NOVEL NEXT Chapter 59: Negotiating Terms
Chapter 59: Negotiating Terms
The woman tensed up, grabbing the kitchen knife from the table and holding it in front of her.
Her face showed fear as she looked at the semi-transparent ghost floating in the air.
She couldn't understand.
After the skeletons had risen, how was there now a ghost?
And it appeared right in front of her.
"Auntie, you don't need to be nervous, Xiaoxiao won't hurt you," Xiaoxiao said.
"What are you?"
"My name is Xiaoxiao, and Fuheng Silver Store is owned by my family."
Xiaoxiao? Fuheng Silver Store?
What a bunch of nonsense.
"What do you want from me?" the woman asked cautiously, inching toward the door.
Xiaoxiao floated around the room in a circle and continued, "Uncle asked me to talk to you."
"Your uncle? What does he want to talk about?" the woman asked again.
Although the scene before her was eerie, the ghost in front of her didn't seem like it would immediately harm her.
"It's about the person you mentioned, the one leading the skeletons."
So, there really was someone controlling the skeletons.
"Your uncle is a superhuman?"
"What's a superhuman? I don't know, but he's the King of Hell."
The woman's brow furrowed.
The King of Hell?
Now there's a King of Hell involved?
"What does he want to talk to me about?" The woman had already reached the door and stood there as she asked.
"Hmm, let me think." Xiaoxiao floated around the room again and then said, "Uncle wants you all to follow him."
"Follow him? What do you mean?"
"Just like Xiaoxiao, follow Uncle."
Damn!
Who wants to end up like you?
It's obvious you're not human anymore.
It's either a ghost or a skeleton; if I follow that King of Hell, will I still be alive?
Zzz~!
Just as the woman was about to say something, the walkie-talkie in her pocket crackled.
"Sister Hong, bad news, those skeletons are coming our way. We need to leave now!"
The woman glanced cautiously at the ghost floating in mid-air but still took out the walkie-talkie and said, "Pack up, get ready to retreat."
"Got it."
After speaking, the woman looked back at the ghostly girl and asked, "What if we don't want to follow him? What will happen?"
Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, "Uncle didn't say, but I think he might kill you. He killed my grandpa and dad."
Hearing this, the woman's body trembled.
Damn it~!
This guy really is a true King of Hell.
"We need to think about it; we'll give you an answer soon," the woman said.
"Alright, I'll go back and tell Uncle."
Xiaoxiao finished speaking and phased through the wall, leaving.
The woman waited a few seconds, and when nothing unusual happened, she bolted out the door.
She climbed onto the rooftop, lying beside the man keeping watch, and looked ahead.
In the distance, a sea of white skeletons, wielding various weapons, was marching down the road.
Any zombies that came at them were easily chopped down and then stood up again as skeletons.
It was like an eerie, ghostly army marching through.
"Damn it, they must have followed us back. These damned ghostly things," the man on watch cursed.
The woman's face remained serious, saying nothing more.
.........
In the middle of the skeleton army.
Xiaoxiao flew back from afar and recounted the conversation with the woman.
When he heard that the leader was a woman, Wu Heng was somewhat surprised.
It's not that women are inferior to men.
But in the current environment, men's physical advantages tend to dominate.
Even in a small survivor group.
It was quite surprising.
After listening to Xiaoxiao's report, Wu Heng decided to take a closer look himself.
With Xiaoxiao back inside his body, the scene from the auto repair shop appeared in his mind.
A simple and messy room, a dim lightbulb, a walkie-talkie on the table, and not much food.
Even if they sent people out to scavenge supplies, resources were clearly scarce.
If that half bag of rice in the corner was all their food reserves, they wouldn't last long.
He had already guessed that they had electricity.
The spears they carried required drilling and polishing, which would be difficult without electric tools.
They likely had a diesel or gasoline generator.
Wu Heng released Xiaoxiao again and said, "Xiaoxiao, take Xiao Hui over there and ask her for a walkie-talkie."
"Okay!" Xiaoxiao called out, "Xiao Hui!"
Clatter, clatter!
The four dogs and one cat came running over together.
"Come with me." Xiaoxiao flew ahead, with the five skeletal animals following behind.
.........
On the rooftop of the auto repair shop.
Li Yahong recounted what had happened in the room to the others.
When they heard that the controller of the skeleton army called himself the King of Hell and that he had killed the little ghost's grandpa and dad, their faces turned even paler.
This fear was even more intense than facing zombies.
Whether the other party was a superhuman or something else no longer mattered.
What mattered was that they were now targeted.
The group was whispering their plans when one of them, with a voice tinged with fear, said, "The skeletons are rushing over."
They all looked up and saw several skeletal animals running towards them.
"Damn it, damn it, the skeletons are coming, we have to run now."
"What should we do? We can't fight them off."
"If we leave now, we still have a chance to get out."
