Chapter 108: Lightning-like Pair of Hands
Translator: Ash Editor: Geoffrey
Li Yao swept a glance at the crystal railguns and the crystal cells that were decreasing by the minute. The situation was worst than he thought.
Despite the federation soldiers strenuously trying to hold on, a vast majority of the soldiers were ordinary people who were unable to produce spirit energy.
In order to fight against powerful demon beasts, they had to operate magical equipment and needed to use "crystal cells" as ammunition.
However, the number of crystal cells was limited, and it would not take long before they ran out of crystal cells. Once this happened, all the magical equipment would then turn into nothing but scraps of metal.
The defensive arrays continuously flickered, appearing to be unsteady. Obviously, it was impossible for them to remain activated for an unlimited period of time. Sooner or later, a moment would come when the spiritual energy would be depleted.
"Old Ding, I found two helpers for you!" the red-eyed officer shouted.
Li Yao gazed down the direction of his voice, only to see an ordinary-looking, bald middle-aged man squatting amidst wrecked magical equipment, which appeared to be no different than a pile of giant beast remains. Around him were over a thousand magical equipment components floating in the air, circling and spinning.
It was Master Refiner Ding Yin!
Ding Yin was completely drenched from the rain, and his wet gray hair stuck to his scalp, giving off an extremely funny appearance.
In contrast, the look on his face was incredibly solemn, and the look in his eyes revealed a sliver of inhumane-like indifference, like an incomparably precise maintenance machine.
Ding Yin quickly swept a glance over Li Yao and Jiang Tao; however, he did not greet Li Yao and had instead rapidly said, "Old Li, I am repairing the 'Taiyi Lightning Railgun'. I have no time to repair ordinary magical equipment. Let them repair those!"
The red-eyed officer agreed as he threw a twisted spiritual energy boltgun to Jiang Tao:
"F*ck! Just a moment ago, due to a slightest of inattention on our end, we let a couple dozen 'Ghost Jellyfish’ slip into the coach, forcing us to engage in a scuffle. During that scuffle, not only were many magical equipment damaged, but we had even lost two magical equipment technicians. Quickly take a look and see whether or not you can repair these firearms!"
Jiang Tao's complexion turned pale as his lips quivered and his legs trembled continuously.
From head to toe, he was drenched in rain. His high and mighty arrogance had all been extinguished, making him look just like a wandering ghost.
Jiang Tao was from a rich family. Since childhood, he had always been swimming in luxury. He was no different than a flower carefully raised in a greenhouse, never having faced any wind or rain. The bloody battle scene before him was something that he had only seen in war games in the Great Illusionary Land. He had never imagined that the nightmare would become reality.
Although he very well knew that the crystal train was in big trouble and had even been raided by demon beasts to the point that they had to seek help from the civilian magical equipment technicians...
Even though he had also participated in the "Limit Challenge Competition", where he had fought with some captive demon beasts and had even personally killed a few...
He used to think that all demon beasts were like the demon beasts in the "Limit Challenge Competition", which he could probably kill with leisure, allowing him to become a great hero who is looked upon by millions of people and perhaps even allowing him to show off a bit in front of his girlfriend.
But who knew it was the beast tide that could destroy everything in sight!?
Jiang Tao was completely scared to the point that he might wet his pants at any moment, yet he remained standing. For his bladder to still be able to hold on despite the fear, one truly had to commend his bladder.
"I... I..."
Jiang Tao dryly repeated two words before looking down to examine the spiritual energy boltgun.
It was a very common, long-range magical equipment. Jiang Tao had seen it many times in textbooks and had also examined and repaired them several times. It could be said that he could deal with them with ease.
However, in this hell-like battlefield where desolate, blood-curdling screams rang in his ears, where the smell of blood clogged his nose, where the shadow of death lingered around him like thorns wrapping around his heart as his hands shook and stars danced around in his eyes, how could he wholeheartedly do repairs?
