A common tavern that connects all fantasy worlds

Chapter 4 Business

Max has been in São Paulo for a long time, and his impression of the city runs deep on every level.

This is the economic center of Brazil, as well as the center of manufacturing and financial industries. There are many buildings and bright lights here, and the bustling urban area accommodates more than 1000 million people. Shanty towns, slums.

It was as if someone cut down and divided São Paulo into two very contrasting worlds.

Max is now walking on the streets of the slums, surrounded by exposed bricks, concrete walls, and dilapidated stairs under his feet. In the dim light, there are no other voices except for his footsteps and those of the guides in front of him.

Looking back at the central urban area, which has dyed the gray night sky into bright yellow, it seems that it is within reach, and it seems to be separated by a natural moat.

This moat is about to have physical meaning... As far as Max knows, the city of Sao Paulo is studying to replicate the "Rio's ecological protection model" here-in short, it is to build a concrete wall around the slums in the name of "protecting the forest" high wall.

In addition to the mandatory isolation, I heard that there are radicals who have proposed to set up bunkers and heavy firepower behind the wall.

Apparently they feel that rich areas are not safe enough even with the [-]/[-] protection of the police and private security companies, because now the world is flooded with dope, slum gangsters have more money and their weapons are upgraded accordingly.

"Stay here and don't move."

The boy leading him stopped suddenly and gave a warning, then knocked on a door next to him.

Max even heard the low-pitched roar of a dog coming from the door, which made people feel hairy in this quiet night.Especially the dogs in the hands of gangsters, these vicious dogs may have actually tasted some "special" meat!

After a rustling sound, the small window on the iron door was unscrewed, and a voice inside asked, "Who?"

"Max Payne, come to find the boss." The boy who led the way replied, tilting the assault rifle hanging on his waist, and pointing the muzzle at Max behind him.

"Wait."

The window was closed again, and Max could only slowly take out a cigarette from his pocket under the silent gaze of the boy, smoking while waiting.

The light of the cigarette butt flickered in the darkness, and he silently counted the time in his heart, until the iron door suddenly opened, and the people inside tilted their heads to him.

Passing through one door after another, bypassing a shed with the sound of machines running inside, Max was brought to a simply furnished reception room.

The sudden bright light made him close his eyes, and after a while, he could barely look at the person sitting on the sofa opposite.

"Sonny," he said, "what the hell are you doing? Why aren't you at the Plaza Bar?"

"...I have more serious problems to deal with. You better come here to see me on business, or you'll be in big trouble, Max."

The slightly chubby Sonny touched his black bald head and looked at Max deeply.

Needless to say, the two were never friends, and were even enemies at one point.But Max is too good at fighting. In the slum incident a few years ago, it is said that he killed more than 1000 people by himself... Hell, who wants to fight against this kind of person?

It is said that this person dislikes the behavior of taking advantage of the weak. What Sonny is thinking now is, is there something wrong with me that caused this evil star to come to my territory?

But what Max brought was not a fright, but a surprise.

He took out a small bottle from his pocket, put it on the coffee table between the two of them and said, "... Sonny, old man... I found this in the port area."

"What is this?" Sonny saw that the bottle didn't look dangerous, so he picked it up boldly, studied it for a long time, and found that it was probably an aerosol can.

"The hallucinogen, in the nozzle..." Max said, "a new type of hallucinogen that does not contain any illegal ingredients on the market."

Sonny's eyes suddenly changed. The new type of hallucinogen, that is, not being watched by law enforcement agencies in any country, may even be imported in large quantities through legal channels before they react.A big wave of fast money!

Moreover, even if this thing is really recognized as a dupin later...he doesn't care, anyway, what did he do before, how will he do it in the future?If there are enough new products, are you afraid that there will be no market?

Those white people who shouted and shouted to kill, actually came to see the Olympic Games until they foamed at the mouth.If the drug lords in Brazil are really eliminated, they will probably be the first to scold their mothers.

"Bring that thief here." Sonny ordered, and the people under his command went out immediately, and after a while, a skinny white man with no upper body came up.

