Coming to Xi Guan Town once again, Gao Qi felt quite emotional. He had almost died here, but the battle to assassinate Qin Laoda was also the key to changing his fate.
Xi Guan Town was basically the same as before, but this time, it was morning, so there were still pedestrians in the town. However, Xi Guan Town was still a typical Wasteland gathering place. There was only one word to describe it: run-down.
The houses were run-down, the roads were run-down, and even the clothes on the residents were tattered.
Even though there was an underground rock salt mine here that could still be mined, Xi Guan Town was still run-down. However, this place had a rare human presence in the Wasteland.
The only reason why several thousand people could gather here was because of the salt.
After the Cataclysm, salt was basically equivalent to white gold.
Even though humans still possessed a very high level of technology, salt was still a scarce commodity in many cities. This was actually quite similar to ancient times. The reason for this situation was that the roads were cut off, causing the transportation between the areas that produced salt and the areas that did not produce salt to be difficult.
In Zhaoxi City, salt was still at an acceptable price, but in the Wasteland, it was too difficult for the Wastelanders to obtain salt.
Therefore, salt was a hard currency in the Wasteland. It could be exchanged for food, weapons, ammunition, and anything else that could be traded.
As a result, many Desolate Dwellers slowly gathered near Western Pass Town. Then, they began to mine, rob, and trade. After countless small scale battles, Western Pass Town slowly became a real small town.
Qin Laoda's appearance brought order to Xi Guan Town. He was an ability user, and his fists were the strongest. After Qin Laoda's strong rise, he really brought stability to this place.
Violence, money, or simply because they could live a peaceful life, no matter how order was maintained, order was always better than chaos. Therefore, Xi Guan Town under Qin Laoda's control attracted a large number of Wastelanders to settle down here.
Therefore, once Qin Laoda had a large amount of manpower and was able to steadily extract table salt, he would be able to use this opportunity to establish the largest power outside of Morning Dawn City.
However, Qin Laoda still didn't understand the logic of 'treasuring a jade ring becomes a crime'. The salt mine was a true treasure trove. If it wasn't for the Liu family controlling Qin Laoda and the salt mine, the salt mine would have been completely controlled by Zhaoxi City.
But now, Huang Fei had killed Qin Laoda and arranged for Wang Laohu to take over the salt mine. In name, the salt mine belonged to Chaoxi City, but in reality, it had been transferred from the Liu family to the Qi family.
As long as Morning Dawn City did not station troops at the salt mines, the salt mines would belong to the Qi Clan.
As long as the salt mines belonged to the Qi Clan, Huang Fei would be the local tyrant. If Huang Fei was the local tyrant, then Gao Qi would be the boss.
Wang Laohu being able to replace Qin Laoda in managing the salt mines was Gao Qi's idea to Huang Fei!
The car stopped under the sign of Xi Guan Town.
Gao Qi got out of the car. He was standing under the sign of Xi Guan Town. In front of him were more than ten Wastelanders holding guns. At this moment, they had all put away their guns and were respectfully standing to the side. They didn't even dare to hold their guns in their hands, let alone point them at Gao Qi.
Of course, Gao Qi could drive straight in, but he didn't do so. Instead, he stood under the sign of Xi Guan Town and waited for Wang Laohu to come out to greet him.
After standing under the sign for more than ten minutes, four people quickly walked over from the town. When they were about ten meters away from Gao Qi, the person walking in front shouted, "Chief Gao! Chief Gao! "
After two shouts, Wang Laohu had already arrived in front of Gao Qi.
Wang Laohu's name was given by Huang Fei. Originally, he was called Rat Wang. After seeing Wang Laohu's appearance, Gao Qi was very curious as to why there was such a name.
In terms of appearance, Wang Laohu's appearance was very intimidating. He was about 1.7 meters tall, but his body was very strong. His round face was full of fierceness. Even if he didn't look like a tiger, he wouldn't be associated with a rat.
Wang Laohu was still very young, in his twenties, but his face was fierce and his body had a very strong bandit aura. Gao Qi, on the other hand, looked a little too delicate.
Although he was more than 1.8 meters tall, Gao Qi was a little too thin and weak, and his skin was a little too white. The expression on his face was always calm, and there was even a trace of a smile. Even if he wore the black uniform of the Special Ability Group and had a pistol on his waist, he didn't give people any sense of crisis.
Generally speaking, the image of Gao Qi satisfied the ancient definition of a weak scholar, and Wang Laohu was very much in line with the image of a bandit tyrant.
However, after the two met, Wang Laohu directly nodded and bowed, and then said with undisguised flattery, "Chief Gao, why didn't you tell me that you were coming? I was ready to welcome you."
Gao Qi smiled and said, "I wanted to go out of the city and come here."
Wang Laohu immediately said, "Chief Gao, get in the car. I'll lead the way for you."
Gao Qi drove here. Without Gao Qi's invitation, Wang Laohu didn't dare to get in the car and lead the way.
"No, I won't take the car. I'll walk on the road and see how your Xiguan Town is now."
Wang Laohu immediately smiled and said, "Okay, Chief Gao, please."
