Refugee camp.
In a shabby shack.
Looking at the old man lying on the stretcher, Tom took a deep breath, finally made up his mind, and slowly stretched out his right hand.
There was a pause.
At the pulse of his right hand, a silver scalpel slowly stretched out, and it didn't stop until it was an inch longer than the middle finger.
The scalpel bends down slowly, like the forelimbs of a praying mantis. Looking carefully, there are four silver threads around the scalpel, hanging in the air like tentacles and slowly fluttering.
Looking at the young man's right hand, the old man curled up on the stretcher looked terrified and tremblingly wanted to ask, but he didn't dare to speak.
"Don't be afraid, I will help you treat the wound."
After reassuring the old man, Tom concentrated all his energy on the surgery.
Anesthesia injection. Then comes disinfection.
I saw the five fingers of his right hand trembling up and down flexibly and deftly, manipulating the scalpel and silver wire hanging under the palm.
It's like manipulating a marionette!
The scalpel precisely avoided the nerves and blood vessels in the muscle tissue, carefully cut off the necrotic part, and skillfully threaded and bandaged it with silver wire, leaving only the slender threads like spider silk.
The whole set of movements is smooth and flowing!
Tom stared with bated breath, with a high degree of concentration, fine sweat oozing from his forehead, and even the frequency of breathing was carefully controlled.
Under his precise control and operation, the resection and bandaging of necrotic tissue were carried out almost simultaneously, and the amount of blood loss during the whole operation was minimal.
The operation lasted an hour.
After cutting off all the necrotic tissue, Tom finally heaved a sigh of relief, raised his left hand, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.
Then, he took out a small tube of spray from his pocket, sprayed it carefully on his right hand several times, and then slowly retracted the protruding scalpel and silver wire into the bionic prosthesis.
Almost at the same time, a strange voice came from behind him.
"Amazing technology... Is this a bionic prosthesis for medical use?"
Tom was startled, and turned around suddenly, only to see a man wearing an exoskeleton standing at the door, looking at him with interest.
He was so focused on the operation just now that he didn't even notice that someone came in.
Tom was nervous and hid his right hand behind his back, even though he soon realized that this was no different from trying to cover up.
Putting down his arms, Lucius said in a chatty tone with a friendly expression on his face.
"Don't be nervous, I'll just ask casually... Are you a doctor?"
"..."
Tom's face was full of hesitation.
Seeing his expression, Lucius knew that there were many things hidden in this guy, and he was probably racking his brains to make up stories at the moment, thinking of ways to fool himself.
Why bother? Grandpa will not eat you again.
Too lazy to listen to this guy's story full of loopholes, Lucius looked at him and said bluntly.
"I am the manager of Shelter 404, and I am also the lord here. If you need help, or have ideas to improve your living conditions, you can go to Lex or Luka, and they will bring you to see me .”
"I will give a job opportunity to someone who is capable, but only if he is honest enough."
After finishing speaking, Lucius didn't stay here any longer, turned around and walked out the door.
Looking at the closed door, Tom slowly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense shoulders also relaxed.
At this time, a weak voice came from the stretcher behind him.
"Thank you, lad."
Just now, the old man had already woken up, but there was a big man here, so he didn't dare to interrupt.
Tom looked back at the old man, forced a smile on his face, and said in a soothing tone.
"You're welcome, are you feeling better?"
"It's much better..." The old man nodded, and after reading the atmosphere here, he whispered sheepishly, "I'm sorry to bother you."
"It's okay." Tom shook his head.
Human life is important, and these people have helped me a lot.
If it was a person, he would not be able to get here at all, nor would he be able to escape the pursuit of the bounty hunter.
The old man sat up on the stretcher and wanted to walk on the ground, but his legs still hurt, so he gave up after trying a few times.
At this time, a man came in from outside the shack. Seeing the old man's appearance, he quickly stepped forward and reached out to support him.
"Dad, are you feeling better?"
The old man stretched a smile on his face, nodded and said.
