Chapter 569: Can I meet acquaintances in this crappy place?

  Chapter 569: Can I meet acquaintances in this shabby place?

  In Hope Town, guarding the gate is an easy job.

  Although there is only a gate between this place and the wasteland, and two steps ahead is a hell where no one cares if you die, it is not the wasteland after all, so you can get a considerable salary without taking too much risk.

  And this job is decent enough.

  No matter whether you are doing legitimate business or not, when you are near the settlement, you will be more or less relaxed.

  Even looters will need such a safe place to exchange the stolen goods for other things they need.

  Otherwise, what they robbed is worthless garbage, and they can only be thrown on the ground waiting for scavengers to pick it up, or become the spoils of other wastelanders.

  Especially now, most of the wastelanders in this area use automatic rifles produced in the southern part of the Valley Province.

  It was already difficult to survive with the hand-rolled iron rifle. They also needed to keep up with the times and hide themselves in the right place…

  Mark, standing at the west gate, yawned, took out his rusty pocket watch and looked at it, calculating how many hours were left before the end of work.

  This job is to kill time. This is

  especially true at the west gate where the wastelanders rarely come.

  Just as he was thinking about where to go for a drink after work, the guard standing next to him suddenly looked up to the west, frowned and muttered.

  ”What’s the sound?”

  ”What…what’s the sound?” Mark closed the brass cover, put away the pocket watch, and looked at the new guy.

  This guy joined the town guard station a few months ago. He was the son of a hunter in the town. He had some impression of his father and had a drink with him.

  ”Didn’t you hear it?” The young man looked at him and said, “Something exploded.”

  Hearing this, Mark couldn’t help laughing.

  ”Haha, that’s normal. If you walk two steps outside, you’re in the wasteland. Gunshots and explosions are common… You’ll get used to it.”

  To be honest, this is not common.

  In the wasteland, loneliness and coldness are more common than death.

  In a deserted wilderness, there may be no living creatures for many years, and only swaying weeds can be seen for decades.

  If a wolf howls suddenly one day, it may be time to be alert.

  But Mark doesn’t want to think so.

  Compared to what happened in the wasteland so close, he is more inclined to think that what happened was an accident that had nothing to do with them. Minding

  one’s own business is the way to survive. He knows very well why he can become a guard, because he won’t care about things that have nothing to do with him.

  The young man crawled on the ground, put his ears to the ground, and muttered to himself.

  ”Gunshots, and the sound of running, at least thirty or forty kilometers away, bang bang bang… who is fighting who.”

  Mark couldn’t help but kick him in the ass.

  ”Stop worrying about it, get up and stand guard.”

  After being kicked on the buttocks, the young man stood up awkwardly and kept his mouth shut.

  Mark’s good mood until noon was messed up by him.

  Once people know that something big has happened next to them, but don’t know what it is, they will involuntarily think about it and start to get anxious.

  Especially when there is nothing to do.

  Mark is no exception. The young man seemed to have let it go, but he couldn’t help thinking about it over and over again in his heart.

  Who is fighting with whom?

  Speaking of which, is there a larger settlement to the west?

  At this moment, there was a sudden rustling in the forest not far away, followed by a “whoosh” sound of breaking through the air.

  Before Mark could come to his senses, an arrow flew past his hat and nailed to the wooden pillar behind him with a clang.

  Startled, he quickly loaded his rifle, turned on the safety and pointed it in the direction where the arrow came from.

  ”Who’s there!”

  No one answered.

  Mark swallowed his saliva, his eyes flashing with surprise and nervousness, the muzzle of the gun pointed straight at the forest where no one could be seen, but he didn’t dare to go up to see the situation.

  At this time, the guy next to him ran behind him, pulled the arrow off the pillar, and shouted at him.

  ”Sir! There’s something tied to the arrow!”

  ”What is it?” Not daring to move his eyes away from the crosshairs, Mark stared at the forest and shouted with his back to him.

  ”It’s a roll of animal skin! It seems to have something written on it…” After unpacking the roll of animal skin and barely recognizing what was written on it, the guy suddenly froze and didn’t say anything.

  Animal skin?

  Mark was stunned for a moment, eager to know what was written on it, but he didn’t dare to let his guard down.

  So he maintained his aiming posture, stepped back to the side of the guy, and freed his left hand to pull the animal skin over.

  There were indeed two lines of scribbled words written in animal blood.

  And they were written wrong.

  Mark recognized the content by guessing, and his face lost color in an instant, as pale as if it was painted with white paint.

  ”Damn…”

  He cursed and quickly looked at the young man next to him who was also dumbfounded, staring at him with a warning look.

  ”You stay here, I’ll go back and report… Don’t tell anyone about this!”