Gao Qi began to walk forward, and Wang Laohu was half a step behind him, accompanying him with a smile like a flower.
There were not many pedestrians on the streets of Xiguan Town, and Gao Qi walked in this small town formed by the barren people. With his clean and tidy uniform, a pair of mirror-like leather shoes, and the shiny pistol hanging on his waist, all of these reminded people of Gao Qi's uniqueness.
Everyone who saw Gao Qi quickly stood on the side of the road. There were also a few young girls in ragged clothes who stood there and stared at Gao Qi.
Finally, a four or five-year-old child followed Gao Qi and looked at the scenery, getting closer and closer to Gao Qi.
It was already October, and the weather was very cold, but the child was only wearing a ragged sweater of unknown color, draped over his body like a cloak.
Wang Laohu waved his hand and said, "Go away, go away."
Gao Qi smiled and said, "Don't scare the child."
At this time, a young mother ran over, picked up the child and hurriedly ran to the side. When she ran away, she was a little flustered, but her eyes were fixed on Gao Qi, and she did not hide her envy and desire for Gao Qi.
It was true that clothes made the man. Among the barren people in ragged clothes, Gao Qi's handsomeness was infinitely magnified, and those young and beautiful girls lost their charm. The child, who was supposed to be lovable, seemed to be no longer cute, but only pitiful.
Gao Qi would not be angry at a child, and Wang Laohu would not be so fierce as to kick a four or five-year-old child. However, the mother who ran away with the child in her arms, because she was too focused on Gao Qi, she bumped into a cement pole on the side of the road.
After a bang, the seemingly young woman almost threw the child out. Then she squatted down, holding the child with one hand and covering her forehead with the other, and cried out in pain.
Gao Qi couldn't help but laugh. On the other hand, Tiger Wang and the others laughed unscrupulously. Then the young mother flew into a rage out of humiliation. She angrily said to Tiger Wang and the others, "Why are you laughing at your mother? If you laugh again, I'll knock out your teeth."
After scolding and looking at Gao Qi reluctantly, the woman with the child stood up and walked quickly into the alley with the child in her arms. Looking at the woman's back, Wang Laohu and his subordinates laughed unscrupulously again.
Gao Qi suddenly felt that it was very interesting.
Wang Laohu finally stopped laughing, and then he said loudly to Gao Qi, "Chief Gao, look at these girls. They all have hooks in their eyes, and they can't wait to take you home, hahaha."
After another round of flattery and laughter, Tiger Wang said in an extremely envious tone, "It's too hard for me to find a wife, but it's different for you, Team Leader Gao. If you take a fancy to any family's daughter, you can just wave your hand, haha, hahaha."
After another round of awkward laughter, Meng Hai-jui said, "Don't talk nonsense. How could our Chief Gao like a desolate person?"
Wang Laohu's smile was still awkwardly hanging on his face, but his laughter had stopped.
Gao Qi didn't want to continue on this topic. He smiled faintly and said, "This Western Pass Town is much better than the last time I came. Tiger, you're a good leader. You've done well."
Wang Laohu immediately smiled and said, "Thank you, thank you Chief Gao."
Wang Laohu couldn't say anything nice. He could only use what he thought was the most infuriating and appropriate words to respond to Gao Qi's praise.
Gao Qi continued to say faintly, "How's the production of the salt mine?"
"Very good, very good. Now we can produce more than five hundred kilograms of salt a day, much more than before."
Gao Qi frowned. He looked at Wang Laohu beside him and said, "Only five hundred kilograms?"
Gao Qi only thought that five hundred kilograms of salt a day was a little too little. He had investigated this salt mine before, because the information about it wasn't a secret at all.
This salt mine was about a hundred kilometers southwest of Zhaoxi City. It was discovered and mined before the Cataclysm, and the salt mine's reserves were at the level of 100 billion tons. Yes, the total reserves were 100 billion tons. Just the early detection alone showed that there were 10 billion tons of salt that could be mined.
Of course, one couldn't compare the reserves with the mining ability. However, if a 100 billion ton salt mine could only produce five hundred kilograms of salt a day, this output was still a little too low.
Gao Qi was just a little surprised by the huge difference between the reserves and the output, so he couldn't help but glance at Wang Laohu. However, Wang Laohu felt that Gao Qi's glance had a deeper meaning.
Wang Laohu lowered his head and said, "There's no electricity here, so we can only manually fill the salt well with water and then pump the brine up. There's really no way to speed things up, but … but …"
Gao Qi didn't say anything, because he was a little embarrassed. He didn't want to expose the fact that, as a liberal arts student, he didn't know how salt was produced after looking at some information about the salt mine.
However, Gao Qi's silence made Wang Laohu feel even more guilty. After failing twice, he finally said in a low voice, "Chief Gao, in the next few days, we can increase the output to more than six hundred kilograms."
Gao Qi only nodded slightly. However, Wang Laohu looked at Gao Qi's expressionless face and hesitated for a while before finally saying in a low voice, "Chief Gao, I … I won't dare do it again. Please let me go!"
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