"I feel much better... Thanks to this young man, if he encounters any trouble in the future, you have to help him."
Harber turned around to look at Tom, and said sincerely.
"Brother, thank you very much! My name is Harber, you saved my father's life, if there is something useful, just tell me."
Tom shook his head, saying that you're welcome, and didn't take this promise that was thinner than paper to heart.
If only it were that easy.
His troubles are not something any wastelander can solve.
Watching the father and son leaving the shack, Tom sat on a chair beside him, looked at the ceiling and sighed.
"Sigh... Just, let me go please……"
...
"There is a doctor in the refugee camp. Don't worry about the plague. He seems to be a warm-hearted person. Let him handle it."
"Also, let Lex keep an eye on him, but don't bother him intentionally, let alone take the initiative to ask him questions, and don't make him feel that he is being taken care of. If he behaves suspiciously, report it to me immediately."
After leaving the shack, Lucius found Old Luka and explained the matter to him.
"Alright my lord, leave this matter to me!"
Old Luka nodded seriously, keeping this matter firmly in his heart.
Shelter 404 has not yet fully established a relationship of trust with these refugees, so it is natural to be on guard. In this case, it is not possible to act too hastily.
Lucius was not in a hurry to pry out the secrets of that person, nor was he in a hurry to invite him to come here.
In the icy and snowy weather, can people still run away?
After all, what he asked was a bit coercive, so it's better to wait for him to think clearly and confess to himself.
After leaving the refugee camp, Lucius was planning to inspect the labor reform of the prisoners of war.
But at this moment, dense gunshots suddenly came from the north of the refugee camp.
Listen to the sound, it's about 1 km away from here.
And it seemed that the battle was very intense. Lucius even heard the explosion of the earthen grenade that Mosquito was sitting on.
Without any panic in his heart, Lucius immediately edited a task through the VM and sent it to the players' devices within the designated area of the map without saying a word.
[ Task: Players within 1 km of the map point should immediately go to the target area for support. ]
[ Requirement: Keep at least one prisoner. ]
[ Reward: 10 silver coins, 10 contributions, 50 regional reputations. ]
From the sound of the gunshots, it was estimated that there were only four or five shots.
After staying in the wasteland for a long time, guessing the number of people by listening to gunshots can be said to be basic practice. It is unrealistic to guess completely, but there is no problem in guessing the upper limit.
According to the display on the VM map, there were at least thirty players in the area where the conflict occurred, and they were basically old players.
Lucius was very relieved to hand it over to them.
...
Unlike Lucius, Eugene's feeling is terrible at this moment.
Originally a very simple task, if the situation is optimistic, it can be completed in three months, but the result is that the group of pig teammates tricked it into what it is now.
If he had known this would happen, he might as well act alone. But complaining doesn't seem to make any sense now.
Less than ten minutes after the gunfire sounded, he and his teammates were surrounded by at least 30 people. The dense gunfire came from all directions, and they couldn't even raise their heads.
Eugene saw with his own eyes that the mercenary who shot first was beaten into a sieve together with his pet dog. As for the other three people, they were all killed one by one during the resistance.
Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, he immediately dropped the weapon in his hand and surrendered without any hesitation.
The men roughly bound his hands, dumped him on a truck and dragged him behind the concrete wall, into a spacious room, and pinned him to the ground.
A man wearing a blue exoskeleton sat in the room, looked him up and down with scrutiny, and said.
"Predator?"
Eugene didn't answer right away, his head turned quickly, thinking about how to get out of here.
However, the man wearing the exoskeleton didn't seem very patient. Seeing that he didn't speak, he waved his hand impatiently.
"If you don't say it, just drag it down and deal with it."
Anyway, the equipment on this person doesn't look very valuable, and he probably isn't someone with any background.
Wrench standing next to Lucius didn't talk nonsense, and immediately stepped forward, grabbed the captive by the collar, and dragged him outside.
Seeing this battle, Eugene panicked immediately, and struggled to speak.
