The Rules Of Living On The Wasted Land - Chapter 14

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?