The weapon that Jin Shu was about to create would be a special type of riot gun. A riot gun is typically a less-than-lethal weapon designed to deter rioters; however, his would be a combination of lethal and less-than-lethal rounds. The design for Jin Shu's riot gun would be based on an FN 303. In his past life, the FN 303 was designed to recognize faces so that the weapon could not be fired at a human head. However, Jin Shu had no way to add that feature, nor did he want to.
Jin Shu was thinking about how he would go about creating a riot gun. 'A riot gun needs compressed air to fire a round of ammunition. I wonder if I use the Living Metal to layer a Wind Rune and an Explosion Rune, if I could create a compressed air explosion? If not, I could create a spring-loaded mechanism.'
He started by making a simple tube with a Wind Rune and an Explosion Rune layered on top of one another. Then he fit a round ball snugly inside the tube and activated the runes.
Bang!
Thud!
"That worked better than I thought it would," Jin Shu commented.
"What is the point of these weapons?" Su Bing couldn't help asking as she witnessed Jin Shu creating these strange weapons. Although she understood the one that looked like a strange club, she didn't know why Jin Shu crafted it.
"The one I created earlier is a baseball bat. I made it as I figured I might need a non-lethal weapon. The current weapon I have can really only be used to severely wound or kill people, and I don't want to go around killing everyone. As for the weapon I'm creating now, there isn't really much point in making it; I kinda just wanted to experiment with some ideas I've had recently," Jin Shu explained while tinkering with the pieces for his new riot gun.
"Okay, I'm going to craft a few more things. I'll be back soon." Jin Shu waved to Su Bing and went back into the forge room. He didn't let Su Bing into the forge room as she could get hurt by the heat inside—or at least that was the excuse he gave her. Really, he didn't want her to see him using his blood as a crafting material.
He finished making the frame and firing mechanism for his riot gun. Then he began working on the ammunition. The ammo he was crafting was going to be of two types. The first type was a less-than-lethal round. These would be made by using a semi-sphere shaped round. He would then inscribe it with a Weight Reduction Rune and a Frost Rune. The second type would be a lethal round. These rounds would be in the shape of a ball and would consist of two different rounds: one would have a dormant Explosion Rune layered with a Flame Rune, and the other would have a Qi Circulation Rune and a Wind Rune.
The reason for this strange combination of runes was an experiment that Jin Shu wanted to conduct. He wanted to see if a couple of ideas would work in practice. To start with, he wanted to see if he could layer an active rune with a dormant one. If that worked, he wanted to see if he could create a sort of pseudo-grenade.
Jin Shu started by making the less-than-lethal rounds, then he moved on to the lethal rounds. "I really hope this works; I don't want to blow my hands off... again."
He inscribed a dormant Explosion Rune, then he waited for the Living Metal to absorb the rune and inscribed a Flame Rune where the Explosion Rune was previously. "It didn't explode in my hands after inscribing both runes, so it should have worked. Now I just need to test it with the other round."
The next runes were easier: just a Qi Circulation Rune and a Wind Rune. This round was made to be fired immediately after the first round, striking the first round fired in the air, creating an explosion.
Jin Shu, done with the riot gun, began working on a weapon for Su Bing. So far in their journey, Su Bing hadn't been able to be much help; however, if he created her an easy-to-use weapon, she could contribute more. He decided to make her two weapons. One would be an expandable baton, like a police baton. This would serve as an easily hidable melee weapon to be used in self-defense. He used the same rune combination as his bat. The other weapon would be her main weapon. It was a Scorpion Evo 3 S1 pistol with an IA-SC9 integral silencer. Although the silencer wasn't needed, it looked cool, and that's all that really matters.
The runes on the bullets for her gun were Silence, Wind, and Sharpness Runes.
Before he was done inscribing the bullets for Su Bing's gun, he had to absorb Qi from a Qi Stone, which caused him to break through to the 2nd stage of the Core Forging Realm. He could have been at the 3rd or 4th stage if he was dedicated to cultivating, but for now, he was focusing on their journey.
He placed the new weapons in his Space Ring and stepped out of the forge.
Outside in a courtyard beside the forge room, Yin'er was laying curled up like a ball on a table, sleeping in the sunlight. Su Bing was sitting in a chair at the table with her head resting in her arms on the table, also sleeping.
Seeing them asleep, Jin Shu decided to test out the new silenced weapon, so he could tell how loud it was with the Silence Rune.
Jin Shu pulled the Scorpion pistol out of his Space Ring. He chambered one round, aimed at the ground on the other side of the courtyard—about twenty yards away—and pulled the trigger.
Psh!
Tink!
There was no loud bang, just the sound of air escaping the barrel of the pistol and the sound of the bullet hitting the ground. It was so quiet that the two sleepers didn't even stir in their sleep. The Silence Rune worked like the silencers you see in movies, where the gunshots make virtually no sound at all, unlike silencers in real life which serve to suppress the sound of the gunshots. They still make a bang, just not as loud as an unsilenced gunshot.