"I am not a predator, I, my name is Eugene, and I am a mercenary! My lord, I have no malice."
"No malice?" Signaling Wrench to stop, Lucius looked at him with interest and said, "You mean, that shuttle went off?"
The initial contact guidelines of shelter 404 are not to actively attack NPC units in neutral areas, but neutral units that actively fire are allowed to fight back in any form.
VM is not only a vital sign monitor, but also has the function of action recording. Although there is no video, it is easy to determine who did it first through clues such as gunshots and audio recordings.
Lucius was very curious about how this guy was going to explain it.
Being stared at by that gaze, Eugene felt the creeps in his heart, and said hastily.
"That was a misunderstanding, I didn't fire the gun... I and those people are just commissioned cooperation!"
"Entrustment?" Staring at him with scrutiny, Lucius continued to ask, "What entrustment?"
Not daring to hide anything, Eugene hastily confessed.
"It was commissioned by the academy."
Hearing this unexpected word, Lucius froze for a moment, but he didn't show it on his face, but stared at him and continued to interrogate him.
"Go on."
Eugene swallowed, and continued speaking quickly.
"About three months ago... I received a commission from the academy. They wanted us to help hunt down a defected prospector. We followed the clues provided by the employer and tracked it all the way to the River Valley Province. If there is no accident , we were supposed to catch him last month, but by chance, we ran into the rout of the legion, and let that guy get mixed into a group of refugees by chance."
"Does the traitor you mentioned have a bionic prosthetic body?" Lucius asked thoughtfully.
Eugene's eyes lit up and he nodded quickly.
"That's right! It should be him! The commission asks us to bring him back to the Wandering Swamp, or at least his arm. If you will give him to me, I can give you a five-five-no, four-six for a bounty! You are six, I am four!"
It's okay to divide me 60%.
Holding back his laughter, Lucius looked at him and said.
"How much bounty did the academy give you?"
Thinking that Lucius was moved by his proposal, Eugene hurriedly continued.
"5000CR! There were six of us, but now it's just the two of us."
Lucius looked at him unexpectedly and asked.
"CR? Why would the academy pay the bills with corporate money."
"It's not the college that pays with the company's money, my lord, it's us mercenaries who only accept the company's CR, or the legion's dinar." Eugene explained helplessly, "You should know that the currency in every place is different. Different, I’ve even seen bullet casings and bottle caps being traded.”
Although the banknotes of the enterprise are seriously inflated far away from the east coast, a rifle that sells for 300 CR on the east coast can be sold for 600 or even 800 CR in the valley province, but even so is better than those currencies with strong regional colors.
Lucius touched his chin and thought.
Only 5000CR. In this way, it should not be an important fugitive.
If it was a reward of 500,000 CR, Lucius might have to consider the "Diplomatic risk" of keeping him. But as far as this point of reward is concerned, 80% of them will be a "Net escapee", and the B-level wanted person is probably not enough.
But such a big matter, that person actually kept it from him.
The boy is dishonest.
Lucius's heart moved slightly, and he looked at Wrench waiting aside.
"Go to the refugee camp, find a man named Tom, and bring him to me."
"Yes, my lord." Wrench nodded in acceptance, and immediately walked out the door.
Didn't have to wait long.
Wrench quickly brought the person Lucius wanted to see.
Seeing Eugene in the room, Tom's expression changed instantly, he turned around and wanted to leave, but just as he turned around, he was stopped by a wrench standing at the door.
When Eugene saw Tom, surprise appeared on his face, and he hurriedly said loudly.
"My lord, it is he—"
"Shut up."
Lucius signaled Eugene to close his mouth with his eyes, then looked at the young man with fear in his eyes, and said.
"Do you have to explain something to me?"
A bitter expression appeared on Tom's face, and he lowered his head.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hide my identity from you..."
Lucius looked at him and asked.
"Are you from the academy?"
Tom nodded.
But soon, his eyes dimmed, and he shook his head again.
"It was half a year ago, but it's not anymore."
Refugee camp.
