Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 387 - 22 Duangang Bar

Chapter 387: Chapter 22 Duangang Bar

"How do you even survive? There can’t be that many supplies left for you to scavenge, right?" Gao Yu took a drag on his cigarette, noticing Old Pavel approaching and sniffing deeply. Slightly embarrassed, he reached for his pack, slid out a cigarette and passed it over. "Don’t hold back, smoke up!"

"Thank you." Old Pavel looked genuinely surprised as he eagerly accepted the cigarette. This time he didn’t decline, lighting it up and taking light drags, an expression of absolute bliss on his face.

"Before the nuclear war, the world had over ten billion people, now it’s down to tens of millions. The leftover resources are enough for us scavengers," Old Pavel hesitated for a moment before continuing, "plus, during the harvest season in autumn, we often resort to robbery."

"Who do you rob?" Gao Yu offered cigarettes to Tang Zheng and Dantai Zongqi, but they both declined while Dantai pulled out a piece of chocolate and started chewing in silence.

"Ha, whoever we run into, of course, but most of the time we target the mutated people living on the surface. They didn’t make it to the shelters before the bombs fell. After a few generations, they’ve adapted to the radiation, and even started to grow crops and survive."

"How do you find them?" Gao Yu’s sympathy faded, his impression of these scavengers instantly worsened knowing they were just a bunch of bandits.

"Adventurers who discover tribes of surface-dwelling mutants usually auction off the information in bars. Highest bidder wins," Old Pavel seemed oblivious to Gao Yu’s change in mood. For them, theft was a means of survival, nothing wrong with that. Their fathers had taught them so. "No worries about swindlers either. The person selling the information must join the raiding party."

"Is this the bar?" The building in front of them wasn’t a cave dwelling but a two-story structure built from bricks and cement. It had a distinct Russian flair, and even before entering, they could hear muffled music and chaos from within.

"Yes." Old Pavel rubbed his hands in excitement. Before, he could never afford to go to such a place.

"Let’s go," Tang Zheng approached the entrance, pulled back the curtain, and pushed open the heavy glass door. A wave of heat mixed with the loud din hit them instantly.

The view was filled with thrashing bodies, adventurers in ragged clothes and faces smeared with grime. Yet, it did nothing to dampen their high spirits. Around the circular dance floor about fifty meters away, people were laughing wildly and screaming, venting pent-up stress.

"It’s so dark in here." Gao Yu wasn’t used to spending the day in such a dimly lit environment. The bar’s ceiling was adorned with numerous laser lights. Their rotating beams of various colors, along with the DJ’s frenzied music, created a bustling atmosphere.

On the stage in front of the dance floor, three Russian beauties were seductively moving to the rhythm, dancing around a pole. Each time they stripped off a piece of clothing, the crowd’s whistles got louder.

"Gentlemen, this way, please," a bikini-clad waitress walked over, beckoning Tang Zheng and the others to their seats.

There were many seats around the dance floor. Probably due to Gao Yu’s cigarette and the trio’s apparent arsenal, the waitress was quite enthusiastic and led them to the table nearest the stage.

"What would you like to drink?" The waitress leaned in towards Gao Yu, wearing a beaming smile, and stealthily groped his lower body, the implications clear.

"No need." Tang Zheng was concise. He didn’t have many bottle caps left.

"Water, never mind, forget it." Dantai, who didn’t drink, initially wanted water, but remembered this wasn’t real life and quickly changed his mind.

"A small vodka...wait, no need." Gao Yu remembered that the supplies he brought from the Trojan Room couldn’t be used as currency. Disheartened, he thought about asking Tang Zheng to lend him some caps, but figured he wouldn’t be willing.

"Huh? Then, why did you come to a bar?" The average-looking waitress, who could only get fifty out of a hundred points, looked frustrated. After cursing at them under her breath for being stingy, she swiveled her hips indignantly and walked off.

Watching the waitress’s butt jiggle as she walked, Gao Yu regretted not having copped a feel when he had the chance.

"We won’t be kicked out, will we?" Old Pavel was anxious, "I heard this place is owned by the ’Duan Gang Mercenary Corps’."

"We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,do you know how’s Europe and China doing these days?" Dantai Zongqi was surveying the environment and asked, "Tang Zheng, do you want a piece?"

"Thank you." With a snap, Tang Zheng took the chocolate, peeled off the plastic wrap, and bit a small piece off.

"I’ve heard Europeans and Chinese people are living quite decently, but smaller armed conflicts are continuous. Despite that, some people in Moscow who can’t survive here are still choosing to go to those places for a better life." Old Pavel swallowed. "If not for my family and house, I’d also want to try my luck there, to have a small piece of land to farm on. It’s much better than scavenging and robbing."

The music stopped, and people in the dance floor, worn out and tired, moved to the nearby seats for drinks and food. The only people still going were the strippers on the stage, continuing their performance energetically.

"What do you think? How many of the newbies who didn’t choose the protective suits will survive until they reach a safe zone?" Gao Yu let out a sigh, striking up a conversation on a random topic. His two companions were both silent as statues with furrowed brows, as if they were deep in thought.

