Chapter Twenty: All Set and Ready to Go

  Lying on the bed in a big character shape, I stared at the ceiling with my eyes open. Except for my fingertips, every part of my body didn't dare to move, and any movement would be as painful as being stabbed by a needle. The quick-witted person who had just woken up looked at me like this and laughed: "You're awake so early?"

  "I didn't sleep at all! Can you help me call the doctor?" The pain all over my body kept me awake all night, and my two arms hurt the most.

  "No problem!" Just before leaving, he patted his belly again, and I was in so much pain that I gritted my teeth.

  The doctor came, saw me like this, and laughed for half a day. Then he started massaging me. Honestly! When he was pressing, it hurt so much that I almost died, but after he finished massaging, I felt much better! The doctor gave me an injection after the massage, saying it could speed up muscle healing. Then he left!

  It wasn't until noon that I finally got out of bed to eat, and seeing my stiff eating movements, Da Xiong had an apologetic face. I smiled at him to indicate it was okay. After finishing the meal, the captain asked us not to disperse as he had something to announce.

  "Has everyone finished eating? I have something to say. From today on, the defense systems of all our bases will be changed to a new system. Everyone will need to go through identity verification to enter from now on. Here are your ID cards and passwords." The captain took out a large bunch of soldier IDs: "Don't get them mixed up, one ID card can only correspond to one password!"

  Received the ID card, carefully measured it, and it looked like an ordinary soldier's card, except that there was no name on it, only a pair of wolf teeth embossed on it, with a password: XT1202151 stuck to the back. After hanging the ID card, I heard the captain say again.

  "Attention everyone, we are departing for Africa tomorrow night, get ready!" The captain announced the dismissal after finishing speaking.

  I followed Kuaizao to find Tiancai, but unexpectedly, Tiancai's place was not on our level, but on the level where vehicles were parked above.

  "What's wrong with him living on the same floor as us?" I asked Kuaizhao.

  "This... Hehe! You'll know when you see him!" Fast Knife said with a smile.

  Up to the third floor, bypassing rows of Hummer Jeeps and several helicopters, a glance around didn't reveal anything special. Fast Knife walked up to a wall, patted it in the middle, and it automatically opened with a loud noise from machinery at work and frenzied music rushing out. Knife's hand twisted his face to look at me, furrowing his brow.

  "Oh, it's because of music!" I exclaimed in realization.

  "No! It's just machine noise!" Quick Knife spread his hands and said: "He's been like this for 24 hours! That's why he was arranged to be on this floor"

  "Hehe! I couldn't help but laugh."

  As soon as I entered, I saw several small robot dogs running around on the floor. The room was very large, just like the big hall on our floor. Everywhere were disassembled weapons and electronic components, with machine tools scattered all over the place. The most eye-catching thing was a dismantled Hummer Jeep parked in a ditch to the right, but there was no one in the house!

  "Hey! Whoever you are, you've broken into the lab of genius Elson. Show your ID within 30 seconds. Otherwise, kill without mercy!" The hall suddenly echoed with an electronic synthesized voice. As the voice fell, a circle of Gatling guns flipped out from the ceiling, all their muzzles locked onto me and Fast Knife.

  "30, 29..." The electronic synthesized voice began counting down.

  "This wasn't here last time I came!" said Kuaizao.

  "What's going on? This isn't a joke! Do you know the password?" I asked, looking up at the machine gun.

  "This is the first time I've encountered such a situation, and I don't know either!" Fast Knife was also a bit stunned!

  "15... 14..." The electronic synthesized sound continued counting down.

  "Genius, where are you? Come out! This isn't fun!" Kaito shouted loudly.

  I took a glance around the room and saw a machine like an ATM on the right side of the entrance. I pulled out my dagger: "Is that thing for entering passwords?" I pointed at the machine.

  "Hmm! It seems so! But do you know the password?" Kuaizao asked me

  "You should know!" I walked towards the machine on the wall. The machine gun above my head made a "squeak" sound as it followed my movement and turned its muzzle. I took out the soldier's card that the captain had just issued, compared it to a recess on the machine, and it fit perfectly. It should be! I pressed the soldier's card into the recess, and a small keyboard popped out from the side. I entered the password on the back of the soldier's card.

  "Identity confirmed! All clear below. Alert cancelled! Welcome to the laboratory of the genius, Elson!" The synthesized voice changed to that of a woman and the machine gun on the headset retracted.