In a shabby shack.
Looking at the old man lying on the stretcher, Tom took a deep breath, finally made up his mind, and slowly stretched out his right hand.
There was a pause.
At the pulse of his right hand, a silver scalpel slowly stretched out, and it didn't stop until it was an inch longer than the middle finger.
The scalpel bends down slowly, like the forelimbs of a praying mantis. Looking carefully, there are four silver threads around the scalpel, hanging in the air like tentacles and slowly fluttering.
Looking at the young man's right hand, the old man curled up on the stretcher looked terrified and tremblingly wanted to ask, but he didn't dare to speak.
"Don't be afraid, I will help you treat the wound."
After reassuring the old man, Tom concentrated all his energy on the surgery.
Anesthesia injection. Then comes disinfection.
I saw the five fingers of his right hand trembling up and down flexibly and deftly, manipulating the scalpel and silver wire hanging under the palm.
It's like manipulating a marionette!
The scalpel precisely avoided the nerves and blood vessels in the muscle tissue, carefully cut off the necrotic part, and skillfully threaded and bandaged it with silver wire, leaving only the slender threads like spider silk.
The whole set of movements is smooth and flowing!
Tom stared with bated breath, with a high degree of concentration, fine sweat oozing from his forehead, and even the frequency of breathing was carefully controlled.
Under his precise control and operation, the resection and bandaging of necrotic tissue were carried out almost simultaneously, and the amount of blood loss during the whole operation was minimal.
The operation lasted an hour.
After cutting off all the necrotic tissue, Tom finally heaved a sigh of relief, raised his left hand, and wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.
Then, he took out a small tube of spray from his pocket, sprayed it carefully on his right hand several times, and then slowly retracted the protruding scalpel and silver wire into the bionic prosthesis.
Almost at the same time, a strange voice came from behind him.
"Amazing technology... Is this a bionic prosthesis for medical use?"
Tom was startled, and turned around suddenly, only to see a man wearing an exoskeleton standing at the door, looking at him with interest.
He was so focused on the operation just now that he didn't even notice that someone came in.
Tom was nervous and hid his right hand behind his back, even though he soon realized that this was no different from trying to cover up.
Putting down his arms, Lucius said in a chatty tone with a friendly expression on his face.
"Don't be nervous, I'll just ask casually... Are you a doctor?"
"..."
Tom's face was full of hesitation.
Seeing his expression, Lucius knew that there were many things hidden in this guy, and he was probably racking his brains to make up stories at the moment, thinking of ways to fool himself.
Why bother? Grandpa will not eat you again.
Too lazy to listen to this guy's story full of loopholes, Lucius looked at him and said bluntly.
"I am the manager of Shelter 404, and I am also the lord here. If you need help, or have ideas to improve your living conditions, you can go to Lex or Luka, and they will bring you to see me .”
"I will give a job opportunity to someone who is capable, but only if he is honest enough."
After finishing speaking, Lucius didn't stay here any longer, turned around and walked out the door.
Looking at the closed door, Tom slowly breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense shoulders also relaxed.
At this time, a weak voice came from the stretcher behind him.
"Thank you, lad."
Just now, the old man had already woken up, but there was a big man here, so he didn't dare to interrupt.
Tom looked back at the old man, forced a smile on his face, and said in a soothing tone.
"You're welcome, are you feeling better?"
"It's much better..." The old man nodded, and after reading the atmosphere here, he whispered sheepishly, "I'm sorry to bother you."
"It's okay." Tom shook his head.
Human life is important, and these people have helped me a lot.
If it was a person, he would not be able to get here at all, nor would he be able to escape the pursuit of the bounty hunter.
The old man sat up on the stretcher and wanted to walk on the ground, but his legs still hurt, so he gave up after trying a few times.
At this time, a man came in from outside the shack. Seeing the old man's appearance, he quickly stepped forward and reached out to support him.
"Dad, are you feeling better?"
The old man stretched a smile on his face, nodded and said.
