Meanwhile, just as Chen Jian made the decision to regard the entire Han Shui City as a potential threat and hypothetical enemy, on the other side, Xu Lie also returned to his residence.
Contrary to what he had claimed, there were not only his four team members in the house, but also a man cloaked in a cape and hood, whose face was obscured.
Seeing Xu Lie enter, the man standing on the left immediately asked:
"How did it go? What's their attitude?"
Xu Lie shook his head and replied:
"Couldn't discern any clear attitude."
"However, they outright rejected my proposal for 'voluntary exposure.'"
"I think they still want to remain hidden and are not keen on joining any faction—even the Mechanical God Sect, with whom they share more common ground, doesn't seem akin to them."
"These chosen ones are truly independent, or perhaps they indeed have their own mission."
"Nevertheless, this is good news for us."
"As long as they don't side with the Mechanical God Sect, they won't pose a threat to us."
"You're mistaken."
The man sighed softly, then said:
"If they indeed are chosen ones with ancient knowledge, or if they are simply specters crawling from myths, their mere existence is already a severe threat."
"Don't be deceived by their small number of four, and their current limited capabilities."
"But the power of those knowledge and that information is limitless."
"One day, they will develop faster than us, and their strength will surpass ours."
"By then, how should we position ourselves?"
"Is there a problem with that?"
Xu Lie, puzzled, frowned and asked back:
"At least from my perspective, the chosen ones have very simple objectives."
"They want to survive, and they want to save this world."
"How is that different from us? Wasn't the founding purpose of the Holy Blood Temple also to achieve these two goals?"
"We have such severe conflicts with the Mechanical God Sect, yet we can coexist, so why not with them?"
"Because even our coexistence with the Mechanical God Sect is temporary."
The man slowed his speech, enunciating word by word:
"This world will eventually be saved, heretics and monsters will eventually be purged."
"By then, who will be the monster?"
"We don't have to be monsters!"
Xie Liu suddenly interjected into the conversation and continued:
"The monks are tirelessly working to reduce the side effects of the holy blood."
"Until one day, the holy blood will no longer be a curse but a blessing."
"We will breed healthy offspring, those children will naturally possess greater strength, more robust bodies, quicker reflexes, and even higher intelligence."
"How can such people be called monsters? They will be... 'the new humans'!"
The man laughed coldly, then harshly said:
"Only the few survive evolution; not everyone can become the Holy Blood. The vast majority of people will always be the old ones!"
"And those old ones? What will they do?"
"Old ones... old ones will be eliminated..."
Xie Liu's voice trailed off.
"Eliminated? Are we eliminating them, or are they eliminating us?"
As the words fell, no one else in the room spoke.
In the silence, everyone seemed to see the inevitable war awaiting, even if it was still a distant horizon.
The man sighed deeply and then said:
"It's too early to talk about this now."
"Our threats remain monsters, heretics, and demons."
"But remember this, our relationship with those chosen ones is purely mutual usage."
"We might be temporary allies."
"But, we will never be friends!"
...
The next day.
Chen Jian finished his last watch shift, packed early, donned his vest, and inserted his Level 3 bulletproof plate.
He didn't use the confiscated Level 5 plate not because it was expired, but rather, even back in his day, composite boron carbide had achieved high chemical inertness, and with the widespread use of Dyneema, the lifespan of plates and body armor had long been significantly extended.
The reason for not using it was simply because its size was too large, and if actually inserted, there would be no way to wear any clothing over it for concealment.
Standing outside, so conspicuously bulky, even a fool would notice they're unusual.
So, better to keep a low profile.
It's unlikely there would be dangerous situations inside the city, and even if there were, the Level 3 plate could protect against most attacks.
After everything was ready, leaving Shen Yue and He Shuo at home, Chen Jian took Lei Jie out for shopping.
Under the guidance of Xu Lie, they initially planned to exchange gold for other commodities, but after a round of looking, they realized it was unnecessary.
The reason was simple.
The things they wanted to buy were expensive.
7.62mm bullets, ordinary quality ones went for 1 gram of gold per two to three rounds, good quality ones for 0.8 grams per round.
You can't just buy a few rounds at a time, right? No matter how low-key, you can't deliberately make the transaction difficult for yourself either.
Buying dozens to hundreds of rounds from a store, in less than an hour, they had already used up over 400 grams of gold, acquiring a total of 600 rounds of 7.62X39 bullets.
That amount was barely enough for Shen Yue to output for one round.
Then, they turned to continue searching for 5.8mm bullets.
According to Chen Jian's own thoughts, as they were still in the domestic realm, 5.8 bullets should be the most plentiful, and 12.7 shouldn't be rare either.
But in reality, 7.62 was considered common, 5.8 was scarce, and 12.7 was nowhere to be seen.
After traversing the entire market, they only managed to buy 120 rounds of 5.8 bullets. According to Xu Lie, if they wanted to continue searching, they would need to venture into alleys to collect from hunters who didn't open for business or Mechanical God Sect clerics.
Chen Jian didn't want to take this risk, so he decided to pause the search.
He focused primarily on explosives like shells, missiles, and grenades, but unfortunately, everyone's thinking here was much like his own.
When fighting carbon-based creatures, who doesn't know bombs work better than bullets?
Good quality ones were either kept for self-use or offered up to the Mechanical God Sect and the City Defense Department, while the remaining ones of poor quality couldn't even be trusted to detonate.
After a round of searching, even though he saw a few more darts, Chen Jian ultimately didn't act again.
However, to Lei Jie, this market was filled with treasures.
Usable circuit boards, welding pens that locals mistook for weapons, batteries that looked corroded externally but whose cells were mostly intact, rolls upon rolls of silver wires sold as metal materials, servo motors clearly still functional from somewhere dismantled...
He relished the joy of scavenging, and when Chen Jian asked why he wanted these things, he had only one answer:
To repair the mecha.
"...Yesterday, I took some time to sort out that exoskeleton; there are almost no missing parts, only some electrical control issues."
"Gather some parts, maybe I can fix it soon."
"But there's a problem now; in this entire market, we can't find batteries compatible with that mecha."
"If we use homemade batteries, the endurance surely wouldn't keep up."
"I'm a bit lost now; what should such a small battery compartment hold? It can't possibly be an isotope battery, right?"
Lei Jie was full of doubts, while Chen Jian shook his head and said:
"Impossible. The energy density of an isotope battery is enough, but the power density definitely isn't..."
"So could it be some small reactor?"
"You might as well suggest something more plausible like a room-temperature superconductor battery, or a metallic hydrogen battery..."
The two discussed as they walked, and Xu Lie, following beside, couldn't understand anything they were saying.
He even developed a feeling he was glimpsing forbidden knowledge.
Listening for an extra second might drive him crazy.
No wonder they didn't avoid him, they knew it was impossible for him to understand.
Never mind understanding, even attempting to remember and recite it later was hopeless...
It wasn't until they were about to exit the market area that Lei Jie finally stopped talking.
Then, he stared intently at an object on a small stall in the corner and said:
"I know what it is."
"An air lithium battery."
"This is the final piece of the puzzle."
"Sadly, this one surely can't be used..."
Seeing Lei Jie's disappointed expression, Chen Jian waved his hand and said:
"If it can't be used, it can't be used; the exoskeleton's issue isn't that urgent."
"The problem now is, we don't have shells, nor does the market."
"But now we have bullets, so I have a new idea."
"Tell me, since those Terror Demons could produce so much artillery, doesn't that mean they actually have more?"
"If we can't buy them... why not just rob them?"