“...........”

Hank sat in an old chair and was silent.

"Does she really ask you that?"

Andy stood near him, scanning the guns and bullets boredly.

"Yes, that's right."

Hank fell silent for a long time before letting out a sigh.

"Betty... It's crazy, she's going to lose everything if she doesn't do it right, but is she still going to do it? Even if you don't do what she says, it won't be long before the next outsider takes over her commission, right? Looks like I really need to face this up. ”

Hank stood up and walked around twice with his hands behind his back, then suddenly stopped and looked back at Andy.

"Have you ever heard of the Endless Banishment?"

Andy, of course, had heard of it, and he had even seen with his own eyes what had become of the tortured at the end of their sentences, in the wilderness near Hoover Dam.

"Of course."

Hank was a little surprised.

"Do you know this? I thought that not many people knew about the capital punishment that had been invented in this remote settlement, but since you knew, you should also understand how risky Betty was taking to ask you to do this, and you know why she wanted you to do it. ”

Andy thinks for a moment, there is no competition between the armor sold in Betty's shop and the weapons sold by Hank, and it seems that she is targeting Gillian rather than Hank himself...

"I have a little idea, but I also want to know something from you, Gillian... That's the one. ”

He pointed to a man in a radiation suit who was moving an ammunition box not far away.

"What is she doing here?"

Hank looked at Gillian from afar, and the only remaining eyeball was full of mixed emotions, which Andy accurately captured.

"She... Sort of my assistant. ”

Andy shook his head and asked.

"Is it really just an assistant? As far as I can tell, the reservation is human-phobic and slave-based, and the fact that she's wearing a radiation suit means she's not a ghoul, and it looks like she's been working here all the time, so she's..."

Hank quickly spoke up to interrupt Andy's speculation.

"Well, I know what you're trying to say, yes, in the official classification of reservations, Gillian is a slave who belongs to me, but I don't want to call her that, I'd rather say she's my assistant. She is quite proficient in the maintenance of all kinds of weapons and has a clear understanding of the market prices of guns and ammunition in the wasteland, and has given me many crucial suggestions in terms of external sales and raw material procurement, and with her help my small shop has suddenly become very good, and the taxes paid every month are higher, and even my status in the reserve has been improved, all thanks to her, so I never regard her as a slave of mine. ”

Andy glanced back at Gillian and then at Hank, and suddenly noticed something.

"So, Hank, what do you think of her as yours?"

Hank was immediately annoyed.

"I'm not saying I see her as my right-hand man.... Wait, what do you mean? ”

As a ghoul who had lived for 70 years, Hank certainly heard Andy's words, and he didn't get angry about it, instead, he watched Gillian's back at work and fell silent again.

After a moment, Andy broke the silence.

"You like her?"

Hank turned his head abruptly, then banged on the counter a little agitatedly and shook his legs, before regaining his composure.

"If I deny it again, I am lying to myself, after all, I have lived for 70 years, and I am not twisted to this extent.... But, hey... I haven't really talked to anyone about it yet. I used to think it was a secret that no one knew, but now that you've shattered my illusion, it seems that it can be seen at a glance by any outsider, even if you're just on the reservation. ”

Andy had already guessed this unfolding, but when the matter was really confirmed, it still felt a little bloody, because of the lack of deep contact with ghouls before, he thought that all of them would not have any sexual impulses anymore as if they had been burned to the bones by invisible flames, but now it seems that this is not the case.

"In all fairness, Hank, do you think that's appropriate?"

Hank leaned against the counter with his arms crossed.

“...... Actually, I didn't think much of it at first. ”

As if his heart was touched, Hank began to talk about his own past.

"I was out there for many years, at that time I was scavenging for a living, once I took a big risk to wear a radiation suit to an old power station with strong radiation to look for something valuable, as a result, I stepped on the air and fell into a pit, the radiation suit was directly torn apart by those steel heads, my whole body was soaked in the sewage full of radiation, I struggled desperately to escape from there, but not long after I came out, I began to be red and swollen and ulcerate, and finally little by little became what I am today."

