Mission ⑦: Currency, Part Three

Foreword:

There are always more scabbards than swords in the world.

[Part 1: The Three Brothers]

In an abandoned building on the outskirts of Eureka Volcano City, Fuyanni and Billy the Kid reunited once again, along with the little boy from the White Ape, the little fish-man.

The nameless people rescued them and told them to find refuge, but there were far too many monsters around the theater. They fled to the countryside far from the city center, but were eventually trapped in front of the canyon checkpoint and hid in an abandoned building.

The entrance and exit of the White Ape were in a wealthy villa area, which had been occupied by the Angelic Monsters. The original satellite town had been turned into a sparsely populated development zone, but at this moment it had become the best hiding place.

Let alone people, you can hardly see any wild animals here. There are only many cranes and construction materials, unfinished buildings and tin dormitories.

"Sorry, Shasha," Billy the Kid said dejectedly, "We're probably going to have to wait a very, very long time before we can make a fortune."

Fuyanni also looked dejected and frustrated. "If I had waited a little longer at the Flower Chess Bank, maybe another half hour, I could have made some money! It's all my fault!"

Billy: "No, no, no, it's my fault."

Fuyanni: "It's my fault!"

The little shark, however, didn't take it seriously. It had always believed that its two older brothers were people who were destined for great things. So it took out a spatula and a rolling pin from its chef's bag and started banging them on, as if it were drumming to cheer them on.

"Don't talk! Don't talk! It's no one's fault! We're just so unlucky!"

Billy the Kid fell silent, then saw Shasha's eyes—

--One of the fish's eyes had just healed; White Lady's medicine had cured the child's pain from gouging out his eye, but the two eyes were not very coordinated, making him look rather dim-witted.

At this moment, Billy the Kid and Fuyanni, with their lips pursed, suddenly hugged Shasha and burst into tears.

The little shark froze for a moment; its expression was probably like this.

"Oh dear!"

It didn't understand why its two older brothers were crying, but the power of emotion was so strong that it started crying too, until it was too exhausted to continue. The spatula and rolling pin in its hands fell to the ground.

The fragile floor tiles caved in, creating a dent.

The three brothers looked over at the sound and saw a crack about the thickness of an arm in the drain groove near the window of the abandoned building, where the edges had not yet been sealed.

"What a lousy building! It's heartless! They just throw something at it and it makes a hole in it!" Fuyanni exclaimed indignantly.

"Something's not right." Billy the Kid, the only one among the group who hadn't been beaten, had better eyesight. Following the sunlight streaming through the window, he looked towards the shadowy corner and immediately climbed down, retrieving Shasha's spatula and rolling pin.

Billy then lay down on the concrete platform and reached down with one hand, which was his old job; he had done similar work many times when he was digging up graves and robbing tombs in the City of Tears.

The gaps in the drain were getting bigger and bigger, and many stone fragments broke off and fell into the deeper hole. Billy the Kid used his right arm to carve out a hole the size of a basketball, and then fished out a vacuum bag that was resistant to corrosion and water.

Fuyanni: "My God!"

The vacuum bag contained a thick stack of pyroxene coins shaped like bricks.

Billy the Kid was dumbfounded; he hadn't expected to find money at this crucial moment.

"Oh, this."

Little Shasha recognized the hundred-dollar bill and immediately exclaimed, "We're rich! Brother Billy!"

Fuyanni: "Billy! Where did all this money come from?"

Billy the Kid didn't answer the question immediately. He continued reaching into the hole and pulled out sixteen more vacuum bags, all filled with pyroxene coins.

Fuyanni's eyes widened. "We're rich! We're rich!"

Billy had never seen so much money in his life. Cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his mind was in turmoil. This was an unfinished building in the development zone; who would bury money here?

His mind raced, and he grasped the main issue—who buried the money wasn't important; what mattered was that the three brothers had dug it up, and Eureka's downtown area had become a hellscape. Whether the original owner would be able to return alive to retrieve the money was still uncertain!

But the more Fuyanni looked, the more uneasy he felt. He was timid, and after carefully counting the amount of money, which totaled more than 3.4 million Hui Stone Currency, he immediately chickened out.

"Billy, with so much money, won't we attract unwanted attention? Won't we be hunted down?"

Billy gritted his teeth and shook his head violently.

