The cracked concrete road stretched before them like a diseased vein, its fissures sprouting mutated vegetation that thrived under the sickly yellow-green sky. Buildings stood as broken sentinels, their shattered windows gaping like empty eye sockets. The skeletal remains of vehicles littered the streets—some civilian, others military drop-pods from NATO's orbital assault decades past.
"That's not rainclouds," Sun Jiao remarked as Jiang Chen eyed the ominous sky. "Radiation dust. Your EP's iodine filter will handle it... unless you plan to vacation in a nuclear reactor." Her smirk didn't quite reach her eyes.
Despite last night's intimacy, their journey to Sixth Settlement was strictly business. Sun Jiao moved with predatory ease while Jiang Chen—legs still wobbling from their "workout"—struggled to keep pace. The PK2000 assault rifle she'd given him weighed heavily in untrained hands.
"Remember," Sun Jiao whispered as they entered a derelict commercial district, "zombies are photosynthetic now. They'll play dead until sunset. What we fear are—"
A guttural roar shattered the silence. Three blocks away, a nine-foot-tall monstrosity of blubber and muscle hurled a car door like a discus, shearing a militiaman's arm clean off.
"Meat Mountain!" Sun Jiao hissed, dragging Jiang Chen behind cover.
The creature was evolution's cruel joke—a walking fortress of adipose tissue that shrugged off small arms fire. Militia explosives barely dented its gelatinous armor until a 99mm anti-tank round found its mark through the beast's screaming maw.
As victors harvested Yajing crystals from the corpse, Sun Jiao explained the grim economy: "Fat for fertilizer. Blood for vaccines. Nothing gets wasted here." Jiang Chen's stomach churned imagining the "nutrient paste" derived from such sources.
At Sixth Settlement's gates, a guard scanned their EP wrist-computers. "Gene codes check out. Welcome to civilization."
Jiang Chen exhaled in relief—until he saw the marketplace beyond.
Civilization, Wasteland-Style:
Slave Block: Collared workers with barcode tattoos
Pharmacy Tent: "Rad-Away" injections made from Meat Mountain plasma
Armory: Laser rifles traded for Yajing crystals pried from zombie skulls
Sun Jiao caught his expression. "Disappointed? Out here, 'order' just means someone strong enough makes rules." She patted her SK-10 Sirius laser rifle. "Our first stop should be—"
A commotion erupted near the medical tents. A gaunt man convulsed on the ground, his skin bubbling with unnatural growths. Two guards pumped rounds into his skull without hesitation.
"Stage 3 mutation. Standard procedure." Sun Jiao nudged Jiang Chen past the scene. "Now about those vaccines you need..."
The settlement's brutality was a mirror held up to Jiang Chen's naivety. In this world, morality was measured in ammunition and antibiotics. As they pushed through the crowd, he gripped his rifle tighter—not yet realizing the true danger wouldn't come from mutants, but from the calculating eyes tracking his well-fed frame and pristine equipment.