Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Chapter 334: What Kind of Young Person Wouldn't Be One If They Weren't Spirited?

"call……"

Everyone cheered, but Leo was the only one who truly breathed a sigh of relief, slumped in his seat, and said with lingering fear, "I thought something was going to happen."

“You didn’t kill him, why are you so nervous?” Zhang Renfeng said with a laugh. “The more nervous you are, the tighter your expression will be, and of course people will suspect you.”

“You make it sound so simple.” Leo picked up his glass, gulped down the ale in one go, and his cheek flushed slightly. “You have experience, so of course it’s different. I never intended to cause Logan so much trouble, even Amy Rossum…”

“You have done it, madam.” A dignified voice sounded from the side, and Leo’s shoulders trembled slightly, almost causing him to drop his glass.

Everyone was celebrating this small victory, and they all started talking non-stop, entering a drunken, rambling mode. No one saw that the Steppenwolf owner had quietly slipped out from behind the bar and gone to a table in the corner of the tavern.

Facing Logan's gaze, the girl pursed her lips, turned her head away guiltily, and dared not meet his eyes. She tried to explain herself, "I... I just wanted to teach him a lesson so that he would stop hitting Sister Mansha. I didn't mean to really kill him."

“He’s a gang member,” Logan said, his tone exasperated. “You know perfectly well how much trouble going after a gang member can cause. There’s already enough trouble in this alleyway; are you going to make sure I don’t even get to sleep at night?”

“I’m sorry, Logan…”

There's no point in saying anything now; what's done is done, and Logan can only sigh.

"You're not hurt, are you?"

"It's alright." Zhang Renfeng smiled and shook his head. "Her strength is not enough to hurt me."

"..." Logan squinted and carefully observed Zhang Renfeng's neck, but he couldn't see even a single mark. He couldn't help but marvel.

When he saw Zhang Renfeng offer his neck, his heart sank. The sharpness of the Swift Short Sword was no joke. He clearly saw Amy thrust the blade forward. Logically, it should have already pierced a bloody hole.

Did I see it wrong?

"Anyway, thank you for getting Leo out of that predicament. This child isn't very good at lying, and you really saved her from a dangerous situation," Logan said meaningfully. "As for how she got into that predicament, I won't ask. It's better for both of us this way."

"Let me introduce myself. I'm Logan, and as you can see, I'm the small business owner of this tavern. In this alley area, if you mention my name, people will give me some face." Logan handed Zhang Renfeng a cigar and said, "This is my old friend, Black Palm. He used to be a blacksmith. Now... he does some small business to make a living."

"You're from out of town, right? If you encounter any problems in this town, feel free to tell me. I'll do my best to help if I can."

"A blacksmith?" Zhang Renfeng's eyes lit up immediately. "Are you still blacksmithing now?"

“Forge them.” Black Palm’s tone was somewhat helpless. “Forge horseshoes. That’s all the other craft we have to do.”

Zhang Renfeng was overjoyed and secretly sighed that this trip had been worthwhile. He had traveled almost all over the west, from Fengchuisha to Numa Town, and this was the first blacksmith he had ever met!

"I'd like to ask you to forge a weapon for me, is that alright?"

"Weapons?" Black Palm thought he'd misheard, but instinctively, a hint of surprise appeared in his eyes. "Are you serious? A weapon shop is more suitable than a blacksmith's shop; they have all kinds of guns there, and bullets too..."

"The weapon I want isn't a gun, it's a knife, a large knife as long as myself." Zhang Renfeng rubbed his hands together, somewhat excited, like a child who finally had a chance to get his hands on the toy he had been longing for. "The structure is very simple, it should be one piece from top to bottom, the blade is wide and long, like a crescent moon..."

"You can use a knife too?" Logan raised an eyebrow.

"I know a little bit about it." Zhang Renfeng's gaze drifted to the two sheathed swords hanging on the bar counter. "Are those Japanese swords?"

"what?"

"A Japanese sword," Zhang Renfeng explained.

