114: Chapter 114 Tactical Shotguns and Portable Flamethrowers

It was nearing noon. Hu Jinsi's stomach began to rumble, and only then did he remember that he hadn't eaten anything since coming out of the instance. He walked into the kitchen, washed the rice, and prepared to cook some simple rice to get by.

The refrigerator was packed with pre-made meals—braised pork ribs, steamed pork with preserved mustard greens, and shredded pork with garlic sauce. There was every flavor imaginable, and they could be eaten after just heating them up.

But just as he pressed the switch on the rice cooker, he remembered that there was more than one mouth to feed in the house now.

He poked his head out and shouted toward the living room, "Xiao Lang! Do you want your lamb chops raw or cooked? Bark once for raw, bark twice for cooked!"

The living room was silent for two seconds. Then, two loud wolf howls pierced through the door, echoing in the hallway.

"Got it, keep it down." Hu Jinsi pulled his head back and muttered, "Quite picky, aren't you."

He opened his backpack, took out a piece of lamb chop, patted the surface with the back of a knife, sprinkled it with salt and cumin, and brushed on a thin layer of olive oil. Then, he dug out the electric griddle, plugged it in, placed the lamb chop inside, and closed the lid.

A sizzling sound soon drifted out of the kitchen. The fat popped under the high heat, and the aroma of the lamb chop, mixed with the spiciness of the cumin and the distinct gamey scent of lamb, flowed into the living room through the cracks in the kitchen door like an invisible tide.

This Direwolf Cub truly couldn't resist. It lifted its nose from the floor, its nostrils flaring violently, and its ears stood up like two antennas. It first stood up slowly, paced to the kitchen entrance, and poked its head in to take a look.

Then, it completely abandoned the reserve expected of a Direwolf Cub, walked straight into the kitchen, and crouched on the floor next to the electric griddle. Its eyes were locked on the machine emitting the aroma, its mouth slightly open, with the tip of its pink tongue peeking out.

Hu Jinsi glanced at it while flipping the lamb chop. The expression made him unable to tell for a moment whether this was a wolf or a dog. Its amber pupils were filled with pure, unmasked longing, and there was even a trail of shiny drool hanging from the corner of its mouth.

"Wait." Hu Jinsi tapped its nose with the spatula. "It's not done yet."

The cub's ears twitched. It didn't back down, but simply rested its chin on its front paws, shifting into a more comfortable position to keep waiting. However, its gaze never left the electric griddle.

A few minutes later, the surface of the lamb chop had fried into a golden-brown crust. Hu Jinsi turned off the power, cut the lamb chop into small pieces, put them into a stainless steel bowl, and pushed it toward Xiaoquan Yilang. He served himself a bowl of rice, took a pre-made meal out of the refrigerator, heated it up, and sat at the dining table to eat.

The man and the wolf each dealt with their lunch. Xiaoquan Yilang's table manners were much more refined than yesterday, but the crunching sound of it chewing on bones was still crisp enough to make one's teeth ache.

It first picked up the meat, placed it on the floor far away from Hu Jinsi, and only then bowed its head to tear into it. This was a display of its food-guarding instinct. Hu Jinsi saw it but didn't intervene. He just silently shoveled rice into his mouth, occasionally picking up a piece of braised pork rib to eat.

Just as lunch was halfway through, the doorbell rang.

...

Hu Jinsi put down his chopsticks, walked to the door, and looked through the peephole. It was Su Wan. Behind her stood two little girls, one on the left and one on the right, like two little sparrows waiting to be fed.

Su Qing on the left had her hair in pigtails, while Su Yu on the right had her hair cut into a short bob. Each of them was carrying a large piece of raw meat wrapped in plastic wrap, likely just bought from some butcher shop.

As soon as the door opened, Su Qing and Su Yu rushed in like two little cannonballs. Their eyes scanned the living room and then locked simultaneously onto Xiaoquan Yilang, who was gnawing on lamb chops on the kitchen floor.

"Wow!"

Two screams erupted simultaneously, the decibel level high enough to nearly blow off the ceiling. Xiaoquan Yilang's ears flattened instantly. It lifted its head from the meat, looking warily at these two small creatures lunging toward it.

