Chapter 569 Can you meet acquaintances in this **** place?

  In Hope Town, guarding the gate is an easy job.

  Although there is only one door between here and the wasteland, two steps forward is a **** where people die and no one cares about it, but it is not in the wasteland after all, so you can get a considerable salary without taking too much risk.

   And the job is decent enough.

  Whether it is a serious business or an unscrupulous business person, when they are near the settlement, they will take it easy.

  Even looters need such a safe place to exchange stolen goods for other things they need.

   Otherwise, what they grab is worthless garbage, which can only be thrown on the ground to be picked up by scavengers, or become the spoils of other wastelanders.

   Especially the wastelanders in this area today, most of them use the automatic rifles produced in the southern part of the River Valley Province.

   It is already difficult to survive with hand-wrought iron-pipe rifles. They also need to keep pace with the times and hide themselves where they should be hidden...

  Mark, who was standing at the west entrance, yawned, took out his rusty pocket watch and glanced at it, calculating how many hours it was before he got off work.

   This job is to pass the time.

   This is especially true in the west gate where wastelanders rarely come.

   While he was thinking about where to drink after get off work, the guard standing next to him suddenly looked up to the west, frowned and muttered.

"what sound?"

   "What...what's the sound?" Closing the brass-colored lid, Mark put away the pocket watch and looked at the new guy.

   This young man only joined the town guard a few months ago. He was the son of Orion in the town before. He had a little impression of his father and had a drink together.

   "Didn't you hear?" The young man looked at him, and then said, "Something exploded."

  Hearing this sentence, Mark couldn't help laughing out loud.

   "Haha, that's not too normal. If you walk two steps outside, you'll be a wasteland. The sound of gunfire and explosions is not too common... Just get used to it."

   To be honest, this is actually not very common.

  In the wasteland, loneliness and cold are more common than death.

   In a desolate wilderness, there may be no living things for many years, and only swaying weeds can be seen for decades.

  If a wolf howl suddenly sounded there one day, it might be the time to be alert instead.

  But Mark didn't want to think about it that way.

  Compared to what happened in the wasteland close at hand, he was more inclined that what happened was an accident that had nothing to do with them.

  The way to survive is to meddle in other people's affairs. He knows very well why he was able to become a guard. It is precisely because he doesn't care about things that have nothing to do with him.

  The young man prostrated himself on the ground, put his ears to the ground, and was still muttering to himself.

   "The sound of gunfire, and the sound of running, at least thirty or forty kilometers away, bang bang bang... who is fighting with whom."

  Mark couldn't resist going up and kicking his ass.

   "Don't worry so much, get up and stand guard."

  Kicked on the buttocks, the young man stood up in embarrassment, and obediently shut his mouth and stopped talking.

   Being disturbed by him like this, Mark's good mood until noon was messed up.

  Once a person knows something big happened next to him, but he doesn't know what it is, he will involuntarily think wildly, and then start to worry.

   Especially when there is nothing to do.

  Mark was no exception. The young man seemed to let go of the matter, but he couldn't help thinking over and over again in his heart.

   Who is fighting with whom?

   By the way, is there a larger settlement here to the west?

   At this moment, there was a sudden rustling in the forest not far away, followed by a "swish" sound of piercing the air.

   Before Mark could recover, an arrow flew past his hat and nailed to the wooden post behind him with a bang.

   Startled, he quickly picked up the rifle in his hand and loaded it, opened the safety and pointed it in the direction of the arrow.

   "Who's there!"

   No one answered.

  Mark swallowed, his eyes flashed with astonishment and nervousness, and the gun pointed straight at the invisible forest, but he didn't dare to go up to see the situation.

  At this time, the young man next to him ran behind him, pulled the arrow off the post, and called out to him.

   "Sir! Something is tied to the arrow!"

   "What is it?" Not daring to look away from the front sight, Mark stared at the woods and shouted with his back turned.

   "It's a roll of animal skin! There seems to be something written on it..." Opening the roll of animal skin, he barely recognized what was written on it, and the young man suddenly froze and fell silent.

   Animal skin?

  Mark froze for a moment, eager to know the content above, but he didn't dare to relax his vigilance.

  So he maintained his aiming posture, stepped back to the side of the young man, and pulled the animal skin with his left hand.

   Sure enough, there were two lines of scrawled words written in animal blood.

   And it was written wrong.

   Recognizing the above content with a guess, Mark's face lost all color in an instant, as pale as if it had been painted with white paint.

"Oh shit…"

   Cursing, he quickly looked at the stunned young man beside him, staring at him with warning eyes.

   "You stay here, I'll go back and report... Don't tell anyone about this!"

  The young man nodded in a daze.