"No, no, no, this is the Schöshel scimitar."

When the conversation turned to their specialties, Logan became interested and pulled up a chair. "Persians, you know? They seem to live in Central Asia, I'm not really sure. Years ago, two pirates came to my place for drinks, and when they got drunk, they started causing trouble. One of them was equipped with this weapon. Do you know what 'sheshir' means? In their language, it's called 'the lion's tail'..."

……

In fact, with Lao Zhang's experience with weapons, he could tell at a glance that this was not a Japanese sword.

Japanese swords and scimitars are fundamentally different in appearance. The samurai standing next to Istavo had a genuine Japanese sword at his waist, one long and one short. But to get him to start talking, you have to cater to his interests and chat about his hobbies; that's always the right approach.

Zhang Renfeng cleverly relinquished control of the conversation, letting Logan and Black Hand steer the topic, while he himself retreated to the background, content to play the straight man. In this back-and-forth banter, the distance between them quickly closed, and the number of empty wine glasses on the table gradually increased.

It's about time to raise some questions.

"Speaking of which, on my way here, I passed through a village where everyone was strangely shaped. Curses, darkness... they all seemed possessed. I was scared, so I didn't dare linger. If I had walked a few dozen meters further, I would have reached your town."

Zhang Renfeng controlled his internal energy, allowing the alcohol to dissipate from his body, achieving a slightly flushed, tipsy effect. He slurred, "Can anyone tell me what's going on? Is that village really cursed?"

……

Logan and Blackhand's expressions changed simultaneously, and in that instant, he knew he had made the right bet.

"There are too many people here, it's not very convenient." In fact, Logan could tell that he was intentionally trying to find out information, but the series of changes that had occurred before had made him have high expectations for Zhang Renfeng's abilities—he was a man who could handle things.

Since we've already been pushed to the brink, we might as well take a gamble on him.

"Come with me, let's go to the room and talk in detail."

“You’re no good, ma’am. You’ve caused me enough trouble today.” Logan said to Leo, who was standing up with great interest, with a cold look on his face. “Go back to your own room. I don’t want to repeat myself.”

"But, Logan..."

……

Seeing that he remained unmoved and showed no sign of backing down, Leo bit his lip in a pitiful manner, then turned around and went upstairs, deliberately making loud thumping noises as if he wanted to break the stairs.

Zhang Renfeng couldn't help but laugh.

“Ah, young man…” Logan rubbed his nose helplessly and sighed, “My well-intentioned advice to her is like morning dew, quickly slipping off her feathers. You’ll understand if you had children.”

"What kind of young person wouldn't be so spirited?" Zhang Renfeng shrugged, his tone slightly teasing. "When you were her age, were you also a well-behaved child?"

“Heh…” Logan glanced at the twin swords hanging high above, a smile unconsciously appearing on his face, and murmured, “Indeed.”

Chapter 335: Thunderstorm rages, and I sing aloud.

"You said the people in the village are in a very serious situation, right?"

After closing the door, Logan's tone was very serious. "To be specific, how serious is it? Are there patches of tinea on your skin?"

As expected, Numa Town was an integrated whole. The townspeople couldn't possibly be unaware of the village's situation; it was simply a matter of whether they cared or not. Most people, after all, tend to be indifferent to things that don't concern them—that's human nature. Under the daily exploitation of the Thunder Gang, they were already struggling to make ends meet; they had no energy left to care about the village. Only local bullies like Logan, with their long-term vision and relatively kind hearts, still had the capacity to care about others.

Unfortunately, what he received was not good news.

"The symptoms of tinea capitis are already very common. But the cases I've seen are far worse than that. When I said they looked bizarre, I wasn't exaggerating..."

Zhang Renfeng recounted everything he had seen and heard in the village, and the more detailed his account, the more furrowed the brows of the two men became. Especially when they heard about the bloated man with a monstrous neck, Hei Zhang couldn't help but sigh.

"Poor Baum... God..."

