Armed Train in the Apocalypse

Chapter 317: Chapter 225: Bar

At the edge of the building, rows of thick steel beams extended outward.

They were preparations for future expansion.

At this moment, large fish of varying lengths were hanging on the steel beams, split in half. The shortest was a meter long, and the longest reached three meters, with a few looking particularly fierce.

Someone on the steel frame saw Iron Old Man and quickly shouted, ”Brother Jian Country, Uncle Tie is here!”

As soon as the words fell, there was a series of loud thuds, and a burly man as robust as Liang Kuan reached this end of the steel frame, squatted down, revealing dark green scales underneath his short sleeves, extending from his neck to his chest.

Iron Old Man hurriedly shouted, ”Come down properly—”

Before the words were finished, there was a loud boom in front of him.

The man had already jumped down from the seven to eight-meter high steel frame, flexed his knees, and stood up with ease.

Wagging his over two-meter-long tail, he curiously asked, ”Dad, what brings you here?”

Iron Old Man glared at him fiercely. The sight of the scales on his son’s face sparked a flash of heartache in his eyes, though it quickly vanished. He angrily pointed to the drying fish and questioned him.

”When did you catch these fish behind my back?”

Qi Jian Country quickly took his father’s hand, wanting to talk to him aside.

But Iron Old Man shook free.

”These have all eaten corpses. Who do you want to feed with this stuff? The people of the settlement or your old man?”

Qi Jian Country looked at his stubborn father helplessly and said, ”We can’t just starve, right?”

Iron Old Man was stunned, ”The food isn’t enough?”

”It’s been not enough for a while. Recently, that woman brought a lot of food, which lasted a bit, but now, there’s no way. I can only mix in some fish for tomorrow...”

”But I saw the bar downstairs is still open, serving roast meat and bread, all fancy stuff.”

Qi Jian Country whispered, ”Zhenbang said everyone is watching the bar now. If the bar is open, it proves the settlement is stable. If it suddenly closes, people will panic.”

Iron Old Man suddenly became anxious, ”But the food is already not enough, still wasting like that...”

”But the food in the bar is brought by others, and we’re just relying on the processing fee to get by.”

Large raindrops eagerly fell, and the water that originally submerged the fifth floor had risen to the sixth, splashing against the walls.

Iron Old Man fell silent upon hearing this, looking at the sky. ”To keep the settlement going, any method is good. You all better come down soon; it’s about to rain.”

Qi Jian Country responded with a sound, watching his father walk downstairs again, bristling with anger.

He overlapped with the man in his memory who always appeared in photos, wearing a military uniform, standing tall and proud.

Although the apocalypse was hard, it was just right for those old folks accustomed to hard times.

Pouring rain trickled down his collar, hanging on his scales.

Qi Jian Country shook his head, calling his brothers behind him to come down.

They quickly packed their things and moved forward.

Along the way, several buckets hung from the eaves of the tin houses, or a few basins were placed on the ground, and raindrops pounded into them making a rattle.

This was the settlement’s only means of obtaining clean water.

Fortunately, in the Flood Zone, rain was abundant, and there was no acid rain, so as long as there were enough containers, clean water was not a problem.

Upon reaching the building in front, they descended three floors of tin houses and entered inside.

Compared to the rooftop, the downstairs was even more crowded, and because of the safety comfort provided by the old cement walls, more survivors preferred to squeeze in here.

Every step along the corridor passed by a family.

The mixed odors of sweat, foot odor, and fermenting food brewed an unbearable stench that even open windows could not dispel.

Seeing the scales on Qi Jian Country’s neck and the tail behind him, people along the way cast him wary glances.

But more were filled with fear and envy.

That was the most direct proof of strength.

After taking only a few steps, a lean young man followed, whispering, ”Brother Jian Country, our people are guarding the stairs. No one gets through.”

Qi Jian Country nodded but still checked it himself.

Only after confirming that the barrier leading to the lower floor was welded securely did he proceed upstairs.

The young man flattered, ”Brother Jian Country, you’re really cautious.”

Qi Jian Country chuckled, ”This isn’t cautious, just a necessary procedure. Doing it is nothing to boast about, but not doing it would be foolish.”

Greeting the few men on guard along the way, Qi Jian Country headed to the middle household on the top floor.

Other rooms have been divided into tiny spaces to accommodate more people.

This room, on the other hand, had its partitions removed, windows sealed, just to look more spacious.

The security door was wide open, with a cardboard box sign hanging at the entrance, crookedly written with the word ”Bar.”

Men and women of various kinds moved in and out, congesting the entire corridor.

Seeing Qi Jian Country approach, they reluctantly made way.

Inside the room, there weren’t the colorful lights typical of a bar, not that they didn’t want to, but there weren’t enough LED lights.

Only a few dim candlesticks illuminated the place.

However, this only complemented the atmosphere.

An apocalypse, flood, a dim room, with rare and precious light, people from different social backgrounds crammed into a narrow space living in decadent revelry, talking about past glories and unattainable beautiful lives, until their mouths were dry, backs sweating and emotions stirred, finding a like-minded opposite sex to passionately engage in the dark corners.

This caused the entire space to be filled with a strong scent of hormones.

When Qi Jian Country squeezed in, he couldn’t help but frown.