Chapter 38: Chapter 38: Treatment
After a moment of thought, Ye Yun made his decision.
’Bring them back. As long as they’re willing to join, I’ll treat them.’
...
Listening to No. 1, Xisuo asked in disbelief:
"Your shelter’s manager... is he really willing to treat us?"
No. 1 nodded.
"Yes, Mr. Xisuo. The Manager said he can bring you back to the shelter and then treat you."
Xisuo and Simon exchanged a glance, and both could see the astonishment in the other’s eyes.
’Things were going so smoothly that it made them worry there was a catch.’
As if sensing their concern, Bena spoke up.
"Actually, I just joined the shelter myself. Before, my internal radiation level was as high as 52%."
"But on the very day I joined, the Manager gave me an injection of Rad-Away, which lowered my radiation level to 12%."
Hearing Bena’s explanation, Xisuo finally understood.
’So they really are willing to treat us, but only on the condition that both of us brothers join their shelter.’
Xisuo shook his head without hesitation.
"Sorry, but if joining your shelter is the prerequisite for our treatment, then forget it."
Hearing Xisuo’s refusal, Bena was a little surprised.
"But... why?"
"After joining the shelter, you’ll have a safe place to live and won’t have to worry about food or clothing. Isn’t that a good thing?"
Simon quietly tugged on his older brother’s hand.
"Bro, maybe we..."
Xisuo cut Simon off before he could finish.
He struggled to his feet.
"Shut up. We have our own two hands, and we have powers. There’s no need for us to live under someone else’s roof."
"Enough. This conversation is over."
"We’re very grateful for your help."
"Based on our contribution to the fight, we should undoubtedly get more of the spoils."
"However, we also have to admit that without your help, we probably wouldn’t have been able to defeat this mutated lizard."
"How about this: we’ll split the spoils fifty-fifty."
Seeing them refuse, Bena didn’t want to give up. He thought they were worried about being exploited after joining the shelter, so he quickly explained:
"No, man, our shelter’s Manager is really a good person! And the technology in our shelter is very advanced..."
Xisuo understood what Bena was getting at and waved his hand dismissively.
"Bena, I’m grateful for your help, but let’s just drop it."
"We’re used to our freedom and aren’t willing to live depending on another faction."
"We’ll leave as soon as we’ve divided the kill."
With that, he drew his machete and began to butcher the mutated lizard’s corpse.
Bena looked at the radiation spots on Xisuo’s face and was instantly reminded of his own recent past.
He knew all too well that once your internal radiation levels got too high, life became a living hell.
Continuing to hunt mutated creatures in the wasteland or take on bounty missions in this condition was no different from a death wish.
Bena immediately had No. 1 send a report on the current situation back to the shelter.
...
Ye Yun was taken aback when he saw that they had actually refused to join.
He had thought it was a sure thing, but to his surprise, they had refused without a second thought.
But then, thinking about the two brothers’ past, Ye Yun felt their refusal was actually quite reasonable.
’If I had been captured by some mad scientist as a child and subjected to human experimentation, I’d have some serious psychological scars too.’
However, he glanced down at the two vials of medicine in his hand.
’Oh well. I’ll just consider it an act of goodwill.’
’The medicine’s already been produced, and Bena can’t use it again anytime soon anyway.’
’If it’s not used, it’ll just sit in the warehouse collecting dust.’
’They may be artificial superhumans, but they’re superhumans nonetheless. Building a good relationship with them might come in handy later on.’
’Tell them I don’t need them to join our shelter. I’m still willing to provide the medicine. Consider it a gesture of friendship this time. If they want more medicine in the future, they can trade valuable resources for it.’
...
The two brothers, who were quickly butchering their kill, immediately stopped what they were doing when they heard the new offer.
Xisuo looked at Bena.
"Are you serious?"
Bena waved his hands.
"This isn’t from me; it’s from the Manager. And I have absolute faith in what he says."
Xisuo fell into deep thought.
’The new terms were so tempting that even he was struggling to resist.’
"This..."
Bena tried to persuade him earnestly.
"I’ve been in your shoes. In your current condition, if you don’t get treatment right away, your health will only get worse, and your combat effectiveness will just keep declining."
"Even if you really don’t want to join, you can at least accept the treatment, right?"
Simon also spoke up at this point.
"Bro, they were willing to come out and help us just now. Why can’t we believe they’d be willing to help us again?"
"If they really wanted to harm us, they would have done it already."
Xisuo froze at Simon’s words.
A moment later, Xisuo gritted his teeth.
"Fine. We’ll accept the treatment."
...
「Two hours later.」
Bena’s group of five stopped at a long-abandoned roadside gas station.
Half an hour earlier, Ye Yun had issued a new order, telling them to stop at this abandoned gas station, which was still two kilometers from the shelter.
’Since Xisuo and Simon weren’t willing to join his shelter, he couldn’t check their loyalty levels on the member list.’
’That meant he couldn’t completely trust them.’
’So, until they had established a sufficiently stable, cooperative relationship, or until the shelter itself possessed enough combat strength, Ye Yun had no intention of taking any personal risks.’
’With the shelter’s current combat power, if the brothers had any ill intentions, his side would likely suffer for it.’
Therefore, Ye Yun didn’t have the two brothers come to the shelter.
Instead, he arranged for them to meet at this sufficiently distant, abandoned gas station, and had No. 1 return to the shelter to retrieve the Rad-Away.
Watching the ugly radiation spots on his skin slowly fade and feeling the stinging pain in his body rapidly subside, Xisuo’s face was filled with an excitement he couldn’t hide.
Since becoming an artificial superhuman, he had been injected with many anti-radiation drugs. He knew they hadn’t lied to him.
Thinking of his own wariness and distrust toward them the entire time, an unnatural expression flickered across Xisuo’s face, even for someone who had seen it all.
He bowed deeply to Bena, who was standing not far away.
"I’m sorry. I apologize to all of you for my earlier suspicion."
"Thank you for your generous help."
Bena understood that trust was a rare commodity in the wasteland, but he was still unhappy about their deep-seated distrust of his great Manager. So even as they apologized, his expression remained sour.
