Chapter 5: Gunfire
Mia nodded, but immediately shook her head.
In the Waste Terminal Station, one thing was the most scarce: food. Those drifters who didn’t produce anything and only survived by scavenging were basically always on the brink of starvation.
Su Xiao pulled out a few compressed biscuits from his chest pocket. This was his emergency food supply.
He had observed that in the distance beyond the ‘Waste Terminal Station,’ there was a forest. With a gun in hand, he wouldn’t have to worry about food.
Mia timidly took a compressed biscuit. She had never seen this kind of food before.
Under Su Xiao’s guidance, Mia peeled open the compressed biscuit and took a cautious bite.
“Delicious~.”
The girl, who had been starving for a whole day, wolfed it down.
“Your name is Mia, right? Take me out of here, and these biscuits are yours.”
After finishing the compressed biscuit in her hand, Mia stared straight at the few remaining biscuits in Su Xiao’s hand and swallowed.
“Alright, but you can’t hurt me.”
Su Xiao didn’t answer her. Instead, he slipped out of the dilapidated house. Mia, having recovered a bit, followed closely behind.
“Where are you going? You’re not a resident of the ‘Waste Terminal Station,’ are you?”
Su Xiao suddenly stopped in his tracks, a cold glint flashing in his eyes. He threw one of the compressed biscuits onto the ground and then crushed it under his foot.
“Take me out of here. Don’t ask anything else.”
If the girl Mia showed any sign of abnormality, Su Xiao’s hand, gripping the gun tightly, would aim at her forehead.
Mia was startled by Su Xiao’s action and stepped back a few paces.
“O-Okay.”
Mia dared not say another word and quickly walked ahead.
“Take me to the entrance of the ‘Goa Kingdom.’”
Su Xiao vigilantly scanned his surroundings, occasionally spotting drifters with fierce looks in their eyes. Those drifters immediately withdrew their greedy gazes upon noticing the gun in Su Xiao’s hand.
Recalling the intelligence he had gathered from the anime, Su Xiao began to think about his next move.
The so-called ‘Waste Terminal Station’ was essentially a massive garbage dump. Because the ‘Goa Kingdom’ dumped a large amount of household waste outside the city, this scene had come to be.
Those drifters with fierce eyes were originally residents of the ‘Goa Kingdom.’ These people had either committed serious crimes or offended nobles and were thus driven here.
The rotting garbage produced a toxic blue smoke that spread throughout the ‘Waste Terminal Station,’ constantly eroding the lives of the drifters.
The most obvious sign was that Su Xiao’s health had dropped from 100% to 98%.
In the ‘Waste Terminal Station,’ there were no doctors, no food. Crime and disease spread here. This was a lawless zone where everything was determined by the strength of power.
With Mia leading the way, Su Xiao quickly walked out of the ‘Waste Terminal Station’ and arrived before a tall wall.
A towering wall built of black stone stood before him, and a small city gate came into Su Xiao’s view.
“I can only go this far. The ‘Goa Kingdom’ has laws. Drifters cannot enter the city. If found, they will be executed.”
Although Mia was talking to Su Xiao, her eyes were fixed on the compressed biscuits in his hand.
Tossing the compressed biscuits to Mia, Su Xiao stopped paying her any attention. Mia immediately ran off. She had only led the way because of the temptation of food, nothing else.
The city gate of the ‘Goa Kingdom’ was wide open, with several guards standing on either side.
This was a side gate, used for the convenience of dumping garbage.
Although the guards seemed lazy, cold glints occasionally flashed in their eyes. These guards had probably killed many people, those drifters who tried to force their way into the city.
Su Xiao hid to the side, not in a hurry to enter the city. He was waiting for the right moment.
A direct fight with those guards was completely impossible. The residents of the One Piece world had exceptionally strong physiques. The girl Mia, after being struck hard by him, had recovered in a short time, which made Su Xiao cautious.
Su Xiao guessed that the guards’ attributes were at least over ten points, possibly even higher.
One hour, two hours. After three hours, it was already noon. The temperature rose rapidly, and the weather became hot. The opportunity Su Xiao had been waiting for finally appeared.
A carriage loaded with household garbage drove out of the city. A pungent, rotting smell spread far and wide. The guards didn’t even look at the carriage; instead, they subconsciously stepped back a few paces.