He still had another hour or so on their rented time. He sat down at the table the other two were sleeping on and began to daydream. 'I haven't really stopped to think about this life yet. I wonder why I awoke memories of my previous life...? Maybe there is no reason... What should I do after this journey is over? I think I'd like to travel this world. I never got a chance to travel the world in my last life. Although I visited a lot of places, I was always fighting and never got a chance to take in the sights. I'll spend some time with my family first before I travel. I never had a family in my last life. I quite like the feeling having a family gives. Maybe I'll even sta—'
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Jin Shu's daydreaming was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door to the blacksmith's shop.
"Open up!" came a shout from outside.
"Yin'er wants twenty more steaks!" Yin'er, still half asleep, woke up with a shout because of the noise.
Su Bing woke up as well, but less violently than Yin'er. "What's happening?" she asked while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
Jin Shu stood up and started walking to the storefront. "I'm not sure. Wait here while I check."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As Jin Shu was walking to the front of the blacksmith's shop from the forge in the backyard, the knocking had transitioned into banging.
"Open this damn door now, or I'll break it down!" The shouting had grown louder as well.
Jin Shu made it to the door as the shout ended. He opened the door to see two young men in black robes that had a snarling lion design embroidered on the front chest area.
"Finally, you decided to open up! My throat was about to break from shouting! That's going to cost you extra. Alright, now pay up!" the young man on the right said aggressively.
Jin Shu looked at the young man in confusion. "Pay what up? This isn't my shop; I've only rented it for a few hours."
"You must be new here. I don't care if you rented or bought the shop; if you're in the building, then you owe us a protection fee!" the young man shouted angrily.
"I'm about to leave the shop now. If you want to charge someone, go find the shop's owner." Jin Shu declined to pay the young men.
"You bastard! How dare you refuse to pay!? Do you know who we are!?" The young man shouted, so angry that his face began to turn red.
"I have no idea who you are, nor do I care," Jin Shu ignored the young man's outburst and started to close the door.
The young man on the left lunged toward Jin Shu while throwing a punch. "How dare you ignore us, disciples of the Wild Beast Sect!" the young man shouted.
Jin Shu let the punch land on his chest. He wasn't worried that he would get hurt based on the lack of Qi he felt in the punch.
Clank!
A sound like metal being struck resounded in the blacksmith's lobby.
"Aargh! My hand! This damn bastard is wearing some kind of armor!" The young man who punched Jin Shu held his hand and screamed in pain.
The young man on the right, seeing his friend injured, pulled out a sword and pointed it at Jin Shu. "You bastard, you've injured a disciple of the Wild Beast Sect!"
"I suggest you put that sword down if you don't want to get hurt," Jin Shu warned him and pulled his new bat out of his ring.
The young man with the sword didn't see the bat come out of the ring; if he had, he would have been terrified. Only incredibly rich cultivators could own a Space Ring, and rich cultivators had lots of resources, so they were generally very powerful.
"Now you are threatening us! You're done for!" The young man swung his sword at Jin Shu's arm, intending to cut it off in retaliation for injuring his friend.
Clank!
Jin Shu blocked the sword with his bat, then swung it at the young man's right shoulder while activating the Weight Increase Rune.
Thunk!
Clink!
"Argh!! My arm!" The young man dropped his sword and clutched his now-dislocated right shoulder.
"You bastard! I'll kill you!" The other young man yelled and charged, throwing another punch at Jin Shu.
Jin Shu stepped to the side, avoiding the charging young man, and swung the bat upward at the young man's chin. He deactivated the Weight Increase Rune so as not to knock the young man's head off.
Clunk!
Thud!
The charging young man was knocked unconscious by the hit to the chin, falling backward to the ground.
"Fuck!" The other young man, who had drawn his sword earlier, cursed, seeing his friend get knocked out.
Jin Shu took a step toward him. "D-don't come any closer!" the young man yelled nervously.
Jin Shu stopped a foot away from him. "Take your friend and leave," he said to the young man.
"Y-yes sir!" The young man agreed and then struggled to pick his unconscious friend up with only one usable arm.
Jin Shu stepped back into the blacksmith's shop and continued into the backyard.
Su Bing, seeing him come back, asked, "I heard a lot of shouting. Is everything okay?"
"Everything is fine. I just taught some ne'er-do-wells a lesson. Our time here is up; let's go find an inn to stay the night at," Jin Shu replied, unperturbed by the incident.
"Okay," Su Bing replied.
"Yin'er is hungry," said Yin'er as she landed on Jin Shu's shoulder.
"Okay, let's g—" Jin Shu was just getting ready to leave when a loud shout came from outside again.
"BASTARD! GET OUT HERE!!"