and clear, and the direction was indicated by arrows. Every time you walked for a distance, you would see an identical board. Following the indicated direction, I passed several streets and came to an alley.


    ¡°Here¡¯s the Gun Team? Seriously?¡± I whispered


    At the end of the long lane was an iron door, on which words ¡°Gun Team¡± was wrote with black paint. Looking at this absurd scene, I couldn¡¯t help laughing.


    ¡°Bang-bang-bang~¡± I came to the iron door and knocked hard on it.


    ¡°What¡¯s up?¡± The small window on the iron door opened, and a man¡¯s face appeared. There were moustaches and unconcealed fatigue on his face.


    ¡°I want to do some trades with the Gun Team and exchange things.¡± I explained my intention.


    ¡°Exchange? What do you have for an exchange? We don¡¯t need ordinary things here.¡± Man seemed a little impatient at this time. Such an attitude I met many times when I took out my ¡°treasures¡± which they thought were rubbish only.


    ¡°Medical supplies, all-purpose blood bags, morphine, therapeutic drugs and so on, how about?¡± I was not in a hurry this time, because the value of these things was really unusual.


    Suddenly the iron door was opened and the man gave me a deep look as if he wanted to see me through.


    The man in front of me wore a combat armor similar to mine. The color was exactly the same, but there was no alloying baffle inlaid in the surface. He had a standard assault rifle in his hand, and two grenades hung on his chest hanger. No wonder looters and the man with the beard mistook me for the member of Gun Team. We looked alike in costume.


    ¡°Come in. Go to the logistics office on the ground floor of the hotel to trade. And don¡¯t wander around.¡±


    The man let me pass, then I went through a closed narrow passage, the end of which was an alloying gate. Two inverted guard gun towers were on the ceiling in front of the door. When I stood in front of the gate, the two guard gun towers pointed directly at me, as if they would instantly shoot me if I did something dangerous.


    It was impossible not to be nervous. Fortunately, the alloying door opened quickly and the guard behind the door waved to me to let me in quickly.


    ¡°Come in! Don¡¯t wander around!¡± It was the same warning.


    ¡­


    The headquarters of the Gun Team was surrounded by large concrete slabs. The main building was a fifteen-storey hotel with some subsidiary buildings. Because of frequent use and maintenance, the hotel building was much better than the surrounding buildings. The aired clothes almost could be seen in each balcony of the room above the fifth floor of the building, so the size of the Gun Team was not small.


    A large area of open space in front of the main entrance of the hotel had been transformed into plowland which was surrounded by simple wooden fences. Some residents wearing simple clothes were working in it. Was that¡­ mutant double-headed cattle? It was really strange. I wondered whether its meat tasted better.


    Uhm¡­ What was the smell? Mutant fruit wine? It smelled more mellow than those the grocery stores in Dick Town made and sold.


    I seldom saw children playing among the ruins. Looking at their smiling faces, I felt that this was the childhood I had never felt before.


    I had never seen a child living outside the enclosure since I was alone in the Wasteland. Although I used to be one, I would have died many times if I hadn¡¯t been lucky enough. It was hard to imagine how they would look at this world when they grew up, how they would face the killing outside the fence. Would their original longing of a wonderful world collapse in an instant?


    Who knows?


    I arrived at the entrance of the hotel. Fortifications were made by sandbags near the entrance. Two guards in combat armor, operating two heavy machine guns, sat inside and looked around from time to time.


    I raised my head and looked at the words made of neon lights on the door, ¡°Guns and Roses.¡±


    It was suitable for the Gun Team.

 Chapter 14 - A Task from the Gun Team

    Chapter 14 A Task from the Gun Team


    The black gunpoint pointed at me as I approached, although I did not take out any weapons.


    ¡°The man come here to trade, let him in.¡±


    The radio in front of the guard¡¯s chest rang out at the right time. It was the voice of the mustached man who opened the first door.


    ¡°Go.¡±


    The guard looked surprised, but he still waved his gun and let me in.


