Abnormal Doomsday Records

Chapter 9 09. Choosing street lights for yourself is a basic operation for qualified capitalists.

"Are you sure he won't bite me?"

In the cage of the caravan, Lao Bai timidly looked at Ajie who was sleeping soundly in the corner of the cage, and then glanced at Zhou Ke who was leaning aside and wiping his gun as if nothing had happened.

The coward didn't dare to sit down, for fear that the violent Ajie would pounce on him and give him a rough time.

From the killing just now, he already knew that Zhou Ke was not an ordinary wastelander, but he really couldn't imagine where this guy got the courage to get so close to Ajie?
Isn't he afraid?

"You are not even afraid of death, so why should you be afraid of a poor crazy person? Sit down!"

Zhou Ke glanced at Lao Bai with his eyes slanted, and let the latter sit cross-legged in Ajie's cage reluctantly. As a result, as soon as he sat down, he saw Ajie, who was sleeping over there, opened his left eye and stared at Lao Bai who walked into his "territory" like a wild beast.

The look was definitely not friendly, and there was a threatening grunt in his throat.

"It's none of your business, go to sleep!"

Zhou Ke yelled without even turning his head, and threw over another opened energy bar.

Ajie reached out and grabbed the energy bar in his arms. After staring at Lao Bai with one eye for a few seconds, he really stopped paying attention to this "non-threatening" guy and continued to dream about his own future.

This crude and simple interaction left Old White dumbfounded.

If he hadn't known that Zhou Ke had just met Ajie this morning, he would have really thought that these two guys were good brothers before. How could this biochemical warrior be so obedient even though his personality had collapsed? Could it be that Zhou Ke was also a beast tamer?

But Zhou Ke certainly would not explain this to Lao Bai who had just joined the group. He opened his bag, took out all his belongings and placed them in front of him, and said to Lao Bai:
"I've heard that you're a very unsuccessful Badlands businessman, so you must have the necessary vision. Show me how much these things are worth."

"Well, you don't have to add the label of 'failure'. I'm just unlucky and always run into messes, but I've never lost money when doing business."

Lao Bai defended himself awkwardly.

The businessman, who was probably in his thirties, with obvious Central Asian features but a lame leg, flexed his fingers and started to check the value of the items in his hand for Zhou Ke.

This job would take a while to finish, so Zhou Ke sat up from Ajie's cage, leaned against the door and looked out at the night land in the wind and sand.

He had never walked the road from Slag Town to End Castle before. This road heading north was exactly the opposite of the direction he came from. However, the scenery along the way was nothing special. All he could see was a reddish Gobi desert. The soil erosion was so serious that it was beyond words. It was like a natural loess plateau or karst landform.

If I must say, the scenery in this area does resemble the hilly plains of western North America. Except for the lack of desert, it is very similar to the landscape of the Arizona border that Zhou Ke once drove across.

It is normal for such places to lack water.

However, the few days in Slag Town made him realize that these settlements were not chosen randomly. The wastelanders had their own philosophy of survival, and almost every settlement was built in a place with groundwater.

This damn place has excessive heavy metal pollution, but uncontaminated groundwater can still be found, and large towns like Slag Town have old purification equipment that allows townspeople to get a daily quota of clean water.

The quality of life is indeed hard to describe, but if it is just about surviving, it is not a big problem, provided that they can defend their territory.

This evil land is full of dangers. In addition to the wasteland bandits and roaming killers mentioned by Old Taff, those monsters who are hiding somewhere but are always ready to jump out and give you a fight at any time are also sources of danger.

However, he had just witnessed with his own eyes that the monsters had killed a clan of Nether Dogs, and found that these monsters did not seem to be as dangerous as the legend said. Moreover, from the body shape of those mutated wild dogs, Zhou Ke felt that they were more like some kind of biochemical beasts rather than naturally generated monsters.

Perhaps the wild dogs were genetically modified, just like the two-headed cows used by the caravan.

The war weapons made from the "old civilization" have been contaminated with some inexplicable things in the current environment of the Badlands, and have become what people call "monsters".

"Psychic energy. If it was psychic energy that transformed them into this, then everything can be explained. After all, it is a non-scientific metaphysical force, so any weird things it can create are understandable."

