Salt Well Town Crisis

Wang Qian and Wang Wan, two expert hunters, along with Wang Hao, a novice hunter, were completely bewildered at the moment.

"What are these people talking about?"

"Why are they reaching out to us?"

"What do they mean?"

The language barrier made it difficult for the hunters to understand the trio's demands.

Lin Tang leaned in and shouted, word by word, "Mis-sion! Re-ward!"

Wang Qian and the other two: "?"

Thin Dog and Demonic Fox: "?"

Thin Dog grabbed Lin Tang, who was about to repeat himself, "Wait. What are you doing? Do you think they can't hear us because our voices aren't loud enough?"

Lin Tang froze.

"Holy crap. I'm an idiot."

After half an hour of charades, the hunters generally understood that these warriors, who dared to engage in close combat with Raiders, wanted compensation.

Wang Qian, as the eldest brother, nodded, "That's perfectly reasonable! They helped us out so much, it's only right they ask for some compensation. After all, they're risking their lives to help us. If they hadn't seen Xiao Hao captured, why would they have provoked the strong Raiders? Without any benefit, it's impossible!"

"So, we should show our appreciation."

Wang Qian said with some emotion.

"In the Wasteland, there aren't many people with such a sense of justice anymore."

Wang Wan: "Yeah, yeah..."

Wang Hao: "Dad, you always said hope is the most precious thing in the Wasteland. So, did these uncles bring us hope?"

"Yes, Xiao Hao, I hope that in the future, you can also be like these uncles and help others as much as you can within your abilities. They really... I'm crying!"

Overcome with emotion, Wang Qian, a rugged man in his thirties, shed a few tears.

Thin Dog, Demonic Fox, Lin Tang: (;д)

Thin Dog: "Why is this NPC crying? Is he that heartbroken about giving us some reward?"

Demonic Fox: "Should we just forget it? After all, these NPCs helped us take down the Raider camp. It's good enough that they didn't ask us for payment for fire support. We've already obtained the most valuable items. Without them, we might not have been able to take this camp."

Lin Tang, however, stared at the crying NPC, "Tsk tsk~ The modeling in this game is so realistic. Look at the pores, the facial hair, the blackheads on this NPC's face... It's amazing! Every frame is burning with budget. I just don't know if this game... is it realistic?"

Thin Dog, Demonic Fox: "?"

They checked their watches, and there were no quest prompts. It was likely not a built-in game plot, but just a random outdoor event.

One of the hunters fumbled around on his person and pulled out a blue and white jade stone, handing it to Thin Dog.

After clenching their fists and thanking them again, the three hunters said their goodbyes and left.

Wang Qian: "Let's hurry back to town. The Four Mountains are not peaceful today. I saw Raiders from various camps coming out, as if they were looking for someone..."

Wang Wan: "What bad luck. I got up early today and didn't catch any Blood Deer. I wasn't paying attention and Xiao Hao was captured by Raiders. Thankfully... he only sustained some injuries."

Xiao Hao asked with some concern, "Dad, uncles, didn't you say that jade is a bit strange? Could it bring them trouble?"

"This jade... its origin is indeed a bit strange, but your father and I always felt there was a secret hidden within it, so we never sold it to the merchant caravans. Perhaps we weren't destined for it. These three look very powerful; maybe they can uncover the mystery of the jade. Besides that jade, we don't have anything else valuable on us. We can't give them our hunting rifles, can we? What's a hunter without a rifle? This rifle of mine, I'll pass it down to you..."

Xiao Hao didn't quite understand, but he still followed the two hunters back to Salt Well Town at a brisk pace.

The three of them, holding the jade, all showed expressions of surprise and delight.

"We got a reward! An unexpected surprise!"

They hadn't expected to get any reward at all, but in the end, they received something. Although its use was unknown, it looked like a high-level item. In this resource-scarce Wasteland, a smooth and delicate jade stone seemed out of place.

"Let me see. Based on my amateur antique appraisal experience, if this jade were in the real world, it could probably fetch tens of thousands at an auction!"

Lin Tang played with it seriously and came to his conclusion.

Demonic Fox took it from his hand and put it in his pocket, "It's a shame this is a game. We'll get it appraised when we get back to base. Now, we have work to do. Six Raider corpses are quite difficult to drag."

The Raiders had imposing physiques and well-developed muscles, each weighing over 250 jin.

Dragging one each was already strenuous for them. Now, having to move six corpses would be very difficult.

"It would be great if we had a small cart with wheels..."

