Xiuxue Blade!

Tang Fei and Little Fatty carried four Pulse Rifles into the house. Little Fatty eyed them greedily and asked, "Brother, can I have one?"

Tang Fei looked at him. "What, are you planning to use a Pulse Rifle to shoot rocks? Though that would be faster."

As he spoke, he handed one of the Pulse Rifles to Little Fatty.

There had originally been one set aside for Little Fatty in his plan.

"Thanks, Big Brother." Little Fatty eagerly accepted it and immediately wanted to pull the trigger.

Tang Fei nearly jumped out of his skin. He hurriedly pinned down Little Fatty's arm and said, "This thing is incredibly destructive. It doesn't fire ordinary bullets—it fires chunks of energy. You saw it when I test-fired it earlier. Don't ever shoot it inside the house."

"Then I'll test it in the yard," Little Fatty said.

"Not in the yard either." Tang Fei stopped him. "One shot from that thing and you'll blast a huge hole in the courtyard wall."

"Then I'll go outside the gate?" Whenever a child got a new toy, the first thing he wanted was to try it out, and the second was to show it off to his friends.

That was exactly what Little Fatty was thinking. He wanted to carry the Pulse Rifle over to Monkey.

Tang Fei rapped him sharply on the head. "Are you in such a hurry to waste ammunition? A Pulse Rifle has limited energy. Once you use it up, there won't be any replacement energy blocks. A treasure like this should be saved for when your life is in danger."

"Oh." Little Fatty nodded, looking disappointed.

Having a gun and not showing it off was like walking through the night in fine clothes. It made him miserable.

Old Man reached out to touch it, but Tang Fei slapped his hand away.

"What? You want one too?"

"You little brat, do you think I care about something like this? Let me tell you, back then, I could have had as many of these things as I wanted." Old Man pulled back his hand and cursed while pointing at Tang Fei's nose.

"When was back then? In your dream last night?"

"Hmph. You blind little mutt who can't recognize Mount Tai." Old Man sneered.

Yet he reached out again, wearing a fawning smile as he said to Tang Fei, "Can you lend me one for a night? I want to see how far New Star's technology has developed. Just one night. I'll return it first thing tomorrow morning."

"Just one night?"

"Just one night."

"You're not going to take it apart, are you?" Tang Fei asked worriedly.

After all, he had dismantled Phoenix's Escape Pod to study New Star's level of technological development. He worried that Old Man's character was just as rotten as his own.

"Why would I take it apart?" Old Man snapped. "Can this thing even be dismantled? Without precision instruments, it's impossible. Look at this gun—do you see a single screw anywhere on it?"

"Fine." Tang Fei stopped being stingy and handed Old Man a Pulse Rifle. "I'll lend you one. One night, all right? Just one night. I'm coming to collect it tomorrow morning."

"Relax. Look at how petty you are." Old Man snatched the gun away and returned to his room.

Little Fatty held his Pulse Rifle and looked at Tang Fei as though he wanted to say something but hesitated.

Tang Fei glanced at him. "You should go back to your room and rest too."

"Okay, Brother." Little Fatty beamed.

He wanted to go back and study his new weapon too.

Little Fatty and Old Man both returned to their rooms, leaving Tang Fei sitting alone in the Living Room.

He had obtained the Pulse Rifles he had long dreamed of, yet Tang Fei was not as happy as he had expected.

Instead, he felt strangely empty.

It had once been Tang Fei, Little Fatty, and Old Man. Now, it was still Tang Fei, Little Fatty, and Old Man. Nothing had changed, except that they now had four extremely valuable Pulse Rifles.

So why did he feel disappointed?

I picked up a beam of light, then returned it to the sun.

Had there really been no loss or regret in the process?

Tang Fei sank into thought.

He could hunt, slaughter sheep, and even kill in anger, but he was hopeless at handling such subtle emotions.

Old Man had never taught him these things.

Phoenix had said she had left Tang Fei a gift. When Tang Fei asked where it was, she had said, "Guess."

Wasn't that just like the plot in those martial arts novels borrowed from Teacher? The male lead's father got killed, and the male lead ran over, hugged his father, and asked who had done it.

Then his father spent ages explaining his last wishes before closing his eyes, kicking his legs, and croaking.

Pah, pah, pah. That was far too unlucky.

You'd held on for so long. Couldn't you have lasted one more second?

You'd already said so much nonsense. Couldn't you just spit out the important information?

"The person who killed me is... is... your grandfather?"

Couldn't you just say the name instead of dragging out the first few words? Did even last words need padding?

Whenever Tang Fei saw a scene like that, he wanted to drag the author out and beat him senseless.

Idiot!

Tang Fei thought that it was fortunate Phoenix was not his girlfriend. If she had been, he would have broken up with her.

He felt that Phoenix had narrowly escaped disaster.

Still, the question truly stumped Tang Fei.

