In Hope Town, watching the gate is an easy job.

It's just a door away from the wasteland, and two steps further is a hell where no one cares, but it's not in the wasteland, so you don't have to risk too much to get a decent salary.

And the job is decent enough.

Whether it is a serious business or a non-serious business, when you get to the vicinity of the settlement, you will be more or less relaxed.

Even a marauder will need such a safe place to exchange the loot for something else they need.

Otherwise, what they loot is worthless garbage, left on the ground for the scavengers to pick up, or used as trophies for other wasters.

In particular, most of the wastelanders in this area now use automatic rifles produced in the southern part of the river valley province.

It is already difficult to survive with the iron tube rifle rubbed by hand, and they also need to keep up with the times and hide themselves where they should hide themselves......

Mark, standing at the west gate, yawned, pulled out his rusty pocket watch, and looked at it, counting how many hours were left before the end of work.

It's all about passing the time.

This is especially true at the West Gate, where wasteland visitors rarely visit.

Just as he was wondering where to go for a drink after work, the guard standing next to him suddenly looked up to the west, frowning and muttering.

"What sound?"

"What's the sound?" Closing the brass-colored lid, Mark put away his pocket watch and looked at the new fellow.

This young man had only joined the town guard a few months earlier, and he had been the son of Orion in the town, and he had an impression of his father, and had drunk together.

"Didn't you hear?" The young man looked at him and said, "Something exploded." ”

Hearing this, Mark couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Haha, that's not too normal, two steps outside is a wasteland, gunshots and explosions aren't too common...... It's good to get used to it. ”

To be honest, it's not very common.

Loneliness and cold are more common in the wasteland than death.

In a deserted wilderness, there may be no living creatures for many years, and only swaying grass can be seen for decades.

If there is a sudden wolf howl there one day, perhaps it is time to be alert.

But Mark didn't want to think about it.

He preferred what was happening in the nearby wasteland to be an accident that had nothing to do with them.

Nosy is the way to survive, and he knows very well why he can be a guard precisely because he doesn't bother with things that don't concern him.

The young man was prostrate on the ground, his ears pressed to the ground, and he was still muttering to himself.

"The sound of gunfire, and the sound of running, must be at least thirty or forty kilometers apart, and there is a bang and a bang and a fight between who and whom."

Mark couldn't help but go up and kick him in the ass.

"Don't worry about it, get up and stand guard."

After a kick in the ass, the lad stood up awkwardly and honestly shut his mouth and did not speak.

Being so stirred up by him, Mark's mood, which had been fine until noon, was also messed up.

Once people know what is happening next to them, and they don't know what it is, they can't help but think about it, and then they start to get anxious.

Especially when there's nothing to do.

Mark was no exception, and the young man seemed to have put it down, but he couldn't help but think about it again and again.

Who the hell is fighting with whom?

Anyway, if you go west here, is there a larger settlement?

At this moment, there was a sudden rustling and shaking in the forest not far away, followed by a 'whoosh' sound of breaking the air.

Before Mark could come to his senses, an arrow grazed his hat and landed on a wooden pillar behind him.

Startled, he hurriedly picked up the rifle in his hand and loaded it, opened the safety and pointed in the direction where the arrow was flying.

"Who's there!"

No one answered.

Mark swallowed, his eyes twinkling (this chapter is not finished, click on the next page to continue)

Stunned and nervous, the muzzle of the gun pointed straight at the woods where no one could be seen, but he did not dare to go up to see the situation.

At this moment, the young man next to him ran up behind him, pulled the arrow off the pillar, and shouted at him.

"Sir! Something is tied to the arrow! ”

"What is it?" Not daring to take his eyes off the crosshairs, Mark stared at the woods and shouted with his back to him.

"It's a roll of hides! It seems to say something. Tearing apart the skin, and barely recognising what was written on it, the young man froze.

Skins?

Mark was stunned for a moment, eager to know what was on it, but he didn't dare to let his guard down.

So he took aim and stepped back beside the young man, and with his free left hand he pulled the hide over.

There were two lines of scribbled writing in the blood of the beast.

And it was written incorrectly.

Even recognizing the contents with a guess, Mark's face lost its blood color for a moment, as if it had been painted with white paint.

"......"

With a curse in his mouth, he quickly looked at the equally stunned young man beside him, staring at him with a warning look.

"You stay here, I'll go back and report it...... Don't tell anyone about this! ”

The young man nodded dumbfounded.

Mark glanced at the forest, gritted his teeth, put his gun away on his back, and ran towards the town without looking back, taking the arrow and the skin.

