80: Chapter 80 Morale exploded!

Boom——！！！

A clap of thunder.

This was not an adjective.

For the refugees of Zhenyuan City who were long accustomed to the crackle of matchlocks, this gunshot felt simply like the God of Thunder striking a heavy hammer right beside their ears.

The orange-red flame spewing from the muzzle instantly illuminated the dim woods, and the huge muzzle blast whipped up dead leaves and dust from the ground, blowing right into the faces of the people around.

The young man who had been mocking just a moment ago only felt a ringing " Buzz" in his ears, was rattled so hard he sat flat on the ground, and his head was buzzing.

But he could not care about his aching ears.

Over three thousand pairs of eyes present subconsciously and uniformly looked into the distance.

As it turned out, that twenty-meter-tall giant.

At the exact same instant the shot rang out.

"Puff——Boom!"

That swaying twenty-meter-class giant's massive body suddenly stiffened, as if heavily pressed down by an invisible giant hand.

Immediately afterward.

At its thick neck, which resembled a century-old tree, a burst of wretched blood mist suddenly exploded.

The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet, carrying terrifying kinetic energy, instantly pierced through its tough epidermis and muscle layer, fiercely slammed into the most critical cervical vertebra, and then burst.

The sound of shattering bones could be heard as if across three kilometers.

The huge kinetic energy directly blew out a terrifying hole the size of a millstone, skin and bone alike, from the back of its neck—the giant's only and hardest-to-attack weakness!

"Hiss——！！ ！"

Billowing high-temperature white steam instantly spewed out from that huge wound, mixing with blood and shooting straight into the sky, like a boiling steam engine.

That huge head hanging with an eerie smile instantly lost support.

It tilted to the side like a kite with its string cut, and then rolled down from the shoulder with a gurgling sound, heavily smashing onto the ground and bouncing twice.

Rumble——！！！

A few seconds later.

The massive headless body that had lost its head swayed twice and collapsed with a crash like pushing a golden mountain and toppling a jade pillar, stirring up dust all over the sky.

Even separated by three thousand meters, everyone seemed to feel the slight vibration of the ground.

Dead.

Killed instantly, without even a chance for regeneration.

Quiet. Deathly silence.

The woods, which had been somewhat restless, were now terrifyingly quiet, and even the sound of the wind blowing through the leaves seemed harsh.

Over three thousand people seemed to have been collectively struck by a body-immobilization spell in this instant.

No one spoke, no one breathed, and no one even blinked.

That veteran with a broken leg opened his mouth slightly, and the rag he used to wipe sweat fell to the ground, but he was completely unaware of it.

The woman who had been crying and howling just a moment ago had tears hanging on her face, blankly looking at the smoking corpse in the distance, as if her Soul had been snatched away.

And the young man who had been mocking just now was now slumped on the ground, his mouth wide open, his jaw almost dislocated, and both eyeballs about to pop out of their sockets.

Their brains completely crashed at this moment.

Th-This... is a matchlock?

Is this the kind of matchlock in their cognition that shot out softly and still required stuffing gunpowder and poking for half a day?

What a joke!!

The matchlocks they had seen couldn't even kill a rabbit from afar!

Hitting a giant would only leave a white mark!

But the thing in front of them... was separated by a full three kilometers!

It directly blew off the giant's neck with a single shot?!

Where is this a gun?

This is clearly stuffing a cannon into an iron pipe!

A full half-minute passed.

"Gulp."

I don't know who it was, but they swallowed a mouthful of saliva fiercely.

This sound appeared exceptionally clear in the dead silence of the woods.

Immediately following was a sound of drawing in cold breaths.

Countless people stiffly turned their necks, their gazes slowly moving from the corpse in the distance to the man carrying a black box on the rock.

Their gazes changed.

Even the most dull-witted person, looking at Zhang Xuan at this moment, was like looking at a walking deity.

On the rock.

Zhang Xuan was expressionless, as if that result had long been expected.

Click.

He pulled the bolt.

A scalding hot brass cartridge case, as thick as a finger, jumped out of the chamber, cutting a parabola in the air.

Clang.

