Flowers Blooming in the Wasteland

This remark caused the people in the bar and the people who came to buy things to laugh, and Miriam said angrily: "Shut up, Meeks, what do you know? Do you eavesdrop under their beds every night?" ?"

"He's here, why don't you ask yourself?" Meeks winked and smiled at Celeste, "Hey, little guy, did Lan ever sleep with you?"

The people around were whistling and booing. For them, this was just a vulgar and cheap entertainment in the hard days, but Celeste seemed completely unable to grasp where the joke was, and he didn't know what embarrassment was. He just replied bluntly, "No."

Miriam glanced at Meeks: "Did you hear that?"

Meeks shrugged and sighed: "I really don't know which is more sad, he likes men, or he would rather stay single than accept you."

Miriam said angrily, "If you don't shut up, the only thing you can eat tonight is stewed cockroaches with mushrooms!"

Only then did Meeks realize that the sister who was in charge of the kitchen could not be easily offended, so he closed his mouth tactfully.

After being teased like this, Miriam was too embarrassed to ask any more, so she went to do other things. Celeste chose one by one from those old clothes that were suitable for her in size and thickness, but her ears were sharp. captures the murmurs of people gathering at the bar to eat, or buy, or just to chat - people who didn't mean to say it to him, but his hearing after that nuclear explosion not only Instead of being damaged, it somehow got better—another mystery.

"I really don't understand why Lan has his eyes on him. This kid must be sick. Have you ever seen him fall on the ground? I've seen it more than once."

"It's not just the body, I think his brain is probably also sick, and the only thing he can do is to look good."

"At least he's still good-looking. Don't you think that a quiet and weak boy like him, who doesn't know how to resist, is the best candidate for an inflatable doll?"

"That Lan is a bit too disgusting. It stands to reason that he was treated well when the leader was still there, but now he uses the leader's son to do that kind of thing."

"Give some small favors to buy people's hearts, and then throw him in the most dangerous and deadly place, so it's good for him? You can save yourself, the head of the group has adopted more than a dozen of these so-called adopted sons, and Lan is the only one. He came back alive after every dangerous mission, it's just luck that he didn't die."

"To be honest, these nominal adopted sons seem to be the commander's confidantes, but they are actually worse than mercenaries. Mercenaries can also be said to be workers hired by the regiment leader, and the adopted sons are almost his dogs."

"I think Lan actually knows that the leader treats him as a watchdog, but there is no better place to go, and he can't resist the leader. Now that the leader's position is his, he can vent his grievances to the leader. on his precious son. We only saw the hands and feet of the head’s son, who knows if there will be injuries under his clothes?”

"You say that, I feel a little pity for him."

"It's pitiful, but don't let Lan know that he is the new regiment leader after all, and he will kill whoever he says he wants to kill."

"I think you guys are thinking too much? Maybe Lan doesn't use him as a restraint?"

"Tsk, then what do you think Lan is raising this trash who can fall down on foot? You know, food is not cheap."

"Yeah, and it's getting more and more expensive now. Winter came so early this year, and the farm's harvest is at least [-]% lower than in previous years. By then, we probably won't even be able to afford the cheapest compressed biscuits..."

"Those of us who have jobs may not have enough to eat, those homeless people will definitely starve to death..."

People's conversation shifted to concerns about food, which is an urgent concern compared to gossip about the private life of the new mercenary captain.

Celeste lowered his head, lost in thought.

---

The few belongings that the Hurricane Mercenary Corps had spent many years saving with great difficulty were completely destroyed in that explosion, and now they can only stay in the temporary regiment headquarters converted from the school building, struggling to start again .

After a few days of tidying up, the regiment headquarters finally has a general appearance. Anyway, in the current situation, there is no need to distinguish between those who are on duty and those who are not. In the regiment headquarters, there are only a few old regiment members lazily in the big classroom stay.

Fu Yunlan was sorting out some files in front of the table. The bomber was still wearing the pocket-covered clothes, and was fiddling with some parts from the grocery pile in the Crimson Bar in the corner. It was less than 1.6 meters long The mole and the cowboy, who never took off his cowboy hat even indoors, were playing chess in the corner, arguing from time to time about regretting the game.

