The next day when we went back to the wasteland, I stopped by the Wells Clan settlement while my workers continued their way to the outpost to continue the salvage operations.

In my car was Jane, Vin, and one from the security to watch the vehicle.

When we approached, a small convoy met us just like the previous time, but there was a lot less tension as we were known quantities to each other and Jane was with us as well.

Once we arrived, they immediately led us to their clan leader, Eugene. Jane went to see him first alone while we waited. After fifteen minutes, we were allowed in to meet with Gene.

“Rollo, I’ve heard you’ve succeeded in our request. On behalf of Clan Wells, I would like to thank you,” He bowed.

“I’m happy everything worked out.”

Being thanked is great and whatnot, but I wonder if there’ll be an actual reward.

“While there are some complications, that is another matter.”

I had heard from Jane on the way here about how the girl, Perry, had lost the valuables they entrusted her with from gambling. She got lucky and met some friends who bailed her out and took care of her, but she wanted to get the money back twice over before returning home.

“Our clan owes you for your assistance, and we don’t like owing any favors. Is there anything you would like as a reward?”

This is it, what I had been waiting for!

“In that case, I would like to request permission for free passage and protection for my business’s operations in the wasteland.”

“...We can promise you that, but we won’t be able to guarantee any protection against other corporations.”

“Yes, I understand, but you can provide information on their movement and routes for us to avoid them.”

“Very well. Speak with Jane later for the details. Our clan shall officially allow you to operate in our territory and provide you with information.”

Perfect! One of the major costs of working in the wasteland was security against wastelander raids, and the information he provided will be a good bonus as well.

After discussing some more details on how we will communicate in the future, the meeting disbanded. Waiting outside were Sarah and Caleb.

“I heard you helped us again. Thank you!” Sarah stepped in and gave me a hug. “Thank you!” Caleb mimicked her with a slight delay.

“No need to thank me. Your dad has already done so. We’ll be keeping in touch.”

“Still, at least let us treat you to lunch.”

We still had some time from what we allotted to this detour, “Sure.”

----------------------------------------

After leaving the wastelander camp, we returned to our outpost, leaving Jane behind. The rest of the team that hadn’t gone with us already made two trips from the nearby ruins.

We followed along for the first trip after lunch into the ruins. I had enough common metals stocked up by now, so the focus was on high-tech parts that had rare metals in them that could be extracted.

When the ruins came into view this time, I spotted the trail of another group nearby.

“Steer us away from them.” Vin’s voice sounded throughout the convoy.

We made a slight change to our course as we headed further into the ruins of what used to be the downtown area. The buildings made it an optimal habitat for some mutants, which made it more dangerous.

Vin had plotted out the areas for us to potentially search, but being here in person gave us a better idea of which buildings were more intact. We found an alleyway clear of rubble to park our Vanguards and set up a defensive position.

As this was a more dangerous area, we only split off into two teams, one to defend our rides and the other to explore.

“Sir, this entrance is blocked too.”

“I see. Look for any sublevel entrances in the area instead,” Vin replied to his second in command.

We continued moving cautiously and found an old subway entrance that led us down. The leading security members turned on their flashlight attachments to their own guns as we all activated our low-light modes on our optics.

I should really standardize our equipment so we don’t look like the rag-tag bunch that we are…

There were several flights of stairs for us to go down until we went across a tunnel, where we finally made it to a spacious corridor that had storefronts on both sides. This was an underground mall in the past, as I could still see some of the signage intact, directing people to buildings and the subway.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

Before we settled in a direction to walk in, a noise suddenly rang out from one of the commercial units. We all trained our guns toward it but found nothing except a cafe in disrepair.

“Fuck!” Suddenly, one of our team members screamed out from behind, followed by the sound of something hitting the floor.

I turned around in time to see him knocked over on the ground. Standing on top of him was a rat. This rat, though, was the size of a large dog, and behind it, several of its friends scurried toward us.

“Rudents! Open fire, be sure to keep it low,” Vin cried out.

+1 EXP

+1 EXP

+1 EXP

The sound of gunfire instantly filled the tunnels. The giant mutant rats died easily compared to the Sandcrawlers, but new ones kept crawling out from the shadows behind them to replace their fallen brethren.

These little shits only gave one experience point each and my pistol railgun wasn’t well suited for so many targets.

Just as I reloaded while complaining to myself, I suddenly felt a sharp pain in my calves. I looked down to find one of the rats biting into me, which earned him a quick shot to the face.

“Sir, they’re coming from behind us as well!”