"Since then, my life has changed dramatically."

Little by little, Hank undid the dirty floral shirt he was wearing, his shriveled upper body was a mess, with a lot of ulcerated, swollen, chapped tissue and healed marks, and in some places even bones with a faint green glow.

"A ghoul, a monster, I have to get used to being called, screaming in panic and angry insults, I have to get used to being treated like this, some people shoot me without saying a word, and some people want to take me as a slave, because ghouls have very low physiological needs, and only need very little food, water, and sleep to stay alive and work for them without pay."

Andy watched wordlessly as Hank rebuttoned his shirt.

"I have to say I can understand them, after all, I was one of them, in the past, when I saw such a kind of people who roamed the wasteland ready to tear apart anyone they saw... The kind of monster called the mad ghoul is exactly the same guy, when he stretches out his rancid and pus-staining hand to touch the things around him, when he talks to me with a stinky body and an ugly face, I also can't be calm and friendly, people may be disgusted by slave traders enslaving humans, but when they enslave ghouls, people are either silent or applauding, some even think it's a reasonable thing to do, haha. ”

Hank said this, but his face didn't have the same smile on his face.

"But I felt that this kind of treatment was a bit too cruel for a rational soul, so I was looking for a place to stay warm for a while, and when I finally got here, I used my skills to promote myself, and finally got the position of sales manager, because Smith, who was in charge of forging weapons and making ammunition on reservation, was not very good at dealing with slippery skins, but I was up to the job."

"Do you know how I felt when I first came here? Living in a place that is orderly, full of people of the same kind, with all kinds of facilities, friendly and safe, is simply a paradise that should exist in dreams. ”

Andy listened silently, if he was Hank, he would definitely feel the same way, from a human point of view, this is simply a hell ruled by monsters, but what if you look at it from the perspective of a ghoul?

Of course, he can only think about it, because he is not a ghoul after all, and the decisive factor is nothing more than a position in the final analysis, humans have a human position, and ghouls have a ghoul position.

"And how did you end up with Gillian?"

"Actually... It wasn't on my own initiative, one of my superiors called Measles brought Gillian over one day and told me that she was valuable and could help me. The latter confirmed his words, I did get a lot of help from her, her understanding of firearms is not inferior to mine, in fact I think she has better skills in mechanics than me, which makes me admire her very much... It was in this daily interaction that I gradually developed some undeserved emotions for her. ”

The two looked at each other, and Andy decided to convince the ghoul in front of him to shatter his illusory delusions with reality.

"And did you confess to Gillian?"

Hank choked on.

"I.... I didn't. ”

Andy immediately took advantage of the victory and pursued it.

"You said that, right? Humans and ghouls have very different concepts of time, what you think is a short time is incomparably long for humans, and if you continue in your current state, before the relationship between you splashes with the passage of time, Gillian is already about to turn into an old dry bone, if you really have feelings for her, then quickly confirm the other party's thoughts. ”

Hank's only remaining eye rolled, as if persuaded by Andy, and he saw that Gillian outside the carriage was also looking at the two of them with concern, so he beckoned her to come in.

He looked at her with his affectionate gaze and spoke slowly.

"Gillian, I don't know if you're aware of it, but I actually have extraordinary feelings for you, and when I first saw you, I thought of me.... Friend, of course she has been dead for many years, but you remind me of her back then. I think now is a good opportunity, and instead of keeping a delicate distance like this, and continuing to cover the clouds, let me get things straight. So... Gillian, I like you, can you accept me? ”

Gillian's arms trembled slightly in a black radiation suit.

"I'm sorry."

Hank, even if he had expected this in his heart, couldn't help but be stunned at this moment, and he covered his face and let out a sigh.

"Well, I shouldn't feel weird, I just want you to understand that my affection for you is a pure admiration, and when I noticed your great ability in business, this attraction was magnified even more, so much so that I knew that you would never fall in love with an ugly and smelly guy like me, but I also had a hint of fantasy that I would always let you work by my side."

