Free Web NovelChapter 139: Chapter 138: Copper Hide, A Chance Encounter
By the time Fu Juemin came down the dirt slope, the men of the Ghost Camp had already spread out across the open field, their heads bowed as they searched for the scattered, pitch-black bone spikes.
Fu Juemin covered his nose with a handkerchief and slowly approached the edge of the crater.
Inside the crater, scorched earth, rubble, and unidentifiable chunks were mixed together. Before he could even tell which lump was the Demon Boar’s corpse, a vision appeared before his eyes.
"ROAR—"
A spectral image of a Demon Boar, its bristles erect with fury, charged straight at him, carrying with it the thick stench of gunpowder and a bloody, lingering resentment.
Fu Juemin’s body swayed slightly, as if he had choked on the churning stench from the pit, but in reality, a Demon Soul Seed had silently entered his body.
On the character panel that only he could see, the golden amber representing the Skill Energy Slot was rising rapidly.
The entire panel flashed, and a series of "+" symbols appeared. When the change stopped, the Golden Energy in the Skill Slot settled at about nine-tenths of the way to being full again.
’Just a little bit more for another Skill Point.’
What a pity, Fu Juemin thought.
He truly wanted to figure out the rules for acquiring this Golden Energy—specifically, what factors determined how much he received.
’Would I get more if I killed it myself?’
’Does killing it with my bare hands yield more than killing it with guns?’
’Is there a difference between absorbing it immediately after the kill versus waiting for a while?’
’And then there’s the [Mana] Attribute among the four Basic Attributes...’
’How in the world do I even get it?’
’There hasn’t been any change to it at all.’
As these distracting thoughts swirled, his gaze shifted down to his Talent Bar.
There, two new, grayed-out words had quietly appeared—[Copper Hide].
His two Talents, [Soft Bone] and [Yao Ling], once again pulsed with a faint, absorbing force. In a trance, Fu Juemin seemed to "see" into a dark, empty void. There, the Black-Scaled Snake Demon, the Merciful Rat Demon, and the Iron-Maned Demon Boar were snarling at each other face-to-face in a three-way standoff, while the Painted Skin Ghost trembled in the middle of their triangle.
Fu Juemin wasn’t about to let his other Talents devour one he hadn’t even tested yet. He suppressed the three restless Demon Soul Seeds in his body and looked up again.
"What do you plan to do with this Demon Boar’s corpse?"
Xu Hengjiang walked over, his voice cold and hard. "Let’s get this straight. We’re not hauling it."
"No need to move it. Just bury it here."
Fu Juemin glanced at him, his tone flat. "Doesn’t your Zhabei faction have a lot of people?
I’ll provide the money. You find some men.
From now on, they’ll follow you and be responsible for the logistics of this kind of post-battle cleanup."
"What do you mean by that?"
Xu Hengjiang’s brow furrowed.
"I mean I plan on a long-term partnership with your Ghost Camp."
Fu Juemin turned, his gaze landing on Xu Hengjiang’s face. "You lack money. I lack manpower.
I can provide firearms free of charge, and I can even get you better ones in the future..."
He paused, as if afraid Xu Hengjiang wouldn’t hear him clearly, and said slowly, word for word, "Eating cold buns with snowmelt for every meal... even an iron constitution can’t take that.
Rather than freezing and starving to death in your shacks, it’s better to die a glorious death on the battlefield with a gun in your hand, whether your opponents are these things, or..."
Fu Juemin paused again, then meaningfully uttered the name: "the soldiers under Luo Zhengxiong."
A sharp glint flashed in Xu Hengjiang’s eyes, but Fu Juemin didn’t give him time to react, casually dropping another line.
"Do you know who ordered Yan the Ninth to corner me in Zhabei the other day?
Luo Zhengxiong’s son, Luo Chengying."
Xu Hengjiang froze at his words. At that moment, Fu Juemin’s hand gently landed on his shoulder. "Don’t always think the whole world is your enemy. Besides the Luos, who even cares about you?
And in this world, there are far more people who want Luo Zhengxiong and his son dead... than you can possibly imagine."
"If you agree, you don’t have to return the guns."
