Chapter 148: Starting Over
Previously captured, the [Thorned Beast] Fred, the [Hidden Earth Beast] Yi, and others later captured, including the big-nosed man, and the [Shadow Demon] Rose, were not directly killed by Yashan but were given a chance for transformation.
The transformation process was simple. In the first step, they were required to thoroughly memorize the beliefs of the ‘Temple Forest Society,’ then analyze the meanings word by word and write reflections or similar expressions.
The second step involved treating them as laborers, assigning them the most challenging and tiring tasks, utilizing their abilities to contribute to the city, allowing them to feel the beauty of construction and the evil of destruction.
The third step, the most crucial, was to confine them for several years, eroding their determination, and then releasing them.
These individuals could choose not to comply, resist, or even attempt to escape. However, the shackles on them would soon release a strong electric current to make them obedient.
In more severe cases, they would be confined to a small dark room for three days.
As the sky began to brighten, dozens of people, shackled and dressed in striped clothing, marched in orderly fashion, shouting loudly: “Love the people, love life, reform, and start over…”
[Thorned Beast] Fred, while reciting the slogans, cursed internally, “What kind of nonsense slogans are these? I can’t believe I’m chanting this rubbish. It’s a disgrace! Someday, when I regain my freedom, I’ll make them pay a hundredfold…”
“Zap~”
In the moment when Fred lost focus, two arcs of electricity flashed, and he immediately fell to the ground stiffly, convulsing, with wisps of smoke emanating from his open mouth.
Others, upon witnessing this, shuddered and concentrated even more on chanting the slogans.
Among them was the fourth-level mutant, Shadow Demon Rose.
She had become terrified of the electric shocks and had behaved extremely obediently during this period, not harboring any feelings of resentment.
She had tried to escape, using her Shadow Demon abilities to disappear into the shadows at night, but it was futile. Every time, she was quickly brought back by a man in the city named ‘Boss Wei’…
After being confined in the small dark room several times, Rose completely surrendered. ‘Boss Wei’ was not someone she could afford to provoke.
As for Fred’s companion, the Hidden Earth Beast Yi, upon seeing Fred’s miserable state, averted her eyes, pretending not to have witnessed it.
What could she do? She was desperate too. Why did they come to this mysterious city in the first place?
And why hadn’t An come to rescue them? According to what others said, An was already dead and wouldn’t come back. But she didn’t believe it. An couldn’t have died like that. An would definitely come to rescue them!
……
To make a “Sniper Cannon,” the key lay in the manufacturing process of the barrel, which had high overall requirements for the steel.
It was impossible to complete such an item within the group of Zhu Hua People. So, Su Hao had to compromise and lower the steel’s requirements.
After all, when in use, he could reinforce the barrel with the “Hardened” and “Barrier” runes, so the problem wasn’t significant.
The only trouble was accuracy.
There was no good solution for this. He could only create a rough model and have the blacksmith fine-tune it bit by bit to meet the accuracy requirements.
After several days of tinkering, Su Hao finally completed a barrel.
This relieved Su Hao, as the following components were much simpler.
Three days later, Su Hao, accompanied by Yashan, arrived outside the city with a strangely shaped rifle. Su Hao raised the rifle, its butt resting on his shoulder, and first activated the “Distant View” rune inside the scope cylinder.
The function of this rune is similar to that of a telescope, allowing for light refraction. After Su Hao’s adjustments, it can fully replace the scope of the rifle, and the magnification can be adjusted at will.
“First, calibrate the bullet drop point!”
Today, Su Hao had two objectives when he brought Yashan outside the city. One was to calibrate the large rifle, and the second was to teach Yashan how to use it.
After teaching, they would head straight to the Lingyun City to confront the Tiansha Gang.
Su Hao produced two steel prongs and stuck them into the ground. He then mounted the large rifle and tested its feel, which was excellent.