Its shoulders hunched up, and a low warning growl rolled from its throat. Its fangs protruded from the corners of its mouth, reflecting the cold gleam of the kitchen light.

"So cute!"

Su Qing completely ignored its threatening posture, knelt down straight away, and reached out to touch its head. Su Yu circled to the side, attempting to grab its tail. The two coordinated tacitly, like a trained hunting team, though their hunting method was far too simple and crude.

Xiaoquan Yilang took two steps back, its claws leaving shallow marks on the floor. Its gaze shifted from Su Qing to Su Yu, then from Su Yu to Su Wan, and finally landed on Hu Jinsi, carrying a look of scrutiny that was almost like a plea for help.

It had clearly never seen such a formation. In the instance, it faced either enemies or food. But these two small creatures were neither enemies nor food; they were more like an unclassifiable threat filled with noise and a desire to touch.

Hu Jinsi looked at its pitiful appearance and softened for a moment. He walked over, knelt down, and temporarily rescued Xiaoquan Yilang from Su Qing's clutches. The cub immediately hid behind him, exposing only half of its head, warily staring at the two little girls.

"Alright, you two," Hu Jinsi said. "Let it finish its meal first."

He carried the stainless steel bowl, along with the remaining lamb chops inside, into the kitchen and placed it in the corner. Then he pointed at Xiaoquan Yilang. "Go in. Eat your lunch quietly. Come out when you're done."

The cub's ears twitched. It looked at the lamb chops in the bowl, then at the two eager little figures outside the kitchen door, weighed its options for less than half a second, and made a decision.

It picked up a piece of meat, retreated to the innermost corner of the kitchen, leaned its back against the refrigerator, and began to tear into it. This position allowed it to enjoy the food while blocking the exit to prevent being ambushed.

Hu Jinsi closed the kitchen door and turned around to face the two disappointed little girls.

"Just wait," Su Wan walked over from behind, ruffling both their heads with one hand each. "It eats very quickly."

Hu Jinsi returned to the dining table and continued eating his lunch. Su Wan brought Su Qing and Su Yu to sit in the living room, pouring them water and getting snacks to distract them. Although the two girls still glanced toward the kitchen door from time to time, at least they didn't go to pound on the door again.

Lunch ended in a delicate balance. Hu Jinsi put his bowl in the sink, wiped his mouth, and said to Su Wan, "Take Xiao Lang with you in a bit. Take it home first and let Su Qing and Su Yu play with it."

Su Wan raised an eyebrow. "What about you? Aren't you coming along?"

"How would I have the time?" Hu Jinsi pointed to the table in the living room, which was piled high with miscellaneous items brought out from the instance and lists waiting to be organized. "Have you forgotten the huge list we made earlier? I still have to search online for various medicinal pills and formulas, restock medical supplies, place orders online—a whole bunch of stuff."

"If I can spare the time, I even need to recommend a few firearms to Lin Rui so he can hurry up and sell that expensive and difficult-to-use gun he has."

He paused, then added, "Or if you think you can handle it, we can swap tasks. I'll stay here and keep an eye on your two wild girls, and you go home and do my work for me."

Su Wan gave him a punch in annoyance. "In your dreams."

Hu Jinsi shrugged. Just then, he noticed two little faces pressed against the glass of the kitchen door. Su Qing and Su Yu were clinging to the glass, looking at the Dire Wolf gnawing on lamb chops in the corner inside the kitchen as if it were prey.

Their noses were flattened against the glass, their mouths slightly open, eyes wide and round, staring unblinkingly at that iron-gray figure.

The Direwolf Cub gnawed on the meat while warily watching them back from the corner of its eye, its ears remaining in a half-erect, half-flattened state of alert.

Hu Jinsi watched this scene and was momentarily confused himself.

Who exactly is the wolf here?

...

The farewell ceremony after lunch was simpler than expected. Su Wan opened the kitchen door, and Xiaoquan Yilang had already gnawed the lamb chops in the bowl clean, even sucking every last shred of meat off the bones. It licked the grease from around its mouth, lifted its head, and looked straight past Su Qing and Su Yu at Hu Jinsi.