“Everyone fighting retreat, go into the department store over there!” Vin quickly decided.

The store he selected was a large grocery store in the basement of some building, so there must be a way up from these tunnels.

Vin came up to me and lent me his shoulder as we continued to shoot into the crowd of rudents while we retreated.

An explosion sounded out behind us as someone lobbed a grenade behind us as we moved up the staircase inside the store.

The next floor was still part of the same grocery store, so we were able to throw the empty shelves to block out the stairway.

We stood guard, staring at the debris we threw in for a few minutes before we collectively let out a sigh of relief.

“Tend to the wounded and then take ten.”

Right after Vin gave out his orders, he came up to me and inspected the leg that had been bitten.

“Doesn’t look too bad, just need to inject something to prevent any diseases and patch it up.” He opened his pack and fished out a first-aid kit.

“I’ll leave it up to you. Sorry for letting my guard down… I need more training in a straight-on fight.”

“Ha, I’m the one who’s supposed to apologize to you. You’re paying me for security right?” He grinned as he dressed my wound.

After a quick ten-minute breather, we started moving up again. I could still move myself, though I wouldn’t be doing any running, not fast at least.

We came to the ground level and found the barricade entrances that we had previously failed to enter from. We could definitely remove them out of the way from inside now, so we should be able to leave without having to go back down into the tunnels.

This floor had various counters on this floor and seemed to be where they sold cosmetics before. Besides the elevator, there were still intact metal signs that displayed what each floor sold.

“Floor seven is for electronics. Let’s go there,” I noted, looking toward Vin. “Roger that.”

Walking through all the expired cosmetics sprawled all over the ground, we made our way to the staircase. It was literally a pain to walk up the staircase, but it also wasn’t painful enough for me to want to use the combat stims as painkillers.

The way up was thankfully peaceful. We managed to arrive on the seventh floor, and upon opening the doors, we were met with an entire level of untouched electronics.

“Haha jackpot, seemed like no one looted this place when shit went down or anytime after. Empty your packs of any non-essentials. We’re going to clear this entire place out.”

It took me a second to realize Vin was referring to the nuclear wars fought in the past. It made sense that people back then would be more worried about stocking up on food and water than anything else.

We threw every electronic device we saw into our packs that we could carry. We would leave the heavier stuff for later when we weren’t worn out and injured. Before we left, we locked every entrance into the floor in case some other team took the opportunity while we were away to take our prize.

On our way down, I spotted a giant cockroach crawl by the walls of the stairwell, but fortunately, it scurried away, as I wasn’t in the mood to deal with them after rats.

We got back to the ground floor, where the healthy members started digging through the rubble to clear out the exit. As part of the injured team, we guarded our bags nearby.

I took Vin’s bag and made my way toward where the injured lay when the ground started to shake. It wasn’t enough to throw me to the ground, but a disturbing noise came from the concrete underneath me as it croaked.

My fears came true as a loud crack rang out and the floor beneath me gave out, dropping me down as I fell to the clutches of gravity.

The fall didn’t last long as I landed soon, with the impact of the fall knocking the wind out of my lungs. I got up as soon as I could and saw that the hole I fell through was now blocked by some rubble above.

I swiftly called out through the comms.

“Anyone there?” I nervously swallowed, trying my hardest to keep away the thought of being alone down here cut off from the rest of the world away.

A short few seconds that felt like an eternity passed, “--ollo, can you hear me?” To my relief, Vin’s voice rang out on the other side of the communication line.

“Yes, are you guys okay?”

“Somewhat. We had a casualty from the debris falling, but the rest of us are fine. The stairway down to you is blocked off. How are you doing down there?”

“...I don’t have any new injuries besides a bruised butt. I’ll find a way back up. You guys get back to the cars first and send the wounded back to camp.”

“Roger that, but we’re coming right back down to get you after.”

“Don’t. We don’t need anyone else to get hurt with all the rats down there. Not to talk about the potential tunnel collapses from that earthquake just now, it’ll delay everything.”

“No, we’re finding a way to you. You put me in charge of security, so I’m taking charge no matter what you say.”

“...Fine, but I’ll try to find my own way out. Make sure you’re ready to pick me up once I make it back to the surface. I’ll keep in touch. Go send the wounded back first.”

“I will, and you better not take any risks alone, you hear me?”

“I’ll make it back out before you get back. Don’t worry.”

“That’s exactly what I’m worried about.”

Ignoring his words, I started surveying my surroundings.

Now then, let’s get out of here before Vin returns.