Chapter.5 Inside Out (6)
***
That triumphant smile. It moved in a straight line to where I was. These guys knew I was here and came to see me.
‘If the search skills of the Vex I saw in Area 45 are enough to retrieve the traces I erased.’
But if you’re going to follow me like this, wouldn’t it be okay if you came with me from the hospital?’
“Hehehe. It’s a face that says I don’t know what’s going on. Just get on it. “It’s a bit far to Area 47, so I’ll explain as we go.”
“Area 47? “Can you guys… follow me home?”
“okay. You probably don’t want to walk around the wasteland for over 20 hours eating dust, do you? “Don’t talk nonsense, just get on.”
“Oh yeah. thanks.”
“hey! wait for a sec! “I’ll ride with you!”
“Get out of here, old man. “There is no space.”
“There is none! Three guys like me could fit between the seats! The sandstorm is getting worse anyway, so the buggy with all the holes in it can’t keep up. Let’s tow that behind and ride together. “I already hung it up behind me.”
“Write. The speed is dropping. “Why don’t we just eat some sand and ride?”
Bex raised her middle finger at Ian, who frowned, and pushed herself into the passenger seat.
“Hey Bex. See you again.”
“Kihi! “It’s good to see you often, Hepburn.”
Bex greeted the professor and took a seat between the driver’s seat and the passenger seat. Since it is such a large vehicle, it felt like there was still room even for three people to sit down.
“Isn’t it more fun for the three of us to go like this?”
“That’s right. Hey professor, you know the basics, right? “The guy in the passenger seat is talking.”
“These kids have been talking about…”
Buaaaaang!
“no? If you don’t like it, do it by majority vote. “Following a long tradition, the person sitting in the passenger seat must keep the driver entertained to prevent drowsy driving.”
“One more vote in Bex’s name.”
“…Gross bastards live together and get hit hard.”
The Raptor armored truck carrying three people disappeared into the sandstorm with a powerful engine sound.
***
Three people were talking in a car connected like a train in a sandstorm with no vision in sight.
“But since when did you start driving Becks? “I told you last time that you can’t drive in the bomb shelter in Area 45.”
“Hehehe. Of course I taught it. “My friend can’t even drive. I can’t stand that!”
“dog sound! “How can you give driving lessons by kidnapping a sleeping person and tying them to the driver’s seat of a car with the brakes pulled out and the accelerator fully secured!”
“So you only put in 30 minutes’ worth of fuel! “Thanks to you, I can now drive like this!”
“Thanks to that, the car stopped with a lot of nearby mutants following the sound of the car!”
“So you saved me!”
“Why do something that saves you!”
Wow! Wow!
Quack! Quack!
‘They’re playing well among themselves.’
[fun! It’s fun!!!]
I think it’s been about a week since we parted ways with these guys in Area 45, and so much has happened in that time that even if I throw out some random stuff, the story doesn’t end.
“Would you like some Hepburn peanuts?”
“Oh what peanuts? “Is it preserved food?”
“It’s not ours. I killed about six guys who attacked me while I was doing business, and it came out of their pockets. “I threw away the beef jerky and only brought this.”
Oh no, no, no.
As the unique sweet and savory taste of nuts filled my mouth in a noisy atmosphere, it really felt like the three of us were on a picnic.
Since we’re in the sandstorm, there’s no risk of being attacked. The atmosphere was suitably warm. I guess I can ask a question now.
“So why did I suddenly follow you? They said the two of them had something to do so they would go first. To be honest, my pride was a bit hurt. “I thought I was quite adept at living in the wasteland, but I can’t believe I was so easily trampled on.”
“Ah, anyway, the way people look at things is different from someone who lives in a shelter and a former scavenger who used to roll around in the wasteland. “The traces that were erased were very noticeable.”
Even as Bex said that, she kept smiling as if she was proud.
“Well, that’s right. Even though I looked at it, I didn’t know what it was. What I said I was going to do was no big deal. “I just stopped by where I used to live to pack up some luggage.”
“load?”
