Dark Ruins Dawn

Chapter 59 Brother Palm
"You're a cat person, aren't you afraid they'll harm you?"

"Hey, I'm not your average merchant."

Mao Shanwang's face showed a hint of composure. "I have a deep cooperative relationship with the Black Gold Trading Company. They'd better think twice before messing with me."

So that's how it is; he really does have powerful connections.

"So, if I ever get into trouble later, will I have to mention your name?"

"Fine, I'll charge you 100,000 in protection money every month."

"."

Zhuang Fan turned and left.

That evening, a large amount of materials were transported back to the base.

Zhuang Fan urged Gage to hurry up and build a portable automatic pistol, the more powerful the better.

With ample materials, Gage was able to manufacture it more easily and promised to finish it quickly.

After disinfecting the wound on his severed arm, Hua Sheng, with Zhuang Fan's help, put the iron arm back on.

Hua Xin stared wide-eyed, looking nervous, and even the swaying of her cat tail became smaller.

After the metal ring is tightened, it makes a "click" sound.

Watson tried to move his five metal fingers, which slowly stretched, separated, and then clenched again.

"It's a strange feeling. I can feel its presence, but I don't feel any pain."

"Try your strength."

Watson nodded, walked to a piece of discarded steel plate, clenched his fist, and slammed it down.

"Boom!"

With a muffled thud, a dent appeared on the thick steel plate.

He then tried lifting a scrapped engine weighing several hundred kilograms with one hand, which he could easily lift off the ground.

"really not bad!"

His face was full of excitement: "Suddenly I felt that maintaining this way is pretty good."

"No, you won't like it after using it for a long time."

Gage, standing to the side, had a serious expression.

"No matter how advanced the model, prosthetics have many side effects, such as phantom pain, muscle spasms, scapular fractures, etc. In addition, they need to be maintained regularly, otherwise the joints are prone to carbon buildup."

“I see.” Watson said thoughtfully.

Zhuang Fan nodded: "Okay, you can use this as a temporary solution, and then we'll clone an original arm later."

"alright."

The happiest person was Hua Xin, who came over carrying a steaming bowl of potatoes.

Gage and Watson's eyes lit up.

This food is not scarce, but it is very expensive, and many refugees are reluctant to eat it.

The group sat together, initially being polite and courteous, but later they all began to wolf down their food.

"Ah, it's delicious!"

The Watson siblings lamented that they hadn't eaten this stuff since they started working illegally as homeless people.

Gage hadn't eaten in a long time either. Tears welled up in his eyes, his fingers trembled slightly, and he stuffed the whole thing into his mouth.

Zhuang Fan savored the potato carefully; it tasted really good, sweet but not cloying, even better than protein bars and starch pancakes.

Although the nutritional paste has a slightly sweet taste, it's a strange sweetness that cockroaches naturally possess, and eating too much of it will make you want to vomit.

After a hearty meal, Gage buried himself in his workbench and continued working.

Two hours later, a large-caliber automatic pistol was produced.

Zhuang Fan held it in his hand and weighed it; it was quite heavy.

He loaded himself with a Gage-made 12.7mm armor-piercing hand cannon shell, aimed it at the distant wall panel, and pulled the trigger.

"boom!"

The recoil was immense, and the gunshot was muffled.

A small dent was left on the wall panel.

"Not bad," Zhuang Fan praised.

……

Linhai City, office.

The administrator received the Wirtgen family's envoy.

The envoy's face was filled with undisguised arrogance: "More than half a month has passed, why haven't you caught the wanted criminal Lei Zheng yet? Are you protecting him?"

Lei Zheng is the regimental commander who slapped Luo Luo repeatedly.

When the bounty was first issued, everyone called him Lei Zi;

After his deeds became public knowledge, Wastelanders respectfully called him Brother Palm.

The administrator remained humble: "We have done our best. The fugitive is cunning and keeps fleeing south."