"I feel much better... Thanks to this young man, if he encounters any trouble in the future, you have to help him."
Harber turned around to look at Tom, and said sincerely.
"Brother, thank you very much! My name is Harber, you saved my father's life, if there is something useful, just tell me."
Tom shook his head, saying that you're welcome, and didn't take this promise that was thinner than paper to heart.
If only it were that easy.
His troubles are not something any wastelander can solve.
Watching the father and son leaving the shack, Tom sat on a chair beside him, looked at the ceiling and sighed.
"Sigh... Just, let me go please……"
...
"There is a doctor in the refugee camp. Don't worry about the plague. He seems to be a warm-hearted person. Let him handle it."
"Also, let Lex keep an eye on him, but don't bother him intentionally, let alone take the initiative to ask him questions, and don't make him feel that he is being taken care of. If he behaves suspiciously, report it to me immediately."
After leaving the shack, Lucius found Old Luka and explained the matter to him.
"Alright my lord, leave this matter to me!"
Old Luka nodded seriously, keeping this matter firmly in his heart.
Shelter 404 has not yet fully established a relationship of trust with these refugees, so it is natural to be on guard. In this case, it is not possible to act too hastily.
Lucius was not in a hurry to pry out the secrets of that person, nor was he in a hurry to invite him to come here.
In the icy and snowy weather, can people still run away?
After all, what he asked was a bit coercive, so it's better to wait for him to think clearly and confess to himself.
After leaving the refugee camp, Lucius was planning to inspect the labor reform of the prisoners of war.
But at this moment, dense gunshots suddenly came from the north of the refugee camp.
Listen to the sound, it's about 1 km away from here.
And it seemed that the battle was very intense. Lucius even heard the explosion of the earthen grenade that Mosquito was sitting on.
Without any panic in his heart, Lucius immediately edited a task through the VM and sent it to the players' devices within the designated area of the map without saying a word.
[ Task: Players within 1 km of the map point should immediately go to the target area for support. ]
[ Requirement: Keep at least one prisoner. ]
[ Reward: 10 silver coins, 10 contributions, 50 regional reputations. ]
From the sound of the gunshots, it was estimated that there were only four or five shots.
After staying in the wasteland for a long time, guessing the number of people by listening to gunshots can be said to be basic practice. It is unrealistic to guess completely, but there is no problem in guessing the upper limit.
According to the display on the VM map, there were at least thirty players in the area where the conflict occurred, and they were basically old players.
Lucius was very relieved to hand it over to them.
...
Unlike Lucius, Eugene's feeling is terrible at this moment.
Originally a very simple task, if the situation is optimistic, it can be completed in three months, but the result is that the group of pig teammates tricked it into what it is now.
If he had known this would happen, he might as well act alone. But complaining doesn't seem to make any sense now.
Less than ten minutes after the gunfire sounded, he and his teammates were surrounded by at least 30 people. The dense gunfire came from all directions, and they couldn't even raise their heads.
Eugene saw with his own eyes that the mercenary who shot first was beaten into a sieve together with his pet dog. As for the other three people, they were all killed one by one during the resistance.
Seeing that there was no hope of breaking through, he immediately dropped the weapon in his hand and surrendered without any hesitation.
The men roughly bound his hands, dumped him on a truck and dragged him behind the concrete wall, into a spacious room, and pinned him to the ground.
A man wearing a blue exoskeleton sat in the room, looked him up and down with scrutiny, and said.
"Predator?"
Eugene didn't answer right away, his head turned quickly, thinking about how to get out of here.
However, the man wearing the exoskeleton didn't seem very patient. Seeing that he didn't speak, he waved his hand impatiently.
"If you don't say it, just drag it down and deal with it."
Anyway, the equipment on this person doesn't look very valuable, and he probably isn't someone with any background.
Wrench standing next to Lucius didn't talk nonsense, and immediately stepped forward, grabbed the captive by the collar, and dragged him outside.
Seeing this battle, Eugene panicked immediately, and struggled to speak.