"You know him?" Zhang Renfeng asked curiously.

Logan's tone was full of regret, "Before he became... 'that,' he was the best bard around here."

----

Mike held the fish by the tail, squinting as he carefully examined its scales. He noticed its strange appearance, unlike the fish he had caught in other waters; it seemed to be a different species altogether. The scales were fragile; the slightest touch would cause them to peel off, revealing a charred, burnt-colored outer layer.

"What is this thing..." Calaway frowned as he looked at it. "We haven't stooped so low as to eat this for dinner, have we?"

As arranged by Lao Zhang, Mike and Calaway stayed in the village to observe any unusual activity. The village was only a few dozen meters from the town, a short ride on horseback. The real problem was that the two brothers spent the entire night squatting under the tree and didn't see anything unusual.

The old village chief, wearing an off-the-shoulder top, went back to his house. The other villagers also went back to their own rooms, returning to their initial lifeless state.

If things continue like this, how long will it last? Nobody knows the answer.

Bored to the point of near madness, Mike had no choice but to take out his fishing rod again, thinking of returning to his old ways to relieve his mood. As a result, he caught a strange-looking creature.

"Didn't we pack canned food in the saddlebags before we left? That'll do. If Red isn't back by six o'clock, we'll go to town to look for him...shit!" Mike's eyelids twitched when he saw the bloated figure emerging from the shore; it was rare to see him make such an expression.

Beside the water, in the misty fog, a figure of the opposite sex, resembling a divine apostle, suddenly appeared. He held something in his hands and silently approached the two. Even in 2024, let alone 1879, if you were to suddenly witness this scene by the river in a small park, you would absolutely scream in fright.

In contrast, Mike simply placed his hand on the gun handle, which was already a very calm and restrained reaction.

"You... what's your name again, Baum, right? Don't come any closer, what do you want with us?" He stretched out an arm, making a blocking gesture. "If you have something to say, just stand there and say it!"

In fact, he didn't need to stop him; Baum was already used to keeping his distance from people. After walking about seven steps, he stopped, but laboriously bent down and gently placed what he was carrying on the ground. One of the items broke free and slowly rolled to Callaway's feet.

"Canned corn?"

"Ugh... ugh..." Baum's body from the neck down was almost completely filled with abnormal fat, making him look like he might explode at any moment. This also made bending over and standing up extremely difficult, and he was panting heavily. "Don't eat, the animals and fish here... are poisonous..."

“The canned food is from town, it’s not poisonous.” He tugged at the rope on his shoulder, and a few scattered pieces of firewood fell from his back. “It’s going to be cold tonight…you guys, make a campfire…”

To be fair, Carroll had never heard such an unpleasant voice. Even Angelo's hoarse, duck-like voice was much better than Baum's. His throat was also diseased, and he was speaking almost entirely in a breathy voice, sounding like fingernails scratching glass—hollow, sharp, and extremely grating.

But at this moment, this jarring sound filled the two middle-aged men with an overwhelming sense of shame. They suddenly realized that they weren't much better looking than the person in front of them.

To make up for their guilt, people will subconsciously start talking.

"What kind of instrument are you wearing, a desk piano?"

A rope did indeed hang from Baum's exceptionally thick neck, from which dangled a round, plucked musical instrument. It was sandwiched between his completely deformed, greasy, and filthy flesh, almost becoming one with him.

He froze, then with great effort lowered his head, glanced at it, and revealed an expression that was hard to tell whether to cry or laugh.

“Yes,” he said slowly, stroking the piano with his large, deformed fingers. “I used to…like this.”

----

"He had the most perfect voice, as if it had been kissed by God. It was husky, deep, and magnetic. Logan invited him to be the resident singer at the bar, and he didn't refuse. Business was always booming when he was there."

"Later, he fell in love with a hunter's daughter, and they moved to the village together. Anyway, he was Logan's man, and the Thunderfury gang wouldn't make things too difficult for him; life was pretty good..."

