Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 172 - Black Market

Chapter 172        Black Market

Sofia was being dragged away by Guzman…. She cried, begged, struggled—but none of her efforts worked. As they went out of the room, Sofia’s noise was getting further and smaller. Following that were sounds of cheering and what seemed like stomps of countless beasts rushing to a target.

“What have I done? What have I done?” Nieto was shocked and trembling with fear. His mind blanked out as if he had forgotten what just happened. But in fact, he clearly knew that he betrayed Sofia, who had been taking care of him, because of Guzman.

Nieto wobbled to the washroom. He saw his pale face in the mirror and the horrible scar on it. He was lucky to enough to survive DogMeat’s attack. But right now, he would rather be dead.

Hailey still felt fear, but she was trying her best to comfort Nieto. The little dark-skinned girl was also terrified, especially when she heard Sofia’s screaming from outside. She could not imagine what were they doing to Sofia.

After an hour, or maybe a few hours, again, Guzman came into Nieto’s room. With his face red and refreshed, he shouted, “Nieto, we’re going to leave now! The Brotherhood of Steel gave us some resources, so we can have a good meal during the journey.”

As Nieto heard Guzman’s voice, he started to sweat and tremble. He quietly carried his rifle and followed Guzman out of the room. At that instant, Guzman saw Hailey in the room. He pinched her breasts, laughed evilly and sneered, “This chick’s not bad, bring her along.”

Hailey was going to reject, but Guzman continued, “We have food.”

The girl was immediately attracted by the word ‘food’. Hailey only had one meal for the past two days; she was already starving. Even though she knew it would be dangerous, she followed anyway.

Finally, the twenty to thirty people with Guzman had turned into complete bandits. They changed two or three days worth of food from the Brotherhood of Steel with the gold they collected. After that, they simply found a boat and secretly went to Brooklyn.

Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng was looking at the mission released by the Brotherhood of Steel. As he read through the mission, he was surprised to note that Fernando Rethnor was one of the last two members of David Lawrence’s elite team. Before that, Zhou Qingfeng did not even pay any attention to him.

According to David Lawrence’s version of Wasteland, Fernando Rethnor was a pretty good gunner, but at the same time, he was also an attention seeker. He liked to tell stupid jokes during fights, so Zhou Qingfeng named him ‘Poser’.

Butcher was also aware of him. He frowned when he saw the information on the mission. “Fernando is one of the five leaders in Skull and Bones?”

“Is that possible?” Zhou Qingfeng asked.

“It’s not completely impossible. Fernando Rethnor was a very famous mercenary in the Southern United States. Victor, if we’re going after him, we’ll be facing tons of mercenaries from the South instead of just him alone.

“They were like the special forces from Colombia or Venezuela who fought with drug dealers and guerrillas; the special forces from Brazil who often eliminated the gangsters in cites. They were good. Most of them became mercenaries after they retired. New York is considered as the meeting point of all the mercenaries around the world; there are tons of mercenaries out there.”

Zhou Qingfeng pondered over this, then projected New York’s map with his armband computer. He said, “According to the information from the Brotherhood of Steel, Skull and Bones was formed by five forces. Fernando Rethnor is one of the five leaders and Jamaica Street in Queens is under his control. He occupied the John F. Kennedy International Airport and formed a black market over there.”

“What’s on the black market?”

“Not sure, probably nothing, or everything.”

Zhou Qingfeng was not interested in Fernando Rethnor, and Butcher also did not really know anything about him. Both of them were aware that it would not be easy to kill him. However, both of them were interested in the rewards for killing him.

Meanwhile, Guzman arrived at Brooklyn with around twenty to thirty people. They were heading to Queens to find the target. Zhou Qingfeng only had Butcher and DogMeat with him, and they headed toward the Kennedy International Airport with a small speed boat.

Zhou Qingfeng planned to leave the speed boat with Roma, who came along after they arrived. They would contact each other through wireless radios. In the meantime, Roma would wait for Zhou Qingfeng’s order on the boat. Zhou Qingfeng thought it would be a quiet and secret journey. However, the truth was, people would do anything to survive under pressure.

“This place is so lively.” Butcher was observing their surroundings with a night vision scope. The sea area at the south of the Kennedy Airport was covered with tons of big ships and small boats. Most of the ships were carrying all sorts of goods and merchandise. At the same time, they were carrying a large number of armed personnel.

“I think those guys won’t mind being part-time pirates.” On the way to the airport, Zhou Qingfeng saw at least three fights. “I saw the people from the Brotherhood of Steel. They fight with Skull and Bones on land, and they still fight when they are doing business.”

The black market in the airport was guarded by professional armed personnel. Zhou Qingfeng saw the market place enclosed by an iron fence and surrounded by armored vehicles. The entire black market was extremely secure under their control. Zhou Qingfeng and Butcher obeyed the rules and had themselves inspected. Their weapons were stored in a safe, and they could only keep their pistols for self-defense.

Zhou Qingfeng was happy and relieved that DogMeat was able to pass as it had been repaired. Its skin was replaced by a new one. As long as it does not show its titanium teeth, nobody would think that it was a robotic dog.

“Where’s our target at?” Butcher looked around and asked.

“Maybe we should have a look in the market first. After all, we’re supposed to be businessmen.” Zhou Qingfeng felt very alert. “If I were Fernando, I’d be watching and paying attention to everyone who’s in my area.”

The entire Kennedy Airport was covered with tents. Each tent represented a shop. If a shop was in a small building, it signified that it was a huge and powerful business. People meandered along the streets between the simple and crude shops and appeared busy.

There was trash everywhere on the floor, and there were even tons feces at the corners of the streets. As Zhou Qingfeng and Butcher walked, all the faces they saw were stiff. Everyone was constantly observing their surroundings with anxiety and suspicion. In fact, there were not a lot of businesses dealt in the market.

Zhou Qingfeng was not sure which shop to go to. All of a sudden, a dirty little kid ran quickly past him, his little hand already reaching toward Zhou Qingfeng’s pocket.

“Hey, kid, you found the wrong target to steal from.” Zhou Qingfeng caught the little kid’s hand. The little kid instantly burst into tears from the strength of Zhou Qingfeng’s grip.

When Zhou Qingfeng was about to let the kid go, a few burly men came out of the crowd. A bald man with tattoos on his arms and a ferocious look on his face, who seemed to be the leader of the group, stepped forward to stand in front of Zhou Qingfeng. He snapped, “B*stard, how dare you bully my son? You hurt him, so you need to pay for it. Otherwise, you can’t leave.”

Chapter end