    In the first floor of the hotel, there was one sentry every three steps and one post every five steps. I walked towards the stairs. Along the short way of tens of meters, I felt countless eyes falling on me. They watched me while I was walking into the stairwell, which made me very uncomfortable.


    The logistic office on the first floor underground of the hotel was tightly guarded, and there were two mechanical guards standing at the entrance.


    The mechanical guard had a human-like mechanical skeleton and its head center was a visual sensor. Its alloying armor of the whole body completely wrapped around the various instruments. And it was painted with uniform military green. At the end of the left arm was a triangular alloying claw, which could easily tear the enemy¡¯s armor and was mainly used in close fighting. At the right mechanical arm, a three-barreled revolver gun was installed, which could easily destroy the enemy in the distance.


    Looking at the two robots, I was somewhat confused.


    ¡°Hey! Is anyone here? I¡¯m here to trade!¡±


    Soon I decided to have a try and shouted inside.


    ¡°Outsiders, please unload your weapons before trading, and please leave here if you cancel trade. You have two minutes.¡±


    The cold voice of one mechanical guard rang out.


    According to prompt, I took off my gun and put it on the table beside me.


    ¡°May I go in?¡±


    I said to the two mechanical guards.


    The mechanical guards didn¡¯t reply. One of the guards suddenly showed a small mouth opening on his facial armor, and a red light shot out of it which scanned me from head to foot.


    ¡°No weapons, passing permitted.¡±


    It was really that no chance was permitted. I sighed slightly.


    After passing through a corridor, I saw a wooden board with the words ¡°Logistics Office¡± hanging on the door of the room of the end. I went and knocked at the door.


    ¡°Come in.¡±


    It was a lady¡¯s sweet-sounding. So I opened the door and went in.


    ¡°Hi, I¡¯m here to trade!¡±


    I said my purpose directly.


    There was a woman with some charm. Of course, she was just not ugly. At this time, the woman was standing behind the counter of the big iron bar, and recording something with the pen in her hand. The board said here was the Logistics Office, but I saw a lot of weapons and ammunition in the room.


    ¡°Trade?¡±


    The woman stopped her work and turned her eyes to me with an unexpected expression. Obviously, she hadn¡¯t encountered too much this situation.


    ¡°Did you keep something private? Didn¡¯t your captain tell you that everything you found had to be turned in?¡±


    It was obvious that she misunderstood me. She stared at me and spoke that in a serious tone.


    ¡°You misunderstood. I¡¯m not from here, I¡¯m from outside.¡±


    It seemed that no one would doubt me if I said I was a member of the Gun Team in City St. John.


    The woman¡¯s eyes turned and looked at me carefully, as if she wanted to see me clearly.


    ¡°Sorry, I thought you¡¯re the soldier who wanted to exchange some cigarettes and alcohol. After all, your clothes are similar.¡±


    The woman relived and said slowly.


    ¡°Well, what do you want to exchange? ¡°We have many weapons and ammunition here, but we seldom exchange them with others unless we really need what you provide.¡±


    ¡°Medical supplies. But I only have little.¡±


    There were not many medical suppliers I brought out from the lab. Besides trading, I had to keep some for myself.


    I took out one all-purpose blood bag, three ampoules of morphine, two boxes of Anti-radiation Capsule and five cure syringes from my backpack and put them on the counter. Seeing these medical suppliers, the woman¡¯s eyes turned bright at once.


    ¡°All of these can exchange for things. What do you want to exchange? Gun? Food?¡±


    The woman quickly concealed the surprise in her eyes, but I had seen it.


    ¡°Gun? I already have and its power is enough for me. Food? Since I have the gun, I¡¯m sure I can get food with my gun. So food is unnecessary now.¡±


    I said that and thought for a while.


    ¡°Is there anything I don¡¯t have and I can use?¡±


    The woman seemed to have some difficulties now. I didn¡¯t want guns and foods, and I already had an armor. What else could she exchange?


    ¡°Do you need¡­ cigarettes and alcohol?¡±


    This woman was really funny. My ¡°no way¡± expression made the woman feel a little embarrassed. Then the woman recommended a lot of daily-use necessities. Looking at the woman, I even wanted to open her head and see if it contained mutant jam.