In the forest, a pair of green pupils hidden under the hood stared at the back of the person running towards the town. It wasn't until the guard disappeared behind the gate that he disappeared from the shadows of the forest

………

I hope that the public office in the center of the town.

The round table in the conference room was filled with the biggest names and faces in the town.

There are grizzly bears and street lamp tavern owners, old carpenters, tanning workshop shopkeepers, landlords holding thousands of acres of land and mayors in charge of thousands of households.

None of them were the kind of people who were idle, but they were all sitting in silence at the moment, inhaling first-hand or second-hand smoke.

Even though the spicy smell of smoke can choke people to tears, the people sitting here still cover the doors and windows tightly, and have no intention of opening the windows to let in the air.

Again, no one spoke.

At this moment there was an arrow lying on the round table in front of them.

Around noon, someone shot the arrow at the west gate of the town, and was picked up by the guards standing there on duty.

There was a scroll of animal skins tied to it, and two lines of words were written in animal blood.

[Oger, you want to eat people. 】

[Run! 】

"If it's a joke, it's definitely the worst and most vicious joke of the year!"

The first to break the silence was the mayor of the town.

His name is Ma Hechang, and although he is already fifty years old, he is still quite strong and has quite prestige in the town.

Grizzly Bear, who was sitting not far from him, hugged his head with the owner of the streetlamp tavern and muttered to himself with a painful expression.

"Why is this happening?"

The meeting room was full of complaints and discussions, and the expressions on everyone's faces were full of panic and uneasiness.

They don't know what Ogg is, but it's not hard to guess what it means when they see the words "cannibal and run".

The average marauder tribe would not dare to attack a settlement like Hope Town, which has thousands of households, and it can only be those unreasonable mutants.

But people still can't believe it's true.

"It's not the first day that the Qi tribe came to Geumha, I heard that they were there a century and a half ago. The green-skinned baboons are a bit overpowered, and they're horrific in number, but they're not the same as the mutants in other places, and rarely attack the surrounding survivor colonies. ”

Rumor has it that they keep some slaves in captivity in the tribe, so they don't need to raid frequently.

It is also rumored that their ancestors were actually humans, but they became like this by accident, so they will make their children and grandchildren restrain themselves and not do anything to those villages and farmlands.

However, these are just rumors.

Most of them are believed (this chapter is not finished, click on the next page to continue)

In fact, these people don't know why things are like this, but they just give a reason to convince themselves and others of things that can't be explained, and seek peace of mind in fear.

The Odd tribe has been around for more than a century, and they've lived here for more than a century, and no one knows why they didn't eat them, let alone why they've changed their minds now.

Suddenly, someone spoke.

"Could it be just a joke?"

No one paid attention to him.

Because it's nonsense.

Even if most people think so in their hearts, no one dares to joke with their own lives and the lives of their families.

Ma Hechang looked at the director of the town guard who was sitting on the side, and lowered his voice.

"Have the sentinels already been dispatched?"

The director of the town guard nodded and said nervously.

"It's been sent out...... There is no news yet. ”

Mayor Ma breathed a sigh of relief, at least not for now, the group of greenskins suddenly broke in halfway through the meeting.

Then he glanced around at everyone present, and said in a serious tone.

"Now the first thing we have to figure out is who is warning us! If that person really has conclusive news, why did he tell us in this way, instead of in person! ”

"That's what I thought too! If the news is true, why didn't he tell it in person? All of us will thank him and even give him a sum of money. The owner of the glassware seller complained.

At this time, something suddenly came to mind, and Mayor Ma looked at the blacksmith sitting at the round table.

"Do you know this arrow?"

“… I know that this arrow was indeed sold by me," said the blacksmith in the town, frowning after staring at the cluster of arrows for a long time, "but the hunters in the town use all the arrows I made, which doesn't mean much." ”

For experienced hunters, hunting with rifles is not cost-effective, traps and bows and arrows will be more economical.

A hint of disappointment appeared on Mayor Ma's face.

At this time, a man wearing a long robe woven by devil's silk and looking a little rich suddenly opened his mouth.

"Ahem, listen to me, there are too many anomalies in this matter, and I would rather be inclined to someone trying to kick us out of here so that they can take advantage of the opportunity to rob our property."

His name is Xiao Zhixue, and he is in the beer business, and he has a brewing workshop in the town, employing about 20 workers, and most of the drinks consumed by the wasteland customers in the past come from him.

A shopkeeper asked rhetorically.

"But what if what the letter says is true?"

The wine merchant surnamed Xiao glared.

