Act 5 · [FireBorn · The First Flame]

Foreword:

Men live by being forgetful, women live by being meticulous.

[--Socrates]

[Part 1 - The Bloodhound's Gift]

Jiang Xueming jumped off the rock platform and, with Jason's waitress in tow, rushed towards the checkpoint.

He carried an ammunition box in one hand and a waitress in the other, marching very fast. The long-distance march of five or six hundred meters with heavy loads did not consume much of his energy.

"Don't just stand there, girl, help me change my ammo."

The young waiter, tucked under Xue Ming's arm, looked completely bewildered. Upon hearing Jiang Xueming's command, he immediately buried his head in loading bullets into the empty magazine.

When the three reunited, Wen Bucai was also organizing his equipment and cleaning up the battlefield.

"Young man, there's still a problem with your breech design. Help me improve it later."

Jiang Xueming ran to Wen Bucai's side and inspected the condition of the missile chambers. He immediately noticed that three of the twelve chambers had thermal compression failures.

When a.50 caliber high-powered pistol cartridge is fired, it brings enormous chamber pressure to the barrel. Titanium alloy can withstand this chamber pressure, but the cylinder does not deform along with the cartridge case. As a result, many cartridge cases get stuck in the cylinder and cannot be pushed out using the ejector clip.

Before this, Xue Ming had conducted round after round of test firings on the two M500 revolvers, but unexpectedly, problems still arose. It can only be said that Wen Bucai's technique of handling the revolver was too violent. The revolver has to withstand the high temperature and pressure of continuous firing, and its reliability must also be guaranteed. To find a balance between the two, a long period of fine-tuning and adjustment is needed.

Jiang Xueming took the three cartridge cases, took out a screwdriver and hammer from his toolbox, and tried to remove the swollen and stuck cartridge cases from the cartridge cases after trying for a long time.

Wen Bucai's illusory limbs flickered frequently, and his soul power, like a phantom of clouds and smoke, suddenly appeared, thrusting a sword finger towards the ammunition nest.

The spent cartridge case was ejected from the hexagonal cylinder and finally returned to its original state.

Jiang Xueming looked in the direction the spent cartridge had come from and saw the scavengers slowly gathering around.

A strange emotion flickered in their eyes—a mixture of longing and fear.

The waiter said nervously, "Let's go! We need to hurry! These scavengers want to join the Skull and Bones Society, but now that everyone at Bork Pass is dead, no one can stop them!"

Wen Bucai quickly loaded the hand cannon and checked the ammunition in the weapon box—there were about a third of the bullets left for the hand cannon and the short sword. He wondered if they would be enough to accompany them on their journey.

"What will happen if they break into Zero Platform?" Jiang Xueming asked.

The waiter shook his head. "I don't know!"

Jiang Xueming: "Then let them in! Give the Skull and Bones Society and Bones ogres and those Wyvern something to do!"

The waiter's eyes lit up. "That's right!"

Wen Bucai patted the young waiter on the shoulder. "This matter is entrusted to you."

The waiter was frustrated and nervous. "Me? Give it to me? What am I going to do?"

After preparing his weapons, Jiang Xueming stepped onto the blood-soaked and ravaged Bork Pass Avenue and headed towards the Grand Hotel.

"Use your acting skills! Little sister, didn't you act quite well when you handed me the pudding and candles at Castor's restaurant?"

Wen Bucai immediately followed, shouldered the weapon box, and turned back to shout with a grin.

"Think about your employer! He understands philosophy, he has the Philosopher's Stone, and the great philosopher Socrates said that men live by forgetting, and women live by remembering—you can't forget this. You have to do it perfectly, play every detail well. The better you perform here, the greater the chance your employer will survive!"

That moment--

The little waitress hurriedly rummaged through her bag, her little mind racing at lightning speed.

She looked at the group of blind, foolish, and struggling scavengers behind her. Most of them had lost all Inspiration and had no hope of survival. They wanted to join the Skull and Bones Skull and Bones Society —a group of incompetent scum that even cults would look down upon.

How can we get them moving?

The waiter took out a megaphone and shouted loudly, making a fierce and ruthless expression.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen, look here! All the Skull and Bones Society's watchdogs are dead! Not a single one left! These bastards who stood in the way of a happy life have been wiped out one by one by us!"

The waiter grinned, his appearance sinister and terrifying.

"What are you waiting for? Cowards can't be bad guys! Come with us! We're going to Zero Platform, deeper inside! To see the Big Leader of Skull and Bones Society! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

Jiang Xueming covered her face. "I always felt that Jason's little waiter would one day be able to join the cast of <The Boys>."

