Operation Red Book

"Ms. Ivy, please try this again."

Hilda handed Ivy a long piece of wood. The wood was long and narrow, shaped like an 18th century automatic pistol, with a butt and trigger at the bottom.

It is called a gun but it has no muzzle, and it is called a staff but it is not long enough.

Ivy discovered that there were some twisted roses carved on the wooden stick, and she became extremely curious about this weapon.

"What kind of weapon is this? And it has carvings on it?" Ivy asked as she turned the wooden stick back and forth.

"This is called a crossbow, a type of crossbow. It's perfect for sneak attacks." Hilda took the crossbow back from Ivy.

"Is the pattern on it nice? It was made by the German court, specially made for Emperor William. It was given as a gift to Queen Victoria's youngest son a few months ago."

Hilda pulled the hidden button on the top of the crossbow, and two thin steel bars popped out like missiles.

The air seemed to be slapped in the face, whistling with complaints.

A piece of yellow rubber as thick as spaghetti is tied between the thin steel bars. This is the string of the bow and arrow.

"Why is the weapon for the emperor and the gift for the prince in Miss Hilda's hands?"

Joshua touched the rose carved on the crossbow and looked at the pine wood pattern on the top of the wooden strip. He couldn't figure out the relationship between Hilda and the German emperor.

"Yes, although the crossbow looks very cool, the weapons made for the German emperor should at least be decorated with gold or diamonds. And this pattern...it doesn't look like a royal item at all."

The crossbow was passed to Ivy again. Ivy looked left and right, muttering something that was wrong.

"Uh……"

Hilda touched her nose and her eyes began to wander unconsciously.

"Because... because this is a replica of that gun. That dinner was so grand, and I saw that no one was guarding the gift vault, so I sneaked in with Thomas to take a look at the gun, and then... then we came back and imitated the style and made it."

Hilda's voice became lower and lower as she spoke. She put her hands behind her back and tilted her head, no longer looking at Joshua and Ivy, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.

Ivy and Joshua both chuckled. Hilda looked calm, serious and polite. It turned out that she was just like the stubborn old man, with a crazy love for weapons in her heart.

Ivy touched the dent on the bow, coughed lightly a few times, turned around and walked to the armored soldier.

She deliberately walked further away, about 100 meters.

"This shooting range is roughly OK. Press the trigger and the crossbow will be automatically loaded." Hilda took Joshua to the side.

Ivy leaned sideways, raised her hand, and pulled the crude trigger.

The crossbow looks light, but it is actually quite heavy.

Ivy had never trained her arm strength before, and after only a minute, she already felt a little tired.

She took a deep breath and slowly pulled the trigger.

The wood at the top was propped open, and a steel crossbow arrow was pushed up. The rubber bowstring was tightened, and the tip flashing with cold light also climbed up the bow head, ready to be fired.

Ivy aimed at the armored soldier in the front and pressed the trigger hard.

The black crossbow arrow shot forward like a bullet.

It slid through a large arc in the air, and then fell straight to the ground, visible to the naked eye.

Ivy only heard a "whoosh" sound, followed by a loud "boom" of thunder.

The black crossbow arrow exploded less than half way through its range, with a power no less than that of a small grenade.

For a moment, thick smoke billowed and dust flew. Ivy was startled by the sudden explosion.

The crossbow was heavy to begin with, and with the powerful recoil, Ivy accidentally threw the crossbow away.

The machine was so agile that it quickly fired another crossbow arrow the moment it touched the ground, and this time the end point of the arc was right at Ivy.

Ivy's ears were filled with the afterglow and roar of the explosion. She covered her ears with a ferocious expression until the endless "whoosh" sound came again.

She looked at the small black object flying towards her in mid-air. Blood rushed to her head and her legs felt like they were filled with lead and stuck in place, refusing to obey her brain's commands.

"what's the situation?"

Ivy watched the crossbow arrow with gunpowder wrapped at the tail getting closer and closer to her, and she couldn't help but murmur something.

Is he going to die here today? Will he die? Or will he become paralyzed? In this era, being paralyzed is better than being dead.

There was no way to hide, so Ivy couldn't help but close her eyes, waiting for the flames to engulf her body, waiting for the dazzling white light to fill her eyes.

"Boom——"

The sound of the explosion resounded throughout the ear canal, followed by tinnitus and a buzzing sound in the brain.

My body seemed to be out of control, but fortunately, there was no burning pain as I had imagined, nor was there flames shooting up into the sky as I had imagined.

The body slowly regained consciousness, and a hint of red suddenly broke into Ivy's vision. Only then did Ivy realize that Hilda had lifted her up.

Feeling Hilda's agile movements and strong muscles, Ivy's heart began to pound, and her neck and head began to feel hot.

She decided to put it down to the thrill of escaping death and the added force of gravity on her blood circulation.

"Ivy! Ivy! Are you okay? Cough cough cough..."

A tall and thin figure rushed out from the thick smoke. Joshua pushed aside the layers of white smoke and staggered towards this side, coughing.

Hilda put Ivy steadily on the ground. Ivy hugged Hilda's arm tightly, and for a moment she couldn't figure out the situation in front of her.

"what--"

Joshua finally ran close to Ivy and Hilda, and a black iron shell fell from the sky and hit Joshua on the back of the head.

If he does not fall, he is not Joshua.

Ivy looked at Joshua who fell to the ground, pinched Hilda's tense arm muscles, and wanted to kick herself for thinking Joshua was handsome.

"It's a big problem. Although it has great lethality, it's too heavy and inconvenient to carry. The recoil is too strong. The range is unstable and the speed is slow. It's easy to kill you and it's not safe. And..."

Hilda pulled out her little notebook again and while writing she found some time to pull Joshua up.

"Too many fragments can easily harm others..."

"No, no, no, it is also an advantage of high lethality."

Hilda circled the last line of words and led it to the top of the paper with a line of markers.

"I finally understand why Miss Hilda always comes back to Miss Bell's medical room with injuries."

Joshua rubbed the back of his head, frowned and spoke blankly.