by Chen Ran
Zero nodded again.
Seeing this, Lea's mood started to lighten.
Unexpectedly, Zog laughed bitterly and said: "But you have troubled her."
Su Ming raised her eyebrows and asked, "Why do you say that?"
Zog indicated towards Hans with his mouth: "Last night, that b * tch killed Rita …"
He finally understood what had happened. He secretly clenched his fists. A cold light shot out from his cold eyes.
He was angry.
"If Rita had only tainted him, it would have been fine. But that damned fellow is not clean, he has already been infected by the virus …" As he finished speaking, Zog finally let out a heavy sigh.
Su Yun might not know what this means, but Lea knew very well. She could not help but let out an "Ah" sound, and at the same time, understood what kind of fate Rita would have. Just a moment ago, she was subconsciously jealous of this woman. But at this moment, Lea felt deep sympathy for her.
Chapter 15 - Debt
In the empty space in the middle of Workspace, Old Jack raised his hand and made a gesture. Immediately, the crowd gradually quietened down.
Old Jack cleared his throat, pointed at Hans and said, "Today, I want to tell everyone some unfortunate news. Just last night, Hans, this lowly dog, violated this pitiful lady! "
Although everyone had already faintly guessed what had happened, when the truth was revealed from Old Jack's mouth, it still caused a clamor. Many of the men scolded Hans angrily, but it was unknown if it was out of sympathy to Rita or because they were angry that Hans had given them the upper hand.
Zero also clenched his fists. Rita's misfortune could be said to be indirectly caused by him. If he did not push Rita out of the room last night, it might have been another ending.
Even if it was zero, it would still not be able to change Rita's impending fate.
Old Jack waved his hands again, calming everyone down. He then pointed angrily at Hans and said, "This lowly dog disregards the rules set by me, Old Jack. Tell me, how should I punish him?"
After a short period of silence, it was unknown who shouted first, "Throw it into the wilderness to feed the wolves", and after that, voices of approval rose and fell.
Hans who was kneeling in the arena swept his venomous eyes across these people. Like a ferocious dog that was about to devour someone, he opened his mouth and let out a low roar. Finally, his eyes fell on Old Jack.
Old Jack looked at him without any mercy, just like looking at a dead wolf in the wilderness: "Did you hear that? It was you who first broke the rules. I won't kill you, but I will make you feel worse than death. "
"I will kill you! And you, one day, I will come back and kill all of you! "
Hans roared as if he had gone mad, and even attempted to charge forward to bite Old Jack. However, he was kicked to the ground by Zog, and then fiercely kicked the mad dog a few times with the butt of the spear, causing blood to spurt out from his head.
Old Jack waved his hands, and Zog called over the Two Soldiers. They brought him along and left the Workspace with him. Hans's fate could be predicted. He would be thrown out of the wilderness by the base, and this person's records would be made public through the Parkland's valve's internal computer network. Hans would never be able to enter the various branches and bases opened by the Parkland's valve to work.
As Hans was being dragged away, he was still cursing at the people at the base indistinctly. Naturally, many of the men gave him two punches as he passed, but the soldiers did not stop him. He who breaks the rules will never be forgiven or pitied.
After Hans left, the only person left on the stage was Rita. Old Jack looked at her and sighed, "Rita, the most beautiful woman in our base bar. This poor woman, according to the rules, should have received a considerable amount of compensation to pacify the damage done to her. "But …"
Old Jack seemed to want to say something but hesitated, as if what he was about to say made it difficult for him to say anything. Seeing that Old Jack, who usually acted decisively, was actually hesitating, everyone knew that it was definitely not going to be a good thing. As expected, Old Jack said something that shocked everyone.
"But unfortunately. That bitch Hans is infected with a virus from who knows where, and we detected the warning signal of a Level 3 virus from his body when Rita got into a relationship with him. "
Another clamor sounded.
For ubiquitous viruses, the standards of the world's major companies are combined to strictly classify them. Just like the dangers of monsters and food, the degree of damage caused by the virus to the human body was also divided into ten levels. Viral infections at grade 3 and above, not only indicate that the infected person is doomed to die, but also that the virus infected is contagious, so it belongs to the scope of serious harm.
There are usually only two ways for those infected with the virus above the third grade. The first was to be shot on the spot and the high temperature flame would burn the infected corpse thoroughly. The second was to be isolated and save the victim, but Z7 base did not have the conditions and techniques to cure a Level 3 virus infected. As for sending it to Parkland Headquarters to be saved, neither the base nor Rita had the qualifications to do so.
It was impossible for the Parkland's valve to spend a large amount of money and medicine to heal a barmaid that lived in a marginal base.
Old Jack's heavy gaze landed on Rita as he sighed, "Child, I hope you can understand my feelings right now. If I could, I definitely wouldn't want to abandon you. But now, for the safety of the rest of the base, I can only... Please leave the base! "
Leaving the base meant that he would face the infinite danger of the wilderness alone. With a level 3 virus, Rita would not be able to receive any acceptance from any base or company, and that would be no different from death.
Rita's body lightly swayed, but she was so strong that she did not fall down. She nodded her head gravely, with tears in her eyes.
