Reborn Mother Goddess

As we passed through the Twilight Pass, everything suddenly opened up before us.

As the train burst out of the narrow, cramped canyon and leaped onto the plain, everything lit up.

The King of Cinder shines upon this land, and four roads branch out, extending towards the Eureka Volcano City, becoming a bridge connecting Eureka and Shambhala, leading to the other side of the Pompeii Sea, across which lies Sendai, the Xiantai Port of the Great Xia.

However, this journey will have to be postponed until next year's flood season, when the raging ocean currents subside, before Xue Ming will be qualified to board the ship.

Condensate, carrying a grayish-white dust, pattered against the car window; the familiar yet unfamiliar rain evoked Xue Ming's memories.

--The last time I saw it was ten years ago.

The white particles are carbonaceous material that was not transformed into coal or oil after the fossil forest was naturally weathered.

Afeng was about to take out his phone to take some photos; this was his first time going on a mission with the anonymous person.

As soon as the camera function was turned on, Xue Ming covered Feng Ge's camera.

"The sunlight will burn your camera, don't do that."

Brother Feng chuckled and replied, "Oh, I see."

The train is approaching the station.

Like Xue Ming, when Feng Ge first arrived in this desolate place, he pressed himself against the car door, looking at the dense stone forest outside, with a free lunchbox from the kitchen cabinet dangling from his mouth.

Xue Ming took a large black umbrella from the self-service box and stuffed it into Afeng's arms.

Then, the car door opened with a whistling sound from the hydraulic valves.

The damp, cold air that rushed towards him gave Afeng goosebumps all over his body. He only had a work vest, so Xue Ming took out a one-size-fits-all funeral robe from the self-service box and draped it over Afeng's shoulders.

"You have to return it on your return trip."

After giving this brief instruction, he followed the announcement and walked towards the platform exit.

People were coming and going all around, unlike the deserted place ten years ago. The mud splashed up by the shoes of passersby on the wet iron plate road had turned brownish-black.

Afeng struggled forward behind Xue Ming, carrying the box of infected bones. He felt terrible, but he had to keep going.

Xue Ming arrived at the freight car first. After waiting for a while, Afeng finally found the exact location of the train's freight car. As he climbed onto the train, he asked with a smile.

"Boss, why are you suddenly so quiet?"

Jiang Xueming unlocked the wheel hub and carefully untied the steel cable securing the vehicle body.

"Once I leave the trading post, or even the Nine Realms, I enter a state of high alert. It's not safe here, lad. You can call me overreacting, but this habit has saved me many times."

"Oh," Afeng also became serious, "Oh! Not saying anything! Pretending to be an expert!"

With only three minutes to unload, Xue Ming worked swiftly and quickly reversed the truck onto the makeshift unloading bridge under the signal instructions of the platform staff. After returning to the weighbridge at the integrated checkpoint and counting the supplies, the vehicle arrived at the security management office, which was next to David Mr. Bourne's office.

Things are very different here now.

Xue Ming jumped out of the driver's seat, brushed the mud off his trousers, and looked up at the four-story building.

Originally, it only had two floors. After renovation, two restaurants and lodging shops and four entertainment rooms were added next to it. Biographies of historical figures such as the gunsmith and the General of Tears were also posted, seemingly indicating that the place was intended to be promoted as a tourist destination.

The number of Volga next to the parking lot has increased from one to nine, and the entire parking lot has been expanded.

Heading to the lobby on the first floor, they saw that the boardroom counter was packed with people, with about twenty passengers needing to complete the stamping process. Jiang Xueming asked Afeng to get a number and then sat on a plastic chair on one side of the lobby to wait.

He wasn't as anxious as he was ten years ago, when his sister's life was hanging by a thread.

Hey buddy!

At that moment, a passenger approached them.

--That guy looked to be in his early twenties, wearing strange clothes, and looked like...

The spirit garment was cut into a heart shape, with all the fabric trimmed and re-edged, and openings made for the heart and femoral arteries to ensure the Universal Elixir could flow smoothly into the major blood vessels. The hair was also dyed black. This passenger was originally supposed to be a blond European, and he chatted with the gunsmith with a grin.

"Wow! Where did you get your face done?! It looks exactly like the gunsmith's!"

The energetic young man stuck out his buttocks, straightened his back, and struck a pose in front of Xue Ming.

"I spent a lot of money to get this body shape. How about it? Don't I have that 'Nameless Man' vibe now?"

Jiang Xueming didn't know what to say. He felt lost and even terrified.

"Why."

Before he could finish asking "why" --

--This enthusiastic cosplay enthusiast answered immediately.

"How did you know I was impersonating a gunsmith?! Ah! It must be because I acted so convincingly! Right? Right? Right?!"

Jiang Xueming suddenly burst out laughing and clapped his hands lightly, "Yes! Yes, yes, yes! That's so right, brother! That's so right! Well done!"

