Elegy of the Square. The name roughly meant that there was nowhere to hide; the moment the gunshot rang out, death arrived.
The crack of the rifle was the funeral dirge seeing one off.
Only seven existed in the entire world, the latest technological breakthrough born from researching the mothership.
Wen Jifei stood there, gazing at it, trying his best to remain calm.
In truth, his mouth was parched. When it came to guns, Wen Jifei was naturally an expert, but another thought was racing through his mind at the same time:
*Is it really like that? If it is...*
Wen Jifei's head buzzed. If it truly was as he suspected, the shackle of being a "Dice" would be unlocked to a certain degree. Every step he had stubbornly refused to give up on would have its value maximized.
To him, this meant the goddess of fate was finally smiling upon him. It meant so much.
"Mothership metal, source energy propulsion, dead iron bullets. Azure's scientific research branch has made an initial breakthrough in the spacecraft's source energy explosive propulsion technology, and they tested it on firearms first,"
Liu Yiwu spoke again, enunciating each word with absolute clarity.
Wen Jifei's body swayed, his eyes reddening in an instant... and he was usually such an irreverent, grinning fellow!
At the same time, a hush fell over everyone. In that moment, nobody was thinking about the next step—that in the near future, Azure might truly be able to fight its way up to the dome.
Every eye was fixed on that rifle—a firearm that, even in this world ruled by source energy, could prove lethal.
It would belong to Wen Jifei. And in Wen Jifei's hands, it was guaranteed to be deadly. In the vast majority of situations.
*Seven in the whole world... then Miss Milla should have one too, right?! Definitely. She must be overjoyed right now,* Han Qingyu thought to himself.
Then, "Uncle!"
Wen Jifei suddenly cried out, sounding just like someone finally reuniting with long-lost kin. Tears welled in his eyes, and he looked ready to pounce forward and wrap him in a hug.
"Hold it!" Liu Yiwu raised a hand from afar to stop him, stepping back. "If you want it, trade me a blade. You've got plenty anyway. Cough... otherwise, you'll have to step over my dead body."
He was shamelessly digging his heels in.
A dignified corps commander, a full general, the first man in history to bridge the language barrier between two civilizations and literally talk a Great Spike to death, was now hiding shamelessly and serenely behind a sniper scope, smiling.
"No problem at all, Uncle." Wen Jifei stepped forward while reaching out, smoothly drawing a blade straight from Han Qingyu's back. Cupping it in both hands, he hurried over and said, "Here, Uncle, take it."
Liu Yiwu got the blade as he wished.
However, it was night, and he wasn't particularly discerning about craftsmanship. The weapon he had received was actually Han Qingyu's previous war blade, forged by Jiang Chou by infusing ordinary dead iron with source energy. It was far better than standard weapons, but nowhere close to the other three.
Wen Jifei also received the rifle, along with its case and ammunition.
Cradling the "Elegy of the Square" in his arms, stroking it gently from end to end, Wen Jifei excitedly counted the bullets, only for his expression to turn somewhat dazed. He looked back.
"Why are there only six bullets, Uncle Liu?! Are bullets that hard to make?!"
"No, it's because..." Liu Yiwu sheathed the blade across his shoulder, looked at Wen Jifei, and said, "Because it can only fire three or four shots at most before it explodes."
Silence fell over the clearing: "..."
That was too brutal a blow. Han Qingyu and the others shifted their gazes to Wen Jifei, feeling both sympathetic and worried.
"So six is plenty," Liu Yiwu gestured.
Wen Jifei's face had already fallen. "Three or four shots, and it explodes?!"
"Yeah. They discovered that even the dead iron from the mothership can't fully withstand such a concentrated burst of source energy. Of the first four they built, the test firings made it to the fourth round at best before all of them blew up."
Liu Yiwu looked somewhat apologetic and dispirited as well. He sighed:
"Otherwise, why do you think they only made seven? Why wouldn't they issue them to more Azure soldiers?!"
"The project has been suspended. The cost and the yield simply don't balance out. Even though the wasted dead iron can be recovered, the damage a bullet can inflict usually isn't much to write home about against the size and armor of a Great Spike.
"And against genuine top-tier experts, there's a strong chance it'll be dodged. Even if it hits, unless it strikes a vital organ, it won't do much good... So they decided the materials are better used in more vital areas."
As Liu Yiwu spoke, his gaze drifted toward Wen Jifei, filled with sudden embarrassment and guilt. "Had I realized sooner what this rifle meant to him, I should have made things clear from the start."
"You can still use your own ordinary bullets with it. It won't explode that way," Liu Yiwu offered quietly, trying to console him.