As soon as Thin Dog said this, Demonic Fox suddenly realized, "The base has one! Let's borrow it from the Lord!"

It took them about 40 minutes to walk from the base to this location. If they ran the whole way, they could probably get back in about 30 minutes.

"Lin Tang, your base speed is slightly faster than ours. You take this backpack and..." Demonic Fox took out the jade stone he had just put away and the black box containing the radiated material.

"These two items are our biggest gains from this trip. You must keep them safe."

"Take these things back to the base, then come back with a small cart. We'll transport all six Raider corpses at once."

Thin Dog also nodded, "Yeah, while you're gone for over an hour, I and Demonic Fox will stay here and hunt some prey."

Lin Tang: "Okay!"

Lin Tang slung his spear across his back and set off lightly with the important items.

The Thin Dog and the Demonic Fox dragged the corpses of the Raiders together, found a hidden spot to leave them, covered them with leaves, and then went to hunt mutated animals.

Salt Well Town.

Thirty green-skinned Raiders and one elite Raider were confronting the townspeople from fifty meters away.

The leader, an elite Raider standing two and a half meters tall, could speak. It had already stated its intentions. After a negotiation with Lin Lei, the captain of the town's guard, he understood their purpose.

He held a shotgun, his face calm, and replied, "We don't have the Sacred Relic you're looking for. Leave. Salt Well Town isn't a place you can just come and go as you please. If you don't retreat, we'll open fire!"

Salt Well Town's guard force consisted of fifty people. Only twenty-one of them had guns: sixteen were hunting rifles, and five were small-caliber pistols. They had a sufficient amount of ammunition, but against mutated creatures like Raiders, which had tough hides and tenacious vitality, their firepower was insufficient to inflict widespread casualties. At fifty meters, their guns had practically no killing power.

Salt Well Town also had eight hunter households, with a total of nine hunting rifles. The Wang brothers had left with two hunting rifles before dawn and were not in town at the moment.

Therefore, their defensive strength was a total of twenty-eight guns. Combined with the defenses of the stone walls and the main gate, this could pose a significant deterrent to the Raiders.

However, these well-prepared Raiders were all carrying meteor hammers—weapons made from large stones tied to sturdy branches. They could be swung at mid-range or thrown with great force for long-range attacks. Anyone hit by one of these massive stones, weighing over a hundred pounds, would be incapacitated on the spot.

They only needed to hold the stones to protect their heads and charge forward fiercely. Once they got close, they could start smashing, posing a considerable threat to Salt Well Town.

Thus, if the two sides were to engage in combat, Salt Well Town would suffer some losses even if it won.

Of course, if they had twenty-eight assault rifles, they could have turned the Raiders into sieves before they got close.

The elite Raider did not reply; it blew a whistle.

Whoosh~

Twenty more Raiders and another elite Raider emerged from the mountains. The Raiders were carrying thick tree trunks, clearly intended as battering rams.

Captain Lin Lei broke out in a cold sweat.

Their wooden gate and stone walls could withstand some small-scale skirmishes, but they definitely wouldn't last long against these organized Raiders wielding tree trunks for a forceful assault.

The number of Raiders had now roughly matched their defenders.

But the combat strength of the Raiders was such that one could handle three humans without issue.

As soon as the gate was breached, the guns would become completely useless.

"All personnel of Salt Well Town, take defensive positions!"

Lin Lei blew the defensive horn, and people rushed out from every household.

The new elite Raider was the leader of the camp who had lost the radiation source. He roared, "Hand over the Sacred Relic!"

Lin Lei, his face ashen, said to someone, "Hurry and invite the town mayor."

The fifty Raiders split into two groups and slowly advanced towards Salt Well Town.

The two elite Raiders led the charge. They were the biggest threat to Salt Well Town; once they entered the town, it would be a one-sided massacre.

In the woods behind them.

Wang Qian and Wang Wan poked their heads out.

"This is bad. Why are the Raiders coming towards us? Are they crazy? Do they want to drag us down with them?"

"What should we do? We don't have enough stamina or ammunition right now. If we rush out, we'll likely get chopped up first."

Little Hao felt fortunate. "It's a good thing we came out early. Otherwise, we would have been trapped in town. Oh right, Brother Feng and Brother Jie went scavenging and aren't in town either. We're so lucky."

Wang Qian remembered Cheng Shaofeng pushing a cart of supplies and leaving that day.

"Little Feng... it seems he went to live somewhere else. He took all the supplies and money with him. Wu Jie left that day too. I wonder if he went with Little Feng."

"I hope they're okay and don't decide to come back at a time like this."