"Hehe!" The artist immediately sat down next to the gunsmith. Meeting a fellow enthusiast meant having a long chat, just like meeting another fan at a comic convention who wore the same character as you. It seemed like they had endless things to talk about. "Hey! Brother, let me tell you—you're not professional enough."

Jiang Xueming: "Oh?!"

The actor said, "You need to be aware of experiential acting; you need to get into the role, do you understand?"

Jiang Xueming: "Oh, what do you mean?"

The actor immediately said, "Come on! You ask first, you ask my name first!"

Jiang Xueming: "May I ask your surname?"

"Why should I tell you?" The actor's face immediately darkened, his lips slightly pursed, and his eyes turned gloomy, filled with vigilance and suspicion. "You look suspicious; we need to investigate you thoroughly."

Jiang Xueming slapped his thigh, laughing so hard he couldn't stop, "Hahahaha!"

The actor, still engrossed in his performance, asked, "What are you laughing at? Is it that funny?"

"No, no, it's not that outrageous." Jiang Xueming kept scratching his head, thinking that he wasn't like this ten years ago.

Therefore, the actor had to point out the incongruities in Xue Ming's performance.

"--Listen up, the Gunsmith wasn't like this during his overalls days! You can't act like this."

Jiang Xueming: "Okay, then tell me how to act it out."

"Tsk," the actor said, taking off his spirit costume to reveal work jeans underneath, the same style Xue Ming wore while fishing. "Brother, think about it carefully, what's the mindset of a thirty-year-old gunsmith—he's achieved great success."

Jiang Xueming applauded the costume change. "Mm!"

After changing his clothes, this young man immediately exuded a more mature aura.

"We use experiential acting to immerse ourselves in a man's life, completely entering into his world."

"His eyes need to be sharper; your dead fish eyes won't do. You don't have the right presence."

"You need to understand this basic theory. Look at your clothes, that dark, drab winter coat. You don't look like a gunsmith at all. Doesn't he always wear Flash Butterfly Armor's when he goes on long trips?"

Jiang Xueming explained reluctantly, "Actually, I was wearing a soft bulletproof vest."

As he said this, he turned the lining inside out, revealing the Kevlar layer underneath.

The performer's eyes immediately lit up. "Oh! You can even apply what you've learned to other situations, awesome, bro!"

"But I have to criticize you." Changing his tone, the stern performer pointed to a medal on the gunsmith's lining. "This is a commemorative medal from the Battle of Brantonstein. I don't recall it being a particularly important battle; a gunsmith wouldn't keep something like this so close to his body!"

Xue Ming immediately explained, "You need to brush up on that, little brother. Back in Brantonstein, when we were breaking through the enemy's lines from the suburbs into the city, my child had just turned one year old— Xiao Qi hadn't fully recovered yet—and we immediately threw him into the battle, bringing him to my side. This medal is truly special."

"Oh, oh." The actor, somewhat dazed, suddenly stood up. "Oh, is that so? Oh, I misspoke. Hey, your experiential acting is really good! It's quite impressive, you've really impressed me."

"Thank you." The gunsmith smiled and nodded. "I'm very happy to have your approval."

The cosplayer immediately felt relaxed again, sat back down, and even wanted to offer a few more pointers and exchange tips on cosplay techniques.

At this moment, Afeng returned to Xue Ming's side with the number.

"Boss! Gunsmith boss! It's our turn!"

The actor playing the role asked in surprise, "Bro! I didn't expect you'd hire someone to help out! Awesome!"

The gunsmith didn't reply, but smiled and nodded.

The actor gave Thumb: "How much? I'll do it like this next time! Find a tall guy in my group to go with me, you reminded me!"

"They're asking you how much your hourly rate is?" Jiang Xueming took the number from Feng Ge's hand. "Just answer them."

"Oh!" Afeng, still confused, exclaimed to the artist, "Working for an unknown person costs a bit more, around eighty dollars an hour, plus room and board—but you have to give it your all, you might even lose your life, hehe!"

"Wow, that's awesome!" the actor exclaimed excitedly, wanting to know Feng Ge's contact information.

Before the two could even make contact, Xue Ming grabbed Afeng's belt and pulled the boy away.

The two headed towards the security office. Feng was still wondering who that guy from earlier was.

Jiang Xueming rubbed his temples as he walked, feeling a bit mentally exhausted.

"Don't ask, the answer is a die-hard fan."

After passing through the employee lockers and returning to David Mr. Bourne's office door, Xue Ming knocked this time.

Mr. Mr. Bourne did not respond--

His eyes were glazed over, and he felt only the noise of the world around him.

Meanwhile, a commotion could be heard from next door; it was the sound of two groups of safety officers playing cards, drinking, and playing mahjong.

After waiting for a few minutes, Xue Ming lost her patience and pushed the door open to go inside.

The office remained as cramped as ever. The walls on both sides, which were once crammed with filing cabinets and information bags, had all been moved to the newly built archives ten years later. With more people coming and going and more information pages, Mr. Bourne's small office could no longer hold so many documents.

