A Core Ship From The Start
Chapter 1441 - 977: The Gentleman Acts but Does Not Speak

Chapter 1441: Chapter 977: The Gentleman Acts but Does Not Speak

"Where the hell did these monsters come from!?"

"I-I don’t know either, sir!"

Looking at the murderous Duanmu Huai standing before him, the commander of the settlement turned pale with fear.

"I can assure you, we had no idea there were such terrifying monsters in this city! If we knew, we would have left long ago!"

"Are you telling me you’ve been here all this time and have never seen these creatures before?"

"N-no..."

Watching the commander nod frantically, Duanmu Huai frowned. He had to admit this was somewhat unexpected. But thinking it over, it made sense: if people knew there was a group of beings running around with miniature nukes, they would’ve bolted long ago.

"So, do you have any clue about where these guys came from?"

"Clue... uh..."

Hearing Duanmu Huai’s question, the commander furrowed his brow, racking his brain. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Oh right! We might not be entirely clueless! A while back, we hired a group of Wanderers to collect intel on this city. Only one of them came back heavily injured... Before dying, he told us that there were demons in the south of the city..."

"Demons?"

Duanmu Huai pondered for a moment. Those mutants, with their pitch-black bodies and glowing red eyes—it didn’t sound wrong to call them demons.

"That’s it? You didn’t send anyone to verify this?"

"Our settlement doesn’t have that kind of strength."

The commander shook his head grimly, biting his lip.

"Besides, the southern part of the city is too far from us. So we didn’t pay much attention to the reports. We thought these so-called demons were just some mutated zombies. Usually, zombies stick to their territories and rarely cross zones. Logically, as long as we didn’t head south, we wouldn’t provoke any monsters there..."

Who would’ve thought these bastards were drifters.

After poring over the map with the commander for half a day, Duanmu Huai discovered that the commander didn’t actually know the exact location of these "demons." All he could do was sketch a rough direction from memory.

From there, Duanmu Huai had to handle the rest himself. After all, only after these survivors were rescued could they ensure their safety. Although Duanmu Huai had plenty of medical supplies on hand and managed to save most of them, the settlement was completely destroyed. As for the supplies inside... forget it. Several miniature nukes had left the place radioactive, rendering all consumables utterly useless.

At least the people were alive, though.

At this point, the oil depot they had secured came in handy. At least it had fuel and generators. The commander decided to send some people to the nearby clinics and hospitals at dawn to salvage what medical equipment they could. In this abandoned city, useful items were still far easier to come by than living human beings. Dangerous, yes—but without effort, they wouldn’t even have food to eat.

"Alright then, I’ll leave this place to you. I’ll ask Lumiaire to bring the train over."

After issuing his orders, Duanmu Huai spoke to the others. The depot conveniently sat next to a rail line, built to facilitate loading and transporting fuel. It even had a small transfer station, making it an ideal spot for Duanmu Huai’s train.

Speaking of which, the settlement commander surprisingly kept his word. Originally, the agreement was that Duanmu Huai would help them seize the oil depot, and the settlement would provide the team with supplies. But with the settlement blown to radioactive smithereens, the supplies inside were a total loss.

Yet the commander, true to his leadership, revealed that he had hidden a stash of weapons nearby—a secret holdout of the settlement’s most prized resources. It had been deliberately concealed outside the settlement in case they ever needed to make a sudden comeback after being ousted.

Now seemed the perfect time to use it. The commander handed over the warehouse key without hesitation, telling the group they could take anything they fancied, no need for courtesy.

While Duanmu Huai wasn’t particularly interested in subpar weaponry, the rest of the group couldn’t have been happier—like mice let loose in a grain silo.

"Can you believe it? The boss of this place actually plays by the rules."

Aiden swung around a pair of climbing axes, testing their balance. As a Wanderer, Aiden excelled at parkour and escaping tight spots surrounded by zombies. He didn’t need heavy firepower; instead, he valued gear that could help him scale buildings and maneuver quickly. Happily, the commander’s stash included climbing axes and ropes, which Aiden snagged immediately. Armed with these, he felt much more confident about outrunning zombies.

Still, he had to admit—it was surprising how generous the commander was.

Sure, by rights they had completed their task and earned their payment. But in this post-apocalyptic wasteland, fairness was a rarity. Usually, even if you finished a mission, you might find yourself too weak or injured to enforce the deal, leaving your employer free to cheat—or worse, ambush you. That was the norm.

