Chapter 3 Eye in the Sky <TOC> Chapter 5 The Iron Claw Gang’s Plan
Translator: SumTLMan
The settlement deep in the wetland, Raginbeard, is surrounded by a wall of poorly crafted concrete and steel. The wall is filled with misshapen iron buildings, and the entire city exudes a suffocating gray hue.
This is a transfer point for all the marauders. Almost every day, dozens of marauder teams come here to sell their loot, repair, and replenish their supplies.
The lavish marauders have given the settlement a distorted prosperity, which can even be called a city, comparable to the capital of Arvandort.
A ZDB-88 power armor stands at the entrance of Raginbeard. The surface digital camouflage has been stripped off, revealing a rust-covered base armor.
Even so, the entire 2.49-meter-tall power armor still exudes an intimidating presence, making even the boldest of marauders dare not act recklessly within Raginbeard.
With proper tactical coordination, a normal person driving a power armor can easily fight against a level-five awakener.
Li Mu hides in the half-height wild grass, putting the Black Crane into the exile realm. As expected, Goldbeard arrived at the settlement for repairs first.
If he were in their shoes, he would also improve his strength before hunting his target. If he could hire a group of cannon fodder, that would be even better.
He gazed at the ZBD-88 with a complicated look. The power armor of the Xia people is about to disappear from this land, mostly lost in the battlefield against Descenders. If not for this, the 37th Mechanized Division of the Xia people would not have been suppressed so easily.
After observing for half a day, Li Mu determined that the personnel entering and exiting the settlement were extremely complex, with not only Xingdu people but also Anse and Xia people. The guards at the settlement did not check their identities very carefully. With Arvandort’s great swamp as a line of defense, the rulers of Raginbeard are confident in their own safety.
Determined that the risk was within an acceptable range, Li Mu walked towards the settlement with a sword in hand and a rifle on his back.
As expected, the entry and exit of the settlement was very relaxed, and Li Mu was allowed in after paying a silver Taka. He glanced at the graffiti all over the ZBD-88 power armor, and smoothly entered the settlement.
The drainage system on the street was very poor, and the radiation sewage was accumulated in the water pits, where algae grow recklessly, coloring the water pits a suspicious brown-green color, emitting a pungent odor.
Mud is almost everywhere.
There are also some skinny vagrants lying on the side of the road, who are retired from among the marauders. Most marauders, when their physical condition is no longer sufficient to maintain the high-risk profession of marauding, are expelled. But if they can still afford the monthly silver Taka head tax, they can still struggle to survive in Raginbeard.
Most people who can’t afford it have become a pile of skeletons in the wilderness.
Marauders with rifles stand on the street corner smoking, shabbily dressed women solicit business. A few dried heads hang on the edge of the billboard.
Li Mu held a scabbard knife and entered the liveliest bar on the street silently. He used the handle to push aside the curtains at the entrance of the bar, and a smell of hot air rushed to his face. The marauders who were drunk and boisterous in the bar just glanced at him and continued to drink.
In the center of the bar, a muscular marauder is fighting with a dead body, occasionally arousing a burst of cheers.
Copper pasuo was thrown into an iron cage like raindrops.
Li Mu saw several golden-bearded subordinates in the crowd, he was determined and sat on the iron stool in front of the bar.
The bartender of the bar was a burly Anasazi with a bushy beard, using a rag to wipe the glasses.
“What do you need, sir?”
He focused his attention on the scabbard knife in Li Mu’s arms. The blade of the scabbard knife was a meter long, and although it was wrapped in a scabbard, it still felt a chilling presence. This is a treasured knife that is coveted by knife users.
“A drink of sugarcane wine.”
Li Mu took out several original pasuos from his arms and tapped out three, arranging them on the bar.
The bartender took the three copper coins into the counter, turned around to get a glass, and pulled out the stopper from the wine bottle on the bar and poured a turbid liquid.
He drank the somewhat sour sugarcane wine in one gulp, and the high-concentration wine made his tongue numb.
“Are there any big money jobs recently?”
Li Mu asked.
“It depends on what skills you have?”
The bartender asked back.
“White Night Soft Howl Cestus Strike.”
Li Mu replied.