He did not even know what gift Phoenix had left him, much less where to look for it.

Tang Fei had no experience with romance, and no girl had ever given him a gift before.

Have you?

Oh, forget it. Better not ask.

The first place Tang Fei thought of was Phoenix's room, which had originally been his room. Before Phoenix arrived, he, Old Man, and Little Fatty had each had their own room. After Phoenix came, he could not sleep with her, so he could only sleep with Little Fatty.

Old Man had invited him too, but Tang Fei had refused.

He could not stand the fishy smell on Old Man.

When Tang Fei pushed open the door, something wonderful happened.

When he had lived in this room before, it had always carried an inexplicable greasy smell. The air had seemed murkier too, as if something had contaminated it.

After Phoenix had stayed there for a while, nothing had changed—not the furniture, the decorations, the sheets, or the blankets—yet the greasy smell had vanished. In its place was a fresh, sweet lemony scent.

Tang Fei knew that smell. It was Phoenix's natural fragrance.

He had smelled it from up close in the cave.

The quilt was folded neatly into a square, stacked there like a block of tofu. Tang Fei found the shape rather novel. He had never expected that limp pile of useless cotton to have such a sturdy day.

What baffled him beyond all reason was why Phoenix folded the quilt like that every morning. At night, wouldn't she just pull it open and cover herself with it again?

What a waste of time!

Inside the cabinet was the set of interstellar travel clothes Phoenix had changed out of.

Tang Fei picked them up and sniffed them. That familiar fragrance filled his nose.

Smack!

Tang Fei slapped himself across the face.

"Tang Fei, how could you do something like that? You filthy hooligan, shameless, despicable, and perverted."

He had hit himself and cursed himself. He had received all the punishment he deserved.

So Tang Fei picked the clothes back up and took another deep sniff.

"Mmm, smells so good!"

His conscience was clear.

There was nothing on the bed, and nothing in the cabinet.

"What gift could it be?"

"Where did she hide it?"

Tang Fei thought that Phoenix probably had not expected to leave so suddenly. She had not even had time to change out of the clothes she was wearing.

So the gift she had mentioned must have been prepared in advance.

Tang Fei hugged the travel clothes and lay down on the bed, sleeping where Phoenix had once slept.

Hmm, something beneath his head felt a little hard.

He immediately got up and felt around inside the pillow.

He found a knife.

Yes, an antique-looking small knife.

It was not some high-tech product from New Star. It looked more like something made before the Great Cataclysm.

Tang Fei played with the knife and discovered two oracle bone characters carved into the leather-wrapped handle.

Tang Fei studied them for a while before finally recognizing the two characters: Xiuxue.

"Xiuxue," Tang Fei softly recited the name.

Then he guiltily looked around, as though he were calling Phoenix's name and feared someone might hear him.

Tang Fei drew the knife and slashed it toward the bedframe. A piece of wood fell away at once.

It cut through wood like mud!

"From today onward, you'll be called the Xiuxue Blade," Tang Fei said.

Tang Fei did not care what it had been called before. In any case, he had given it this name.

Tang Fei felt around beneath the pillow again and found a map.

He stared at the map for a while, and then his eyes lit up.

"What? Grave robbing?" Little Fatty stared wide-eyed at Tang Fei.

"Keep your voice down." Tang Fei covered Little Fatty's mouth. "Don't let Old Man hear us."

"So what if he hears?"

"If he hears, we won't be able to go." Tang Fei said, "Have you forgotten? He won't allow us to leave Hate Mountain District. Since we were little, when have we ever gone anywhere far away?"

Little Fatty nodded and asked, "Will it be dangerous?"

"What are you afraid of? With my skills, your brute force, and the Pulse Rifles, anyone who messes with us will be the one in danger."

At the mention of the Pulse Rifles, Little Fatty's blood began to boil. Ever since obtaining this great treasure, he had not had a chance to unleash its true power.

He wanted to test-fire it, but his big brother said he would waste energy. He wanted to take it hunting, but his big brother said he would blast the prey into mush.

Now that he had a chance to use the Pulse Rifle, what did a little challenge matter?

"I'll listen to you, Brother. If you say we're going, then we're going." Little Fatty readily agreed, then asked, "When do we leave?"

He wanted to carry the Pulse Rifle out right now and fire a shot.

What man did not like playing with guns?

"Once I pack up and make some preparations, the two of us will leave." Tang Fei said, "Remember, we absolutely cannot let Old Man find out."

"Don't worry, Brother. I won't say anything," Little Fatty promised.

"I'm not worried about you saying anything." Tang Fei said. "I'm worried that your face won't be able to hide it."

Little Fatty hurriedly covered his face in fright.

"See?" Tang Fei was utterly speechless.

(P.S. Phoenix gave Tang Fei the Xiuxue Blade. Can't you give Old Liu some monthly tickets?)