Chapter 92

"Roar!"

"Take them down!"

The players excitedly raised their weapons, responding with great enthusiasm to the Administrator's call.

Satisfied with their attitude, Chuguang nodded and waved his hand forward.

The group passed through the north gate of the park, moving north along the remains of the elevated road leading out of the city, directly heading towards the raiders' lair four kilometers away.

This was an abandoned tire factory.

Outside the walls were crude defensive fortifications, and the walls were smeared with strange patterns and symbols.

[Valley Escaped Mole] lowered his voice and whispered to [Midnight Chicken Slayer] beside him.

"These graffiti remind me of the savages in the forest."

"The savages in the forest?"

"A game, PC version."

"I know... but these people don't live in the forest, do they? We live in the forest, right?"

"..."

Although the main force of the enemy had been completely annihilated, Chuguang remained cautious, carefully guarding against any traps that might appear.

Interestingly, when Chuguang's group arrived, they found that the door to the raiders' lair was actually open.

At the same time, as he confirmed the fall of the Blood Hand Clan's camp, a light blue notification window appeared before his eyes.

[Mission completed.]

[Access to B2 level of Shelter 404 has been authorized, and the lock will be removed after 24 hours.]

[Countdown: 23h59m59s]

Tsk, I have to wait another 24 hours.

Whatever.

Chuguang wasn't in a hurry anyway. Before exploring the B2 level, he had a lot of things to handle.

Including the captives.

And other spoils of war.

At the same time, Hain, who was anxiously waiting at the gate, finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Chuguang.

If it wasn't him, or if he didn't come on foot, his life would probably be in danger.

"I still think that getting involved in the locals' conflicts is not a good choice," the muscular female mercenary said, holding a square assault rifle, reminding her employer, "We have no control over the area, and they can decide our fate with a single thought."

"I agree with Lenna," another strong mercenary said, frowning as he glanced at the crowd outside, "What if they decide to take everything? What will you do?"

His name was Wen, and he was the strongest of the three.

Hain, unconcerned by his subordinates' opinions, said, "It's a problem, but not a big one. We do business with raiders, so why not with them? Trust me, having a relatively rule-abiding trading partner is not a bad thing."

"Is that so?" The female mercenary whistled, teasing, "I don't think they are much more civilized than the raiders."

"Alright, shut up. Stand here and wait for me!"

Leaving his two bodyguards behind, Hain quickly descended the stairs, his face full of excitement as he welcomed Chuguang outside the gate, as if they had known each other for years.

"My dear friend, you can't imagine how excited I am to see you safe and sound here!"

"Me too," Chuguang smiled faintly, glancing at the gate, slightly surprised, "Did you take this stronghold alone?"

Hain laughed, "Of course not, unless you're a poor gambler with jingling coins in your pocket, no one would come this far alone. Come on, let's not stand at the door. Come inside!"

"I'll introduce you to my two bodyguards and assistants later. This time, we owe a lot to them, or our plan wouldn't have gone so smoothly!"

Hain politely invited Chuguang and his group inside, vividly describing his own cleverness, how he deceived the leader of the Blood Hand Clan, and how he and his bodyguards, who were lying in wait outside, took the stronghold by surprise.

To be honest, Chuguang wasn't interested in his "heroic deeds." No matter how vividly he described it, it couldn't be more exciting than what Chuguang had experienced firsthand.

However, since the stronghold had been taken from the inside, it saved him a lot of time.

Chuguang had already prepared to use players as human bombs, risking their lives to carry ten kilograms of black powder to blow up the gate, but now it seemed that this additional expense could be saved.

Next was the looting.

No one was better at this than his players.

Upon receiving the order, the players rushed into the raiders' stronghold with eyes glowing green, not even sparing a loose floor tile.

"What's in this jar?"

"Yue, it stinks."

"Probably Oli Give."

"Damn, there's a human head in this drawer... That's too sick."

"White plastic sheet found under the floor!"

"What's this for? Casino chips? Collectibles?"

"This? Damn, it's a good thing! According to the forum guide, you can exchange it for money at the warehouse, one chip for five copper coins!"

Seeing these blue-coated players, who were more like bandits than the raiders, Lenna whistled, and Wen had a strange expression.

The blue-coated players she had seen before were more reserved, even pedantic, and such unassuming ones were rare.

"What language are they speaking?"

"Don't know, never heard of it, not from around here."