  The young man nodded in a daze.

  Mark glanced at the forest, gritted his teeth, put away the gun and put it on his back, took the arrow and the animal skin, and ran towards the town without looking back.

  In the forest, a pair of green pupils hidden under the hood watched the back of the person running into the town. He didn’t disappear from the shadow of the forest until the guard disappeared behind the gate…

  …

  The town hall in the center of Hope Town.

  The round table in the conference room was filled with the town’s prominent figures.

  There was the owner of the Grizzly Bear and Streetlight Tavern, an old carpenter, a tanner, a landlord with a thousand acres of land, and a mayor who managed a thousand households.

  They were not the kind of people who had a lot of free time, but at this moment they all sat here silently, smoking first-hand or second-hand cigarettes.

  Even though the pungent smell of cigarettes could make people cry, the people sitting here still closed the doors and windows tightly, with no intention of opening a window for ventilation.

  Similarly, no one spoke.

  At this moment, there was an arrow lying on the round table in front of them.

  It was probably around noon when someone shot this arrow at the west gate of the town, and it was picked up by the guard standing on duty there.

  Previously, a roll of animal skin was tied to it, and two lines of words were written in animal blood.

  [Oger, want to eat people. ]

  [Run! ]

  ”If this is a joke, it is definitely the most clumsy and vicious joke of the year!”

  The mayor here was the first to break the silence.

  His name is Ma Hechang. Although he is already fifty years old, he is still strong and has considerable prestige in the town.

  The owner of the Grizzly and Streetlight Tavern, who was sitting not far from him, hugged his head and muttered to himself with a painful look on his face.

  ”Why did this happen?”

  There was a noisy complaint and discussion in the meeting room, and everyone’s face was full of panic and anxiety.

  They didn’t know what Oger was, but seeing the two words “eat people” and “run”, it was not difficult to guess what it meant.

  Ordinary predator tribes would not dare to attack a settlement like Hope Town with thousands of households. I think it can only be those unreasonable mutants.

  But people still can’t believe this is true.

  The “Qi” tribe did not come to Jinhe City the first day. It is said that they have been there for a century and a half. Those green-skinned baboons are indeed too strong, and their numbers are terrifying, but they are actually different from mutants in other places. They rarely attack the surrounding survivor settlements.

  There are rumors that they have kept some slaves in the tribe, so there is no need for frequent plunder. There are also rumors that their ancestors were actually humans, but they accidentally became like this, so they will let their descendants restrain themselves and not attack those villages and farmlands.

  However, these are just rumors.

  Most people who believe in these things don’t actually know why things are like this. They just give themselves and others a reason to convince themselves and others for things that cannot be explained, and seek peace of mind in panic.

  The Qi tribe has existed for more than a century, and they have lived here for more than a century. No one knows why they don’t eat them, let alone why they change their minds now.

  At this time, someone suddenly spoke up.

  ”Is it just a joke?”

  No one paid attention to him.

  Because it was nonsense.

  Even if most people think so in their hearts, no one dares to joke about the lives of themselves and their families.

  Ma Hechang looked at the director of the town guard station sitting next to him and lowered his voice.

  ”Have the sentries been sent out?”

  The director of the town guard station nodded and said nervously.

  ”It has been sent out… There is no news yet.”

  Mayor Ma breathed a sigh of relief. At least at this moment, he didn’t have to worry about the group of greenskins suddenly breaking in when the meeting was halfway through.

  Then he looked around at everyone present and said in a serious tone.

  ”Now we have to figure out who is warning us! If that person really has solid news, why did he tell us in this way instead of telling us in person!”

  ”I think so too! If the news is true, why didn’t he tell us in person? We would all thank him and even give him money.” The owner of the glassware complained.

  Suddenly thinking of something, Mayor Ma looked at the blacksmith sitting at the round table.

  ”Do you recognize this arrow?”

  ”… I recognize it. This arrow is indeed sold by me,” the town’s blacksmith frowned after staring at the arrowhead for a long time, “but the hunters in the town use the arrows I made, which doesn’t mean anything.”

  For experienced hunters, hunting with rifles is not cost-effective. Traps and bows and arrows are more economical.

  Mayor Ma’s face showed a trace of disappointment.

  At this time, a man wearing a devil silk gown and looking a little plump suddenly spoke.

  ”Ahem, listen to me, there are too many abnormalities in this matter… I am more inclined to believe that someone wants to drive us out of here so as to take the opportunity to rob our property.”

  His name is Xiao Zhixue, and he is in the beer business. He has a brewing workshop in the town and employs more than 20 workers. The drinks consumed by the wastelanders passing by are basically from him.

  A shopkeeper asked back.

  ”But what if what the letter says is true?”

