Chapter 89 Seeking Skin with the Tiger (For Subscription)

   The snow started to fall, but it didn't stop.

  The north wind was blowing, and the woods were whizzing. The woods outside the outpost were dark. Every tree seemed to be hiding behind people, and every blade of grass seemed to breathe.

  The guards on the wall were tense one by one, afraid that they would be killed by the plot, just like the fisherman who was beaten.

  On the official website OB, it is too torturous.

   Not only the players on duty were nervous, but Chu Guang was also nervous.

   He has already eaten two groups of people from the Bloody Hand Clan, and the other party can't leave him alone.

   However, the predators in the north remained silent. Chu Guang was always restless. He sat upstairs for half the night wearing his exoskeleton.

   On the other hand, those players were in high spirits, and they were online in shifts. It was as if the snow was falling all over the sky, and their work was not affected at all.

I really envy.

   Anyway, the body is not my own, and I can't feel the pain beyond the limit. Even if my hands and feet are frozen, I eat some meat and carbohydrates, and I go back to the training cabin to lie down for a few hours.

   Of course, this is also the beginning of winter, and the coldest time has not yet arrived.

   Don't say that minus ten degrees is not cold, go to the south and feel the magic attack? It doesn't even need to be below zero, and half-life can be blown away by the wind.

   "A heating tube should be added to this exoskeleton."

   "Forget it, let's wait until they make the armor linings."

   Watching the truckload of bricks being transported from the warehouse into the industrial zone, a smile appeared on Chu Guang's face, and he nodded with satisfaction.

good.

   These players are very sensible.

Brother Toilet Suo and Brother Levine, who got the budget, also spent money hard. The next day, they used the budget given by Chu Guang and bought 5,000 bricks and 500 kilograms of cement directly in the warehouse. They were envied by a group of players. Under his gaze, he pulled to the industrial area.

   Since the silver coins used are all in the corporate account, it is enough to transfer the account directly to the ledger. Old Luca has been able to complete this work proficiently, and Chu Guang doesn't even need to worry about it.

   As for the sand used for plastering, there is not much stock in the warehouse, and it is basically used up when the walls are repaired.

   But it doesn’t matter, rent a cart for some silver coins and hire two people to pull it to the abandoned construction site due north. 1 silver coin per car, calculated on the basis of five cars per side, pulling about nine cars is enough for the time being.

   Anyway, it's just over 2 kilometers every time you go, and the road is not difficult to walk on flat ground, and many people are rushing to do this work.

  There are piles of sand and pebbles, all of which are used to build 100-meter-high buildings. You can’t tell what the ingredients are from the variety, but the quality of things in the pre-war era is not bad.

  Although part of the sand was washed into the foundation by the rain, the part of the surface buried in the soil was enough for them to use for many years.

   It takes 96 bricks, 10 kilograms of cement, and more than 50 kilograms of sand to build a wall of 18 square meters.

  A 20X10 steel factory is completely sealed with 30,000 or 40,000 bricks and 4-5 tons of cement. Even if the warehouse is emptied, it will not be able to get so many materials.

   But that’s okay.

  There is no need to be so particular about the waste soil. It is really impossible to paste the north wall first, then pick up some scrap metal and plastic sheds, and build a semi-open workshop with a "same" shape. It is also possible to save more than half of the materials directly.

   Wasteland, it should have the atmosphere of wasteland. The shack that Chu Guang had in Beit Street before, even a pound of cement was useless, and the same can live in people.

   That's called post-apocalyptic style.

   At least the two factory managers, Brother Toilet Suo and Brother Levine, don't care.

   The most urgent task is to first make a steel-making converter, then use scrap metal to smelt and cast two rolls, and then build a mighty armor for the great manager!

   This is their priority right now.

  In addition to hiring two people to transport the sand, they also hired three players who had worked on the construction site to help build walls and build the base of the converter.

   Everything is proceeding in an orderly manner.

   However, compared with the smooth progress of the "No. 81" steel plant, the progress of the Niuma Brick Factory is not so smooth.

  Lao Bai and Fang Chang, who were one step behind the launch, were dumbfounded as soon as they arrived at the warehouse.

  Good guy, what about the pile of building materials?

   Yesterday, there was such a high pile, and it was sold out after this launch? !

   "Gee!"

   "Why are they moving so fast?!"

   "Tsk, misstep."

   "The people who carry buckets are professionals... Forget it, don't panic, brothers, let's investigate the terrain first and then find a way."

   The four of them made a selection in the warehouse, and finally only bought a wooden cart and a shovel, axe, and hatchet for land reclamation, and set off against the heavy snow with the dry food for the four.

   Not that they wanted to save money for shelters.

   But I really can’t spend the money...

   By the way, since the corporate account can only be used in the warehouse, it is not possible to buy a gun from a weapons store.