A finger-sized steel conical bullet was generated in his palm, adorned with the “Hardened” and “Sonic Break” runes, and then loaded into the breech from the back.
“Click-click!”
He rotated the bolt, pushing the lump of iron marked with the five-fold “Secondary-Explosive” runes into the barrel, locking it against the thick bullet.
The five-fold “Secondary-Explosive” runes were the maximum power the barrel could handle once the runes were attached, stacking further could risk a barrel explosion.
Su Hao focused and first activated the “Secondary-Hardened” and “Secondary-Barrier” runes to protect the entire rifle.
Then, he slowly infused his blood energy into the “Five-fold Secondary-Explosive” while his eyes locked onto a stone 500 meters away using the “Distant View” scope.
Activated!
“Boom!”
A deafening blast rang out, causing Su Hao to shudder. Even with preparations, the powerful recoil still pushed him back two meters.
At the point 500 meters away, a cloud of dust and smoke erupted on the ground, while the stone he had targeted remained intact.
Yashan watched the whole process and couldn’t help but express his confusion, “Is that it?”
Su Hao observed the bullet’s impact point, calculated through small calculations, and then began to fine-tune the cylindrical barrel of the rifle. He turned the horizontal adjuster counterclockwise by fifteen degrees and the vertical adjuster clockwise by six degrees.
One more shot.
“Boom!”
Su Hao was pushed back two more meters, and this time, the distant stone shattered into pieces.
Su Hao furrowed his brows and muttered, “The power is acceptable; most mutants hit in the head won’t survive, even advanced mutants in the 【Shell People】 sequence with no defenses. However, the accuracy still needs some improvement.”
Then, he continued to adjust.
Another shot.
Su Hao’s vision shifted slightly as he locked onto a stone one thousand meters away.
Activated!
“Boom!”
The soil next to the stone burst open, but the stone remained intact.
Continued adjustments.
Another shot.
“Bang!”
The stone shattered!
Yashan’s eyes lit up; it seemed amazing!
“Next is two thousand meters!”
After several adjustments, Su Hao realized that he couldn’t hit targets beyond two thousand meters. After analyzing the reason, it wasn’t a lack of precision in the “Distant View” scope but rather wind interference affecting the bullet’s trajectory.
Su Hao wasn’t concerned about this; he could calculate and fine-tune it at any time using Little Light. However, this large rifle was meant for Yashan, and he couldn’t expect Yashan to understand concepts like free fall, wind speed, humidity, and so on.
“The bullets generated by the 【Steel Armor King】 are sufficiently strong but too light. They are easily influenced by external factors during flight, so the bullets need to be made heavier.”
Su Hao had considered this and had many steel bars the size of chopsticks with him.
Su Hao took out one, enveloped it in steel armor to shape it like a bullet, and then loaded it into the rifle’s breech.
He locked onto a stone two thousand meters away and took another shot.
“Boom!”
Su Hao shook all over, leaving two grooves in the ground beneath his feet.
The stone two thousand meters away instantly shattered.
“Hoo~”
Su Hao let out a long breath. The accuracy had finally improved. As for distances further than three or four thousand meters, he would deal with them once Yashan became more proficient.
Su Hao planned to demonstrate to Yashan once more. “Yashan, do you see that tree in the distance? The solitary tree on the small hill.”
The vision of the Zhu Hua people was excellent, and Yashan squinted his eyes, observing for a moment. He said, “Are you talking about the one with a little hollow on the side?”
Su Hao said, “Yes!”
Then Su Hao asked, “Do you see the big snake on the tree?”
Yashan remained silent.
To be honest, Su Hao hadn’t seen it either. He had discovered it using radar and then observed it through the “Distant View” scope.
Su Hao smiled and said, “It’s okay if you didn’t see it. Next, I’ll shoot that snake’s head from here, and we’ll make snake soup when we go back.”
Shoot the snake’s head from this distance? Yashan was full of doubt, but he instinctively nodded.
Boss Wei was amazing!