  Mark glanced at the forest, gritted his teeth, put the gun on his back, took the arrow and the roll of animal skin, and ran towards the town without looking back.

  In the forest, a pair of green pupils hidden under the hood watched the back of the figure running into the town. It wasn't until the guard disappeared behind the gate that he disappeared from the shadows of the forest...

  …

  The office in the center of Hope Town.

  The round table in the conference room was full of famous people in the town.

   There are the owners of the Grizzly Bear and Street Lamp Tavern, there are old carpenters, there are shopkeepers of tanning workshops, there are also landlords who hold thousands of acres of land, and town mayors who control thousands of households.

  They are not the kind of people who are very idle, but at the moment they are all sitting here in silence, smoking first-hand or second-hand cigarettes.

  Even though the pungent smell of smoke can make people cry, the people sitting here still have the doors and windows tightly covered, and have no intention of opening a window for ventilation.

   Similarly, no one spoke.

  At this moment there was an arrow lying on the round table in front of them.

   Around noon, someone shot the arrow at the west gate of the town, and it was picked up by the guards standing there on duty.

  Before, there was a roll of animal skin tied to it, with two lines written in animal blood.

  【Oge, I want to eat people. 】

  【Run! 】

   "If it's a joke, it's the worst, nastiest joke of the year!"

   It was the mayor here who broke the silence first.

  His name is Ma Hechang. Although he is fifty years old, he is still in good shape, and he is quite prestigious in the town.

  The owner of the Grizzly Bear and Street Lamp Tavern, who was sitting not far from him, hugged his head and said to himself in pain.

   "Why did this happen."

  The meeting room was full of noisy complaints and discussions, and the expressions on everyone's faces were full of panic and anxiety.

  They don't know what Ogg is, but seeing the words "cannibal" and "run", it is not difficult to guess what it means.

  Ordinary predator tribes would not dare to take action on a place like Hope Town with thousands of households. Presumably, they could only be those unreasonable mutants.

   But people still can't believe it's true.

   It is not the first day for the "Qi" tribe to come to Jinhe City. It is said that they were there a century and a half ago. Those green-skinned baboons are indeed too strong, and their numbers are terrifying, but they are actually different from the mutants in other places, and they rarely attack the surrounding survivor colonies.

   There are rumors that they kept some slaves in the tribe, so there is no need for frequent plundering. There are also rumors that their ancestors were actually humans, but they became like this by accident, so the descendants would restrain themselves and not attack those villages and farmland.

   However, these are just rumors.

  Most people who believe in these things actually don’t know why things are like this. They just give reasons to convince themselves and others that they can’t explain it, and seek peace of mind in fear.

  The Qi tribe has existed for over a century, and they have lived here for over a century, and no one knows why they don't eat them, let alone why they have changed their minds now.

   Suddenly someone spoke.

   "Is it just a joke?"

  No one paid any attention to him.

  Because this is bullshit.

   Even if most people think so in their hearts, no one dares to joke about the lives of themselves and their families.

  Ma Hechang looked at the director of the town guard sitting on the side, and lowered his voice.

   "Have the Sentinels been dispatched?"

  The director of the town guard nodded and said nervously.

   "It has been dispatched... There is no news yet."

  Mayor Ma heaved a sigh of relief, at least there is no need to worry at the moment, the group of green skins broke in suddenly in the middle of the meeting.

   Then he glanced around at everyone present, and he said in a serious tone.

   "The first thing we need to figure out is who is warning us! If that person really has conclusive news, why did he use this method instead of telling us in person!"

   "I think so too! If the news is true, why didn't he tell it in person? All of us will thank him, and even give him a sum of money." The boss who sold glassware complained.

   Suddenly thought of something, Mayor Ma looked at the blacksmith sitting in front of the round table.

   "Do you recognize this arrow?"

"...I know, this arrow is indeed sold by me," the blacksmith in the town frowned and said after staring at the cluster of arrows for a long time, "but all the hunters in the town use arrows made by me. Can't explain anything."

   For experienced hunters, hunting with a rifle is not cost-effective, traps and bows will be more economical.

  Mayor Ma had a look of disappointment on his face.

  At this time, a man wearing a gown made of devil silk and looking a little rich suddenly spoke.

   "Ahem, listen to me, there are too many abnormalities in this matter... I am more inclined that someone wants to drive us out of here, so as to take the opportunity to rob our property."

  His name is Xiao Zhixue, and he is in the beer business. He owns a brewing workshop in the town and employs about 20 workers. Most of the drinks consumed by wastelanders in the past come from him.

  A shopkeeper asked back.

   "But what if what the letter says is true?"

  The wine merchant surnamed Xiao stared.