    ¡°How about the rocket launcher?¡±


    It seemed that woman still knew the value of medical suppliers and provided something of higher value.


    Rocket launcher? It was powerful enough, but it was not convenient for me to carry. After all, I had so many things on me.


    ¡°Do you have grenades? The rocket launcher is too big. I also have a gun, so it¡¯s inconvenient for me to carry.¡±


    I gave her a suggestion.


    ¡°Grenade? Yes, which one do you want to exchange?


    The woman looked at me strangely. The range and power of the grenade were not as good as that of the rocket. I chose the grenade of less power, which must confuse her.


    ¡°Which one? Is there any choice but explosive grenades?¡±


    For me, grenade only meant the explosive grenade that ever appeared in Dick Town. And I hadn¡¯t seen others yet.


    The woman explained grenades to me. The explosive grenade was only one of grenades, which had great power and was mainly used to kill biological targets. Electromagnetic grenades were used to destroy all electronic devices. Flame grenades, which splashed flames around instantaneously when exploding, had adhesion and killed targets continually; And non-lethal shock bombs could generate enormous noise and light instantaneously, which caused the temporary loss of fighting capacity of the enemy.


    After thinking about it for a while, I exchanged two of each grenade. I could survive the dangerous moments with these powerful explosives.


    The deal was done, and just as I turned to leave, the woman suddenly stopped me, which made me a little confused.


    ¡°If you¡¯re interested, you can go to the captain¡¯s office and talk to him. We¡¯re short of hands now. You don¡¯t look like ordinary people.¡±


    Woman¡¯s words were interesting and arose my interest successfully. Of course, it was none of my business that the Gun Team was short of hands. What I thought was that it must be paid by working here, didn¡¯t it?


    Back on the first floor of the hotel, I asked the guards about the captain¡¯s office. After handing over the weapons, a guard took me up to the fifth floor and took me to the captain¡¯s office. Then the guard left directly.


    ¡°What¡¯s the matter, outsider?¡±


    The captain¡¯s voice was deep and he was a middle-aged man. Although I dressed like his guards, he already knew my identity according to his first sentence maybe perhaps because he had a good memory and remembered all his guards.


    The man in front of me has dark skin and short shaved inches. A long scar that crossed his right eye from his forehead to the root of his right ear was on his face. There was a thin circle of moustache around his lips. His whole face looked vicious and terrible. And now he looked a little tired.


    ¡°I heard you need help?¡±


    The captain of the Gun Team didn¡¯t immediately answer me when he heard what I said. He stared at me and I thought he was interested in me from his slightly curled mouth.


    ¡°Of course, I¡¯m here for work.¡±


    I added. I wouldn¡¯t join the Gun Team. Looking at those guards who stood straightly, I felt headache.


    Hearing my words, the man didn¡¯t show any strangeness.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know your background, and I needn¡¯t to know. I do need someone to do something for me and I don¡¯t have any spare hands.¡±


    The man spoke with dignity.


    ¡°As long as you can do it well, I will give you the reward you deserve. Of course, you can listen to me before you make a decision. Okay?¡±


    His words meant more than he said. That was my first feeling. The second feeling was that man¡¯s words made people unable to stop. Yes, one sentence made people want to refuse, but the next one made you fall into it.


    ¡°Okay.¡±


    I thought for a while and answered firmly.


    The headquarter of Gun Team was attacked by ghouls last night. Although the crisis had been eliminated, no one could execute any task because of the huge consumption of strength in the whole night of fighting. Just last night, a Gun Team¡¯s stronghold at the Northern District Metro Station was attacked by mutants too. And so far, no radio signals had been sent back. My task was to get to the northern stronghold to confirm the situation and not to fight directly with the mutants. It sounded like a simple task.


    ¡°Best wishes, soldier!¡±


    The man came over and patted me on the shoulder a little hard.


