Chapter 73 - 73

Words : 1696 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

"Don't look at me." Salvatore said with his hands up. "This was the kid's idea, not mine. Not even my stuff, so your business is with him." He said as he took a few steps away from the counter to let the two of them speak while he lit up another cigarette. "Fair enough." Hobson said as he turned his gaze away from Salvatore back towards Adam. "Well then, Adam. Why are you bringing your stuff here, and not to Midway?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. "Well I figured…" Adam said as he grunted with effort, hoisting his backpack onto the counter now too. "That ghoul town doesn't get as many goods as Midway proper. So it would be more appreciated here to get an infusion of fresh goods.' He smiled. Hobson remained quiet for a moment as he tapped his chin. "As a warning I won't be able to pay you as well as the merchants in the city proper would. We don't get a lot of fresh caps moving around over here." Adam nodded. "As long as I'm making enough." He then paused and smirked. "Goodwill is a useful currency too." Hobson laughed. "Well, if you are going to come out and say it!" He smiled widely and offered Adam his hand. "Well I'll never turn away someone who is looking to make some caps, smoothskin or otherwise." Adam shook his hand. "Same." As he took his hand back he surveyed his stuff again. "I can't sell you everything, I already promised to sell some stuff to another merchant in midway, but I'm happy to offload some things you know your community here needs or that you could sell easily." Hobson nodded and then began to unzip the bags and inspect the items gathered. It took more than a few minutes for him to go through the stuff and create a collection of things he wanted to buy off Adam. As he explained part way through most of the stuff Adam was bringing in was things he would have gladly bought off him but he was not especially cap flush at the moment, much of his caps were in inventory so he wouldn't be able to buy everything anyway. Once he had finished going through everything he had a few pieces of crab meat, two guns, some booze and liquor, a few other odds and ends, and a little bit of Ammo. Adam wanted to pawn the machine gun off to him as he was sick of carrying it, but Hobson refused, not only was it not something he could move quickly, but it was also out of his price range, and Adam knew it was going to be worth something halfway decent so he couldn't just give it away. "Alright, for all this stuff here, will you do 300 caps?' He asked. "I'd offer more but if I go any higher I won't have enough to make change for customers." He chuckled. Adam looked over the items and then nodded. "Alright, that sounds good to me." He smiled. "Wonderful." Hobson then pulled out three 100 cap Midway slips and handed them over to Adam. "pleasure doing business with ya. I hope we can do this again in the future." he smiled back. "Same." Adam said as he then looked at all of his bags and gear that he hadn't sold and then sighed. Though he had offloaded a good bit of weight, not nearly enough of it to make a huge difference, he couldn't pack what was left in the duffle bag into his backpack still and now he had to carry Salvatore's backpack as well, and of course, the quad machine gun monstrosity. It was going to be a pain in the ass to get this into Midway. With some effort he got his backpack onto his back, Salvatore's backpack on his chest, the duffle bag in one hand and the machine gun in the other. Then he slowly made his way out, only to be noticed by Salvatore who, after a laugh at Adam's predicament opened the door for him and then walked him towards the exit of Ghoul town. "You sure you got all that, kid?" Salvaotore said with a chuckle. "Yeah, well I'm not comfortable, thanks for asking." Adam said back with a bit of snark from the strain he was putting himself under. "But since you can't get into Midway this was my only option." "And that right there, what you are doing, is why I don't want to be a Scaver." He grinned. "No, you just worked for one." Adam grinned back. Salvatore shook his head and then stopped as they reached the wall of Ghoul town. "Alright kid, you have a good rest of your day, let me know when you are ready to move again, You know where to find me." "Will do. I'll probably come back in a day or two to check up on you and let you know what my plans are. I like to take a break after a run." "Good plan." Salvatore grinned and then waved Adam off as he struggled his way down the open tarmac towards the city. After spending a bit too long struggling to open the door to the city Adam made it to market street. Some people stared at him but most ignored him like normal. Adam was getting impatient to offload all of this stuff. He still had a ways to go before he would reach the mall but then, as he walked down the main street, he noticed a shop he had seen the first time he came here. A butcher shop. A perfect way to offload all his meat. Waddling over to the butcher he stopped in front of his stall and placed his two held objects on the ground in front of his feet. There were pickpockets and thieves in this town according to Derek when he was being given the tour, it was far safer to keep everything close and within eyesight. "What can I do there for you sir?" The portly butcher said as he looked at Adam a bit amused to see him overburdened. "Do you buy meat as well as sell it?' Adam asked. "Why yes I do, but I do need to inspect it before I buy from an unknown stranger." He said as he stroked his chin, the small bits of stubble brushing against his fingers. "I think you'll like this." Adam said as he unzipped the backpack in the front, the one with all the lakelurk meat, and then placed one of them on the counter for inspection. "Lakelurk meat." Adam smiled. The butcher unwrapped the linen from the meat and inspected it, poking it with a metal prong a few times and then testing it in a few otherways. He then nodded. "Yup, I can buy this from you." He said as he then looked Adam over, inspecting him, and then grinned. "But you see, Lakelurk meat isn't that uncommon around here, I mean The Pier gives us regular shipments, The meat isn't as valuable this close to the lake. But since you dragged it all the way here I can take it off your hands, say… 5 caps a piece? Just so you don't lose out on the effort you put in." He said with a shitty grin. Adam could tell something was up. It took him a moment but the man was clearly trying to rip him off, he could feel it. Adam was not in the mood to play these games. "If that's the case, why don't I see any other crab meat around here?" Adam pressed, staring right into the merchant's eyes. The merchant flinched, not expecting Adam to talk back. "W-well that's obviously because it's sold already, i'm sure tomorrow more meat will be delivered." "I'm sure." Adam said, standing his ground. "And while you wait, meatless, you will miss out on sales you could have been making. Besides, this stuff is fresh, caught only a few hours ago, I doubt anything from The Pier would be this fresh." 'Well yes but…" The merchant said as he began to sweat a bit. "Well if you aren't interested I'm sure I can find another vendor… maybe I can sell it directly to a restaurant at the food court?" Adam mused aloud in front of the merchant as he made a show of picking up the meat on the counter, putting it back in the linen and slowly putting it back into the bag. "N-no wait." The merchant stammered out. "I'm sure we can work out some kind of deal, no?" He said with a nervous smile. Adam got him. "Alright fine, since I see you are an upstanding businessman and I wouldn't leave you in the lurch." Adam said with a pleasant smile. "So how about 25 caps per chunk?" Adam offered. He was grasping at straws. He had no idea how valuable the meat was, but the chunks were large and if it tasted like crab it had to be delicious. "Twe-twenty five?!" He said shocked. "I… I can't go that high, I wouldn't make any profit!" he complained. "I can do 15." He countered. "20." Adam returned. "Otherwise i'm taking this to someone else." Adam said standing firm. "Well…" The butcher looked at the bag and sighed. "Alright fine… 20 caps each, but if they are smaller than the one you showed me I'm not paying 20!" He said firmly. "Deal." Adam grinned and then began to pull out all the meat for the butcher to inspect. As it turned out Salvatore had been pretty thorough when he was carving the meat out of the mutated crabs, and all the chunks were more or less the same size. Adam walked away from the stall 400 caps richer and finally one empty bag lighter.

Chapter 73 - 73

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