At this time, the eldest brother was tearful and covered with bruises, obviously he had suffered a lot; but he was still quite energetic, and when he saw Sonny, he screamed and shouted indistinctly: "Please, Bring me some!"

...the typical junkie.

Max notices that Sonny calls this man a "thief" and it looks like he's here to steal something to snort and gets caught.The idea of ​​fighting drug lords in the slums of Sao Paulo, most people would not deliberately choose such a painful death even if they committed suicide.

Sonny probably came to the factory today because of this, instead of enjoying life in the bar.In addition, this stupidity also cost Max an extra half an hour on the road.

He watched Sonny's men hold the guy down and pry his mouth open, and then Sonny pressed the spray can himself and sprayed Thief's mouth full of silver.

It didn't take long for the thief's expression to become excited and enthusiastic, as if he had forgotten that he had just been beaten up and that he would disappear from the world, and he just scratched his neck and started crowing.

"Haha... Woohoo... Neon lights... oh, that's great!"

Sonny waved his hand in disgust and told his men to pull the high-flying junkie out.

He stared at the spray can like a treasure, knowing that it was really good.Not only is it powerful and easy to use, but it's also a cool bright silver color. The young people in nightclubs must love this thing, spraying themselves while going crazy on the dance floor, it's just so trendy.

"I really didn't expect you to start a business, Max..." Sonny shook his head. In his impression, Max really wouldn't do such a thing.

The corner of Max's mouth was about to provoke a contemptuous smile, but he still remembered the purpose of his coming here, and replied noncommittally: "...this thing is not a 'business' right now. If you want this, you have to buy that Oerlikon Lend me, plus all your high-explosive rounds."

"WTF?!"

Sonny's hand trembled, and his eyes instantly became fierce. He gritted his teeth, leaned forward, pointed at Max and said, "Who needs to use that thing, you want to kill me?"

"Who? The owner of the mine." Max was unmoved. "He extracted this thing from the mine. He has hundreds of people, dozens of vehicles, and hundreds of rifles under him. I can't do it without this." If you can’t kill him, you won’t have any business to do.”

"...you mean..." Sonny withdrew his fingers and looked at the spray can thoughtfully.

"...I just need to kill him. After I kill him, the mine will be yours, and the business will be yours too. You only need to pay for a gun and a bunch of bullets that you have no chance to use, and you can become a real big shot. Isn't this a good deal? ?”

Max said so.

That, Sonny thought, was probably an exaggeration.Even if he masters the production method and origin of a new type of tofu, it is far from allowing him to be on an equal footing with the top power in this world, and will only bring him a lot of money.

But as long as you have money, you can buy a gun at any time.I heard that in several countries, as long as they have money, they even sell active fighter jets, and mere machine guns are not a trivial matter.

The point is, if someone else proposed this business, Sonny would definitely think that person was dreaming; but if the person who said this was Max Payne, then the whole thing would really be possible...

He gritted his teeth, thought carefully, and then ordered: "Ricky, take a few people to the roof to unload the 'big guy', then follow Max, and call me every hour!"

Ricky is his most trusted deputy and a former member of the Brazilian Special Forces... During the police's "cleaning up" of the slums a few years ago, a group of Special Forces officers found that the income of gangsters was much higher than theirs, and they were angry. Ricky is one of them who scolds the high-level government for their dark exploitation and at the same time throws their guns into the arms of gangsters.

From Sonny's point of view, it was safe with Ricky watching.

Max smoked his last cigarette and went upstairs with Ricky, a tall and strong man.

Not long after, a pickup truck, carrying a large pile of goods covered by canvas, drove out of this "factory" from another exit.After turning several turns on the winding road in the slums, he followed Max's instructions and drove towards a certain direction on the edge of the city.

Sao Paulo at night is like an ocean of light colliding with a dark rock.

Just at the edge of light and darkness, Max sat in the co-pilot of the pickup truck and lazily raised his hand to check the time.

"Okay, stop!"

he yelled suddenly, and Ricky stopped the car for no apparent reason, and watched Max jump down and into the shadows under the eaves on the side of the road.

