Chapter 329: Munitions Transaction
A figure dragged a heavy metal box in his hand, leaving long drag marks on the snow-covered ground.
The hem of the white wool military coat cut through the dense darkness, her calves wrapped in leather boots sinking past her knees, the crisp crunching sounds like war drums, clearly and steadily reaching the soldier’s ears.
The soldier was stunned for a moment, thinking he was hallucinating.
Who would walk on the wasteland of the Extreme Cold Zone in the middle of such a night?
Even if not targeted by predators, one would freeze to death in the night due to hypothermia.
In the time he was dazed, the figure below had already approached, the knee-deep snow seemingly causing her no hindrance at all, even though the iron box behind her had rolled into a small snow hill.
The figure raised her head and looked at the city ahead.
The white mink collar framed an unexpectedly delicate face, with smooth and fine skin, frosted eyelashes unable to suppress the fire in her steel-blue eyes. Looking at the dazed soldier on the wall, Tasiya’s eyes flashed with a hint of arrogance, her voice pouring out like bullets loaded into the chamber.
“I am Gunfire Colonel Anastasia, here to do business with you. Have your director come out.”
The Northern United Nations has vast territory, divided into White Bear and Furry Bear.
After the apocalypse, Gunfire gathered a large number of soldiers and leapt to become the largest force in all of Furry Bear, relying on the geographical advantage of the Extreme Cold Zone to occupy some core cities and quickly stabilize.
In comparison, an old-brand military industry like Obsidian Industry reacted more slowly because it was far from the apocalypse, and even now it was just a large force in White Bear, its sphere of influence barely active around the Extreme Cold Zone, not even bordering forces within Dong Huang.
Only having a slight advantage in military industry.
That was also her goal in coming here.
Hearing this name, the soldier who had snapped out of his daze shivered violently and quickly pulled the alarm.
Cursing voices rose from all the watchtowers, one after another burly men as rough as Furry Bears emerged from their rooms, all looking down at that beautiful figure below, their eyeballs going straight.
“Oh, a woman!”
“I bet hers is bigger than my head!”
“Shut up, bastard, you’ll get killed someday because of that foul mouth!”
After hearing the sentry’s report, the squad leader stood out with a serious expression and shouted downward, “Colonel Tasiya, I’ve heard of your name. What are you doing at Obsidian Industry so late?”
Tasiya was just about to speak when her sharp eyebrows suddenly raised, looking toward the thick darkness behind her.
Low roars hidden in the night color closed in on her from all sides, and even the soldiers on the city walls changed their complexions.
“Boss, she seems to be in big trouble. It should be that pack of wasteland wolves. Should we help her?”
The soldier asked in a low voice.
The squad leader hesitated, then firmly rejected the suggestion. Those on night sentry duty going out definitely couldn’t beat the mutated wolf pack; they could only rely on the city walls for defense.
The slight relations between Gunfire and Obsidian Industry weren’t enough for him to take people out to risk their lives.
Tasiya standing below showed no intention of asking for help. She kicked open the dragged box behind her, revealing two 12.7mm caliber anti-aircraft machine guns inside, with heavy ammunition belts already loaded.
One after another wasteland wolves over three meters long, covered in fluffy gray-black fur, emerged from the night, their greenish eyes ferociously staring at the woman before them, low whimpers turning into intimidating roars.
Over a hundred in total, with the front dozens even reaching Tier 1!
Enough to sweep small camps in the Extreme Cold Zone!
Facing this exaggerated lineup, Tasiya merely exhaled a puff of white mist from her throat.
In the instant the white mist obscured her face, the poised alpha wolf leapt out, crossing over ten meters in a single bound, arriving before Tasiya in the blink of an eye. But it captured no fear from the human before it, only seeing those eyes sharper than the wind and snow.
Two streaks of golden gunfire blazed out, slamming into this top-tier predator of the wilderness with terrifying impact.
Facing such a brutal 12.7 caliber, even the tough physique of a wasteland wolf tempered in wind and snow was just a larger meat target. The strongest alpha wolf didn’t even make a whimper before silently collapsing into the snow.
Crimson blood steamed and melted the surrounding ice and snow, rising with wisps of white mist, soon freezing into blood-colored ice crystals.
