READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 22: Episode 22: Hunting.
After our last night very productive discussion, we agreed to sell, White hard bread and clean waters to this world populace, I also going to sell, Burgers as well, making the burgers a special menu, that I will be selling them in a limited amount each day. For the burgers I aim it to be our special signature product so that our fame and reputation would spread and increased. I wanted our image in this area to increased slowly, after all, my current reputation, thanks to the old me reckless devise, it was all negatives. I am just another mindless buffoon that were all about strength, and for that, I need to foster another likeable image for myself.
At 6 in the early morning, I got up, take a warm shower and head upstairs, as always, the store side of Star Gas Station has yet to be turned into anything, but at the pumping area, that place has been turned into our garage. And Alfred was there, working on our truck.
"Good morning, Alfred…".
"[Good morning, Sir…I am very sorry that I am unable to cooked a breakfast for you and madam, sir…This body, apparently were not capable of performing a task other than, fighting and mechanical works…]". (Alfred)
"Oh, it's fine…Natasha can do the cooking for now…so, what is the progress of…de-beautifying our property…".
Alfred tried to cook for us last night, he was eager to do so, but it's turns out, the Automaton were not equipped nor capable of performing a delicate task that required a delicate movement. His Automaton were only suitable for combat and rough task. So, last night, instead of being a cook, he can only assist Natasha on the side, teaching her new recipe and cooking techniques. Since the Bunker is now powered, we are now able to use the kitchen fully, we got stove tops and ovens, as well as all the basic kitchen gadgets like a blender and meat grinders.
At the moment, as a result of last night fruitful, family meeting. We agreed to de-beautify our looks to make us fit in with the wasteland, the Truck, even though it was a second-hand vehicle it is still looking pristine, the paint was still shiny and the body were devoid of rust and dent. Hence, Natasha suggested that we had to downgrade the looks, so Alfred took the job, and from last night he had been working on it, salvaging all the rusted, metal zinc's rooftop from the Gas Station roofs, and he welded it on top of the trucks. so, if we just looked at the trucks casually in a single glance, all that people can see were just a typical rusted patchwork of a bodyworks.
"[With this type of cosmetics on your truck, sir…as long as no one enters them, it would look like a normal wasteland style truck…ugly and rusty…]". (Alfred)
"That will do…No one will get into this truck aside from me and Natasha…by the way, I am planning to go on a hunt today…do you have any location that we can get a game easily?".
"[1 kilometer to our east, right inside that forest…from my GPS system…I detected that there is a Mutant Deer groups there…although…please bring me with you, if I were in the group…. we might be able to bring at least 2 or more Mutant deer's back home with us…although this Automaton cannot cook, it can definitely hunt anything…
Alfred made his hand turned from a 3-pronged claw, into a muzzle of a rifle. With a military automaton that have an aim system and a steady hand, hunting would definitely be easier.
"Alright, you are coming with me…Natasha would be left behind to defend our base…".
"[Thank you, sir…this hunting trip will be a fruitful one, I guarantee it...]". (Alfred)
Alfred Automaton uses 7.56mm bullets for his arm gun, and he also need to reloads his guns as well, effectively Alfred Automaton is a walking Light Machine Gun, with an ammo capacity of 500 rounds. According to him, his body were armor plated at the same grade as a tank. So, in short with a body of tank and then paired with his intelligent A.I, Alfred has become our best combatant.
At 6.30. we have done preparing for our hunt. Like me, I have granted Alfred permission to use my Inventory skills, meaning that he can also stored anything with a touch and pulled them out as he pleased. I am still a limping cripple, so I can't do much of the heavy lifting, with his help things moved along nice and quickly. I have told Natasha that I am about to go to a hunt, and she just told me to be careful and will be guarding our place. I am not very comfortable to leave our home unmanned, as the place is not yet contained and sheltered. We need to built some sort of wall around our house to secure it somehow, leaving Natasha at our base, Alfred and I head out to hunt.
"[How about we just made the outside wall…by simply staking those rusted and abandoned cars on top of each other's, And made a wall around our shelter, Sir…with our inventory skill, such task will be easy…]". (Alfred)
"That will work…great idea, Alfred...".
"[Temporarily, we could do that…when we have more time…we can then make another more solid wall out of concrete…a much proper wall, with watchtower and everything...]". (Alfred)
"That'll do…. we are here, Alfred…get ready to hunt…".
After about 5 minutes of driving, we finally arrived at the hunting spot that Alfred has marked. And to be honest, this forest is not entirely dead, about 100 meters upon entering the forest the dead and dried up trees, were replaced with an eerily overgrown forest, trees towering like a giant, bushes were lushes and vibrant greens. This forest is a mutated forest, sure it looked beautiful, but it is also teeming with deadly danger.
"…is that…. a squirrel?".
"[ I believed so, Sir…a mutated squirrel…despite the disgusting tumor on its face, and it's motorcycle sized body….it is edible…]". (Alfred)
After killing the engine, Alfred and I, stayed hidden at the back of our truck bed, waiting silently for our game to come. At that time, I saw a giant squirrel, on the tree canopy, nonchalantly munching on a massive nut. That thing got a massive red fleshy tumor attached to its face, the reason as to why I was able to see it as a squirrel, is all thanks to its bushy tail. We stayed hidden and in silence for a few minutes, and in that short amount of time, I saw a lot of wild animals roaming about. And let's just say, Alfred had a long time reorganizing and updating his bestiary, there is no normal animal in this world anymore.
"…hold on…. Alfred, is that what I think it is?".
"[Yes, Sir…. that is the Mutant Deer….]". (Alfred)
After waiting in silence for 20 minutes, a herd of Mutant deer, finally made their appearance, I am expecting that since it was a mutant, perhaps the size would be at least comparable to a moose, but instead, it was as big as my entire truck, its antler was massive and thick, it also got a massive fang on it, bloody red eyes and its legs, were as thick as my thigh. With the sized of this thing, just even if we take down one Mutant Deer, it was enough to feed me and Natasha for a whole month.
"Alfred…just two of them, would be enough…".
"2 it is, Sir….
"GRRUUFFF!!!...THUD!!...".
Alfred let off 2 shots at the same time, and both shots hit 2 different deer right on their heads, the bullet entered through their eyes and come out of the back of their heads. Still even with a head shot, the 2 deer still able to run for 5 seconds, before falling to the ground and died. The rest of the herd and all the animals around us, acted like any normal animal did, they ran away, which is a relief, nearly all the animals here were massive. If anything wanted to attack us, all that we can do is runaway.
After the 2 deer finally stopped spasming, Alfred put them in the back of our truck and we hurried off, away from the place for our safety. If the normal Mutant animal is already that big, the predatory animal would be on a different scale of problem. Whilst still inside the forest, roughly about 200 meters away, we stopped to process the 2 deer, we need to exsanguinate them, and discarded the unneeded organs, it took us another 30 minutes to complete the job and a freaking chainsaw.