Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

"Oh----!!!"

"Success, success!"

As the door opened, a burst of enthusiastic applause erupted from within. The gang members were gathered around the sofa, some clapping, others stomping their feet. The youngest, Alana, had even jumped onto the sofa and hugged the old ghost, Calaway.

Calaway and Alana went on this long trip together. Calaway, who earned the nickname "Kid," was a lock-picker in his youth. In Jack's gang, besides being a gunman, he also served as a locksmith, just like Alana now.

After leaving Jack's gang, he repurposed his underworld skills for criminal investigation, serving as the sheriff of San Quintucker for a time. Although he appeared composed and adept at his role as sheriff, deep down, he remained the same imp who craved excitement, passion, and adventure.

Similarly, he and Alana hit it off immediately in terms of professional skills. Their relationship grew even closer through their exchanges of expertise.

At the same time, a strange smell made Igor frown. As a cook, he was even more sensitive to the odors emanating from pots and pans.

Next, his eyebrows furrowed high, and he exclaimed, "Gunpowder? What are you burning?!"

"Hahaha, chef, you don't understand, do you? Today I'll show you what real old cowboys eat."

Calaway looked quite smug. He simply nodded to Zhang Renfeng, then grinned and jumped off the sofa, laughing without restraint, "'Winter Wildness - Black Powder Roasted Meat'! When roaming the grasslands, the old cowboys would camp in the wild. Boom! Once the flames were lit, only real men, tough guys, could enjoy this hearty dish!"

"Hongzhong, there's no tougher guy here than you. You'll be the first to taste it in a bit!"

His steps were a little unsteady; clearly, he was enjoying his semi-drunken state and the unprecedentedly enthusiastic atmosphere.

Of course, even if he was slightly tipsy, Calaway wouldn't actually use gunpowder as a condiment. The "black powder" he referred to was actually a seasoning mixed with pepper, which, once infused with flavor, did indeed have a wild taste. After confirming that the stuff wasn't poisonous, Igor breathed a sigh of relief.

But Zhang Renfeng couldn't accept the invitation. With a quick thought, he joined the celebrating crowd, standing on tiptoe to see what it was that had everyone so excited.

As a result, he couldn't help but widen his eyes and let out a swear-filled exclamation.

……

Surrounded by the crowd and enjoying the star treatment, was a blonde girl with only one arm.

Back in Windhaven, Old Zhang used this dirty, one-armed beggar as a starting point, meticulously unraveling the mystery until he ultimately killed Custer and Ilyn Payne, uncovering a massive case. He also sent all the accomplices on that ship to meet Satan.

After that, the one-armed girl returned to White Torch Town with the others.

But one thing led to another. After returning to White Torch Town, the Sanma Town incident occurred. The entire Red Central Gang rushed to the southern border of New Orleans to settle the matter.

During this time, Gordon was in charge of the one-armed girl's accommodation.

It wasn't until this house was built and the Red Center Gang returned to their old haunts that they remembered this person existed. All the girls were sent back according to their districts, except for this one-armed girl, who couldn't be effectively communicated due to language barriers and therefore couldn't be sent back.

Once it was sent, it has been in transit until now.

……

The girl seemed a little embarrassed, having rarely been surrounded by so many people, and bit her lip slightly, but the joy in her eyes was undeniable.

Humans are born with the instinct to sense atmosphere, and even a girl this young is no exception.

When I was in Fengxi Harbor, the environment around me was a depressing world that devoured people without spitting out their bones.

Anyone with a sound mind could sense the danger, and so the girl acted and spoke like a trembling mouse. There, a human life was not much more valuable than an animal's; if someone was killed, they could be dragged to some random place and thrown away without anyone asking a question. Self-preservation naturally became the top priority.

Here, surrounded by warm lights and kind faces, the girl finally regained the expression that should be present at her age.

Beneath her long, wavy, golden hair, the girl smiled carefree.

