Chapter 89: 79: Reciprocation
This guy is truly a killer!
Whatever happens, they must not show any sign of being troublesome!
Those three beasts were killed off like chickens by him, not to mention, had Judy not managed to remove the gag from her mouth in time, they would probably have been \'liberated\' as well.
Although the past few months had been hellish, the bullies were finally dead; being alive was still better.
Tao Yu yawned as he held the water gun, and he also noticed Little Black stealthily dealing with the remaining zombies nearby.
Then he turned off the switch and tossed two sets of clothes over.
The women gratefully accepted the clothes and quickly changed in broad daylight.
The worst had been seen, so they really had no other concerns right now.
As for Tao Yu, he was unphased by their nakedness; although the women were not ugly, having seen them in their filthy state, he already had a filter in place.
These were two female adventurers rescued from a Goblin\'s nest.
"Thank you for giving us a new life, we don\'t know how to repay you," they said.
"I—I\'ve cosplayed, I can be a maid," one of them offered.
Still with damp hair, they dressed in the casual clothes Tao Yu had thrown at them and looked somewhat more human.
Tao Yu was indifferent to their words.
They were saying nice things, but it was all pretense; what they really wanted was to cling to a powerful figure.
But since he was already heading to a gathering point, taking them along didn\'t really matter.
"Our company is setting up a gathering point at a military base in the desert, and I happen to be going there. I\'ll give you a lift, but once we arrive, earning your keep is up to you," Tao Yu casually stated.
The company\'s policy wasn\'t to support idlers; the women would have to work for food, but like Tao Yu had said before, a basic order would be maintained.
Even the worst order was better than no order at all.
The base was in dire need of people at the moment, and times were relatively better.
With an average of two hundred newcomers each day, divided evenly between the old and new Development Zones, the survival rate in the new Development Zone was still below fifty percent.
Even though the call for Pioneers to gather via the radio had begun, the numbers wouldn\'t be large for quite some time; incorporating the indigenous population was a necessity.
The two women, once tormented by hell, nodded eagerly like chicks pecking at grains.
In such a world, being alive and able to fill their stomachs through work was enough!
"I—I know the warehouse code, If you need to transport anything, I could try to unlock it," said the freckled, mixed-race girl, timidly raising her hand.
"I can drive a truck and fix minor issues," declared Judy, who had showcased her ability by managing to spit out the object in her mouth. She was quick to demonstrate her value.
This genuinely piqued Tao Yu\'s interest; his eyes lit up slightly.
"You can drive a truck? Can you handle one like these?" he asked, gesturing to the heavy trucks parked nearby.
All were Peterbilts, same model as Optimus Prime, with cargo boxes stretching over fifteen meters.
"One of them I drove here," Judy replied with a bitter smile.
Her convoy had come to refuel, she went into the store to buy some things, and suddenly chaos broke out, ending in their current predicament.
"Good, I\'ll drive one and you follow me in another. That won\'t be a problem, will it?" Tao Yu\'s expression, previously a bit impatient, became much more pleasant.
She wasn\'t that unattractive, after all—female truck drivers were indeed rare.
Tao Yu had been planning to start a transportation business soon, and now he\'d have an extra driver—effectively doubling the transport capacity!
This meant that the profits would nearly double as well!
Escorting one truck was just that, but having two wouldn\'t really add much trouble.
"I can do it. On a truck, I\'m not afraid of zombies," Judy said, as if to pep herself up.
"No worries, I\'ll arrange for my pet to follow you, it will protect you."
Tao Yu beckoned to Little Black.
Even though the two of them had seen Little Black before, the sight of it running over quickly still made them unable to suppress their fear.
The first time they met, if they hadn\'t already crawled out of hell, they would have screamed.
But having survived such inhuman experiences, the mentality of the two women was indeed quite resilient.
Watching Little Black acting obediently by Tao Yu\'s side, Judy even managed to force a smile.
"I used to take my dog with me on deliveries too, a German Shepherd, but unfortunately..."
After finishing her sentence, she even braved her fear to ask,
"Can I touch it?"
"Sure."
Tao Yu indeed started to see these two in a different light, their strength after suffering was truly rare.
At least compared to the survivors Jack took good care of, they exceeded most...
...
Bang~
A heavy truck forcefully plowed through a broken-down car on the highway and continued steadily forward.
Following this heavy truck was a tanker.
The occasional zombies appearing on the road posed no threat whatsoever to these massive vehicles.
Driving the leading heavy truck, Tao Yu even honked the horn, emitting a low rumble.
"Feels powerful."
With [Riding], Tao Yu picked up the handling of this Optimus Prime model truck quite fast.
Behind him were Judy and Jesse in the tanker, with Little Black lying on the roof of their vehicle.
This tanker was something Jesse had managed to get from a gas station garage, and the sudden switch to a truck and tanker was mainly because Judy, as a former member of the cargo team, knew there was one truck loaded with twenty off-road motorcycles.
After finding out the variety of cargoes, Tao Yu decisively chose the tanker and the truck with the off-road motorcycles.
The motorcycles were already loaded, which saved a lot of loading and unloading time. Noticing there were some empty spaces left, Tao Yu also packed various other daily necessities, filling up every usable space.
Plus the fully loaded tanker behind, these should be exactly what the current settlement needed!
"Good deeds result in good karma."
Tao Yu held the steering wheel with one hand, feeling very satisfied with the haul this time.
Of course, the primary reason was the strong will to survive and self-save in the two women who had just crawled out from hell.
Soon, Tao Yu could see the outlines of Las Vegas in front.
The previous time, Tao Yu and Jack had taken the route through the Gobi to the military base.
They took a detour around the city, avoiding the horde of zombies in Las Vegas.
But this time, the two large vehicles might face some trouble.
"Jack had a cargo truck before, but it only carried a few people, almost the weight of an empty vehicle. With proper tire protection, they probably took the Gobi route."
Tao Yu glanced at the side of the desert road, pondering for a moment.
Now, with his two nearly fully loaded vehicles, taking the Gobi might indeed be troublesome.
While driving, he unfolded a paper map, on which Judy, the experienced driver, had drawn a red line.
"Hope there won\'t be any trouble on the road. We\'ll have to get used to this kind of distance for future deliveries."
Las Vegas is a city on the edge of the desert, famous as an entertainment capital, but its total area is not big, only three hundred forty square kilometers, with a population of just over two million.
The roads inside form a grid pattern, and the city itself is divided into distinctly separated zones, making it an artificial oasis thanks to nearby water sources.
Therefore, in theory, by taking the furthest ring road, the density of zombies they encounter should not be too high.
"Now with the new settlement needing development, these two truckloads of goods are worth at least a few thousand Yuan Force, maybe even tens of thousands. After establishing a transport route, directly using the resources from Las Vegas..."
Tao Yu tossed the map aside and continued driving along the highway without hesitation.
Ordinarily, the value of goods from two trucks might not be so high, but a truck of off-road motorcycles and a truck of gas are crucial resources in the early stages.
Not every scavenging run would yield such finds!
Isn\'t this more profitable than hunting Aliens on the grasslands? And a lot safer too. This could become a good business, running back and forth in the short term.
With their current strength, hunting Aliens on the grasslands could lead to being ambushed, with the resulting use of Yuan Force leading to a loss...