Chapter 146: Welcome to Hell (End)

"What is this place?"

Looking at the bustling gathering place before her, the elven girl widened her eyes in astonishment and asked in a low voice. It was no wonder she was so surprised; ever since she had awakened, this was the first time she had seen a populated area, only...

"Have we come to the slums?"

Seeing the raggedly dressed travelers carrying weapons back and forth, the elven girl turned pale and shrank back in vigilance. Ferren was not surprised by this. Aside from large-scale faction strongholds like District 9 or Vegas, most settlements were no better than Brooklyn in New York—and perhaps even worse.

Strictly speaking, Ferren did not need to stop in such a small place. However, in order to let the elven girl experience firsthand the changes in the world, he had instructed Aluka to stop near a relatively small settlement along the way, so that the elven girl could properly understand how people lived in this wasteland world.

As for the other reason... well, it was almost time to prepare some reserve rations for Delin and Franka.

Especially Franka; this shapeshifting elf was a total foodie. Although her ability to flawlessly copy the skills of information targets was indeed very useful, every transformation consumed a considerable amount of energy. Back in the ruins of the research facility, Ferren had only made her transform into a hacker form, and the result was the consumption of five more energy chips. Delin had already expressed her dissatisfaction to Ferren about this very tactfully—as a high-ranking familiar, she only ate five chips a month, yet Franka, whose status as a familiar was questionable at best, consumed four times her amount in a single month?

Familiars have their pride, you know!

Of course, Ferren could not play favorites, nor could he be fickle and abandon the old for the new. Although Delin was not truly jealous, he still needed to properly appease his cat-eared maid. After all, she had followed him from the wasteland all the way to the present day; even without great achievements, she had worked hard—not to mention that the cat-eared maid had saved his life more than once. No matter what, the treatment couldn't differ by too much, right?

Of course, Ferren did not expect to find many energy chips in a settlement like this. Aside from letting the elven girl experience the atmosphere of the end times, his purpose in coming here was to see if there were any commissions related to familiars.

That's right... people in the apocalypse were generally very poor, but familiars in the apocalypse were basically big shots. If you went to rob one, you could easily shake down a dozen energy chips from any familiar you intercepted. If you were lucky, excellent or refined grade ones were well within reach.

Of course, this only applied to "wild" familiars. Familiars "kept at home" like Delin and Franka had to rely on their master's hard work.

Come to think of it, keeping a familiar really was a bit like keeping a cat. A stray cat could live very well every day without you worrying about it, while a house cat required you to lower your pride every day and serve it like a cat slave...

However, thinking about it further, it seemed Delin's true form was originally a cat?

Then there was no problem at all.

"Don't worry so much, these people aren't going to eat you!"

Seeing the elven girl's timid appearance, Aluka couldn't help but speak up. She reached out and patted the elven girl's shoulder, signaling her to relax. In Aluka's view, the elven girl's reaction was making a mountain out of a molehill. Scenes like this were a daily routine for them; how could this woman have so many issues?

"But... they're all carrying guns..."

Hearing Aluka's words allowed the elven girl to relax slightly, but her tense face still looked very nervous. Especially upon seeing those men nearby, who looked as terrifying as gangsters from a mafia movie and held vicious-looking firearms in their hands, her heart pounded with fear.

It was no wonder the elven girl was so nervous. After all, amidst this crowd of people who looked like refugees and desperadoes, Ferren's group, with their clean and tidy clothes, stood out just like millionaires going to the slums for charity work. Even the elven girl herself had changed into a very clean and pretty outfit. During the few days she had spent with Ferren and the others, the elven girl hadn't felt anything wrong with this, but now, deep within this settlement, looking at the surrounding ragged people who exuded a sour, foul odor yet eyed them like tigers watching their prey, the elven girl felt as if she were a sheep that had wandered into a wolf pack, almost forgetting how to walk.

"I said don't worry. If these idiots dare to make a move, we'll just kill them."

Aluka didn't care at all about the elven girl's worries. However, considering that the Commander seemed to value this woman a great deal, she casually offered a couple of words of comfort. To Aluka's surprise, however, upon hearing this, the elven girl turned even paler, shivering as if she were about to faint.

The Commander said this woman came from before the disaster, but why were women before the disaster so timid?

Staring in puzzlement at the elven girl's tearful face and pondering for a moment, Aluka nodded and finally arrived at an answer.

Judging by this appearance, she definitely wasn't a female driver.

"Creak..."

The dilapidated wooden door opened, and a harsh, clamorous noise mixed with a sickeningly foul stench rushed toward them. Sweeping her gaze across the room, one could only see travelers and security guards of the settlement sitting around in the dim bar, drinking and making merry. In any settlement, a tavern was always the busiest place. This was entirely normal; in a wasteland where you might meet God in the very next second, if you didn't numb your nerves through hedonism and intoxication, you would probably go crazy long ago. Drinking frantically like this, and then using the alcohol-fueled courage to grab a woman, find any random spot, drop your pants, and have a good time—that was the best way to relieve mental stress.

Just like someone currently making a move on Aluka.

"Hey, babe, looks like you're pretty lonely. How about it? Care to have a go with big bro..."

A man whose eyes were red with alcohol, his tongue so tangled he couldn't speak properly, grinned lewdly and reached out, wanting to stroke the slim, slender legs beneath Aluka's miniskirt. But before his hand could touch Aluka, the girl smoothly drew a pistol from her waist and aimed it right at the drunkard, who looked like a bear.

"Get lost, or go die."

Having said that, Aluka swept a dismissive glance at him and turned to leave. Seeing this, the man's companions burst into a series of jeering laughter. Hearing the laughter, the man could no longer sit still. He stood up and staggered forward to lunge at Aluka once again.

"Hey, woman! Stop right there! I'm gonna make you know what the price for this is...!!"

However, before the man could finish speaking, Aluka turned her head directly, raised the gun in her hand, and without another word, blew the man's head off with a single shot. The man then toppled backward, crashing heavily into the table behind him with a loud smash.

"What the hell are you doing! Stinking bitch!!"

Seeing their companion killed, the men sitting at the table with him instantly leaped to their feet. They grabbed the weapons at hand, aimed at Aluka, and prepared to open fire. But Aluka's speed was faster than theirs. Accompanied by several sharp gunshots, those unlucky fellows who had just stood up from the sofa collapsed once more, turning into lifeless corpses.

Far from causing any panic in the bar, this scene instead brought about excited screams and cheers from the surrounding onlookers, with some even blowing kisses and whistling at Aluka. As for these people, Aluka didn't even spare them a glance; she simply flicked her wrist to holster her gun again, and then looked at the pale-faced elven girl beside her.

"See? It's that simple, problem solved. What is there to be afraid of?"

"I... I..."

Hearing Aluka's words, the elven girl looked at the corpses lying on the ground being dragged out like trash, then at the surrounding crowd of dancing demons acting as if high on drugs, and finally at Aluka's bland, completely indifferent face. She had no idea what to say.

At that moment, a sentence Ferren had previously spoken to her surfaced in the elven girl's mind.

"Welcome to hell."