Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 50: Eagleshot
The vampire leading the new group of vampires was a middle aged man. He wore a long black windbreaker, the collar and sleeves of which were embroidered with the picture of a sanguine multiflora rose. His face was unusually pale, and his red eyes were as bright and pure as rubies.
He was a higher rank vampire!
He looked at the vampire corpses on the ground and dashed forward. After his figure flickered a few times, he appeared beside the corpse of the vampire elder. He immediately noticed that the fangs of all the vampire warriors had extracted and taken away. He let out a heavy snort, and the grass surrounding him strangely flattened against the ground before standing straight again.
He inhaled deeply, identifying the scent that had yet to completely fade from the air. He then stared at the direction Qianye had gone, doubt flashing across his face. “How strange! Why do I smell the scent of a higher vampire? This scent… this scent…”
Just when he was about to pursue it, multiple flames suddenly flashed on the distant horizon. A moment later, the sound of rolling thunder resounded faintly behind him.
A black airship with a red outline descended to the ground, fire billowing from its bulk. Several enormous battleships with sinister appearances pursued it closely, firing silvery-white light toward the falling airship over and over.
The airship in the front was obviously vampire-made, and the bloody multiflora rose emblem on that ship’s hull was identical to the one on this vampire’s clothes. His expression immediately changed, and a harsh buzzing noise that grew increasingly shrill resounded from off on the distance.
Blood roiled within the middle-aged vampire’s pupils as he angrily said, “Those despicable humans! All they know how to do is rely on their numbers for victory! Hmph!”
A vampire girl beside him said, “Lord Count, that’s the signal for an emergency gathering. We need to make it there within the allotted time!”
The middle-aged man snorted again. He cast one final reluctant glance in the direction that Qianye had fled before rushing toward the sound of the buzzing. The ten or so vampire warriors gathered around him, and all of them suddenly disappeared.
Qianye was currently running madly through the wasteland without bothering to conceal his tracks. An extremely powerful consciousness had just swept across his body twice and locked onto him firmly. Considering how powerful it was, Qianye knew that he had encountered an enemy he absolutely couldn’t face, so he did the only thing he could do and ran away as fast as he could.
The owner of that consciousness had thankfully retreated. Either they weren’t interested in someone as weak as Qianye or something had suddenly occurred. They never showed up again after that. However, Qianye didn’t dare stop and ran more than several hundred kilometers at full speed until he reached territory controlled by the imperial expeditionary army. Only then did he finally let out a sigh of relief.
After a brief rest, Qianye hurried toward Darkblood City. Something big seemed to be going on in the wasteland recently, and stronger experts of the dark races kept popping up one after another. Even the Empire’s Red Scorpion Corps appeared in this region. A huge storm was slowly starting to form, and the wasteland was no longer a suitable place for the hunters to operate.
Leaving Boulderstone Region also wasn’t a good choice at the moment. All public transport airships had probably been halted by now, and danger lurked throughout the land. Qianye planned to stay inside of Darkblood City for the time being and cultivate his origin power. He wondered if that cute, confused little rookie had gotten back safely.
Although a storm was brewing on the wasteland, all four gates of Darkblood City boldly remained open. However, Qianye knew that it made no difference whether the city gates were opened or closed wherever those terrifying stronger experts of the dark races were concerned.
When Qianye finished cleaning his attire and prepared to enter the city, he happened to run into a large group of expeditionary forces making their way in as well.
This seemingly endless group was nearly ten thousand strong, and the main body of the army was surrounded and protected by hundreds of tanks. A man stood on a command car with his hands behind his back and looking tall and dignified. He was a major general and held the flag of the imperial army aloft. Although his hair was already graying, his body was surrounded with a thick murderous aura that seemed as if it could be solid. It was obvious that he was a fearsome man who reaped lives as though they were grass.
It seemed like the expeditionary forces had finally reacted to the situation in the wasteland and greatly increased the garrison of Darkblood City. Qianye waited for a full half hour and waited until all of the expeditionary forces had gone inside. Only then did he slip into the city.
Now that the military power of the expeditionary forces had abruptly doubled, the balance of power in the city was immediately broken. All forces carefully curbed their respective activities to the point where almost all of the hooligans of large gangs were missing from the streets.
Naturally, Qianye didn’t return to his own house. He avoided the Southern Bank District and found a new hotel near the slums of the Eastern Lake District to settle down. Then he headed toward Black Copper Street. The moment he entered A1’s Firearms, he locked the door.
Old man A1 was examining a fragment of metal in his hand using multipurpose glasses. He looked up the moment he heard activity and saw that his guest was none other than Qianye. His expression immediately turned a little ugly as he exclaimed, “You again?”
This time Qianye made a complete disguise, altering not only his looks but also his clothes so that his build looked different than it normally did, yet the old man still recognized him at first glance.
By now Qianye had figured out that this old man was no simple character. His impression of him hadn’t improved though, and he just wasn’t able to treat him with respect.
Qianye leaned against the counter and lit a cigar, saying, “What, you’re turning down a business?”
“Sky Snake can’t wait to tear you apart! Not only did you kill Black Wolf and many of his henchmen, you also scared Flying Bird right back to his nest. I’ve never heard of that kid being afraid of anyone. If the kill order isn’t fulfilled, that Sky Snake’s reputation will plummet. That’s why he has increased your bounty tenfold. Did you know that your head is worth a thousand imperial gold coins right now? Sky Snake also said that anyone who trades with you is a sworn enemy Sky Snake Gang, so why would I do business with you?”
