Apocalyptic Wasteland Simulator

Chapter 177 - 172: Make an Enemy
”Fourth Brother, step on it! Stop dawdling, or we’ll both die here!” Mad Dog shouted hoarsely, his voice laced with terror.The shout startled the driver in the driver’s seat, who had been staring at Chen Pingchuan. He immediately averted his gaze and slammed his foot on the accelerator.

VRRROOOM…

The car shot forward like an arrow released from a bow, kicking up a cloud of dust.

As the scene behind them rapidly shrank into the distance, Mad Dog finally let out a sigh of relief. Damn it, I’m a genius. I knew those two brats wouldn’t be easy to deal with.

But before he could finish his sigh of relief, Old Four beside him blurted out inopportunely, ”Boss, what about our brothers?”

Mad Dog’s face darkened, his expression as cold as ice. ”What do you want me to do? You want to drive back and save them?”

Hearing this, Old Four shook his head frantically. He clearly didn’t want to go back and get himself killed.

Mad Dog knew abandoning his men wasn’t honorable, but in that situation, a moment’s hesitation would have gotten him killed too.

”Head back to the camp and find the Big Boss,” he said, gritting his teeth. ”Let’s see what the Big Boss has to say. We need to figure out who those two brats are.

”Besides, I’ve already discovered that kid’s weakness.”

”What weakness, Boss?” the driver, Old Four, asked, still trembling. He hadn’t noticed any flaw in Chen Pingchuan at all.

Mad Dog sneered. ”That brat’s ability seems poorly controlled. Each of his attacks has a different effect. Only the first few guys died instantly when he ripped out their internal organs. Most of our guys after that were killed by bullets.”

You have to admit, anyone who survives in the apocalypse is a tough character. In that short time, Mad Dog had already put together a rough analysis of Chen Pingchuan from what he’d seen. Although his men had suffered heavy losses, he had gained useful intelligence in return. It was hard to say whether it was a net gain or loss.

His analysis of Chen Pingchuan wasn’t far from the mark. While his reasoning was wrong, his conclusion happened to match the facts. Mad Dog mistook the unpredictability of ’Light-Fingered’ for a lack of proficiency, assuming Chen Pingchuan couldn’t precisely control his ability.

Mad Dog managed to escape, but his underlings weren’t so lucky.

BANG!

With one last gunshot echoing through the air, Chen Pingchuan cleanly finished off the last enemy.

[Ding! The special effect of the Bloodthirsty Plunder skill successfully activated, Strength attribute +0.1]

A satisfied smile touched Chen Pingchuan’s lips. Thanks to his talent, he had a unique advantage when it came to increasing his Strength attribute. Getting two for the price of one was twice the fun!

The feeling of his body constantly being filled with power, along with his growing explosive strength, gave Chen Pingchuan an idea. Maybe I can punish evil and promote good. I can play the part of a righteous hero and farm some attribute points at the same time. The risk is pretty high, though. If there were ten times as many enemies, it wouldn’t be this easy. If I came up against opponents with the defenses of an armored combat vehicle, my own life could be in danger. Better to lay low for now.

Before Chen Pingchuan could finish his line of thought, he heard a familiar voice nearby.

”Boss, a few of them got away.”

Liu Haofeng leaped down from the armored vehicle, licking his lips, his excitement not yet faded. While Chen Pingchuan was on his killing spree, Liu Haofeng hadn’t been idle either. By issuing commands, he had gained control of the armored vehicle’s weapons and taken out several Black Skull soldiers.

Killing for the first time was far easier to accept than Liu Haofeng had imagined. It even gave him a strange sense of excitement, as if he had finally found his true purpose in life.

Chen Pingchuan was unaware of Liu Haofeng’s inner turmoil, but he felt a bit helpless about having a teammate who liked to steal kills. What can you do? A support stealing kills is useless, but you can’t exactly chew them out for it! After all, his support has been pretty decent.

Chen Pingchuan rubbed the prickly stubble on his chin and stared intently at Liu Haofeng, making him feel a chill run down his spine.

”Boss, wh-what’s wrong?” Liu Haofeng asked nervously.

Chen Pingchuan sighed. ”Sigh… I’m finding that I can’t do without you. What am I supposed to do?”

”Huh?” Liu Haofeng was bewildered, not understanding the meaning behind Chen Pingchuan’s words.

”I was originally planning to drop you off at the City of No Night on the way. You were supposed to be my trump card,” Chen Pingchuan said slowly.

Before Chen Pingchuan could finish, Liu Haofeng interjected eagerly and adamantly, ”I’m not going back.”

”Hmm, I’m not planning to send you back anymore either,” Chen Pingchuan said. ”So you see, man proposes, but Heaven disposes. The gears of fate start turning when you least expect it.”

He sounded like he was talking to himself, or maybe mocking the unpredictability of fate. Liu Haofeng looked at Chen Pingchuan’s cryptic behavior, completely baffled. It was true he’d eaten the mysterious seed Chen Pingchuan had given him, but with the level of technology in the City of No Night, it wouldn’t be impossible to have it removed from his body. He was even more confused about Chen Pingchuan’s so-called trump card.

”Forget it. It’s not important,” Chen Pingchuan said, his gaze suddenly sharpening. ”Look, it seems like some people are coming our way.”

Liu Haofeng followed Chen Pingchuan’s gaze and saw two blurry figures slowly heading toward their position.

”Xiaoliu, let’s find a place to hide,” Chen Pingchuan whispered, his eyes flashing with an unusual light. ”We’ll show ourselves after the fish take the bait, otherwise we might scare them off.”

Shifty Face and Erzhuang were riding their small scooter, moving at a slow pace like two snails on a lazy afternoon stroll. And because of their slow pace, they completely missed the bloody massacre orchestrated by Chen Pingchuan.

As he took in the eerie silence of the highway, a sense of foreboding crept over Shifty Face. ”Strange, why is it so quiet?”

He gripped the scooter’s handlebars tightly and shouted to Erzhuang behind him without turning his head, ”Shit, you don’t think something happened, do you? Has Brother Gou gotten back to you yet?”

Riding behind him, Erzhuang gave a curt, ”No,” but his mind was racing. Considering that armored vehicle we saw, even if Mad Dog brought a few dozen guys, they wouldn’t stand a chance without some heavy-duty weapons. Even with them, they’d probably still lose. The people in that vehicle are probably long gone by now.

Erzhuang could never have imagined someone would be so audacious as to ram a bulldozer head-on without even using an energy shield, a move that had ultimately damaged the vehicle’s ignition system.