Chapter 1 - The Law of the Jungle (1/2)

Chapter 1 The Law of the Jungle

10th July 2196, somewhere about ten kilometers away from southwest Dick Town. a

“Hey, watch it, you little rat, don’t have any bad ideas. It is no trouble breaking your neck!”

The shouting brought me back to reality. I took a look at the middle-aged man who talked with an air of arrogance. Unshaved and unkempt, also a little bald, he was in tattered uniform for guards from Dick Town nearby. There was a homemade rifle in his hand, which appeared to be full of rusty textures. However, a shiny glitter reflected from the muzzle made me believe without a single doubt that the rifle was indeed still usable.

It seemed that the middle-aged man was the head of the others. They all followed him obediently.

“Not far, just follow me.” I got a bit bored.

“I hope your collection would be as valuable as your head!” The middle-aged man sounded full of irony.

People like me were called scavengers. We traveled around. If we found a treasure, we would trade it as soon as possible. We barely hid them. I was lucky that I disguised myself well back then and fooled these people by bragging. Otherwise, my body would have long become animals’ feces. Those mutant animals wandering in the wild were hungry as hell.

In fact, there wasn’t any collection at all. I was just buying time, looking for a chance to escape.

……

I had a really bad day.

The mid-day sun was quite strong. And it made people more depressed with soil-colored gravels all around. In a discarded ditch near Dick Town, I encountered a strayed mutant rat.

After exposure to radiation, mutant rats could grow as big as an adult hound. Their fur was dark gray, their eyes were always glowing quirky red lights, and their teeth were extremely sharp. However, although these mutant rats looked fierce, for a scavenger like me, they were only preys of entry level on this discarded hunting ground. It shouldn’t be too tricky dealing with them.

I pulled out the straight-ridge machete on my waist and stabbed strongly to the rat’s eye with a rush. With its blood splashing, I could feel the point of the machete ripping the flesh open. After I drew out the machete from the eye of the mutant rat, a lot of foul blood mixed with foreign matters came out from the cut. And this beast died thoroughly after struggling slightly. Cold weapons were the first choice to deal with mutant rats. Their movement was fast. If I used guns to shoot, it would be easy to miss their vital spots. Moreover, for a scavenger like me, bullets were also scarce.

Skins of mutated rats were ideal materials to make protectors. Elbow pads or knee pads made of them had excellent performances. Meanwhile, in the low-end market of Dick Town, they were in a way hard currency. They could be fully used to exchange some stale brown bread or a few bottles of exotic-flavored water.

I took out my sharp skinning knife, squatted in the ditch and started to peel the rat carefully. Should I make a new pair of knee pads, or exchange it for some brown bread for dinner? That was a difficult decision to make.

“Hey, you in the front!” Suddenly, there came a yelling from not far away.

I raised my head and saw some armed personnel with guns were coming towards me. Judging from their clothing, they were probably guards from the town. Damn it! Why were they here? These men were only called guards when they were still in town. Once they were out of town, they were no different from marauders.

“Bloke, tell me, what are you doing here?” A guard stood on the earth slope against the ditch looking down at me and asked with a loud voice.

“I am hunting…” Even though this was obvious, I had to answer honestly. Surrounded by these guards with guns, I didn’t have a choice.

“Hmm, hunting?! Did you have our permission?” The guard didn’t sound like asking—he was more like teasing.

“This… needs permission?” I replied in a low voice and started to feel ill at ease.

“Of course! Without our permission, you are poaching!” The guard interrupted me right away with a righteous expression on his face.

“That’s enough! Jones, why wasting your breath with a wanderer, just do it quickly.” Another middle-aged guard said with an impatient voice and hurried him.

The guards took away my weapons and supplies. Then they pushed me down, hit me and made fun of me willfully. In the end, they pointed a gun at me. I guessed they were done torturing me and wanted to kill me. Even though I was humiliated, I didn’t dare to fight back. In the face of upcoming death, I had to lie that I had hidden something good, which I could bring them to it in exchange for my life.

The guard moved the gun away from me. However, I knew in my heart that eventually, they would end my life, whether I could hand in the collection or not. These men would never let off a possibly existing danger even though killing me was no harder than killing a flea.

“Bloke, I didn’t know that you would have Anti-radiation Capsules (Qing Fu Ning), is that possible you have hidden more?” The middle-aged man turned to me and asked. But his eyes were still on the capsules in his hand.

“Yes, I have more.” I could only keep lying.

Apparently, the half box of Anti-radiation Capsules on me successfully intrigued these guards. Who would not be interested in some medicine that could treat radiation damage? It was a rarity.

In Dick Town, a box of Anti-radiation Capsules could exchange for five slaves, a service rifle with bullets or even a suit of hard shell armor made of mutant buffalo skins—a local product in Dick Town. Either of these was a good choice. A few days ago, some businessmen were robbed and killed. I scavenged this half box of Anti-radiation Capsules around their dead bodies. And there was only half box left.

“Oh, my, this is awesome. Suddenly I feel the savage stink of you turn so much thinner.” The middle-aged man laughed out. It was a windfall for him.