Wen Bucai: "She has a wide range of acting skills and a sweet appearance, that's for sure."

Jiang Xueming thought of Seventh Brother again, and all her happiness vanished in an instant.

"Who knows, my waiter might debut as part of a group with her."

Wen Bucai: "That's why I say, men live by being forgetful; think about happy things."

Jiang Xueming pointed to the text messages on the phone, saying that the frequency of receiving messages was extremely high—17 messages every two seconds.

A surging crowd poured in from outside the checkpoint, and the scavengers were suddenly brought to their senses by the young waiter.

--Yes, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change our destiny!

--Do you want to continue wallowing in the quagmire of Blood Butterfly Loan Shark? Absolutely not!

These executioners of unknown origin slaughtered all the watchdogs at the Bock outpost.

This is fantastic news!

This means that Skull and Bones Society and Bones has over eighty new vacancies, over eighty salaries waiting to be collected, and over eighty pieces of human flesh waiting to be eaten!

The waiter's expression grew increasingly ferocious. He tugged his hair into a side ponytail to avoid obstructing his vision, trying to look more energetic. He then loosened his tie, raised it above his head, and waved it forcefully. He climbed onto the barbed wire fence of the checkpoint and stood on the observation post, shouting loudly.

"Charge! Charge in! Don't stop! You have to rush in! Otherwise, you won't even get a sip of soup! Remember! There are over six hundred of you! Oh no—over seven hundred! The Skull and Bones Skull and Bones Society can't afford to feed that many mouths!"

"Oh no. She seems to be getting too into character." Wen Bucai frowned.

Jiang Xueming immediately went on alert. He saw a dense, chaotic crowd tearing and fighting halfway through the road, and some even picking up AK74Us from the ground and starting to fire bullets.

The two quickly climbed to the living quarters on the high ground of the sentry post and hid in a toilet.

They peered curiously at the little waiter on the high platform in the distance.

Jiang Xueming asked worriedly, "Will she be alright?"

"She has a good figure," Wen Bucai whistled flippantly. "No one should shoot at her. A scavenger is a scavenger, not Madness Butterfly patient infected with a disease. In a boxing match, have you ever seen a spectator kill the woman holding the sign?"

"That makes sense." Jiang Xueming said, still very nervous. He gripped his main weapon tightly, drew his gun, and aimed, afraid that some fool might be about to fire at the waiter.

Wen Bucai: "You're worried, you care about this girl?"

Jiang Xueming: "My younger sister might be experiencing visual hallucinations due to a conditioned reflex."

Wen Bucai: "I heard you have a grudge against Jason? This waiter is even planning to help Jason deal with you?"

Jiang Xueming: "It's a trivial matter."

Wen Bucai: "Ah, that's good. Your main weapon looks familiar."

Jiang Xueming: "It's a gift from Bloodhound Lady. Last time I went to the special tea room for a check-up, she said she wanted to give me a souvenir."

Wen Bucai then raised his gun and fired, demanding, "Explain in detail."

A cloud of blood mist burst forth from the crowd.

--The corpse fell into the crowd; it was a scavenger who tried to climb onto the rock platform to pull at the waiter's trouser leg, like a lecherous man.

"Well done." Jiang Xueming breathed a sigh of relief, and then saw the chaotic crowd immediately turn into sheep that had seen their natural enemy, creating a vacuum area on the small waiter's rock platform, and continuing their march towards the grand hotel without looking back.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Xueming relaxed, disengaging from his defensive stance and beginning to display his weapon.

"Bloodhound Lady's beloved gun is an AK-12, using 7.62x39 ammunition, with an effective range of 800 meters and a rate of fire of 800 rounds per minute—a small arms legacy from the Soviet Union to Russia, a beast created by chief designer Kalavnikov, now equipped with reins made of Zenit Picatinny rails."

The dim yellow headlights shone on the cold receiver of the murder weapon.

"It is a beast tamed by modern warfare, extremely reliable, and deadly."

An adjustable stock, a modularly designed forebarked barrel, and a bright red holographic sight make this AK look less wild and less aggressive.

It's like--

Wen Bucai: "--A thug in a suit."

Jiang Xueming: "I used my skills to modify it, making it more reliable and giving me peace of mind."

Wen Bucai: "That's why it looks familiar. Oh, it's the thing Victor's waiter was holding. It matches you well. Does it have a name?"

Jiang Xueming: "My master's wife calls it [Eye of the Blood Wolf]."

"Pfft," Wen Bucai chuckled, "It sounds very nice."

Jiang Xueming: "Is something wrong?"

Wen Bucai: "No, no, no, there's nothing wrong with it."

