After paying two helium crystal points, the stall owner moved the lotus futon over to Feng Jun. Since they were on the street, Feng Jun couldn't just put it into his storage space. So he could only carry it himself, but Feng Jun couldn't move such a large piece of gold. Song Peng, who was by his side, cleverly reached out.
"Brother Feng Jun, let me help you with that," Song Peng said, reaching out a hand.
Before Feng Jun could say anything, he saw Song Peng extend his left hand, grasp one corner of the futon, and lift it with one hand.
Seeing Feng Jun's surprise, Song Peng smiled proudly and said, "This is nothing for me. Before the Doomsday, I was a soldier, and I had also received a Gene Agent injection. My strength is naturally greater than that of an average person."
"Are there any side effects after injecting this Gene Agent?" Feng Jun, after seeing how powerful Song Peng was, also wanted to get an injection himself.
"Side effects? I certainly don't have any. That's because Song Zhan and I both received a special version injected in the army before the war. Although future improvements are not significant, it's stable. Do you know why I didn't let you buy the enhancement agents here? That's because after the war, the technological levels in various places varied, and most of what was produced were crude and shoddy defective products. Some even added pre-war forbidden beast-transformation genes. With your current physique, if you inject a defective Gene Agent, you'll either die or turn into a monster." Song Peng easily held the futon in his hand and patted Feng Jun's shoulder with his other hand. "You look rosy and well-fed, so why is your body so thin?"
"Maybe I just don't like exercising," Feng Jun said with an awkward smile.
Before leaving, Feng Jun suddenly remembered that if even the futon he sat on was made of gold, then the statue sitting on it must be even more precious. So he asked the stall owner for the location where the futon was found before leaving, thinking that if he had time in the future, he would go to that temple.
Since he planned to stay in the wasteland in the future, his current strength was definitely not enough. Either he had to find a way to enhance his own strength, or the other method was to find people, or hire people with money. After all, anything Feng Jun brought from the current world, like canned goods, was a hot commodity here. Thinking of this, Feng Jun looked at Song Peng, who had been by his side. From the moment he entered, he had taken great care of him, of course, because Feng Jun had given him canned goods and cigarettes. However, after a day, Feng Jun also felt that this person was more reliable than other people in the wasteland.
Perhaps because he came from the current world, Feng Jun felt more at ease with Song Peng, who had served as a soldier in this world. If possible, he must win over Song Peng and his brother.
The Doomsday's nights fell earlier, and the sky gradually darkened. Song Peng led Feng Jun to a hotel touted as Iron Nail Town's most luxurious, although the words "Iron Nail Town Grand Hotel" were crookedly painted on the entrance. The only upscale aspect was a few guest rooms built with bricks and tiles.
Staying one day cost four helium crystal points, including food and lodging. This price was considered high in Iron Nail Town, as the entry fee to Iron Nail Town was also four helium crystal points. However, this was not a problem for Feng Jun, who generously booked a room for five days. If it weren't for wanting to win over Song Peng and Song Zhan, Feng Jun would have left Iron Nail Town that night, traveled back to the current world to rest for a night, and then paid the entry fee to return the next day after his traversal skill cooled down.
After booking the room, Song Peng originally wanted to go back to find his brother Song Zhan and return to the barracks. However, Feng Jun was determined to win over the two brothers, so he took the opportunity to stop Song Peng and invite them to dinner. Unable to refuse Feng Jun, Song Peng had to agree to go back and call his brother Song Zhan. Feng Jun originally wanted to order a meal directly at the hotel, but after looking at the hotel's menu, he completely lost his appetite.
All the dishes on the menu were exotic delicacies Feng Jun had never seen before. "Mutated Creature meat" was simply listed as "Mutated Creature meat," with no indication of what kind of Mutated Creature it was, but its high price of 3 helium crystal points made it the hotel's signature dish. The remaining dishes, fried field mice and cockroaches mixed with wild vegetables, just by their names, made Feng Jun lose all appetite.
Fortunately, Feng Jun still had a lot of supplies in his storage space. He took out a few cans of beef, plus a few bottles of cola and soda, and placed them on the table as a treat for Song Peng and his brother.
Soon, Song Peng returned to the hotel with Song Zhan. Upon entering Feng Jun's room, the brothers were deeply drawn by the aroma of the opened canned food. They knew that the can and pack of cigarettes Feng Jun had given them at the entrance of Iron Nail Town today were not meant to be eaten or smoked, but rather to be sold later for other supplies.
Perhaps in their eyes, canned meat was too precious. Only after Feng Jun's repeated urging did the two brothers start to eat. At first, they ate with some restraint, but after tasting the delicious broth inside the cans, they disregarded all appearances and devoured the food ravenously.
Feng Jun opened a total of ten cans of beef, which were instantly swept clean by the two brothers. Even the juice inside the cans was licked clean with their tongues. Only after they had finished all the cans did they notice Feng Jun sitting to the side, unhurriedly drinking cola. It was then that the two brothers remembered that someone had invited them to eat, and they had eaten all the food, while the host hadn't had a single bite and was watching them with a half-smile.
"Haha, Brother Feng Jun, don't laugh. We haven't eaten such delicious food in a long time," Song Peng said, wiping his mouth and smiling sheepishly. Song Zhan seemed to be a man of few words, but he also echoed with a smile.
Feng Jun handed each of them a bottle of cola. "I'm new here, and today's transaction went so smoothly thanks to Brother Song Peng's guidance. I'll be coming here often for business in the future, and I'll need your help a lot."