There was a complex emotion in those eyes. It wasn't obedience, nor was it dependence, but a confirmation after evaluation. It was confirming whether this human was worth following. Hu Jinsi nodded at it and pointed to Su Wan.

"Go with them."

The cub's ears twitched. It slowly stood up and walked out of the kitchen. When it passed by Su Qing and Su Yu, it deliberately took a wide detour, keeping both of them within its field of vision.

Its tail was lowered, its shoulders slightly hunched, and every step was taken with a cautious elegance. It didn't stop until it reached Su Wan's feet, where it looked up at her and let out a low whimper.

"Good." Su Wan knelt down and ruffled the top of its head. The cub didn't dodge, but it didn't show any signs of enjoyment either. Its gaze remained locked on Hu Jinsi's face, as if waiting for a final verdict.

Hu Jinsi walked over and knelt in front of it. He looked into those amber eyes and whispered in a volume only it could hear, "There's no choice. This woman knows magic. I can't beat her. In the future, when you grow up and can handle her, you won't have to be afraid of her anymore."

When he said this, his tone carried the experience he had accumulated from watching videos in his past life.

In those videos about comforting cats before neutering, owners always communicated with their pets in this earnest manner; although they knew the other party couldn't understand, the sense of ritual was still necessary. He had unconsciously applied this set of behaviors to Xiaoquan Yilang.

But to his surprise, after hearing this, the cub actually nodded.

Its movement was very light, just a slight movement of its chin up and down, but it was definitely a clear nod. Then it turned around and walked toward the door, following at Su Wan's heels. Su Qing and Su Yu cheered and followed on either side, as if escorting an important hostage.

The door closed behind them. The living room suddenly became quiet. Hu Jinsi stood there, recalling the moment the cub nodded, a strange, indescribable feeling welling up in his heart. What kind of plot did that guy imagine in its head?

He shook his head, driving the distracting thoughts out of his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on these things. He finally had quiet, undisturbed time to do the things that should have been done long ago.

...

The first thing was medical supplies. Hu Jinsi opened his terminal and entered the procurement page of the professional store. He first placed an order for ten units of medical supplies. Iodine and bandages—these basic consumables were consumed too quickly in the instance.

Especially when facing Gnolls, the probability of contracting rabies was beyond imagination. [Emergency Medical Treatment] required at least one set of bandages and iodine to remove the disease each time, so ten units wouldn't last long.

He confirmed the order, made the payment, and selected standard delivery, which was expected to arrive tomorrow morning.

Next were the formulas. He entered the keywords: "disease," "rabies," "remove status." The search results popped up over several pages, densely packed with formulas and finished products of various potions.

Water Blue Star had absorbed medical knowledge from so many world systems, and it certainly had quite an advantage in curing all sorts of miscellaneous diseases and negative status effects.

Eastern herbalism, Western alchemy, Azeroth's Druidic healing, and even insect therapy and bone therapy from a few strange worlds whose names he couldn't recall, had all been integrated into the same database.

He browsed through them one by one in the order recommended by the page.

[Formula: Epidemic Prevention Potion]

[Materials: Snakeroot juice + distilled spirits + small amount of alum + empty bottle]

[Effect: Gain advantage on saving throws against natural diseases/plagues for 1 hour after consumption.]

Price: 3,000 credit points. Hu Jinsi clicked his tongue. Advantage on saving throws, not removal—it only increased the probability of resistance. The cost-performance ratio wasn't high.

---

[Formula: Restorative Potion]

[Materials: Golden Ginseng/Plaguebloom + Mana Thistle + purified water + empty bottle]

[Effect: Dispel one disease/curse effect every few seconds.]

Price: 8,000 credit points. This effect looked good, but the materials included "Mana Thistle," a specialty of Azeroth, and its market price fluctuated wildly, making the production cost unstable. Dispelling curses was very powerful, and the price was also very powerful.

---

[Formula: Detox Powder]

[Materials: Nine-section calamus + a little realgar + licorice decoction]

[Effect: Cures miasma, corpse plague, and insect poison.]

Price: 4,000 credit points. This tended more toward the direction of traditional Chinese medicine, but the description only mentioned poison and didn't explicitly mention disease. Rabies was a disease, not a poison, so the effect might not be guaranteed.