For the commander to pay up even after losing his home? In wasteland terms, that made him a saint.

"What’s so strange about that?"

Joel, on the other side of the room, was rummaging through the stash, managing to grab two suppressors—useful, since his current weapons weren’t worth upgrading, but suppressors were always in demand.

"With Mr. Duanmu around, even if the guy wanted to rip us off, he wouldn’t dare."

"True... fair point."

Aiden sighed. It was undeniable: if it were any other group of Wanderers, the commander might have resorted to treachery. But their leader, Duanmu Huai, was no ordinary man. His sheer physical presence, not to mention his hulking Power Armor, left no room for negotiation. Anyone stupid enough to try to cheat him would be asking to be obliterated.

In this post-apocalyptic wasteland, where strength dictated everything, finding someone with a bigger "fist" than Duanmu Huai’s was no simple task—regardless of how you interpreted the term.

Miyamoto Rei and Komuro Takashi also upgraded their gear, though their attack power only went from +1 to +2—not a massive leap.

"You all stay alert here. Make sure no one sneaks up on us. Gavi will take care of you. Everyone, keep your guard up."

Duanmu Huai had no intention of hanging around. He was itching to track down those mutants and exact his vengeance.

But someone had to guard this place. It was an oil depot, after all. If those mutants returned and lobbed another nuke, the whole area would go up in flames!

"Don’t worry, master. Leave it to me! Those bastards dare show up again, I’ll kill them all!"

Gavi, carrying her Black Widow Sniper Rifle, grinned with eagerness. Normally, Duanmu Huai relied on Ogis, leaving Gavi few chances to shine. But now that she had the opportunity, she couldn’t wait for the mutants to come charging in so she could prove herself—though the rest of the group would much rather have a quiet night.

"Okay then, Mary..."

After issuing his instructions, Duanmu Huai turned to Mary, who had changed into a fresh outfit.

"Are you coming with me for revenge, or staying here to recover?"

"Huh? Revenge? No, I’ll stay here..."

Mary blinked at his words, then quickly shook her head. She had no interest in revenge. Besides, with Duanmu Huai involved, those mutants were as good as dead. She had dinner to look forward to—and keeping a good appetite was important.

"Alright then, just take care of yourself."

Duanmu Huai nodded at her, then fired up his Jet Backpack, launching skyward toward the other side of the city.

"Let’s see where those bastards are hiding. There’s definitely more going on here..."

As he soared through the air, Duanmu Huai muttered to himself, scanning the ground below. He didn’t believe for a second that the mutants had attacked the settlement randomly. After consulting with Mary and Tall City Saye, they had confirmed the mutants had launched a direct and calculated assault from the very start. The nuke had destroyed the outer defenses in one strike. Either it was blind luck, or the mutants had scouted the settlement beforehand—the latter seemed far more likely.

Duanmu Huai leaned toward the second theory.

So the question remained: how had the mutants managed it?

Or rather, was someone behind the scenes pulling their strings?

In Duanmu Huai’s experience, wasteland mutants were typically brute-force, brainless beasts. They charged at their targets blindly, no strategy involved. But these attackers had shown a concerning level of coordination...

Could the mutants in this world be smarter than usual?

"Beep————!"

As Duanmu Huai mused, an alarm suddenly blared. Looking up, he saw a missile streaking toward him, leaving a smoky trail in its wake!

An RPG!

"Boom!!"

The next moment, the RPG struck Duanmu Huai square in the face. The impact engulfed him in thick, black smoke as he plummeted like a meteor, crashing into a dilapidated building below. With a deafening cacophony of crumbling debris, the already unstable structure collapsed entirely.

"Hahaha!"

Watching this unfold, a mutant with a rocket launcher burst into raucous laughter—only to be smacked down by a nearby companion.

"Roar——!"

The other mutant snarled angrily, kicking the first one aside before stepping closer to the rubble. It squinted at the ruins suspiciously.

Just then, the debris gave a sudden, violent heave before exploding outward. The mutant froze in terror as a figure even larger than itself emerged from the wreckage, grabbing it by the head!

"Finally caught you, you cursed alien hybrid scum!"

Duanmu Huai stomped out from the crumbled ruins, a fierce grin on his face as he hoisted the mutant high by its skull.

"You’ll pay for what you’ve done. Prepare to die!"