Injection

When Mr. Sai called Qu Jianlei over, he was completely bewildered. "...Hire me?"

"Remember, don't question me!" Mr. Sai raised a hand and pointed at him. "This is the only time!"

There would be killing next time!

Qu Jianlei quickly sorted through his thoughts. "I won't ask again, but my transport business isn't very... full."

"Not very... full?" Mr. Sai was also somewhat unused to this Blue Star-style way of putting things.

Couldn't you just say you barely had any transport business?

There really was something wrong with him mentally!

Mr. Sai drifted off for a moment before speaking again. "You mean your ability to gather information is poor?"

"Yes." Qu Jianlei nodded. "Not many Scavengers have the money to rent a vehicle, and they generally don't flaunt their wealth."

The truth was that Scavengers were not only tight-lipped, but also extremely exclusionary. He was merely a peripheral support worker!

"That... doesn't matter," Mr. Sai said, unwilling to admit that he had misjudged him.

Besides, it was necessary to place a Chess Piece here. It was merely a matter of turning a Hidden Agent into an open piece.

"You only need to tell me whether you accept the employment."

What would happen if he refused? Qu Jianlei nearly asked that. After all, everyone knew his brain was not quite right.

But remembering that this was the only time, he instead said, "I'm stupid. I'm afraid I won't do well, so don't make the pay too high."

If the pay was too high, the other party would probably inject him with something to reduce the risk!

"You're not stupid," Mr. Sai said with a meaningful smile.

They had known each other only briefly, but he could still tell that the other party had no obvious intellectual shortcomings.

There seemed to be some mental issues, but the man's habit of telling the truth could also be considered a smart trait.

Mr. Sai could not be bothered to explain further. This was just a casual move on the board. "How about two tubes of Nutrient Solution a day?"

Qu Jianlei's eyes lit up. He had been hungry for six whole years. "There'll be rewards for important information... I assume?"

As long as you dangle rewards in front of me, I'll definitely work my hardest.

"So you really didn't ask a question." Mr. Sai laughed. "You're quick-witted. How could you be an idiot?"

"There are plenty of rewards. That depends on what information you can uncover... Go get injected!"

Still getting injected? Qu Jianlei's heart sank. So this is the extent of your vision!

Didn't they understand divide and conquer? Different treatment would create competition, and then they could get more information.

He complained inwardly, but his face remained calm. "Oh. The injections are expensive too."

This was the second time Mr. Sai had heard him say that injections were expensive. He really hasn't seen much of the world.

But on second thought, the man had swallowed four tubes of Nutrient Solution in one go. It was easy to imagine how hard his life had been.

So he glanced at the person beside him and held up two fingers, indicating the No. 2 Injection.

The No. 2 Injection was an improved version of No. 1, with slightly lower toxicity.

This one was an idiot after all, and his constitution was poor. It would be a pity if he died before he could take the antidote.

Qu Jianlei did not notice that detail. His mind was filled with frustration. I still have to get injected?

What he could not tolerate most was being controlled by others against his will, especially when there was such enormous danger to his life.

The Wasteland environment was extremely harsh, but judging from the weapons alone, one could tell how advanced pre-Doomsday technology had been.

Poisonous injections plus antidotes administered in batches... that was perfectly normal, wasn't it?

His first instinct was to risk fleeing. Really, his mind was starting to lose control of his body again.

But when he saw the two headless corpses not far away, he forcibly suppressed the impulse in his heart.

He restrained himself so fiercely that his entire body began trembling violently.

The others gave him strange looks, but they did not find it strange... He was about to be injected with poison. Wasn't it normal to be afraid?

Everyone knew Silly Qu had always been timid. He would rather sell his labor than dare to become a Scavenger.

While forcibly suppressing his impulse, Qu Jianlei rapidly analyzed everything he saw.

The injection was pale blue. He tried to identify its name from the vial, but the other side obviously would not make such a rookie mistake.

An injection into the deltoid muscle... Damn it, it was the left arm too...

That meant the toxin could reach the heart quickly.

Wait... Could someone be injected in the right arm too? That seemed like an opportunity.

—If reaching the heart a little slower could even count as an opportunity.

Qu Jianlei quietly twisted the deltoid muscle in his right arm. It was the same little trick he had used when escaping, something he had explored and trained on his own.

If it had any use, it was that it could temporarily block off blood vessels in a localized area.

The technique was bizarre, but useless in a fight. That was why, over these six years, he had always been a weakling.

Likewise, it consumed a great deal of calories, so under normal circumstances, he could not possibly use it.

But he had no choice now. Holding on for as long as he could was enough.

Fortunately, he had just consumed four tubes of Nutrient Solution. Setting aside all the long-term deficits, the calories in his body were temporarily abundant.

Qu Jianlei bared his right arm and stepped forward. The person responsible for the injections glanced at him.

Logically, it should have been injected into the left arm, for the very reason Qu Jianlei had guessed.

