Snow, as thick as a blanket, covered the desolated street.
Other than the worker removing snow, the only noise on the entire street was the freezing northern wind.
Oh, not quite. There was still one place that maintained the liveliness of spring.
People shouted, celebrated, unleashed their pressure, and spent away their dreary days.
This place was the Fake Leg Bar. Although they have only been open for less than one month, the high-quality alcohol garnered the hearts of all the survivors. In front of the bar counter, the muscular mercenary had a foot on the chair as he showed off his scars drunkenly. The barely covered lady walked among the dark corners of the bar to wait for the prey of the night. Gamblers put two tables together as they played poker and dices.
Just based on these few people, this place would appear as no different than the Bullet Shell Bar on the next street. The only difference was, the security here was top notch – to the point of unbelievable. But, it was not like this when the bar just opened.
Alcohol was a lucrative industry regardless of the geographic location. The existence of Fake Leg Bar, without a doubt, ended the reign of bars on the entire street. When people tried the beer with the sweet wheat aroma, no one would be interested in the stuff made with industrial alcohol. Even the wealthy in the inner circle would occasional drop by to have a drink or two.
The high profitability naturally drew the jealousy of competitors. When threatening didn’t work, the owner of each bar used all kinds of despicable techniques.
Fights, theft, even blackmail.
But those who used these techniques obviously underestimated Zhou Guoping’s ability. His profession was a bandit. In terms of despicable techniques, he was the master of all.
Bribery, assassination, and vandalism.
After chopping down six dirty overreaching hands consecutively, the people looking for trouble finally became cautiously. Immediately, he spread out a rumor that the boss of the store had a special connection with the Group of Ten council members. After hearing the news, people were still hesitating if they should take the risk and finally give up the ill- intentions in their mind. They wondered if they should just accept the fact that Fake Leg Bar dominated the market.
Other than great security, the design of the bar was also customer friendly. The second and third floor were renovated into rooms, providing privacy for the males and females that needed their own space and to provide the wary survivors a place to release their deep level of stress.
Like usual, Zhou Guoping wore a grey suit. He casually sat at a wooden table as he chatted with the mercenaries that wandered the wasteland. The talkative boss garnered the friendliness from the mercenaries. Even his blad head became a bright spot for this bar.
Just like the grandpa in KFC.
As to why. It was because if someone talked about something interesting, he would put out a tab that drinks would be on the house.
“And at the northern area of city center, guess what I saw? I saw a Mother of Death Claw! Dammit, I thought it was just a nuclear crater, so I wanted to see if there was anything worthy inside.”
“Ok, buddy, Mother of Death Claw would only return to nuclear crater when they give birth. In the winter, they would usually hide in a cave, you are bullshi*ting too much.” A middle-aged man smiled, he took the cigar out of this mouth, shook it in the dust tray. His face had a frightening scar that stretched from his left eye to the right tip of his mouth. Because of this scar, his smile looked daunting.
“If the one-eyed Lev said that, then it must be.”
“That’s right, buddy, the scar on this old fellow’s face was left by the Mother of Death Claw.”
The young man turned red. He took a big gulp of the beer to disguise the embarrassment.
Zhou Guoping looked at the chatting mercenaries with a smile. But he was planning in this mind as to when he should speak, and who he should hire.
The young man should be new to the scene, at least he didn’t look like he was in the profession before. As to the Slavic middle-aged man, he must be a character. It was rumored that he was a fighter jet pilot for CCCP. He didn’t get sent back after the war. Instead, he was taken to Wanghai City as the special experiment test subject. When the apocalypse happened, he used his impeccable skills to escape from the lab before he started to wander on the wasteland.
But Zhou Guoping didn’t plant to hire him. Regardless of how powerful he was, he was only a lone traveler. The boss’ instruction was that he needed a lot of people, a team at least the size of 50 people.
It was difficult, especially in the environment where everyone was plotting for the city center.
But the boss’s order is absolute, Zhou Guoping’s eyes continually glanced at the door. He was waiting for a person to show up.
The oak door was pushed open as a gust of cold wind mixed with ice shards blew inside.
The man drinking beside the door shivered because of the wind. Just as he was about the curse at the person who opened the door, he saw the person’s face clearly and the swear that was about to burst out of him was swallowed down.
Buzzcut, grey winter suit, he looked rather ordinary. When he stepped into the bar, he was not rowdy like most people. Instead, he sat at the counter with a low profile and ordered a beer.
But when Zhuo Guoping saw the person, his eyes immediately lit up and walked over with a smile.
It was Luo Yang, the leader of the Black Blood Mercenaries. Although he had an ordinary face, he possessed an ability that is not to be underestimated by anyone. On top of that, he had the abilities of the 70 warriors who fight for him.
“How’s the reward today?” Zhou Guoping sat beside him and used a casual tone to chat with him.
“Terrible, other than snow, there was blood. The northern part of the city center has been completely explored. A zombie nest was even cleared out and there were no signs of the satellite wreckage at all.” Luo Yang took a sip of his drink as he warily rubbed his head.