"Are they really from the shelter?"

"Who cares?"

"You're so boring."

"I just don't have as many questions as you."

The two mercenaries whispered to each other. The most vicious force in the area had been destroyed, and no one would disturb them for the rest of the night.

Hain and Chuguang were also having a friendly conversation, discussing how to divide the profits from this big deal.

"I lost 7... actually 8, one unlucky kid had his arm cut off by the raiders' leader and bled to death."

"Whew... That's really tragic."

Hain clicked his tongue, expressing shock and regret with wide eyes.

He didn't know how many people were in the outpost, but he estimated it was less than a hundred. Losing 8 in this battle was a significant loss, about 10% of the total population.

"...Don't be too sad. People die every day in the wasteland, and casualties are inevitable. Last year, I had four bodyguards, and now I only have two."

Hain sighed, speaking in a comforting tone, "At least their sacrifice brought peace, and the survivors, including those in this area, will thank them."

"They will compensate us, but that's not what we're discussing now," Chuguang looked at Hain and continued, "You might have misunderstood me. I'm not seeking your comfort, but informing you that we will take the larger share."

Hain looked stunned.

For a moment, he couldn't react, and his voice stuttered.

"Ah, okay... I mean, no problem. Yes, this is what you deserve, my noble sir."

Chuguang nodded.

"Good, now we can discuss the specifics of the division."

The two mercenaries exchanged a glance, not daring to speak, only communicating with their eyes.

'I've never seen such a ruthless blue-coated player.'

'I bet the boss hasn't either.'

'He's a formidable leader.'

'Tough, to my liking.'

...

There were 29 captives among the raiders in the Wetland Park, 10 of whom were severely injured and might not survive the night.

The raiders' dungeon held about 30 people, including two young raiders who were just locked up, making a total of 32. However, half of them were severely injured, some barely clinging to life, looking pitiful and likely to die at any moment.

According to the agreement between Chuguang and Hain, all raiders, whether lightly or severely injured, could be handed over to them, and in exchange, Hain would provide goods of equal value.

There were 31 raider captives in total.

Without a unified currency, it was difficult to estimate the value, so Chuguang simply used the specialty of Red River Town, "coarse salt," as the equivalent, calculating one person as 20 kilograms of coarse salt.

When Chuguang and Sun Shiqi traded dried meat for salt, it was roughly three kilograms of meat for one kilogram of salt. By this calculation, one person was equivalent to 60 kilograms of "cured meat."

He thought it was reasonable.

Although Hain didn't think of dried meat, this trading price was勉强可以接受的。

一个强壮的劳动力稍加训练，卖给红河镇的矿主，翻个两三倍都不是问题。

残疾的俘虏也不打紧，红河镇缺食物但不缺营养膏，养到明年开春，会有人愿意要他们身上还好的零件。

现在唯一的麻烦就是，Hain身上没带那么多货物。

这次为了赶在冬天之前做最后一笔买卖，他身上只带了一些清泉市的硬通货，也就是那些塑料片。

这些筹码买两三个强壮的劳动力没问题，但一口气买三十多个……多少还是有些痴人说梦了。

Hain试着做最后的努力，看着Chuguang说道。

“我们没带那么多东西来！我可以以我的信誉担保，明年春天我会带来我承诺的东西！”

Chuguang嗤笑一声。

“别做梦了，你要是有信誉这种东西，我们也不会站在这里谈买卖。反正红河镇离这里也就两天路程，你可以现在回去取。”

Hain惊呼道。

“你疯了，现在可是冬天！几个小时前外面还下着大雪！你让我回一趟红河镇再回来？”

Chuguang无所谓地说。

“才刚入冬而已，之前不过第三场雪，地表的温度甚至都没到零下，这也算是大雪？你连一个人来我这儿当说客都不怕，还担心这点风险？”

