Trash in the Apocalypse

Jun arrived at the gymnasium within ten minutes. The national road has been cleaned as every vehicle was shoved to the road's side or looted for parts. Carriers were the least of the problems now as certain groups of silly bandits continuously try to ruin Black Haven's peace. 

Bandits operate smartly, though, making it hard for good-hearted survivors to report them and extinguish them. Every time a righteous faction arrives at the scene, the bandit group would already be far gone. 

Jun was guided to a table with a gentleman already sitting down. The man's face was bruised like any other soldier by his side. He glanced at Marvin by the side and raised his eyebrow to inquire.

Marvin shrugged. "There's been a squabble. Someone tried to stab me with a pen, so I slapped him. Thankfully it wasn't a book. I'm much scared of books. I watched this one crazy movie with a man using a book to kill someone... It was awesome! And frightening."

Jun knew that that slap wasn't a simple slap. Marvin must have transformed and slapped the man into oblivion for him to fall unconscious. Still, he wouldn't bring that into the open and kept his mouth shut.

Noticing Jun's weird stares, Marvin faked a cough and reported seriously. "One soldier died while another was currently unconscious. I accidentally slapped him too hard when I got angry. The rest underwent investigation and never answered. This pretty guy here loves his junior so much that he started talking once I threatened him about cutting it off. Also, we kept them at low energy, so they can't use any skills."

Jun refused to comment and sat down. He glanced at Zeke and Kylle and smiled at the two. Usually, they would do their own things, but they received an order from Jun to help Marvin deal with the visitors. The two were forced to comply since they were under a contract and has already used their available rejections for the month. 

Jun regularly sent missions to them, but they often refuse it when they think it wasn't worth their time. Every time a serious problem arises in the town, he would regularly send an order to them. A great example was the cavern outbreak. Jun requested them to solve the worsening bat problem, but the two rejected them since killing bats weren't profitable. 

If they continued rejecting surpassing the available limit, they would probably die due to the contract taking effect. That would have been really bad for them and so they have no choice but to accept the task. 

The two walked away after seeing the mission complete notification appear in front of them. They were going back to their own worlds since they already filled their quota for this month.

As the two left, only Marvin and Jun remained in the room, together with the army convoy. The two were confident that they could easily take care of these people since their main skills were easily predictable due to their jobs. It was impossible for them to have any unique overpowered abilities unless they have weird hobbies even when in service.

Jun warmly greeted the flowery guy in front of him and learned that he was the messenger escorted here. The two exchanged some pleasantries before talking about the main topic.

"General Corwin sent us here to request something from you. It's quite confidential, so it would be appreciated if unrelated people could leave the room." Adan spoke filled with authority. He seemed to have forgotten what happened earlier as confidence was reignited inside him.

Adan's face started to scrunch up after noticing that no one was leaving the room and Jun only stared at him. Earlier, he tried to add charm into his voice but nothing was happening. Of course, he knew that the person in front of him was the enemy leader, so he doesn't really have that high of expectations and easily accepted that petty tricks have a low chance of success. 

Jun sat back relaxed on his seat as he responded nicely. "I trust everyone here, so you can speak your mind. Also, I guarantee that your group could return alive to your outpost, but all of your weapons would be considered as toll. Just treat the items as an entrance fee."

Adan wanted to refute that, but Jun stopped him. "I know that you already lost one man, but that's common nowadays. Which side doesn't have casualties? The road is clear and you could easily go back with ease. If you don't encounter bandits..."

Adan gulped and recollected himself. It seems like getting treated highly at the stronghold turned his head into mush. He adjusted his mindset to the appropriate one. They were currently held captive and his words could either save their lives or cause them all to die.

Knowing that tricks won't work, he decided to be direct and get out of here. "General Corwin requests your help. The military was planning to send one final expedition towards the Capital to rescue the president and we want any help that we could get."

Jun and Marvin perked up, intent on learning of the current news.

Seeing as the two were interested, Adan continued to narrate his story. "The rescue battalion reached the Malacanang Palace but was trapped together with the president. They're currently surviving with the rations they brought with them and that won't last long for a week. They need immediate extraction.

"The General wants your help in clearing their designated area and thinning the enemy numbers. This is the information given to me and if you want more information, then the General said that you can speak with him directly. Also, if you accept this, the General would reward you with anything that you want as long as it's possible."

Jun was currently in a neutral relationship with the military outpost. Both of them took advantage and benefitted from each other. Still, he had no plans on working his butt for someone else's dirty work for a meager reward. Unless the reward outweighs the risk, he would never accept the deal.

"I'm not interested. Tell Corwin that if he wants to recruit me and my people, he needs something better than just rewards. He better be prepared to bleed his warehouse."

Jun wasn't being greedy. He was being smart.

Wars are just like gang fights but on a much larger scale. And what they're asking him to do was more than war. Fighting evolved creatures and all kinds of mutated animals could lead to unknown outcomes.

Since the army even resorted to recruiting external powers, it could only mean one thing. That things were getting worse and a lot of people would surely die.

Adan used his phone and contacted General Corwin to relay the news. He didn't even hide what they were talking about and calmly spoke while Jun stared at him.

After learning that Jun doesn't like vague rewards, General Corwin specifically thought of several things that the man wanted. After thinking of possible items, which he only had few interesting ones, he asked Adan to hand over the phone to Jun.

"I'll give you an IFV and some rifles."