Not long after, he came out lugging an oversized flatbed cart, yelling at Ricky behind the wheel, "Give me a hand, I can't do it myself."

"What are you doing? Where's the mine?" Ricky asked.

Max raised his hand irritably: "I have to weld this big guy to my car! You don't think a pickup truck can withstand the recoil of this thing?! Quickly help me unload it and push it to my car. In the garage."

Cautious Ricky motioned to the gangsters who came along in the back seat to help, while he himself turned off the ignition, pulled out the key, got out of the car with an assault rifle in his hand, and leaned against the hood, pointing the gun intentionally or unconsciously at Max's direction.

The gangsters who had to do manual labor in the middle of the night unloaded the machine gun and several large boxes of high-explosive bombs onto the flatbed cart, and then followed Max's order to push it behind.

"Come on, work harder, hey!"

Max tugged on the handle of the cart and sank into the darkness again.

The gang member who helped him push the cart ran into a wall head-on.When I raised my head again, how could I see any shadows?There is only a silent concrete wall under the eaves, and the graffiti on the wall seems to be laughing silently.

Ricky opened his mouth wide, unable to comprehend everything in front of him.

"What the hell—" he cursed.

Chapter 5 Before Dawn

In Xue Li's tavern, three men worked together to pull the flat cart into the hall.

Max took a breath, and immediately went to the back and closed the door. Everything was as he expected, and no one else could get in without him "leading the way".

In fact, it doesn't matter even if they come in. There is no way to act "hostile" to other people in the tavern. The most two gangsters can just sit there and curse, without any lethality.

Max looked at the 1.4-meter-long double barrel on the trailer, touched it in awe, and opened a box of ammunition underneath with his mouth tightly pressed. Each of the 20x110 high-explosive bombs was the size of his palm. The lower part of the warhead was painted a dangerous red color, and the tail of the shell was shrunk. Just looking at it made people jump in fear.

"...Is this the bullet for this gun?" He whispered to himself, not intending to get an answer.

But Max, who was walking back, heard it. He pulled out the pistol on his waist, unloaded a bullet, squeezed it with his fingers and said, "This bullet will allow me to rush into the room and kill a person."

He pointed to the bullet in Max's hand again: "That bullet...can allow me to kill the room and everyone in the room at a distance of 200 meters. Now, stop dawdling, we still have a lot of work to do do it."

Xue Li also came to help, he couldn't get out of this tavern, even if someone else led the way, the only work he could do was to prepare everything here in advance.

"Okay, let me check the list... Diesel welding machine, oil, there are. Reinforced steel plates, steel pipes, cutting tools, there are. Machine guns, ammunition, in place! Gun position drawings, I just drew a simple one, There is also. Let’s start, brothers, it is best to press the ammunition into the drum first, the drum of 60 rounds can weigh more than 20 kg, pay attention to the need for strong reloaders and riflemen to prevent incendiary attacks.” He said.

After receiving the gun emplacement blueprint handed over by Xue Li, Max glanced at it and asked a question: "...Xue, what did you do before you came here?"

"...Do you know what amnesia is, old bald man?" Xue Li curled his lips, "It's you, it seems that you are not easy, you can prepare everything in two hours."

Max could only wave his hands: "...in a place like Sao Paulo, these things are not a problem."

The three men fell silent and got to work.

In addition to completing the pre-loading of ammunition, the older two of the three have other important tasks: to modify Furiosa's tank, and set up gun positions on the rear roof according to the drawings.

In the drawings drawn by Xue Li, the underside of the gun emplacement is composed of steel plates and steel pipes. Six longitudinal and two horizontal steel pipes must be welded around the emplacement and the vehicle body to form a reinforced frame from the chassis to the roof; The position itself should also be surrounded by three layers of steel plates filled with sand in the middle, leaving only the observation and shooting ports in the middle to minimize the probability of the gunner being killed by enemy fire; enough space is left on both sides of the machine gun for storage Ammunition, allowing the changer and rifleman to move freely even when deflecting the angle of fire.