Fu Yunlan thought they were noisy, and was about to drive them out when he saw Heita, a black man nearly two meters tall, walk in with a note between his fingers and waved: "Guys, we have work to do!" .”

"Is there a mission?" Mole quickly took the opportunity to leave the chess game that was about to lose and stood up.

Heita handed the note to Fu Yunlan to read: "Our regular customer, Mr. 'Big President' Castro, sent us a telegram. A group of bandits wandering around appeared near their stronghold. He wants us to Find those people and eliminate them, and the reward will be the same as last time."

The cowboy put away the chessboard in boredom: "Hasn't he heard anything about what happened in Hummingbird Town?"

"He must know." Bomber said with a curl of his lips. "I suspect that if we go out, a group of people will come and 'take over' Hummingbird Town."

"So you want to decline?" said the little Mole. "We really don't have any extra people to take the task now."

"But it's definitely not an option for us to go on like this." Heita said, "We need money, and more importantly, morale. If we don't accept the mission, no matter whether it's the mercenaries in the regiment or the people in the town, they will feel that the mercenary regiment is no longer viable. .”

"The Black Tower is right. The mercenary group urgently needs a battle to prove that we are still not easy to mess with." Fu Yunlan said, "I don't think this is some kind of conspiracy. This faction is so preoccupied with itself that it has often needed us to help it deal with some external threats since before, and he simply does not have the ability to annex us."

The bomber is still a little worried: "He is indeed incapable, but he can join forces with other forces. He is responsible for leading us away, and other people come to attack Hummingbird Town."

Fu Yunlan shook his head: "Helping other forces grow will not do him any good. Castro has always been arrogant and short-sighted. This is not his style."

"I have no objection to accepting this task. The question is what should we take?" The cowboy sat lazily on the sofa and put his boots up on the coffee table. "We only have a dozen guns left. For a six-barreled machine gun, there are only a hundred rounds of ammunition, and now none of the original three cars are there, and the distance of more than 80 kilometers, should we walk with the gun on our shoulders?"

Bomber said: "Didn't the head of the regiment hand over these things to the mayor in the past? When is it our turn to worry about the supply?"

"The problem is what can the mayor come up with?" Heita said helplessly, "We are short of people, guns, ammunition, cars, everything. Can he conjure things out of thin air? If he is forced again, the only way he can think of is to add another tax to those who already have enough to eat."

The cowboy let out a long sigh: "I bet an eggplant, if the tax is raised again, no one else will occupy Hummingbird Town, and the townspeople will have to rebel."

"I have a proposal," said the Mole. "There is a group of gangsters who want to join us. There are eight of them, all of them are veterans who are not afraid of death, and they bring their own weapons and ammunition. We can treat this task as a Give them an internship period, and send one or two people to go with them, and the rest will stay in Hummingbird Town to ensure the safety of the camp."

"No." Fu Yunlan vetoed it without hesitation, "We cannot accept bandits."

The Mole said, "But it's such a time, can't we be flexible?"

"No." Fu Yunlan did not let go, "Once we set this precedent, we will be no different from other bandit organizations."

"They promised that once they join the mercenary group, they will abide by our rules and never eat people again." Mole wanted to win.

"They can't do it." Fu Yunlan said with certainty.

"So should we accept this task or not?" Heita waited for his decision.

"...don't reply yet, I'll think of a way." Fu Yunlan stood up and took the coat from the back of the chair to leave.

"Lan, there is one more thing." Heita followed him.

"Speak." Fu Yunlan went out, and Heita followed him and said, "Everyone is his own person, so I will speak directly. Now there are many people in the town who are rumoring that you and Celeste They said that you raised Celeste as a confinement at home and did some perverted things, and it became more and more like that."

"So?" Fu Yunlan gave him a puzzled look.

Heita spread his hands: "I don't want to gossip about your private life, I also know that you are not that kind of person, take a step back and say, even if you really find a few little boys to raise at home and do what you do, it is your own Things, but Celeste is the son of the boss after all, so it is very bad for your reputation. Some bosses are powerful and powerful, so no matter what kind of perverted hobbies they have, it will not affect people's defection, but you are now after all Lack of influence, reputation is still important to you."