Infinite Ebullience
Chapter 388 - 23 Suit Up for Travel

Chapter 388: Chapter 23 Suit Up for Travel

"We might as well buy the information." Gao Yu glanced at Luo Xiji’s equipment, shrugged, and suggested an alternative; survivors had enough firepower to scrape through anything, so why share spoils of war with others? Polite as he was, he handed over a cigarette.

Luo Xiji took it, sniffed it, looked at the brand, but the Chinese characters were Greek to him. Though his face wore a flattering smile, in his heart he cursed him as a fool. ’I, a group leader with one hundred subordinates, do I need to sell information to survive? Robbing on my own will result in greater gain!’, he thought.

"You don’t need to worry about me using you as cannon fodder. The target of this robbery is a large mutant tribe of five hundred. I’ve additionally recruited a hundred local adventurers for the group." Luo Xiji’s voice was a bit hoarse, sounding pretty harsh, "They’re all experienced veterans, so the action is safe. Without talking about your generous leader hoping to form a good karma tie, I wouldn’t be sitting here".

"Group Leader, go on, you can trust him," Old Pavel advised, turning to Luo Xiji, "how about adding me in?"

"No problem, meet at the entrance of the east district on the second floor at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Don’t be late if you choose to come," Luo Xiji didn’t insist more than necessary. Having said what he had, he put his cigarette in his mouth and left wearily.

"Boring to remain idle, let’s go home." Tang Zheng stood up, leaving the bar, with Old Pavel quickly following behind, trying to persuade him that acting together with Luo Xiji would undoubtedly be safer.

"Group Leader, do you think they’ll come?" One of the subordinates stared at Tang Zheng’s departing figure, his eyes full of envy and greed, "Their weapons are awesome, I can even smell the scent of gun oil."

"Anyway, it wasn’t a loss. Didn’t we win a cigarette? Group Leader, let me have a drag."

Luo Xiji handed over a half-smoked cigarette to his subordinate, which incited a scramble. With this, he fell into deep thought. Inviting Tang Zheng this time was nothing more than wanting to understand their ammunition source, as he didn’t believe that a drifter group would be so generous. Who doesn’t know that firearms and bullets represent the hope of survival and trump card in the Wasteland World?

Without Tang Zheng’s inquiry, Old Pavel was verbose in his explanation of Luo Xiji’s experience, all for the chance of catching a free ride.

"The real claim to fame of Luo Xiji, though, is his idiot daughter. Every night at ten o’clock, she broadcasts a segment of music on the radio and then begins to recite famous pre-nuclear war literature, arguing about making intentions known to children." Pavel laughed until he was in tears, "Although it’s only half an hour, the electricity consumed isn’t minor--enough to exchange for a few days’ worth of food. For this, her mother beats her every day."

"What happened after?" Gao Yu was interested in this topic, but after turning onto the street of the West District, Old Pavel suddenly shut up, sniffed hard, and exclaimed in surprise, "What’s that smell? Delicious!"

Not just him, but all the cave dwellings on the whole street were filled with people who had obviously discovered the origin of the delicious smell. They were all looking intensely at the house that Tang Zheng had rented, drooling uncontrollably.

A wisp of black smoke drifted out of the chimney, spreading across the upper level. The aroma of stir-fried dishes and the womens’ laughter wafted out, filling the entire street, giving the formerly desolate and lonely place an instant vitality.

"New residents? Isn’t this dinner a bit too sumptuous?" A Wasteland resident wiped the corner of his mouth, still able to hold it in, while some children had already run over, gathering outside the house. A few bold ones even lifted the cotton curtain hanging on the door to sneak a peek.

"What’s going on? Didn’t they know to keep a low profile?" Dantai frowned, instructing Old Pavel, "Go chase them away."

"Alright." Old Pavel immediately rushed over to disperse the children. He intended to do his best to make a good impression--maybe he could even scrape together a dinner.

Meanwhile, the Wasteland residents also noticed the three men - Tang Zheng, and they gossiped with each other without any intention to leave.

"Uncle, you’re back?" Lu Fan came running out, saw the street was full of people, and frowned, "So annoying."

"Throw the radiation rats out and let them take them." Of course, this job was assigned to the female models. Although they were afraid of messing up their looks, they had no choice.

"Continue about the daughter." Gao Yu leaned against the door frame, smoking with his left hand, holding the rifle with his right, hoping to enjoy this attention.

"Beating the daughter didn’t resolve the issue, so they simply stopped giving her batteries. But then the daughter saved food to exchange for rechargeable batteries. Upon discovering this, her mother decided to starve her for a few days, then supervise her meal times, not allowing her the chance to obtain batteries. What do you think she did?" Old Pavel had to constantly shoo the children while tiptoeing to catch a glimpse of the food that smelled so good.

"Stop being suspenseful, just go on." Gao Yu mockingly kicked Old Pavel, then made some space as radiation rats were being tossed out, raising ash dust.

"That girl actually went to be a prostitute, just to earn a few batteries. Can you say that she isn’t an idiot? Fortunately, the prostitutes didn’t want a newcomer stealing their business, so they quickly notified Luo Xiji. Otherwise, the girl might have genuinely fallen."

"Obsessed." Dantai snorted and went into the house.

"Old Pavel, let those neighbors pick up the radiation rats and then have them leave. If anyone continues to spectate, I might have to take action." Tang Zheng instructed, before being pulled inside by Lu Fan.

