Chapter 40: Quite the Lucky Man
Su Xiao initially thought that what the Mechanic Girl meant by "going broke" was a metaphor, but after spending nearly 1 million Paradise Coins and the repair progress of the Devouring Annihilation Sniper Rifle only reaching 63%, he knew he would have to sell off some assets this time.
The first thing Su Xiao considered was selling the Duke of Annihilation. The power of this gun was far inferior to Devouring Annihilation. However, as a Gold quality sniper rifle enhanced to +13, it wasn't that easy to sell.
The Duke of Annihilation was originally mounted on city walls for dragon hunting. Its weight and recoil were as one could imagine. In fact, it was essentially a sniper cannon that wasn't very convenient to move.
Su Xiao could use this thing flexibly because his three melee attributes far exceeded those of contractors of the same rank. The previous owner had equipped the Duke of Annihilation with a buffer device. Once the buffer device's lifespan reached its limit, they quickly sold off the Duke of Annihilation and replaced it with a Legendary quality sniper rifle that had slightly more power but a range of about 1,000 meters shorter.
At the headquarters of the Divine Emperor Adventure Group, Su Xiao was sitting opposite the Divine Emperor himself. On the coffee table between them lay a sniper cannon over three meters long.
"Heh, heh..."
A bald man twitched the corner of his mouth. Although the tattoos on his bald head made him look somewhat fierce, his expression was now full of helplessness.
"The power is beyond reproach, and it's a rare weapon with an enhancement level of +13."
The Divine Emperor spoke, but the bald man standing beside him looked even more helpless.
"Leader, without a hydraulic buffer device, this thing will kill people..."
"..."
The Divine Emperor was clearly taken aback. Although he had some understanding of sniper rifles, he wasn't a professional in this field.
"Is it that serious?"
"If I'm not mistaken, in terms of recoil alone, if you sniped from an ordinary civilian house, after one shot, wherever you hid to snipe would collapse. For military buildings... maybe they could withstand three shots of recoil."
This bald man obviously knew his stuff and immediately identified the drawback of the Duke of Annihilation. This was originally a weapon not meant for human use.
"The recoil is indeed significant, but I've used this thing to snipe and kill the Ant King in a few shots. The power is absolutely reliable."
"That's true," the bald man gave the Divine Emperor a look, indicating that this was indeed the case.
"Since that's the case, Brother Bai Ye, name your price."
"1 million."
"At most 700,000. For an ordinary +13 Gold quality weapon, 1 million is indeed a friendly price, but the recoil of this gun..."
"950,000, including 115 regular rounds and 50 elemental rounds."
"Deal."
Under the bald man's 'desperate' gaze, the Divine Emperor bought the Duke of Annihilation for 950,000 and then promised the bald man to assign him a healer to ensure his safety.
Hearing their conversation, Su Xiao silently stood up and left. Using the Duke of Annihilation actually required a healer, which clearly indicated insufficient physical toughness. When he used the Duke of Annihilation, his biggest concern was whether the building he was in was sturdy enough, not whether his body could withstand the recoil.
Of course, the Duke of Annihilation was now history. When Su Xiao returned to the Mechanic Girl's workshop, she was lying on a small bed surrounded by metal parts, fast asleep, with Devouring Annihilation hugged in her arms—no, she was straddling it.
"Hey, wake up."
After two friendly slaps, the Mechanic Girl bit down on Su Xiao's hand.
Ten minutes later, the Mechanic Girl spat out mouthwash and rinsed the toothpaste foam from the corner of her mouth with clean water, looking much more refreshed.
"Got the Paradise Coins together?"
"Of course."
"Good, I'll notify them to ship it. Those green-skinned ones are typical—no profit, no action. Without payment, they have nothing. But if you give them enough compensation, they can even capture a princess from a fallen kingdom in the void for you. How about it? Want me to get you one? 300,000 Paradise Coins."
The Mechanic Girl put down a communication device that looked like an old-fashioned telegraph machine. She was now wearing a white vest, with Devouring Annihilation placed on the workbench in front of her. As she exerted force with her hands, the outlines of muscles gradually bulged on her back. The Mechanic Girl was no softie—if she lacked strength, how could she assemble machinery or large weapons?
"How long will it take?"
"After all, it's a living person. At least half a month."
"..." Su Xiao suddenly remembered that they had been discussing the matter of the fallen kingdom's princess. "I meant, how long to repair this gun."
"At most one hour. I have the authority here. Those green-skinned ones can teleport the goods directly."
As soon as the Mechanic Girl finished speaking, a dull clang came from the metal box in the corner of her room. "See, it's here."
The Mechanic Girl skillfully unsealed it, confirmed there were no issues, and then began disassembling Devouring Annihilation. Su Xiao observed carefully. For a long time afterward, he would be using Devouring Annihilation in battle, and disassembly was inevitable. However, the gun's construction was too complex. Without careful observation, Su Xiao couldn't disassemble it proficiently.
Two hours later, Su Xiao left the Mechanic Girl's workshop. Devouring Annihilation's durability had become a full 97/97. He now had 160,000 Paradise Coins left.
Most of the Paradise Coins were used to repair this Epic quality sniper rifle, with part of them used to purchase bullets. Initially, Su Xiao planned to buy bullets for [Devouring Annihilation] from Reincarnation Paradise, but the result was 6,800 Paradise Coins per bullet.
Su Xiao thought he had misread at first, but he quickly accepted this harsh reality. Fortunately, the Mechanic Girl could smuggle '12.67mm Special Energy Ammunition' for Devouring Annihilation from the void, priced at 2,300 Paradise Coins per bullet—nearly three times cheaper than Reincarnation Paradise. Su Xiao bought 100 rounds in total.
Devouring Annihilation had no special ammunition. In other words, the gun's power was already formidable enough; using special ammunition would be gilding the lily.
Su Xiao tried pulling the bolt of Devouring Annihilation. Although this over-two-meter-long sniper rifle had considerable recoil, it was still a high-tech weapon. Even with recoil, it wouldn't be as exaggerated as the Duke of Annihilation.
Just as Su Xiao was about to return to his Exclusive Room to handle the remaining matters, a familiar figure approached.
Seeing Su Xiao, the newcomer couldn't help but smile—a genuine smile from the heart.
"Brother Bai Ye, long time no see."
The newcomer was none other than Umbrella Brother, the one who had placed the green crown on Stan.
"Yeah, it has been a while."
"..."
"..."
The scene was awkwardly silent because... Stan's wife was also there. Ah, no, she was now his ex-wife. The people from Blood Gate had nothing to do with Stan anymore. This was actually a choice Stan made himself—once he fell, everyone would have nothing to do with him. This was one of the benefits of a community of interests: when the group collapsed, the people below wouldn't all be wiped out.
"Quite the lucky man."
Su Xiao looked at Stan's wife, Neluoyi, and smiled. Seeing his smile, Neluoyi recalled their battle in the basement. Blue arcs of electricity flashed, a Blade Grandmaster who teleported almost non-stop, immune to control, unkillable in one hit, with attack power more perverse than a warrior specializing in strength and agility. One slash dealt at least over 400 True Damage, plus subsequent slashing damage, blade edge damage, and living creature cutting damage—a mess of damage mechanisms. And every slash was like that. Neluoyi endured three slashes and almost knelt.
"What lucky man."
Umbrella Brother was somewhat helpless. In fact, his relationship with Neluoyi was purer than outsiders imagined.