Gillian stood there, echoing Hank's confession in a disturbed tone after a while.

"I know this, I know what you have for me and what you have done for me, I know that you have always maintained respect for me, which is unusual in the whole reservation.... Thank you..."

Hank let go of his hand, and the smile returned to his face.

"Nothing...."

Seeing this, Andy sensed that the opportunity had come, and since the matter had been said under his prodding, it would only be embarrassing for the two to continue to work together in the future.

"Hank, can you set Gillian free?"

Hank looked at Andy with a hint of scrutiny in his eyes.

"No, there is no option to free slaves on the reservation, and if I do that, I'm breaking the rules, but if you have that idea, then okay."

He pulled out a dirty copy of the agreement.

"Andy, you sign here and become Gillian's new master so that Gillian can leave the reservation. It's a place full of malice towards humanity, and anyone who has been here a little longer can understand that, if Gillian stays here, she's either going to die one day for something trivial or suffer from death at the hands of those children of the wasteland, and I don't want to see that happen..... At this point, you better take her out of here as soon as possible and return to human society. ”

Andy agrees, of course, but when he is about to sign, Hank blocks the paper.

"I'm a merchant, Andy, and a merchant has a merchant's principle, and I can sell Gillian to you but not give it to you, so that if someone comes to me and asks me what happened, I can answer them; Anyway, this signature can't be a white signature, a transaction is a transaction, you know. ”

Andy suddenly felt a headache, the bottle cap problem was his current death hole, the ghoul would not be infected with the virus at all, and he had never heard of a ghoul in need of treatment, so even if he told him that Gillian had a very powerful virus in his body, Hank would not be moved by this.

"That.... How much? ”

Hank held out four slightly twisted fingers.

"Four hundred.... I..."

Andy just wanted to say if he could get a 50% discount, but Hank shook his head repeatedly.

"My dear Gillian is a man of great skill, and if I sold her at such a low price, it would be strange for anyone to see her, right? If the superior who sent her here in the first place had come to me to talk about it, I wouldn't have been able to eat and walk around. Come on, that's certainly the meaning of 4,000 caps, which is already the biggest grace point considering your previous hesitation when buying a gun. ”

"If you can't even get out 4,000 bottle caps, how can I rest assured that she will go with you?"

Andy knew that he couldn't afford the cap anytime soon, but since Hank wanted a reason for him to explain to his superiors why he sold Gillian, didn't there be a ready-made excuse for this?

Thinking of this, he immediately chatted with Hank about another topic.

"Hank, what do you think of Betty?"

Hank had a tangled look on his face.

"Betty? .... I would have liked to have a good relationship with her, but she always stood at a distance and looked at me with a terrible look and expression, I.... I thought she was the kind of person who thought I was a 'newcomer' and didn't deserve the position, so I avoided her later, but I didn't expect her to hire someone to come and kill Gillian, which was too much. ”

Andy makes a guess that shocks Hank.

"Is there a possibility that she did it because she liked you, because she had already seen things that even I could see."

Hank covered his mouth and said 'Oh God' a few times.

"Betty... Could she have thought so? But her character... Especially the face, it's really shocking... Horror, don't tell her I said that about her, but I just... Oh, my God. ”

Andy said that he felt the same way, but now the top priority was to convince Hank to empathize and find as many opportunities as possible to get rid of the order.

"Have you ever wondered why the stereotypes of the people on the reservation make it so easy for you to fit in, maybe that's why?"

Hank was stunned for a moment, and after a moment seemed a little stunned.

"What you said... It makes sense that some of my ideas are still on the side of human beings, and the reason why there is an unspoken rule of living here for more than 50 years is probably due to this. Without the help of time, it is difficult to change people's ideas once they are formed, and perhaps deep down in my soul I still don't want to admit that I am no longer human.... Yes, that's probably it. ”

Seeing this, Andy immediately chased after him.

"Since you've made your attitude clear to Gillian today, why don't you strike while the iron is hot, and come with me to ask Betty what she means."