Chapter 33: Why Not Just Rob Them?

Chapter33: Why not just seize it?

At the same moment, after Chen Jian had decided to regard the entire Hanshui City as a potential threat—an imaginary foe—Xu Lie likewise returned to his lodgings.

Contrary to what he had said himself, the room held not only his four‑man squad but also a man completely shrouded in a cloak and hood, his face obscured.

Seeing Xu Lie enter, the man standing to the left immediately spoke:

“How are they? What’s their attitude?”

Xu Lie shook his head and replied:

“I can’t discern any attitude.”

“But they flatly refused my proposal of ‘active exposure.’”

“I think they still wish to remain hidden, uninterested in joining any faction—even the Machine God Sect, which shares more with them, they do not consider kin.”

“These few god‑chosen ones are truly independent, or perhaps they indeed have their own mission.”

“Nevertheless, this is good news for us.”

“As long as they do not turn toward the Machine God Sect, they pose no threat to us.”

“You’re mistaken.”

The man let out a soft sigh, then said:

“If they truly are god‑chosen bearers of ancient knowledge, or if they are simply the specters said to crawl from graves, their very existence is already a grave threat.”

“Don’t be fooled by their mere four members; their present power is still limited.”

“Yet the power of that knowledge, that information, is boundless.”

“One day they will advance faster than us and grow stronger.”

“When that time comes, what should we do with ourselves?”

“What’s the problem with that?”

Xu Lie, bewildered, furrowed his brows and countered:

“At least, as I see it, the purpose of these god‑chosen ones is utterly simple.”

“They wish to survive, and also to save the world.”

“How is that different from us? Wasn’t the founding aim of the Holy Blood Hall to achieve exactly those two goals?”

“Our conflict with the Machine God Sect is huge, yet we still manage to coexist; why can’t we do the same with them?”

“Because even our coexistence with the Machine God Sect is only temporary.”

The man slowed his speech, enunciating each word:

“This world will ultimately be saved; heretics and monsters will be eradicated.”

“When that day comes, who will be the monster?”

“We can choose not to be monsters!”

Beside him, Xie Liu suddenly interjected, continuing:

“The cultivators are striving incessantly; the side effects of the holy blood will surely diminish.”

“Until one day, the holy blood will cease to be a curse and become a blessing.”

“We will breed healthy offspring who, from birth, will possess greater strength, sturdier bodies, swifter reflexes, and even higher intellect.”

“How could such people be called monsters? They shall be the ‘new folk’!”

The man snorted coldly, then spoke sternly:

“Only a few can survive the evolution; not everyone can become holy‑blooded; the vast majority will forever remain the old folk.”

“And what of these old folk—what are we to do with them?”

“The old folk… the old folk will be weeded out.”

Xie Liu’s voice dropped.

“Weeded out? Will we be the ones doing the weeding, or will they weed us out??”

The words faded, and no one else spoke in the room.

In the silence, everyone seemed to see the inevitable war looming, even if it lay far on the horizon.

The man drew a long breath, then said:

“It’s still too early to speak of this.”

“Our threat remains monsters, heretics, and evil influences.”

“But remember, our relation with those god‑chosen ones is merely one of mutual use.”

“We may be temporary allies.”

“But we will never be friends!”

The next day.

Chen Jian finished his final watch, tidied up, donned his vest, and slipped in his own level‑III ballistic plate.

He did not use the captured level‑V plate because it was expired; in fact, even in his era, composite boron carbide had already achieved extreme chemical inertness, and with the widespread use of Dyneema, the service life of inserts and armor had long been greatly extended.

The sole reason he didn’t use it is its bulk; were he to insert it, he could wear no concealing garment over it.

When he stood thus, puffed out, even a fool could tell they were out of the ordinary; better to stay low‑key.

Anyway, inside the city a dangerous situation is unlikely; even if one arose, the level‑III plate would stop most attacks.

With everything ready, he left Shen Yue and He Shuo to hold the fort while Chen Jian took Lei Jie out to shop.