   "Really? How is it possible! That 'Qi' never raids settlements, they only catch those who hang out in the wasteland!"

   "It didn't happen before, but it doesn't mean it won't happen in the future. Maybe they changed their minds on a whim."

   "But it doesn't make sense! Aren't they allies of the Church of the Torch? We have already converted to the church, and there is even a pastor of the church in our town!"

  Looked at the pastor in front of the round table with pairs of eyes. The middle-aged man who was caught by the eyes of the eyes couldn't help but wiped his sweat and said nervously.

   "I don't know... I haven't been able to contact the apostle since a few days ago. Ah, could it have something to do with this?"

   "To the west... there seems to be a small place called Dust Town." The blacksmith touched his chin and said.

  The priest nodded hurriedly.

   "That's the name! I remember the apostle said before he disappeared that he would take the believers there to preach!"

  At this time, the owner of the tanning workshop suddenly spoke.

   "Could it be that those mutants went to Dust Town to search for the whereabouts of the apostles, but they couldn't find them... Then the group of green-skinned baboons went crazy and killed people everywhere?"

   This seems to be the most reasonable explanation.

  Although this is something that no one wants to face.

   Mayor Ma knocked on the table with his fist and said loudly.

   "Enough, these things are not important, the important thing is what should we do now? Should we stay and fight them, or move to other places to avoid—"

   Before he finished speaking, the wine merchant cried out in surprise.

   "Transfer somewhere else? Are you kidding me? Where can we go? There's no place around here that can hold this many people!"

  Others pat their **** and leave.

   His winery can't be moved!

  If those mutants didn't kill anyone, they would definitely set a fire to burn this place down! At that time, all his property here will be finished!

  The same goes for most of the others.

  The people sitting here are the most famous and powerful families in the town, and their homes and properties are here. It's not just a small town for them, it's their foundation.

  Although no one is willing to face those green-skinned monsters, no one is willing to just run away.

   "If you don't leave, you can only fight them," Mayor Ma said with a gloomy expression. "To be honest, I don't have the confidence to be an opponent to those guys."

  A mutant tribe with a scale of tens of thousands of people...

   Even the Pine Cone Farm in the southeast, the landowner with nearly 50,000 people, could not be the opponent of the mutant tribe.

  The volumes of both sides are not in the same dimension at all.

  At this time, the director of the guard suddenly got up from the conference table and walked towards the door.

   Mayor Ma looked at him.

"where did you go?"

  The director stopped.

   "Go mobilize the residents of the town and issue them guns. If this discussion continues, we won't be able to leave, and we won't have time to fight. We can only sit here and wait to die."

   As soon as his voice fell, the wine merchant sitting not far away stood up.

   "Wait, you can't do this! Fire the gun now, everyone knows something is going to happen!"

  The director of the town guard frowned.

   "What time is it, is it useful to cover the lid now?"

  The wine merchant lowered his voice and said.

"There are some wastelanders in the town, they are better at fighting than us, at worst we give them some money! But if we let them get the news in advance, knowing that the opponent is a mutant... I bet, they may run faster than rabbits !"

  The director of the guard gave him a blank look, and after thinking about it in his heart, it seemed to make sense.

  Those wastelanders are no matter how powerful they are than the militiamen in the town. Mobilizing those guys is better than mobilizing a group of guys who have never fought at all to send their heads.

  The people sitting at the conference table exchanged glances, most of them with a look of approval in their eyes. Mayor Ma pondered for a long time, then nodded slowly.

   "I think so too... But we can't pin all our hopes on those outsiders, we have to make two-handed preparations."

   After finishing speaking, he looked at the director of the guard.

"Send the weapons in the inventory to the wall, and then use obstacles to block the four gates in the southeast, northwest, and dig some fortifications... As for the wastelanders, we will tell them that we have received news that a group of looters are fleeing In this area, the town needs to strengthen its fortifications, and vehicles and goods are temporarily prohibited from entering or leaving. After three days, if the alarm is lifted, we will withdraw the fortifications, and they can come and go freely at that time."

   "During this period, the Town of Hope will provide its guests with free lodging and food."

  If you keep the goods, you will keep the merchants in the town, and if you keep those merchants, you will keep their private soldiers.

  If it was only a three-day delay, those merchants would not have done anything too outrageous to offend this small town rashly.

  Although this may have an impact on the reputation of Hope Town, it is clear that the crisis of survival is more urgent now.

  As for those mercenaries, although it is difficult to forcefully retain them, they can be hired under the pretext of dealing with the looters who flock to this area.

   Pausing for a moment, Mayor Ma said with a hint of luck.

   "Actually... it may not be as bad as we thought."