But the requirement was not that strict. Since the other party had exposed his right arm, and it was covered in blood scabs, this would do.

They did not even change the needle. Nearly three milliliters of liquid were pushed in within five seconds, displaying just how rough the procedure was.

But this was the Wasteland. Few people cared about the feelings of the weak.

Qu Jianlei believed that if the other party had not been unwilling to change the syringe and worried it might break, the injection would have been even faster.

The entire syringe was pushed in at once, and Qu Jianlei's brows drew together slightly. This... was not right!

Although he had temporarily sealed off the blood vessels, he could still sense violent energy within the injection.

He was puzzled, but his expression remained unchanged. With his eyelids drooping, he silently stepped aside.

He had thought it was some controllable neurotoxin, but it turned out to be... an impact of chaotic energy?

But could this energy impact... kill people? And could it have an antidote?

Since he could not figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Qu Jianlei simply stood there in silence.

Before long, his right deltoid and everything down to his fingertips felt scorching hot.

After the injections, each Scavenger received another paper cup of Qingshui Branch. "Drink it!"

The water was truly clear, even crisper than mineral water, a rare sight in the Wasteland.

Yet no one felt grateful. Every Wasteland Survivor was an expert in wilderness survival.

They knew this was meant to stimulate the medicine's circulation through their bodies.

Someone muttered, "My body feels a little hot... Is it taking effect early?"

The person responsible for the injections glanced at him. "It flares up once every five days. This is a normal reaction."

Hearing the words "flares up," Qu Jianlei became even more unwilling to let the unknown drug enter his shoulder or armpit.

But resisting it was truly exhausting, and it really consumed calories.

About ten minutes later, someone came over and handed him a grimy cloth bag.

Inside the bag were ten tubes of Nutrient Solution and a crude Alloy Ring.

The Nutrient Solution was five days' worth of "wages." The Alloy Ring had a raised button. If he obtained important information, he could press it.

As for unimportant information, he still had to report it at Hong Four Settlement while collecting the next five days' reward.

"Thank you." Qu Jianlei was impeccably polite. At the same time, he opened a tube of Nutrient Solution and squeezed it directly into his mouth.

At the end, he turned the outer film inside out and licked the remaining residue into his mouth.

In the Wasteland, everyone... every poor bastard consumed Nutrient Solution like that.

Qu Jianlei's resentment even lessened by the tiniest bit... Prepaying the wages was pretty good.

More importantly, it had come at just the right time. He was almost unable to hold on.

Five minutes later, the last person who had escaped was dragged back—so dead that he could not possibly be any deader.

Then Mr. Sai led the convoy away with a roar, just as they had arrived.

The Survivors also got their weapons back. The distinguished people from Hong Character Main Settlement had no interest in such shabby things.

A burly man with a face full of flesh walked up to Qu Jianlei and shoved him. "Kid, what did you get?"

The burly man was a Hunter, with a Gauss Automatic Rifle slung across his back. But he did not think he needed to take it off.

The Scavengers watched the scene coldly. Some secretly regretted acting a step too late.

The burly man was not the strongest among the Hunters. One Lean Man even carried a Laser Sniper Rifle.

But high-ranking Hunters disdained troubling such little Ants, and he too merely watched with cold eyes.

"Payment for Mr. Sai hiring me," Qu Jianlei answered expressionlessly. "And a communicator... Do you want to take it?"

"Payment?" The burly man's eyes lit up, though he looked like he was not the sharpest tool.

But the next moment, he came to his senses, and a trace of wariness appeared in his eyes.

"Mr. Sai hired you... What did he hire you to do?"

"He wants me to report information about the Mine," Qu Jianlei answered frankly. "I don't think I can manage it. How about you take my place?"

The burly man turned and left.

What a joke. Mr. Sai might look down on the Scavengers, but he did not dare look down on him.

If it came to risking their lives, Hunters were certainly stronger than Scavengers. But if he took this job, he might get killed in the shadows one day without ever knowing how.

The man carrying the Laser Sniper Rifle asked, "Why did Mr. Sai choose you?"

"Because... I'm not a Scavenger, I suppose," Qu Jianlei said, unable to explain it any better.

I hope you're smart enough to understand what I mean.

And sure enough, more than one person understood. The Survivors were all masters of survival; there were always some whose intelligence passed the mark.

A filthy female Scavenger spoke up. "Silly Qu, right? Are you trying to use this to threaten us?"

The other Scavengers' expressions also changed slightly.

No one knew how many people had tried to unite the Scavengers of the Garbage Dump, but none had succeeded. Most had instead vanished without a trace.

Mr. Sai... was fairly powerful, but just how powerful could he be?

"I never do bad things," Qu Jianlei replied somewhat inexplicably.

But the next moment, he looked toward a Hunter and spoke coldly. "Put down the Laser Pistol in your hand!"