"We'll be together forever, forever."

The same thing Jerome said to many women. However, it was only now that he felt that it was truly from the heart. Jerome was a little emotional, he used to talk sweetly to so many women, but now that he thinks about it, it's not worth it at all.

He took Haig in his arms and hugged him tightly.

Jerome knew of course that the girl in front of him was not the real Haig, but he thought that this was the woman he loved. The moment was so perfect, so just right, that any doubt, fear, panic was unnecessary and stupid.

"I will always be with you, no matter what you do."

……

Su Hao sat in the "Silver Arrow" tavern, silently watching the crowd shuttling outside the door.

Redstone City is a human settlement built on a wasteland.

This world also has a government, an army, and an imperial system, with the same aristocracy and commoners. The scars of war from the old era have not been restored to this day, and there are densely populated areas rich in resources, as well as settlements such as Red Rock City, which were built entirely by civilians. The difference is only whether the location is in the heart of the empire's domination? Or a wilderness that ignores laws and rules?

No one can tell how many places like the wasteland there are. The continent is so big that for a long time, many adventurers have wanted to find the edge of the continent, but no one has ever reached the end. A blurred line dividing the continent into two halves. This side is human, and that side is alien.

They are monsters that really feed on humans. No one knows exactly how many? No one knows the detailed classification of monsters either. Some monsters are basically similar in appearance to humans, except that their heads have become beasts. Some monsters maintain a terrifying appearance, but their strength and speed are no less than that of the best human warriors.

It's not hard to figure out the background, Red Rock City is a fortress-type settlement. Outsiders are not excluded or taboo here, but rather welcomed. It was not the core of the empire, and there was no police or army to protect it, so people had to form civilian forces on their own to fight against death threats from the wilderness.

Here, you can get anything you want. Food, weapons, tobacco, alcoholic beverages...... Even drugs and women are not lacking. The openness and ruggedness of Cheng dù reminded Su Hao of some violent cities on Earth. Because of this, a large number of homeless people flock to Redstone City every day. Most of them were civilians who couldn't get along in the empire's territory. The unemployed, criminals, homeless people, and gold diggers looking for hope in life make up the city and fill every corner of Red Stone.

Copper and silver coins were the most important currencies in circulation in the Empire. Gold coins were very valuable, and the huge amount of exchange between them and silver coins was often only circulated in the upper classes, or deposited as a constant unit of trade. In addition to this, there is something with a higher monetary value, and that is the spar.

In the bar, Su Hao saw all kinds of people. They struggle in the wilderness and fight frantically for a living. They call the non-human monsters that occupy the other side of the continent "dark creatures". Just kill them to get hedrons.

White is the most common, and yellow spar is worth about ten times as much as white crystal. Su Hao had also seen a rarer and more valuable blue spar. However, few people can get their hands on such things as aquamarine. The hedron and the currency are universal, and no one can counterfeit them.

The enemies in the wilderness are not only dark creatures, but also many people who were originally humans, but for various reasons, they are on the opposite side of humans. The sand ghosts that Su Hao and Zachary once encountered were one of them. In addition to this, there are mobs and the inspired.

There are a lot of radiation zones on this continent. If you don't have an exact range, anyone can get in by mistake. Some died unexplained, while others survived, giving birth to offspring with various deformities due to excessive radiation. Out of fear of radiation, normal people cannot accept and refuse to admit their existence. People who were forced to wander the wilderness eventually formed mob groups. They did things without scruples, and more often began to fall to the side of the dark creatures. Thousands of years have passed, and the appearance of many mobs has changed even more drastically. Some have grown fangs, others have lost their ability to think, but they have gained a stronger savage physique. Dark creatures are interested in these human groups who wander on the edge of civilization, but are expelled and exiled. There is a lot of evidence that mobs and dark creatures are closely related, even mating or intermarrying with each other. What kind of monster does the complex genetic ratio create? This problem has always plagued the Empire. All in all, there are more and more casualties from the border guards, and the fighting is becoming more and more difficult to fight.

The infected are very similar products to the mob. They are also outcasts of human society, but they are forced to wander in the wilderness because they have no life skills. Many people have eaten wild fruits with strong toxins, and others have been hungry and feed on rotting animal carcasses. Many people died, and many survived. Survivors naturally develop antibodies, and the variety of food naturally becomes more and more abundant.

There is no definitive evidence as to who exactly discovered the value of infected people in the first place. But there is no doubt that the most significant use of Cheng dù against infected people is still the Imperial Army. When the history of civilization on the mainland was clearly recorded, the Imperial Army used infected people to contact high-risk groups such as plague, and domesticated the infected people like dogs, feeding them with the flesh of the sick. Due to the special genetic order of infected people, they have a strong acceptance attribute in the body of the sick person, and then form new antibodies against related diseases in the body...... In this way, in the period of ignorance, when civilization was just beginning, the infected became "medicine men", curing other diseases with their own flesh and blood.