The previously empty right sleeve now has a metal right arm.

Slender, sturdy, and exquisitely crafted, it could even be described as a rare work of art in terms of design.

The prosthetic leg made for Gwen was exquisite, even featuring ball joints, a foot, and toes, but ultimately it was an inanimate object, not much different from attaching a wooden stick in some respects. If it weren't for the financial backer, Ilyn Payne, with his unique aesthetic sense, Tao wouldn't have created such a prosthetic leg.

But this arm has been given functions that ordinary prostheses would never have.

Okay, let's try again.

Surrounded by the crowd, the second protagonist, Tao, said expressionlessly, "See that pull ring? Pull it."

"Click!"

The sound of gears and metal turning.

Then, the five metal fingers suddenly clenched, allowing the armless girl to grab the cup on the table.

……

"Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh—!!!"

This time, everyone cheered.

Zhang Renfeng was no exception.

Chapter 472: Each and Every One Possesses Unique Skills

The girl's face flushed. She stared at the hand that gleamed with a cold metallic light, somewhat astonished, unable to believe it was real.

This is a kind of phantom pain. You think you've lost a limb, but when it regains feeling and you can even pick up a cup steadily, you feel a needle-like pain.

In contrast, Tao reacted calmly, not overwhelmed by the cheers. "Very good, basically feasible. But don't wear it for too long. I've tried to reduce its weight as much as possible, but the material is metal after all. When iron and flesh are connected, there will be friction. If the friction is prolonged, it will cause bleeding."

"I'll leave you some lubricant. Whatever happens, if you feel this prosthetic body is moving a bit too much, just pour some in to lubricate the parts. After you're done, remember to write to the lab, and Aurora will send it to you."

"So you really are a scientist? You're so young!" Xiaomei grew up in the small town of Fengchuishan and lived an ordinary life for fifteen years. She had never seen many proper toys, let alone heard of something like this. She was immediately impressed.

"Jimmy said you invented the time machine. I thought you'd be some kind of weirdo..."

"Cough! Cough cough cough..."

Jimmy, who had been happily sipping his tequila, suddenly choked, patting his chest repeatedly until his face turned bright red. While, in terms of social etiquette, Hongzhong was Jimmy's boss, and he was expected to answer whatever his boss asked, Jimmy also had his own principles regarding his career as a "lawyer."

“It’s a pity that I went too far in that invention. I was so focused on getting to the goal that I didn’t have a solid foundation, which led to the failure.” Tao, however, remained calm and gave Jimmy a polite smile. “No matter the outcome, I’m still very grateful to you. At that time, it took a lot of courage for you to step forward.”

This moment, that moment.

White Torch, the town that once brought Jimmy to his knees and shattered his undefeated record in court, is now a place where he can come and go as he pleases. However, in just a few years, the arrival of the Red Center gang has brought unprecedented fairness and transparency to the legal system of White Torch.

Fate is a truly unpredictable thing.

"This, is it also your work?"

Igor noticed the commotion and took out the ejector dagger, which held great significance for him, from his satchel and placed it on the table.

His expression was somewhat complicated; Laro's eerie smile before his death always flashed through his memory.

"...This is a gift I gave to Hector, who was my investor at the time."

Tao glanced at the short dagger he had made. Through the past few hours of observation, he had roughly figured out the internal workings of the Red Center Gang. This seemingly shortest dwarf was actually the true decision-maker of the entire gang. It was also his idea to invest in him in the first place.

Therefore, when communicating with him, Tao still considered his words somewhat, saying, "It seems that it has found a more suitable new owner."

"Can't we add something similar to this arm?" Alana crouched down, her eyes practically sparkling, just to get a better look at the mechanical structure inside the prosthetic body. "Pull the device on the wrist, and 'whoosh,' a knife shoots out!"

“That’s a hidden blade, nothing new. It was invented hundreds of years ago,” Weapon Master Theon chimed in. “Some members of ancient assassin organizations would cut off their ring fingers and modify them into short swords that could be thrown. When not in use, they would hide them in their sleeves for better concealment.”

