Andy left the military headquarters with a very unfriendly attitude and walked to the northern shore of the dam crest area, where the caravan company's store was located.

The crowds were mostly merchants and well-dressed men, who looked very polished and had good weapons at their waists, all in stark contrast to the inhabitants of the shack complex near the crest of the Hoover Dam.

The wastelanders over there were dressed in dirty rags, some of them probably ripped from corpses found in the ruins before the war, and had only rudimentary weapons in their hands, such as rusty knives and 10mm pistols that had been passed down for generations and were badly undermaintained.

As he had previously learned, this was the wealthy area of the Hoover Dam. The shops of the two caravanserai were on the west side of the shore, sandwiched between the police station, as if they were deliberately separating the two competing companies, though they were still very close together.

The police station looks petite, but the occasional police officers who come in and out look not to be underestimated, those policemen are uniformly wearing beige long trench coats and black cowboy hats, and the guys on their bodies are indifferent.

They don't seem to be moved by any pain or pleasure, their faces stiff like masks made of stone, and these enforcers are the force that maintains the inner security of Hoover Dam City.

Turning his head, the store on the north side of the police station was almost full of people, with a huge sign hanging above the entrance of the building.

"Crimson caravanserais." The shop further south was almost closed, with a gray-haired man with deep nasolabial folds standing behind the window, looking out at the street with a resentful and dejected face, wearing a nice black suit, who definitely didn't look like an ordinary poor wastelander, but it obviously didn't help to alleviate his strong negative emotions at the moment.

The melancholy man noticed that Andy was watching him on the street and immediately turned away from the window. Andy glanced up the door.

"Three Brothers Caravan." He originally wanted to compare left and right to see which side gave better conditions and treatment, but when he came here, he found that there was no comparison at all, the door of the three brothers' caravan was locked, and the door of the crimson caravan was open.

Andy walked to the Crimson Caravan's shop, where there were a lot of people coming and going, some of them clearly members of the Crimson Caravan, some of them in fancy suits sitting behind tables in the room, some leaning against the wall smoking cigarettes in low-key outdoor clothes, others wearing good battle armor and carrying well-maintained rifles to scan the surroundings.

From time to time, someone greeted him, and a few people followed in his footsteps and left the place and walked out the door. Many of the two-headed cattle were temporarily left in the barn next to the house, where there was also a warehouse dedicated to storing goods.

Just as Andy was distracted by the busy scene, a crimson caravan guard had quietly approached him.

"Hey!" Andy turned his head, and a dark-skinned, bearded man leaned in with a gun.

"What? Looking for a job or do you want to order something special? I just hope you don't have some thoughts that you shouldn't have. Andy immediately told him about his desire to join the Crimson Caravan as a caravan guard, and the bearded man looked Andy up and down a few times, paused briefly for a few seconds on his swollen muscles and two large pistols, and then immediately nodded affirmatively.

"Very well, the Crimson Caravan welcomes experts, we will not ask anyone to work for nothing, of course.... Nor can we accept any betrayal, and we will not be less than a penny in compensation for those who have single-handedly caused additional damage. I ask you, are you familiar with this life? Andy then told some of his history of helping others traverse the wasteland, and the bearded man touched his chin as he listened.

"If you're not bragging, you're pretty good, and it doesn't seem like you're bragging.... But the ugly thing to say is that being a caravan guard means signing a series of complicated contracts with the Crimson caravan. Those treaties necessarily include some provisions, to name a few: the escort must be carried out as agreed, the safety of the goods must be the first priority, all trade secrets must be kept tight, especially for our competitors... These are things that you have to accept and obey, you know? The two chatted for a while, and Andy had no objection to the Crimson caravan's request, and the two chatted for a while about the remuneration, and the bearded man said that the remuneration was often linked to the value of the goods escorted, so it fluctuated.

But generally speaking, the remuneration of the escort is most directly related to the length of the escort journey and the completeness of the final delivery of the goods, which is relatively fixed, because the trade route is basically fixed.

Due to the temporary interruption of the western route of the Hoover Dam, their only current trade route was to the tribes in the east, and those who were willing to trade would trade with caravans with local products, including important livestock, meat, milk, leather, fruit, and so on.