  The wine merchant surnamed Xiao stared.

  ”Really? How is it possible! That ‘Qi’ never attacks settlements, they only catch those guys wandering around in the wasteland!”

  ”Just because they didn’t before doesn’t mean they won’t in the future. Maybe they changed their minds on a whim.”

  ”But this doesn’t make sense! Aren’t they allies of the Torch Church? We have converted to the church, and there are even priests of the church in our town!”

  A pair of eyes looked at the priest in front of the round table. The middle-aged man who was focused by the eyes couldn’t help but wipe the sweat off his face and said nervously.

  ”I don’t know… I couldn’t contact the Apostle a few days ago. Ah, could it be related to this?”

  ”To the west… there seems to be a small place called Dust Town.” The blacksmith said, stroking his chin.

  The priest nodded hurriedly.

  ”That’s the name! I remember that before the Apostle disappeared, he said that he would take his believers there to preach!”

  At this time, the owner of the tanning shop suddenly spoke up.

  ”Could it be that those mutants went to Dust Town to search for the whereabouts of the Apostle, but couldn’t find him… Then the group of green-skinned baboons went crazy and killed people everywhere?”

  This seems to be the most reasonable explanation.

  Although this is also what no one wants to face.

  Mayor Ma knocked the table hard with his fist and said loudly.

  ”Enough, these things are not important. The important thing is what we should do now? Should we stay and fight them, or move to other places to hide first-”

  Before he finished speaking, the wine merchant screamed.

  ”Move to other places? Are you kidding? Where can we go? There is no place nearby that can accommodate so many people!”

  Others patted their butts and left.

  His brewery can’t be moved!

  If those mutants don’t kill anyone, they will definitely set fire to this place! By then, all his property here will be gone!

  The same goes for most other people.

  Those sitting here are the most prestigious and wealthy people in the town. Their homes and property are here. This is not just a town for them, but also their foundation.

  Although no one wants to face those green-skinned monsters, no one wants to just run away.

  ”If we don’t leave, we can only fight them,” Mayor Ma said with a gloomy look, “To be honest, I don’t have much confidence to be a match for those guys.” A

  mutant tribe with tens of thousands of people…

  Even the pine cone farm in the southeast, the big landlord who supports nearly 50,000 people, can’t be a match for that mutant tribe.

  The size of the two sides is not on the same dimension at all.

  At this time, the director of the guard station suddenly stood up from the conference table and walked towards the door.

  Mayor Ma looked at him.

  ”Where are you going?”

  The director stopped.

  ”Mobilize the residents of the town and give them guns. If we continue to discuss like this, we can’t leave, and it’s too late to fight. We can only sit here and wait to die.” As

  soon as he finished speaking, the wine merchant sitting not far away stood up.

  ”Wait, you can’t do this! If you hand out the guns now, everyone will know that something is going to happen!”

  The director of the town guard station frowned.

  ”It’s time now, is it useful to cover up now?”

  The wine merchant said in a low voice.

  ”There are some wastelanders in the town. They are better at fighting than us. At worst, we can give them some money! But if they get the news in advance and know that the opponent is a mutant… I bet they will run faster than rabbits!”

  The director of the garrison looked at him blankly, and after thinking about it, it seemed to make sense.

  Those wastelanders are better than the militia in the town. It is better to mobilize those guys than to mobilize a group of guys who have never fought a war to send their heads.

  The people sitting at the conference table exchanged glances, most of them with an expression of approval in their eyes. Mayor Ma pondered for a long time and nodded slowly.

  ”I think so too… But we can’t put all our hopes on those outsiders. We have to make preparations for both situations.”

  After saying that, he looked at the director of the garrison.

  ”Send the weapons in the inventory to the wall, and then use obstacles to block the four gates in the east, south, west and north, and dig some fortifications… As for the wastelanders, we will tell them that we have received news that a group of looters have fled to this area. The town needs to strengthen its fortifications, and vehicles and goods are temporarily not allowed to enter or leave. After three days, if the alarm is lifted, we will remove the fortifications, and then they can come and go freely.”

  ”During this period, Hope Town will provide free accommodation and food for its guests.”

  Keeping the goods means keeping the merchants in the town, and keeping those merchants is equivalent to keeping their private soldiers.

  If it is only delayed for three days, those merchants should not do anything too outrageous and rashly offend this town.

  Although this may affect the reputation of Hope Town, it is obviously more urgent to survive at the moment.

  As for those mercenaries, although it is difficult to forcibly keep them, they can be hired under the pretext of dealing with the looters who have fled to this area.

  After a pause, Mayor Ma said with a hint of luck.

  ”Actually… it may not be as bad as we thought.”