"I am not a predator, I, my name is Eugene, and I am a mercenary! My lord, I have no malice."
"No malice?" Signaling Wrench to stop, Lucius looked at him with interest and said, "You mean, that shuttle went off?"
The initial contact guidelines of shelter 404 are not to actively attack NPC units in neutral areas, but neutral units that actively fire are allowed to fight back in any form.
VM is not only a vital sign monitor, but also has the function of action recording. Although there is no video, it is easy to determine who did it first through clues such as gunshots and audio recordings.
Lucius was very curious about how this guy was going to explain it.
Being stared at by that gaze, Eugene felt the creeps in his heart, and said hastily.
"That was a misunderstanding, I didn't fire the gun... I and those people are just commissioned cooperation!"
"Entrustment?" Staring at him with scrutiny, Lucius continued to ask, "What entrustment?"
Not daring to hide anything, Eugene hastily confessed.
"It was commissioned by the academy."
Hearing this unexpected word, Lucius froze for a moment, but he didn't show it on his face, but stared at him and continued to interrogate him.
"Go on."
Eugene swallowed, and continued speaking quickly.
"About three months ago... I received a commission from the academy. They wanted us to help hunt down a defected prospector. We followed the clues provided by the employer and tracked it all the way to the River Valley Province. If there is no accident , we were supposed to catch him last month, but by chance, we ran into the rout of the legion, and let that guy get mixed into a group of refugees by chance."
"Does the traitor you mentioned have a bionic prosthetic body?" Lucius asked thoughtfully.
Eugene's eyes lit up and he nodded quickly.
"That's right! It should be him! The commission asks us to bring him back to the Wandering Swamp, or at least his arm. If you will give him to me, I can give you a five-five-no, four-six for a bounty! You are six, I am four!"
It's okay to divide me 60%.
Holding back his laughter, Lucius looked at him and said.
"How much bounty did the academy give you?"
Thinking that Lucius was moved by his proposal, Eugene hurriedly continued.
"5000CR! There were six of us, but now it's just the two of us."
Lucius looked at him unexpectedly and asked.
"CR? Why would the academy pay the bills with corporate money."
"It's not the college that pays with the company's money, my lord, it's us mercenaries who only accept the company's CR, or the legion's dinar." Eugene explained helplessly, "You should know that the currency in every place is different. Different, I’ve even seen bullet casings and bottle caps being traded.”
Although the banknotes of the enterprise are seriously inflated far away from the east coast, a rifle that sells for 300 CR on the east coast can be sold for 600 or even 800 CR in the valley province, but even so is better than those currencies with strong regional colors.
Lucius touched his chin and thought.
Only 5000CR. In this way, it should not be an important fugitive.
If it was a reward of 500,000 CR, Lucius might have to consider the "Diplomatic risk" of keeping him. But as far as this point of reward is concerned, 80% of them will be a "Net escapee", and the B-level wanted person is probably not enough.
But such a big matter, that person actually kept it from him.
The boy is dishonest.
Lucius's heart moved slightly, and he looked at Wrench waiting aside.
"Go to the refugee camp, find a man named Tom, and bring him to me."
"Yes, my lord." Wrench nodded in acceptance, and immediately walked out the door.
Didn't have to wait long.
Wrench quickly brought the person Lucius wanted to see.
Seeing Eugene in the room, Tom's expression changed instantly, he turned around and wanted to leave, but just as he turned around, he was stopped by a wrench standing at the door.
When Eugene saw Tom, surprise appeared on his face, and he hurriedly said loudly.
"My lord, it is he—"
"Shut up."
Lucius signaled Eugene to close his mouth with his eyes, then looked at the young man with fear in his eyes, and said.
"Do you have to explain something to me?"
A bitter expression appeared on Tom's face, and he lowered his head.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hide my identity from you..."
Lucius looked at him and asked.
"Are you from the academy?"
Tom nodded.
But soon, his eyes dimmed, and he shook his head again.
"It was half a year ago, but it's not anymore."
