Has it been that long?

When Su Ziyu learned that it was already twelve years later, a look of loss appeared on his face.

I don’t know how many of the friends I once knew are still alive.

The average life expectancy in the wasteland world is very short, probably less than forty years on average. He really didn't expect that so much time has passed in this world.

The journey was relatively peaceful.

Su Ziyu saw a group of mutated wild wolves, each of them was as big as a calf. The wolf king leading them actually looked a bit like a husky. They chased the Mercedes-Benz convoy for a while, but did not launch an attack immediately.

"Hello!?"

"Who has any food? Where's the roasted venison? Throw some down quickly!" Jiesexing was also awakened by the wolf howling. He stood up and shouted to the other people in the convoy.

After saying that, he turned to look at Su Ziyu and said, "Don't worry."

"That's Bloodfang."

"The wolf kings around here often move around in the forests over at the Grand Canyon. They don't attack humans very often, but they like cooked food very much. As long as we throw them some meat, they won't attack us."

There is actually such a thing.

Could it be that the wolf king has awakened his spiritual intelligence?

A gleam of inspiration appeared in Su Ziyu's eyes, and then he looked at the giant wolf in the distance. Its body was almost as big as an adult cow, with extremely strong muscles and many scars on its body. The more he looked at it, the more he felt that it looked somewhat like a Husky, and it was obviously different from the other wild wolves around.

"After the disaster, fewer people keep dogs." Jiesexing lit a cigarette naturally, puffing away smoke and saying, "Sometimes people don't even have enough to eat, so how can they have the energy to keep dogs?"

“Some domesticated dogs are basically going extinct.”

"However, some dogs do mix with the wolf pack. Bloodfang seems to be a hybrid of a husky and a wild wolf. It is a little different from other wolves and is more friendly to humans."

“I like to eat cooked food.”

"As long as you carry cooked food, you won't be vulnerable to them."

The aura on the wolf king was indeed a bit like that of the animal companions of the druid, but the light of intelligence was not that bright. It should be just smarter, not that it has wisdom.

really.

When the wolves saw the cooked food, they stopped chasing and ran away with some barbecued meat in their mouths like a gust of wind.

The wolves in the wasteland are doing pretty well.

Many species have gradually become extinct, but wolves can be seen everywhere. They hunt other mutant creatures. Now each one is cunning and ferocious, and ordinary guns may not be able to deal with them. Moreover, wolves are very vengeful. If one of them escapes, there will be endless trouble. Under normal circumstances, they will not take the initiative to attack.

Wild wolves do not have a long lifespan, and although there are many wolf packs, it is difficult for them to become a pandemic.

After the disaster, it became more difficult for mammals to reproduce. Wild wolves could give birth to two or three cubs in one litter, but it was considered very good if one could survive. Severely deformed wolf cubs would be bitten to death or abandoned in the wilderness by their parents.

Su Ziyu listened silently to Jiesexing bragging. It was not known whether this guy's ancestors were from the north, but he was quite talkative and kept bragging all the way.

"How did you become a monk? It's the wasteland age now!" Su Ziyu asked curiously.

Jie Se was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "My parents died when I was very young. This is not China after all, and it is not easy for Chinese to live in America."

"Later, he was adopted by an old monk."

"I took a risk and got hurt a little when I was young. Half of my body was infected by radiation, and my entire arm had some mutations."

"Although I later got a pair of mechanical prosthetic limbs, I knew very well that I would never be able to give birth to an offspring. I also didn't want my child to be born with a disability, so I simply inherited the old monk's legacy and became a monk myself."

"It's a pity that I didn't learn more from him back then. I don't know much about those scriptures. I only know the Heart Sutra."

"I also pondered a passage of mechanical Buddhist scripture when I had nothing to do."

"How about it?"

“Isn’t it very literary?”

Su Ziyu nodded, as if she was also infected by his open-mindedness, and smiled and said: "It is indeed refreshing."

"This era still needs some spiritual sustenance." Jiesexing took a puff of cigarette, exhaled a cloud of smoke and said, "Don't disbelieve it. There are really many people who ask me to chant sutras for their souls to be liberated. Not only Chinese people, but also some white and black people will ask me to do it."

