When Bona walked into the noisy bar, Chen Xing had already ordered a meal for her, including steak, toast, cream soup, fruit salad and red wine.
"Please take a seat." Chen Xing invited. But there was still a hint of uneasiness in Bona's eyes.
"I just want to treat you to a meal, nothing else." Chen Xing said with a slight smile.
Bona hesitated for a few seconds, then gently pulled out the chair and sat down. He held his hands, looking a little nervous.
"Eat." Chen Xing said, then raised his wrist and entered a series of instructions on the black watch.
"Didi..."
With a soft sound, one hundred gold coins were transferred into Poona's account. The latter stared at the former with wide eyes, obviously not understanding what he meant.
"This money can be considered as compensation for you." Chen Xing said.
"Compensation?" Bo Na asked doubtfully.
"You didn't complete the task, so you should be paid a certain amount of liquidated damages, right?" Chen Xing asked.
Bona was silent for a while, nodded and said, "Yes, but only ten percent."
The commission fee is five hundred gold coins, and ten percent is fifty gold coins.
"The rest will be considered as a reward for you." Chen Xing said pointedly.
How could Bo Na not understand? Two red clouds rose up, her cheeks were as hot as fire. Finally, she nodded and said in a weak mosquito voice, "Thank you."
After eating, Chen Xing let Bo Na go back. Before leaving, she asked her to tell the caravan captain Charlie that she hoped they could stay in the town for one more day and wait for him to go back together.
Charlie quickly sent a message saying no problem. Although a businessman's time is precious and every minute and every second is a gold coin, successful businessmen are often better at investing. The friendship of a future guard-level powerhouse was obviously more valuable than a day, so he stayed.
The next day, Chen Xing's recruitment information was on the list. Since this time we are recruiting "reserve defense members" who do not have the official establishment, the quality of the applicants is obviously much lower. There are only a few with more than ten attributes in a single item.
However, compared to refugees, citizens with black watches are still much more reliable. In terms of moral bottom line, there are fundamental differences between the two. People who own a black watch are still afraid that their reputation level will be reduced.
The higher the social credit, the greater the privileges, the greater the proportion of enjoying government subsidies, and the higher the price of employment. On the contrary, the lower the social credit, the less welcome you are and the harder it is to make money.
Under such a social mechanism, the path of the former will become wider and wider, entering a virtuous circle, while the path of the latter will become narrower and narrower, entering a vicious circle.
Chen Xing spent most of the day selecting five applicants, four men and one woman. Then he bought each of them two sets of tarpaulin military uniforms, a military dagger, a Black Star pistol and a marching backpack.
When it was just dawn, he took people to the grain exchange in Longshi Town, got on the truck, and returned to Orchid Town.
On the third day after leaving Longshi Town, the convoy suddenly encountered a heavy rain.
The raindrops the size of soybeans were mixed with tiny hailstones, which made the front windshield crackle. Fortunately, Charlie didn't save money and used tempered glass. If it were ordinary, it would have been smashed through long ago.
The wasteland was muddy, with water and red mud everywhere, and the world was vast. The wheels slipped in the mud and the convoy could no longer move forward, so it had to leave the main road and camp in a circle.
"Hua Hua Hua..."
It was raining so hard that there was nothing to cover it. Everyone was wet, stepping on the mud and water, and gathered around the kerosene stove to keep warm.
The rain in the Western Wilderness is very terrible. It either doesn't rain at all, without seeing a drop of rain for half a year, or it rains overwhelmingly and pouring for more than ten days in a row, as if it is going to concentrate all the rain for the whole year.
The soaked clothes clung to my body, which was very uncomfortable, and the wind was freezing, making it worse. Charlie asked the accountant to come over and invite Chen Xing to take shelter in the big tent as a special treat as a distinguished guest. But Chen Xing hesitated and refused. He is now leading his team members to set an example so that he can convince the public in the future. This is what he learned from Tie Nuo when he was in the Lightning Regiment in his previous life.
Take the lead and share the joys and sorrows.
This is the basic quality of a team leader. Anyone who fails to do so will soon be eliminated. Unless they are the "spring outing groups" where children of wealthy families, young aristocratic masters, and royal ladies who are born with a silver spoon in their mouths wander around and spend many times as much money as they make.
Chen Xing had seen him several times in his last life. Here, there were gunfire and life and death, but there was someone holding a small flower umbrella, drinking coffee and flirting. Although they are also under fire, they have completely different meanings. Looking at it, I felt really unspeakable heartache.
When it comes to leadership charisma, even in his three lifetimes, he has never seen anyone better than Tie Nuo. He is really the kind of person who can raise his arms and get thousands of responses. It's a pity that Tienuo came from a humble background. Like him, he was extremely poor and had to pay for every gold coin with his life.
But the rules of society are like this. Someone in front must bleed, and then the people behind can enjoy the benefits. Therefore, Chen Xing's heart was unbalanced, and he felt relieved only for a short while.
He doesn't have a rich father, nor does he have an amazing talent, nor does he have a prominent family, so he has to go step by step.
"Boss, how long will this rain continue to rain?" asked a reserve team member.
"It can take as little as three days, or as little as half a month." Chen Xing said.
"Ah..." The team member's expression became extremely painful. It was a bit overwhelming on the first day. There are so many days to come, and I really don’t know how I’m going to survive.
"Xiao Qiu, we are not here to enjoy ourselves." Another team member taught him a lesson. The two came together and were said to be cousins.
"That's right." The female team member agreed. She is young and has freckles on her face.
"Keep warm and change your socks when the rain subsides, otherwise athlete's foot will kill you," Chen Xing said.
"Yes." The team members responded in unison.
At one o'clock in the morning, the rain finally subsided. Everyone hurriedly cleaned up the stagnant water, and then some people rested and some kept vigil.
Chen Xing is the captain, so he naturally gives priority to rest. After fixing the tarpaulin tent on the side of the truck and spreading a blanket, he folded his arms and closed his eyes to sleep. Although he was clammy and uncomfortable, he still forced himself to fall asleep as soon as possible. Only by getting enough rest can you deal with dangers that may occur at any time.
I don't know how long it took, but Chen Xing was suddenly woken up by a commotion.
"Truck, there's something on the truck!" "Oh my god, what is that..." "Be careful, don't go over there!" "Gun, go get the gun!"
Outside the tent, there was a lot of noise, including the sounds of people, the sound of rain, and the sounds of footsteps.
"Quack quack quack!"
Suddenly, several more animal sounds were heard. It was so loud that it instantly drowned out all sounds and made people's eardrums ache.
Chen Xing was suddenly startled, woke up completely, and rushed out of the tent crawling on the ground.
Turning around, I saw a huge creature lying on the truck opposite. Its gills were beating. It turned out to be a giant toad.
"Bang!"
At this moment, the truck cab door was kicked open, and a driver rolled out in a panic, running and calling for help.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, help!"
But I saw the giant toad tilted its head, blinked its wheel-like eyes, opened its mouth wide, and with a "whoosh" sound, a scarlet tongue shot out like lightning.
The driver's cry suddenly stopped, his body rose into the air, and was sucked into the toad's mouth.
"Quack..."
"Gudong..."
The toad barked twice, raised its head, and swallowed the driver into its stomach. Everyone who saw this scene was frightened and lay prone on the ground for fear of being discovered by it.
Chen Xing leaned against the truck, backed up slowly, then opened the door from the other side and got into the cockpit.