As he reached out and touched the boltgun, he felt something strange in his palm. Pulling back his hand to look, he discovered that the other side of the spiritual energy boltgun had been covered in a lot of sticky, meat-like residue; there was even something that resembled a human eye directly staring at him.
He didn't know whether it was from the soldiers of the federation army or the ghost jellyfishes.
However, Jiang Tao could finally no longer endure; his psychological barrier had completely collapsed. He threw the spiritual energy boltgun and completely emptied the contents of his stomach.
"You—"
The red-eyed officer was stunned. He didn't expect Jiang Tao to be so useless.
When several soldiers who were busy fighting turned around to take a look, they spat before turning their head and continued operating the crystal railguns as they let out roars.
"M-my area of expertise lies in manufacturing and repairing civilian magical equipment. In regards to military magical equipment, I'm not particularly proficient. Moreover, I am not a battle-type cultivator and have rarely, rarely experienced such situations..."
With a pale complexion as he held his stomach, Jiang Tao weakly offered an explanation.
"F*ck!"
The red-eyed man cursed. He didn't know whether to curse Jiang Tao or the damn ghost jellyfish in the sky.
From a pale color, Jiang Tao's face suddenly turned very red. He was definitely not someone with a good temperament, as he had grown up in a wealthy family and had been doted upon by many since childhood. Needless to say getting cursed at, not many people had even spoken to him in loud voice. Where would he have received such an insult?
However, facing such a beast tide that blotted out the sky and the earth, not even the slightest flames of anger came out. Like a rooster who had lost its feathers, he shrunk into a corner, completely spiritless.
The red-eyed man did not even give him a glance; instead, he turned his gaze towards Li Yao with eyes full of expectation.
Taking half a step forward, Li Yao bent down to pick up the spiritual energy boltgun. With a sweep of his gaze, he quickly said:
"Thunderfire Boltgun, the next-generation, long-range magical equipment jointly developed by the army and the Thunder Cry Sect, which utilizes a special spirit magnetic track architecture. Through the activation of the array glyphs, the extremely compressed spiritual energy in the crystal cells would instantly turn to gas and expand into 'Spirit Vapor'. With the volume having been expanded by thousands of times, the bullet in the barrel would be pushed and thus break out at the speed of sound in an instant!"
"Even if standard rounds are used, one shot is equivalent to an attack from an intermediate level Refinement Stage cultivator!"
Li Yao very familiarly removed the crystal cell, opened the magazine to examine, and praised, "If spiritual energy rounds engraved with offensive array glyphs are used, the maximum strength unleashed can be close to an attack from a peak Refinement Stage cultivator. Moreover, you can continuously fire 30 rounds of spiritual energy bullets. Its firepower is quite good. In the hands of an ordinary soldier, even with little training, he would be able to unleash a battle force equivalent to a low-level cultivator!"
Finding his words to be reliable, the red-eyed officer revealed a happy look. "Can you repair it?"
"It is not possible. These firearms are seriously damaged, and without proper tools, no one can repair them."
Li Yao shook his head. Then, his right hand flashed, turning into a group of phantom images. All of a sudden, the Thunderfire Boltgun was dismantled into numerous parts, and with a "flop flop flop flop", fell to the ground.
Only a small number of the components were tightly grasped in Li Yao's palm.
"Disassembling the gun with one hand!?"
Two sparks burst forth in the eyes of the red-eyed officer. Several wounded soldiers leaning on the side, even more so, stared at him with wide-opened eyes as all of them exclaimed at the same time.
Disassembling a gun was something which every soldier had to learn. In the army, for those who were proficient in this art, even if both of their eyes had been covered, disassembling and assembling a gun was not difficult for these experienced veterans.
However, using just one hand to reduce a twisted Thunderfire Boltgun into the most basic magical equipment components was quite remarkable!
Upon seeing this, Jiang Tao’s pupils contracted. He didn't expect for such an ordinary-looking guy from the countryside to turn out to be an experienced magical equipment technician. It goes without saying that even if one were to ignore his refining skills, someone with a pair of hands that moved at lightning-like speeds like his did not number many.