On average, the Guardian is paid between 200 and 300 Cover for the entire journey, which is a good salary for the Wasteland, and the Crimson Caravan is even willing to provide some basic weapons and armor, and the Guardian is naturally eligible to share the caravan's fast food with other party members during the journey, and these hidden benefits are not included in the expected reward.

Of course, this is time-consuming and dangerous. If the caravan guard turns around and runs away in a critical moment, or if the protection is not effective, these will be seen by others, and the guard will be punished for his incompetence when he returns to the company.

Penalties include dismissal, fines, sanctions... In the most serious cases, they will be blacklisted by the company, and they will be shot and scolded if they get close to the company's gates.

Don't think that the Crimson Caravans might be dissuaded by the nearby police station, in fact the Crimson Caravanserais' importance at the Hoover Dam is often tacitly tolerated by the Crimson Caravan's excesses in their treatment of blacklisted people.

After chatting, the bearded man took the initiative to lead Andy into the company store of the Crimson Caravan, and walked around to a desk, where several wasteland customers who were supposed to be looking for life were standing and making noise.

Behind the table in front of them sat a man with loose hair and thick dark circles, rubbing his temples and holding the saliva of the men without saying a word.

"Hey! What are you arguing about? Get out of here if you make any more noise! The bearded man frowned at the sight of the sight, and with one hand he held the pump-moving shotgun in his hand and slammed down with a crisp loading sound, an action that immediately shocked the emotional ones.

One of the inch-headed men spread out his hands and stated his opinion.

"We know that the Brotherhood of Steel maniacs have slowed down their offensive recently, but there is still a good chance that they will launch an attack on the caravan halfway through. And even without those cans, escorting the two-headed cow is still very hard and dangerous work, isn't it a bit too much to drastically reduce the reward for the escort mission just because of such a temporary change? The current price is half of what it used to be! How can this be accepted? The others immediately helped, demanding that the Crimson Caravan restore some of its pay.

The dark circles that were rubbing his head finally made a faint sound, and that's when Andy determined his gender....

"It's not up to me or anyone else to decide, we are a company with a goal of making a profit. The recent slowdown in the Brotherhood of Steel offensive has caused the prices of some commodities to fall, and the difficulty of the escort mission can also be said to have plummeted recently, so you can't forget all these facts in a few words.... You're standing here and talking to me endlessly, it's just vexatious. He glanced around the group with a look of exhaustion and disgust.

"I now give you two choices, first, sign a long-term employment contract with the Crimson Caravan right now, and strictly fulfill the requirements of the contract, so that your demands will be resolved naturally. Second, if you are not willing to sign a long-term contract and are not satisfied with the remuneration, and you still want to be some so-called poor and free man, then go to other places as soon as possible to find the job you want and leave us. Several of the wastelanders were visibly reluctant to sign the long-term employment contracts that were almost like a deed of sale, and the bearded men next to them stared at each other with pump-pumping shotguns, and they looked at each other before leaving the room in a gloomy manner.

The dark circles breathed a sigh of relief and thanked the bearded man, and then the two of them chatted a few words before turning their attention to Andy.

"I just told him about the pay, and he doesn't have a problem, and I see it, he has a beep boy." The bearded man whispered a few words to the dark circles, patted Andy on the shoulder and left, leaving the dark circles and Andy's big eyes staring.

After a few moments, he pulled out a few pieces of paper from the drawer.

"This is a temporary employment contract, and it's a coincidence that you're here, we weren't short of manpower, but you've seen some idiots start looking for something lately... You take a look at these, sign it if it's okay, and then you set a date, when will you start to have time to go out with the team in the last week, and I'll help you line up. Andy read the contract carefully, most of the terms are normal or excusable, but there are some more overlords, such as the Crimson Caravan has the right to deduct the remuneration to a negative number after a comprehensive assessment of the status of the goods, and the guards bring their own medical supplies and the Crimson Caravan is not responsible for the disability, serious illness, death and so on caused by the guards' work.

But he didn't have much choice either, and after thinking about it for a while, he signed.

"I'll have time after tomorrow, and I'll have to prepare tomorrow." The dark circles nodded and put away the contract, writing and drawing in a notebook.

"Okay.... The day after tomorrow, there is a team that lacks people, you should follow them when the time comes, arrive at the company before 8 o'clock in the morning, and don't be late. ”