Under Xu Lie’s guidance, they had planned to trade the gold for other goods first, but after a circuit they realized it was unnecessary.

The reason is simple.

What they need to buy is expensive.

7.62 mm ammunition: average quality costs one gram of gold for two to three rounds; good quality runs 0.8 gram per round.

You can’t just buy a few rounds at a time; even staying low‑key, you wouldn’t want to deliberately raise the transaction difficulty.

Buying several dozen to a hundred rounds from one shop consumes over four hundred grams of gold in less than an hour, netting six hundred 7.62×39 mm rounds.

That amount barely suffices for one volley from Shen Yue.

Next, they turned back to keep looking for 5.8 mm ammunition.

In Chen Jian’s view, being still within the country, 5.8 mm rounds should be plentiful, and 12.7 mm not rare either.

In reality, 7.62 mm is fairly common, 5.8 mm is exceedingly scarce, and 12.7 mm is virtually unseen.

After scouring the whole market, they managed only 120 rounds of 5.8 mm; Xu Lie said that to find more they’d have to delve into alleys, buying from hunters who keep their shops closed or from Machine God Sect clergy.

Chen Jian didn’t want to take that risk, so he decided to postpone the search for now.

He turned his main attention to shells, missiles, grenades and similar explosives, but unfortunately the locals shared his mindset.

All are fighting carbon‑based lifeforms; who doesn’t know that explosives are more useful than bullets?

The pieces in good condition were either kept for personal use or sent as tribute to the Machine Cult and the City Guard; the remainder, battered and worn, might not even fire.

After making the rounds, even spotting a few sleeve‑arrows, Chen Jian ultimately refrained from striking again.

To Lei Jie, however, the market glittered with treasure at every turn.

Usable circuit boards, welding pens mistaken for weapons by locals, batteries that looked dead but whose cells showed almost no corrosion, spools upon spools of silver wire sold as scrap metal, and servomotors evidently still functional, ripped from who knows where.

He reveled in the joy of scavenging, and when Chen Jian asked what he intended to do with all this junk, he had only one answer.

To repair the mech.

“I spent some free time yesterday tinkering with that exoskeleton; the parts are almost all there, only the electronic control system is a bit off.”

“If we scrounge a few spare parts and patch them together, we might get it running again soon.”

“But now there’s a problem: nowhere in this market can we find a battery compatible with that mech.”

“If we build our own battery, its endurance will surely fall short.”

“I’m also at a loss—what on earth should go into such a tiny battery compartment? Surely not an isotopic cell?”

Lei Jie’s face creased with confusion, while Chen Jian shook his head and said:

“Impossible—an isotopic battery has enough energy density, but its power density is definitely insufficient.”

“Then could it be some sort of miniature reactor?”

“You’d be better off suggesting a room‑temperature superconductor battery or something like that—perhaps a metallic‑hydrogen cell.”

The two talked on, while Xu Lie, standing nearby, understood nothing of what they were saying.

He even felt as though he were peering at forbidden knowledge.

Listening another second would drive him mad.

No wonder they didn’t bother to exclude him; they knew he could never comprehend.

Not to mention understanding—even trying to jot it down to repeat later would be impossible.

Only when they were about to leave the market district did Lei Jie finally fall silent.

Then he fixed his gaze on a small object on a humble stall in the corner and spoke:

“I know what it is.”

“An air‑lithium battery.”

“It’s the final piece of the puzzle.”

“Too bad—this one is surely unusable.”

Seeing Lei Jie’s disappointed expression, Chen Jian waved a hand and said:

“If it can’t be used, then it can’t be used; the exoskeleton’s issue isn’t that urgent.”

“The problem now is that we have no shells, and there are none to be found in the market.”

“But now we have ammunition, so I’ve got a new idea.”

“You say those demons can pull out so many shells—doesn’t that mean they actually have more?”

“If we can’t buy them, why don’t we just take them?”

(End of chapter)