“You’re saying the guild leader of Deer Hunter brought a newcomer over today to modify a weapon, and even wanted this newcomer to join the battle team—”
Bai Liu raised his eyebrows in slight surprise.
“—and this newcomer said he could join the Deer Hunter team, but his only condition for joining was that you modify a weapon for me?”
Hua Ganjiang wiped the corner of his mouth. “Yes. This newcomer knew I was the best modifier in the game. His requirement was that I had to modify a weapon for you, and it had to be modified to suit you, significantly increasing your combat power and defense.”
Hua Ganjiang’s gaze fell on Bai Liu’s hands. “The idea of modifying your wallet into gloves was also proposed by this newcomer.”
“He wanted you to have a pair of black leather gloves that could perfectly wrap around your hands, be suitable for using a whip, allow you to draw paper currency at any time, and not be easily damaged.”
“In order to recruit this newcomer into the guild, our guild leader agreed to his outrageous request.”
At this point, a trace of anger involuntarily appeared on Hua Ganjiang’s face, but he quickly suppressed it.
“To fulfill that newcomer’s request, the guild leader negotiated with your investor, Charles. Originally, the agreement was that I would modify a weapon for you alone. But later, after being worn down by that fellow Charles, the guild leader actually agreed to let me modify weapons for your entire team!”
“For a weapon modifier exclusive to one guild, this is a disgrace and a betrayal!”
Bai Liu loosened the hands pressing Hua Ganjiang down. “But you still agreed.”
A breath of murky air was lightly blocked in Hua Ganjiang’s chest by Bai Liu’s words. He lowered his head in defeat. “...Yes. I cannot defy the guild leader’s orders.”
He paused, then added, “Even if you take my soul, I will not serve anyone outside the Deer Hunter guild. You might as well kill me.”
Bai Liu looked up at Liu Jiayi beside him, giving her an inquiring look. Liu Jiayi sighed and shook her head at him, indicating that he could stop.
—Just as Hua Ganjiang had said, he would rather die than serve anyone outside the guild.
Unlike the large number of reserve team members being cultivated, and unlike data analysts like Wang Shun who communicated with many people, a guild’s control over its modifiers was extraordinary. Even if Bai Liu obtained Hua Ganjiang’s soul, forcing this iron-hard, unyielding man to compromise would be extremely difficult.
Unlike players, whose desires remained constant, the desires and souls of modifiers had long since merged with all things through prolonged tempering and refinement, becoming impenetrable. They did not communicate with people; they communicated only with the red-hot weapons of desire beneath their hands. They were existences for whom the tool outweighed the person.
And the guild they belonged to was the tool they most enjoyed crafting. Otherwise, a modifier would not choose to remain in that guild.
A modifier would never betray the “tool,” much less the guild he had built with his own hands. Therefore, they were the most loyal existences within a guild.
Hua Ganjiang was the best modifier, so he was naturally the toughest bone among them.
If Mu Shicheng had not controlled the apprentice from the very beginning, this man definitely would not have said a single word.
After receiving Liu Jiayi’s signal, Bai Liu calmly changed his tone. “I won’t ask you to serve us indefinitely. We only want to know why.”
“You want to protect your guild, and I want to protect the members of my guild.” Bai Liu smiled. “Can you tell me some useful information? For example, who was that newcomer who asked you to modify a weapon for me?”
This did not involve the guild’s core secrets. After all, team members would eventually be brought out to meet the public.
Hua Ganjiang hesitated for a long while before finally choosing to speak. “I don’t know exactly who he is. When the guild leader brought him over, he was wearing a mask completely covered in blood.”
“But that man’s skill weapon is a very long, green plastic toy gun.”
Bai Liu slowly toyed with the long hook beside the furnace. “Mr. Hua, this kind of information isn’t enough to send us away.”
Hua Ganjiang gritted his teeth and continued, “I won’t tell you what his skill is, but I can tell you what happened during the modification.”
“The material of that gun was very strange. It looked like a plastic toy trumpet gun, and after it was put into the magma, it dissolved in less than a dimensional second.”
Hua Ganjiang frowned, sinking into the memory. “I’ve modified many weapons, but I had never seen such a strange weapon, or such a strange weapon owner. Even though the weapon had already dissolved, that person simply sat nearby, humming a song as if he didn’t care at all.”
“I had no choice. In order to fish the weapon out, I had to keep throwing in materials, trying to saturate the solubility of the magma so the gun would precipitate out.”
As he spoke, a pained expression appeared on Hua Ganjiang’s face. “—Half a warehouse of materials was thrown in, and the magma didn’t react at all. Only then did I realize something was wrong.”
“Those materials weren’t being dissolved. They were being eaten by that gun!”
“I kept throwing in more materials until the guild’s warehouse was emptied, and the gun still wasn’t satisfied. In the end, the guild leader had no choice but to go to Charles to buy new materials. That was how he got in touch with Charles.”
Hua Ganjiang let out a long breath. “Charles agreed to supply us with a large amount of materials for free, but at the same time requested that I modify the weapons for your entire team.”
“That day, I kept throwing in materials. I even threw in quite a few fragments cut from skill weapons, but that gun still didn’t precipitate out. It was like an enormous black hole, never satisfied as it devoured the desires and souls of others.”
“...I had never seen such a greedy skill weapon.”
Hua Ganjiang looked dazedly at the fiery red furnace. “Finally, the guild leader obtained a piece of dirty wallet leather from Charles, saying it was a remnant from the preliminary modification of your weapon.”