    I accepted the task, and next I needed to make some preparations before I left. I couldn¡¯t help looking back at the guards when I walk out of the hotel gate.


    Was he really short of hands?

 Chapter 15 - Ambushing Green-skinned Monsters

    Chapter 15 Ambushing Green-skinned Monsters


    Were all the soldiers of the Gun Team working so hard for their so-called ¡°leader¡±?


    Knowing that his men were in danger of dying, that they would completely be annihilated with no support in the face of mutants¡¯ attacks, their so-called leader didn¡¯t care their lives and even didn¡¯t want to rescue them. He preferred to hire an unrelated vagrant to make inquiries, rather than ask the silly standing guards to try to rescue them. Although such a simple task had fallen into my hands, I still felt sorry for these soldiers.


    I took down the magazine and pulled the bolt with my thumb to make sure the sniper rifle was okay, then I patted it which was in my hand. It was time to go to complete my first mission, my first real adventure in this Wasteland!


    After leaving the headquarter of Gun Team, I was going to the Northern District of City St. John. Outside the eastern cement fence of the Gun Team¡¯s headquarter, there were dense ghouls¡¯ remains. Some soldiers in masks and gloves of the Gun Team were carrying the remains into the truck compartment, with their eyebrows frowning. I didn¡¯t know where they would send them to for disposal. Through the remains of this place, I could imagine how fierce the battle of last night was, although it should be the slaughter of one-side. The fact could only be that fragile skulls were crushed by large-caliber rifles.


    Walking in the street, I didn¡¯t encounter any looters or gang members except some soldiers on patrol together sometimes. It seemed that these groups were independent of each other and the areas under control couldn¡¯t be invaded by other groups, which might be because of the potential dangers in the Northern District. After all, fear and danger because of mutants and ghouls were no less than those because of the Gun Team. The latter would kill people, but the former would kill and eat people.


    The more I walked to the north, the more dilapidated the buildings I saw were and the more sparse the weeds were. The abandoned vehicles here were badly damaged, and broken walls and rubble were everywhere. Unlike the ruins of the Southern District, these large pieces of building debris that had fallen were plundered by little people. In the Southern District, similar debris had already been smashed and steel bars or other metal materials in it had been taken.


    There was hidden danger in Northern District which was almost an undeveloped paradise.


    The ghouls seemed to have disappeared. I had been walking for half an hour, I didn¡¯t saw any creatures except for some fist-sized mutant cockroaches. Of course, I didn¡¯t want to meet those damn mutant creatures.


    I just thought it was too quiet. It was too quiet¡­ to be scary.


    The environment here imperceptibly brought depression to people. Compared with the areas where human beings lived, everything here seemed to be dead and was shrouded in stillness. I admired those soldiers of Gun Team who stationed here. Their mental qualities must be extremely strong. Of course, it might because they loved their leader. The power of beliefs was always beyond one¡¯s explanation.


    Desperate life always led to beliefs, all kinds of strange beliefs. Some worshipped the so-called Atomic God in the direction of craters with a few bloodstains on their faces. Some looked at bronze statues of centuries ago with reverence, expecting that great men would climb out of the cemetery and lead them to freedom. And some even knelt down to mutant cattle¡­ well, that was what I couldn¡¯t understand. Maybe he just hoped not to be hungry every day. Don¡¯t be surprised even if you saw someone kneeling down to a toilet brush. Because this was Wasteland.


    Night always kept you unaware of the danger at hand, but it was totally different in the daytime.


    When I passed through a half-collapsed three-storey building on the corner, the sunshine which had been blocked shone here. At that moment, I unintentionally saw my shadow on the ground and a strange shadow was approaching it quickly.


    Damn! Holding the gun, I immediately rolled forward, which was hurting because of the rocks on the ground. I succeeded escaping from the shadow. I looked back, and it turned out to be a big net full of hooks.


    There was an ambush!


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    At the moment when I realized that I was ambushed, mud splashed on the ground of one side. I stood up quickly and ran to the nearest abandoned vehicle. But the bullets were shot into the ground and mud splashed behind me all the way as if those bullets had eyes until they hit the car, making a series of crisp sounds.