  ”The sentinels haven’t brought back the news yet, which at least means that the mutants haven’t come near us. Maybe, as Mr. Xiao said, this is just a trick to scare us away.”

  The people sitting at the table looked at each other.

  If only it were that simple…

  …

  In the forest tens of kilometers away.

  After the banquet, the mutants smeared the blood and grease of the prey on their faces, humming rude shouts and songs, and embarked on the journey to the next banquet.

  Oger lost more than 200 brothers, including a centurion and a big guy.

  He had to chop off 400 heads to vent his anger.

  As for whether the Torch Church was angry or not, what did it have to do with Oger?

  He was not only unhappy with the old priests in the tribe who were in charge of this and that, but also those superstitious humans…

  At this moment, most of the residents of Hope Town had not yet realized that the danger had quietly approached their heads.

  And the few who knew about it were still fantasizing that things might not be that bad, and that the arrow tied with animal skin was just a clumsy scam.

  On the other side, Luo Yu, who had lunch at the hotel, learned from the leader of the caravan, Wu Wenzhou, that there were looters roaming around and the town was blocked.

  ”Looters?!”

  After hearing the news, Luo Yu showed a surprised expression on his face, and soon remembered the group of people he met at the border of the province before.

  ”… Could it be those people we met?”

  On the way here, they encountered a group of looters who robbed the road, and seized a Maxim from those looters.

  But if it was those people, he couldn’t think of any need to build fortifications.

  ”I don’t know.” Wu Wenzhou smiled bitterly and shook his head, “Anyway, the four exits of the town are blocked now. Although people can go in and out, goods can’t go through. We can’t let them dismantle the roadblocks and bunkers.”

  Although this is a safe zone, it is in the wasteland after all. He dare not leave the goods here and run away.

  When the goods are lost, there is no place to reason.

  But there is actually no need to go out.

  Except for the exception of the Bone Chewing Tribe, most of the looters were beaten by the settlements, and only some small villages were likely to have accidents.

  There are so many mercenaries and caravans here, there is no need to worry about safety issues.

  ”Are we just going to wait here?” Luo Yu frowned, thinking of the advice given to him by the guy named White Shark. If

  he delays one more day on the road, his 100,000 silver coins will have to increase the risk of losing one day.

  Seeing that he is about to reach the destination, he really doesn’t want to fall behind at this juncture.

  Wu Wenzhou sighed helplessly.

  ”At present, there is no better way… Anyway, it’s only three days, so let’s wait and see.”

  After a pause, he continued.

  ”Of course, although their reasons are reasonable, we can’t just let them mess around for no reason. I will go to other merchants to discuss it later, and they must give us an explanation.”

  If the roadblocks are still not removed after three days, they can unite to put pressure on the local residents and the town hall.

  Of course, this is the last resort.

  If possible, he really didn’t want to conflict with the locals. Hope Town was one of the few relatively safe and reliable settlements on this trade route. When he

  stayed overnight in some small settlements, he usually hid his pistol under his pillow, but here, he could sleep peacefully by locking the door.

  ”…I’ll go around and maybe there’s some clues.”

  As he said that, Luo Yu pushed his chair away and stood up.

  When he thought about wasting three days in this small town, he felt uncomfortable all over. It would be better to go out and look for any side quests that can kill time.

  Wu Wenzhou nodded.

  ”Go ahead, remember to come back before dark.”

  Luo Yu walked out of the hotel and stood on the street. He looked around and found that this town was unexpectedly large, completely different from his first impression last night. I’m afraid there are no less than a thousand people living here.

  There are many merchants and mercenaries who are stranded here like them. At this moment, they are all gathered near the hotel to exchange what they heard.

  It might be a good idea to talk to them.

  However, just when Luo Yu was about to walk over, he suddenly realized awkwardly that he was not a particularly sociable person.

  Let alone NPCs.

  In fact, he has relatively few contacts with players.

  He has been playing this game for a while, but he is only familiar with Brother Mosquito and his teammates in the Goblin Corps, and he knows some of Brother Mosquito’s acquaintances.

  Before raising Xiaoyu, he often worked alone.

  Just when he was thinking about how to casually walk over and insert the topic, and then extract information from the mouths of those old-timers, a familiar voice suddenly came from the side.

  ”Luoyu?!”

  I didn’t expect that there was an acquaintance in this broken place.

  Hearing someone calling his name in Mandarin, Luoyu subconsciously turned his head, and then saw a familiar face, and immediately opened his eyes wide in surprise.

  ”Me Zhuo?” ”

  Why are you here too?!”

–

  (PS: I have been coughing for two weeks, and my throat is almost ruined. Now I speak like blowing bubbles. I have successfully quit the habit of talking to myself while typing…)

  (End of this chapter)