Armed with a large pile of materials to build it, Max and Max came to the wasteland together.

No one was asleep. After seeing the scene of the living man appearing out of thin air several times, and the plan of "returning to the fortress", how could anyone sleep?

"God of the V8 engine, is that thing a gun?"

Knuckles exclaimed that the Oerlikon 20mm gun was nothing like any gun he had ever seen.But it does have a barrel, a trigger, and an oddly shaped shoulder rest...it's a gun.

Max, who had known them before, nodded, coughed twice, and said, "That's right, boy, thank you for the spray. I've never done a better deal than this..."

When the girls surrounded the steel curiously, Furiosa pulled Max aside, stared straight into Max's eyes, and asked, "Now is the time for you to explain all this to me Right. Where did you go just now? Where did your friend come from? Is he really trustworthy?"

"...Am I worthy of your trust? You don't even know my name. But I know the man's name, and I trust him." Max said, knocking on the empty wine bottle that Furiosa was still holding : "I... opened the door to another place. The wine you drink and the people with me all come from that place."

"...What is that place? I don't see any doors."

"That's a..."

Max suddenly got stuck.He never told Furiosa everything, and certainly not anyone else.If they knew there was a place where there was no radiation, no warlords, only water and wine, would they still be willing to stay here to face Undead Joe's army?

Indeed, it was nothing more than an escape, but only they could decide whether to do so or not.

"...well, we still have a little time," he said, waving at Max, and calling everyone together.

He's not a good talker, but with Max on the side, plus a bunch of unbelievable things and sudden objects to support them, they finally explained the existence of the tavern clearly.

For the Wasteland, the word "tavern" itself is a miracle.It contained several elements that would count as luxuries at the same time: surplus food that could be used to brew wine, a stable and peaceful order, and the exchange of goods.

Xue Li's tavern is a miracle among miracles.

Its rules prohibit violence; those not chosen by it can't even see the door; plus an eternal, unlimited supply of supplies coming from nowhere.Knuckles felt that if Valhalla, the V8 god, existed, it should be.

After listening, Furiosa was the first to speak: "What about you? Will you stay there?"

"No." Max replied.

"...Why? The world is already rotten," Furiosa said.

Max raised his head to look at the endless darkness in the sky, then lowered his head to look at the desert at his feet, and after a moment of silence, he said: "The people I love are buried in this world. I can't find their tombs anymore. But I still don't want to leave..."

"I want to leave." The girl "Qiduo" who was wrapped in a coarse cloth outside the gauze dress and tightly grasped the collar against the wind and sand suddenly said, "I don't owe this world anything, and if I did, I would have paid it off long ago It's..."

"Cheetos!" The other girls on the side immediately stopped her, and they quarreled softly, and then hugged each other and sobbed again.

Seeing this scene, Max was confused, so he whispered to Nax who was standing next to him: "...What's going on with these girls?"

"They? They are the 'mother species' of the undead old Joe. Old Joe will select healthy boys and girls from the refugees asking for water every once in a while. The boys and some girls are trained to become war boys like me. The healthiest and most The beautiful girl became the mother species. The mother species lived in his 'palace' and gave birth to him....He regarded these mother species as important, so he brought everyone here this time, for sure To go after Commander Furiosa..."

"Oh my god, that's enough, there's no need to say any more."

Max interrupted the boy's narration. He could see that these girls and the boys around them were weather-beaten but young. Maybe in a normal world, they were still skipping classes, sucking leaves, and bullying their classmates.

Thinking about it more deeply, I don’t know how long this escape plan has been prepared, that is to say, they have become Old Joe’s "property" when they were younger, giving their lives or bodies for him.

This kind of thing is not difficult to understand, because it happens in every world.Mastering important resources, relying on giving leftovers to the proletarians in exchange for exploitation, using a false paradise to encourage desperate struggle... The methods vary according to the reality, but the essence is the same.

"...you can decide whatever you want, but I won't leave either."

Over there, Furiosa also spoke.

Max put away his chaotic thoughts and looked at the woman who was putting the mechanical prosthetic hand back on her forearm.

[4. No. 4]