With a gulp of soda, Song Peng let out a long burp.
"It's all good. We're just ordinary soldiers, working for the town mayor is like licking blood from a knife. We only make a dozen or so helium crystal points a month, and we have to pay for our own equipment and medicine. Our lives are also in someone else's hands; we could be sent to our deaths at any moment if there's danger. This meal you've treated us to, I'm afraid we brothers will never be able to return it in our lives."
Seeing Song Peng say this, Feng Jun quickly put on a worried expression; "Ah! Brother Song, since that's the case, can you come work for me? I want to set up a trading post here, specifically to sell supplies produced by our base. Things like the canned meat you ate, cigarettes, and so on. As long as you're willing, the compensation is negotiable."
Hearing Feng Jun's intention to recruit them, Song Peng and Song Zhan exchanged glances, a bitter smile on their faces. Song Peng and Song Zhan reached out and pulled at the collars of their shirts, revealing something similar to a collar around their necks.
"This thing is called a servitude collar. We two, along with most of the soldiers in Iron Nail Town, are the mayor's slaves. This thing is almost impossible to remove. If you want to hire us brothers, you can only buy us," Song Peng said with a smile.
In fact, buying Song Peng and Song Zhan was not that difficult. Chen Jianbin, the mayor of Iron Nail Town, usually didn't manage his subordinates much. The control over slaves like Song Peng was in his subordinate's IEM. Originally, Feng Jun thought it would be very difficult to buy Song Peng and Song Zhan, but when Feng Jun explained his intentions, the person in charge of managing them only asked Feng Jun for one hundred helium crystal points and transferred the control of Song Peng and his brother to Feng Jun. Just like that, Feng Jun easily acquired two cheap subordinates.
The next morning, Feng Jun took Song Peng and Song Zhan to the town's specialized weapon and equipment store. It was probably because this world became the Doomsday due to war, so these wasteland workshops were quite well-stocked with military goods. After all, one could easily find piles of weapon parts by simply wandering around the city or on the Battlefield. As for whether they could be used, that depended entirely on the craftsmanship of the workshop master.
Feng Jun even saw an old master at an outdoor stall, using an unknown lathe to process a precise mechanical arm.
Since the two had agreed to his employment and were considered the first people to follow him in this world, Feng Jun let them choose whatever equipment they needed, with all expenses covered by him.
Song Peng chose an assault rifle and a laser rifle. The army in this world had already begun to popularize energy weapons, but kinetic weapons were also common. Moreover, in the Doomsday, laser weapons had a long range, accurate shooting, and weak recoil, making them essential beginner weapons for wasteland newcomers. At Song Peng's suggestion, Feng Jun bought himself an Electric Fox Ray Rifle, which could fire effective lasers with a range of 800-1000 meters or more. There would be a discount if it was rainy or foggy. His original G622 assault rifle was also upgraded to a G645 assault rifle. The biggest feature of this gun was that it could be equipped with a 60-round drum magazine, and the explosive rounds would explode upon hitting a target, which was very useful when dealing with zombies and Mutated Creatures.
As for Song Zhan, he also chose a G645 assault rifle, but he was a person who liked close combat. He also bought a Ripper Electromagnetic Blade. This blade was somewhat similar to the historical Zhanmadao. It was made of some unknown future material, and the hilt could be folded. When folded, it looked like an ordinary broadsword carried on the back, but when activated, it could emit electric currents. Song Zhan even practiced a few moves on the spot after getting it, and the style really had the feel of a martial general from a movie.
"Boss, come over here and take a look." Feng Jun, who was watching Song Zhan practice with the broadsword, suddenly heard Song Peng calling him. "Boss" was what they requested to call him. After accepting Feng Jun's employment, they consciously started calling Feng Jun "Boss," and Feng Jun also liked this title.
"Boss, look, this is a good thing," Song Peng said, pointing to a metal skeleton displayed at the entrance of a shop.
Feng Jun followed his gaze and saw a metal exoskeleton. Although it looked a bit old and paint-chipped, it was still largely intact. There should have been several places on the body for mounting weapons, but they were all empty now.
"Boss, since you don't have a suitable Gene Agent right now, why not buy this power exoskeleton? Your strength and speed should both exceed mine when you wear it, and the tactical terminal on it can still be used to assist you with shooting and aiming."
"This thing is that good!" Feng Jun decided to buy it after hearing this. He asked about the price, and it only cost 300 helium crystal points. This price was acceptable to Feng Jun, so he immediately bought it.
This exoskeleton was designed to be very light, and it was easy to equip. After securing the waist and back, and then fixing the leg joints, feet, and arms, he could move freely. There was no discomfort after putting it on. Feng Jun tried to jump in place, reaching nearly two meters high.
"The boss is just rich. Mechanical equipment like this is a money-burning item," Song Zhan, who rarely spoke, said enviously.
Exoskeletons or even better power armor, though precious, were not rare in the wasteland, as there were plenty of them on the Battlefield. One could pick up a few, find an old master to repair them, and they could be used, but energy had always been a big problem. Before the Doomsday, this world generally used fission batteries or nuclear fusion cores. Both were miniaturized nuclear energy technologies, but in the Doomsday after the nuclear war, easily mined uranium ore on Earth was almost exhausted, so humans began to look for other alternative resources.
Fortunately, the zombies and Mutated Creatures spawned after the nuclear war generally grew a product called helium crystal behind their brains, which contained the helium element required for fusion reactions. Therefore, helium crystal became the circulating currency resource in this wasteland.