Old Pavel hurriedly nodded and complied. He didn’t have to call out - the neighbors who heard Tang Zheng’s words rushed over immediately to seize the radiation rats.

Five minutes later, the street quieted down. The Wasteland residents who got their hands on the rats all hurried home beaming. After all, they hadn’t eaten meat in a long while.

Old Pavel, stepping into the room, laid his eyes on the round table, brimming with various dishes of steaming food. There were many foods he could not even name, particularly a large fatty fish, which instantly dazzled his eyes.

"Give him two sausages and let him leave."

"Today is Old Pavel’s lucky day!" Old Pavel thanked them profusely, took the sausages, which weighed over a pound, and found his steps lighter as he walked home.

During dinner, Tang Zheng announced the operation for the next day. Dantai and Gao Yu would join the group. All women were to stay behind and were not allowed to step out of the cave dwelling. Even if Tang Zheng had not said it, the models would not have dared to step out.

"You’re too showy. Do you want to become a target?" Dantai Zongqi retorted, eating rice and criticizing brazenly, "Anyone who doesn’t know how to keep a low profile and make a fortune, use a tree branch to mark it a thousand times on the ground."

"Hmph." Lu Fan was not afraid of him, "If you can, don’t eat. All of this is my reserve."

"Don’t worry about this trivial matter. Check the preparations after eating." Tang Zheng finished a bowl of rice and after he had eaten, he went into the inner room. He had already removed his protective clothing, and he set various necessary equipment on the floor. Dantai followed him into the room, holding the B-Class Space Backpack he had bought.

"How many points did you earn in the first round?" Dantai asked curiously, pretending to not care, "I’ve got 4200 points."

"4500 points." Tang Zheng replied, "What aspect have you strengthened? You are physically stronger than most, are you a soldier?"

"Neural response speed. Regarding your other question, I need to keep it confidential." Dantai didn’t hesitate but felt a tinge of disappointment internally. 4200 points was a good score, even the abrasive Silver Trojan had praised it. He didn’t expect there would be even stronger competitors.

"Keeping secrets? You don’t have the air of a soldier, but your skills are good. Hmm, could you be a special agent?" Tang Zheng said casually and noticed that Dantai was too calm, which seemed to affirm his guess.

"I want to add a grenade launcher to my rifle. Anyone who has spare grenades, can lend me some," Gao Yu, who had been unsuccessful in courting the models, walked in. He first threw the Space Backpack onto the ground, then lied down, took a big gulp of beer and then said, "I’ll trade them for my 95-style bullets. In the heat of the moment, I bought too many."

"One hundred 5.8mm bullets for five grenades," Dantai proposed a trade ratio without wasting too much time.

"I have been scammed." Gao Yu muttered, turning to look at Tang Zheng, as if wanting to hear his offer.

"Ninety-nine bullets for five grenades." Tang Zheng smiled, teasing Gao Yu. To him, one bullet was nothing.

"You’re all swindlers. No trade." Gao Yu grumbled. Then he saw Tang Zheng and Dantai each throwing him a box of grenades. Hurriedly, he received them, looked at them, saw twenty grenades in each, and immediately beamed, saying, "I knew it, you both are generous. I can’t be stingy either."

Gao Yu took out twenty Ammo Clips, giving ten to each of them.

"You’re just a sweet-talker, aren’t you? You’re the one who’s profiting." Dantai laughed and asked, "Are we really going to rob the Mutant Tribe?"

"What else can we do?" Gao Yu checked his M200, pulled out a tactical vest and bulletproof vest, and complained, "How to wear all these? This is heavy and burdensome."

"You can skip the bulletproof vest."

"No, my Protective Clothing is B-Class, the bulletproof capability is inadequate. What if someone shoots a Black Gun at me?" Gao Yu took out a Kaffra Helmet and immediately felt miserable, "This won’t break my spine, right?"

At eight o’clock the next morning, Luo Xiji had waited at the entrance of the East District on the second level with a group of his subordinates. Adventurers who joined the group also arrived one after another.

"Isn’t the kid coming?" Luo Xiji had just complained when he noticed that the voices of the squabbling and joking people next to him had abruptly quietened. Everyone was staring at the street, their eyes filled with a mixture of envy, jealousy and resentment, their saliva dripping onto their clothes.

They were a fully armed trio. They were dressed in Protective Clothing, covered in down jackets, and additionally wearing Hazard suits. Because they were a bit oversized, they were strapped down with tape, which made them look fitting. On top, they wore new bulletproof vests and desert-grey interceptor tactical vests. Because of the modular design, every Ammo Clip pouch was stuffed full.

"They’re strong; they carry at least ten Ammo Clips." A subordinate next to Luo Xiji lowered his voice and expressed his admiration, "What do you think they have in their backpacks?"

"Ammunition and supplies, of course." Luo Xiji was also pretty envious. All three of them had three hand grenades draped over their chests, carried rifles that were upgraded with grenade launchers and ACOG scopes, and had gun holsters on their right thighs, with an inserted handgun, two Ammo Clips, and a military knife; they were essentially armed to the teeth. Within settlement number 12, only the bodyguards directly under the commander of the Steel Council had such gear.

The camel-grey high-top military boots treaded on the ground, emitting a faint crackling sound, instantly mesmerizing the gathered crowd of two hundred people. A good pair of boots allows one to walk comfortably in ice and snow.