There are two things that can effectively threaten the Black Membrane: one is strong nuclear radiation, which can interfere with the psychic energy, causing the Black Membrane to fail and allowing ordinary weapons to pose a great threat to Descenders; the other is to directly break through the Black Membrane with sufficient psychic energy, which can also kill Descenders.
Awakened martial arts masters with psychic energy are no less formidable against the threats from Descenders than the various heavy weapons of the military’s equipment. This is also why military academies place such emphasis on training their students in combat ability and researching martial techniques.
Before the great disaster, humanity had already begun to search and study all existing martial arts, refining their essence, and using supercomputers to simulate operations, creating many extremely powerful martial techniques to use against Descenders.
Qi Jiguang compiled a new book, “Essential Methods of Fist Fighting,” which clarifies the essence of fist fighting: Fist fighting seems to be an art without preparation for war, but it trains movement of the hands and feet, habituates the muscles and body, and this is the entrance to beginner’s art. It also says that boxing, sticks, knives, spears, forks, pliers, swords, halberds, bows and arrows, hooks, sickles, and the like, all first involve training in the movement of the body through fist fighting. Fist fighting is the source of martial arts.
Puccini Military Academy trains officers with a similar approach as Qi Jiguang’s new book, starting with the hand-to-hand killing techniques of Aozerno, and then studying the White Night Soft Howl Weapon Fighting Techniques for actual combat.
The White Night Soft Howl Weapon Fighting Techniques contain a large number of techniques for curved knives, long knives, two-handed swords, battle axes, pointed nails, iron hammers, and iron spears, designed specifically for Descenders’ vital points.
In addition to these two martial arts, he also learned the family’s traditional Taiji Fist Knife Sword Pole Combination, starting with Taiji Fist, then studying short-range weapons such as knives, swords, whips, and poles, and after becoming skilled in martial arts, he learned the big gun. A true master can shoot through the black membrane with one shot and kill a member of Descender.
Over a long period of time, the White Night Soft Howl Weapon Fighting Techniques have spread far and wide, and in the Xingdu Federation, everyone can handle them with both hands, and they are not eye-catching.
The bartender nodded. If he knows the White Night Soft Howl Weapon Fighting Techniques, he must be a Western Xia person.
“A group of friends want to raid a farm in the north owned by Stein Company, are you interested?”
Li Mu shook his head:
“Stealing a group of farm hands can earn a few money, I want the kind of work that can lie on a woman’s body for a month.”
The bartender narrowed his eyes and looked at Li Mu. A man with such a big mouth is either a fool or someone with real ability.
A marauder had already set his sights on the treasure knife that Li Mu was holding, and adjusted the curved knife at his waist.
“Western Xia man, your tone of voice is not small, it’s just that I don’t know if your skills match your knife?” He spoke and pushed the knife handle, revealing a bright blade of the knife:
“Today, I’ll teach you how to use a knife.”
The marauder spoke, drawing his knife and hacking towards Li Mu. The curved knife in his palm dragged out a white light in the dim bar with fierce and gloomy expression.
“Clang!”
With a crisp sound, Li Mu’s ring knife didn’t even come out of its sheath, and he easily knocked down the curved knife that was hacking towards him.
“A knife is not used this way.”
He reached out, grabbed the marauder’s head, and lifted it up like a child, throwing it out of the bar like garbage.
The barkeeper’s throat was a little dry, as the marauder who was knocked down by Li Mu was not just any ordinary scum. He was a skilled knife user, and when this marauder set his sights on a difficult target, the bartender would usually choose to hire him. If he could accept the radiation exposure of Descender holy relics, he had a 30 to 40 percent chance of awakening his psychic energy. After a few more years of adventuring, he could lead a team of marauders.
“Clap, clap, clap…”
A round of applause rang out in the bar, as a Xia man with pale skin and dressed in a slightly ironed green suit stood up and clapped. He was wearing a golden ring on his hand.
“He is Yue Zhe of the Iron Claw Gang, the second in command under GoldBeard.”
After all, he received the money, and the barkeeper whispered to Li Mu.
Li Mu’s heart stabilized, knowing that the fish was hooked.
Chapter 3 Eye in the Sky <TOC> Chapter 5 The Iron Claw Gang’s Plan