   "The sentry hasn't brought back the news, at least it means that the mutants haven't come near us yet. Maybe it's just a ploy to scare us away, as Mr. Xiao said."

  Everyone sitting in the banquet looked at each other in dismay.

   If only it were that simple...

  …

  A forest tens of kilometers away.

  After the banquet, the mutants smeared the blood and grease of their prey on their faces, hummed rude shouts and songs, and embarked on a journey to the next banquet.

  Ogg died more than two hundred brothers, including a centurion and a big guy.

  He had to chop off four hundred heads to relieve his anger.

   As for whether the Torch Church is angry or not, what does it have to do with Ogg?

  It’s not just the old priests in the clan who care about this and that. He also doesn’t like those humans talking about gods and gods...

  At this moment, the vast majority of residents in Hope Town have not realized that the danger has quietly approached them.

   And the few who knew were still fantasizing that maybe things weren't so bad, and that the arrow bound with the hide was just a botched hoax.

   On the other side, Luo Yu, who had lunch at the hotel, learned from Wu Wenzhou, the leader of the caravan, that there were looters fleeing nearby and the town was closed.

   "Marauder?!"

  After hearing the news, Luo Yu showed a surprised expression on his face, and quickly remembered the group of people he met at the provincial border.

   “…Could it be the people we met?”

  Before on the way here, they encountered a group of looters who robbed the road, and captured a Maxim from the hands of those looters.

   But if it was those people, he couldn't think of any need to repair the fortification anyway.

   "I don't know." Wu Wenzhou shook his head with a wry smile, "Anyway, the four exits of the town are blocked. People can come in and out, but goods can't. We can't let them remove the roadblocks and bunkers."

  Although this is a safe zone, it is still in the wasteland after all. He didn't dare to leave the goods here, so he ran out.

   At that time, the goods are lost, and there is no place to reason.

   But there is no need to go out.

   It's not the exception of the Bonechewing tribe. Most of the raiders are hammered on the head by the settlements. Only some small villages may have accidents.

  There are so many mercenaries and caravans here, there is no need to worry about security issues.

   "Are we just waiting here?" Luo Yu couldn't help frowning when thinking of the advice that the guy named White Shark gave him.

  An extra day on the road on his side will increase the risk of his hundred thousand silver coins being ruined by a day.

   It seemed that he was about to reach his destination, and he was really unwilling to lose the chain at this juncture.

  Wu Wenzhou sighed helplessly.

   "At present, there is no better way...Anyway, it will only be three days, just wait and wait."

   Paused, he continued.

   "Of course, although their reasons are plausible, we can't just let them mess around for no reason. I'll talk to other merchants later, and they have to give us an explanation."

  If the roadblocks are still not removed after three days, they can join forces to put pressure on the local residents and the town hall.

   Of course, this is the last resort.

  If possible, he really didn't want to conflict with the locals. Hope Town was already one of the few relatively safe and reliable settlements on this trade route.

  In some small settlements for the night, he usually sleeps with a pistol hidden under his pillow, but here, he can sleep soundly with the door locked.

   "...I'll go and look around, maybe there are some clues."

   Saying that, Luo Yu pushed away the chair and stood up.

  The thought of wasting three days in this small town made him feel uncomfortable for a while, so he might as well go out and look for it now to see if there is any branch line that can pass the time.

  Wu Wenzhou nodded.

   "Go, remember to come back before dark."

  Luo Yu, who walked out of the hotel, stood on the street, glanced left and right, and found that this small town was surprisingly big, completely different from his first impression last night, probably no less than a thousand people lived there.

   There are quite a few merchants and mercenaries stranded here like them, and they are all gathering near the hotel to exchange what they heard.

   It might be a good idea to talk to them.

  However, when Luo Yu was about to walk over, he suddenly realized with embarrassment that he was actually not a particularly good at communicating.

  Don't talk about NPCs.

   In fact, he has relatively little contact with players.

  He has been playing this game for a while, but he only got to know Brother Mosquito and his teammates in the Goblin Corps a little bit, and then met some of Brother Mosquito’s acquaintances.

  Before raising Xiaoyu, he was often solo alone.

   Just when he was thinking about how to walk over and insert the topic as if nothing had happened, and then extract information from the mouths of those old fritters, a familiar voice suddenly came from the side.

   "Falling Feather?!"

   Didn't expect there to be acquaintances in this poor place.

  Hearing someone calling his name in Mandarin, Luo Yu turned his head subconsciously, and then saw a familiar face, and suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise.

   "I boil?"

   "Why are you here too?!"

-

   (PS: I have been coughing for two weeks, and my throat is almost useless, and now I speak like spitting bubbles, and I have successfully quit the habit of talking to myself...)

  (end of this chapter)