   In order to verify, Fang Chang made a special trip to try it, but the proprietress of the weapon shop didn't care about him at all, so he had no choice but to give up.

   There was a lot of snow outside the outpost, and the north wind was blowing even more.

   Ye Shi, who held the iron-barreled rifle in his hand, bared his teeth, freed his arm to wipe the snow hanging from his bangs and eyebrows, and complained in a low voice.

   "The wind is blowing so hard, so exaggerated at the end of September, what's the matter?"

  Old Bai was optimistic, he said with a smile.

   "I guess it's to test the stability of the weather system. Isn't it a matter of planning if it doesn't snow in the game world? I'm not surprised if it snows in summer."

   Fang Chang glanced at the only perception system in the team and reminded.

"You guys should be careful, we are in the war with the Blood Hand clan now. Although this river is in the wetland park, it is not far from the north gate. If the predators attack, we may be the first to attack the enemy. of."

   Ye Shi grinned.

   "Fear of a der! In the forest, our home ground! When the predators come, I'll go up - oh, it's awkward, there seems to be someone in front of us."

   "What the hell? Come on for real?!"

   Although Ye Shi is not very reliable, this guy's perception is the highest among all players at present.

   Got Ye Shi's alarm, and the other three players didn't dare to hesitate, hurriedly dropped the scooter, and the copycats scattered around.

   This is not the first time they have teamed up to hunt.

   is also not the first time to face a predator.

   Ye Shi leaned against the tree, his usual smiley expression was gone, only seriousness and alertness remained.

  I saw him stick his head out carefully, his gaze swept along the snowy forest, his eyes suddenly locked in one place.

   gestured in a general direction with his hands, and Ye Shi gave the other three teammates a positive look.

   "Flank the past."

"learn."

  The outermost Lao Bai acted first, and the four of them moved forward in sequence in a tacit understanding, spreading out in a quadrangle to surround the past.

  Ten meters.

   Fifteen meters.

  Twenty meters!

   In the vast snow and mist, a sneaky figure finally emerged.

The man was wearing a gray coat, a thick cotton felt hat on his head, and an iron-barreled rifle on his back. He pressed his right hand against the brim of his hat that was constantly blown up by the wind, while facing the direction of the outpost. go.

   It's not a good thing at first glance!

  Fang Chang immediately made a judgment, and before the man found them, he immediately pulled the bowstring, took an arrow, aimed at the man's right arm, and loosened the string with a snap.

   only heard a swooshing sound.

  The man didn't have time to react at all, he was shot in the thigh by an arrow, and fell to the ground with a scream of pain.

   "Don't move if you don't want to die!"

  Old Bai rushed up first, kicked the gun he was holding in his hand, and placed the javelin on his head aggressively.

   The man was terrified and screamed, not knowing what he was talking about.

   Fang Chang suggested.

   "Let's score someone to bring him back."

"Let me do it."

   Gu Feng raised the crossbow in his hand.

  Although it is an intelligence department, something like a crossbow does not require too many attribute bonuses.

   The other three were also very relieved about Gu Feng's carefulness and had no comments.

  Old Bai returned to the side of the scooter, found a rope to tie the man up, and poked him in the back with a javelin as a threat.

   "If you dare to escape, we will take off your other leg!"

   After saying that, regardless of whether the person understood or not, Lao Bai handed him over to Gu Feng, and watched Gu Feng lead the limping prisoner as he walked away in the direction of the outpost.

  …

   Watching the Niu Ma team leave the outpost earlier, Chu Guang saw that it was getting late, so he went to the warehouse to chop a crab leg, and found a room in the former sanatorium to bake it.

   In this snowy weather, the food is not so perishable, and the crab legs are no problem to eat for two or three days.

  This stuff is high-quality protein, and you need to eat more of it to gain muscle.

  Chu Guang now has nothing to do every day. He just wears the exoskeleton for walks without turning on the power supply, or does push-ups with a nitrogen power hammer on his back, and bench presses to train his arms.

   Every time I finish my practice, I go to the bathroom to take a shower, take the changed clothes to dry, and then get some food for myself when the meal is over. I have a much more comfortable life than when I was on Bette Street.

   Although the training marks on his body are not obvious, and the attribute panel has not changed due to the exercise, he can still clearly feel that his strength and muscle coordination have been slightly improved.

  Chu Guang speculates that the data scanned and summarized by the physical examination equipment mainly measures the "basic hardware" of the body, and exercise may provide efficiency bonuses for the hardware in the form of BUFF.

   Such as "Strength +3%" or "Strength +5%".

  When the base value of the attribute is larger, the effect of exercise will be more obvious.

   For players with power-based gene sequences, exercise can also accumulate the development progress of gene sequences and break through the boundaries of hardware.