Fu Juemin adjusted the cuffs of his suit, his tone returning to one of casual indifference. "From now on, I’ll cover all the living expenses for everyone in the Ghost Camp—food, clothing, everything. If they have families, I’ll support them too...
Of course, it’s not just Demon Hunting. For other matters... you’ll have to be on call.
I’m not running a charity."
Xu Hengjiang stared at him, his gaze flickering intensely, a storm seeming to rage in the depths of his eyes.
Fu Juemin wasn’t in a hurry. He quietly waited for him to make a decision.
He wasn’t looking for their undying loyalty anyway. All he needed was a sharp blade—a force that dared to fight and kill, and that followed orders.
Even if the Ghost Camp grew strong enough to turn on him one day, their first target would inevitably be Luo Zhengxiong.
After a long silence, Xu Hengjiang finally forced out a sentence.
"We can cooperate, but we will absolutely not get involved in anything heinous."
"Ha—"
Fu Juemin almost laughed. He couldn’t help but shake his head. "Do I, Fu Juemin, really look that much like a bad guy?"
For now, the deal was done. The finer details could be left for Big Cat to arrange.
He thought about how, from now on, Gu Shouyu and Xu Hengjiang—one for brains, one for brawn—would handle things. One would be responsible for gathering intelligence and selecting targets, while the other would be in charge of formulating plans and leading the assault teams.
And all he had to do was sit back and collect the Demon Souls. The thought alone put Fu Juemin in a great mood.
"Alright, stop deliberating."
Fu Juemin waved Xu Hengjiang over. "You guys can’t even get a decent meal. I’d be ashamed of myself for scheming against you.
Come here, let me set a more long-term goal for you..."
The words were a bit harsh, but it had to be said that this was exactly the kind of approach that worked on Xu Hengjiang.
It was true. The remnants of the Ghost Camp—the name sounded impressive, a group that was even a headache for Luo Zhengxiong of the Jianghai Defense Command.
But in the end, they were just a bunch of "wandering beggars" huddled in shacks, gnawing on cold buns.
Xu Hengjiang obediently walked over, finally showing Fu Juemin the attitude one should have toward their benefactor.
"What’s the target?"
Fu Juemin had originally planned to mention the Flood Dragon Level Centipede Spirit in the Friend Mountain Mine, but then he remembered that even a small military unit couldn’t handle it. That seemed a bit too much to ask of them; he didn’t want to scare them off right at the start.
So, he changed his mind on the spot and instead briefly told Xu Hengjiang about the Old Turtle Spirit in the Du Mountain Reservoir.
Xu Hengjiang got into character quickly. He thought for a moment, then frowned. "Underwater things are tricky to deal with, especially one with a shell...
A frontal assault with ordinary explosives probably won’t work on it. Back when the army was in Songling, we ran into a Stone-Scale that had become a spirit. Even a mountain cannon couldn’t kill that beast..."
"Stone-Scale?"
Fu Juemin raised an eyebrow. "What’s that?"
"A pangolin."
The two left the crater and returned to the top of the slope, chatting casually.
Just then, a burst of dense gunfire suddenly erupted in the distance, interspersed with a massive BOOM like an exploding artillery shell!
Xu Hengjiang and the other remnants of the Ghost Camp were extremely sensitive to such sounds. The moment they heard it, the entire group stopped.
"From the sound of it, it’s not far."
Xu Hengjiang squinted, staring in the direction of the noise for a while before turning to Fu Juemin. "Should be somewhere downstream."
"Let’s go take a look."
Fu Juemin wasted no time. He had one of his Qinglian Gang men give up a horse, then took Xu Hengjiang, Big Cat, and a few others and galloped quickly downstream.
After riding along the riverbank for a short while, they found the source of the sound.
They were at a tributary of the lower Su River. The channel wasn’t wide, and large chunks of floating ice drifted on the murky water.
Fu Juemin’s group reined in their horses and stopped by the river. Across the dozens of meters of the Su River, they could see two figures locked in a fierce struggle on the opposite bank.
When Fu Juemin got a clear look at the two combatants, he couldn’t help but let out a soft "Tsk."