Upon hearing this, the person who had been sitting in the corner from the beginning, holding a book and seemingly separated from everyone else by an angelic gaze, stopped reading and silently glanced in their direction.

But he quickly looked away, as if nothing had happened.

“Okay, let’s leave it like this for now. I’ve already applied oil to the prosthetic body, so it should last for a while.” Tao checked the prosthetic body one last time, and since everything was normal, he picked up his toolbox and stood up, saying, “I’ve already prepared the blueprints for the parts, and I can send them to the factory anytime. Just have someone come and pick them up tomorrow morning.”

“Well, actually, regarding this matter…” Zhang Renfeng and Igor exchanged a glance and said, “there have been some changes.”

----

The premise of a balanced approach is that the entire team, from top to bottom, must work together as one, which is exactly what the current Hongzhong Gang is doing.

As soon as Lao Zhang started getting down to business, the room fell silent, no matter how lively it had been just moments before. Everyone's attention was focused on Zhang Renfeng, who recounted the information he had exchanged with his two partners at the Pearl Shell Restaurant to his team members in even more concise language.

After giving the instructions, he sat down in a chair, grabbed a piece of gunpowder-roasted meat that wasn't completely cold, and tentatively took a bite.

Aside from the slightly pungent smell, it was surprisingly not bad. Zhang Renfeng raised an eyebrow slightly, and in no time at all, the whole piece of roasted meat was gone.

"Do we really have to involve outsiders in our plans?"

Mike was always rather conservative, and this time was no exception. Upon hearing that he was going to cooperate with people he knew absolutely nothing about, he frowned. "There's a factory in St. Quintak, and Lagras isn't exactly far, but it's not exactly close either. If all else fails, can't we start using the factory on the outskirts of White Torch?"

“That’s the territory of the Hargunda family, they specialize in producing guns and ammunition.” Before Tao could explain, Theon shook his head, then looked at Tao with eyes full of admiration.

He rarely showed this expression to others.

“Mr. Tao, I have read your design drawings. Dunn’s factory can only make revolvers, pistols and rifle parts at most, in large quantities. But the specifications, shapes and precision of the parts you designed are beyond what these arms dealers can meet.”

Theon is indeed a gunsmith, but his primary job in the team is actually more about upgrading weapons and ammunition.

Hand grenades, Mauser pistols, incendiary bombs, high-velocity bullets, high-explosive bombs... all sorts of weapons were disassembled and reassembled in his hands, giving birth to new weapons with a destructive power far exceeding that of ordinary gangs.

The Red Center Gang was able to wipe out the Three Horses Town, which outnumbered them by a hundred times, with only eight men. Old Zhang's miraculous intervention was certainly a major factor. However, the real key to victory was the weapon that Theon had developed after his setback, capable of inflicting massive damage in a short period of time.

Those who can earn the mutual respect of masters are naturally masters themselves.

Back when he first saw Gwen's prosthetic leg in Windhaven, he was secretly amazed—the person who could design such a thing must be either a genius or a madman; it was simply too audacious.

It now seems that when one's intelligence far surpasses that of their peers, the difference between the two may not be so significant in the eyes of others.

“Stop, you two, stop. Now that I think about it, I didn’t even ask…” Calaway interrupted.

"What big project are we planning to undertake?"

Chapter 473: Castle, Dungeon, Forest

Tao didn't go into too much detail about the mechanical operating principles, because he knew no one would understand.

He simply told the members of the Red Center Gang in the most concise and straightforward language that he was designing a completely new vehicle that had never been seen before.

From design to assembly, to experimentation, to production, and finally to stable output and a large-scale market, every step is something no one can ask for help; you have to build it up step by step on your own.

Vehicles propelled by external power have existed before. Trains and ships, for example, have long been invented, but vehicles propelled by burning gasoline are a first.