These recipes were all very good, but Hu Jinsi didn't buy any of them. They were too expensive. Although the squad's earnings for the week were barely enough, these recipes didn't offer good value for money. He made a note of them, planning to consider them again when his wallet was fatter in the future.

He continued scrolling down. Beneath a pile of flashy, high-level recipes, he finally found a plan specifically for rabies. The cheapest one was as low as fifty cents per dose, requiring only the most common herbs to be boiled into a soup.

But the description stated: "Weak effect, only effective against diseases caused by monsters below level 10." Since the Gnolls in Lakeside Town were level 15-20 monsters, using this would be a complete waste.

He continued filtering. Finally, he locked onto a plan: Kualada Root plus Scutellaria, which could be brewed as tea or boiled into soup. It didn't require a single prescription and was simple to make. The finished potion had a 40% chance to cure rabies caused by monsters up to level 20.

Raw material costs: Kualada Root at 1.20 per serving, Scutellaria at 0.80 per serving. Totaling two dollars per dose.

Hu Jinsi's mouth twitched. Two dollars. Compared to those high-level recipes that easily cost thousands of credit points, this was practically from two different worlds.

A 40% chance was indeed a bit low, but it was cheap and plentiful. Drinking three doses at once theoretically meant an efficiency rate of nearly 80%. Five doses, and it was almost guaranteed.

He placed the order without hesitation. One thousand servings of Kualada Root, one thousand servings of Scutellaria. A total of two thousand credit points. He also bought fifty empty bottles, preparing to brew them into finished potions and store them, saving him from having to boil soup every time before entering a dungeon.

With the order confirmed, he leaned back in his chair and stretched. The delivery notification on the screen indicated that the herbs were expected to arrive this evening, and the empty bottles would arrive tomorrow morning.

After handling the medical supplies, he remembered another matter. He pulled a yellowed recipe paper from his backpack; it was the [Recipe: Basic Agility Potion] dropped by a Gnoll in the Lakeside Town dungeon.

He held the recipe against his forehead, and the system's learning prompt sounded in his mind. A few seconds later, the recipe disappeared, and a new pharmaceutical record appeared in his skill bar.

He opened the profession shop and placed an order for ten servings of raw materials, preparing to make a few doses at home just in case.

After all, the effect of an Agility Potion was to temporarily increase agility by one point. For someone like Hu Jinsi, whose agility was already near the cap, it wasn't very meaningful, but it could occasionally come in handy for Su Wan or Lin Rui.

... Next were weapons.

Hu Jinsi leaned back on the sofa, his fingers sliding quickly across the terminal screen. He entered two keywords: "Tactical Shotgun" and "Portable Flamethrower." The search results popped up quickly.

These were the most common weapons dropped in the Metal Slug series of dungeons. Related dungeons for Metal Slug had already appeared in their third-generation version on Water Blue Star; the frequency of this contribution was comparable to a model worker.

People had been raiding them since Lin Rui's father's generation. Based on the update speed of this game in Hu Jinsi's memory, Hu Jinsi estimated that even by the time Lin Rui had grandchildren, they would still be raiding dungeons within this world setting.

Various firearms and thrown items were abundant and stable in price. He took screenshots of the detailed information for both weapons and sent them to the chat window with Lin Rui.

The first item: [Tactical Shotgun] [Type: Ranged Weapon / Firearm] [Price: 5000 Credit Points] [Damage: 8-16 / Piercing] [Range: 5-10 meters] [Magazine: 6 rounds] [Close-Range Bonus: Damage × 1.5 when target distance ≤ 5 meters.] [Barrier Breaker: Deals double damage to objects or light cover; when attacking biological targets, ignores defense bonuses provided by non-magical light armor.] [Ammo Price: Shotgun Shells (10 rounds) 30 Credit Points] [Item Description: Pump-action military shotgun, high damage in close-range spread, can penetrate wooden cover. A blast at close range can shatter wooden crates and send Gnolls flying.]