At this moment, everyone's gazes were completely fixed on Li Yao.
While Li Yao’s right hand was disassembling the gun, his left hand wasn't remaining idle; from the ground, he picked up another twisted Thunderfire Boltgun, and his left hand similarly turned into a group of gray silhouettes.
From time to time, magical equipment components would fall from the gaps between his fingers, creating “ding ding dang dang” sounds as they fell onto the ground.
"Disassembling Thunderfire Boltguns simultaneously with each hand?"
The red-eyed officer and several soldiers were all struck dumb by his performance.
They had been playing with guns for all their lives; however, they had never imagined that someone could simultaneously disassemble two firearms!
After a short while, a pile of distorted components filled the ground, while completely intact magical equipment components remained in Li Yao’s hands.
Next, both his hands moved together as the speed of his hands soared to their limit. His ten fingers were like ten highly skilled dancers as they dazzlingly started to move up and down.
At this time, everyone felt like they had just woken up from a dream. So it turns out Li Yao’s hand speed a moment ago was simply some slow movement—only now had he unleashed his full capacity!
After a moment, with a "kacha" sound, a brand new Thunderfire Boltgun appeared in Li Yao's hands.
Although it was missing auxiliary components like the telescopic sight[1], it was, for the most part, completely intact.
Proficiently, Li Yao inserted the crystal cell. "Zoom!" The array glyphs at the rear of the Thunderfire Boltgun flared with a red brilliance, emanating a cold murderous aura; it was as if a saber had been unsheathed from its scabbard, releasing a roar akin to one by an extremely hungry dragon as it waited for the moment to spill the blood!
Li Yao threw the Thunderfire Boltgun to a soldier and explained, "Although it is impossible to repair, but as I see it, there are lots of damaged firearms here. Since not all of the components are completely unusable, I have removed the completely intact components and reassembled them into new guns that can be used. Ten broken guns can be used to assemble three or four new guns, is that fine?"
The red-eyed officer had happiness written all over his face. Continuously patting Li Yao's shoulder, he loudly said, "Good, good! Truly worthy of a disabled veteran! At the most crucial moment, we can only rely on our own people!"
"So you were a disabled veteran!"
Several soldiers looked at each other. All of them revealed an expression that said “So it was like this” in their eyes.
They all regarded Li Yao as a battle-hardened veteran.
If it were ordinary civilians, like the guy who had curled up beside them for example, witnessing the beast tide outbreak and such a frightening heaven and moving earth-like scene, then they would have long been scared to the point of becoming completely at a loss.
Yet, someone like him was calm to the extreme, not even batting an eye in the slightest.
If he was not a veteran, then what was he?!
Ding Yin was completely buried in the magical equipment wreckage. Although he was completely preoccupied with repairing the Taiyi Lightning Railgun, he still heard the exclaiming and shocked voices continuously released by the red-eyed officer and the soldiers.
In astonishment, he raised his head to look and just so happened to see the speed of Li Yao's hands soaring to their limit and the two Thunderfire Boltguns that had been disassembled into pieces within ten seconds.
"Li Yao, come over here!" Ding Yin shouted in excitement.
Li Yao was surprised for a moment, and the red-eyed officer also could not understand what it was all about. "Old Ding, there are still several Thunderfire Boltgun which haven't been repaired!"
Ding Yin loudly said:
"One extra gun or one less isn't going to affect the overall situation. Whether we can escape today or not is completely up to the Taiyi Lightning Railgun! If it is just me alone, then it would take me at least 20 minutes to completely repair it. By then, maybe the beast tide would have already broken through the defensive arrays, completely submerging the crystal train!"
Ding Yin paused. Giving a look filled with hope at Li Yao, he quickly said, "Save your breath. Li Yao, quickly come and repair the Taiyi Lightning Railgun with me. Whether we live or die is completely up to it!"
[1]: Also commonly known as “scope”.