   At present, Chu Guang's strength attribute is 10, and the hardware base is almost 200% of that of a normal adult male (base value 5).

   Even without any skills, the coordination of muscles cannot be exerted to the fullest, and he can easily crush opponents of the same heavyweight by virtue of his attributes.

  If he encounters a creeper again, even without the exoskeleton and nitrogen power hammer, Chu Guang doesn't say how easy it is to win, at least it won't be as embarrassing as before.

but.

   This assumption is also unlikely to hold.

   After all, let alone going out, even in the outpost, he still wears his exoskeleton in a deerskin coat when he has something to do.

   It’s just that the power is not turned on at ordinary times, so it should be weight training.

   Two and a half pounds of crab legs that weighed five pounds were all shells, but the remaining two and a half pounds of crab meat were quite solid. After Chu Guang finished eating, he clapped his hands and put out the fire.

   At this moment, a player pressed a native in a coat and walked in from the outside.

   The prisoners were taken to the main building of the sanatorium, Gu Feng stood at attention with a serious face, and reported to the manager.

   "Dear Administrator... We have caught a scout of predators!"

   "Captive?"

  Chu Guang wiped his mouth and squinted at the man in front of him.

   I saw that the man was covered in snow, mud and dead leaves, with a broken arrow stuck in his thigh, and half his pants were stained with dark red blood, looking very embarrassed.

   he said through gritted teeth.

   "Is this how you treat guests?"

   "Hospitality is reserved for guests."

  Chu Guang felt that he didn't look much like a looter, but he didn't look like a scavenger nearby, so he continued in an interrogating tone.

   "Who are you? Why did you enter our territory? There are signs at the three entrances of the Wetland Park, which are clearly written. It is strictly forbidden for idlers to enter. Even if you don't know the characters, you should recognize the skull logo."

   "I'm here to mediate!"

   "Mediation?" Chu Guang squinted his eyes, his tone was a little unkind, "Are you a person with **** hands?"

   "No! I don't belong to anyone!"

   Feeling the unkindness in his tone, the man quickly clarified, but the wound was so painful, and when he was emotionally involved, his muscles were involved, and he grinned for a while.

   It took a long time to recover. The man tried his best to stay awake and squeezed out a half-sentence from the gap between his teeth.

   "...Can you treat my wound first? I might be gone after a while."

  It’s ok if it’s gone.

   Seeing how calm you are, I thought you were not seriously injured.

  Chu Guang had a happy expression, but he did not embarrass him.

   threw 5 silver coins into Gu Feng's hand and sent the little player away, then he took out a roll of bandages from the blind box from his pocket and threw it to the man.

  I haven't tried the hemostatic effect of this thing.

   happened to use him as an experiment.

  The man obviously knew how to use this thing. After skillfully dismantling it, he first broke the shaft of the arrow, pierced it into the flesh with the tool inside, and took out the arrowhead despite the pain.

  The blood came out like a faucet and ran down the trouser legs.

  Chu Guang frowned as he watched from the side, and couldn't help but stutter, but the man seemed to be fine. After clenching his teeth and tying the bandage, he breathed a sigh of relief.

   "Do you feel better?"

   "Okay," the man nodded, took a deep breath, and continued the conversation just now, "My name is Haen, a businessman from Honghe Town."

   "Why do the merchants in Honghe Town mix with the looters?" Chu Guang looked at him with interest, and continued, "And from Honghe Town to here, there must be fifty or sixty kilometers."

"Fifty or sixty kilometers? Oh, that's a straight-line distance. If you want to bypass the urban agglomeration, you have to walk at least 130 kilometers! Of course, if you want to be safe, you have to bypass the highway bridge... It looks like 150 kilometers. "

   "So what?" Chu Guang looked at him and raised his chin, "You didn't answer my question, why did you mix with the predators."

   "Cough, it's not that they are mixed together, it's just... we have some business dealings."

  Hain's eyes wandered a little, and he continued after a moment of embarrassment.

"Okay, let me tell you the truth, I'm a businessman...or employee of the Horseshoe Firm in Red River Town. Because of the boss, we occasionally do business with some trusted predator tribes in the southern River Valley Province, mainly with Population is related. Don't look at me like that, without us, those captives wouldn't survive the winter at all, at least we gave them a chance to be human again!"

   "So you are in the slave business?" Chu Guang touched his chin with interest, but did not show his interest on his face.

   "That's right!" Hain nodded and continued, "I was sent by the boss to Qingquan City this time to buy some slaves from them. But when I get here, I heard that you are fighting?"

  Chu Guang smiled kindly.

   "Yes, and the enemy of your trading partner is thinking about something right now. Assuming your boss doesn't know you've been here with me—"

  Haen swallowed and interrupted Chu Guang nervously.