"Who cares! This is Eureka's development zone. If the houses aren't being built or aren't being constructed properly, it's definitely a conflict between the city planning and the developers. It has nothing to do with us. These corrupt and lawless scoundrels are secretly hiding money here, but they don't dare to send it to the bank. They must be treacherous parasites who are trying to enrich themselves at the expense of the City Hall and the Mercy Society. What's wrong with us taking it?"

Fuyanni: "That's true!"

Billy the Kid looked at Shasha, immediately picked up the little boy, and lifted him high above his head.

"Shasha! You are the luckiest Shasha in the world! As soon as you speak, our wishes come true!"

The little shark asked in surprise, "Really!"

Fuyanni chimed in, "Yes, yes!"

After a while, Billy put Shasha down, and Shasha asked again, "Big Brother Billy! Can this money buy lots and lots of meat? Enough to eat me until I grow up?!"

Billy hesitated for a moment--

But Fuyanni kept shaking his head. "That won't do! It's not enough!"

The three million four hundred thousand Hui Stone Currency, divided equally among the three brothers, would take Shark a stingy twenty-six years to raise to adulthood, given Shasha monstrous physique.

Besides, Billy the Kid and Fuyanni both have big dreams and are both criminal elites; it's impossible for them to work.

Shasha immediately pinched its round, webbed feet and asked, "How much more do we need?"

Billy the Kid thought to himself, "Money is something you can never have enough of, can you?"

He didn't say anything, but just squatted at the entrance of the abandoned building and looked out, catching a glimpse of another unfinished building across the road.

He said to Fuyanni, "I'll go check on it. You take good care of the Shasha."

Fuyanni immediately said, "I'll keep watch for you!"

Shasha chimed in, "If someone tries to harm you, or a monster comes, I'll immediately start banging on the pot and drum! Brother Billy! The monster will hear the noise and come after me!"

Billy the Kid's expression was complicated. He glanced at Fuyanni, then at Little Shasha who had just joined the criminal gang, unsure of what to say.

He crawled quickly and quietly from the wide road into another building. He stepped along the drain on the first floor of the building, and sure enough, there was a fragile cement partition that cracked under the strong stomping, revealing a gap.

He immediately started drilling holes and pulled out more vacuum bags—

--It's full of money, countless amounts of money.

He managed to produce over twenty vacuum bags, which brought him more than four million Hui Stone Currency. He was overjoyed and couldn't stop smiling.

This money would be enough for the three brothers to live a comfortable life for over ten years in a bustling trading hub, as long as they didn't get involved in gambling, prostitution, or drugs, weren't deceived by women, didn't experience life-or-death situations, and weren't extorted or robbed by the Madness Butterfly Sect.

Billy's mind went blank for a moment, frozen on the image of the Madness Butterfly Sect.

He dared not think too much about it, because this was his ideal. Since ancient times, people who ate meat have lived a more comfortable life than those who ate grass. But now that he had so much money, he longed for a stable and peaceful life. His ideal also changed—from joining the Madness Butterfly Sect and becoming a criminal, he gradually cleared his eyes and became a good citizen who maintained order and upheld justice.

He continued to scoop out more money, fearing it wouldn't be enough after escaping Eureka, but the next vacuum bag seemed impossible to pull out.

He was panting heavily, even using his psionic threads to help pull the valuables from his arms. He suddenly straightened his body and used all his strength to tear the packaging.

Listen to the "click" sound.

The bag was pulled up, but it also brought up some strange things.

Billy the Kid looked closely and was horrified. A severed arm was attached to the bag containing the money; the arm was already a dried-up corpse.

Its claws were cracked, as if it had scratched at the stone wall in the dark hole of the drain, trying to climb to the ground. The corpse had been pressed down by these more than twenty heavy bags before it died, unable to stretch its arms and legs. Even though the partition above its head could be crushed with one step, it still couldn't get out.

Who owned this arm? Billy dared not think about it, nor was it his place to think about it.

The fact that a corpse was found inside a blind box from the unfinished building caused Billy the Kid some psychological damage. He clutched his money in a disheveled state, dropped the severed arm of the mummified corpse, and ran back as fast as he could.

From afar, Fuyanni saw his elder brother returning with a bountiful harvest, and he was overjoyed, wanting to go out and greet him.