带两三个人回去，还是带三十个人？

做这样买卖的机会可不多。

经过权衡利弊，Hain甚至没用一分钟，便做出了决定。

原则上没有商队愿意在这个时候做买卖。

但当收益大于风险，原则也仅仅只是原则而已。

Chuguang对他的决定很满意。

毕竟他要是不同意的话，正义的绞架又有的忙了。

他不可能拿出宝贵的食物养着这些掠夺者，这么做的收益远低于将他们转化为召唤第四天灾的原材料。

这些人本性就不服管教，干活偷懒那都是家常便饭，想要驯服他们得花费大量的时间和人力，而且就算驯服成功了也远不如玩家们好使。

何必呢？

马上他就能开B2层了。

到时候会有更多的封测资格，满足那些期待已久的小伙伴们。

……

战利品的分成商议之后，Chuguang吩咐玩家前往地牢，将里面的空间腾出来，留给砖厂的那些掠夺者们。

当地牢的大门打开时，那一股扑面而来的腥臭味，让跟着下去的两个小玩家几乎被熏得窒息，通了好一会儿风才支起火把继续前进。

深邃幽暗的石壁上沾满了黏糊糊的污渍，偶尔还能看见拳头大的蟑螂从地上爬过，鞋子大的老鼠互相打架，争抢一具腐烂的尸体。

那些手脚拴着链子的男女茫然地看着出现在地牢入口的人们，眼中无光，四肢健全的屈指可数，有的人身上还爬着拇指粗的虫，也丝毫不管顾。

[精灵王富贵]没忍住，当场就吐了。

“下次我再也不来干这活儿了。”

[峡谷在逃鼹鼠]倒是还好，甚至嘿嘿笑了声，挤兑了他一句。

“不是你吵着要来的吗？”

“……我以为有受伤的小可莉。”

“啧，这里怎么报警？”

看着往前走的两人，走到门口的[伊蕾娜]站住不动了，一脸微妙的表情，像极了站在墙角害怕的滑稽。

“我，可以在这里帮你们殿后，主要担心有掠夺者从后面偷袭。”

富贵和鼹鼠对视一眼，不约而同地嘿嘿笑了笑，一齐看向了这位好兄弟。

“别啊，兄弟，来都来了。”

“任务奖励5银币呢，咱得把人弄出去。”

“就是就是，”敏捷系的富贵兄一把抓住了打算逃跑的伊蕾娜，嘿嘿笑说着，“这儿哪还有掠夺者啊，乖。”

“放开我！啊呀呀呀。”

把地牢里的俘虏都弄到地表上花了不少时间，另一边战利品的搜刮也在持续进行着。

那些搜刮战利品的玩家们，几乎将整个轮胎厂翻了个底朝天。

不只是那些一眼就能看出值钱的东西，甚至就连掠夺者们吃饭用的锅碗瓢盆、桌椅板凳都收集回来了。

说到这儿，还有一段小插曲。

玩家们在搜索掠夺者波SS的房间时，在里面发现了一架木质的刑具。刑具的上面挂着一具已经凉透的复制人，白皙的皮肤上污渍和伤痕。

Chuguang对她有点印象。

还记得当时在贝特街的门口，他看见李斯特和老查理谈生意的时候，一名商队的枪手将她从车上牵了下来。

“老水蛭买的复制人，怎么会出现在血手氏族的营地里？”

Chuguang摸了摸下巴，陷入了沉思。

他的脑海中大概浮现了ABCD四种可能性，有正经的，也有不太正经的。

跟着他一起进屋的四个小玩家，在背后小声窃窃私语。

“这游戏真的正经吗？”

“大概……？”

“那咋还有本子剧情。”

“啥本子剧情，你就知道本子！这叫背景设定，设定懂吗？哎，等我下线了得去官网上吹一波，这游戏的细节还挺多，希望以后公测了别删减。”

“版号别想了，去国际服玩吧。”

“不过话说咱的管理员还挺正派，在这人心比冰块还冷的废土上，居然有这么正义、公正、善良的NPC，实在是难得。”

这句话得到了玩家们的一致认同。

不吹不黑，很多细节都能看得出来，他们的管理员大人是一个很有魅力的领袖。

不然武器店的老闆娘，为何总是偷偷看他呢？

听到玩家们的交谈，Chuguang呵呵笑了笑。

不然呢？

我但凡是正常点的废土客，吊在那个刑具上的复制人就是你们了。好好想一想，这些“商品”都是从哪儿生产出来的。

随手扯了件布，扔在了她身上，Chuguang看向了身后的玩家们。

“把这个可怜人取下来带走。”

“遗体留在这里只能喂蟑螂，不如让她为重燃文明的火种发挥点余热。”

“另外，这个房间你们仔细搜索一下，有什么线索立刻向我报告。”

“注意小心机关。”

四名玩家精神振奋地说道。

“是！大人！”

舔包！

翻NPC的柜子！

这活儿他们最擅长了！