"None of them." Dantai Zongqi’s reply was cold and brutal, but nobody disagreed. The bitter cold and low temperature alone could kill a person.

"Exactly, these newbies seem to have no gratitude at all, always expecting something for nothing." Gao Yu threw away his cigarette butt, lit another one, and after puffing out a cloud of smoke, predicted, "I bet that Zhang Bingcheng will be the first one to die. Then it will be those two brothers."

Old Pavel was quick to react. He darted to the ground, picked up the cigarette butt, and took a satisfying puff without appearing to mind that it was dirty.

"No, it’s Chu Baichuan’s wife!" Tang Zheng and Dantai Zongqi simultaneously shot back, "Or perhaps the peddler."

"You certainly are in agreement. However, we seem to have some trouble coming our way." Gao Yu made an offhand remark, gripping the rifle in his hand more tightly.

The female waiter was leading four large, muscular men towards them, all of whom were carrying guns. Clearly, they didn’t come with good intentions.

"Another freeloader?" The bar had quietened down, so the commotion immediately attracted the attention of other adventurers, who turned to stare curiously.

"Please leave, the Duangang Bar doesn’t welcome penniless bums." The female waiter spoke with immense confidence, ridiculing the three men. She had assumed they were wealthy patrons, only to find out they were destitute.

"Mind your language." Gao Yu, having survived a slaughter, was rather fearless out of ignorance. He glared back, unwilling to back down, but his bravery was no match for the four soldiers who had spent years battling in the brutal wasteland. He felt a surge of fear after being glared at by the four muscular men.

The observers, all battle-hardened adventurers, had ruthless gazes. Seeing this spectacle, they broke out in boisterous laughter.

"Enough." Dantai Zongqi roared, his face calm as he questioned, "Is this how you treat your guests?"

"Do you have any bottle caps? If not, get out!" The female waiter was still shouting. Meanwhile, the muscular man leading the group was disregarding her while scanning the three men. His gaze passed over their well-maintained firearms. As they were wearing protective clothing, he could not judge their strength by their body type.

"New wanderers?" The muscular man sidestepped the female waiter and sat down. Seeing Tang Zheng eating chocolate, he felt obliged to be respectful, remembering how his group leader once besieged a ghoul-occupied supermarket just to get some snacks for his daughter, at the cost of over twenty lives.

"They want to join a group." Old Pavel noticed the muscular man looking at the cigarette butt he was smoking and quickly added, "They gave it to me."

"You have stumbled upon a generous employer. Good fortune indeed!" The muscular man turned back to the female waiter and said, "Bring three glasses of vodka. It’s on me."

Old Pavel wore a frustrated look. He had been blatantly ignored. The other adventurers, on the other hand, gasped in surprise, envying the good fortune of Tang Zheng’s group and the big man’s generosity.

"No need, we don’t consume things from unfamiliar sources." Tang Zheng refused. This not only defused the embarrassment of not having any bottle caps but also kept the wasteland residents from guessing their capabilities.

The brand-new firearms, cigarettes, protective clothing, and chocolate - each one displayed the trio’s wealth. At this point, even if Tang Zheng insisted they were destitutes, no one would believe him.

The muscular man nodded in approval, not offended. On the contrary, he gained a new level of respect for them. In the wasteland, caution is never a bad thing. Otherwise, for the sake of a minor benifit, one might end up losing their lives.

"Are these guys dull? They won’t even drink free liquor, worth more than a dozen bottle caps." One of the adventurers muttered, laughing, "They must be blockheads."

"Hey, isn’t that the generous group leader? I’ve seen him earlier." Someone who had witnessed Tang Zheng distributing ammo clips earlier immediately spoke up, drawing more attention to Tang Zheng.

"If you want to join a group, you’ll have to wait for a few days. Currently, there’s no valuable intelligence." Said the muscular man, before signaling the female waiter and others to leave. He planned to wait a few days to figure out the trio’s capabilities.

"This is pretty common, finding a valuable target isn’t easy. After all, every expedition consumes resources. If we don’t earn enough to cover the costs, it’s just not worth it." Old Pavel comforted the three men and then suggested, "If you are not averse to the consumption of ammunition, there are a few car factories and oil refineries that could be a good gamble."

"Stop talking nonsense, those places are all infested with ghouls and are nesting grounds for mutated beasts. Is he suggesting we go there on a suicide mission? Furthermore, even if you manage to capture these places at a great cost, you’ll just be doing someone else’s dirty work." A Russian soldier equipped with a PKM general-purpose machine gun walked over. He nodded at Tang Zheng as a greeting, then lowered his voice and said, "I have some intel. How about it? Want to join our team?"

"How will the spoils of war be distributed?" Tang Zheng wasn’t worried about whether they had ulterior motives because he had similar thoughts.

"Of course, it would depend on each one’s contribution. However, since we are providing the information, we’ll take an additional thirty percent." The Russian man pointed at Old Pavel, "You can ask him, these are standard rates."

Old Pavel nodded in agreement, interjecting, "Group Leader Luo Xiji has a good reputation. At the very least, he won’t exploit you."

"Based on contribution? That’s quite vague." Dantai Zongqi noticed that when Luo Xiji had sat down, five men stood around them, guarding the area.