With the advancement of science and technology, the infected have been completely abandoned by the upper echelons of the empire. According to the relevant laws and regulations, infected people belong to uncontrollable high-risk groups. The population verification work was led by the Imperial Military Department, and a complete and strict monitoring system had been formed within the Empire. Any human found to have the genes of an infected person is to be expelled and transported to the edge of the territory by the military.

Civilization is a huge fortress. Even the mighty Imperial army didn't have the strength to cover every piece of wilderness outside the fortress. These extremely vast areas, which can be of little or significant importance, can only be left to the care of civilians from the poor classes. The Empire does not allocate forces in civilian settlements such as Redstone City, nor does it set up institutions such as hospitals. Naturally, the infected person also has a reasonable deposit value. Like their ancestors at the beginning of civilization, they were supervised and controlled by the people in the settlements, feeding on the flesh of severely ill people, producing antibodies, and then cutting off their own flesh piece by piece to treat other patients.

This is actually a land of sin, where goodness has no soil for survival, and if you want to live, you must do whatever it takes, and be more ferocious, tyrannical, and cruel than others.

Many people patronize the "Silver Arrow" every day. It's not just this bar, many of the pubs on this street are doing good business. Drinkers usually spend the last copper plate in their pockets before dragging their drunken bodies away. There is no market for ideas like saving and saving money, and people will only laugh at the guy who thinks about it as an idiot and extremely stupid. Because, who knows how long they can stay here? How many days can you live? So, never hesitate to spend money, just look at how good you play, not whether it's worth the money.

Ahlers, the big man, was indeed a friend of Zackery, a petty trader. Taverns are not just selling wine, but also restaurants, so the demand for salt is naturally great. Ahlers' purchase price for Zachary was slightly higher than in the outside market, and a stable supply of goods was created. Because of this relationship, of course Allers would not refuse Zachary's request to take care of Su Hao.

There's always a shortage of cousins in the tavern. It's not that Ares can't find manpower, but for the sake of Zachary's face, he gave Su Hao a set of clothes and a meal, as well as his low price to keep him.

Regardless of food and housing, the daily wage is a copper plate.

This makes Su Hao really have nothing to find fault with. In fact, this is the only way out for him at the moment. He can be said to know nothing about the third stage world, and he has no accurate concept of the strength of dark creatures. Dark hunters are the highest-paid group in Redstone, but it's not a job that just one person can do, and it's not a job that can be done by just one person with a gun and a knife. They are very powerful, and their wisdom is no less than that of humans, and who is the real prey can only be known after the killing.

What's more, Su Hao doesn't even have an ordinary hunting knife now.

According to Ahler's thoughts, Su Hao was just a down-and-out homeless man who saved Zachary's life by chance. This kind of person has seen a lot, and according to the rules, Zachary did take out a few silver coins as a reward. His bold reputation can't make outsiders think otherwise because of a mere homeless man. Anyway, Lao Tzu did keep him, although the salary of a copper plate was indeed excessively small, but there was no deduction in terms of food and accommodation. As for whether Su Hao can accept it? Will you leave? That's not a matter for Ahler.

The giant, who has a completely different complex mind and a bold appearance, soon discovers that he has indeed hired a very good cousin.

Su Hao works very seriously, and his face is always indifferent to anything, and he seems to have no interest in understanding anything that is happening around him. This guy is never lazy, and he doesn't like to sleep in like everyone else in the tavern. He gets up before dawn and is always busy with different tasks on his hands: washing dishes, wiping tables and chairs, polishing and waxing wine glasses, and making all kinds of simple food in the kitchen...... He's like a humanoid machine that never tires of anything, full of horsepower, and doesn't have to worry about wear and tear and the like.

The only problem is that Su Hao eats a lot of food, and he has to eat food for almost three people at each meal. This flaw is not a problem at all in Ahlers's opinion. The people in Redstone are either criminals or villains, and it's impossible to find a few guys who are really willing to do things honestly. Even beggars begging on the street are lazy and gluttonous, and they would rather lie on the ground and kowtow all day than stand up and work as a domestic worker in the kitchen. Perhaps, this is the difference between a slacker **** and an honest person. The former is always dirty and pitiful, and everyone wants to go up and kick it when they see it, but the latter is somewhat respectable, and few people want to take the initiative to provoke them.

Honesty and diligence are often praised. However, in Redstone City, it is a symbol of being bullied. Even in a tavern like the Silver Arrow, the difference between status and rank exists.

