Although it was raining heavily in Steel Town on this day, it was even livelier than usual.
Rayen, who had just come out of the town hospital, squeezed through the crowd on the street and walked in the direction of his home.
He tightened the collar of his rubber raincoat to isolate himself from the cold rain. In front of him was a row of simple stalls with waterproof tarpaulins. Vendors selling bullets and modified firearms were either squatting or standing, filling up the walkway.
"Mr. Lei! You don't look too good! Do you need a shot of adrenaline? This is a military product! The quality is very good!"
"Buddy, come and take a look. This is the broadsword dagger I picked up from the battlefield last week!"
"Rayen, I can guarantee that this meteorite will be the most helpful to your weapon shop. I'll sell it to you at a cheap price..."
A few vendors seemed to recognize Rayen and immediately went forward to sell him the 'treasures' they picked up on the battlefield.
Rayen pushed away a few hawkers who were pestering him and walked into the alley beside the main road.
The arc light at the top of the alley was broken by someone, and it flashed with a dim yellow halo.
This made Rayen, who had a splitting headache, feel even worse, and his steps became slower.
"The contract is descending, 88% completed..."
From three days ago, this loud voice would ring in his mind every once in a while.
It made it impossible for him to sleep well.
After learning that the doctor in town had returned, he immediately went for a check-up.
However, after seeking medical advice, he confirmed that only he could hear the voice in his mind.
The doctor had no way to deal with this auditory hallucination. He could only prescribe some sleeping pills for Rayen, hoping that they could save him from insomnia.
"Damn it! What the hell is going on?"
He rubbed his temples, unable to figure out the source of the voice.
After resting for a while, he got up and continued to move forward. He was ready to quickly go home and sleep. Tomorrow, he would ask the local religious people if this was a prank by the gods.
The weapons shop was located in the deepest part of the alley. The neon lights on the shop's signboard illuminated a tall figure leaning against the door.
The two military ranks on the shoulder of the black and gray military coat were particularly eye-catching. The man was completely wrapped up. There was a vulture mark on the blindfold of his left eye. In addition, there was still some blood on the scar left by the shrapnel on his face. Rayen could determine that this man was an active-duty soldier. Moreover, based on the military rank on his shoulder, the other party was also a first lieutenant.
"Sir." Rayen took off his rubber raincoat and shook it. The shirt inside was then wet by the storm. It was the law of the entire Sapphire Blue Empire that civilians had to take off their outer robes to salute an injured soldier.
He bowed slightly to the one-eyed soldier with annoyance and fatigue.
The man did not say anything. He just took out a pipe and put it in his mouth. He raised his chin and signaled Rayen to open the door.
Rayen did not quite understand. Why would an active-duty soldier come to his own weapons store?
After all, the weapons of a soldier came from the army. They did not need to spend money to buy the rubbish in his store.
"Are they here to extort money?"
Rayen's worry was reasonable. The soldiers of the Sapphire Blue Empire had never had a good reputation. They especially liked to bully small shop owners in remote areas.
If he did not give them money or goods, he might very well be caught and interrogated as a spy of the enemy country, and he would be locked up for months.
This was a very troublesome matter.
"Is the military discipline nowadays so bad? It seems that what the news said is all fake..."
After muttering to himself, Rayen rolled his eyes, then grinned and said, "Oh? This shop closes in the evening? This is the age of war, so the boss really doesn't know how to do business. Since you can't buy anything, allow me to leave first. I wish you good luck, sir!"
In this age of war, soldiers with unknown intentions represented trouble. After he tried his best to prove that he had nothing to do with this weapons shop, he decided to find a remote hotel to stay for a few days and return after this guy left.
He could still bear the loss of closing the shop for a few days. After all, this property was his, and he did not need to consider the issue of rent.
Moreover, the soldiers who were urgently needed on the battlefield did not have the time to wait for a legitimate arms dealer.
However, before he could turn around, the one-eyed soldier finally spoke, "Rayen, twenty years old, the descendant of the empire's soldiers, the only survivor of the Rayen family..."
After saying that, the one-eyed soldier took out a photo from his pocket. That alert eye sized up the photo and Rayen's young face. "That's right, it's you. Open the door, let's talk inside."
Rayen knew that the other party had at least a powerful pistol hanging from his windbreaker.
If he resisted or ran away, he would definitely not have a good ending.
Obviously, this soldier was here to look for Rayen, but he had the preconception that the other party was here to blackmail him. After all, he had dealt with more than one such soldier.
After laughing awkwardly, he could only obey and enter the password to the electronic lock on the door.
The one-eyed soldier took off his military cap, shook off the rain on it, and then walked into the shop.
There were four rows of storage racks in Rayen's weapons shop, filled with junk from scavengers on the battlefield. There were rusty daggers, swords and axes that could be used in close combat, grenade launchers that had been disassembled and could no longer be used, all kinds of pistols with grated numbers and shelves that were full of junk. The ceiling was a little low, and the crowded shelves made the space in the shop seem a little cramped. Paired with the yellow light of the old-fashioned arc lights, it accentuated the dilapidated atmosphere.
Even though it was raining, Rayen did not dare to let the other party out of his sight. As he stared at the other party's burly back, he deliberately began to clean up the junk piled on the counter, at the same time, he placed a few sleeping pills into the coffee cup used by the guests.