And the last thing it saw before death was Tasiya wielding two anti-aircraft machine guns utterly disproportionate to her build, crazily slaughtering its pack.
Those somewhat slender shoulders showed no tremor, under the bright gunfire the white coat fluttered like in a gale, golden bullet casings flying onto the snow, scorching deep pits.
No matter from what angle the wolf pack lunged, they would be shredded by two ballistic paths.
As if in this moment they weren’t fierce wasteland wolves, but those weak humans without weapons.
It wanted to call the pack to retreat, but its throat was shattered by bullets, able only to watch helplessly as its pack was exterminated by this woman.
The entire “hunt” from outbreak to end lasted no more than a minute and thirty seconds.
Under Tasiya’s muzzle lay over a hundred ferocious wasteland wolves.
But her face showed no fluctuation, merely drawing two ammunition belts from the iron box to reload, then turning to the soldiers on the wall and saying calmly, “These wasteland wolves count as part of my funds for purchasing munitions.”
Rumbling engine sounds came from the distance, and the squad leader inexplicably sensed a feeling of anxiety.
It should be Gunfire’s main force arriving.
Knowing this matter was beyond his control, he could only hurriedly wake the principal officer soaking in a woman’s quilt, and after getting cursed out, follow the even more anxious principal officer to wake the director soaking among the women.
Listening to the angry cursing and the principal officer’s groveling explanations from inside, the squad leader felt much better.
Obsidian’s regional director finally stood at the city head. Below, fully armed vehicles had pulled up, Furry Bear burly men in military coats with fierce lights in their eyes flanking the Tasiya in the center.
And the over a hundred wasteland wolves on the ground silently demonstrated the opponent’s strength.
‘This girl has become stronger again!’
The director suppressed the wariness in his eyes and said in surprise, “Tasiya, it’s you. Isn’t Old Bailey handling the munitions transactions?”
Tasiya shook her head, “The previous quantities were too small. We want to cooperate with forces in Dong Huang and need more munitions. How about Obsidian Industry merges into Gunfire?”
The director’s mouth twitched; this girl actually wanted to swallow them up.
“I can’t make that decision. Let’s talk about the munitions instead.”
……
“July 28th, Gale.”
“Fire can burn everything, but new seeds always hide in the ashes.”
Over a month had passed since the great battle of Zhijin’s counterattack, but everyone didn’t feel it had been long.
Whether the armored train or the survivors, everyone had endless work.
Zhinnán District had been mostly cleared, the hotel at Chenxi Plaza turned into the administrative center of the armed station, and Chenxi Plaza became the core area of the base city.
Under the train’s planning, personnel from Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce were also relocated in, plus the base city’s siphoning effect on surrounding scavengers, quickly exceeding 100,000 people.
Even though the armored train had made preparations, managing so many people was still a headache.
Moreover, there were over three million active zombies to the north, and a Beetle Kingdom underground.
For the former, Su Huan could only stall for now.
Zhijin to the north had massive industrial facilities, supplies, and city construction; with the station in ruins waiting to be rebuilt, he couldn’t destroy all that too.
As for the latter, a method had already been found.
The idea didn’t come from Director Xu, but from Old Xie, a Tier 1 “Manipulator” from Jin Feng Chamber of Commerce.
His core skill was called “Animal Affinity”; as the name implies, he could control mutated beasts to a certain extent, though he was better at dealing with canine animals like wolves and dogs.
But under the train conductor’s encouragement, he gradually began establishing contact with the beetles of Zhijin’s underground kingdom.
Though the process was somewhat difficult, the beetle neighbors were no longer a major obstacle to Zhijin’s construction.
The massive influx of surrounding scavengers made the base city a mix of fish and dragons, but also brought a thriving scene.
The first to open for business and earn the first pot of gold weren’t Magong’s rat meat skewers or Wen Biao’s tavern, but a group of girls who had some skills and were good at managing themselves.
The armored train maintained the base city’s stability with violence, while they were the only outlet in this city to vent the restless desires.
“Bang bang bang!”
Rough banging on the door sounded, Xiao Hong slightly furrowed his brows at the crookedly carved strokes on the wooden signboard.
But he still put down the small knife and got up to open the door.