Sam is also a cousin. This lean young man has a very lively brain, and his running uniform is always cleanly washed, and his hair is meticulously combed. Sam was handsome, at least he thought so, and while the cousin's job consisted of constantly moving back and forth between the kitchen and the hall in front of him, Sam's range of activity was limited to the front hall of the tavern, and he rarely or even did not enter the kitchen all day. He always had endless things to say to his guests, either with smiling faces, or serving food and wine to them, or talking about a certain woman, and he could casually talk for hours...... All in all, Sam can play both the role of listener and narrator at the same time. There are a lot of people who like this kid, and there are a lot of people who hate this guy.

Su Hao's appearance made Sam feel threatened. The reason is very simple, Su Hao's appearance is far more handsome than Sam, although Su Hao never groomed and rarely paid attention to this aspect, but he always gave people a bright feeling, far from being comparable to Sam's oily and powdery man.

There is no shortage of women in taverns. Whether it was the female drinkers who came in from the outside, or the waitresses inside, they all had a different interest in Su Hao. On the first day of work, Sam discovered this problem: the chubby cook, who is in good shape, but has a lot of acne on her face, is always looking for various opportunities to talk to Su Hao. The fat cook even baked a few small biscuits for him, and the maid always walked around in front of Su Hao intentionally or unintentionally, either lifting the skirt that was too short to be shorter, or deliberately squatting down so that Su Hao could look down on his unobstructed chest from above.

These treatments used to belong to Sam. Human beings' pursuit of beauty is never limited to a certain age or level of identity. The cook was fat but good-looking, and when she used to tease Sam, she used to press him into the corner of the kitchen and kiss him fiercely. The maid had slept with Sam a few times, and although she was thin, her hair was very thick, and she looked like a hungry tiger in the jungle on the bed, and she almost didn't suck Sam alive.

Whether it was teasing or temptation, Su Hao ignored it all. He just did what he had to do, and his contact with the tavern foyer was limited to carrying the plates to and from the tables of the guests, then putting them down and turning away.

Could this guy be a dumb man?

This guy may have an incompetent personality.

Is this guy gay?

All kinds of rumors about Su Hao began to spread in the "Silver Arrow" tavern. Many different eyes focused on Su Hao from the corner, and people's views and ideas were also changing. But no matter what, people like guys who work hard, the chef who always has a straight face will only occasionally show a smile when he sees Su Hao, and the fat chef who tried to seduce is resentful, but for the sake of Su Hao helping him wash the dishes every day, he began to shift his goal. As for the maid who wanted to taste Su Hao's taste, because she sprained her foot while walking in high heels, she was carefully cared for by Su Hao with ice and binding and carefully taken care of all night, and her gaze at Su Hao was no longer a temptation, but an incomparably idiotic obsession, and even had the idea of wanting to marry.

In comparison, Sam looks like a superfluous clown.

The bar bartender has always been Sam's best buddy. That changed last week: a guest of considerable status came to the tavern. The "Silver Arrow" is usually a gathering place for middle and inferior people, but there are always exceptions, and a wealthy merchant from out of town suddenly became interested in this place, and with the idea of seeing that he had never set foot in the place, he ordered a cocktail called "Red Flame". As soon as I took a sip, I was furious, thinking that the wine was badly mixed and not at all the taste of "Red Flame" should be.

The matter was very troublesome, and in the end, it was Ahlers who came forward and apologized again and again to end it.

Although Ales is a snake in the land, he also understands that some guests can ignore it, and some guests cannot afford to offend it.

The bartender was almost paralyzed by the scare. The guards around the wealthy merchants are all masters, and the clothes and weapons on their bodies are high-end goods that are rarely seen in ordinary times. A person like this, even the Dark Hunter Guild would not offend lightly, let alone a small bartender, if he kills it, he will kill it, not to mention that the other party's reason is very good: "You are just using fake wine to deceive people." ”

Wine is certainly not fake. Ales also has a special penchant for mixing water with wine, but when he encounters such guests, he is always entertained with high-quality wine. The problem did lie with the bartender, who had heard the name "Red Blaze" and knew the general recipe, but it was vague how much of each ingredient was actually added. And this kind of thing has a lot to do with the configuration technique, temperature, etc. The same ingredients, the same wine, between raw and familiar hands, the taste will indeed be completely different.

This was the end of the matter, and Ahlers did not blame his men for it. He just felt a little regretful, he originally thought that he could take this opportunity to meet a wealthy businessman, but he was disturbed by a cup of unqualified miscellaneous wine, and he was lucky that he did not bring him a greater disaster. Entertain. The problem did lie with the bartender, who had heard the name "Red Blaze" and knew the general recipe, but it was vague how much of each ingredient was actually added. And this kind of thing has a lot to do with the configuration technique, temperature, etc. The same ingredients, the same wine, between raw and familiar hands, the taste will indeed be completely different.

This was the end of the matter, and Ahlers did not blame his men for it. He just felt a little regretful, he originally thought that he could take this opportunity to meet a wealthy businessman, but he was disturbed by a cup of unqualified miscellaneous wine, and he was lucky that he did not bring him a greater disaster.