Even though there are no precedents to follow, it's not entirely incomprehensible. Some things are quite clear—for example, the production of spare parts can only be achieved by actual factories.

This is unlike Theon building weapons, where most parts are interchangeable; you can just take a few parts from here and patch them up there to assemble a new gun.

They were discussing assembling thousands, or even tens of thousands, of parts into a vehicle weighing nearly a ton that could be driven by a person.

There are countless difficulties involved, and we have to figure it out by trial and error. The cost of trial and error will be unimaginably high.

Even if the Red Center Gang were willing to pay, it would definitely not work out to rely on this "small workshop with strong ingredients" approach again.

Zhang Renfeng had land, manpower, and money, but he couldn't conjure up a factory. Sanma Town, in particular, hadn't yet transitioned from a plantation economy. The newly acquired land was utterly useless in addressing this problem.

In response, Igor concluded that in order to make this happen, they could no longer rely on small-scale gang fights; they had to bring it into the open and recruit more people!

After making their decision, the two headed straight to White Torch and brought along their long-lost business partners, the current mayor of White Torch, Dunn, and the banker, Mesvid. They were tasked with gathering information to find out where there were factories that met the required production standards.

These two partners were quite dedicated, and after careful selection, they chose two civilized cities based on the premise of being close to the south.

Saint Quintac, and Lagras.

……

"Won't there be any problems having them manufacture these parts?" Xiaomei, who had spent more time with Mike, also picked up his cautious nature and asked worriedly, "For example, they might imitate our product in the process, right?"

“There’s no need to worry about that. We only need to commission them to produce and process a portion of the parts. What we’ve given them are just the individual diagrams of these parts. Without assembling them together, they simply won’t understand them,” Tao explained. “To give you an example, a human body has 206 bones in total. Lagras produced half of them. But the half they have isn’t connected, so they can’t assemble a complete human body.”

"Once you actually try it, you'll find that it's incredibly difficult for someone who has no knowledge of anatomy."

"More importantly, Mr. Jimmy has already patented the engine, the most important part of all the components."

All eyes immediately turned to Jimmy. This genuine admiration made the sly lawyer a little embarrassed, so he patted his not-so-firm chest and laughed, "Don't worry~~~ I've already stumbled once in this matter, there will definitely be no second time!"

"So, we're going to a big city again..." Alana pouted, clearly having been traumatized by her previous two trips to big cities.

The first time was in White Torchtown, where he encountered the manipulative cannibal Wendigo; the second time was in San Quintak, where he met an Italian who liked to feed people to crocodiles—both were heavyweight contenders. Then, they encountered the even heavier Red Center, and both were taken down.

She had never had a good impression of big cities, and this had only intensified since returning from Windhaven. This was because the vast majority of Castor's regular customers were "sophisticated" patrons from big cities.

“I specifically asked Dunn and Mesvid, and it seems that the mayor’s reputation is alright…” At this point, Zhang Renfeng found it amusing again and shook his head self-deprecatingly.

Ultimately, is public opinion really a reliable indicator?

If you believed that kind of stuff, Wendigo was a universally acknowledged good person, the kind who'd make the newspapers. Before his shady dealings were completely exposed, who would have thought he was such a smooth talker?

"We're going to talk business with him, not to fight anyone. Just remember that." That was the only way he could convince himself. "As for what kind of person Hans Humphrey is, that's not within our scope of investigation. Unless something unexpected happens, let's not cause any trouble."

Every place has its own rules. Even a powerful dragon can't suppress a local snake. Besides, the Red Center Gang can't be considered a powerful dragon; it's just an ordinary bandit gang.

Of course, the premise of avoiding unnecessary complications is that "there are no unexpected situations".

Based on Zhang Renfeng's understanding of himself, given his troublesome nature, he could still have a wonderful vacation in Dover Valley. This trip to Lagras… it's hard to imagine what will happen in the end.

I hope everything goes well.