Old Jack sighed again, turned around and waved his hand. Zog walked up and shook his head. He held Rita's hand and headed towards the exit of the base.
The crowd automatically parted from both sides, opening up a path.
However, in that passageway, Zero stood up straight. When Rita saw him, his body lightly trembled.
Zog brought her to Su Ling's side.
Zero looked at this woman and almost squeezed out a few words, "What I owe you, I will pay you back!"
Rita laughed.
She suddenly hit Zog's body, casually took out the gun at his waist, and pointed it at zero.
Everyone's face changed drastically, except for Zero.
He stood there motionlessly like a stone statue, staring at the black muzzle pointing at him.
"You're wrong, zero." Rita revealed a beautiful smile, "Some debts cannot be repaid, because, I want you to always owe me!"
The muzzle of the gun turned and pointed at his temple.
Zero finally turned, and his body fiercely thrust forward.
He pulled the trigger.
However, he was still a step too late.
Just as he was about to catch Rita's gun, the pitiful woman shot a shot at him. Rita's head fiercely shook to the side, the energy from the bullet lifted her legs off the ground and then fell to the side.
Her corpse lightly landed on a pair of palms.
That was Zog's palm, he caught Rita's corpse from the back, preventing her from touching the dirt of this world.
Zero's hands were in the air, but he couldn't catch anything. After a long while, he retracted his hand, and gently said to Zog: "Thank you."
Zog nodded his head, then shook his head with a complicated expression.
Rita was dead, her body had been burned, the remaining ashes were placed into a box, and then buried in the public cemetery behind the living quarters in the base. A tombstone that was not very pretty bore witness to the existence of this beautiful woman. Rita smiled lightly at the picture on the tombstone.
A
bunch of goose yellow little flowers were placed in front of Rita's grave. Zero stood up, and then bowed towards the tombstone three times. This bunch of flowers took him a whole day to walk nearly 100 kilometers around the base under the intense ultraviolet light. He killed a few more Corpse Wolves before collecting them. Even if it was just a tiny bit of kindness, Rita would never be able to accept it.
He looked at the girl in the photo, and gently recited the name "Rita" three times. Zero knew that he would never be able to forget this woman. She would occupy a part of his heart. Even if the position was small, it would never be destroyed.
Just as Rita had said, this was his debt to her. A debt that could never be repaid.
In the following days, the base returned to its previous tranquility. Other than staying by Lea's side every day, she also received two hours of practice time. During these two hours, Zero was constantly familiarizing herself with her abilities in the base's soldier training grounds. Rank 1 Strength Enhancement allowed Zero to exert a force of 700 lb. However, the strength of the violent kick was around 3000 lb. This meant that Zero could easily bend a piece of steel plate and differentiate him from ordinary people.
As for the first stage of defense enhancement, it was a simple test. He used his own dagger to stab his thigh, but the moment the dagger entered his body, the thigh muscles naturally had the force of rebound, to the point where the dagger finally entered his body by less than three centimeters. The force of zero was enough to stab the dagger into the body.
Zero even thought about shooting himself, but in the end, he gave up on this crazy idea.
These data were naturally collected in secret, but he did not dare to openly carry them out in front of the second person.
During this period, Old Jack returned to the Parkland Headquarters to make a regular report and asked them to customize 50 rounds of the M500 bullets. With a Rank 1 Strength Strengthening Physique, Zero was confident that he could control the fierce recoil from the large caliber revolver.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, two years had gone by.
Another spring.
For the old age, spring symbolized the awakening of all things, a season of good wishes. In the turbulent new era, spring had the same symbol. However, the thing that awakened was not that beautiful to humans.
Those mutated organism who entered slumber because of the winter, after they woke up in the spring, the hunger in their stomachs would make them more violent.
In the vicinity of Z7 base, the most common organism was the corpse wolf. The carrion animal, which feeds on corpses, is mutated by corpse poison or other viruses. Their physiques were much larger than the wild wolves of the old era. After generations of genetic inheritance and transformation, they already belonged to the third generation of corpse wolves. The adult male wolf's weight was as high as 40 kg.
They become stronger and more resistant to radiation. This was a rather ironic fact. In these turbulent times, wild beasts were much more suitable for the changes of the surface environment than humans.
It was spring now, and the hibernating dead wolves had awoken from their slumber and were searching the mountains for food. In the previous records of the base, when the corpse wolves couldn't find enough food, they would often swarm and attack the human population, causing no small amount of trouble.
Thus, this morning, Zero appeared on top of a mountain a kilometer away from the base and began his third hunt for the Corpse Wolf. This is the latest mission from the base, each corpse wolf is worth one yuan. Although not many, but zero believe in the theory of the Tower of Sand.
Chapter 16 - Wolves
The silver line formed a dot in the golden pupil before expanding abruptly. Thus, in his line of sight, the scenery five hundred meters away suddenly drew closer, allowing him to clearly see an adult corpse wolf with its tongue sticking out, resting on the light surface of the rock.
It was the sentry.
Zero knew that in front of this corpse wolf, there were dozens of other corpse wolves wandering around in the wilderness.
