Chapter 342: Quick Settlement
Upon hearing this, the few men were momentarily speechless. They looked at each other, and compared to Vikram, they now seemed more like new Survivors in the Market.
"Hiss!"
"This kid seems to be the real ruthless one. He actually dared to make a move right under the patrol’s nose. And he even hit Drake."
"Now he’s even turning the tables and demanding money."
The surrounding Survivors’ previous disdain was replaced by a hint of admiration in their eyes.
They knew there was a show to watch when newcomers arrived because they themselves had once been newcomers. Who among them hadn’t been swindled? Yet, none had been as bold as Vikram.
"Pfft!"
Previously, surrounded by a crowd, Radhika and Geetanjali had been very nervous.
This was, after all, the territory of the White Fox Shelter, and they were still a bit at a loss after such a scene unfolded right after their arrival.
Now, Vikram not only wasn’t swindled but was instead demanding money, which made the two women unable to hold back their laughter.
As for Divya and Anjali, they had long understood Vikram’s personality. The first time the other party deliberately made things difficult, the two knew he would definitely suffer a terrible fate, so they weren’t at all surprised by this counterattack...
Vikram, at the stall, was at ease, but his peripheral vision constantly scanned the patrol team standing not far away.
Clearly, even if they were too lazy to interfere, the commotion here was simply too great.
So much so that ever since he smashed a wooden box on Drake’s head, several gazes had been continuously sweeping over him.
He was certain these people were not on the same level as the small-fry buyers inside. Those who could catch his attention were at least individuals with 40 points of physique or more.
However, fortunately, after seeing Drake slowly regain consciousness from his stupor, they withdrew their gazes.
The bald Drake, now sitting up from the ground, naturally no longer had his previous pleasant expression. With half his face destroyed, no matter how much he could pretend, he couldn’t endure this humiliation.
Ignoring the blood still flowing from his face, Drake pointed at Vikram’s nose and glared, saying, "Young man, I’ve fallen into your trap today. You want crystals? No problem. There are too many eyes and ears here. Follow me to a safe place, and I’ll give you the crystals immediately."
Apparently, he hadn’t completely lost consciousness earlier and had heard Vikram’s words.
This plan to swindle newcomers today was clearly not going to work. To cut his losses, Drake now only wanted to turn the tables, kill Vikram, and then take everything he wanted.
After Drake finished speaking, he left the crowd without looking back. His helpers, at this moment, looked at the five of them with fierce expressions, "You’ve had your moment of glory. Let’s go, young man. It’s time to let you see the rules of this Market."
Looking at the several helpers still surrounding them, Vikram remained expressionless, but a cold sneer had long since formed in his heart.
He could easily tell what Drake was trying to do. In fact, this situation was exactly what he wanted; otherwise, it would be difficult for him to act in plain sight.
He obediently followed the group, winding through several turns, approaching the commercial area with storefronts ahead.
Due to limited space, the shops and stalls here were very close together, and there were small alleys everywhere that were unknown to most.
The group disappeared into the depths of an alley, out of sight of the onlookers.
The patrol team nearby merely glanced at them from beginning to end, seemingly turning a blind eye to the two groups deliberately hiding themselves.
After all, the purpose of their White Fox Shelter’s Market was to serve these desperate and wicked individuals.
And the Wasteland had no shortage of such Survivors.
Instead of being nosy, it was better to be slightly more lenient, which would attract more such people to trade in their Market.
After all, good things were usually in the hands of these cunning people.
Honest Survivors were either struggling to make ends meet or already dead and gone, so why bother with their thoughts?
However, just as they were about to pretend they hadn’t seen anything, one of the Survivors received a message and informed them, causing the few to suddenly widen their eyes and then quickly leave the scene.
—
"Tsk tsk, what a pity. No matter how bold that kid is, if his own strength isn’t enough, he’s still going to get beaten up."
Initially, they admired Vikram for daring to injure Drake in public, but seeing them follow Drake into the alley, they all clicked their tongues.
"Alright, aren’t we all like this? When we were bullied, no one helped us either."
"Instead of being nosy, why not have some fun with that kid? After all, new people in the Market aren’t an everyday occurrence."
A stall owner watched Vikram and the others disappear from sight, and a good idea for making some quick money immediately popped into his head. He grinned and said, "How about a bet?"
"Let’s bet with mutated crystals, on whether that kid can come out of there later."
The onlookers, who were initially sighing with emotion, immediately became interested when they heard this.
"Hmph, don’t you guys know Drake’s strength? That kid dared to attack Drake in front of us just now; he’s absolutely dead today."
"One mutated crystal, I bet he won’t come out."
"Indeed, this scoundrel isn’t human, but he’s truly rich. He should at least have 50 points of physique, right? I also bet that kid won’t come out."