Jiang Xueming: "Is something wrong?"

Wen Bucai: "I didn't mean to make fun of anyone, but I just thought there must be a story between Victor and this woman—I read about them in The Sun before. Victor was always getting beaten up because he liked writing and needed to be alone."

Jiang Xueming: "Oh"

Wen Bucai then used gestures, employing a great deal of body language.

"Then he kept avoiding his waiter. VIP waiters are always there for you, like shadows. The stronger the light, the more solid the shadow. Do you understand that principle?"

Jiang Xueming looked suspicious. "I suspect you're also a weirdo who ships couples and pressures them to get married, and you're hinting at something, but I can't find any evidence. Just now, when you looked down at my Shining Stone and the Steel Heart on my hand, was that strange smile you were serious?"

Wen Bucai shrugged dismissively and quickly steered the conversation back on track. "No, no, no, I didn't mean that. I just found it amusing to think about things that appear in those prime-time soap operas. For example, imagine it carefully."

Jiang Xueming responded with a "Mm".

Wen Bucai: "My good friend, my best friend, Victor."

Jiang Xueming: "Yes, my teacher."

Wen Bucai: "Being chased all over the world by a woman."

Jiang Xueming: "Yes. So she really did want to be my master's wife?"

Wen Bucai: "Then this Lapis Lazuli Guards stopped arresting prisoners and stayed by Victor's side every day, using all his skills and special techniques, such as waterboarding, electric shocks, bone-breaking, and tendon-pulling, on Victor."

Jiang Xueming's expression changed. "I must become stronger! I must become stronger!"

"That's why I say," Wen Bucai laughed maniacally, clutching his stomach, "That the thought of living freely in Mimir Hot Spring for sixteen years, and then remembering Victor hanging from a hospital fan in the newspaper, tied up like a mummy or an unearthed artifact, makes me so sad, hahahahahahahaha!"

Laughter coming through the radio--

The young waiter heard it all clearly.

She was exasperated, finally snapping out of her urge to perform.

As the scavengers rushed into the narrow, low cliffside walkway, many unfortunate souls were thrown directly into the lava river by their companions.

She finally realized how terrible the thing she had done was.

I overheard a conversation between two passengers, one of whom was a VIP.

Without a doubt, both of them are ruthless. Compared to Jason and their employer, they are quicker with their mouths, faster with their guns, and extremely efficient in action.

They showed no pity for these scavengers who were devoted to the Skull and Bones Society.

Really--

"--So handsome!"

The waiter opened his phone and saw a group photo of the "Lingyun Band".

Jiang Xueming's appearance needs no further explanation.

This VIP, Wen Bucai, has a certain air about him, like a character from a classic Hong Kong comic book. Who... was that guy again?

The waiter patted his not-so-sharp brain and suddenly remembered.

Ekin Cheng! -- Oh yes, yes, yes.

The waiter nodded vigorously.

Looking at his own employer, he wasn't exactly ugly after shaving his beard. But it would be better if this guy were a bit younger.

At that very moment--

--Right now.

A huge, bulky figure rushed out of the Boke Grand Hotel.

That's the manager of the grand hotel, and the vicious guard dog at the first checkpoint.

Her eyes were fierce, her movements wild. She suddenly sprinted down the boardwalk, swinging her thick arms and with just a few light grabbing and hooking motions, she swept the scavengers beside her and in front of her into the air, disemboweling them.

Wen Bucai: "The shopkeeper has come out to greet the guests."

Jiang Xueming: "Luckily, we didn't rush into the hotel. It's not good to take advantage of a situation like this in such a cramped space."

Wen Bucai: "She seems to have a bad memory; she's not a good woman."

[Part ② - Peace and Safety]

"Beasts! You beasts! How dare you step into the territory of the Skull and Bones Society?!" The shopkeeper's eyes widened, and he leaped into the air, taking three steps in two, his movements slow but containing immense energy.

She ran and cursed, a shrewish woman.

"What the hell is going on?! How did all these lads' heads explode?! Which ungrateful bastard dared to kill my dog?!"

Her gaze shifted from fierce to anxious and fearful, then turned to the waiter with an expression of "I knew it."

"It was scum sent by the station. I'm really having the worst luck! Am I going to die? I don't have many words left to say, do I? To be able to kill all my men in a few minutes, without even leaving a messenger, without even the messenger having time to sound the alarm, it must be a VIP—personally coming to storm the Skull and Bones Society? Let me see the butterfly fluttering its wings one last time—let me die in peace."

A ghostly figure silently landed behind the shopkeeper.

"Ada!--"

The drunken rage burst forth from his body in an instant.

