Me and Regina sat on the ground outside the warehouse as the two of us calmed down I mean to be honest I got riled up the more I thought about it but all in all it was actually nice to get off my chest. Regina looked at me and opened her mouth to say something but she stopped herself. I don't know what that was about but she'll tell me when she's ready, but for now it was probably around 2:00 and we would need to pick up the pace before we need to set up camp.

Before we head inside I absorbed the rest of those scorpions into the melee weapon which gives me a ton of material like chitin and the meat so I can do stuff with that later. The one I was the most nervous about cutting up was the ghoul I mean if I thought about it like a wendigo it was easier, but I know ghouls aren't all feral so the fact that this guy was just an ordinary man who lost his mind made me a little queasy I guess it's the right word. When I absorbed the ghouls flesh into the melee weapon it unlocked the ghoul series and one weapon.

Ghoul leather shield

defense: 3

equip stats

melee damage: -50%

energy resistance: 50%

radiation resistance: 75%

equip skill: feral ghoul camouflage

active skill: energy counter

unique skill: 100% energy cannon

we get up and walk into the warehouse only to see an empty lobby with a sign with big bold letter saying "Jumpin Joe's warehouse and cannery". I figure that means they processed food here however probably wouldn't find anything but botulism in a can and dying of botulism because I ate some bad meat sounds like a shitty way to go. Even Regina looked at me a little odd I guess wondering what the hell we were going to really find here I mean to be honest I didn't know either but it wouldn't hurt to have a look around given that Lanius marked it on the map. clearly this part was the reception area however there really wasn't anyone in right now and given that a feral ghoul came out of the building I imagine we're about to have a fight on our hands.

I decided to change my weapon to the bark scorpion stinger, after all I wasn't going to learn other abilities if I didn't actually use them in combat. I guess I could sleep with one however that way would take several days and I figured it would go faster if I actually use them in combat. I didn't know for sure but figured it's worth an experiment at least. I looked down at the bark scorpion stinger and used its venom drip which the name was self-explanatory and it dropped a small teardrop sized drop of slightly yellowish green fluid out of the tip and onto the ground. As me and Regina watched the ground where the drop fell it began sizzling slightly clearly a type of powerful poison even stronger than regular scorpion venom.

"That stuff looks dangerous." Regina said stating the obvious, "If I were to make a bet I'd say that it was lethal regardless of stats."

"That's what we call an insta kill technique but hold on..." I said bringing up the weapon menu and tapping the name of the skill.

I looked around through different menus trying to find one for my skills however all I found were the stats related to skills like melee damage and damage resistance. I decided to try holding my finger over the button and it did pull up a description of the skill. I'll admit one fault of mine is that I'm trying to overcomplicate the system and think too much about it, but in reality it follows a lot of standard rules for RPGs.

venom drip: a drop of poison so concentrated it can instantly kill people without a resistance to the type of poison used when it enters the body. (varies by weapon)

So does that mean if I use bark scorpion weapons it'll be a bark scorpion poison and if I use another weapon made from a different poisonous animal will that be a different poison. I'll have to figure that out later considering I don't have any other weapons made from poisonous creatures, but I still think I should keep it in mind as all it says is that it has to enter the body so if I can stab something and use it to put the poison drop directly into the body of an enemy that would be the most direct way to use it however if I can manage to get this into an enemy's food or drink I could be gone before my enemy ever knew I was there.

Not sure if I should feel comfortable thinking like an assassin but either way if something comes up it'll be nice to have my disposal. Me and Regina walked deeper into the building past the lobby and down a hallway that led to the warehouse area which to be honest was a bunch of shipping containers with various goods inside kind of like how you expect a warehouse to be. entering from the hallway we were on a catwalk which to the left led up a set of stairs to a booth probably for managers or to the right It led down into the maze of shipping containers.

me and Regina walked to the upper part to get our bearings first and in the booth there was nothing of interest except for a terminal which had a few notes inside of it.

"Regina keep an eye out I want to check this terminal to see if it tells us what's in these containers." I say as she nods and keeps an eye on the entrance and down into the warehouse below.

to Mr Reynolds

October 10th 2077

I understand our schedules are hard to sync up however I do expect the "product" to be delivered promptly and efficiently.

You know what will happen if they catch on and raid any of our facilities.

Fortunately we're in a time of war and there are too many people in this country as it is to keep track of but if we are not careful you and I will be spending a lot of time in prison because of our "business."

I do trust you to understand our belief in your discretion and ability is not because we lack faith in you, but myself and Miss Scarlet are not ready to spend the rest of our lives in jail for providing "a service" and I assume you are not either.

Good day Mr Reynolds and do be sure that your cannery is up to code.

Sincerely David Winters.

There's no doubt about it these people are up to some shady business considering the parentheses around the terms product and a business and a service maybe illegal chems either way it's worth investigating if there's something I could absorb into the melee weapon. as I look through the files I could see One more email this one was sent urgently because it was written on the day the bombs dropped likely right after the fact.

to David Winters and Miss Scarlett

10/23/2077

Hey I don't know if you guys are still alive to get this message but the world is fucking ending bombs have dropped and right now It goes without saying our deals and any kind of business arrangements are off.

To be honest when you all approached me with the offer it was too good to pass up considering I was benefiting but right now I got too many mouths to feed and now all those mouths are scared shitless.

In case you two are wondering I did not put them back in the basement I let him go I didn't want to risk them coming and killing my sorry ass and in truth they might anyway if they get a few weapons but that's if they can catch me.

I'm heading up to Wendigo peak and going to Hope that no one knows me.

if you get this I hope you both rot in hell because if you didn't approach me with that offer to buy slaves I damn well would have been able to live here in my cannery for a while.

praying we never meet again In this life or the next, Louis Reynolds.

I think I let out a gasp as I finished reading this because Regina looked over at me a little startled given that this is the first time I can say I was surprised. I told her what was on the terminal and she looked troubled.

"but I thought before the war everyone was kind to each other and treated each other fairly?" she said looking a little sad at the revelation.

"I'm afraid not slavery has always been around from the time of the Bible to right before the big war It's existed in one form or another." I said feeling a little down about it myself.

"Why would this man buy slaves? When you look at it he had a large building and a business so did he need them?"

"I don't know it could be his business was going under and he needed to save some money or he might have just gotten greedy and figured as long as he was rolling in money It didn't matter."

"At least he let them go after the bombs dropped." she said cheering up a little bit.

"Yeah there's at least that so they had a chance I guess." I said walking back to the entrance of the office.

"so what now? Regina asked checking her weapon to see how many shots she had left.

"I want to check out some of these containers and then that basement it talked about and the terminal."

I had no way of knowing what was in the containers the fact that he did run a semi-legitimate business here at the very least to keep the feds off his trail meant there might be something at least worth taking into the weapon. I also wanted to find the basement because I figured at the very least there might be something worth finding although I'm not holding my breath I can't really afford to miss anything good.