This is the end of the wasteland.

It's good enough to have a monk, don't count on any rules and regulations. It's impossible to live without killing in the wasteland era.

About two or three hours later.

A large gathering place appeared in front of the group. It looked like a renovated abandoned town. Many cities suffered nuclear attacks during the catastrophe. Basically, the gathering places now are selected from the more remote places in the past, because the degree of nuclear radiation pollution will be less. Outside the camp is a circle of mottled iron fences with peeling paint. There are two sentry towers at the main entrance, with guards holding guns standing on them, one is white and the other is yellow.

"Many people in the Elk Camp escaped from the Chinatown Camp." Jiesexing put out his cigarette and said, "There are many Chinese here. If anyone causes trouble for you, you can tell me my name."

"I still have some connections here."

The convoy drove straight in.

Su Ziyu was stunned as soon as he got off the car, because he actually saw a hand-made paper dragon and a somewhat ugly lion head. Some of the residences were obviously pasted with the word "Fu", which reminded him of the atmosphere of the Chinese New Year.

"That's right." Jie Se patted his head and said, "I'm all confused."

"I forgot that it's almost New Year's Day."

"If you have nothing else to do, come to my place tomorrow night for New Year's Eve dinner. There will be quite a few people there."

At this time, a person next to him laughed and said, "Even the end of the world can't stop you Chinese from celebrating the New Year..."

"Of course!" Jiesexing jumped down with a big laugh and walked straight to the tavern.

It’s really the New Year.

Su Ziyu saw two older Chinese people fiddling with some Spring Festival couplets. There were indeed quite a few Chinese people here. Su Ziyu was a little dazed, and he didn't even know how long he had been wandering outside.

"Would you like a roasted rat?" An Indian man shouted at Su Ziyu at the stall next to him.

Do they have a monopoly on roasted rats?

Su Ziyu smiled and shook his head, then turned and walked towards the weapons shop. However, he was really a little hungry. He could smell a strong aroma of barbecue as he walked on the road. It was not the kind from street stalls, but more like carefully cooked barbecue, which should be what they called roasted venison.

He took out the mechanical watch from that year and put it on his wrist. The radiation pollution in the wasteland world is very serious. This mechanical watch can detect most of the radiation pollution. Before returning to this world, Su Ziyu still prepared a lot of food, but it was definitely not enough to eat until he left.

Sizzle.

There was a harsh sound of metal friction.

Su Ziyu turned a few corners along the street and soon saw a large weapons workshop. A middle-aged man was mechanically turning something, and someone else was hammering with a hammer. Many guns in the wasteland world were modified by themselves. Some old guys found that they were completely unusable. Most people in this era have some experience in gun modification.

"What do you want?" The middle-aged man put down a dagger and said hello, "Old Bob's weapon shop has everything!"

Su Ziyu looked at the various firearms placed in the cabinets on the wall and asked casually, "Is there a little fat man?"

The middle-aged man was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "If I can make that thing, why would I open a weapons store?"

That's right.

Although nuclear weapons are somewhat rampant in the wasteland era, most of them are in the hands of local chaebols and other major forces, and ordinary people have no way of getting access to nuclear weapons.

"I need some bullets." Su Ziyu thought for a moment and asked, "What do you use to pay here?"

"I just got here."

Old Bob in front of him was stunned for a moment, looked Su Ziyu up and down and asked: "Are you a wilderness hunter?"

"Yeah." Su Ziyu nodded.

Old Bob looked thoughtful and said, "I'll take supplies and medicines here too."

"But the currency used in this area is the Nuclear Bottle Cap."

Bottle cap?

Su Ziyu was stunned for a moment when he heard this, and then asked in confusion: "Can bottle caps also be used as currency?"

"Of course." Old Bob nodded and said, "They are all tokens anyway. Primitive people used shells as currency! I heard that some places in California use paper money issued by water merchant consortiums. I think it's better to use bottle caps."

"At least it's not easy to damage."