"Really? How can it be! That strange never raids settlements, they only catch those who wander the wasteland! ”

"It didn't before, it doesn't mean it won't in the future, maybe they changed their minds on a whim."

"But that doesn't make sense! Aren't they allies of the Torch Church? We've converted to the church, and we even have a pastor in our town! ”

A pair of eyes looked at the pastor in front of the round table, and the middle-aged man who was caught on fire by the eyes couldn't help but wipe his sweat and said nervously.

"I didn't know that I hadn't been able to contact the Apostles since the other day. Ah, could it have something to do with it? ”

"To the west... There seems to be a little place called Dust Town. The blacksmith touched his chin and said.

The priest nodded hurriedly.

"That's the name! I remember the Apostle saying before he disappeared that he was going to take the believers there to preach! ”

At this time, the owner of the tanning shop suddenly spoke up.

"Could it be that those mutants went to Dust Town to search for the whereabouts of the Apostle, but they didn't find it, and then the green-skinned baboons went berserk and killed people everywhere?"

This seems to be the most plausible explanation.

Although this is also something that no one wants to face.

Mayor Ma slammed his fist on the table and said loudly.

"Enough, none of these things matter, what matters is what exactly do we do now? Do you stay and fight them, or do you want to move somewhere else to take refuge first-"

Before he could finish speaking, the wine merchant exclaimed.

(This chapter is not finished, click on the next page to continue)

"Move somewhere else? Are you kidding? Where can we go? There's simply no place around here that can accommodate so many people! ”

Someone else patted their butts and left.

His winery can't be moved!

If those mutants hadn't killed anyone, they'd have set a fire to burn it down! By then, all his possessions here will be ruined!

Most of the others are the same.

Sitting here are the most prestigious families in town, and their homes and possessions are located here. It's not just a town for them, it's their roots.

While no one wants to face those green-skinned monsters, no one wants to just run away.

"If you don't leave, you'll have to fight with them," Mayor Ma said with a gloomy expression, "To be honest, I don't have much confidence to be a match for those guys." ”

A mutant tribe of tens of thousands of people......

Even the pinecone farm in the southeast, the big landlord with nearly 50,000 people, could not be the opponent of the mutant tribe.

The volume of the two sides is not at all in the same dimension.

At this time, the director of the guard suddenly got up from the conference table and walked in the direction of the door.

Mayor Ma looked at him.

"Where are you going?"

The director stopped.

"Go mobilize the townspeople and give them guns. If we continue to discuss it like this, we won't be able to leave, and we won't be able to fight, so we can only sit here and wait for death. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, the wine merchant who was sitting not far away stood up.

"Wait, you can't do that! Send the gun down now, everyone knows something is going to happen! ”

The director of the town guard frowned.

"When is it, is it useful to cover the lid now?"

The wine merchant lowered his voice and said.

"There are some wastelanders in town who can fight better than us, so it's a big deal that we give them some money! But if they get the news in advance, knowing that the opponent is a mutant, I bet they will run faster than a rabbit! ”

The director of the guard looked at him stunned, and thought in his heart, there seemed to be a little truth.

The wastelanders couldn't be better than the militia in town, and it was better to mobilize those guys than to mobilize a bunch of guys who had never fought at all to send heads.

The people sitting at the conference table exchanged glances, most of them with a look of approval in their eyes. Mayor Ma pondered for a long time and nodded slowly.

"I think so too, but we can't put all our hopes on that group of strangers, we have to be prepared for both."

With that, he looked at the director of the guard.

"Bring the weapons in the inventory to the wall, and block the four gates with barriers, and dig some fortifications, and as for the wastelanders, we will tell them that we have received news that a group of marauders has wandered into this area, and that the town needs to be fortified, and that vehicles and goods are not allowed to enter or leave for the time being. After three days, if the alarm is lifted, we will remove the fortifications and they will be free to come and go. ”

"During this time, the town of hope will provide free accommodation and food to its guests."

If you keep the goods, you keep the merchants in the town, and if you keep those merchants, you keep their private soldiers.

If it was only delayed for three days, those merchants should not have done too much to offend this town.

While this may have an impact on the reputation of Hope, it is clear that the existential crisis is more pressing at the moment.

As for the mercenaries, although it is difficult to force them to stay, they can be hired under the pretext of dealing with the marauders who have wandered into the area.

After a pause, Mayor Ma said with a hint of luck.

"Actually...... It's not necessarily as bad as we think. ”

"The Sentinels haven't brought back the news yet, at least the mutants haven't been around us yet. Perhaps, as Mr. Xiao said, this is just a ploy to scare us away. ”

Everyone sitting at the table looked at each other.