The second item: [Portable Flamethrower] [Type: Ranged Weapon / Firearm] [Price: 7500 Credit Points] [Damage: 6-18 / Fire + 1 point/sec continuous burning] [Range: Cone area within 5 meters in front] [Magazine: 30 rounds] [Continuous Burning: If the target remains within the cone range and you continue to press the trigger, each consumed fuel unit allows for an additional fire damage check against the target, hitting up to 4 to 6 consecutive times.] [Ignite: Constructs or mechanical creatures do not take continuous burning damage but still suffer full initial fire damage. Biological targets without defensive measures will be ignited, taking 1 fire damage per second until extinguished.] [Ammo Price: Fuel Tank (full 30 rounds) 150 Credit Points] [Item Description: Back-mounted fuel tank, sprays a continuous stream of burning flames forward, extremely high close-quarters damage. Spray it up close, and a whole group of enemies instantly turns into charcoal. Especially lethal against large-sized bosses.]

Hu Jinsi attached a short message below the screenshots: "The [Portable Flamethrower] is quite effective against Gnoll thick fur armor and Murloc clusters, and the [Tactical Shotgun] is great against large-sized Blackrock Orcs. Decide for yourself; the prices are for reference only."

"Also, for the flamethrower's fuel tanks, you can ask Li Hao if there are any more powerful fuel oil substitutes. For the shotgun ammo, the Gunpowder Squad also needs to strengthen their own ammunition; just place an order with them."

He closed the chat window without waiting for a reply. Lin Rui would naturally make a decision once he saw it. That MS-15 "Steel Spike" heavy pistol had cost him 15,000 credit points back then, and the other two members of the squad both thought he was a sucker.

Whether it could be sold for 15,000 again was indeed a big question. But regardless, keeping it in his hands would only lead to further depreciation.

As for Hu Jinsi himself, he wasn't considering updating his weapon. The iron-wrapped ironwood staff was comfortable to use, and with the increasing frequency of using [Crane Form: Lonely Phoenix Style] recently, he gradually had a feeling.

At most a month, the related specialty would be upgraded. Perhaps it wouldn't reach the level of Nanto Suicho Ken, which could slice an enemy into pieces with a single strike, but it would definitely be able to cut through the Gnolls' layer of leather armor and thick fur. By then, the power of his unarmed strikes would far exceed his current blunt staff strikes, and spending money on a new weapon would be a waste.

... With everything done, the living room was quiet, save for the low hum of the air conditioner. Hu Jinsi stood up, walked to the corner of the living room, and moved the ironwood training dummy back to the center. He loosened his wrists and ankles, took a deep breath, and stood still.

He wanted to test the trigger probability of [Tigers Courage].

Hu Jinsi assumed his stance and began a round of rapid unarmed strikes against the dummy. Left fist, right fist, left palm, right palm; every strike landed on the same spot on the dummy's chest. His attack speed was already fast, and with the bonus from Flurry of Blows, after one round of attacks, three fists and two palms alternated in succession, and wood shavings fell from the dummy's surface.

He counted the strikes. First strike, no trigger. Second strike, no trigger. Third strike, fourth strike... At the tenth strike, as the palm wind swept past, Hu Jinsi had a feeling that he had gained a free charge of [Tiger Palm]. So, Hu Jinsi instinctively gathered power in his palm, exploding at the moment of impact with the dummy, emitting a duller boom than usual.

[-7] (Trigger: Tigers Courage)

He continued to strike. From the eleventh to the twentieth strike, there was no trigger. At the twenty-first strike, it automatically exploded again. He slowed down his speed and began to time it. The first trigger was at the tenth strike, the second at the twenty-first, an interval of about eleven seconds. But he continued to accelerate; the third trigger was at the thirty-third strike, an interval of twelve seconds. The fourth was at the forty-fifth strike, the interval again close to twelve seconds.

Hu Jinsi stopped, looking at the area on the dummy's chest that had been slightly dented by the palm strikes. He made an estimate. At his current attack speed, ten attacks took about twelve seconds. In other words, the trigger probability of [Tigers Courage] was around 10%.

But this wasn't a uniform random trigger; he vaguely felt there was a built-in cooldown cycle. If he attacked continuously and rapidly, the trigger interval would stabilize at around thirty seconds, no shorter.