    I raised my head and wanted to look for the attacker, but sparks splashed on the car because of shooting and I had to lower my head.


    Fuck!


    Every time I wanted to pop my head, I was greeted by dense bullets. And the enemy was in a high position so that he could see more. I had to shrink in and I was completely suppressed.


    I tried again and again. And I found that as soon as I looked up even for a short time, the bullets would pour in the direction I was hiding. The shooting lasted about five seconds each time, and then stopped. There seemed to be a regularity?


    I decided to take a chance.


    I exposed myself out of back of the car, pretended to shoot, and immediately returned to the back of the car. Then there was a burst of bullets hitting the car. Only a few seconds later, the gunfire stopped, and I quickly ran to the small building beside me. It suddenly dawned on me that the attackers stopped shooting for five seconds because they had to refill the guns with bullets. All of a sudden, I admired the persistence of the attackers.


    The site of attacks that the opponent chose was really subtle. If I hadn¡¯t accidentally seen the shadow on the ground, this first adventure might have been my last journey. And the attacker was quite persistent. He insisted shooting until gun¡¯s bullets were used up although I hid behind the car. What did that mean?


    I came to the roof of the small building carefully, and popped half of my head. I saw a tall figure standing on the opposite roof, and his gun was pointing downstairs.


    Mutant? Yes, I saw a mutant, just like what the old drunkards in Dick Town described. He had big limbs which were full of tremendous power, green skin and abnormally bulging blood vessels which was weird, and low intelligence. Yes, he was quite foolish. It had been two minutes since I ran into the building, but the mutant still pointed downstairs with his gun. He was stupid.


    It seemed that mutants had learned how to use guns, but hadn¡¯t learn how to use their brains.


    I raised my sniper rifle and aimed at its green head. Holding my breath, I pulled the trigger steadily.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    The sound was quite loud. A blood hole appeared on the green head at once. When I pulled the trigger and aimed at him again, I found that the mutant was lying motionless on the ground. Was he dead? I didn¡¯t get up immediately, but continued to lie here. After about 10 minutes, I confirmed that there was nothing unusual and then I packed my things and went downstairs.


    I came the roof where the mutant was, and I found there was a heap of weeds which was supposed to be the place where the mutant rested. And next to it there was a stick with a complete human skull tied to the top. I wondered who was the poor guy.


    I searched the mutant¡¯s storage bags and useful things I found only were a dozen of bullets of general rifle and a silver pocket watch. Silver pocket watch? Could mutants of low IQ understand pocket watch? It was funny.


    A pocket watch was special luxury in the Wasteland and already hadn¡¯t been produced. The existing clocks and watches on the Wasteland had existed before the outbreak of the nuclear war. Unlike those gorgeous clothes, mellow wine or high-grade cigarettes, the value of clocks and watches was that they were timing tools. One could not drink wine or smoke cigarettes, but a working pocket watch was something that everyone wanted to own.


    The majority of the Wasteland was full of danger, but it also brought matching wealth. Several days ago, I killed mutant creatures with great effort in Dick Town in order to exchange for brown bread. But just now I killed a mutant easily and got a luxury, a silver pocket watch. This change was beyond my imagination. I could change this silver pocket watch for a lot of mutant beef which were the best-tasting hind leg meat.


    The mutant¡¯s homemade rifle was of general caliber. And parts of this rough homemade rifle were tied together with wire. I doubted whether it would break up after several shots.


    I ate some food, and opened the map provided by the captain of the Gun Team. It was about five kilometers away from the Northern District metro station. I could arrive in an hour, provided no accident would happen.


    According to the map, I would passed by a hospital, a church, and a cemetery next to the church.


    All three places seemed to be close to the dead, which was really annoying.

 Chapter 16 - Vagrants in the Northern District

    Chapter 16 Vagrants in the Northern District


    After being attacked by mutants, I finally realized that it was not as peaceful as it showed. Perhaps danger was hidden at the corner of the next street. I needed to be careful all the time.