The silence from Hei Zhang made Zhang Renfeng realize that a turning point was about to arrive.

At first, no one took it seriously; the illness of Baum's wife and children seemed like nothing more than an ominous sign. People preferred to believe it was a curse from the devil rather than an epidemic.

The twisting and deformity of his body, along with the increasingly frail wife and children, cast a shadow of death over this family.

“At the time, a fuel company moved into Fortress Mountain and began mining inside the mountain… Baum insisted that they had done something during the mining that polluted the water sources.”

Logan said in a deep voice, “When you came here, you saw that river, right? That was the lower reaches of the river, where the flow was quite slow, almost still. But its source is actually somewhere in the Fortress Mountains. He insists that there is a problem with the water source in the mountains. And those miners hired by the fuel company should be responsible for the current situation of their wives and children.”

"A fuel company?" Zhang Renfeng thought of an image somewhat similar to Chaidel and asked, "And then what happened?"

"...He traveled everywhere, speaking out for his wife and children, his beautiful voice gradually becoming hoarse from shouting. But it was all in vain; there was no medicine that could cure them, and that fuel company... to put it another way, in this land, the only person with the authority to approve their mining in the mountains was one person."

“Hector Zolael.” Zhang Renfeng’s tone was somewhat heavy.

“Logan and I are both uneducated, rough men. We’re fine with fighting and killing. But when it comes to legal matters, well…” Black Hand sighed. “All I can say is that we did our best to help him, to make the biggest fuss possible. We finally managed to get this local court, which had been closed for who knows how many years, to hold a hearing specifically to try this case.”

Logan remained silent, not uttering a word.

Zhang Renfeng felt a mix of emotions. As he listened, he couldn't help but immerse himself in the story.

too difficult.

In the "Three Horses Zone" controlled by local tyrants, simply knocking on the door of the courthouse was something that required an immense effort to accomplish.

"The other side is a big company. They have a professional defense team. Those lawyers are all dressed to the nines. The prosecutor and jury have long been bribed by Hector. It's a very simple matter. How could a business deal involving hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars be so easily brought down by a bard?"

"They said there was insufficient evidence to prove that Baum's wife and children developed their illnesses because they drank the polluted river water. They claimed there was no causal relationship between the two events and that Baum was a shameless scoundrel who wanted to exploit his deformed wife and children to extort a large sum of money from a big company."

"Then……"

Logan paused for a moment, then said with emotion, "He did something that I still remember vividly to this day."

"He took out a bottle filled with river water, which he had collected from the lower reaches of the river. In front of everyone, he drank the water in one gulp."

“Now, I’m proving it to you with my own body! If you don’t accept this proof, I’ll just die with them!”—These were his exact words at the time.

----

“Since you’re already here, why not play a tune?” Calaway said with a smile.

“…No, thank you.” Baum paused for a moment, narrowed his almost closed eyes, and politely declined, “I have an appointment with someone else to play again…”

"It's in another world."

Chapter 336: The True Form of the Demon?

Just then, a strange yet very deep chanting sound came from the direction of the village.

“He’s back.” Baum turned around and glanced in the direction of the village. “I’d better… hurry back.”

“Wait, what’s that…” Mike, having spent so many years in the underworld, was well-informed and experienced, which was his greatest asset. Almost instantly, he grasped the crucial information, “It’s [Bear Song]!”

"Huh?" Calaway clearly didn't know.

“Some Native Americans regard bears as their gods. They believe they are the bravest and most lovable animals in the world.” Mike quickly perked up and nodded. “Interesting. A Native American, appearing on land near the Mexican border, performing a shamanic ritual for a group of sick people… What kind of spirit is that? It’s so interesting!”

The long wait finally paid off; the angler who had been staking out his spot for almost a whole night finally caught his fish.

“Come on, Baum.” Mike waved and, not wanting to waste Baum’s kindness, packed all the canned corn Baum had brought into his satchel. “Take us to meet our new friends in this village!”

……