Chương 41: Chapter 41: Smooth Skin
It took us several minutes to get all the loot gathered and onto the hauling bots, but once we did, my robots and I resumed moving along the deteriorated asphalt road again. Seconds into continuing our journey, I had an idea pop into my head as I was passing by the super mutant overlord's corpse.
I wonder how useful having a super mutant overlord on my side would be. I could revive this one here with my Medical Genius perk. If I do, I could for sure see myself getting a lot of use out of this fella, whether that be as a soldier, a worker, or a sparring partner. Though all three of those things I listed would require me to fix its inherent aggression and intelligence issues, which shouldn't be all that difficult to resolve given my current abilities.
That said, to fix its lack of intelligence, I'll definitely need to produce or procure some highly advanced equipment since I don't have anything like that on hand right at this time. So I'll have to see if there are any locations nearby that would possibly have the sort of equipment I would need and if there aren't any places like that nearby, I'll just have to make the tech myself. Adding on to that further, I probably wouldn't get any of that done till I have food production up and running. I don't think my current food supply could sustain myself, Amata, and a super mutant overlord for very long.
... Actually, on second thought, it's not worth halving my lifespan to resurrect a random super mutant overlord when I can just go and capture a live one. Or I could just convert a normal super mutant into an overload although I have no clue how I would go about that.
Yeah, that's not at all worth it. I'd honestly rather conserve my lifespan till I can find ways of increasing it, whether that is through my system, science, magic, or some other means. However, even though I won't be reviving this mutant, I can at the very least take the body with me to study its physiology later to see if I can't retrieve anything of value from it.
"Guys, load this body up as well. We're taking it with us."
The instant I issued them a new command, my robots got right to work loading the super mutant overlord's corpse into the bed of a hauling bot. When we had finally taken everything of value from the slaughtered mutant and got it all secured, we continued our journey north, heading up the deteriorating asphalt road.
After a not-so-long period later, my companions and I arrived at the three-way intersection we came from when I first ventured out of Vault 101. Immediately upon reaching this three-way intersection, I paused for a moment and took in the surroundings, looking for any danger. Ten seconds had passed without me discovering anything, so I continued leading the way forward, this time to the east towards the Jury Street Metro Station. A location that I had a bit of loot stashed in that needed to be collected from a certain building that was formerly inhabited by raiders.
Setting off, we progressed forward for the next several minutes, passing by more than a few burned-out houses on the way. This went on until we started coming into the vicinity of the Jury Street Metro Station, and as my robots and I were arriving in the area, I spotted a few people over by the building where my loot was stashed.
"Hold up for a second. It looks like we have company."
"Roger-" My robots replied in unison.
Holding where we were, I focused on the people over by the Hank's Electrical Supply store that held my stashed loot stashed inside. What I observed was 3 ghouls fitted in leather armor and armed with 2 .32 hunting rifles and a singular sniper rifle that was more likely than not chambered in 7.62x51 trying to gain access to the store.
What to do... I suppose I'll try to talk to them peacefully first and see why they're attempting to gain access to the building. And if they're friendly enough, I'll see if I can't get some local information out of them. Ghouls can have a wealth of knowledge and information due to how long most of them have been alive for so I might as well gather a bit of intel from them. So if all goes well, I'll send them on their way. But in the event that they aren't reasonable and respond in a manner as such, I'll deal with them the hard way and bury the 3 of them 6 feet under.
"Alright, you guys hold tight. I'm gonna head over and talk to them."
As I was stepping forward, I turned back to say one last thing. "Oh, and when I get within the vicinity of them, start making your way over, but keep the formation around the robots that aren't as heavily armored."
"Aye aye, Boss."
"Acknowledged." The rest of my robots responded.
Done giving out my orders, I swapped out my gatling laser Purge for my AER 29 LMG. Right as I had the laser light machine gun slung against me, I walked over to the 3 ghouls in the least threatening manner I could possible as a massively built guy that stood at 6 foot 6 armored from head to toe in a suit of power armor that was far larger than normal. Probably the largest suit of power armor currently in existence on this planet.
Whilst I was making my way over, I kept my firearm slung and made a whistle to alert them to my presence.
