After Gris left Outpost Town, with quickened steps, he hurried towards the Los Angeles suburbs.
The cold touch in his arms and the tinkling of metal made him feel warm and fuzzy inside. The thought of another reward waiting for him made him so excited that he almost wanted to sing. If he counted the deposit he received earlier and the payment from the mysterious man, his assets now exceeded 1,000 bottle caps.
After so many years of picking up rubbish in California, it was the first time he has seen so many bottle caps. If he didn’t really understand the meaning of the word getting rich overnight, now he had experienced firsthand what it feels like.
He already planned out how he would spend the money.
When he received the last sum from the mysterious man, he would first go to the Golden Cave in Liberty City to spend two days as a rich man, and then take the remaining money to the weapon shop to exchange for some top-notch equipment. He would become a mercenary or hunter, which was much more promising than being a scavenger.
To be honest, the mysterious employer did not offer a huge reward, at least compared with the generous Chinese, he could only be described as stingy. But even so, it was still two hundred bottle caps, and it was enough to buy his already not high professional ethics.
After all, no one would mind more money.
Although Gris’ excitement was beyond renewed, he still maintained the most basic vigilance. He did not walk in a straight line but made a few turns around the alleys in the suburbs.
No one was more familiar with Los Angeles than a scavenger. The paths he took would hardly encounter dangerous mutants. However, if people accidentally took a wrong take, they could very well end up in Death Claws’ territory, and those cruel monsters would take care of the stupid stalkers…
If there were any.
The meeting point was in an abandoned movie theater, and the poster at the entrance was a new movie released on a summer day in 2171.
He went straight to the main entrance of the theater, reached out and tapped rhythmically on the dilapidated mahogany door three times.
Soon, there was the sound of footsteps behind the mahogany door, and it was followed by a light creak. The door opened and let him in.
There were yellowing brochures scattered on the ground. Behind the mahogany door was a dusty red carpet, and the gold-rimmed guardrail was drooped with red silk studded with wool. Four soldiers in kinetic skeletons were standing on both sides of the entrance to the theater. Gris hesitated for a moment, then retracted his left hand into his sleeve that was calmly holding the fuse of a smoke bomb and walked nervously towards the theater.
“How did things go?” The man in the back seat of the movie theater slowly spoke in a frequency-converted voice. He wore a jet-black kinetic skeleton.
“I’ve pointed them the way to the Grand Canyon,” Gris extended his right hand as he walked to the man, “Then like what we agreed on, where is my reward?”
The man smiled and beckoned to the air next to him.
Almost at the same time, a layer of faint ripples broke out in the transparent air, and a jet-black figure stepped out from behind the ripples and appeared abruptly behind the man.
This scene shocked Gris. Although he had heard of optical invisibility, it was the first time he saw it with his own eyes.
Gris vigilantly watched the man that appeared out of thin air. The hand that held onto the smoke bomb fuse already began to sweat. If this group of people was going to kill him, he wouldn’t even have a chance to fight back.
Fortunately, these people did not intend to kill him. The man did not show a muzzle or a dagger, but a pocket-sized bottle cap box.
“The reward is here,” Captain Gerrard pointed to the box in the hands of his subordinate, and said with a smile, “There are ten large bottle caps in total. If I remember correctly, this large bottle cap can be exchanged for twenty normal caps.”
Gris gulped down, reached out, and took the box. He quickly opened the lid and took a glance inside, then stuffed it into his pocket.
“Generally speaking, this is the case. Although, we use the small battle cap more,” Gris forced a smile after taking two steps back nonchalantly, “Then… now that my task has been completed, I won’t bother you here anymore.”
“Don’t leave in a hurry yet,” Gerrard said unhurriedly after he stopped Gris, who had already turned around, “I have another task for you.”
Gris stopped, turned around, grinned reluctantly, and forced out a few words.
“What task? Seriously, I still suggest you find someone else…”
“Don’t worry, this task should be easy for you.”
Gerrard opened his mouth and was about to say something when the dazzling flame burst from the bottle cap box in front of Gris’s chest. There was no time to react. Gris, who was in the center of the explosion, was blown into a bloody mist mixed with flying caps and shrapnel that covered the entire area.
At almost the same time, there were loud gunshots being exchanged outside the theater.
Even though they were wearing kinetic skeletons, the four soldiers at the door were forced to retreat inside due to the fierce firepower of the attackers, and along with several other soldiers, they pulled away, got under cover, and fired back with their rifles.
“FU*K!”
Gerrard, who was caught off guard, shook his head and struggled to get up from the ground, he cursed fiercely. Before another wave of bullets arrived, he quickly jumped down and hid behind the chair.
The man in black who had stood next to him before had disguised his figure at some point. He walked around to the entrance of the theater from the side.
The bullet shells clinked when they fell to the ground; and more bullets whizzed in from the entrance.
Gerrard drew his pistol and pressed the trigger at the mercenaries at the door, but he was quickly forced back by the heavy firepower. He cussed under his breath, turned on the EP screen on his left arm, and quickly set the target of the automatic machine gun.
Dadadadada!
The violent gunfire burst was like heavy hail that smashed on the ground.
The four barrels destroyed the ceiling and unleashed fierce firepower toward the entrance of the theater. The two mercenaries were immediately torn to pieces by the overwhelming rain of bullets, and another mercenary on his last breath was dragged back behind cover by his companion.
“FU*K, their firepower is too strong!”
“We must knock out their automatic machine guns! We won’t be able to get in! Sh*t!”
“Let me try!” While he used the tablet to set the drone’s attack target, the mercenary crouching at the door gritted his teeth and threw the sensor into the theater.
The sensor rolling to the center of the theater suddenly stopped, and the invisible infrared light flickered, but there was no marked target. The kinetic skeleton coated with infrared absorption layer made the customized equipment designed by survivors for building combats completely useless. Not only that, the thermal grenade could not even lock onto targets, and could only be used as a regular grenade.
The mercenaries had the advantage in number, but their equipment was not comparable at all.
The kinetic skeletons brought these soldiers a huge advantage. Even among the dense bullets, the well-trained soldiers were obviously more comfortable than the mercenaries with outdated equipment. However, these mercenaries were also a force to be reckoned with. The fact that they could live through the perilous wasteland until now proved that they were also war machines.
The scale of victory began to lean towards the mercenaries hired by NAC. After paying the price of six deaths and two injuries, two more soldiers were shot to death, leaving only six or seven people stuck in the theater.
Not long after, another soldier fell.
The mercenary holding a semi-automatic sniper rifle yelled in excitement and was about to brag to the comrades behind him about his headshot accuracy. However, when he turned his head and was about to hide behind cover, a blood stain appeared on his throat without warning.
He only felt coldness around his throat. Before he could say a word, he watched his neck drift away from his body in the horrified expression of everyone…
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