Zhou Ke chewed a piece of sweet grass, looked up at the strange purple moonlight looming above the sand, and thought to himself:
"I haven't seen a psychic yet, so it's hard to tell what kind of strange guys they are. But every time Ohm takes action, there are faint green spots of light wrapped around his body. This is definitely not something a normal person can do. So, maybe Ohm is a psychic?
That so-called 'sublimation state' must also be related to psychic power.

Oh my, I really want to catch a psychic and study him. Quick! Give me one on the road ahead so I can learn more about him!"

He was looking forward to it, and then he summarized what this era looked like in his eyes.

In general, this badland is like returning to the Old West. Humans are still the masters of this poor and barren land, but other forces are just as cruel as humans, which makes their ruling position unstable. The wider world outside the badland has long been reduced to a paradise for monsters. This unfriendly badland is the last afterglow of human civilization in this era.

This world died over thirty years ago, the Badlands is just the final place of decay.

But when Zhou Ke saw the Wolverine rifle that was being checked by Lao Bai to determine its value, another big question came to his mind again.

The technological level of the energy-storing firearms made in this city-state is much higher than that of the place where he came from, and there is also widespread biochemical transformation and genetic technology. All of these prove that the so-called "old civilization" has developed to an extremely high level.

Old Taff said that the sudden appearance of the Fetal Movement Moon caused the doomsday disaster. However, if it was just a swarm of monsters, it should not be to the point where thermal weapons cannot deal with it.

He was 100% sure that even monsters were still carbon-based creatures. How could a carbon-based creature withstand a Mach 30 attack from the sky? Therefore, the rapid demise of the "old civilization" might have been caused by the fetal movement moon, but it was definitely not the only reason.

Another mystery worth exploring!
Great, I've traveled through time for less than a week and I've gotten a lot of good things, but I've gained a lot of mysteries. Ah, this kind of mystery that is full of questions but no answers, making people want to punch the whole stupid world to pieces, is really fascinating.

“Probably confirmed.”

Just when Zhou Ke was cursing in his heart that this stupid world couldn't even preserve a "crystal of wisdom" like a flush toilet, Lao Bai finally finished his job.

He raised his head and said to Zhou Ke in a very professional tone:

"The most expensive of these things are the two guns. I have never seen such exquisite firearms, but I know that the best guns made by the gunsmiths in Tiger Country are of similar quality. The high-quality rifles and bullets they sell are basically around 30,000 consortium coins. The rest are just extras."

"Well, Old Taff also said that I owed him 50,000 Consortium Coins for these two guns."

Zhou Ke nodded and said:

"You are a very good professional. Let me ask you, do you have anything valuable? Give it to me immediately so that I can raise funds from angel investors. We must equip the three of us before we reach the Castle of the End. Otherwise, we will die at the festival with these crappy equipment."

"What what what? What investors? And financing?"

Old Bai was stunned after hearing this.

But he could roughly understand what Zhou Ke meant. After thinking about it carefully, he came to an outrageous conclusion. He looked at Zhou Ke in shock and whispered:

"You're not planning on doing business with Miss Qiao Ya, are you?"

"Nonsense! Apart from that pretty chick who doesn't look like a Badlands person at all, who else in this caravan can help us?

you?
Or is it Ajie who can't even fart even if you hit him with three sticks?"

Zhou Ke shook his head and said:
"Old Taff told me that Miss Qiao Ya is the last help we can find on this journey, so hurry up and take out everything you have hidden."

“I didn’t hide”

"Bullshit! You dared to run away right under Ohm's nose. No one would believe you if you said you didn't hide something. Otherwise, how are you going to make a comeback after you escape?"

Faced with Zhou Ke's questioning, Lao Bai was unable to refute for a moment. After thinking about it carefully, he felt that what Zhou Ke said was not wrong, at least his idea was correct, but he still needed a guarantee.

Even if it's a lie.

So when Lao Bai took off his stinky boots, he stared at Zhou Ke. Although he didn't ask any questions, Zhou Ke knew very well what this guy was thinking.