Billy the Kid immediately shoved his ignorant younger brother back inside, already covered in cold sweat.

He looked nervous and guilty, the spiritual pressure created by the Flash Butterfly and the apostles had already exhausted this psychic.

"Don't make a sound! Don't make a sound!"

Billy was completely out of his mind, his nerves pounding as he stared intently at the quiet outdoor road. When he looked down at his spoils, he was practically in a daze!

What he was holding wasn't money at all!

Billy the Kid's eyes were bloodshot as he watched Fuyanni gleefully tossing up broken bones, which resembled human spines, their dehydrated texture rising and falling in his brother's hands.

The little Shasha hugged the two shriveled human heads and spun around in place, making strange, chuckling noises.

He was so frightened that he dared not utter a sound, and the pile of money in his arms also made a strange noise in an instant.

That was the strange sound of gas leaking from the lining of the mummified corpse as its internal organs deformed when it was moved.

Billy the Kid's Madness Index surged instantly; he was caught in a nightmare! In that moment, he fell into the Gate of Death, and now any touch, any attack, could stop his heart from beating and send him into a convulsive shock!

After a few seconds, he finally came to his senses and was freed from his mental exhaustion.

He was drenched in sweat, and after taking another look at what he was holding, he was certain that it was all an illusion— Shasha and Fuyanni weren't crazy, it was just him who was about to go insane.

"Brother Billy!" Shasha grabbed Billy's hand. "Where did all this money come from?"

The little shark had no idea where the unfinished buildings in the development zone came from, nor did it know the operating rules of Eureka Volcano City.

Fuyanni was well aware of where the money came from.

The two brothers spent a long time explaining to the little shark, finally recounting their speculations, the actual events, and the money they had acquired.

This money is likely a bribe privately received by the Eureka Housing Authority, which is the reason for the indefinite delay in the development zone's construction. It also relates to land prices in the downtown area; once the buildings here are built, land prices in the city center will drop—and the business owners and companies involved will not allow this to happen.

"How strange!" After listening for a while, Shasha finally understood the math problem, and could only exclaim, "How strange!"

Billy the Kid: "What's weird about it?"

Shasha continued, "They're all rich people, aren't they?"

Fuyanni: "Yes!"

Shasha continued, "They'll never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of their lives, and they won't have to worry about money either, right?"

Fuyanni: "Yes!"

Shasha finally asked, "Then why bother making money? I heard Grandpa Grandfather say that many people in Eureka seem wealthy, but they don't even own a house. Why would the rich make money off the poor when the poor have nothing?"

Billy gave an awkward laugh.

The two brothers couldn't answer that question. No matter how great an economist is in the world, they couldn't answer it.

Seeing that both of his older brothers looked sullen, Shasha started banging on his frying pan to try and boost morale.

Its expression also began to sparkle.

"We're rich! Brother Billy! You didn't lie to me! Following you really can make us a fortune!"

The three brothers laughed heartily. Billy took off his winter coat and, together with Fuyanni, tied up the money.

[Part ② - The Inevitable Path]

Billy dared not dig for treasure in other rooms again. Putting aside whether he could carry those heavy banknotes with him, the unexpected surprises in the blind boxes alone were enough to drive him crazy.

But fate played another trick on the three brothers.

After they packed up their treasure, they prepared to live a good life once the disaster was over.

A cacophony of voices erupted from the main road leading from the canyon pass to the bustling city center, followed by the clatter of speeding vehicles, and then the sound of gunfire.

Fuyanni lowered his head and hid in a corner of the stairwell, while outside the building, gongs and drums resounded and cannons roared.

The noise shook the dust from the unfinished building down and sprinkled it on Shasha's head. It immediately sneezed, and the panicked Billy the Kid covered his mouth and nose, afraid of attracting the enemy.

After waiting for a very long time, the sounds of gunfire and artillery gradually faded away, as if they had left.

Billy breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to step out from the corner of the stairs to observe the situation, but the sudden sound of an engine forced him back.

It's like a guy driving a car and running away, attracting a large group of guards from the canyon pass to chase him.

The vehicle finally shook off its followers, Billy looked closely and saw a tank rushing down the main road into the gravel fields of the countryside.