“Nothing at all?”
“Basically, only when you enter the city center would you start to have some respect for the dumb zombies. It was so dense, and you couldn’t see the end. Our truck mulled through the crowd and fired fiercely into the herds of zombies. Even then, we were almost stuck there twice.”
“Have an open mind, buddy. Since that is the world of zombies, even Death Claw would have to avoid there.” Zhuo Guoping comforted him as he took out a pack of cigarette and handed one to him.
Luo Yang let out a sigh and lit one for himself.
“Has there been any good missions recently?”
“You give up on the ‘one million reward’ mission?” Zhuo Guoping cracked a smile.
“I can’t use my brothers’ life to take the risk. I have a feeling that it would be a pit without a bottom. It can’t be filled regardless of how many lives were shed.” When he heard one million crystals, greed radiated through Luo Yang’s eyes, but it was quickly replaced by a grave concern.
Compared to his colleagues that dove into city center like flies, he maintained some rationality.
“Let’s talk about something happy. I happen to have a mission.”
“How much money?” He took a sip as Luo Yang said quite curiously.
“Ten thousand crystals.”
“What!” Luo Yang spat the beer out. He looked at Zhuo Guoping with eyes widened, “Ten thousand? Are you sure?”
“I am certain.” Zhou Guoping nodded his head with eyes narrowed.
“What’s the mission ?” Luo Yang wiped his mouth as he said cautiously.
“Have you heard the Fishbone base?” Zhuo Guoping said nonchalantly.
“I have heard a thing or two. An external force’s base stationed in Wanghai City with quite a powerful force.”
Because the trades with Zhao Corporation were conducted secretly, Zhou Guoping didn’t reveal the boss behind this bar. So, to the outside, the Fishbone base was a mystery. Most of the people only knew that there was a base in Qingpu, but even the exact location was unknown.
As to why it was obvious, there were a countless number of survivor camps on the wasteland, but most were unfriendly. For example, the Huizhong Mercenaries were already wiped out.
“The hirer is their boss. As for the mission, it is on here.”
As he spoke, Zhou Guoping took out a sheet of paper and put it on the counter.
After wavering for a moment, Luo Yang picked up the contract. He scanned the paper and his expression turned more and more stern.
“This is impossible! What kind of joke is this? Stopping the mutated humans from Seventh area at Taifu river… This is asking my men to die.”
“Is that the case? If you think that way, then it is okay, although I personally think it is a pity to give it up.” Zhou Guoping sighed, pretending to feel pitiful as he took back the contract.
“I don’t see where the pity is coming from. You have to have your life to spend money.” Luo Yang laughed.
“Do you think the Fishbone base will lose ?” Zhou Guoping asked with a smile.
“Based on what I know, there are three thousand something mutated humans at the Seventh area, although they might not be the smartest, they are natural warriors.” Luo Yang said. “Even if they only bring half of the people, it would be at least fifteen hundred people. A soldier discrepancy of more than ten times, only a dumbas*s would accept this mission. Mutated humans would squash them like ants.”
Luo Yang took a big chug as he shook his head in disappointment.
He obviously was not disappointed at the fate of the Fishbone base, but rather he was sad over the ten thousand crystals that slipped away before his own eyes.
“But based on my information, the Fishbone base has quite a powerful force, such as heavy firearms.” Zhou Guoping smiled.
“Heavy firearms? Haha.” Luo Yang scorned, he didn’t agree.
He knew a few tactics of mutated humans.
The mutated humans occupying the steel factory at the Seventh area used steel almost lavishly. With their pure muscle strength, they could carry the thick C-Grade steel armor to take charge, it was a nightmare for all light infantries.
Heavy firearms? Okay, it was effective. But when all the mutated humans spread out and charge over the wide frozen river, how many shots would the cannons manage to fire? Once the mutated humans pass through the line of defense, no firearms would be useful and the subsequent battle will likely become a one-sided slaughter.
“As for the exact fighting tactics, as the middleman, I am not sure. But in your opinion, if they have an external force, without a certain confidence in victory, would they fight to the death for Qingpu?”
“Regardless if they have confidence or not, for us, the risk is too high.” Luo Yang shook his head.
“But risk and reward is proportional, isn’t that right? Or you wouldn’t be taking your men into the city center.”
Luo Yang’s expression was rather awkward when he heard those words.
Seeing this, Zhuo Guoping paused and lowered his voice.
“I have a piece of information here, are you interested?”
Luo Yang saw the mysteriousness of Zhuo Guoping and his expression turned serious, waiting for him to finish.
“Other than this ten thousand crystals, there is also another perk. I can release the information to you, but do understand that it is against the rules. For the sake of my business, I hope you can keep this a secret.”
“Ahem, Mr. Zhou, you know me very well.”
“Of course, this is why I found you for this mission. 10% of the profit of a trade route between Qingpu and Liuding Town, the type of trade is food.”