blogombal Chapter 37: Double-crossing?
Chapter 37: Double-crossing?
"What? You're from the mountain city?" Everyone was incredulous when the two convoys started exchanging information.
"And you guys?" Jack didn't know why they were so surprised.
"We've come all the way from Shenzhen to here!" The circus members were equally dumbfounded.
"How long have you been gone?" Fu Xiaojian asked.
"More than two months! How about you guys?"
"We are too!" Fu Xiaojian said with some difficulty.
Before the apocalypse, it only took a few hours by high-speed train from Shenzhen to Chongqing, but this is the apocalypse! So where are they?!
The two convoy leaders were in the middle of the road, exchanging information while remaining on guard.
The other team members hid in the shade, on guard, waiting for the two to finish their business.
In the silent exchange, both sides were also sizing up the opposing convoy.
Seemingly observing each other's behavior, only Luo Xiaotian and Xiaoxiao, two children, had somehow ended up chatting happily together.
The exchange of information lasted for a long time.
The main problem was that both of them had their own ulterior motives and were testing each other, which caused time to slip away.
"Commander Jack, now that we've met, why don't we hold a small trade fair to exchange supplies? What do you think?"
"We're here to rest today, and if you're not in a hurry to continue your journey, I'd be more than happy to oblige," the middle-aged man said.
Captain Jack's gaze, hidden beneath his hat brim, swept thoughtfully over the wrecked vehicles of the train convoy and the weary faces of the crowd.
His gaze lingered for a moment, especially on Xu Si's striking red hair and the cloth-wrapped item he was casually carrying.
It was already afternoon when Fu Xiaojian led everyone back to the convoy. The group leaned against the front of the Mengshi vehicle, exchanging the information they had gathered.
Jack also led his men back to their camp.
"I don't see any signs of enslavement among those ordinary people. Although they are not in good condition, this is the end times, so it is understandable. Moreover, I have received good news: there is a water source not far ahead, at most a day's journey away. Perhaps we can take a good rest!" Fu Xiaojian said.
Everyone, including Xu Si, breathed a sigh of relief; no wonder the other side was in such much better shape than them.
"The beast tamer and the clown on the other side should both be combatants, and the magician should be too!" Tashan said.
The opposing team had similar equipment, but they were fearless and confident, which meant they had something to rely on. The most likely explanation was that they had several powerful combat personnel.
"..."
Well, after listening for a long time, no one heard anything about Su Su's discovery, and they didn't have much hope.
"How about..." Xu Si spoke up at this moment. He had been coveting the lion and tiger for a long time. Tiger skin, tiger bones, tiger... these are all good things!
Moreover, he hadn't eaten meat for over two months.
"No, no... We haven't reached the point of desperation yet," Fu Xiaojian quickly interrupted.
"Xiao Xiao said they encountered a convoy that wanted to double-cross them, but they ended up being double-crossed themselves!" Xiao Luo said weakly, raising his hand in a low voice.
"You little brat, you actually know how to extract information?" Fu Xiaojian rubbed Xiao Luo's head.
"Hehe, the team doesn't keep idle people, so naturally I can't just sit around. That little girl wants to know my sequence number, and Brother Dao already reminded me. How could I possibly tell him!" Xiao Luo said, showing no childlike sincerity whatsoever, only shrewdness.
However, their opinion of this amazing circus improved even further.
……
the other side.
"That kid is too stupid. He gave up after just a few words. He called that red-haired knife guy. He must be a knife-wielding type. He should be quite lethal. As for himself, he probably doesn't have much fighting ability. I guess he can't even beat me!" Little Xiao's face was held high. She really showed her mettle today.
"We can't let our guard down. We learned our lesson last time. If they know what's good for them, that'll be fine, but if..."
"Great, great! They've double-crossed us! They've double-crossed us..."
The steel-studded myna bird had somehow popped out of Jack's pirate hat again.
"You idiot, you're useless!" He then slapped him back.
"Hehe, that red-haired guy's thing must be a 'strange item,' it might not be easy to deal with!" Hisoka said softly, as if he had thought of something.
"Leave the big guy to me!" Iguchi seemed to be a man of few words.
"I'll deal with that girl as soon as possible!" Hisoka said.
Sequence 2 has the advantage over Sequence 1.
Jack's face darkened, and he dumped the most difficult red-haired guy on him, as if to test his officers.
"Don't act rashly. They are not weak. It would be too much of a loss if we act rashly and suffer casualties! Xiao Xiao, let's do a divination to see if they will make a move?" He was mainly wary of that strange object.
"Okay, sure."
The little girl pulled out a coin from somewhere; one side depicted a fortune teller, and the other a blood moon.
The coin was tossed high into the air, tumbling in the blood-red sunlight, tracing a beautiful arc.
Little, Jack, Hisoka, and Iguro all focused their attention on the coin that would determine whether or not to act.
They didn't think it was a hasty decision at all; they had long understood the wonders of the sequence.
"Clang clang clang clang..."
The coin rolled several times on the table and then stood upright.
A hint of seriousness, beyond her years, flashed across her tiny face, and her eyes held a trace of confusion.
"What... what does this mean?" Hisoka's ever-present grin seemed to freeze for a moment.
The coin is now neither heads nor tails.
"Unable to perform divination..." Her small voice trembled with disbelief; this was the first time she had ever encountered such a situation.
The tent fell into a deathly silence.
Even the myna bird in Jack's hat was unusually quiet.
The divination failed, something that has never happened before!
"It must be that redhead," Xiao Xiao said unhappily, and wanted to roll the dice again.
Suppressing his inner turmoil, Jack said in a deep voice, "No need. The plan is canceled. The transaction will proceed as scheduled, but everyone be on high alert! That redhead... he's acting strangely!"
……
Before the apocalypse, they were just a circus troupe that performed for a living and supported their families. With fewer and fewer customers, they had to travel all over the country. Finally, they found a job contract in a scenic area and started attracting tourists.
When the apocalypse came, everyone was fleeing for their lives, and they could only wander aimlessly with their belongings.
The former troupe leader is dead, the tightrope walker is dead, and all the acrobatic sisters are dead.
Every so often, a group of people would be mysteriously killed. At first, the little girl in the group would cry for half a day after someone died, but now she has cried all her tears.
……
On the other hand, the salary train team made the same decision—to wait and see.
"Be careful of the other party's troubles during the transaction. Xiao Luo, you stay with your brother Dao. Ta Shan and Su Su, you two also keep an eye on things. Xu Si, if you find anything wrong, don't hold back." Fu Xiaojian himself had his own ways of protecting himself.
As for the ordinary people in the convoy, no one cared.
Last time, when dealing with the treacherous villain, Xu Si and Xiao Luo cooperated well, and afterwards he even asked Xiao Luo what was going on with his spiritual energy surge.
It turns out that it's not just strange; as long as the other party has energy, this kid's spiritual energy surge can have an effect on them, but the effect varies from person to person.
Dealing with Sequence 1 will likely cause an effect similar to going berserk for about a second.
He had used it on Qin Hong before, but it had almost no effect, so he didn't take this characteristic seriously.
However, now that it's paired with Xu Si's Seiya, its special ability can finally be put to good use.