196 Mercenaries (1/2)

Chapter 196: Mercenaries

Translator: _Min_Editor: _Tat_

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.