If he slowed down his attacks, the interval would instead lengthen, indicating that the trigger probability wasn't calculated based on the number of attacks, but on a time window. There was likely a trigger opportunity every thirty seconds, and the number of attacks only increased the probability of hitting that window.

This discovery made him very satisfied. Getting a free [Tiger Palm], or perhaps a future [Rising Sun Kick], every thirty seconds. At his current attack speed, this frequency was already quite considerable. More importantly, [Tiger Palm] had a 10% chance to restore 1 point of Chi; the more it triggered, the more the efficiency of Chi recovery would increase. This meant his sustainability in protracted battles would be greatly enhanced.

He practiced in front of the dummy for another five minutes, confirming the trigger pattern.

... After testing the new specialty, he planned to practice his usual move combinations for the remaining time. He stabilized the dummy and started again.

Now, Hu Jinsi could connect most of his move combinations properly, and the entire flow was smooth and natural, at least without any obvious flaws. Even [Tiger Palm], which he had obtained a month ago, could quickly integrate into his rhythm, no longer as stiff as it was at the beginning.

The only one he wasn't proficient with yet was [Disillusion Kick], which he had purchased from Hu Jianguo in Daibei City.

The way this skill exerted force was a side kick, also known as a whip kick. The standard movement was to slightly crouch, lower the center of gravity slightly, retreat the same or opposite leg half a step to charge up, then kick horizontally with a slight sideways tilt, using the instep or the outside of the foot to contact the target.

Every time Hu Jinsi used it alone, he felt it left a significant opening, the so-called "backswing." Even when used in conjunction with [Flurry of Blows], the range of motion for [Disillusion Kick] was larger than a normal kick, and the shift in the body's center of gravity when finishing the move was obvious, making it easy for enemies to seize the gap and counterattack.

Therefore, even though he had possessed this skill for over two weeks, he had almost never actually used it in real combat. Every time he fought, this skill was like a tool forgotten in a corner—he couldn't remember it, or if he did, he felt it was useless.

Of course, there were other factors. The base damage of [Disillusion Kick] was only 50% of his physical attack. In other words, when he landed a kick, the damage wasn't even as good as a normal punch. Moreover, the description stated that the main effect of this skill was to increase the healing effect of [Soothing Mist].

But Hu Jinsi happened not to have the [Soothing Mist] skill. He was of the Mistweaver School, but the things pulled from his skill pool were different from a standard Mistweaver Monk; he lacked the core skill for continuous healing. Therefore, for him, [Disillusion Kick] had neither damage nor healing bonuses, and it remained completely outside his combat system.

But after obtaining [Tigers Courage] today, he re-examined the description of [Disillusion Kick]. There was a new note in the skill bar: can spend 2 points of Chi to deal 200% damage.

Hu Jinsi's eyes lit up. 200% damage? But the cost was 2 points of Chi. He tried one kick, infusing his right leg with Chi, and side-kicked the side of the dummy's waist. The dummy emitted a dull thud, and wood shavings splashed.

He looked at the damage value displayed by the system; it was indeed much higher than the basic version, but compared to [Flurry of Blows], it still wasn't cost-effective. [Flurry of Blows] consumed 1 point of Chi and could deal two additional attacks for a total damage of nearly 30, and using [Touch of Death] could also deal 20+ damage, both of which were stronger than [Disillusion Kick].

"Still useless," he muttered.

He planned that whenever he obtained a skill re-roll ticket, he would simply sacrifice this skill. Or he would wait until he pulled [Soothing Mist] in the future; otherwise, this skill would always be a useless ornament that was tasteless to eat but a pity to discard.

For the remaining time, he hit the practice dummy for another half hour. Palm strikes, fist punches, elbow strikes, knee strikes; various unarmed attacks left new dents on the dummy. Sweat slid down his forehead, dripped onto the floor, and soaked into dark spots.

Half an hour later, he withdrew his stance. He moved the dummy back to the corner, then walked into the bedroom and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion. Chi rose from his dantian, flowing slowly along his meridians like a warm stream, washing away the fatigue of his body. His consciousness gradually sank, and the surrounding sounds became distant and blurry.