  "Got it!" The quick knife was like me picking at my thumb: "Didn't think I'd be using this password so soon."

  "I didn't expect it either!" I wiped the sweat from my head: "Scary enough!"

  "You should have thought of that!" A strange man's voice came from the ditch, a young man with a face full of oil stains climbed out of the ditch, and as he walked, I found that his right foot was a metal prosthetic leg.

  "Genius, you're here! You scared me to death just now." said Kuai Dao, with his knife pressed against his neck.

  "Ouch! Ouch! It hurts! I just wanted to try out the system's reaction." The genius wiped his hand with a rag.

  "Coffee and dessert!" the genius shouted into the air. Then, a small robot ran out from one of the doors inside. Upon closer inspection, I found that there were fine grooves crisscrossing on the floor, and the robot was moving along these grooves.

  "Would you like some too?" The genius invited us.

  "No, thank you." Now whatever I hold in my hand, my arm hurts.

  "What did you come here looking for me for?" Genius gets straight to the point.

  "We've come to find you, wanting you to make a knife for Xing Tian. Xing Tian has just arrived and doesn't have any suitable tools." Kuai Dao explained, then turned to ask me: "Xing Tian, what kind of knife do you want? Tell Tian Cai."

  "I want a dagger like the Chinese 56-style flat blade, but I'd like to add two small secondary blades on both sides to make it a cross-shaped blade. The handle should be lengthened and modified to be like the Jungle King's, capable of storing objects, but not as thick. The blade should be widened, with an 8cm serration added to one side of the main blade. A can opener should be added to the secondary blade, and the blade should be made in a camouflage color. I'd like to use CPM420V material, and if it's possible to achieve a hardness of 59-62HRC, that would be best."

  I presented my requirements: "Can you make several more knives for me? I also want some spare knives. One is the Tiger Knife type, one is the MOD MK V Stinger with serrations, and both should have their overall length extended to 33cm, with the handle modified to store objects as well."

  I reported my favorite knife types to the genius one by one.

  "Heavens! Do you want to open a butcher shop?" Tiancai joked.

  "Don't you need to take something down?" I suddenly mentioned over a dozen types of knives, as well as various ideas for changing sizes, and I wasn't sure if he could remember them all.

  "It's all here, it's all here! I'm a genius! Have you forgotten? The genius pointed to his own head: "Are there any automatic firearms that need me to modify?"

  "Not for the time being! However, I'm about to depart soon. If you can make me a longer and heavier HK33/SG1 hand-pulled gun barrel, I'd be very grateful! But with such a short notice, is it possible?

  Two days' time, if he can rush out a knife for me, I'll be very thankful!"

  "Of course it's fine! Just swipe your card!" The genius pointed at the card reader on the side.

  "Does making things cost money? I thought..." I didn't think it would cost money.

  "That's for sure! I don't get paid by the task, only a fixed salary! You can't object to this genius making some extra money on the side, or I'll quit!" The genius pointed at the credit card machine again.

  I rummaged through all the pockets on my body and finally found the gold card that the captain had given me. I handed it over to the genius, who didn't scare me off with his price tag. As a mercenary, I wasn't in it for the money, so as long as I could get something good out of it, I was willing to pay the corresponding price. The genius swiped the card and returned it to me, took my measurements, and then asked, "When are you guys setting off?"

  "The plane is tomorrow night!" I said

  "Alright! I won't let your $13,000 go to waste." The genius had a sly expression: "Don't you want to take a look at something else? I just finished making this anti-tank cannon, it can easily penetrate the front armor of an M1A2. Or how about this one? This is a liquid hydrogen warhead, if it hits someone, they'll be instantly frozen to death! And what about this..."

  "No, no! Thank you, I don't need such intense firepower! Let's go first!" Fast Knife gave me a covert glance on the side.

  "Feel free to come back and sit anytime!" The genius called out from behind me.

  "Where did you find him?" I asked Fast Knife

  "Haha... He's really formidable... He's a world-renowned modification expert, modifying weapons and black cars for the New York mafia. The things he modifies become 1000 times more powerful! Later, other gangs became jealous and tried to snatch him away, but we intervened and rescued him, and then he came here..." Fast Knife slowly began to tell the story of the genius's origins.