Killing a soldier was a great crime of the Sapphire Blue Empire, but fainting was not.
In order to vent his hatred, he had to think of ways to retaliate against this soldier who was trying to extort him. A few sleeping pills would not be fatal, but it would definitely make the other party uncomfortable. These doses could guarantee that the guy would start to have a headache when he walked out on the street after taking the money.
He held the cup in front of the soldier and said, "Sir, it's cold out here. Let's drink a cup of local hot coffee first."
The one-eyed soldier looked at Rayen and the cup in his hand with a scrutinizing gaze. Then, he revealed a strange smile and said, "I don't dare to drink this coffee if he can even fake a gun."
When he heard this, beads of sweat appeared on Rayen's forehead, and his smile froze on his face.
The other party picked up a cartridge case on the table and continued, "Last month, you sold quite a lot of imitation guns to the militia of Hall Town. I believe you earned quite a lot, right? I've seen those guns. Their craftsmanship is really good."
In Rayen's opinion, this was the usual tone used by military hooligans to extort little bosses. However, his face still maintained the unique smile of a businessman, he said, "Uh... sir, I think... that was a misunderstanding. You know, with the flames of war raging, automatic rifles are not much more expensive than two catties of beef. Moreover, I spent a lot of money on the materials..." Rayen's words could be said to be half-true and half-false.
Although the price of seventy rifles sold was not considered high, he still earned quite a lot.
The materials used to make firearms were imported from the black market. Coupled with his outstanding craftsmanship, the cost was frighteningly low.
The one-eyed soldier seemed to have seen through Rayen's secret, and after a laugh, he looked at the firearms materials on the shelf not far away and said, "I have to admit that you are the most outstanding weapon forger in the southern border region of the empire. You can even make a decent weapon out of these pieces of junk. With this ability, if you don't serve in the army, then it will really be the empire's loss."
After saying that, he unbuttoned his windbreaker and took out a stack of papers from his pocket and placed it on the table. Rayen lowered his head and looked at the contents. It was the document that the citizens of the Sapphire Blue Empire had to sign before enlisting in the army.
On the cover of the first page, there was the signature and seal of His Majesty the Emperor approving the recruitment of soldiers for the corps. This meant that the other party's actions were absolutely legal and could not be violated.
"Military service?!"
Rayen had never thought that the reason why he was targeted was because the imitation guns were too good?
He subconsciously shook his head to express his refusal.
To him, this news was much scarier than extortion.
As a citizen of the Sapphire Blue Empire, he knew too well what the situation the country was facing now.
For eight whole years, their war with the Yate Empire had not stopped for even a single day. The intense war had already caused tens of thousands of lives on both sides to die on the battlefield, including his father, a corporal in the army.
Rayen, who had lost his last family member, was well aware of the dangers of the battlefield. Moreover, he was well aware of his own abilities. If he really went onto the battlefield, he would not even be able to survive for ten minutes.
Looking at the other party's smiling face, Rayen subconsciously took a step back, then, he smiled awkwardly and said, "Sir, today is not April Fool's day. Moreover, as you can see, with my thin and weak body, I'm afraid that I can't even defeat a pet dog! I also have a mental illness such as auditory hallucination! I just went to the hospital for a check-up! Don't joke about enlisting in the army, hahaha..."
Rayen's embarrassed laughter echoed in the small shop. Meanwhile, the one-eyed soldier kept looking at Rayen, and the smile on his face became more and more serious, he spoke again, "Mr. Rayen, you now have two paths to take." Then, he stretched out two of his fingers and continued, "The first path is to follow me back to the army now and accept the glory that the Empire has given you, and learn to enjoy war. The second path is to disobey the empire's orders, and use the modified shotgun on the shelf behind you to immediately fire at me. However, I can guarantee that if you choose the second option, you will definitely die before me..."
As he spoke, the one-eyed soldier deliberately revealed the Tiger K40 pistol at his waist.
As a weapons merchant, Rayen knew that the well-trained soldiers of the empire would not take more than two seconds to pull out a pistol and shoot. Moreover, the large caliber bullets of this thing guaranteed that they would be able to blow their heads off before they could get their hands on the shotgun.
Most importantly, Rayen did not have the courage to shoot at a soldier of the empire.
The meaning behind the other party's words could not be clearer. He would either join the army or die. It seemed that he would not even get the chance to be brought to the police station for interrogation.
'The soldiers of the empire are indeed wolves in sheep's clothing. A bunch of bastards...' Rayen leaned against the counter, cursing the recruitment method of the corps in his heart.
After the one-eyed soldier whistled, he asked with a relaxed expression, "Do you have an idea? I hate waiting for people the most."
Seeing that the other party's hand had already reached for the pistol at his waist, Rayen knew that there was no time to think, so he quickly said, "Sir... sir, I agree to join the army." Then, under the terrifying gaze of the other party, Rayen quickly signed his name on the document that he did not even look at carefully. Then, he asked, "May I ask, can I inherit my father's salary and treatment in the army?"
Since he was destined to go, he had to get the most benefits. Rayen's father's last sentence before he left home was, "You can't be at a disadvantage at any time."
"I'm sorry, sir. Civilians can't inherit the military rank of the family. You have to start from a private." After getting a satisfactory answer, the one-eyed soldier walked toward the direction of the door, as he said, "Tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock, I will wait for you at the town entrance. Remember, I hate waiting for people."