Chapter 19 – Want My Food? I Want Your APC!
Misha looked at the map in her hands, planning what she should do during the days.
In front of Misha, a suspicious 5-meter-tall lone tree with human limbs as branches was there. At first, Misha planned to toss in a flame grenade to burn it, but she changed her mind after she had received the messages from her wristwatch.
"Change of plans, I'll not provoke a fight with this guy."
Misha turned around and left the danger zone area, finding a better place to camp. Since she had acquired the required status attributes, there was no point to waste her bullets and grenades in any unnecessary combat.
She traveled south, planning to set a camp near the base.
.
A couple of minutes passed after Misha left.
Under the ground where Misha had stood, bloody tree roots were digging toward it. The red roots got out of the ground and wriggled around, finding the trace of Misha.
*SCREECH*
The tree roots squirmed as if they were frustrated.
The sharp tree roots turned into the heads of snakes, flickering their tongues. As if they could smell or sense Misha's presence, they glared into the direction that she was heading.
The roots retreated back into the hole that they had dug, and the mutated tree uprooted itself. The thousands of red roots got out of the ground, crawling and moving toward the south, carrying the tree and the human-limb branches with them in a turtle-crawling speed.
.
5 PM.
37 Hours remaining.
Misha got back to where the military base used to locate, but she could not find it. She double-checked the map and the compass if she was wrong.
She stood there, confused for 5 minutes, but Misha had an inkling after she thought back about the purpose of the game.
"Right, they said we can't return to the base."
Looking around for the right place to settle down, Misha put down her backpack and took out her camp kits.
*WHEEZE*
A familiar armored car passed by. It stopped and turned around, heading toward Misha.
Pioneer King got out of the vehicle. Upon seeing Misha, he remembered that she packed several tools and rations within the backpack.
"Hey, noob! Share me some of your supplies. I'll give you a million dollars in the real world when we return."
Misha grinned, "Is that the right tone of someone asking for a favor?"
Pioneer was taken aback. Thinking back, he was in the wrong.
"Okay, I'll apologize for my previous remarks. Can you spare me some food and bullets? Wait, how about we team up? We can help each other!"
Misha glanced at Pioneer and the armored car, "Where're your crews?"
Pioneer clicked his tongue, "They're dead. All of them died to the zombies."
"Oho? Zombies? I reckon that they should be easy to kill, no?"
"We met a zombie horde and a freaking giant egg monster! That thing killed everyone in my team!"
Pioneer's eyes shifted left and right as he tried to make up a new story on top of what really happened.
Misha squinted her eyes, 'This bastard is suspicious.'
"I'm planning to complete the quest solo. I don't need help from you."
"Ow, come on! How about this? I'll pay you two million dollars, no, 3 million! Share me your food, and I'll pay you with the real money. It's a give-and-take!"
Misha frowned. She did not need cash as she was from a wealthy family and her parents had a high status in the military. Those amounts were useless to her in real life.
However, she could not help but get tempted to it. Pocket money would not hurt.
Looking at her possession, she had 12 packages of rations and 10 magazines of rifle bullets that she could use as bargain chips.
"What's the currency? MGD?"
(MGD = Milky Way Dollars)
"Y-Yes, MGD! 3 Million MGD!"
"I can do that. I'll give you three packages of rations and two clips of ammo, but I want that APC and 3 million MGD."
"This …"
Pioneer hesitated. But after a minute of thinking, he laughed in his mind.
'Foolish! The army will take the APC back when the quest is over. Besides, this piece of junk is about to run out of gas anyway. The machine gun is also out of commission. At best, I can only use it as a mobile home.'
Pioneer pointed at Misha's camp kits, "That isn't fair for me. If you want my APC, I want that camp kits."
The camp kits contained a tent, a barrier generator, and a sleeping bag. In this wilderness, it could be useful to the campers as they could sleep soundly without worrying about any sneak attack at night. However, the barrier generator had limited usage. It could only last one or two hours if it was attacked by a horde of zombies.
"My tent?" Misha's frown deepened. She did not want to give away her sleeping tent, but sleeping in the APC should be a better choice in this wasteland.
She attempted to haggle a bit, "I can give you the tent and three packs of ration for 3 million and the APC, but I won't give you my ammo."
"Ugh!" Pioneer had traces of blood veins on his face, "Fine! I just want food and the camp."
"Deal! I'll draft the contract, and I'll give you my bank account number, but I want your SSN."
"Alright, alright!"
Pioneer gritted his teeth. Had it not because the government was watching, he would have killed Misha and stolen her items.
'I don't want to get the higher-up's attention. Dammit, I want to kill her! But if she rats me out after she revives, I'm doomed.'
PKing (Player Killing) in games could be allowed, but it required the consensus from both sides. One-sided killing or ambushing another player without a sounded reason was illegal, and violators would be sentenced imprisonment in real life.
Killing Dove and his crews was already risky enough, but at least Pioneer could claim that it was done in a panic or without ill intention if he were to get caught. With a few rigging from his family and a bit of bribery in the real world, he might be able to get away with it without a trial.
Killing Misha to steal her belongings was different. PKing to steal loots or possession of items was illegal in the universal laws of the real world and the game world.
Pioneer did not want to push his luck at the moment.
.
The transaction was completed. Both of them signed a contract in the game note, which every virtual game had in common. It was a standard and was supported by the law of the Milky Way Government to prevent fraud in-game.
Everybody could check their balance or transfer money in real life through the game platform, which was convenient for the players.
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The game also sent a confirmation message to Misha.
"Thanks! Now, they're yours."
Misha skip-danced to the APC, leaving the tent, three packs of rations, and her camp kits to Pioneer.
Pioneer sighed a relief. He checked his status bar and found that his hunger gauge was already halved.
'At least, I'll just camp here for the time being. If I use the food sparingly, I'll make it through.'
Meanwhile, Misha grinned from ears to ears.
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Misha did not really need that money, but she felt good to earn a few million herself.
'The fuel is half-tank, and the back-up battery is still full. Well, not too shabby. Wait, the reactive force-field shield is busted. That mofo must have been through world war 4 or something? What a waste.'
Misha packed everything and drove the APC away as she could not trust that Pioneer might not do something stupid. She was a lone girl in this game, after all.