"Future plan?" Hao Ren turned his head to look at Ulanov—strictly speaking, at the bare helmet mask of the other party. A place to settle down."
Ulanov grunted a few times in his throat, and asked in a low voice, "Where did you learn your fighting skills?"
He originally thought that Hao Ren was just a commoner with abnormal nerves, a rich man who lacked wasteland knowledge, but after seeing the opponent's fighting skills, he still became very interested in Hao Ren's origin. It is very rare to be able to have combat effectiveness beyond that of regular soldiers without various biochemical transformations and electronic auxiliary devices. This is very rare even in lawless areas. Sensing the curious gaze cast from behind the mask, Hao Ren turned his head slightly: "I've fought wars before, so don't ask why."
"You're also a mercenary?" Ulanov looked Hao Ren up and down, "You don't look like a regular soldier."
"That's right," Hao Ren muttered in a low voice, and ended the topic on the pretense of combing the blonde girl's hair. "I don't really want to talk about the past."
Carl, who was sitting on the opposite side of the carriage, suddenly reminded in a rough voice: "Ulanov, you talk too much."
The armored truck was moving forward in the barren and vast wilderness, and finally there were traces of man-made buildings in front of it again. Through the side window, Hao Ren saw that both sides of the road had turned into concrete floors, crooked and incomplete street lamps and utility poles flashed past the window from time to time, a feeling of returning to human society came over him. A screen in front of the car suddenly lights up, showing the scene directly ahead. At the end of the road, there are vague buildings like factories lined up in a row. Between the buildings, many huge buildings that are emitting thick smoke can be seen. chimneys, and a large number of simple houses like building blocks are filled between the tall buildings.
The entire complex of buildings was shrouded in haze, and the smoke rose from above the market town to the same gray zenith, as if the whole world was blackened by those factories. Seeing such a scene, Ulanov subconsciously coughed twice: "Ahem... I really feel uncomfortable after watching it several times."
"Can you still feel the smog in your throat now?" The female mercenary in the same company teased, "Have they been replaced with plastic ones long ago?"
"Vanessa, no one will treat you as dumb if you don't speak," Ulanov glanced at the other party through the mask. Then he turned to Hao Ren, "The front is a part of the Black Street. The Black Street is basically maintained by these factories - they provide electricity and products to Zero City, and the coolies in the Black Street exchange for food and life-extending medicine. To be honest , this place is not suitable for rich people like you to live in, it is better for you to go to Zero City, after all, you are not short of money."
"Stay in the black street, and soon you will lose your money and your life," the unrestrained female mercenary called Vanessa teased Hao Ren carelessly. "No matter how good your skills are, you can't prevent the 'rules' of the black street. For a simple-minded guy like you, those little gangsters have ten thousand ways to plot against you."
Hao Ren shrugged his shoulders. It seemed that his image in the eyes of this sister was basically a model of a fool with a lot of money, but he didn't explain anything, just looked at the building group that was getting closer and closer in front of him: "Black Street ...isn't it a block?"
"Of course not," Ulanov shook his head, "but many people who come here for the first time will misunderstand and can't help it. Heijie is a large market town, and its scale is almost comparable to a city. It's just because it was originally from The neighborhood was expanded, and people here are used to calling it Black Street. Before the Great War, this place was called Xinzhou City... but there are probably not many people who still remember this place name now."
"Only an old man remembers this kind of thing," Vanessa said, leaning on the seat with her arms outstretched. Looking up at the carport, "Xinzhou City. Rift Valley City, Pearl City... Anka New City, I can only look at it in the history books. And it is impossible to say when even the 'history books' will disappear." , now who cares about this."
"Zero City is not far from Black Street," Ulanov said to Hao Ren, "Our station is on the edge of Black Street, and we can take you to Zero City's checkpoint. After that, it's up to you."
Hao Ren didn't answer right away, he was thinking about his own business, but at this moment Nolan's voice suddenly came from the front: "If there is no place to go, you can go to our place for a while."
"Huh?" Hao Ren looked up at Nolan's back in the cab suspiciously, "Let me join?"