  In the afternoon, the doctor gave me another massage and injection, my muscles felt much better, but I still couldn't engage in intense activities. So I sat at home with Fast Knife learning how to play with knives. Assassin also joined us, teaching me how to throw flying knives, how to strangle people with a garrote wire, and various assassination techniques. I was so excited, always wanting to find someone to try it out on...

  In the evening after dinner, I chatted with Slow Machine about how to become a sniper. Slow Machine explained in detail the basic equipment operation and usage, various static and dynamic shooting training, outdoor observation and tracking, wilderness survival, map reading, intelligence gathering and analysis, outdoor position setting and camouflage, infiltration and withdrawal route planning, booby trap setting and removal, combat plan formulation and communication coordination... and so on, nearly 20 subjects. And most importantly, the ability to make judgments on the spot. What left a deep impression on me was the last sentence Slow Machine said: "Behavioral deviation - will create a biased cold-blooded killer, unstable willpower - just one mission and you're 'scrap'!"

  The next day, I got up from bed and went to the gym with everyone to do some warm-up exercises. The pain in my body no longer hindered my movements. After breakfast, we chatted together for a while, and then practiced French for an entire morning. My tongue was almost tied up, as these people now only spoke in French, probably trying to create a good practice environment for me. It worked, as I made rapid progress in mastering the language.

  After finishing my language practice in the morning, I returned to my room to pack my things and prepare for departure that night. As soon as I entered my room, I saw a large box on the table. When I opened it, I was surprised to find the rifle and pistol I had ordered from Tiancai. But what he sent me wasn't the gun barrel I had ordered; instead, it was a modified G3/SG1.

  It used an enhanced, extended high-precision sniper barrel, which mainly relied on its own weight to reduce vibration during shooting. The newly adjusted body controlled extremely strict manufacturing tolerances, and all parts were almost perfectly combined, increasing the shooting accuracy by 50% and range by 20%, rivaling a dedicated sniper rifle. Moreover, it retained the G3's fully automatic firing option, making it a truly full-automatic sniper rifle in every sense of the word. Tiancai really understood what I wanted!

  This more than ten thousand dollars wasn't spent in vain, looking at a whole box of top-notch goods, I'm really excited! However, after taking stock, why isn't the 56-style military dagger I ordered here? I flipped through it again and still couldn't find it. What's going on? Did they lose it? Impossible! Just as I was frantically searching, Fast Knife walked in from outside with an excited face.

  "Xing Tian! This knife is really a great thing, haha! How did you come up with this design? I went outside and tried it out, stabbing, slicing, slashing, chopping, hacking... everything feels so smooth, it's so cool! And it doesn't even damage the blade when cutting through iron, awesome!" Kuai Dao rushed in with an excited face.

  "Give it back! My dagger, you've actually taken it from me for the first time." "You little thief!" I snatched my beloved dagger back and examined it carefully.

  At first glance, I was attracted to her slender and "moving" figure. After lengthening the handle, the entire knife is 35 cm long, with a blade length of 23 cm. The tip of the sword has been slightly modified from a sword type to a knife type. There are 8 cm irregular serrations on the back of the knife, and there are holes in the knife body that match the rivets on the scabbard. It can cut steel wire with a diameter of less than 4 mm. Two blood grooves protrude from both sides, with wavy side blades and small irregular saw teeth. The insulated handle allows for cutting high-voltage electrical wires at 3500 volts. The protective handguard has a double-sided bottle opener that can easily open beer bottle caps. The end of the handle has a flat iron that can be used as a hammer. Inside, there is a hollow space for storing medicine and wilderness survival supplies. The entire knife body has undergone special quenching treatment, making the blade incredibly sharp and unusually hard. Genius also did a tiger stripe pattern on the entire knife according to my requirements, just like the fierce tiger knife. Holding it in my hand feels substantial, with a weight that is just right, and the handle fits perfectly in my hand.

  "Genius is indeed genius!" I couldn't help but exclaim, this was simply the "treasured sword" of my dreams.

  After dinner, I packed my backpack, put my beloved knife on my chest, and equipped two spare knives on me. I adjusted the MK23 I got from the armory (for some reason, I have a special affection for this "big" handgun). I slung my G3/SG1 over my shoulder, carried the ammunition, picked up my backpack, and walked out of the room with Fast Knife. We arrived at the base on the ground and waited together for the plane to take us to that unfamiliar Africa...

  Click to view picture link: Type 56 bayonet prototype