“Honorable sirs, do you need a routine inspection?”
The coachman stopped the carriage, somewhat afraid of the guards.
“Hurry up and go. It stinks.”
The guards waved their hands in annoyance, showing no intention of inspecting.
Seeing this from a distance, Su Xiao raised an eyebrow and quickly followed the carriage.
After the carriage went deep into the garbage mountain, it found an empty space to start dumping the trash. The coachman, who had been so timid before, now had a dagger conspicuously hanging from his waist. Survival of the fittest was the rule of the ‘Waste Terminal Station.’
Lighting a cigarette to mask the stench, the coachman picked up a shovel and began cleaning the filthy carriage.
While the coachman was busy sweating profusely, Su Xiao, like a wild cat, silently approached behind him. Just as Su Xiao was about to knock the coachman unconscious, he stepped on a half-broken glass cup.
“Crack.” A crisp sound rang out, and the coachman’s body trembled.
Su Xiao was also startled. In this dirty and chaotic ‘Waste Terminal Station,’ the ground was a deep layer of garbage, very soft to step on, making it impossible to detect what was underfoot.
But now, the arrow had to be shot. So Su Xiao lunged forward.
The coachman was no good person either. He turned around, pulled out the dagger from his waist, and stabbed directly at Su Xiao.
The coachman’s fierce expression made Su Xiao understand that the man wanted his life.
Su Xiao’s gaze turned cold. In this mission world, it was either you die or I die. Mercy to the enemy was cruelty to oneself.
Raising the flintlock pistol in his hand, Su Xiao aimed the muzzle at the coachman’s head.
If an ordinary person were pointed at by a gun, they would definitely stop or retreat immediately. But this coachman was different; he lunged even faster.
Expressionless, Su Xiao pulled the trigger. The hammer at the back of the gun struck the flint, sparks flew out, the gunpowder in the barrel was ignited, and a large amount of gunpowder burning in the confined space released powerful kinetic energy. With the burst of firelight and smoke, the bullet in the barrel shot out.
“Bang.”
Thick smoke rose, and a pungent smell of gunpowder spread. A lead bullet directly embedded itself into the coachman’s head. The coachman’s forward-charging figure came to an abrupt halt, was knocked back two meters, twitched a couple of times, and then died.
[Tip: You have killed a Black Market Merchant.]
[Your talent ‘Soul Devourer’ has been activated, permanently increasing Mana Points by 5. Current Mana Points: 65.]
[You have obtained a Treasure Chest (White).]
[This is your first time killing an enemy. Storage Space has been opened (2 cubic meters). After returning to Reincarnation Paradise, the Storage Space can be upgraded in size using Paradise Coins.]
The notification from Reincarnation Paradise made Su Xiao realize that this was not a coachman at all, but a Black Market Merchant, probably using the coachman’s identity to conduct some kind of transaction within the Waste Terminal Station.
After the Black Market Merchant died, a wooden chest floated above his corpse. The chest was entirely white and only the size of a palm.
Su Xiao tried to pick up the wooden chest floating in mid-air. Although it was only palm-sized, it was heavy in his hand.
[Treasure Chest (White). Yes/No to open?]
Su Xiao did not open the [Treasure Chest]. Instead, he put the [Treasure Chest] and the [Worn-out Flintlock Pistol] into his Storage Space.
With a thought, the [Worn-out Flintlock Pistol] appeared in his hand. Su Xiao was very satisfied with the newly appeared Storage Space. It was a very practical function. If he used this ability well, it would greatly help him complete his mission.
This place was not safe, so Su Xiao chose not to open the [Treasure Chest (White)]. What if, after opening the chest, it gave off a brilliant golden light? That would put him in danger. The priority now was to enter the capital city of the ‘Goa Kingdom.’
Su Xiao took off his shirt and put on the clothes of the Black Market Merchant.
After a moment of hesitation, Su Xiao threw himself directly into the puddle of dirty water on the ground. A foul stench hit him. His clothes and face were stained with large patches of sewage, making his features unrecognizable.
Sitting in front of the carriage, Su Xiao somewhat clumsily controlled the horse and headed towards the city.
At this moment, he was holding a dagger, the one from the Black Market Merchant. But this dagger was somewhat different from what he had imagined.