The tank, its turret and side armor cratered and scarred, crashed into the wilderness, onto the street where the three brothers lived, and into the construction site next door.

Billy the Kid was certain that no Canyon Pass troops were following him. He couldn't see any other Snowowl Defense vehicles or Madness Butterfly's infantrymen either, so he finally poked his head out to observe the tanks.

An uninvited guest from next door crawled out of the turret. The man was covered in blood, clutching his stomach, and limped off the vehicle. He pulled a waterproof tarpaulin from the construction site and covered the tank.

That was an experienced soldier who aimed the turret at the sand pile on the construction site and inserted it, thus hiding the tank.

The soldier slumped to the ground and pulled a cigarette from his pocket.

Billy the Kid and Fuyanni, both psionicists with exceptional eyesight, were intently watching the scene unfold from the windowsill.

The cigarettes were stained red with blood. The soldier had to pick through the whole pack of cigarettes and finally chose a good one that had turned white. He lit it, looked around to check the surroundings, and then lit it while lying in the cement bin, afraid that the enemy would notice the light.

He sat there, slowly finished his cigarette, and finally mustered the strength to prop himself up and walk toward where Billy the Kid was.

Suddenly, Billy and Fuyanni's hearts jumped into their throats!

They didn't know where this guy came from, or what he wanted to do.

But we were so close, so very close, and our brothers would have been able to live a good life!

For a fleeting moment, Fuyanni considered going to the side of the abandoned building's water tank to find some water pipes for self-defense, or simply killing this unknown soldier to minimize the risk of exposure!

"Save him!" Shasha shook Billy the Kid's arm. "Big brother! Save him!"

Billy looked at the warriors getting closer and closer outside the window, then looked at Shasha.

He didn't know how to choose, but Shasha had already made the choice for them.

Shasha said urgently, "He's going against Eureka's militia! He must be a sworn enemy of the Mercy Society! People who oppose the Mercy Society are all good people! Good people deserve good rewards!"

Fuyanni chimed in, "Yes! Good deeds should be rewarded!"

Billy nodded in agreement with what the two brothers were saying.

Shasha seemed to think that wasn't enough, and kept emphasizing it.

"Good people must be rewarded, brother! Otherwise, the world will turn bad! Otherwise, the world will turn bad!"

For those few seconds, Billy still clung tightly to the money bag, unaware of what this unfamiliar soldier meant to the three brothers.

This guy must be really good at fighting to have survived the pursuit by the garrison at Canyon Pass. Bringing him into the house means we're on the same boat. If we get caught by the garrison, it'll be a death sentence.

Will this guy get greedy when he sees such a large sum of money? Will he kill us?

Billy didn't have time to think, because Shasha went out on its own. It was first startled by the soldier's wounds, and then by the gun in the soldier's hand.

When the soldier outside reached the door, he was startled to see Shasha leap out and instinctively wanted to fire—but upon seeing such a young child, he finally relaxed his guard.

The soldier asked, "Are they civilians?"

Fuyanni felt a sense of warmth when he heard Chinese, because most of the people who saved his brothers spoke Chinese.

The three brothers welcomed the soldier in.

--The soldier slumped against the wall, Shasha brought a bucket of clean water from the reservoir to wash the wounded soldier's face.

The brothers finally recognized him; it was Liu Weiqiang.

To be honest, Strong Bro Qiang was originally going to evacuate with the students and return to a safe place through the underground waterway of the White Ape.

But here he is at this very moment.

Billy exclaimed, "It's the nameless man?!"

Both Fuyanni and Shasha had seen Strong Bro when they were washing dishes and delivering meals on the White Ape.

Fuyanni asked, "Why didn't you leave?"

Strong Bro peeled off his blood-stained armor, his eyes glazing open in pain. His hair was a mess, covered in mud and blood. He didn't speak, perhaps too much pain to do so, and pointed to his pack.

Shasha immediately found White Lady's freeze-dried powder, intending to start a fire on the spot to treat Strong Bro's injuries.

Strong Bro pressed down on the little Shasha's head, telling it not to mess around, as the fire and smoke would attract the garrison. He took out a water bottle, handed it a lighter, and asked Fuyanni to help heat up White Lady's products.

Billy the Kid rummaged through his backpack, trying to find a weapon for self-defense, but only found a few empty bottles. It seemed that Strong Bro's Universal Elixir had run out.