Corpse wolves are mutated wild wolves. They are infected by eating carrion and corpses. The wolves that couldn't survive the invasion died one after the other, and the ones that survived became ferocious beasts with bloodshot eyes and body odors, whose fur had turned gray. Although the Corpse Wolves consumed corpses, they preferred fresh meat.
He had already hunted for three days and had a deep understanding of this.
With regards to the smell of fresh flesh and blood, the Corpse Wolf's sense of smell was exceptionally developed. After repeated experiments, it was determined that a corpse wolf's sense of smell limit was around 400 meters, which allowed Zero to define the best shooting distance.
Naturally, the zero-handed M500 was not that far away. Besides, this large caliber firearm was almost extinct, so there was no silencer to match with it. If Zero took the revolver to hunt, he would probably attract the attention of all the zombie wolves within a few kilometers by firing a shot.
For this purpose, Zero bought a sniper rifle from the weapons warehouse.
It was an old SVD sniper rifle, designed and modified by the former Soviet Union's Dragunov. It used a 7N1 bullet, with a maximum range of 600 meters. However, with the combination of the Golden Eyes of Zero, it could effectively injure a person within 1000 meters. However, this type of sniper rifle had already been eliminated in the new era, and the "Falcon" series of sniper rifles started by the big gunner Manteos was commonly used. For example, the falcon N-1 that Allen used was one of the first generation of this series of guns.
Even though it was a beginner's gun model, coupled with the high accuracy semi-automatic sight gear and the latest sniper equipment, it could reach an effective range of 1500 meters.
In normal circumstances, the new sniper rifle's power and range was around 2.5 times that of the zero SVD.
On the other hand, as the sniper rifle was facing elimination, the 'Zero' sniper rifle was relatively cheaper. The manager of the weapon warehouse, Masson, only sold them at the price of 1050 yuan, who even gave him a basic amount of ammunition. After all, this type of spear would have to be returned to the Parkland Headquarters for recycling and destruction by the end of the year.
And this sniper rifle also went through some special modifications, such as the extra long barrel, which made this SVD sniper rifle out of shape. Through modification, with the cooperation of a zero golden right eye, the 50 pieces of firearms could display the power and range of a 300 pieces beginner falcon spear.
During the three days of hunting, Zero was constantly familiarizing himself with the operation of the sniper rifle in his hands. The corpse wolves that filled the mountains were his best practice target.
Today, it was no longer a group of lone corpse wolves that were hunting. He found a pack of wolves, no less than fifty adult males, and twenty different females and cubs. That was something he had inadvertently discovered while hunting a few male wolves yesterday, so he decided to finish off this wolf den today.
There was a huge difference in risk between a pack of corpse wolves and a single-digit group of corpse wolves. The pack wolves were more dangerous, and their reproduction would be unimaginable because of the she-wolves. By this time next year, Zero believes that the number of dead wolves will double.
In their line of sight, the sentry who was resting on his stomach began to move. This meant that the wolf pack had moved on.
Zero carried the sniper rifle and disappeared into the cover like a ghost. At a speed that was 10 kilometers per hour, he carried the pack of zombies far away.
Even if he ran all day, Zero would not feel tired. Two years ago, a Rank 1 Strength Enhancement allowed Zero to have sufficient stamina, and the point of evolution that was not triggered by a directional potion naturally evolved into a Rank 1 Agility Enhancement ability. Speed was a skill that was far more important to a Gunner than strength and defense. Therefore, Zero was quite satisfied with this abi
lity.
Level one agility allowed a zero speed limit to reach 60 kilometers per hour. Moreover, it also came with other related minor abilities, including a more acute reaction, which were the basic conditions for Zero to be able to wander alone in the wilderness.
Zero maintained a distance of about a kilometer from the wolf pack.
He was looking for a suitable battlefield.
In front of him was a wilderness that was a kilometer away from the base. The plains here were not suitable for fighting with wolves. The wide terrain would greatly increase the space within the wolf pack's movements. Zero's sniper rifle was a single-shot firearm, which meant that he wouldn't be able to form a powerful firepower net with sufficient endurance.
Once the Wolves were within three hundred meters of him, that would be the time of his death.
The first stage of defense was not strong enough to withstand the Corpse Wolf fang that was able to use its mouth to bite through the steel plate. In this era, humans were evolving, but wild beasts evolved even faster.
So he was patient and had time. In order to hunt these corpse wolves, he had prepared three days of rations, which would allow him to travel back and forth in the wilderness within 1000 kilometers from the base.
And in fact, zero doesn't have to go that far. In his mind, he could clearly see the map within 500km of the base. He knew that there was a natural canyon that was 10 kilometers away from the base. Two years ago, when he went on a mission to Silver Tree City, he passed by that long and narrow canyon. Except for the road, which was barely passable, the rest of the area was craggy and rocky, with countless shelters. To Zero, that was the most suitable battlefield.
The wolves were heading towards the canyon.
Zero had never doubted his judgement. At noon, the canyon was in sight, confirming Zero's guess.
From the movements of the wolves, it seemed that they were preparing to migrate. There was no more food for them to survive in the wilderness nearby. If they wanted to survive, they had to leave this place to find a better place.