The originally bustling meat market froze in an instant.
The customers who were drooling just now felt as if there was a lump of wet hair stuck in their throats. They couldn't make a single sound.
The boy forced himself to turn his face to the side and saw a very 'wet' man.
Ignoring the sarcoma on his forehead that looked like a cobra, this man actually looked quite decent. However, his sweat glands seemed to be affected by radiation. Yellow beads of sweat flowed out of his sweat all the time. Under the dim sunlight, they looked like a layer of yellowish-brown scales.
"Snake, Grandpa Snake …"
The butcher, who was arrogant and in control of the situation just now, was now at a loss. He stuttered as he explained, "I-I didn't know you didn't want to sell it to me. This sheep was brought here by Fourth Brother. He said, said …"
"Yes, Lord Snake."
The boy looked at the strong man who had just tied him up and sent him here. He nodded and bowed in front of Lord Snake and said with a flattering smile, "This brat cheated in our casino for three days in a row. Today, he was caught red-handed. According to the rules, he has to compensate for the losses. I searched his pockets, but I didn't find a single bullet. His chips were all stolen. Only his good meat is worth some money, so …"
"Oh."
Lord Snake smiled like a spring breeze. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Fourth Brother's" face suddenly turned paler than a butcher's. His legs started to tremble and his voice became more and more distorted. "I, this, you, aren't you busy dealing with the Black Ghost Gang these days? I think, this little one thinks, don't disturb me for such a small matter …"
"Shh …"
Lord Snake put a long and thin finger on his thin lips and blew at Fourth Brother. He smiled and said, "Fourth Brother, what does Lord Snake dislike the most?"
"Excuses."
Fourth Brother swallowed hard and said in a trembling voice, "Lord Snake hates to hear excuses the most."
"Very good."
Lord Snake didn't look at him anymore. He narrowed his eyes. Half of his cold gaze was directed at the butcher, while the other half was directed at all the customers. He said indifferently, "I'll say it again. This sheep is not for sale. Do you have a problem with that?"
No.
Everyone in Tombstone Town knew that the boss of Sirius Casino, Lord Snake, disliked two things the most.
Excuses.
And questions.
"Lord Snake, please, please take this sheep back. I really don't know!"
The butcher said with a sullen face, "I'll give you another fifty catties of two-headed beef. Please don't think it's too little. The acid rain outside has been too strong recently, it's not easy to get meat …"
"There's no need. Ignorance is blameless. This isn't your fault."
Lord Snake smiled. He grabbed the boy's ankle with one hand and lifted him up as if he was carrying a newborn lamb. "Today's matter is due to the incompetence of the people in my casino. They delayed your business for half a day. Come to the casino tonight and get fifty chips. The Lord Snake will give them to you."
"Thank you, Lord Snake. Thank you, Lord Snake. Thank you, Lord Snake!"
When he heard the word "chips", the butcher's eyes lit up. The muscles on his face trembled, and he started drooling like the customers.
"Don't thank me. If you want to thank someone, thank 'justice'."
Lord Snake said, "Everyone in Tombstone Town and Bloodthirsty Wasteland knows that the Lord Snake loves justice the most."
After saying this, Lord Snake held the boy upside down and walked out as if there was no one around.
The crowd parted like a tide and made way for them. Although many people made gurgling sounds in their throats and looked at the boy with bloodshot eyes, no one dared to say a word of "no".
However, there were always exceptions.
"Hey, it's rare to find such a good sheep. I've been waiting for half a day, but I can't even get a piece of meat. You people in Tombstone Town are too unreasonable!"
"Bang!"
A burly man with tattoos all over his face and Level Three Armor blocked Lord Snake's path. He threw a thick canvas backpack on the ground. It was heavy, and it was filled with broken cars' spring steel and freshly sharpened knives.
Spring steel was a good material for making sabers, especially spring steel used in heavy trucks. Coupled with the rapid advancement in Apocalyptic World technology after the nuclear war, the sabers could cut most armor in half.
Hence, spring steel was the same as bullets. They were hard currency in the wasteland.
"Money? I have plenty of it!"
The burly man with tattoos all over his face stared at the boy's hand and licked his lips. "Life belongs to Lord Snake. I only want one of his hands!"
Lord Snake stared at the burly man.
The burly man stared at Lord Snake arrogantly. His two companions behind him tightened their backpacks filled with spring steel and gripped the sharp knives and pistols at their waists.
"You are the steel merchants from Steel Flower City."
Lord Snake laughed. "Scrap Iron Gang, right?"
"That's right."
The burly man with tattoos was smug. "The materials from Scrap Iron Gang can be used to make the fastest saber in Bloodthirsty Wasteland!"
"Oh."
Lord Snake nodded. "You want to eat a hand?"
"Yes!"
The burly man with tattoos said unyieldingly. "We have money, and we've had to eat sand for half a month in the wasteland. Today, we must eat a hand!"
"Understood."
Lord Snake did not even turn his head. "Fourth Brother, give me the dagger. Let our friend from Steel Flower City, who came from afar, know how Tombstone Town treats its guests."
"Yes, Lord Snake."
"Fourth Brother" did not understand what Lord Snake wanted to do, but his guilt and fear made him react quickly. His hands touched an exquisite dagger wrapped in calf leather.
No one saw what happened next, and no one expected it.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Shick!