The cartridge case landed on the bluestone, making a crisp and pleasant sound.

This sound was like a tight slap, fiercely striking the faces of all the desperate people, pulling their Souls back.

Zhang Xuan picked up the cartridge case that was still steaming with heat and casually threw it into the young man's arms.

"Is it hot?" Zhang Xuan asked coldly.

The young man caught the cartridge case flusteredly, and the scorching temperature made him tremble.

But he didn't dare throw it away.

Instead, as if he had caught some rare treasure, he cupped it tightly in the palms of both hands.

He looked at the huge copper shell in his hand, which was thicker and longer than his thumb, felt the residual warmth of gunpowder on it, and glanced back at the smoking headless corpse in the distance.

His whole body was trembling.

That was a tremor of excitement, a shudder from the collapse and reorganization of his worldview.

"Th-This... is real..."

The young man cupped the cartridge case, suddenly raised his head, the mockery in his eyes long gone, replaced by a nearly frantic fanaticism:

"This is not a matchlock... This is a Divine Artifact... This is a Divine Artifact!!"

"This is Gods Punishment." Zhang Xuan put away his gun, shouldered the heavy box again, his gaze sweeping across the audience, his voice not loud, but awe-inspiring:

"The gods have spoken."

"Truth is only within the range of fire."

"In the past, you couldn't beat the giants because the fire sticks in your hands were no good."

"Now, God has handed the truth to us."

Zhang Xuan's voice suddenly rose:

"This gun is just the most ordinary weapon of God."

"In a few days, when God's army descends, we can have as many weapons like this as we want!"

"Now, does anyone else think we are walking to our deaths?"

"Does anyone else think there's no saving us?"

No one spoke.

But this time's silence was no longer deathly quiet.

Rather, it was a buildup before a volcanic eruption.

The eyes of more than three thousand people lit up.

That was the gaze of wolves, the gaze of a drowning person grabbing driftwood.

If there is this kind of weapon... if someone can really provide this kind of ultimate weapon that can blow off a giant's neck from three kilometers away...

Then what the hell is there to fear about giants?

That giant is just a lump of walking rotten meat!

The momentum of offense and defense has reversed!

"I believe!!! I'll go with you!"

The veteran with the broken leg scrambled up from the ground, no longer caring about his aching leg, leaning on his broken knife and roaring, his voice carrying a sob, tears streaming down his old face:

"I believe it too!! That is the divine thunder! That is Gods Punishment!! I'll go with you too!"

"Listen to this little brother! Go with him!"

"Go welcome God!! Wait for God to descend again!!"

"Let's go!!"

"Whoever doesn't go is a grandson!"

"I want to use that thing to blow up a giant's head too!!"

Morale exploded!

The refugees who were Walkers a moment ago seemed to come alive completely at this moment, re-injected with a Soul.

They supported the elderly, carried the children on their backs, and closely followed behind Zhang Xuan.

That back carrying the black box.

In their eyes at this moment, it was taller and more reliable than any general of the royal city.

The survivors' procession moved.

Although everyone was hungry and tired, and still carried injuries, with something to look forward to, that Death Qi resembling a Walker was gone.

Old Ma walked a few steps quickly, leaned close to Zhang Xuan, and lowered his voice: "Captain Zhang, give me the bottom line. Are those people... really going to come back?"

Zhang Xuan touched the gun case on his back and shook his head: "I don't know."

Old Ma's face changed, and his pace almost stumbled.

"But does it matter?" Zhang Xuan pointed his chin at the crowd behind him:

"Look at what they look like now, have they come alive?"

Old Ma turned his head to look.

The people who were holding stones to commit suicide just now were now supporting the wounded, walking north with glowing eyes.

He was silent, patted Zhang Xuan on the shoulder, and retreated to the side.

Zhang Xuan turned back and took a last look at Zhenyuan City smoking in the distance.

At this moment, he suddenly understood the thoughts of the old city lord Gu Feng.

Why, knowing that the "royal city" was gone, did he still lie to everyone for ten years?

Because people alive always need something to hope for.

Truth is sometimes poison, and lies are the antidote.