Stragglers

Sunlight shines the forest and leaves shadow on the ground. A haggard face poke out from bushes. The escape has been seven days. Xiao consumed all cookies and water. Only the equipments from night owl squad are still in his bag.

He sacrificed the low durability light power arm to stuck the dagger of Silver blade. Then even with 50 HP, he could beat the agent ass in close fight. He has the blueprint. Thus he is not pity about the broken equipments as he can make a new one if he has materials. Breaking equipments is quite common for machinist.

He has no medicine in the forest. Luckily his endurance is high enough so that he doesn't have to worry about inflammation of wounds. He took out bullets with pain and let the wound heals themselves. The bullets from snipe were troublesome. They were stuck in shoulder blade and it took Xiao more than half hour just to recover from the after pain.

Thank god Xiao didn't meet any beast along the way. Serval rabbits jumped to him were in his belly already. The beasts in blue planet can be violent. Some of them even awken wisdom. They attacked some cities in the history and casued huge calsulties. Although Xiao remembers the map of blue planet, he has no idea where he is at the moment. He can only run towards the direction of sunrise and sleep on trees at night. He is woke up by mosquito seven or eight times every night. The most annoying creature in the world!

"When could I get out of this forest?" Xiao wants a rest. Suddenly, he notices there is a camp far away. Wood and scarp metal made fences and spikes. They are the simplest defence. There are dozens of simple tents inside. Cooking smoke rises from the camp. This is a common straggler gathering camp in blue planet. Xiao is very glad to see such a camp. He needs supplies.

He walks towards it and suddenly his face changes and rushes back. There is a net rise from ground. Some of the net hold is filled with thin sharp metals. This is a dangerous trap. Thankfully he reacted qucikly otherwise there would be new wounds.

"That guy escaped my trap!" A young teenage with long hair walks out from a tree. He is wearing mixed beast skin cape like a straggler. He looks at Xiao with malignity and points Xiao's head with a home made shotgun. He shouts arrogantly "Stop! Don't move!" This boy is obviously a resident of the camp. Xiao don't want any conflit. He rises his hands and says "I am just a pass-by."

"A pass-by?" The boy notices Xiao's full bag and says greedily, "What's in your bag? Take everything out!" Then Xiao realises that he met a robber. That's why the size of net is just enough to hold a person. The world is in chaos. Most stragglers are from a conquered nation who don't want to join the six nations. The field is poor and dangerous which makes them greedy like hyenas. Kill and robbery are common for them.

"Are you deaf! Take things out!" The boy gets angry and points muzzle on Xiao's head. The guns in bag are all from the Sprout. Xiao couldn't risk taking them out. "Take things out! or eat my bullets" The boy releases the safe and threatens. It is this moment Xiao takes the move. He strikes the boy's chest with his elbow. He swiftly snatch the home made shotgun before the boy is hit back.

"Damn! He is fast." The boy covers his chest with his hand and is panic. He tries to gets away from Xiao with his hands and foots. Xiao cuts the net blade trap and takes a thick string from it. He ties the boy on a tree before he could run away. He takes a look on the shotgun. It is a very rough one. The barrel is crooked and would explode when fire. This proves that this boy is bluffing. He has never shot anyone before.

The boy becomes more panic when he sees Xiao picks up his shotgun and pled "B ~Bro~, It was a mistake. Let me go please." Xiao pats on his head and shouts "A mistake?" The boy is not arrogent any more and says "My mistake. My mistake.""What mistake?" The boy hesitates for a while and says carefully "I should bring one more gun?" Xiao laughs about his dumb answer. "Please let me go, just like release a fart." The boy pretends to cry.

"Fu*k off, I don't have big fart like you." Xiao knocks him fainted with the barrel and sighs. This boy is a resident of the camp. He needs to buy food and water there. It's better not to start a conflict by killing the boy. Xiao has to knock him off and ties him. "You are lucky today" Xiao whispers.

…

After half hour walking, Xiao enters the camp. The residents here look at him with precautions. The field is dangerous. The stragglers gather together. The outsider is rare. They look at Xiao like watching a monkey in the zoo. Their lifestyle is like gypsy. They move often. Almost every tent gets a small pickup nears it. Those pickups are all modified and usually quite rough. Some of them only have the frame. A waterproof cloth covers the engine.

One pickup stands for one family. The camp is small with only dozens of familes. But it gets enerything. Xiao finds the market. A white guy with beard holds a place on the back space of one pickup.

"Outsider?" The businessman glimpses at Xiao, "Do you know our rules?"

"What rules?"

"Barter only!"

That's nice. I don't have any money. "I need a map. Three jars of water. Five kilo of food, dry meat or bread. I will pay with this." Xiao takes out some bullets form the bag.

"Bullets?" There is light shining in businessman's eyes. He notices Xiao's full bag. He becomes greedy. The bullets are more useful than money for them. All stragglers need bullets and guns. Bullets are harder to make than a rough gun. They can make some bullets. But the amount are limited. "150 bullets. You have your stuff." He says.

"Bombast!" Xiao is not happy. He just asks for daily supplies. It's not possible to be over 300 blue dollars in the market. Xiao's bullets are made from assembly line. They are high quality brass bullets. 150 bullets are at least 1500 blue dollars. Xiao only has 300. The beard guy asks for 150 bullets is definitely bullying him.

"You can choose to go away. " The beard guy plays with his nails and acts like he is chilled with this trade.