When adventuring outdoors and being exposed to wind and rain, banknotes can be easily damaged. Modern people feel that using banknotes is very convenient because they don't have to fight or kill outside. Banknotes can be directly scrapped if they get a little water, blood, or rain on them.

This world has been using Nuka Bottle Caps as currency for several years.

There weren't many places to use it at the beginning.

But later on, its scope of use became wider and wider, but medicines, supplies and ammunition are still hard currency, and are survival materials with purchasing power higher than currency.

Using this thing as currency is like using coins.

Su Ziyu didn't have much to exchange. The value of gold in the wasteland era was not that amazing, and the food had to be kept for himself, so it was definitely not for exchange. Other things were not very convenient to take out, so he might as well find an opportunity to earn some bottle caps while gathering information these two days. Paul didn't give much bullets, and they were obviously made in a workshop, far inferior to those that Pasha gave Su Ziyu. Even the bullets in the weapon shop in front of him were of average quality and could not reach the level of military products at all.

If he wanted to replenish a relatively sufficient batch of ammunition, Su Ziyu would have to earn about three hundred bottle caps.

"Is there any task that you want to entrust to the Wild Hunter?" Su Ziyu asked.

There are some terrible mutant creatures in many places in the wasteland world.

Ordinary people cannot deal with these mutant creatures, but some hunters will hunt them, of course, the premise is that there is a sufficiently generous reward. Generally, the commissions that are posted are monsters that are quite difficult to deal with. Most of them are entrenched in some valuable areas, or they threaten the residents of the gathering place.

Su Ziyu consumed a full 10 points of source power when returning to this world. Of course, he had to find a way to earn it back. He hunted monsters to earn bottle caps while gaining some source power.

The best of both worlds.

"Of course there are." Old Bob pointed over there and said, "It's hanging in the tavern. There aren't many people in the gathering place willing to take risks. Many commissions have been hanging for several years."

You have to have life to spend money.

In the wasteland era, it is not worth risking your life to earn a few bottle caps. Many people would rather live in poverty than risk their lives.

Bang, bang, bang.

Just as Su Ziyu thanked him and was about to go to the tavern, there was a heavy knock on the door not far away. Then he saw a man with two armed men, knocking on doors from house to house to collect money.

"It's these vampires again!" Old Bob next to him spat a mouthful of thick phlegm on the ground. Seeing Su Ziyu's puzzled expression, he explained, "They are from the Water Merchant Group."

"Today is the day they collect water charges."

It turns out that there is no relatively clean water source nearby. Daily drinking water needs to be filtered many times. In the wasteland era, selling water is an extremely profitable business. Those who can afford to open a water purification plant are all wealthy and have extraordinary backgrounds. The water supply of the elk gathering place is monopolized by some people. They jointly charge high water fees with the water merchant group. The water fee consumption in the daily expenses of the residents in the gathering place can reach nearly one-fifth.

In other words, one-fifth of the money they earn goes to these water merchant groups.

Purifying water doesn’t cost much.

Energy in the wasteland era is still relatively abundant, and the use of nuclear energy can produce a large amount of pure water, but the technology is completely monopolized by the chaebol groups. Ordinary people don’t have the technology to do such a thing.

This is equivalent to paying a full 600 yuan water bill out of a monthly salary of 3,000 yuan.

The residents here have a very bad attitude towards the water merchant group, but they have no way to deal with them because there is no other place to get clean water except them. At the same time, the power of the chaebol group is also quite large, and they have a large number of thugs under their command, which is almost at the level of regular army.

Water monopoly is indeed a lucrative business.

Because it is a necessity for survival, the top chaebol groups control the business of medicines, arms, etc., and the groups below are these united water merchants.

Their exploitation is not excessive, but it has significantly increased the cost of living for everyone.

Su Ziyu didn't intend to meddle in other people's business.

Such things were common in the wasteland. He took a few glances and then turned to go to the bar.

Make money first.

By the way, collect some information to see how much the wasteland world has changed over the years.

I don't know if the Brotherhood still exists?

Su Ziyu gave them the bionic technology back then, but it seems that ordinary people are still using mechanical prostheses now, and bionic technology has not become popular. However, many people have heard of this technology.

----——