    There was an ambulance parked in front of the gate of the Hospital of Northern District. It was obviously abandoned. In the door-opening carriage, there was a complete skeleton lying on a stretcher. When the disaster happened, he must be desperate. People fled everywhere, but he could not move and could only lie down and wait for death.


    In the ambulance I found some mildewed drugs and medical tapes that lost their stickiness, but they were useless. An unused filter mask? This was a good thing. It could effectively protect us from the toxic gases remaining in the Wasteland. I put on the mask, took a deep breath, and felt breathing smoothly a lot.


    I didn¡¯t go into the hospital to search. I needed to hurry up and finish the task from the Gun Team before dark. The hospital was here anyway. There were plenty of time for me to come here in the future.


    On a street not far from the hospital, the bonfire marks in a room caught my attention. Some bones scattered around the bonfire, and the burning marks above them could be seen. It was impossible that ghouls left these. So would it be possible that these were left by mutants? Those big green-skinned guys had unique tastes, preferring to eat raw meat. There was the last possibility. It was left by people of the Northern District. People who could survive in the Northern District was not simple, which worried me a little.


    Compared with pure ghouls and mutants, cunning humans were most terrible. They always kept a distance from you and followed you far away. If you didn¡¯t pay enough attention, they may have come behind you.


    Joining the Gun Team was a good choice, or being a looter was also good enough. The two choices were better than staying in the Northern District and fighting with mutant monsters all day. From my point of view, I didn¡¯t understand this behavior, but I still admired them. I admired their courage, although there wasn¡¯t much difference between their behaviors and looking for death.


    At this time, I stood on the roof of a five-story residential building and looked at a church which was not far away and next to it was the cemetery. It seemed that ghouls preferred to stay in lifeless place. Now several ghouls were lying in the cemetery.


    I took a deep breath, set up the sniper rifle, and aimed at the ghoul¡¯s head.


    ¡°Bang!¡±


    I pulled the trigger, and the bullet passed through the head of a ghoul sitting by the tombstone, leaving a black blood hole, and the ghoul fell instantly. The gunshot shocked the rest of the ghouls, and they stood up and looked around. The ghouls didn¡¯t rush toward the floor where I was, which was beyond my imagination. They ran out of the cemetery for a short distance, and then stayed in the same place at a loss because they couldn¡¯t find the target. In fact, gunshots could attract ghouls. But the sound echoed through the walls of nearby buildings, so it was hard for ghouls to confirm my exact location.


    ¡°Bang~bang~bang~¡±


    The sound of gunfire arose continually and the ghouls, which were standing targets, fell down continually. Without wasting any bullet, I killed all the ghouls. After eliminating this group of cemetery residents, I didn¡¯t encounter any danger on the rest way except for a few mutant cockroaches. I could get to the entrance of the Northern District Metro Station by crossing a lane in front of me.


    At this time, a black shadow flashed through the front entrance of the lane. Was it a ghost? I grabbed the gun in my hand and cautiously came to the entrance of the lane. The towering houses on both sides obscured most of the sunshine, only a small amount of light could penetrate. And the narrow lane was quite dark, but the other end of the lane could be seen easily.


    In the lane, several huge tin bins laid out in disorder. The garbage mixed with water released foul smell in the bins, and the smell rushed out of the mouth of the bins and spread around. Although I had worn a filter mask, I could still smell the strong foul smell.


    Damn! Was this box filled with mutant cow dung? How could it be so stinky! If I hadn¡¯t worn a filter mask, I suspected that I would have died of the smell.


    Tolerating this peculiar smell, I stepped on piles of garbage. In this lane which you could see through, what else was there besides the garbage? Nothing else! The smell was so unbearable that I walked faster in order to get out of the lane as soon as possible.


    ¡°Ka¡±


    As soon as I stepped forward, there was a crisp noise under my feet, accompanied by a huge gunshot. A pile of garbage burst out in front of me. All of sudden, I felt uncomfortable in my chest, as if I had been hit by a hammer on my chest. The huge impact directly knocked me down.