He whispered:

"The caravan will not enter the End Castle. Our merchant lady will leave after handing over the goods to Tiger State in the town. At that time, even if the three of us are transferred to Tiger State for custody, the sacrifices in Slag Town will naturally be delivered without joint liability. If you run away at that time, it can only be said that Tiger State failed to take good care of you.

This way, there will be an explanation for Slag Town.

The most important thing is, we are causing trouble right under Ohm's nose. Do you think the three of us are enough for him to defeat with one hand?

I would rather face a group of biochemical gangsters with poor brains than play tricks with a top ranger who has plenty of means and strength, what do you think? "

"Yeah, that makes sense. You're smart. I was so worried about the lunatics in Tiger Country that I didn't realize Ohm was actually scarier."

Old White nodded.

He was persuaded and took out a small jewelry box from the bottom of his boots, which was filled with exquisite earrings, rings and several bracelets, all made of gold, enough grams. No matter what era, this thing is hard currency.

"How much is it worth?"

Zhou Ke asked, and Lao Bai said with a hint of pride:

"Just this exquisite craftsmanship and the identity of a relic of an old civilization can be exchanged for at least 35,000 consortium coins in the city-state area. If you meet an expert or collector, the value can be more than doubled. But it is not so popular in the bad land. However, it is worth 20,000 at least.

I found this in an abandoned tomb of an old civilization a few years ago. That’s when my leg became lame.”

"Oh, I didn't realize you were a tomb robber. You're so proud of yourself. Can you have some manners?"

Zhou Ke joked, took the box, packed up his things, stood up, and said to Lao Bai:
"You stay here. Those idiots won't dare to get close to Ajie, so naturally no one will bother you. Wait until I finish talking to that chick and come back."

"That"

Lao Bai timidly glanced at Ajie who was soundly sleeping. He couldn't help but said to Zhou Ke who jumped out of the car:
"What if he eats me?"

"Well."

Zhou Ke showed a rather subtle smile on his face, patted Lao Bai on the shoulder and said:

"This is the worst possible outcome that you need to try your best to avoid. Come on, I'm rooting for you."

After saying that, this guy hummed a song with a weird tone and went to Miss Qiao Ya's "three-wheeled RV". Lao Bai shrank his head in fear, but when he turned around, he saw Ajie, who had just fallen asleep, squatting in the cage and chewing an energy bar, staring at him with his eyes wide open.

It's like looking at a lump of meat.

"Boiled!"
-
"That's it, Miss Qiao Ya. I've brought all the valuables from the three of us. See if you can use them as collateral so we can get some useful items from you. We can also arm our fighters in Slag Town and strive to become bigger and stronger at the End Festival and create greater glory.

Even if we take a step back, we can't let our fighters dress up like beggars and go out to grind the mill with their butts naked, embarrassing you and Mayor Joe."

Zhou Ke did not enter Miss Qiao Ya's RV. At this time, Ohm was sitting in the driver's seat with a knife in his hand, staring at him coldly, watching his performance.

But the good news was that Miss Qiao Ya was still awake and seemed very interested in this deal. A few seconds later, the window of the RV converted from a three-wheeled vehicle was pushed open, revealing Qiao Ya's face, which was so tender that it did not look like that of an Badlands person.

She blinked and stared at Zhou Ke, who was smiling with narrowed eyes, and then glanced at the things he handed over.
Then, Qiao Ya asked two questions.

"First of all, Uncle Ohm said before that the two guns in your hands are from the city-state. I don't have any better weapons than them. I can only give you a few pieces of armor and cold weapons, as well as some healing and strengthening medicines, and finally some food.

It’s not that I don’t have any goods to store, it’s mainly because I didn’t plan to do any trading this time, so I didn’t bring much with me.

Secondly, I'm not going into the End Castle.

Dad asked me to go back as soon as possible. You three have special identities. If... uh, I won't be tactful. If you die, how can we recover the collateral?

In business, we can't do business at a loss, right? "

"We also need armor and cold weapons. At least we have to get Ajie a few weapons. We can't let him use his claws to dig at everything he encounters, not to mention that coward Lao Bai."

Zhou Ke shrugged and said:

"As long as you think these collaterals are valuable, I will take whatever you have to offer. Secondly, regarding the payment method, this is also simple. You can take the gold items directly, and the price is 30,000 consortium coins."