The chaotic fists flew like cannonballs, leaving behind a trail of red and black spade seals behind this man-eating fat pig!

The soul's might roared.

"Ada da da da da da da da da!--"

The deformed, enormous body trembled violently as if being pounded by a high-frequency massager, its ribs bursting through its chest in an instant.

"Let me see you one last time. Let me die in peace." Tears of regret and longing flowed from the golden, beast-like eyes of her. She stepped into the Gate of Hell, still pleading, wanting to turn back. "VIP! VIP, let me see you!"

"[Adios! Farewell!] -- We are destined to part on earth, and perhaps we will not meet again in hell!" Wen Bucai raised his gun and fired.

The head resembled a watermelon, split open in the middle.

His large, sturdy body collapsed with a thud.

Jiang Xueming watched this scene with a sense of inexplicable awe—the divine power of the Soul Might was almost indestructible.

He jumped down from the height and landed right next to the shopkeeper's body. He immediately bent down to check the wounds on the body.

The spade-like emblem, composed of thick red and black blood, almost instantly destroyed all the fighting power of this enormous monster.

Once the central nervous system is paralyzed, running down the spine from the shoulders and neck, the prey will have no chance to fight back.

Each punch was of incredibly high quality—the human body simply could not produce such a continuous, high-frequency, all-out attack.

But Wen Bucai's soul power can do it, can do it easily!

Wen Bucai used his Soul Power to send the enemy to their Gate of Death, but unwilling to waste a single hand cannon bullet, he used his short sword to deliver the final blow to the ogre.

Wen Bucai succinctly replied, "Let's go."

Jiang Xueming immediately followed up. "Okay."

The two spoke less, more urgently, and more coldly.

The young waiter didn't understand and wanted to follow.

Wen Bucai immediately shouted, "Stop! Be careful!"

Jiang Xueming shouted back, "Keep a distance of at least eighty meters from us. I don't know if you can even fight."

They were completely absorbed in their work, and there wasn't a single unnecessary word.

Wen Bucai: "We're about to enter the Mu Yuan; Meteor and Jason have escaped into Mu Yuan."

Jiang Xueming: "Judging from the map, they passed through a large gate with skull markings on both sides, indicating unidentified creatures, which are high-risk targets."

Wen Bucai: "The Mu Yuan has four main areas. The deepest part is the Warm Bed, then the Animal Pen and Treasure Pavilion, and the outermost is the Dragon's Nest, where there are two types of subordinate creatures: Wyvern and Earth Dragon. I'm not sure if you can protect yourself."

Jiang Xueming: "So Jason isn't a good man. He remembers that waiter from before, and he'll remember you just as well, little sister. You'd better be careful and stay away. Your employer isn't forgetful. If something happens to you and you go crazy, even the Universal Elixir won't cure you, and your employer probably won't be much better off."

Their tone was like a cold knife.

The waiter felt a warm glow inside, a very strange feeling. But there was no time to be sentimental! It was already over!

The two moved incredibly fast, leaping and bounding across the iron plank walkway one after the other. Their muscle exertion and distance measurement were as precise as if they were mechanical beings.

The young waiter couldn't keep up at all and could only carefully grope his way forward, avoiding the corpses on the walkway.

"Please bring my employer back!"

Wen Bucai: "It's a small matter."

Jiang Xueming: "Do you want it alive or dead?"

Waiter: "Of course it's alive!"

Jiang Xueming: "Then wait quietly until his voice comes through the radio, and you can hear the good news yourself."

The two rushed into the Mu Yuan's reception platform.

--Let's have a brief exchange over the corpse of the Earth Dragon.

"That kid did it?"

"Yes, four months ago, Meteor didn't need a running start; he could smash through a wall just by launching himself. The structure of these Earth Dragon isn't complicated; finding their weaknesses and their Gate of Death isn't difficult."

"Here you go."

"I feel like you've become quieter, which isn't like you."

"Once you've had your fun, it's time to get back to daily life."

"When you used your Soul Might to smash the manager of the Boke Grand Hotel, my Inspiration sensed something from you." Jiang Xueming passed over the corpses of the Earth Dragon in the passageway, as well as the corpses of many scavengers who had fought to the death while sprinting at full speed against the Earth Dragon.

Jiang Xueming: "I sensed an extremely cold-blooded killing intent emanating from you."

"Yes, at that moment I was thinking, how many people has this fat pig eaten, how arrogant is it?" Wen Bucai's expression turned to gritted teeth, it was rare to see him angry. "How dare she drag that man-eating beast's body to me, cursing and swearing, wanting to see the Flash Butterfly on my body, to see my soul power? She won't kneel down and beg for mercy, she has no remorse whatsoever, even her fear is just the will to survive when disaster strikes—I was furious, so furious that my hand was trembling as I pulled the trigger!"