“okay. The reason I did business in District 43 was because it was an area with a lot of conflict. “Do you know what District 43 is famous for?”
The professor recalled stories he had seen in local conversations. I think I’ve heard a lot about this… What was it?
[Let’s see… Isn’t this it? ‘Area 43 is an area where the steel industry was active, so a few factory facilities remain. ‘It is a land where gunfire is constant 24 hours a day, where disputes between groups often occur to occupy it, and dead people become mutants and wander around, kill those mutants and make a living from the by-products, and other mercenaries and scavengers gather.’ What?]
‘Thank you.’
They say people store fleeting memories in their subconscious, and it seemed like Hyde could read memories that I had forgotten in that way. Aside from being dangerous, this guy is really convenient, right?
“I guess the steel factory is famous?”
When the professor repeated exactly what Hyde had recited, Ian responded to the professor’s words with a somewhat surprised expression.
“You know better than you think, right? Usually, people think of it as an area where a lot of people die and the corpses take off the equipment they are carrying and eat it. Anyway, it’s an area with a lot of varieties to kill and a lot of people to kill, so it’s the perfect area for a spice dealer like me to do business. But recently, this too has faded a bit. One of the factory facilities that was still alive came to a complete halt again, and now it was no longer possible to earn a living while risking one’s life to protect the steel factory. “The group that dominated District 43 is shaking its butt, and it seems like District 43 is slowly drying up.”
Wow! Wow.
Ian said, taking a handful of peanuts from the bag Bex was holding and putting them in his mouth.
“It’s common for guys like that to make a big fuss when they leave. I bet you were drooling because you wanted to stick your gun up my egg-filled butt. That’s why I backed out in advance.”
“I stopped that idiot who was taking out gunpowder from the warehouse to kill them all. There’s no reason to fight, right? Even if you somehow win, if you use up everything you have, it’s a loss. So I stopped him. Let’s live or die by hanging on.”
“The world is truly amazing no matter where you go…”
Doing business is really not easy. “Especially in this crazy world, it’s common for customers to turn into robbers in an instant.”
“So are you taking this opportunity to move? To another area?”
“okay. Fortunately, Metal Joe’s spices are not defective and are rumored to be powerful, so there is a considerable demand in other regions as well. In the meantime, I couldn’t sell it because I couldn’t make a profit due to the price of oil. “There was a customer who said he was buying big, so I’m going to use this opportunity to cash in and settle in a new area.”
“Well… there are no windy days in the wasteland. So where are you going to settle down? “If it’s near Area 47, I can tell you.”
“Oh really? Are you thankful for that? “I really needed your help already.”
“Are you sure you want to come towards us? It’s good for me. I’ll be able to see you often in the future. So what are you thinking about?”
The professor felt his heart flutter. Honestly, it’s fun to be with these guys. Even though Area 47 is a bit large, you can see them often if they are within the same area. It would be nice to meet up sometimes, talk about what’s going on in the world, and have a drink if we can find a good drink.
Ian smiled brightly as he faced the professor who was looking at him expectantly.
“Your house.”
“….huh?”
“We are going to move into your house and live there.”
“What the fuck?”
[Oh yeah!]
The professor’s mind, which was full of happy imaginations, suddenly turned into a mess.
***
“no way. “Our house is so small that there’s no room for two more people.”
“That’s what you’re saying, of course we don’t live in the same shelter.”
“Whew. Then yes. Then where-”
“Right next to your house. I carry the generator and all the other necessary equipment, so all I have to do is buy a prefabricated shelter kit. Even a medium-sized shelter only takes about two weeks to build.”
“Either that or that! This place of residence cannot be seen as just living next door!”
We should not think of it in terms of the standards before the destruction. It would be better to move into the house and live together. If a new shelter is built next to our house, a very serious problem will arise.
“Just in case, do you have a large hiding place or something?”
“There are no small ones. Is there any need to use electricity and live in hiding? All you have to do is kill them all.”