After three sounds that were softer than the wind blowing willow catkins, the scorpion shell scabbard at the waist of the burly tattooed man was empty. Fourth Brother's left hand flew high into the air, and it was pierced through by a sharp and sharp knife from the center of his palm. This sharp knife was firmly held in Master Snake's hand.
Everyone's expressions turned incredibly ugly.
The burly man with tattoos looked at the empty scorpion scabbard at his waist, and his face turned ashen.
Scrap Iron Gang was also a saber maker. If they could make the fastest saber in Bloodthirsty Wasteland, they could naturally swing their saber at the fastest speed possible.
But his saber was in Lord Snake's hand, and he did not see what happened at all.
"Fourth Brother" stared at his severed left arm with a dumbfounded expression. Sweat poured down his face, and he could not utter a single word. He did not dare to utter a single word.
Lord Snake wanted to chop off his hand, so even spitting out blood was considered a sin.
"Please."
Lord Snake slowly handed over the man's saber and "Fourth Brother's" left arm. "The hand you want."
The burly man with tattoos moved his lips, and just like "Fourth Brother", beads of sweat appeared on his forehead. He glanced at the boy who was still being held upside down by Lord Snake, but he did not say anything.
"I know that you think the meat of this hand is too old, and you want to eat this sheep's hand. But let me tell you, the owner of this hand used to be the best bouncer in Sky Bright Gambling House. His hand was soaked in medicine every day, and he exercised it countless times. Every piece of meat is still fresh. It's not old at all, and it's chewy enough to be delicious."
Lord Snake stared at the burly man with tattoos, and he almost stabbed the tip of the saber into the man's nose. "Fair. The Lord Snake is absolutely fair."
"Thank …"
The burly man with tattoos looked at the shiny tip of the saber and said dejectedly, "Thank you, Lord Snake. Then, then we'll take this hand. How much? How much?"
"Fifty pieces of spring steel."
Lord Snake said.
"What?"
The burly man with tattoos widened his eyes. "Lord Snake, it's not that we can't afford it, but do you know how many sabers you can make in the Bloodthirsty Wasteland with fifty pieces of spring steel? Do you know how many hands you can chop off?
"Okay, one hundred pieces of spring steel."
Lord Snake said.
"This, this …!"
The burly man with tattoos trembled. "Lord Snake, the Scrap Iron Gang —"
"Two hundred pieces of spring steel."
Lord Snake smiled. "This is my last offer, but it's not one hand. It's seven. Seven hands, two hundred pieces of spring steel. This is a very fair price."
Lord Snake smiled and looked at the hands of the burly man with tattoos and his two companions.
Three members of the Scrap Iron Gang. Each of them had two hands, so there were six hands in total.
Since the Scrap Iron Gang had six hands, and "Fourth Brother" only had one hand, wouldn't that make seven hands?
The burly man with tattoos understood.
He looked at Lord Snake, the saber in Lord Snake's hand, and the hands on the saber. Then, he looked at the countless pairs of malicious eyes around him. He gritted his teeth, trembled, and forced himself to say, "… Okay, deal. But there are only fifty pieces here. The rest of the stock is in the Black Ghost Gang's warehouse."
"It's fine. Lord Snake believes in you."
Lord Snake said, "People who like to eat hands have good taste, and people with good taste have good credibility. We're all good friends, and Tombstone Town welcomes all distinguished guests. If you have time tonight, why don't you come to the Sirius Casino and have a seat? Lord Snake will give you a hundred chips for free. If you're lucky, you might be able to win back two hundred pieces of spring steel in one night."
The eyes of the three members of the Scrap Iron Gang lit up just like the Butcher.
"Don't worry. No one dares to play tricks in the Sirius Casino."
Lord Snake shook the boy in his hand. "Unless he wants to become a piece of meat on the chopping board."
"Yes."
The burly man with tattoos said with some regret, "Lord Snake's justice is well known even in Steel Flower City."
Lord Snake smiled and kicked the spring steel on the ground. He said loudly, "Butcher, come here. Weigh the steel here. How much is there? Let's exchange it for meat and share it with everyone here. Consider it compensation from Lord Snake for everyone's losses. After we're done eating meat, come to the casino. Everyone gets ten chips. Put it all on Lord Snake's tab!"
Both inside and outside the meat market cheered and cheered.
… …
The boy was carried upside down by Lord Snake as they left the meat market.
The whole world seemed to have been turned upside down. The lead clouds and the purple sun seemed to have turned into a swaying sea, and the stinky and sticky ground turned into a dark sky.
They passed by Old John's Car Shop, which was adding armor and collision spikes to the SUVs. They passed by the gladiator tents where the black market boxing matches were taking place. They passed by the saber shop of the Black Ghost Gang, which was making deafening noises all day long. They passed by the Witch Medicine Workshop, which was stinky and had dozens of cauldrons boiling some kind of oil.
There were people full of pustules, people full of sarcomas, people with scales and claws, people wearing bloody clothes, people wearing armor and carrying shotguns swaggering around, people with disheveled hair who were inviting gods to possess them, a group of demons dancing wildly, like a ghost town.
In the end, the boy was caught and dragged back to the starting point of the meat market, Sirius Casino.
The boy was already a little too frightened. He was dizzy from being carried upside down and couldn't think at all.
When he recovered a little, he found that he had been brought to the deepest part of the casino, to a room that he had never seen before.
"Crack."
Lord Snake locked the door. There were only the two of them in the room. The only ventilation window was welded shut by an iron fence.
There was also a cabinet, a TV, and a bed.
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