Jiang Xueming: "I can understand that feeling."

Wen Bucai: "Enough with the small talk, I just want to unleash a massacre."

Jiang Xueming: "Do you still have your pyroxene with you?"

Wen Bucai: "I lost it, and I guess I won't be able to find it again."

Jiang Xueming: "Can you use my Radiant Stone? Steel Heart? Corundum? If you use my stone and club, are you confident you can deal with that dragon, like you did before?"

Wen Bucai: "My stone is black, unlike yours, so I absolutely cannot use your jewelry—as for whether I can handle the giant object, that depends on the situation."

Jiang Xueming: "It depends on the situation, be more specific."

Wen Bucai: "We must utilize fire. Within the eclogite of the Mímisbrunnr lies a flame that can bring the dead back to life and the living back to death. Mimir/Mim imparted the power of runes to Odin. The Mímisbrunnr —in fact, is an extremely powerful primordial fire."

Jiang Xueming was hearing this term for the first time and asked, "What is it?"

Wen Bucai: "We'll talk about it later, shh."

Beyond the Dragon's Nest area, they saw many reptilian carcasses of bipedal Wyvern, as well as bullet casings from the Wild Wolf ACE. More often, they saw the mangled corpses of scavengers, all of which had been gnawed on by Earth Dragon.

Many animals hid in the hidden tunnels. They were the timid but lucky ones. When they encountered Bu Liuxing, they did not immediately go out to stop him, thus escaping with their lives.

Upon hearing the footsteps of Jiang Xueming Wen Bucai, the creatures, which had been gnawing on the corpses of their own flesh and blood, immediately retreated back into the tunnel.

These beasts were not very intelligent. They only saw the ankles that were close at hand and couldn't resist their hunger. They had just woken up from their feasting and seemed to want to eat a second bite as soon as they finished one. There was blood at the corner of their mouths and a strong, fishy smell emanated from them. They were watching from the shadows and spat out red tongues.

--A restless Earth Dragon was trying to ambush Wen Bucai, wanting to gnaw on his ankles.

No sooner said than done --

--That greedy little lizard's head was crushed to pieces by the leather boots.

Wen Bucai: "Cover your ears and close your eyes."

Jiang Xueming understood immediately, closed his eyes and covered his ears. At the same time, he took out a flashbang from his MOLLE and threw it into the underground passage.

The drunkard reappeared, throwing all the spare ammunition and throwables from the weapon crate into different tunnel entrances.

In an instant, the loud noise and bright light seemed to pierce through the Dragon's Nest. In the dark corners that had not yet been cleaned up, crawling insects that were afraid of the light and sound scurried out and fled in all directions, and were instantly turned into mincemeat in the rain of bullets.

"The area is completely silent. My Inspiration has calmed down. Check the ammunition." Wen Bucai ordered.

Jiang Xueming called out, "Sir, wait! I heard something different."

Suddenly, a shirtless man covered in blood burst out from the wall on one side of the passageway; it was Bu Liuxing.

He covered his eyes with one hand and grabbed Jason with the other, shouting very loudly and in a very frightened manner.

"Awoooooo! I'm blind! I'm blind! I can't see anything!"

Mr. Jason was in a daze; the continuous high-intensity painting assignments had greatly depleted his mental energy, leaving him looking like a madman.

The meteor struck Jiang Xueming, his eyes watering from the intense light and his head buzzing from the powerful sound of the blast.

A Xing touched Jiang Xueming's magazine and suddenly realized something.

"Are they enemies?!"

Jiang Xueming: "It's your Ming Ge."

But A Xing couldn't hear anything. He had been running and fleeing, grabbing Mr. Jason and running to the Animal Pen. Inside, he was forced into a secret passage by the stronger and more terrifying monsters. He then crawled into the Earth Dragon's lair and continued to escape.

Unexpectedly, the sudden burst of bright light and sound caused him to lose his sight and hearing. He lunged out and returned to the outer passage of the Dragon's Nest.

He reached up and touched Xue Ming's face, his blood-stained hands turning it red.

"Ah! It's Ming Ge! It's alright, it's alright!"

Meteor grinned and grabbed Jason with one hand.

"Mr. Jason is alright too!"

Jiang Xueming promptly handed Jason the radio, asking him to let her know he was safe and to fulfill his promise to the waitress.

Jason looked up at the sky, his expression blank.

The waiter heard it over the radio.

"Aba. Aba Aba Aba"