"Yeah." Wen Jifei nodded. Holding the rifle, he slowly stood up, drew a deep breath, exhaled, and beamed brightly.
"Actually, having three shots is pretty good too."
His left hand hung down, clutching the pouch with the six bullets tightly in his fist.
Three shots was good enough. And who knew—maybe it could manage four?
That meant he would have three or four chances to be the decisive weight tipping the scales, helping Qingzi and the others completely turn the tide of battle.
Three or four times where he, this "Dice," would be an enormous threat that no one could afford to ignore.
"Not like I ever planned to be a hero my whole life anyway."
...
Liu Yiwu left, and Han Qingyu didn't ask for the blade back.
Yang Qingbai flew the helicopter to take Commander Liu to a nearby squad station, leaving the other five waiting in the river valley for his return.
"What?! You're saying Young Master Shiheng slashed Ye Jian away with one strike and rescued you?!"
Rusty Sister's armor rattled clank-clank in exaggerated disbelief.
He Tangtang nodded. "That's what he said. Then he carried me on his back, brought me back, and left."
Knowing Young Master Shiheng was alive was good news, and since he had ultimately chosen to leave, letting him have his way was fine too. They were brothers; if this war ever ended someday and they were still alive, they could always look him up in Gangcheng to hang out.
Still, saying he slashed Ye Jian away...
"Going by that, Ye Jian was actually the one who saved you." Wen Jifei turned and glanced at Han Qingyu. "What if we run into Ye Jian again in the future?"
"Run, of course. He saved a life, after all... and besides, we can't beat him anyway." Han Qingyu grinned. "Even if we could beat him, we'd still run. Fighting him would just be a losing deal for me."
Everyone burst out laughing.
"Tangtang, where's your sword?" Wu Xu suddenly asked, looking at He Tangtang.
"Shiheng said Ye Jian took it." He Tangtang looked embarrassed.
"What?!" Han Qingyu's heart ached violently. He took deep breath after deep breath, muttering, "Then once we can beat him, we'll have to track him down... and snatch it back."
With that, he drew one of the blades at his waist and tossed it to He Tangtang.
...
Three days later, in a secluded rural courtyard belonging to the Shang clan.
Shang Nianhua walked in through the courtyard gate. Before even coming to a stop, she looked at Han Qingyu and said, "My people have found Zhu Jiaming and told him this location, saying you're waiting for him. But word is, he's already managed to become a steward for the Qu clan. Are you sure he'll still come?"
"Thank you, Sister-in-law." Han Qingyu nodded, setting down a handful of freshly washed greens. "He'll come. I'm sure of it."
Little Prince Zhu was the true collector of the Bones of Eternal Life, and probably the one who knew the most. That was why he moved among so many different clans. This was Han Qingyu's earlier deduction.
"He probably knows his own strength isn't enough, so he wants to use us—especially Qingzi—to complete the collection... That way, he only needs to scheme against Qingzi in the end,"
Wen Jifei chimed in from the side. Naturally, they wouldn't mention the fact that Qingzi had already devoured those three Bones of Eternal Life, and that any future ones would likely be consumed by him as well.
Shang Nianhua's gaze turned momentarily blank.
She was hardly some ignorant young girl; she was in charge of the Shang clan's worldly branch! Yet Zhu Jiaming had served the Shang clan in the past, and after observing him for a while, she had merely assumed he was a coward clinging to life.
"To think he harbored such grand ambitions!"
"That's not all, Sister-in-law," Han Qingyu said with a smile. "He most likely hid his true strength as well. My guess is that he might be top-tier himself, and he's planted his people across the various clans too."
A flicker of wariness crossed Shang Nianhua's eyes. If that was the case, the Shang clan definitely had Zhu Jiaming's plants right now as well.
Setting family affairs aside for now, the sister-in-law frowned and voiced her immediate concern: "Then we must be careful. I know a top-tier isn't something you'd take seriously, but since Zhu Jiaming possesses such calculating schemes, I suspect he'll try to borrow strength... Among our clans, there are super combat powers. Rumor has it the old master of the Qu clan is a super."
"Huh? That sounds really dangerous," Rusty Sister cut in. Encased in her iron armor, she swiveled her head left and right, quickly looking over everyone. "Then are we still going to work with him? If we do, wouldn't that be..."
"Bargaining with a tiger for its hide! Qingzi!" Shang Nianhua finished her thought with a solemn look.
Han Qingyu glanced at Rusty Sister, then turned back to look at her. "Is a tiger's hide something we can't scheme for?"
Chapter 379