Li Yahong finished bandaging her shoulder wound and said, "Let's go, leave everything else behind, we'll escape from the rooftop."
"Alright," they said as they gathered their essentials and prepared to leave.
Just as Li Yahong was about to go.
The little ghost girl emerged from the floor, "Auntie, you're here. My uncle wants you to give him a walkie-talkie so he can talk to you directly."
A walkie-talkie?
Li Yahong froze in her steps, her foot seemingly glued to the ground, frozen in place.
She then called out behind her, "Give me a walkie-talkie."
One of them took off their walkie-talkie and handed it to her.
Li Yahong placed the walkie-talkie on the table, "Can you take it?"
"Xiao Hui!" Xiaoxiao called out below.
The skeletal cat leaped up, landing on the rooftop.
"Take this."
The skeletal cat grabbed the walkie-talkie in its mouth, then jumped back down and ran off in a flash.
.........
Back in the group.
Wu Heng held the walkie-talkie and pressed the talk button, "Can you hear me?"
Amidst faint static.
The woman's voice came through, "I can, what do you want?"
Wu Heng spoke directly, "I can offer you a safe place to live, in return, you need to work for me."
There was no immediate response.
After a moment, the static returned, and the woman's voice came back, "Thanks for the offer, but we won't be staying here. We'll be leaving soon."
Leaving?
Wu Heng glanced at the buildings in the distance.
In this situation, rejecting his offer of protection likely meant they already had a planned destination.
"Where are you planning to go?" Wu Heng asked.
"To a human gathering point."
A human gathering point?
Wu Heng frowned, sensing something off in her words.
Before Wu Heng could ask further, the woman spoke first, "We have no ill intentions and hope to maintain a peaceful relationship with you."
Wu Heng didn't respond immediately, beginning to contemplate.
His original plan didn't include human survivors, but having them could allow him to accomplish things the skeletons couldn't.
For example, working with generators, cutting, and welding.
He couldn't do it himself, and the skeletons certainly couldn't.
But it seemed they weren't interested in working for him.
Now there were two options left.
One, he could capture them directly and force them to work as prisoners.
The second was to find a way to cooperate and reach a deal.
The first option was the most efficient and quickest, but it would leave many future problems, like these survivors viewing themselves as exploited and constantly thinking of rebelling.
And by doing this, he would be crossing some moral lines.
Even in the apocalypse, he didn't have to do things that harmed others.
The second option, using an exchange, would have them do some work for him.
It wasn't much different from the first option, except he would be offering some benefits, making it seem like they were trading labor for rewards.
There wasn't much difference between the two.
After quickly weighing the options in his mind, Wu Heng continued, "Since you already have a plan, I won't force you. Before you leave, we can make some trades to give you more resources."
"Phew~!" A relieved sigh came from the walkie-talkie, followed by the woman asking, "What kind of trade?"
"I'll trade food for iron spears, like the ones you're using."
"How will we trade?"
"100 spears for a bag of food."
"That's too much, it's not fair to us."
Wu Heng continued, "In the current environment, food has much higher value in any human gathering point. Even if you reach a gathering point, food will still be the only hard currency."
This was Wu Heng's guess.
The only thing that could drive survivors out to scavenge was a shortage of food.
"It's too much, and we don't have enough iron pipes and materials," the woman said.
Wu Heng replied, "100 iron spears, you have a generator, so it's not like you're making them by hand. It's not that hard, and I'll provide the iron pipes and materials."
There was another brief silence on the other end.
But this time, the tone was less firm, "100 spears, one bag of rice, five 500-gram bags of sugar, and some anti-inflammatory medicine."
Wu Heng thought for a moment, deciding there was no need to haggle over this since he wasn't short on supplies.
He had nowhere to store them anyway.
Besides, choosing the second option wasn't much different from the first. He would provide food and materials, and they would make the iron spears for him.
The only difference was the formality.
"Alright, if the work is good, I'll give you five cans of meat as a bonus."
"Deal, but our materials are only enough to make a little over 20 iron spears. We'll need more steel pipes and welding rods."
"I'll provide them in the next couple of days. For now, just work on what you have."
"Alright."
After finishing the conversation, Wu Heng glanced at the auto repair shop in the distance.
He led the group back to the Water Supply Management Office, looted the nearby shops,
and then returned to the residential community with the corpses and looted items.
.........
After the skeleton army had gone far away, the people on the rooftop of the auto repair shop finally breathed a sigh of relief.
A light breeze blew, and everyone shivered.
It was only then that they realized their clothes were soaked with sweat.
"Sister Hong, are we really going to cooperate with the skeletons?" the younger man asked.
"Do you have a better idea? Besides, he made a good point. Food is the hard currency, and bringing more to the gathering point will be beneficial for us."
Li Yahong clapped her hands and continued, "Alright, start up the generator and get ready to make the iron spears."