Instead, a wall was filled with firearms, all kinds of weapons as exhibits, accompanying David Mr. Bourne.

Mr. Mr. Bourne knew the gunsmith was coming, but four different versions of the gunsmith have arrived today.

In the morning, there's a Gunsmith in the standard Spirit Robe outfit. Before lunch, a beggar-looking, Flash Butterfly Armor Robe Gunsmith appears. At 2 PM, a Gunsmith in the winter coat outfit comes to sightsee with his girlfriend. Around 4 PM, there's an unnamed receptionist version of the Gunsmith, dressed in a waiter's uniform.

To be honest, he was a little numb; when he saw Jiang Xueming, he already showed symptoms of PTSD.

"Hello, Mr. Mr. Bourne." Jiang Xueming spoke quickly, getting straight to the point. "I've brought the BOSS's Plague Bone here. My main purpose is to get close to Fang Feng and make close contact with Canaan's creatures—the researchers from the Arcane Library should be stationed near the settlement, and I need their help."

"Most of my weaponry is destroyed, and I need to neutralize the psionic catalysts in these two suitcases. The boss told me to come here and try it, so I ran over here."

"Besides that, I also brought you a gift."

Mr. Bourne's lifeless eyes changed—

"--Fooling."

Jiang Xueming: "Mr. Mr. Bourne, I'm not joking."

Mr. Bourne: "Keep fooling around."

Jiang Xueming picked up the suitcase, placed it on the table, and then took out the passenger log, showing off the BOSS's cat paw print stamp.

Mr. Mr. Bourne leaned over to look, his expression strange.

"The props are quite complete, aren't they?"

Afeng, sweating profusely, rushed over to plead, "Safety officer! He really is a gunsmith!"

"When did Bu Liuxing grow a beard?" Mr. Bourne mocked. "Oh my, oh my, oh my, seaweed head, is that the Bu Jingyun from Peter Ho's version?"

Jiang Xueming tapped the table lightly, unsure of what to say.

He was overjoyed, almost turning from a person living a mundane life into a person who was always having fun.

Mr. Bourne said sternly, "Not pretending anymore? Get lost right now, don't try to amuse yourself here. Fang Feng is currently on high alert. Only researchers are allowed in and out of the core area. Other passengers are not being accommodated at this time, I apologize."

Xue Ming wasn't angry. He took a gun from the wall, the same long gun that Mr. Mr. Bourne had brought them to Fang Feng.

He held the AR-15 in his arms, and Mr. Bourne immediately tensed up.

"No bullets! What do you want?"

Within seconds, the pin appeared on Mr. Bourne's table, followed by the ejector lever, bolt, barrel, handguard, front and rear sights, and stock.

The parts, large and small, exploded, turning into a scattered mess of dismembered remains on the table.

Mr. Bourne opened his mouth, and remained stunned for a long time.

Jiang Xueming smiled politely, though with a hint of embarrassment. "Is it a familiar feeling?"

"The sights all need to be reset to zero! My wife!" Mr. Bourne finally came to his senses, his eyes brightening.

The piercing screams attracted the neighbors' henchmen, and the security guards all blocked Mr. Mr. Bourne's door, first out of anger, then out of fear.

When they saw the gunsmith, their first reaction was to draw their guns as a warning. But when they saw the scattered pieces of flesh on the table, they immediately clutched their precious weapons and slowly retreated back to their dormitory.

Mr. Mr. Bourne was very angry--

"--Can't you use other methods to prove your identity?"

He grumbled as he put the AR-15 back together.

"Is it really necessary?! Is it really necessary?! Is it really necessary?!!"

Xue Ming remained silent, walked to the window, opened it, and then spoke.

"I brought you a set of soundproofing materials and a set of building materials. We can add a lounge area outside the office."

Mr. Bourne immediately changed his tune. "Come often! I have no shortage of customers! You'll definitely come often!"

Jiang Xueming returned to the matter of the mission location. "Mr. Mr. Bourne, you just said that Fang Feng is under martial law? What's the situation?"

Mr. Bourne struggled to shove the dustproof window onto the casing, the spring flying off several times in the process, but he didn't even look up as he recounted this strange, albeit minor, incident.

"It's just recently, the new station is going to be built here--"

"--But many passengers came to see Canaan, believing it to be a god, a god from outer space."

"Those strange people on the beach, you've seen them before. They can mimic people's speech and already possess the intelligence of a seven or eight-year-old human."

"And so a new sect was formed, but it wasn't the same kind of sect as the Madness Butterfly."

"A leader emerged from among the instigators, who then worshipped the Canaanite life forms, believing that these creatures could transform humanity's essence, giving people a new life and granting them extraterrestrial power."

"After all, this is where you and the General of Tears started, and many people believe these strange rumors. Canaan herself is also very happy to see these rumors, as they can attract more humans to exchange elemental essence with her, allowing her to better collect DNA samples to study humans and understand human society."

"The name of this sect is [Afterlife]."

"Canaan has become the Mother Goddess of Rebirth."