“Oh my god…”
The shelter is not made in a hemispherical shape for nothing. That is because the structure of the cloaking field and shield generator is optimally efficient. In particular, the cloaking field generator is a very sensitive item, and it is sensitive to other cloaking fields and shields around it. If there is a generator, the waves overlap and it cannot do its job. If you use several small ones, they will interfere with each other and cannot be used. When the survival area expands, you need to use something like a medium-sized large cloaking field with high output, but they say it is not available over there, so it cannot be used here either. “ Did
you know everything about the relationships between the forces in Area 47? This is where the city of the Dome is located. When two or more shelters gather, they are treated as a ‘group’ and from then on, the Dome’s scouts mark them frequently. Concealment area. “I can’t use it, so I can’t stay hidden.”
“Then, we can start a group and work as a group, right? There’s already a known name. It’s called HIV.”
“We killed Raptor and Dom under that name. Do you want to see a mortar falling on your head?”
“aha!”
“Aha! Unlike 43, District 47 is a place where peace is maintained even though it is the largest area in the area! Could that peace be maintained by chance? Of course, there are complicated dynamics! No, you guys are doing business. “Are they thinking of moving here without doing any market research?”
Sigh-
“That’s because I didn’t think about it. I’ll do business with you.”
As I complained in shock, Bex, who had been listening quietly in the background, joined in the conversation:
“Actually, most of them are just excuses, like business or something.”
“No, old man, if you tell me that…”
“If we keep going like this, I’m going to have a really hard time, so let’s just tell it all. Hepburn, I had a separate talk with Old Man Woojin after you left the doctor’s office, and he said he didn’t think it would be good to leave you alone. “A conclusion has been reached.”
“Me? Why?”
“Why, dude. They say you’re crazy. They say that mental illness gets worse when you’re alone. Since I don’t have anyone to talk to, I mutter to myself and get crazy like Vex. Then, I go even further and hallucinate, and sometimes my personality splits like you. Next to me. “It’s much better to have someone to talk to.”
“So you changed your business base to take care of just me?”
“No, did this guy hear what I said earlier? I had to leave because something happened, but my friend was so weak that he couldn’t even hold a spoon and was drooling and needed help with his illness, so I came to live next door. “The idea was to help.”
While Ian was saying this with a slightly red face, Bex took out a fairly large needle-free injection cartridge and the main body from his pocket and showed it to him.
“I also asked you, old man Woojin. I will give you this, so think of it as a mercenary job and go help yourself. This much.” “Then it will be enough to cover the request fee.”
The cartridge that Vex was holding in his hand looked familiar. It was something that even the members of the 14th Special Operations Division carried around at least once during the Great War.
“Revival kit?”
“Yes. It is a top-class doping drug from the old era that guarantees at least 4 hours of full-scale action per injection no matter what kind of injury you receive as long as your head and heart do not explode. In fact, it is good to think of it as an extra life, but during the Great War, it was used to the bottom. “It is an item whose supply is extremely short compared to the demand because it is scraped up and used up. It is too expensive to pay for caring for a friend when he is sick.” “The
old man thought of you a lot.”
“The old man did something useless…”
The professor sighed as the atmosphere became more serious. People who call me friends come to me by pulling up the roots of the pillars of the house to help me, and a gentleman who I thought was just a close friend is asking me for help while stealing money. Unless you’re a cold-blooded psychopathic person, how can you refuse this? Without my knowledge, they had already made it a fait accompli.
The professor said, unable to bear the disgusting faces of Bex and Ian, whose eyes were shining like kittens.
“…Let’s go first. “Let’s go eat and talk.”
“Yesssss!”
“HIV! HIV! HIV!”
“I will never use that kind of crappy name, so I know that!”
[Oh yes! Full of interesting people!]
“Oh my gosh, you two…”
The professor buried his head in his hands as he looked at the two, no, three idiots who had no idea how complex they would have to go through in order to live together from now on.
Of course, I couldn’t help but chuckle and laugh through my deeply sunken face. Oh, I don’t know. It’s not me. Hyde must be laughing.
***