If only it were that simple......

……

Forests tens of kilometers away.

After the feast, the mutants will prey (this chapter is not finished, click on the next page to continue)

Blood and oil smeared on his face, and he hummed rude shouts and ballads as he set out on his way to the next feast.

Ogg killed more than 200 brothers, including a centurion and a large man.

He had to cut off 400 heads to get his breath.

As for whether the Torch Church is angry or not, what does it have to do with Oger?

It's not just the old priests in the clan who are unhappy, but he also doesn't like the human beings who are chattering with gods......

At this moment, the vast majority of the residents of Hope Town have not yet realized that danger has crept over them.

And the few in the know are still fantasizing that maybe things are not so bad, and that the arrow tied to the animal skin is just a clumsy hoax.

On the other side, Luo Yu, who had lunch at the hotel, learned from Wu Wenzhou, the leader of the caravan, that there was a flow of marauders and the blockade of the town in the vicinity.

"Marauders?!"

After hearing the news, Luo Yu's face showed a surprised expression, and he quickly remembered the group of people he had met at the junction of the provinces before.

“… Could it be the people we met? ”

On the way here, they had come across a group of raiders, and had seized a Maxim from the marauders.

But if it were those people, he couldn't think of any need to repair the fortifications.

"I don't know." Wu Wenzhou smiled bitterly and shook his head, "Anyway, now the four exits of the town are blocked, although people can enter and exit, but goods can't go through, we can't let them dismantle the barricades and bunkers." ”

Although this is a safe zone, it is also in the wasteland, and he does not dare to leave the goods here, and the people run out.

When the time comes, the goods will be lost, and there will be no place to reason.

But there's no need to go out.

With the exception of the Bone Chewing Tribe, most of the marauders were hammered to their heads in the settlements, and only a few small villages could have an accident.

With so many mercenaries and caravans here, there is no need to worry about security.

"Are we just waiting here?" Thinking of the advice given to him by the guy named White Shark, Luo Yu couldn't help frowning.

If he is delayed on the road for one more day, his 100,000 silver coins will increase the risk of ruining the soup for a day.

Seeing that he was about to reach his destination, he was really reluctant to drop the chain at this juncture.

Wu Wenzhou sighed helplessly.

"At the moment, there's no better way... Anyway, it's just three days, just wait. ”

Of course, while their reasons are reasonable, we can't just let them fool around for no reason. I'll talk to the other traders in a while, and they'll have to give us an explanation. ”

After a pause, he continued.

If the barricades are not removed after three days, they can unite to put pressure on the local residents and the town office.

Of course, this is the last resort.

If he could, he really didn't want to clash with the locals, hoping that the town was already one of the few relatively safe and reliable settlements on this trade route.

Spending the night in small settlements, he usually sleeps with his pistol hidden under his pillow, but here he can sleep soundly with a locked door.

“… I'm going to look around, maybe there's a clue. ”

With that, Luo Yu pushed away the chair and stood up.

The thought of wasting three days in this town made him feel uncomfortable, so he might as well go out and look for it now to see if there were any side lines to do.

Wu Wenzhou nodded.

"Go ahead, remember to come back before dark."

Luo Yu, who walked out of the hotel, stood on the street, glanced left and right, and found that this town was quite unexpected, completely different from his first impression last night, I am afraid that there are no less than a thousand people living in it.

Like them, there were many merchants and mercenaries who were stranded here, and they all gathered near the hotel at this moment to exchange what they had heard.

It might be a good idea to talk to them.

However, just as Luo Yu was about to walk over, he suddenly realized awkwardly that he was not a particularly sociable person.

Not to mention NPCs.

(This chapter is not finished, click on the next page to continue)

In fact, he has relatively little contact with players.

He's been playing this game for a while, but he's only a little familiar with Brother Mosquito and his teammates in the ground corps, and then he knows some of Brother Mosquito's acquaintances.

Before raising Xiao Yu, he was often a solo person.

Just when he was thinking about how to walk over the topic casually, and then extract information from the mouths of those old fritters, a familiar voice suddenly came from the side.

"Falling feathers?!"

I didn't expect there to be acquaintances in this place.

Hearing someone call his name in Mandarin, Luo Yu subconsciously turned his head, and then saw a familiar face, and his eyes suddenly widened in surprise.

"Am I blanching?"

"Why are you here?!"

(PS: I've been coughing for two weeks, my voice is almost gone, and now I talk like spitting bubbles, and I have successfully quit the habit of saying to myself)