“I threw that piece of leather in, and the magma boiled. I saw the dissolved remains of that gun gather and layer themselves around that piece of leather, like crystal nuclei precipitating out of a saturated solution.”
Hua Ganjiang looked up at Bai Liu, his voice dry. “When my magma was almost burned dry, a sniper rifle condensed at the bottom of the pot—one that made me feel afraid just by looking at it.”
“If the process of forging your gloves made me [N O V E L I G H T] feel controlled, then the feeling that gun gave me was like staring into a bottomless hole. With just one look, my soul would be consumed, never to return.”
Tang Erda, who had been silent off to the side, suddenly caught his breath.
Bai Liu put down the long hook. As if sensing something, he stroked the metal ring at the opening of his glove with two fingers and narrowed his eyes.
Hua Ganjiang noticed Bai Liu’s gaze and gave a long sigh. “It seems you’ve guessed it. That’s right. The metal ring on your glove is a material from that gun.”
“And it isn’t remnant material. It is the core material.”
“That newcomer with the blood-stained mask asked me what materials were needed for the glove modification after he received that gun. Gloves are very difficult to modify as non-offensive skill weapons. That newcomer was indifferent to the modification process of his own weapon, but he was extremely concerned about yours.”
“I said that if your wrist strength wasn’t good enough, gloves generally had to prioritize lightness. But in that case, most high-level materials could not be used on your gloves, because they would be too heavy, and therefore the basic stats of the gloves could not be improved.”
Hua Ganjiang took a deep breath. “After hearing me say that, he asked me whether his gun would be high-level enough if it were used as material.”
“I said it was enough. Completely enough. But your gun is already a fully modified gun. No matter where you take a part from, it will destroy the integrity of your weapon.”
“And at that time, he had already established a soul connection with the fully modified weapon. The weapon was an extension of himself. If a piece was forcibly gouged out of the gun body, even if it was only a scrap, he would feel the pain as if it were his own flesh.”
“But he said, why give you scraps?” Hua Ganjiang’s expression twisted as if he were seeing a monster. “Then that man gouged out his own gun core, threw it into the magma, and left.”
“...During that period, I refined many weapons, but his gun core seemed to have truly dissolved. There was no reaction at all.”
Hua Ganjiang looked at the metal ring at the edge of Bai Liu’s glove with a complicated gaze. “But today, the moment your gloves came out of the furnace and I saw this metal ring, I knew it was the material from his gun core.”
Bai Liu was silent for a moment, then stood. “Mr. Hua Ganjiang, I make a promise in the name of Bai Liu: after this cooperation, I will not use your soul to do anything that violates your original intentions. In return, I hope you will do everything in your power to modify the weapons for my team members this time.”
After saying that, Bai Liu waved his hand. Mu Shicheng stared suspiciously at Hua Ganjiang for a few seconds before loosening the claws that had been controlling the apprentice.
The apprentice collapsed limply to the ground, exhausted. He shrank into a ball in fear as he looked at these people.
Hua Ganjiang looked at Bai Liu, who had released him so readily, in astonishment. After a long pause, he gave a soft “chih” and replied, “Taking someone’s money means handling their affairs. People have sins, but tools do not. No matter what you have done, your weapons are innocent.”
“I won’t hold your wrongdoings against the tools. I will naturally treat them well.”
Bai Liu nodded in appreciation, then said with a smile, “Of course. Besides that, I have one more presumptuous request for Mr. Hua Ganjiang.”
“I hope to place an external order with the appraisers of the King’s Guild in your name.”
Hua Ganjiang asked, “What do you want appraised?”
Bai Liu crossed his hands, his gaze dark and unreadable. “This pair of gloves on my hands.”
Hua Ganjiang understood and took over the rest of his words. “—And all the weapons modified by me, right? Fine. You can have whatever you want appraised. I’ll help you place the order.”
After saying that, the modifier whose soul was no longer in his own hands patted his backside and stood up, then pulled his limp apprentice to his feet.
The man acted as though nothing had happened. He grabbed the monkey claws Mu Shicheng had used to hold his apprentice hostage, put on a magnifying glass, and began studying them seriously.
Bai Liu sat in the corner, lowering his eyes to examine the pair of gloves on his hands. At some point, Tang Erda had come to stand behind him. His voice was hoarse when he spoke.
“...It’s Joker.”
“Yes, I guessed as much,” Bai Liu said. “But I don’t understand his reason for doing this for me. Joker shouldn’t know me right now.”
“And yet his every action suggests that he knows me particularly well...” Bai Liu half-closed his eyes. “If Joker knows what my skill is and understands what I would do, then his act of having this modifier proactively modify a weapon for me is very much like gift-wrapping this modifier and delivering him to me.”
Tang Erda said in a deep voice, “Joker knows you can use your skill to control this modifier.”
Bai Liu tugged at the edge of his glove and pulled it down, looking thoughtfully at the metal ring along the glove’s edge. “And this material too. He proactively integrated and prepared the best materials, then waited for me to come and receive them.”
“I know what he did. The question is, why did he do it?”
Tang Erda said, “If this were another worldline, I would know why Joker would do this.”
Bai Liu looked up at him.
“The best materials, the best modifier...” Tang Erda sighed, his heart filled with complicated emotions. “The Joker of other worldlines always dedicated the best to you, because in his eyes, only the best could be worthy of you.”
—