   "I know what you're trying to say, but it doesn't make sense. People die every day in the wasteland, and my death doesn't matter to my boss at all."

"yes?"

   "Wouldn't you like to listen to my proposal before what to do with me?"

"you say."

  Hain continued speaking quickly.

   "The Bloody Hands want a truce with you, and they are willing to pay a ransom of 20 chips for each prisoner... Of course, if they are short of arms and legs, they are only willing to pay half."

   "Oh, what about the contract they gave you?"

   "My? Contract? What contract—"

"Okay, stop pretending," Chu Guang said impatiently, looking at Haen who was pretending to be stupid, "Do you think you can deceive me? You said that people are dying every day in the wasteland. Do things that don't help kill your life? Or is it good for you that we stop fighting?"

  Hain said with a smile.

"I didn't hide it on purpose... it's just that I don't really have a contract with them. Well, I'll be honest, his chief promised me that as long as I could bring their people back, they were willing to take those wounded. Cheaper 'handling' for me. But it's actually good for you, isn't it?"

   "No one wants to fight in the snow, and your neighbors are also very troubled by this ghost weather. Why don't you sit down and talk, in fact, it is not an endless contradiction, and the misunderstanding here will definitely be solved."

   "I took the captives back to do business. You got a war reparation and shook hands with your neighbors... We can all win together!"

  Chu Guang smiled.

   But the curvature of the corners of his mouth was cold.

Misunderstand?

  Untie?

Hahaha.

   He had never heard such a funny joke.

   If it wasn't for him, and happened to run into this group of players, and it was another survivor's stronghold, not to mention what would happen to men and women, even the bones would have been sucked clean.

   Make peace?

   Those people are just waiting for an opportunity.

   For example, the snow has stopped.

   "Mr. Hayne, I feel you are making me laugh. Reconcile with the predators? Do you believe what you said?"

  Hain's expression was a little embarrassed.

   In fact, before walking into this outpost, he already had a hunch that this group was different from the survivor stronghold he had been to before.

   Walls, trenches, sentries on duty, sentries hunting...

   No one here is a professional soldier, but everyone seems to be able to fight very well, and the most important thing is to dare to fight.

   They wear blue coats, but have no illusions about the kindness of this world.

  This negotiation is about to collapse...

"I understand. You have your difficulties. Since you can't talk about it, I won't force it... Can you let me go? I'll keep everything I see tight-lipped." Hein took a second to make Stop loss judgment.

   However, Chu Guang did not speak, just stared into his eyes without moving, and stared straight at him for a long time.

   The latter was horrified by the sight, only to feel that he was being stared at by a crawler, and sweat gradually seeping out from his back. Unable to bear the pressure, he opened his mouth with trembling lips.

   "Even if you kill me, you won't gain anything...why? I have no grievances with Your Excellency. You can continue to fight, and I promise not to interfere."

   "But it doesn't hurt either."

  For a moment, Hein felt like his heartbeat stopped.

   However, Chu Guang's next sentence gave him another hope for life.

   "You said you were in the slave business?"

"Yes, yes!" As if grabbing a life-saving straw, Hain nodded panicked, "You need slaves? I can help you! We not only import slaves, but also export them, and also provide door-to-door delivery. If You need-"

"follow me."

   Looking at the man walking out the door, Hain was forced to stop talking, swallowed, dragged his lead-like legs, and limped after him.

   The snow outside was getting heavier and heavier. The wind blew on his face like a knife, especially on the wound. Hein felt as if his blood was about to freeze.

  Fortunately not far.

  The man took him to a shabby hut, and then talked to the old man on duty at the door, he saw the old man nodded, turned back to the house, and took out a wooden box.

  Chu Guang weighed the weight of the box, and then handed it to Hain's hand.

  Hain, who took the box, felt his hands sink, and looked at the man who handed him the box in confusion.

"……This is?"

   "Open it and take a look."

   There was an ominous premonition in his heart, but Hein still freed up a hand and opened the box.

   When he saw the ornaments made of finger bones in the box, the blood in his whole body seemed to have coagulated, and his face lost its color.

   Of course he knew these things, who had dealt with predators all the time.

   Those people will use the index finger of the prey as a trophy, dry it, wash it, make it into an ornament and hang it on the body, like a lifeblood.

   This blue-skinned demon!

   Not a single one was left...

   "Winter is coming, and I don't have that many prison cells here. I'm afraid the prisoners you want can only be found here."

   Looking at Haen who had lost his soul, Chu Guang smiled casually.

   "Let's make a deal."

"I promise, you'll get a lot of...and a lot of captives, show it off in front of your boss, go to the pinnacle of your career, and even say goodbye to your head on your belt if you're lucky. life."

   "And I can solve the troubles in the north once and for all."

   (end of this chapter)