Returning to the shelter, Li Qingyu immediately collapsed into sleep. Waking up, he grimaced at the heavy smell of gunpowder and blood that permeated him from head to toe.
"Damn it! It's so annoying that I can't wash properly. I'm going to rot soon!"
He hastily attended to his hygiene, wiping himself with a damp towel. Washing himself was not difficult – it took at most half a liter of water. But with his clothes, things were bad: it was impossible to wash them properly, and he couldn't stand the ingrained stench anymore.
Glancing at the three newly acquired water filters, he grumbled quietly:
"Patience has run out. I want unlimited water, period!"
Grabbing his pistol and his tattoo sketches just in case, Li Qingyu left the shelter and headed for the trader Nepal.
Upon reaching the territory of the Fertilizer Gang, he noticed that there were many more armed people here – almost a thousand! They were crafting primitive armor from steel sheets and sharpening metal scraps, turning them into machetes and axes. It seemed a war of the poor against the Chemist Gang was looming on the horizon.
Li Qingyu approached the trader's stall just as Nepal's subordinate was rolling out two carts loaded with machetes.
"Oh, my good friend! Come here quickly, you always bring me good news!"
Noticing Li Qingyu looking around warily at the entrance, Nepal hurried to pull him inside. Li Qingyu laid out eleven pieces of leather with periodic table tattoos on the table. The trader whistled.
"Wow, my good friend, you took down eleven chemical dogs single-handedly? Impressive! Here, as agreed: three hundred talons for each, a total of three thousand three hundred talons for fertilizers."
Li Qingyu took the money and, without counting, shoved it into his pocket. Then he nodded towards the Fertilizer Gang's camp, where there was a bustle.
"Preparing for war?"
Nepal nodded.
"My boss and 'Mommy' from the Chemist Gang are currently in the Middle Hive's Department of Justice, supposedly conducting negotiations. If they agree – there will be no bloodshed. If not – a meat grinder will begin, and the reactor will go to the winner. However, based on experience, it's unlikely they'll reach an agreement. This isn't a negotiation, but rather an attempt to gauge the position of the security forces: to what extent they will allow us to carry out a massacre."
Li Qingyu took out cigarettes and treated the trader. The latter clicked his lighter, and soon both were smoking.
"Can you even take on the Chemists?" Li Qingyu asked.
Nepal's face turned serious.
"It's hard to say. Those creatures have more people than us. Plus, their dogs feel no pain under drugs, and there are Chem-swines – real monsters. You haven't seen a Chem-swine, have you? I'll tell you, it's such a..."
Li Qingyu pulled the Wrath Anchor from his backpack and slapped it on the table.
"I have. And I've already taken down one of them."
Nepal froze, staring at the spine lying on the table. The trader was visibly shaken.
"Almighty Emperor! My good friend has killed a Chem-swine!"
Li Qingyu waved his hand lazily.
"It happens. Better tell me, how much will you give me for killing such a creature?"
The trader hesitated a little and replied:
"Three thousand. I'll pay you three thousand for the head!"
Li Qingyu was satisfied. Although risking his life for one such carcass wasn't very profitable compared to the price of an automatic rifle, doing it incidentally was quite reasonable. He would still need the Fury Serum for crafting medications in the future, and it could only be obtained from Chem-swines. So, earning some money from it was just right.
Nepal thought a little longer and offered:
"My good friend, if you want easy money, how about participating in the brawl when we clash with the Chemist Gang?"
"How much do you pay?" Li Qingyu clarified.
"Five thousand for participation. Just for coming out with us."
Li Qingyu thought for a second.
"Deal. But I don't take orders, and all the loot from those I take down personally is mine."
Nepal nodded.
"Of course. As soon as the fight starts, choose your own position. Whoever you take down, the right of first loot is also yours."
With these words, he handed Li Qingyu a black armband with a red fertilizer bag depicted on it.
"This is an identification armband. Wear it – and the people from the Fertilizer Gang will cover you if needed."
Li Qingyu took the armband, and then his gaze caught on a refrigerator standing in the back of the stall.
"Hey! Is that a refrigerator?"
Nepal turned and nodded.
"Yeah. Rats dragged this junk out of the big elevator drain. But the thing works. It seems the gentlemen from the Upper Hive bought a more advanced model and wrote this one off."
Li Qingyu's breath caught. This was one of the three key components for assembling the Med Station! You need chemical purification equipment, a thermostat, and a mixer-settler. The thermostat could be salvaged from the refrigerator. If he obtained it, he would have two out of three parts.
"Sell it to me. How much do you want?"
Nepal thought.
"Hmm, my friend, I see you really need this thing… Let's do this: bring me the Wrath Anchors from three killed Chem-swines as proof – and I'll give you the refrigerator for free. Deal?"
Li Qingyu nodded without hesitation. He had a little over forty thousand talons on him now. By the standards of the Lower Hive, he was already considered rich, but with his ambitions, this money would melt away in an instant. Besides, he still had no idea where to get the third component for the Med Station, so he had plenty of time for quests.
"Agreed. Three Chem-swines. I'll find a way to kill them."
Thus, Li Qingyu took on two tasks at once: one – to exchange equipment for killing monsters, the second – to work as a mercenary in the upcoming gang war. Having received the quests, he bought materials from Nepal for upgrading the shelter. He bought so much that he had to buy a cart to carry it all.
Returning home, he began to sort through his purchases. First, the large plastic barrels and ceramic pipes. Using tools, Li Qingyu drilled holes, connected the containers with pipes, and assembled a water purification system.
The purifier consisted of two parts. The first barrel served as a settling tank: pour in 100 liters of dirty water, throw in one reagent tablet, wait 24 hours – and get 99 liters of clean water. The tablet caused large particles to settle to the bottom. Then an electronic timer activated, and the water flowed through pipes into the second container.
Along the way, in the pipes, there were biofilters that removed residual chemicals, bringing the water to a safe drinking state. The resource of one filter was about a thousand liters. In total: one tablet, 10% filter durability, 100 liters of dirty water, and 24 hours of waiting yielded 99 liters of drinking water. Old Man Li was very close to water independence.
With a bucket in hand, Li Qingyu went out into the corridor outside the shelter, found a leaking pipe, and filled a bucket to pour into the purifier. The wastewater in the pipe looked clear, but it was absolutely undrinkable – the chemistry was off the charts. It was industrial wastewater from some hive factory, possibly coolant for machines; sometimes boiling water even gushed out.
After a few trips, he filled the purifier to the brim, threw in a tablet, and left the system to work until tomorrow.