The moment they heard my whistle, the 2 ghouls with the .32 hunting rifles stopped messing with the door and turned around rapidly in my direction, since I was the origin of the sound. And while they rapidly turned around at their fastest possible speed, which was slow in my eyes, they both grabbed their .32 hunting rifles and pointed them right at me.
As for the 1 ghoul armed with the sniper rifle, he was originally looking off in the northern direction. But as soon as he heard my whistle, he also swiftly turned towards me with his sniper rifle gripped and aimed at me in his deteriorating and rotting ghoulified hands.
As the 3 ghouls were taking aim at me, I made a placating gesture towards them. "I don't mean you guys any harm, so can you stop aiming your weapons at me? I just want to talk to you 3 gentlemen for a moment."
A few seconds went by as they tensely scrutinized me and the nearby surroundings.
"O-okay, but don't make sudden movements or I'll take your head off smooth skin." The ghoul wielding the sniper rifle said in a raspy, somewhat aggressive voice that was messed up with a bit of a stutter at the beginning of his response.
Before I asked my next question, I observed them for half a second and noticed their bodies were shaking ever so slightly. I guess my placating gesture didn't work too well. Who could've ever expected this to happen, definitely not me. Well, I've paused for long enough, time to ask them a few questions.
"So what are you guys doing out here in this area, and why are you trying to gain access to that building behind you?"
"What does it look like we're doing? We're looking for food, water, and to scavenge what we can from this dilapidated store to sell off to one of the traveling merchants." The ghoul with the sniper rifle, who I presumed to be the leading ghoul at this point, said in a much less aggressive tone of voice, although still just as raspy as previously.
"Well, I kind of had the doors welded shut on that store to keep the place secure and deter anyone from attempting to loot it. So I could come back at a later date to pick up the stuff I'd left behind after killing a bunch of raiders." I informed them as my robots began nearing my location.
Before any of them could respond, I added. "Though if you guys are in need, how about I make you guys an offer?"
"And what could you offer us, smooth skin, mhm?" The leading ghoul asked, a bit skeptical.
"How about a decent amount of food, water, and a handful of explosives that could help you out when you guys are in a bit of a pinch? Or if you don't want to keep them for yourselves, you could just trade them to whatever traveling merchant or trader you come across for a pretty decent amount of caps, so what do you guys think?"
"That's quite the offer, smooth skin, but I know there's nothing free out here in the wasteland, so what do you want in return?" The leading ghoul asked in what I thought was a somewhat friendlier tone of voice, but still just as skeptical as moments ago.
"First off, that building behind you guys is mine, so that won't be included in this deal. As for what I want, I'm interested in information and if you 3 don't mind, I have some questions that I would like to ask the 3 of you as well. All 3 of you are ghouls that have likely been alive since before the great war. So if that's the case, the 3 of you must have a wealth of knowledge that you've accumulated over each of your lifetimes. Am I right?" I answered after thinking over what I wanted in return for a brief moment.
The moment they each processed what I wanted in return for the resources I was willing to give them, they gave each other a certain look and turned back my way with. "You've got yourself a deal, smooth skin. However, we would like to see the goods first, since we don't see you carrying anything like that." The leading ghoul said.
"That's no problem. The stuff I offered will be arriving shortly." I replied and as they were processing what I had just said, they were able to hear the sound of my robots entering the area seconds later.
Shortly thereafter, all my robots pulled into the area around us and as they did, the 3 ghouls looked a bit astonished and about ready to piss themselves, from what I could tell. From that point, their expressions changed again to resigned looks as if this was the end of the road for them.
"Why the long look, guys?" I asked, knowing full well why they had the looks they did.
"Well, we're fucked, are we not? Why wouldn't we be upset?" One of the other ghouls said in a depressed tone and the same raspy voice the leading ghoul had.
"Yeah, this isn't a trap or anything. These are just my robots that I take out with me whenever I'm heading somewhere in the wasteland. They are the ones carrying the supplies I offered before, so I apologize if my robots made you think otherwise." I told them, trying to reassure them that I still meant them no harm.
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If you're looking for something else to read, that's similar to this, check out my other webnovel Wasteland Conqueror.
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