"Fifteen thousand!"

The merchant lady used her traditional ability to cut it in half. She said confidently:
"These luxurious things are only worth so much in the city-state area. In the Bad Land, people are not in the mood to collect these things that cannot be eaten or protected. Things like gold can only bring disaster in the Bad Land. I am taking a risk to collect these."

"You must be joking. Lord Ohm, who in the whole evil land dares to covet your property when you come here?"

Zhou Ke said without giving in:

"You said it yourself. This thing can be sold at a high price in the City-State District. You will definitely go there when you do business in the future. It's nothing more than holding on to it for a while longer. I underestimated the 30,000 Consortium Coins. Old White's estimate is over 50,000."

"That only proves that he is a businessman with poor vision. No wonder he went bankrupt."

Miss Qiao Ya snorted, and after a moment, she took a step back and said:
"Twenty thousand is my bottom line."

"One of my elders told me that when someone says this is the bottom line, it means that they can go further. After all, the bottom line is just a bargaining chip."

Zhou Ke smiled with narrowed eyes, gestured a number, and said:
"Twenty-five thousand, no less. Including the two guns as collateral, the total value is eighty thousand. You really made a fortune.

I've asked Lao Bai about this. The Evil Land Merchants of Snake State have an office in the Tiger State base. If the three of us die, they can collect our bodies and take back our equipment and send it back to Slag Town.

All you need to do is sign a contract in advance and pay a fee.

That guy said that the people of Snake State have a very good reputation in the Evil Land, especially those merchants who can do business on behalf of Snake State, who are all very law-abiding people.

In this way, not only can you get our stuff, but you can also get back the goods you gave us. It is a zero-cost deal. If I were a businessman, I would want to do a deal with myself right away. The rate of return is so amazing that I envy this deal with myself to death. "

“That’s true. I also like doing business with merchants from Snake Country. They may be clever but they are clear about the big issues. And you are really good at talking.

When you said that, I was moved.

Are you really not considering changing your career to become a merchant? Zhou Ke, you are really talented. "

Miss Qiao Ya smiled.

When this girl smiles, her eyes curve into arcs and she has dimples. She looks so sweet. Wow, this makes Zhou Ke even more suspicious of her blood relationship with Lao Qiao.

"That's fine."

The merchant thought for a while and said:
"I accept your pledge. I will sort out the goods I have. Come back tomorrow morning when I leave, and I will give you the goods."

“Oh my, this is really a great help, my lady, if we can survive this time, it is all thanks to your help.

You are truly my lucky star."

Zhou Ke flattered Ohm in an exaggerated manner and generously left all his things on the young lady's three-wheeled RV. Then he performed a medieval knight's audience salute to Ohm and walked away with a swagger.

After his figure disappeared, Miss Qiao Ya opened the car door and handed a pack of unlabeled cigarettes to her Uncle Ohm. She asked softly:

"This is the first time I've met such a person, Uncle Ohm. You said that he was confident in doing business with me, but he was actually mortgaging his life, right?"

"Ah."

Ohm leaned back in the driver's seat and lit a cigarette. As the smoke rose, the great master said in a hoarse voice:

"He was betting that he could leave the Castle of the End alive. Not only him, he boldly confirmed that all three of them could survive. Only those who have hope for the future would be so calculating about their own gains and costs. Although I don't know where his confidence comes from, I am more and more certain of my previous judgment of him.

If he really can come back alive, Xiaoya, remember to stay away from this guy.

He's arrogant, which is dangerous in the Badlands, and he has a secret, which makes him even more dangerous."

"That is to say, if we really want to do long-term business, he is actually a good partner. After all, Uncle Taff said that this is the first time in his life that he has seen a Wastelander who took the initiative to settle his accounts."

Qiao Ya tilted her head and said to Ohm:

"Uncle Tafu actually allowed Zhou Ke to buy on credit. I have never seen a more astute businessman than Uncle Tafu in my life, so I think I should also bet on him. It is said that we cannot make a lot of money, what do you think?"

Ohm did not answer. After several seconds, he blew out a smoke ring, looked at Qiao Ya helplessly, and said softly:

"I have no objection, but you are exactly like your mother, so bold and reckless."

(End of this chapter)