    It was a trap!


    Lying on the ground, I had only one feeling at this time. It was fucking painful! It felt like the ribs of the chest were broken. The mutants couldn¡¯t think out such a trap. It must be the vagrants who lived in this area.


    Damn vagrants!


    I reached out and touched my chest. An obvious dent was in the alloying baffle. Thanks to this modified armor. Otherwise, I was not sure if the bullet-proof baffle inside could block the impact at such a close distance.


    It was just a simple tripping trap. I stepped on the tripping rope which pulled the trigger, then the shotgun hidden under the rubbish spewed bullets directly. Fortunately, it just hit my chest. Even if the angle of the gun was a little higher, my head would be shot and I would go to see God.


    I struggled to get up. Though I still felt uncomfortable in my chest, I had to leave the lane quickly. The owner of the trap must be coming when he heard the gunshot.


    However, before I reached the entrance of the lane, I heard the sound of running in the street outside.


    Somebody was coming!


    I quickly pulled out the pistol, stood close to the corner, and quietly waited for the target to appear.


    ¡°Ah!¡±


    Someone screamed.


    The visitor didn¡¯t see the prey lying on the ground as his or her expectation, but almost hit the black muzzle. This was a female vagrant, a slovenly-looking female vagrant, with a slightly bulging stomach.


    ¡°Drop the gun!¡±


    I pointed at her with my gun.


    The female vagrant hesitated for a moment, but threw away the gun in her hand in the end. It was a standard rifle.


    ¡°Did you set this trap?¡±


    I asked her.


    But she didn¡¯t answer, just looked at me, not taking my question seriously.


    I didn¡¯t believe that she was a dumb person. I just heard her scream. A captive even showed a defiant attitude. Did I look like a good person? Obviously not. I hit her forehead with the butt and saw the blood on it at once.


    ¡°Don¡¯t try to challenge my patience. I don¡¯t want to ask again!¡±


    I didn¡¯t think that her skull was harder than my gun. But she could have a try.


    ¡°This¡­ this was for hunting.¡±


    Covering the wound on her forehead, the female vagrant¡¯s eyes twinkled and she sort of hesitated.


    ¡°Hunting? Hunt for ghouls or alive people?¡±


    I admired the courage of these vagrants who still tried to lie when they were pointed at by guns. Don¡¯t forget, I was also a vagrant.


    Instead of shooting her head, I pulled out the field knife, kicked her to the ground, and inserted the knife directly into her left shoulder. Then I held the handle of the knife and began to turn it around gently.


    The female vagrant groaned continually and couldn¡¯t stand it in the end.


    ¡°I say! I say! It¡¯s for hunting people!¡±


    Looking at the woman¡¯s feeling of powerlessness after crying, I stopped turning the knife and signaled the woman to go on.


    ¡°When you passed the hospital, we¡­ we¡¯ve noticed you. We think you¡¯re a fat sheep. So¡­ we decided to deal with you.¡±


    Because of pain, the woman didn¡¯t speak very quickly.


    ¡°Where are your associates? How many of them? Where are they hiding?¡±


    Saying that, I tried a little harder and turned the knife again.


    Suddenly the female vagrant stopped talking and just clenched her lips. She might realize that even if she spoke out, she still would die. So no matter how I stirred the wound, she didn¡¯t respond any more except the uncontrollable twitching due to pain.


    ¡°You¡¯re tough! Are you waiting for your associates to rescue you? Are you thinking about how to kill me for revenge?


    ¡°You¡¯re so naive. They can come, but you¡¯re going to die first!¡±


    Without hesitation, I pulled out the knife and plunged it into the neck of the female vagrant. A great deal of blood gushed out in an instant. The female vagrant stared with unwillingness, kicked on the floor a few times and then stopped breathing.


    When you faced a vagrant whose intention was to kill you, all you can do was to give that intention back.


    I was not sure whether her associates would appear. But I had to leave here as soon as possible. I had experienced countless danger brought by gunshot.


    Looking at the sign of the subway station which was not far away, I hurried up.