After listening to the old man’s long rant, Qianye indifferently answered, “I have a vampire weapon in my possession.”
The old man’s expression changed instantly. “Show it to me. Show me everything!”
A smile blossomed on the Old 1’s wizened face. It was so bright that it left Qianye utterly and hopelessly speechless. He quietly opened his backpack and put five grade one origin guns and two origin longswords on top of the counter.
A single look at them made the old man shudder. “Those are standard-issue handguns of the Bloody Multiflora Rose family, and these two longswords are also standard weaponry of a corps! Did you take out a Bloody Rose squadron?!”
“That isn’t important.” Qianye didn’t plan on revealing too much to the old man because his insight was just too good. He was wary of someone who could find so many clues with just his eyes. If Old 1 were to hear any other bits of pieces from Qianye’s mouth, then he could very well discover something about him that he shouldn’t know.
Old 1 composed himself and picked up an origin gun, examining it carefully. He muttered, “This handiwork, there’s no mistake. It is from a Bloody Rose corp. Mn, there’s also a seal here… this is a piece that was made three years ago.”
Old 1’s fingers suddenly came alive and took the origin gun apart in an instant. Then he put all of its pieces back together again in just a couple of seconds. This series of movements was so quick that even Qianye had a hard time following it. He grew even more wary of Old 1.
Old 1 put down the origin gun in his hands and looked at Qianye deeply. He said, “A leader of a Bloody Multiflora Rose squadron is usually a rank five warrior at the very least. He should have been equipped with a grade two origin gun and an origin sword. Are you not going to sell them?”
Qianye raised both his eyebrows. Although he was already prepared for this question, he was still secretly surprised by how well-learned Old 1 was. He indifferently answered, “I won’t be able to get a good price if I sell it to you.”
“I’m the only one willing to take your goods. If you try selling it to any other store, Sky Snake would come to see you in just a couple of minutes,” Old 1 said in a cold, menacing manner.
Qianye paid no heed to Old 1’s unfriendly tone. “I can wait a bit longer before selling them, or I could even use them myself. Besides, something could happen to Sky Snake later on. This world changes very quickly, doesn’t it?”
Old 1 frowned and suddenly said, “I’ll buy them from you at twenty percent the market price of the upper continent!”
“Thirty percent,” Qianye replied.
“Twenty five percent! But for the next three months you’ll be giving me a bottle of alcohol and three packs of cigars, the ones with the special ingredients.”
“Twenty seven percent, and I’ll give you fifty milliliters of that special stimulant, the kind used by the main corps.”
“Deal!”
Only then did Qianye take out the grade two origin gun and the origin sword that belonged to the vampires, as well as some miscellaneous things he scavenged from the bodies of other soldiers. He put all of them on the counter, then took out two bags and poured hundreds of gold coins and crystal coins out onto the counter as well.
At this point, the total value of all the items piled atop the counter approached a thousand imperial gold coins. Qianye pushed them forward and stared at Old 1 closely, saying, “I want an Eagleshot!”
The corner of Old 1’s eyes twitched as he slowly said, “These aren’t enough for an Eagleshot.”
“You’ll find a way. I only want one that’s eighty percent new.”
“Fifty percent!”
“Impossible. It has to at least be seventy percent new. Eagleshots can’t be too old.”
Old 1 lightly tapped the counter with his finger and said, “I see that you’re a pro, little fellow! I’m actually starting to feel curious about you.”
“That’s not important. It’s not as important as business, at least.”
“How did you know that I could get you an Eagleshot?”
“Intuition.”
Old 1 chuckled. A while later, he finally said, “Come here for your goods in three days.”
Qianye didn’t say anything else. He left the half full pack of cigars on the counter and exited A1 Firearms just like that.
Eagleshot was standard long range sniper rifle of the imperial main corps. It was a grade four origin gun. A gun of this grade would normally only be distributed to middle-ranking officers. Although expeditionary forces were also considered part of the main army, the covert large-scale expansion of their own forces meant that only high-ranking officers could obtain an Eagleshot.
Although standard weapons of the expeditionary forces kept on flooding into the black market through all sorts of channels, grade four origin weapons, and especially the incredibly powerful long-range sniper rifles, were still very rare. One reason for that was a limitation on the source, and another reason was, among the people who could use them, most weren’t snipers.
Long-range sniper rifles were different from normal origin guns. They needed be new enough to maintain a decent level of precision. Any sniper rifle that was less than sixty percent new would experience a sheer decrease in precision, not to mention the fact that parts for guns in the same grade as an Eagleshot were almost impossible to obtain, let alone replace with homemade products.
Qianye didn’t really expect Old 1 to actually be able to give him what he wanted in the beginning. If he couldn’t get an Eagleshot, he thought that a grade three Probe would barely be able to fulfill his needs. To his surprise, however, this swindling old man actually possessed various trade channels that not only allow him to process all of the vampire weapons that Qianye had brought him, but also enabled him to get his hands on a seventy percent new Eagleshot.
Qianye spent the next three days cultivating and switched to a new disguise. Then he went to A1 Firearms.
Old 1 tossed a ragged canvas bag straight at him. The bag looked to be largely stained with lubricating oil. Qianye opened the bag for a look. It was full of all kinds of gun parts.
A few other customers were inside of the shop, and Qianye casually took a part out to carefully examine it.