Outside the door stood five men, waists bulging, pairs of eyes filled with desire and lechery peering behind him.
Xiao Hong was long accustomed to such gazes; sometimes he secretly felt fortunate that he wasn’t a woman, fundamentally avoiding such chilling looks.
He stood in the doorway and said calmly, “Not open in the morning.”
The leader man didn’t even glance at him, roughly pushing Xiao Hong aside and striding in with his men, scanning around and not seeing a satisfactory sight, immediately disappointed, “Where are the people?”
“Sleeping.”
Xiao Hong stood up, patted his butt, as if nothing had happened.
They consumed too much energy at night and naturally couldn’t get up during the day.
The leader man sat on the sofa, finally properly looking at the youth before him—seeming only fifteen or sixteen, rough skin covered in small wounds, the only merit being his neatly groomed hair, which was rare among scavengers.
“How many people do you have?”
The man asked.
“Thirty-five.”
Xiao Hong answered.
“How many women?”
“Thirty-four.”
Originally there were more men, but they all died on the way to Zhijin. Though that wasn’t an issue; those women would soon find enough “protectors.”
Women needed the security men provided, men needed the bodies women provided, not to mention these women could bring them hefty profits.
Everyone needed each other.
Different expressions appeared in the men’s eyes, then a knowing look all men understood as they looked at him.
That gaze held contempt, as well as envy and jealousy.
Someone spat, “Little bastard, you even got your hair down there yet? Can you handle so many women alone?”
Xiao Hong didn’t answer; he’d heard far more vulgar and filthy words than this, merely silently waiting for them to state their purpose to avoid inexplicable beatings.
“Call out the people for Brother Li to see. If the quality’s good, you’ll be under Longxing from now on.”
Beside him, the sharp-mouthed monkey-faced man grinned lewdly, his gun nearly drawn.
‘Longxing…’
Xiao Hong searched his mind for this name but had no impression.
The base city had hundreds of large and small forces; new minor ones popped up daily, and many mysteriously vanished. The armored train was busy sorting out the city, letting them fend for themselves.
As long as big forces like Jin Feng and Black Star didn’t stir trouble, how many could die in the chaos below?
The most impressive figures Xiao Hong had seen were the Black Star Five Tigers; as for the armored train, he’d only heard the name.
The train conductor was even hyped as the savior.
He sneered inwardly at that; what bullshit savior, just a slightly larger gang than Longxing.
But still better prospects than following these guys.
Perhaps hearing the voices below, several women came down from upstairs, some in underwear, some with nothing on, large expanses of snow-white skin exposed, instantly making the men’s eyes gleam with lust.
The woman in front was over thirty, her long hair a messy tangle from sleep, heavy dark circles under her eyes. Seeing the men’s greedy gazes, she belatedly covered her heavy chest and forced a charming smile, “Here to play so early? Sisters aren’t ready yet. How about you gentlemen wait a bit and let us freshen up?”
The sharp-mouthed monkey-faced man grinned lewdly, “Freshen up what? Let brother freshen your mouth!”
“Call out all your people, three each—no, five each!”
“Hahaha…”
The men burst into laughter.
The woman’s face stiffened. In this line of work, they weren’t innocent virgins; at worst they’d accommodate them, but these guys obviously just entered the city, eyes still bloodshot. They were here to sell bodies, not lives.
The woman signaled Xiao Hong below with her eyes.
Xiao Hong quietly backed away. They could do business in the alleys behind Chenxi Hotel because they’d registered at the “city hall”; though not true shelter, invoking Black Star’s name was enough for protection.
But as soon as he moved, Brother Li’s cold gaze swept over.
“You little shit want to run?”
Xiao Hong glanced at the gun grip under Brother Li’s clothes, estimated the distance to the door, then obediently stopped, trembling in a timid and weak voice.
“We’re registered with the Black Star Convoy…”
Pretending weakness wouldn’t challenge their face while perfectly raising Black Star’s banner.
A fierce glint flashed in Brother Li’s eyes, “Black Star’s nothing. Follow me from now on, and we’ll replace them sooner or later!”
“Follow you? You pimping too?”
A voice like firecrackers came from outside the door.
(Brain a bit foggy, plot tangled into a mess in my head, this chapter might not be the best way to write it, might revise after waking up.)