After catching his breath, Strong Bro finally spoke.

I didn't leave.

Fuyanni: "Why? We brothers are itching to escape through the White Ape's waterways!"

"I'm different." Strong Bro and pulled out a rearview mirror from behind his back. It was taken from an enemy armored vehicle. He looked at himself in the mirror and carefully used tweezers to remove the shrapnel from his flesh.

He explained as he performed the surgery on himself.

"I'm different, lads, I'm different."

He turned his head away, his eyes sharp.

"The Panther Tank behind me was seized from the Valley Pass. I have to do something to create chaos in the enemy's position so that the brothers in the assault team will suffer fewer casualties when they engage in a head-on battle."

"The students are not yet grown up. They do not have to face cunning and vicious enemies, nor risk their lives. They can escape again and again until they are ready, until they are grown up, and then choose the inevitable path in life."

"But I can't, lads, I can't. I'm a station attendant, a soldier, and I must fulfill my duty."

"At the Nine Realms Station, there's a girl waiting for me."

Strong Bro patted Billy the Kid's face, who was groaning in pain from the wounds on his legs and abdomen, but then suddenly burst out laughing.

"I stole a Germany vehicle, a Panzer (tank) left behind by the German army during World War II when they were searching for Shambhala."

"It reminds me of a Germany fairy tale proverb, which goes like this."

"There will always be more scabbards than swords in the world, and there will always be more people who want to enjoy happiness than those who create it—isn't that right?"

Billy the Kid looked at the tank at the construction site next door and found it hard to imagine how Strong Bro managed to drive it back here all by himself.

A tank requires the entire crew to work together to unleash its full combat power. Strong Bro could only sit in the driver's seat and passively take the hits, eventually escaping here.

"If I go back with the students, I'll still have to answer the emergency Summoning Bell in the end." Strong Bro raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Why not deploy nearby and start the operation immediately? If the girl from my hometown knew, she would definitely think highly of me—she would definitely put a flower crown on my head herself, she would definitely hug me and make me the groom."

Shasha raised his arms. "Uncle! I want to drive a tank!"

"You can't drive this," Strong Bro laughed heartily. "You can't even step on the gas."

Billy exclaimed in surprise, "How could you?"

Shasha's eyes were determined. "I can be an artilleryman! A loader! I'm very dexterous!"

Strong Bro looked at the three brothers, and it seemed to make sense.

Shasha then continued--

"--When I grow up, I'll still have to come back for revenge! Let's make preparations nearby and start the battle right now!"

Fuyanni, understanding the situation perfectly, looked at Billy the Kid.

"Billy! I know what you're going to say! We won't get out of the canyon with this bag of money! Besides, it's better to stuff the money into the tank than carry it on our backs! I'm not going to be a coward anymore, I'm not going to hide anymore! I'm not going to leave my fate to others!"

"Okay," Billy handed the scalding kettle back to Strong Bro. "Okay! Strong Bro, can we manage?"

Liu Weiqiang tore open his clothes, revealing that White Lady's products could be used both internally and externally.

He regained some of his energy and looked up at the three brothers.

Do you want me to tell the truth?

Billy nodded.

Fuyanni: "Of course it's the truth."

Shasha: "Tell the truth! Be honest!"

Liu Weiqiang: "Have you ever driven a vehicle? A tank?"

Fuyanni: "I've never even touched a steering wheel. Does driving a tank in the World of Tanks game count?"

Shasha: "Grandfather Khan took me to play! My dad's dad is my Grandfather!"

Billy: "I've driven cars, but I've never driven a war machine."

Liu Weiqiang: "Have you fired any shots?"

Shasha: "Grandpa Grandfather took me to play with it! The kind that lights up with a 'beep beep beep' sound!"

Fuyanni: "I've fired a gun, but the caliber is definitely not comparable to the coaxial machine gun on a tank. Does shooting experience in CS: GO count?"

Billy: "I've never fired a gun, but I've had a gun hidden in my stomach."

Liu Weiqiang speaks the truth--

"--According to this logic, we're doomed."

The three brothers all became depressed at the same time.

After thinking for a moment, Strong Bro changed his wording.

"But with me, the train commander, there's a slim chance of survival."