Chapter 23: Swords and Spears as Gifts

  After hearing Shui Cui's words, Hassan and I exchanged a glance, both of us feeling that for people like us, having a gun is actually useless. Sometimes not having a gun makes you safer than having one. I especially feel that in this crappy place where the lead action is about to start, even if we had an excellent handgun, it would be pointless because there's hardly any chance to fire it.

  But since it's Gege's gift, I'll take a look. I don't like guns, but I especially like knives. In my past life as a worker, I used my free time to study the infamous Ka-Bar combat knife of the US Marine Corps, which has been involved in many controversies over its origins and practicality. To be honest, I really can't praise this so-called perfect fighting knife that looks just like a butcher's meat cleaver.

  At that time, I was not only a pusher of the die-casting machine but also a forger and a welder. At that time, many people asked me to use oil steel saw blades to grind some sharp knives for cutting chicken bones, and I did a lot according to my teacher's instructions.

  One day, a coworker of a military enthusiast friend was showing off a Yangjiang-style "invincible blade" in front of me. I listened to the controversy surrounding this knife's origins and its mythical utility, then pulled out a dozen freshly sharpened deboning knives and chicken-slaughtering knives and placed them in front of him. Except for the difference in materials (Yangjiang goods are far inferior to oil-quenched saw blades), and my knives not having wooden handles at the time, this so-called "divine instrument" - especially its derivative products - is actually no different from the chicken-slaughtering knives or deboning knives you'd find in a northeastern rural market.

  He said that the knife was under the gun case, so he hurried to the head of the bed to pick up the box and turn it over. He found a black scabbard attached to the back of the gun case in a recessed area. Looking at the shape of this knife, regardless of its origin or design, the plastic feel of this thing is really unlikable.

  I ignored the noisy onlookers and old Ha, reached out to take down the sword with its scabbard, and weighed it in my hand. The weight was really too light for me. Looking at this quick-draw scabbard carefully, I held the hilt of the sword with my left hand, inserted the scabbard into the leather belt on my left side, and secured it in place. With a single swift motion, I drew out the sword, feeling a sensation that was not too tight.

  In my past life, I only took a look at the introduction and didn't really study the Bokuto seriously. At least to say that the genuine scabbard is not bad. Looking at the so-called high-carbon stainless steel blade with a shiny mirror surface, I couldn't help but feel that this knife was a bit too exaggerated. Such a knife, it's said that the Hanwei version is extremely expensive.

  Moreover, the current manufacturer CRKT's subsequent productions and derivatives have materials and workmanship that are far inferior to the original. It is unknown whether this knife was an original or a later production by CRKT. When James William stopped cooperating with Hanwei on the must-kill aspect, he sold the design to Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT), mainly because the reputation of this knife was extremely poor, almost all soldiers who used it said it was bad, and there were hardly any Marines who actually used it. Instead, it had a small number of customers in the Delta Force and Rangers, but their use of this combat knife was also personal behavior and could not lead to large orders.

  I took a look at the flashy mirror finish on the blade, and weighed the lightness of it in my hand. Suddenly, I lost interest in trying to see how sharp it was compared to one that I had sharpened myself. I put the knife, which could possibly be a sixty-dollar industrial product, back into its sheath, pulled it out from my waistband along with the sheath, and placed it on the table, starting to examine this unimpressive gun case instead.

  Looking at the double buckles on the suitcase, I sat down on the hard bed with a not-so-large gun box in my arms and started studying it. At this time, Hassan and Sui Cui were also attracted by my movements and walked to my back to introduce themselves: "Guo Guo, ok! ok!"

  This guy was stared at by us and immediately changed his tone, explaining how to open it while pointing and gesturing on the side. I didn't even look at him, just listened to Hassan's translation as he continued to fiddle with the gun case in his hand. Actually, this thing is quite simple, just like the lock on the trunk in my parents' bedroom when they got married. The catch on the gun case has a core that you press inward and the top cover pops open.

  Looking at the box cover being easily opened by itself, I couldn't help but look at the two people who were gesturing and treating themselves like idiots. Seeing this gun was quite strange, with yellow camouflage on top and a wooden handle below, it looked like a birch wood handle, and the gun was placed in what appeared to be a soft foam mold.

  There were also a bunch of things in the gun case, including two clips, a small flashlight-like thing, a yellow camouflage can that looked like a silencer, and a pile of documents including the manual for the gun lock. I couldn't help but take a closer look, but didn't find any bullets or anything. Suddenly, I realized what I was doing and felt like an idiot - this gun is completely foreign to me, yet I'm paying attention to all these useless things.

  "Ah, okay! Translate!" Shui Cui couldn't help but interrupt me, hastily stretching out his hand to cut me off, and hurriedly started talking to me, wanting to introduce how excellent this gun is, how exquisite it is. Unfortunately, I didn't give him the chance to speak at all, and instead started fiddling with it right away.

  I couldn't get the hang of it, so I hurriedly reached out for help. He gestured and followed anxiously, several times wanting to lend a hand but being pushed away by me. Just as we were about to give up, Hassan couldn't bear to watch anymore, took the gun from me, and with a few swift moves, disassembled it into two halves.

  "Brother, you really don't know how to do this, so how did you become a soldier? These things are basically all connected, right? Uh, brother, you're a geologist, it's normal that you haven't played with guns before, but I think you're pretty good at playing with knives?" Hassan suddenly realized he had misspoken and hurriedly tried to cover it up.

  He didn't notice these things at all, and was still lamenting that the gun was truly a dark pearl. He immediately took over the upper receiver of the gun, pulled out the tattered cloth inside used to protect the gun mechanism, which was full of protective oil for the gun, and reassembled the pistol while explaining its differences to me.

  He spoke a bunch of gibberish, with many professional terms that would make even a native English speaker jealous, Hassan was so carried away that in the end I only remembered one sentence: this gun's double trigger and heavy recoil are very suitable for my strength and hand shape, and also because I'm a left-hander, the button to load and unload the clip is on the left side of the gun body, where my thumb can reach. I hastily interrupted his chatter, took the gun from him and asked him to reload it again, then let Hassan contact Mahmoud to ask about the people in the car, whether they were okay or not, and whether we would be implicated.