In just three minutes, almost everyone willing to participate had taken out a crystal and bet that Vikram would die in the alley.
"What the hell? Is there no one who thinks that kid will make it? If everyone bets he dies, how can we play?"
"Heh heh, do you take us for fools? Why don’t you bet he’ll be fine?"
"Tch, forget it. Where would I get so many crystals to pay you back?"
The shop owner looked at the empty side of the gambling plate on the ground meant for Vikram, and couldn’t help but curl his lips.
For him to bet on Vikram was no different from throwing money away.
Just as he was losing interest and planning to put away the gambling plate and return the crystals to them, a green glowing mutated crystal suddenly appeared on the side of the gambling plate for Vikram to walk out of the alley alive.
"I bet that kid will win."
When everyone saw someone betting on Vikram winning, their gazes immediately followed the bettor’s arm, moving little by little to his face.
"You... you, how could you be fine?"
"Where’s Drake?"
Who else could it be but Vikram who appeared before them?
At this moment, a gentle smile played on his lips as he calmly looked at the people who had placed bets.
"You mean Drake? I coaxed him to sleep, and then his subordinates carried him home."
The few people were stunned at first, but after noticing a trace of blood on Vikram’s cheek, they immediately understood what had happened in the alley during those three minutes.
Thinking of Drake’s physique, the fact that he could be killed in three minutes, no, excluding the walking time, probably less than two minutes, all the people still jeering and betting here swallowed their saliva in unison.
When the four women who had entered with Vikram also came out unharmed, it further confirmed their thoughts.
"Brother... we were just playing around, we didn’t really think you couldn’t do it."
"Since you came out unharmed, we congratulate you. Oh, and brother, you’re the only one who bet correctly on this gambling plate, so all the crystals inside are yours."
Knowing that the other party was a ruthless person, they had no intention of reneging.
Vikram hadn’t even said anything, and the tattered cloth serving as a makeshift gambling plate was already packed up and tremblingly handed to Vikram by the stall owner.
Vikram glanced at the mutated crystals in the tattered cloth; there were about twenty of them, which was a considerable amount.
"Is that so? Then I’ll accept them."
There was no reason to refuse freebies. Although these people hadn’t laid a hand on him, they had gossiped quite a bit behind his back earlier, so he certainly wouldn’t be polite with them.
Putting away the crystals, Vikram shook his head as he watched the onlookers scatter and flee, then turned to look at Drake’s stall.
There was basically nothing too valuable on the stall.
It was all metal weapons and such. After just one glance, Vikram handed all these things to Radhika and Geetanjali.
"Boss, we didn’t do anything, we can’t take these."
"Take them. Following me has passively caused you a lot of trouble, so the weapons inside are all yours."
The truly valuable items were all on Drake himself; he had already taken all the good stuff from him when he punched him to death.
He could use these metal items as a favor if he needed them, and it would make future transactions smoother.
When the two women heard Vikram say this, despite their embarrassment, they could only nod, and their goodwill towards Vikram increased by another point.
The onlookers couldn’t see the fight in the alley, but they had seen it clearly.
From Drake’s movements, they could tell that his strength was slightly weaker than theirs. Even so, his physique had definitely exceeded 50 points.
But with that kind of physique, Vikram truly just used one punch, exploding his head right in front of them.
Even though they knew Vikram could withstand bullets and his physique couldn’t be low, actually witnessing the difference between them, the two women couldn’t help but feel a touch of admiration.
Not to mention Divya and Anjali, who were with Vikram; when they were responsible for cleaning up Drake’s henchmen earlier, they instantly realized that the two women’s strength was also similar to theirs, or even a little higher.
Ignoring the two women’s strange gazes, Vikram put away his things and continued deeper into the Market.
After a few steps, the stalls in front were replaced by shops built with wood.
He was about to comment that the wooden shops lacked style, but then he remembered that this was a temporary Market, and Vikram felt relieved.
He randomly picked one to go in and check. The goods sold inside were indeed better than those on the stalls.
And the quantity of each item was no longer sparse.
Each storefront seemed to have its own specialized goods, such as selling weapons, food, or rare metals, usually in a separate storefront.
For example, the shop Vikram just entered was a shop specializing in cold-weather supplies.
The items inside were indeed quite good. Most of the clothes were of exquisite quality, and a few of the most expensive ones even reached blue-purple quality, second only to Epic-level.
A few weeks ago, Vikram might have considered spending a small amount of money to buy these high-quality clothes.
However, since he had wiped out a dozen underground zombie nests, the Shelter no longer lacked quality clothing.
After simply asking the shop owner where the highest-grade shops in this Market were, Vikram led the four out.
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