"I'll give you another two weeks."

The envoy issued an ultimatum: "If you still haven't caught the person, we will have the council impeach you." After the administrator saw the envoy off, the adjutant beside him looked sullen: "A lackey of Wirtgen dares to act so arrogantly."

The administrator's expression was also unpleasant. Linhai City was too weak; anyone from Zhongdu could easily bully them.

"Sir, what if..."

"Let's talk about it then."

A hint of weariness flashed in the administrator's eyes.

The adjutant shook his head: "Sigh, if I had known this would happen, Old Lei shouldn't have been so lenient. He should have hardened his heart and hung that woman on the streetlight so everyone could see what she was like."

"Foolish, don't talk nonsense!"

The administrator scolded, "Still holding back? You should be most grateful to Lei Zheng for sparing your life! Otherwise, how many people in the camp would have suffered, including you and me, all of us would have lost our heads!"

The adjutant quickly shut his mouth.

The administrator rubbed his temples and immediately ordered, "Send more troops to search the wilderness. Even if it's just bones, bring them back for me."

At this moment, the administrative secretary knocked on the door and came in. "Sir, the locations of the Apocalypse Cult outside the city have been identified."

The administrator waved his hand, "We don't have enough troops right now, just issue bounties and let those mercenary groups handle it."

In the southern suburbs, late at night, in a slum.

A series of hurried footsteps sounded, and more than thirty guards suddenly rushed in.

Two rough men were awakened in a dilapidated shack.

"Old Mike, have we been spotted?"

"No."

"You still say you didn't, but they're all heading in our direction!"

"Let's observe further."

"Stop dawdling and get out of here!"

"They're not coming for us."

"Ah, then who should we target?"

Just as the defense forces searched the apartment next to theirs, gunfire suddenly rang out.

"Da da da!"

The group next door opened fire immediately, and they were all mutants, led by a fierce tiger-man.

They were well-trained, coordinated perfectly, and had excellent marksmanship, which immediately suppressed the momentum of the defense forces.

But they didn't linger in the fight; instead, they drove two armored vehicles and rammed them out of the shack.

"boom--!"

The armored vehicle broke out of the enemy's encirclement and charged towards the mountains and forests in the wilderness.

"Confirmed, it's the two missing armored vehicles! They also stole from the armory!"

"Reinforcements have arrived! Chase them!"

The pursuers, in vehicles, were hot on their heels, and the gunfire was intense.

The two armored vehicles that fled into the woods quickly found themselves in a predicament on the rugged mountain road.

Everyone on the bus jumped off.

A slightly anxious ape-man said, "Commander, our retreat has been cut off!"

The tiger-man leading the group was none other than Lei Zheng.

"Don't call me commander anymore, use an alias."

He said in a deep voice, "We need to cross these mountains and head south."

The ape-man paused for a moment: "Isn't that the land of the southern barbarians, full of mutant tribes?"

"You son of a bitch, have you forgotten you're not human?"

Lei Zheng chuckled and cursed, then glanced at his six companions behind him: tigers, lions, elephants, apes, wolves, snakes, and rats—it was truly like an animal world.

To induce this group to undergo mutation, they chose an underground bar, a place shrouded in eerie mist and teeming with all sorts of strange and treacherous people.

But things turned out differently.

"There is a large city in the south called Demon City, where many mutants live."

Since taking off his military uniform, Lei Zheng has developed a more brute and aggressive demeanor.

"Once we've taken cover, with our intelligence, we'll quickly gain a foothold and rise to prominence!"

The group agreed that this made sense, so they did not hesitate any longer and quickly disappeared into the mountains and forests.

The slum outside the south city was now a mess, and the refugees were peeking out cautiously.

"Get up, let's go."

"Where are you going? Aren't all the soldiers running away?"

"The nuclear soldiers have arrived."

"Hey, wait for me!"

(End of this chapter)