Chapter 42: Sky-High Price

Zhou Liming, who had killed a person for the first time consciously, became a bit dazed after the Fierce Beast Form receded.

This time was different from the last time when he accidentally killed the thief. The sense of guilt made Zhou Liming feel somewhat depressed.

Zhou Liming didn’t know how to describe the feeling of killing. He felt some fear, yet a kind of excitement, mixed with a sense of self-blame. These emotions were mixed together, making him feel quite uncomfortable. If you look past the Zhou Liming under the Fierce Beast Form, he was only eighteen years old. Can you expect him to feel excited and crave this feeling from his first murder? Probably no one in the world could do that.

Thinking carefully and calmly, Zhou Liming knew that those five people had to die. Because they had seen things they shouldn’t have seen, the only way to keep the secret was to make them the best choice: dead people.

Carrying an iron oil drum, Zhou Liming ran on the highway. Without the Fierce Beast Form, he still seemed extremely relaxed. Relying on his strong sensory abilities, as soon as he discovered someone or a car passing by, Zhou Liming would put down the oil drum and push it forward by rolling. More than fifty kilometers, after tossing and turning until evening, he finally returned to Shuangqiao Town.

Shuangqiao Town was still packed with people. The lights at dusk made the place look like day.

Zhou Liming slowly pushed and rolled the oil drum forward. Seeing too many people ahead, he could only keep shouting, “Make way, people ahead, make way…”

At first, people didn’t understand why Zhou Liming was pushing an oil drum. Later, those who understood, especially those lacking fuel, all had bright eyes in their gaze and crowded around: “Brother, will you sell your oil? I’ll pay a high price. Three hundred per liter, I offer three hundred per liter.”

A fat man with big ears laughed and said, “I’ll pay five hundred. Little brother, sell it to me. Consider it me owing you a favor. When there’s a chance, I will definitely repay you.”

“I’ll pay five hundred and fifty. Damn it, no one can compete with me!”

“Get lost. I’ll pay six hundred. Little brother, just tell me if you want to sell.”

The street instantly became chaotic. There were plenty of people lacking fuel. Now, in this moment of fleeing for their lives, having an extra liter of fuel might mean having fuel when others didn’t, allowing them to let the Fierce Beasts drag them to death. The military had blocked this area, providing only food and ignoring everything else. A fuel price of six hundred was not surprising. Compared to life, what was this amount of money?

The messy sounds coming from beside Zhou Liming’s ears made his expression unfriendly.

Actually, he had anticipated this situation long ago, but he had no way to avoid it. He couldn’t even sneak in after dark. Not to mention the soldiers’ patrols, the lights on the street shining all night and some sleepless people meant he couldn’t possibly avoid detection either. So, after thinking left and right, he simply decided to bring the fuel into the town directly. After all, did they dare to rob him?

Indeed, these people didn’t dare to rob him, but couldn’t they just buy it?

In just a moment, everyone who knew that someone was pushing a large iron oil drum into the town surged over. Those whose car fuel gauges had reached the warning line were the craziest. Cars were tools for fleeing for their lives; without fuel, what was the difference between them and a pile of scrap iron?

Some people directly took out a large bundle of cash and waved it in front of Zhou Liming.

Surrounded by a pile of people, Zhou Liming became impatient and roared, “Roll away, all of you damn fools. I’m not selling my oil. Do you hear me? I’m not selling.”

Regretting it now, right? Thinking that bringing a pile of money when escaping would make him fearless?

When Zhou Liming roared like this, everyone surrounding him froze for a moment. Then, some people with status and position made their faces look bad. In the past, casually throwing ten thousand or a few thousand would have been enough for someone to ruin this kid for daring to shout at them like that.

“A tiger in the plains is bullied by dogs.” This was the best description of the current situation.

The importance of fuel related to the issue of fleeing for their lives. Zhou Liming’s shouting made them pretend not to hear it either. Some people thought their offered price was not high enough to make him tempted. So, a middle-aged man wearing glasses held up three bundles of red notes and shouted, “One thousand per liter! One thousand per liter!”

Everyone around was startled. One thousand per liter for gasoline was indeed crazy.

Refueling a car would cost at least thirty to forty thousand, a price only someone with absolute guts would shout. In the eyes of this middle-aged man wearing glasses, tens of thousands of dollars were nothing. His own life could not be bought for millions. Money could be earned again. Moreover, tens of thousands were just a drop in the bucket for him.

Fuel was precious, but one thousand per liter still made many people back off. This wasn’t an issue of money; they thought it wasn’t worth it. Yes, everyone was short of fuel now, but no one would be stupid enough to buy it for one thousand per liter. Maybe the military would provide it later? Or maybe someone would transport it to sell?

Various distracting thoughts flashed through everyone’s minds. Only a few wealthy people who didn’t care about this amount of money continued to surround Zhou Liming. The others dispersed.

Some people wanted to rob, but thinking of the fierce soldiers patrolling here, they had the heart but not the courage. Just recently, one person who tried to rob something was shot dead while fleeing. In front of these cold and ruthless soldiers, losing one’s life for this burning oil was not worth it.

Looking at the money in the hands of the few people who continued to surround him, Zhou Liming was indeed a bit tempted. But thinking of the current prices, what could tens of thousands do? A heavy truck was a fuel guzzler. The fuel he brought back was only enough to run for a week. Without fuel later, he would have to work hard to get more.

But looking at it from another angle, what he had looted in City Zhe B was all gold and silver jewelry, without any cash…

“One thousand per liter. Give money if you want it. Only selling one hundred liters,” Zhou Liming said coldly. “Think it over. Given your status, a mere hundred thousand is nothing. Don’t wait until you have no fuel and want to flee but have nowhere to go. When you are dead, all that money will only rot in the bank.”

The few people still surrounding Zhou Liming showed angry expressions on their faces. One thousand per liter for gasoline. If he wasn’t going crazy, his ears must have been problematic. He dared to set such a price. He used to think PetroChina was terrible, but now compared to this bastard, it was like heaven and earth. No comparison. It was dark, truly damn dark.

Even with so much money, it wasn’t spent this way. They were just the middle class, with assets of only a few million. The richer ones had already run away earlier. Their access to information was not something these people could compare to.

Seeing them hesitate, Zhou Liming ignored them and continued pushing the oil drum forward.

For Zhou Liming, selling one hundred liters was just to have some cash on hand. Moreover, if there was really no fuel left, he could think of a way to get more. One thousand was actually testing their courage. After all, something that had risen nearly two thousand times in price, who could accept it?

Who knew that after Zhou Liming pushed just a few steps, the middle-aged man wearing glasses caught up in a few steps and said through gritted teeth, “Fine, I’ll buy!”

Zhou Liming was astonished but still nodded and said, “Follow me!”

Zhou Liming didn’t know now whether the other party was stupid or he himself was stupid. Buying such expensive fuel, and he selling such scarce fuel!