Chapter 11: The Double-Barreled Shotgun

Lao Yang's eyes widened, and he stammered, "Th-this fish is so huge! Is... is this thing still... a-a fish?"

Wu Xiel pulled the triangular army bayonet out of the fish's belly, rinsed it in the water to wash away the bloodstains, lifted it up, shook off the remaining water droplets, and handed it back to Zhang Muxun.

"This is a freshwater taimen, considered one of the most ferocious freshwater fish. This two-and-a-half-meter one is still considered relatively small; the largest taimen in the world can reach up to fifteen meters in length," Wu Xiel explained after observing it for a moment.

Lao Yang was dumbfounded with shock, "Th-that big! It must... it must have turned into a wa-water god!"

Wu Xiel scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Water god my foot. Since when does your water god eat people?"

Lao Yang choked on his words. Realizing that Wu Xiel was upset, he gave an awkward chuckle and fell silent.

Zhang Muxun was rinsing his mouth after having induced vomiting nearby, and upon hearing this, he let out a soft laugh.

Little Innocent is angry, isn't he?

Probably because Lao Yang had stood by and watched earlier, coupled with his previous deceptions.

Even a clay Buddha has a temper of its own, let alone Lao Yang, who had fooled people time and time again, rarely uttering a single honest word.

Wu Xiel suddenly let out an "Huh?"

With that, he squatted down and used his dagger to poke at the internal organs spilling from the slashed belly of the fish. The stomach pouch had already been pierced by Zhang Muxun's triangular bayonet earlier, and with Wu Xiel's prodding, the tear widened, causing a round object to fall out and roll right to Lao Yang's feet.

Lao Yang nudged it with his foot, flipped the object over, and then drew in a sharp breath. "This th-thing is a human... human head!"

Having experienced so much, Wu Xiel's nerve had gradually grown stronger. Hearing this, he retorted irritably, "It's just a dead human head, what are you making such a fuss about? So ignorant."

After all, he had even seen sea monkeys, painted skin ghosts, and high-level corpses. It was just a dead person without a body, and it wasn't going to jump up and bite anyone; what was there to be afraid of?

Lao Yang stared blankly at Wu Xiel, seemingly finding it hard to believe that the once naive and timid childhood friend had turned into such a bold person now. Seeing that Wu Xiel was already using his dagger to inspect the head without any squeamishness, he couldn't help frowning. If things went on like this, his plan would be difficult to carry out.

Zhang Muxun took in every flicker of changing expression on Lao Yang's face, gave him a cold glance, and successfully concealed the murderous intent deep within his eyes.

He stood up, walked over to Wu Xiel, and asked him, "Did you find anything?"

Wu Xiel poked the slightly decomposed skin on the head's face with his dagger and sighed, "The bones are crushed out of shape, and the facial skin is bloated from being soaked in water, so we can't tell what it originally looked like. However, judging by how fresh it is, it must have died not long ago. I wonder if it's one of Uncle Tai's people."

Zhang Muxun used his foot to fish out a black object from the acidic, foul-smelling debris spilled from the stomach pouch and said, "This looks like a gun."

"It's a sawed-off!"

Lao Yang scurried over in a flash and picked up the gun, not minding the dirt on it at all.

Wu Xiel glanced at it casually and lost interest. "Where on earth do you pick up these weird slang terms? A sawed-off, isn't this just a homemade hunting rifle? The barrel has even been sawed off by someone; if you're standing even slightly far away, it couldn't even kill a dog."

Seeing Zhang Muxun's puzzled look, he explained, "This kind of small-caliber double-barreled shotgun only has strong firepower up close. Each of the two barrels can fire once, but it can't eject shells automatically; you have to manually remove the empty cartridge cases just like loading. It's only good for small wild animals. If you run into a large beast like a bear, the bear's paw will already be smashing your face in before you even fire the second shot. It's completely useless, but I suppose it's still a gun, better than nothing."

Zhang Muxun let out an "Ah." To be honest, having lived two lifetimes, he had genuinely never seen such trashy of a gun, yet Lao Yang actually treated this piece of junk like a treasure.

Lao Yang's previous rifle had been snatched away by wild monkeys along with his backpack. Fortunately, he had the foresight to wrap up the bronze tree branch and hide it against his chest. If he had actually lost that, he would have been utterly doomed, with nowhere to cry.

So, having acquired a gun at this moment, he was naturally very excited. Seeing that neither Zhang Muxun nor Wu Xiel showed any intention of taking it, he wiped it clean with a clear conscience and tucked it away.

Afraid that Lao Yang might pull some trick, and thinking that whatever others had, his own little cub should also have—and it had to be better than what others had—Zhang Muxun pulled Wu Xiel over. Standing with his back to Lao Yang, he reached into the spatial pocket and pulled out a pure black, pocket-sized handgun, slipping it directly into Wu Xiel's hand.

This was one of the best CPX-2 pistols he had managed to conjure while exploring and practicing after achieving intermediate materialization abilities. This type of gun was specially manufactured in the Western Eagle Country's firearms market for children in later generations. It held ten rounds of ammunition, had a maximum effective range of 150 meters, possessed enough stopping power to take down a wild boar, was very easy to handle, and had a compact appearance that allowed it to fit completely into a pocket without being noticed. (The author doesn't know guns and consulted Baidu for this.)

Wu Xiel's mouth opened in surprise. He wanted to say something, but considering that Lao Yang was present, he swallowed the words back down.

Zhang Muxun blinked at him, signaling him to put it away quickly, and mouthed, "Do you know how to use it?"

Wu Xiel glanced toward Lao Yang and, seeing that the latter's attention was elsewhere, removed the magazine with lightning speed, reinserted it, pulled the safety bolt, manipulated it a couple of times, and nodded at Zhang Muxun.

Zhang Muxun curved the corners of his lips and patted his shoulder like an elder guardian.

Wu Xiel twitching the corner of his mouth, gave a helpless shake of his head.

He had never seen the style of the gun Mu Yu gave him before, but that didn't stop him from knowing how to use it.

On the other side, after cleaning up the homemade hunting rifle and tucking it into his waistband, Lao Yang put his palms together, bowed toward the human head on the ground, muttered something under his breath, and then kicked the head straight into the water with a single kick.

Wu Xiel: "..."

Zhang Muxun: "..."

The human head in question: "..." Have you no manners?

"Are you disgusting or what? We still have to wade through the water to return the same way later. You threw that thing into the water—what if someone steps on it?" Wu Xiel wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Zhang Muxun followed up with his own commentary, "Despicable."

Lao Yang waved a hand nonchalantly. "Never mind that, out of sight, out of mind. Having it sit there so brightly gave me the creeps."

"Besides, given the appetite of this big guy, there's no telling what even more disgusting things are in the water. If someone steps on it, just treat it like a stone; it's not like we're going to stick incense in it and worship it like an ancestor."

Just as he was speaking, a triangular dorsal fin suddenly broke the water's surface, sliced across the water, and vanished in a flash.

"What the hell!" Wu Xiel was startled, almost thinking his eyes were playing tricks on him. "Mu Yu, did you see that? It looks like there's an even bigger one in the water!"

Zhang Muxun nodded with a solemn expression. "I saw it."

He cast an imperceptible glare at Lao Yang. What nonsense was he letting run wild in his imagination? It never ends.

Wu Xiel stared wide-eyed at the water for a long time, but that streak of a dorsal fin never appeared again.