"Zero City is safer, but it may not be suitable for you," Nolan said lightly, "You will have all your property confiscated in exchange for a few years of 'citizen rights', and then you can only rely on the city committee as an ox." Come to survive, that place is indeed safe, but there is nothing other than safety. I think you... you shouldn’t like this kind of life, otherwise you wouldn’t run away from the comfortable city-state of natural people.”
After discovering that Hao Ren was actually a fighting force, the mercenary leader became eager to recruit. This was a normal reaction, especially when her team urgently needed to recruit new recruits. However, although Hao Ren wanted to investigate the situation in this world, he didn't plan to join any group to restrict his actions, so he politely declined: "Forget it, I'm not interested in being a soldier."
"Oh, that's right." Nolan said casually, and there was no further text after that.
"But I really don't have a place to go for a while." Hao Ren thought for a while, feeling that at least he needed a place to stay. "Shall I stay with you for the time being? Of course, I'll pay."
When he said this, he was still thinking that the mercenaries might not be willing to allow people to enter his garrison, but he didn't expect Nolan to agree very happily: "It's fine if you just stay for a few days, and I don't need your money—you Repay me for saving my life."
Hao Ren was a little surprised: "The place where you stay is considered a military garrison, right? Don't you need to censor the identity information of outsiders?"
Nolan raised his hand and shook it near the front window of the carriage: "Do you want to live here?"
"Of course."
"Do you want to kill me?"
"Why should I kill you?"
"The review is over."
Hao Ren: "..."
"How do you think you need to check?" Nolan's voice was still flat, but this time with a slight joke, "Write a stack of identity forms? Check your documents? Go to the civil system to find your criminal record? Save Save it, forget about that, this is a lawless zone, there are many people who are trying to survive, no one cares what you did before, as long as you don’t plan to stab me in the back—even if it’s temporary.”
Hao Ren was stunned, and found that he had settled his foothold in this world in a short period of time, and it was a little unreal to be so smooth.
Nolan didn't speak any more, just continued to drive with peace of mind. Soon, the armored truck arrived at the checkpoint of Heijie, and after passing through several guard posts, it came to an old barracks.
Hao Ren picked up the data terminal (corpse state) beside him, and jumped out of the car after the mercenaries. As soon as he came out, he was coughed by the dirty air around him: the air quality in this place was even worse than the ruins of the city before. , it seemed that the whole black street was wrapped in a lingering cloud of smoke, he smacked his lips after coughing, and felt that the air in this place was quite chewy...
Scattered soldiers were walking around in the open space between the barracks, and the exterior walls of some buildings were sprayed with the emblem of the gray fox with poor-quality paint. This was where Nolan's small army was stationed. Although there are guard posts around the camp, there is still no tense and serious atmosphere of a "military important place". It is not so much a military base as it is an armed refugee camp.
When fighting is no longer a distant thing, but becomes everyone's daily life, the scene that will be produced is probably what is in front of us.
Two mercenaries who looked like commanders stepped forward to greet Nolan. Nolan chatted with them casually, mentioned the ambush and losses encountered today, and then asked Heaton's body to be dragged out: "Take He dried it, hung it on the intersection outside, and sprayed the gray fox mark to make it more conspicuous. I don't want any guy who is bought by the rangers to appear again—even if he joins other mercenary regiments, there is no better way to join the rangers. It's even more stupid."
The two officers immediately ordered the soldiers to go to work. Before Heaton's body was pushed away, Nolan bent down and said regretfully to the traitor whose face was smashed: "What a pity, you were once a Poet, this time it turned out like this..."
Hao Ren was taken aback by Nolan's ruthless traits at a young age, but now he was surprised: "Are there still poets in this day and age?"
Ulanov explained in a muffled voice: "Occasionally, the boss would say some inexplicable things—Heaton grew up in a slum, how could he know how to write poetry?"
Hao Ren snorted, and Nolan turned his head just in time: "Okay, let's go back to rest, you... Hao Ren, you go with Ulanov, there is a room next to him, it used to be Heaton's, now Here you go."
Hao Ren nodded, turned around and was about to leave, but Ulanov couldn't bear it anymore: "I don't mind if there are more people in the next room, but...it's different if there are many corpses."
Hao Ren: "..."
He looked down at his arms, the data terminal that had turned into a corpse was still lifeless, showing no sign of revival.
Of course, from a biological point of view, it is indeed impossible for "her" to move. (to be continued~^~)