Zhang Xiaoman had already scoped out the location of the store online, and headed straight for it as soon as he got off the car.
"Boss, do you have those water guns that shoot Crystal Beads?"
In the store, Zhang Xiaoman was asking a middle-aged man wearing glasses.
Seeing potential business walk in, the middle-aged man with glasses eagerly greeted him:
"Of course, we do, my friend! You've come to the right place—we are the biggest dealer locally, and all the Water Guns we sell are guaranteed in quality!"
Zhang Xiaoman nodded and walked into the store. He saw that it was filled with all sorts of children's toys, most of which he had never played with as a child.
"My friend, what kind of Water Gun would you like? One for both hands or just one hand?"
The boss led him to a counter and picked up one to introduce it.
"How about this one? It's our best seller right now, can be fitted with various accessories, and the whole set is just 300 yuan."
Zhang Xiaoman looked at the large toy Water Gun in his hand and shook his head:
"I'm looking for a compact, single-handed one with long range and high firing rate. Oh, and it'd be better if it looked cool too."
Upon hearing this, the boss immediately took out a small, silver Water Gun from under the counter and said:
"My friend, pistol-styled Water Guns are generally small in size and limited in range. If you want one with a long range, this is the only option."
As the boss spoke, he handed it to Zhang Xiaoman and continued:
"This is the best we have for a single-handed model, with a range of 15 meters. It can be fitted with an infrared sight, holds 10 bullets at a time, and can empty the magazine within 1 second if switched to burst fire mode."
Zhang Xiaoman took it and asked, "15 meters? Isn't there anything with a longer range?"
The boss shook his head.
"This is the longest range available. After all, it's still a toy, and more powerful ones could easily hurt people. Besides, the government doesn't allow the sale of those with greater energy."
Zhang Xiaoman nodded in understanding. He inspected the Water Gun, which had a sci-fi look and reminded him of the kind of gun used by the Earth Defense Team in Ultraman. It was clearly identifiable as a toy.
Seeing his expression, the boss immediately caught on to his thoughts and explained:
"My friend, this is how these models look. You know the situation in our country; if you buy a realistic-looking Water Gun today, it will be confiscated tomorrow. We're a registered legal shop, so we don't sell the realistic-looking ones."
Zhang Xiaoman felt somewhat disappointed upon hearing this, but then thought that it might not be so bad after all—it could save him a lot of trouble. As for the design, it was all secondary.
He asked about the price, and it was 400 yuan for one!
Zhang Xiaoman was shocked, having never expected to spend so much on a toy.
However, although it pained him, he still grimly bought two.
The boss also gave him fifty thousand Crystal Bullets and twenty Burst Water Balls along with two extra magazines; this way, Zhang Xiaoman had secured both the "pistols" and the "hand grenades."
However, the "hand grenade" required more water, and with his current Holy Water reserves, he probably couldn't use it yet.
Looking at his wallet that was close to starvation, Zhang Xiaoman decided to go for broke and went to a nearby printing shop to get a sign made for selling sushi.
However, a rather frustrating event occurred.
Due to insufficient funds, Zhang Xiaoman's sign ended up being smaller than planned. After a furious round of haggling, he managed to get the largest face of the sign made by emptying his wallet completely.
"Now I don't even have the money to take a cab home…"
As he looked at the balance showing up as zero, Zhang Xiaoman revealed a wry smile.
Now his wage might be gone too; for a while, he might have to be a true miser.
The only consolation was that he had previously bought all the raw materials he needed to make sushi in advance, so he could still make some pocket money by selling it.
Finding a secluded spot, he reached into his pocket, rubbed the hearthstone, and teleported home!
In the afternoon, Zhang Xiaoman didn't go out anymore. Holy Water was precious, and he obviously could not afford to waste any of it.
So, after soaking a large basin full of Crystal Beads, he began continuous shooting practice.
Zhang Xiaoman found that after soaking and swelling with water, these shriveled Crystal Beads were about the size of pearls.
His own bottle of 30 ml Holy Water could only be converted into 10 Crystal Bullets, just enough to fill one magazine.
Despite the small size of these Crystal Bullets, upon bursting they could cover a splash area of nearly 20 square centimeters.
That number might seem insignificant, but if it impacted an individual's body, it could create a quite frightening wound.
15 meters was the straight-line firing range of the Water Gun.
This also seemed not very far, but in reality, it was enough for Zhang Xiaoman to shoot across the width of a two-way street.
As someone who had never dealt with shooting before, Zhang Xiaoman found this distance somewhat challenging.
Luckily, his purchased Water Gun was also equipped with an infrared sight, and because it had no recoil, it somewhat improved his hit rate.
Zhang Xiaoman converted his two bottles of Holy Water into 20 bullets, enough for two magazines.
As for the remaining bottle of Divine Grace, he hadn't touched it yet.
After all, its uses were still to be explored, and he couldn't just turn all of it into bullets right now.
Having sorted out all this, Zhang Xiaoman finally had some free time. He intended to go and play on the computer for a bit of entertainment, but his finger paused on the power button for a long while, and he ultimately moved it away without pressing it.
"Forget about games for now... I've finally got the chance to be Transcendent, I can't continue like I used to."
Finishing his thought, he stood up and went back to the living room, arranged the plastic bottles for target practice, and resumed his training.
...
At night, at home.
Zhang Xiaoman had just come back from walking the dog when suddenly a message popped up in the chat group on his phone—it was from his company chat group.
He opened it to see several hundred unread messages, with the last one mentioning him directly.
Xiao Wei: "Brother Man, Brother Man! Was it true that you encountered a 'dirty thing' in the company corridor the other time?"
Zhang Xiaoman felt a stir in his heart when he saw this message, as if he had guessed something, and quickly replied, "It's true! That thing chased me up several floors, and I barely managed to shake it off! What happened, did you encounter it too?"
As soon as Zhang Xiaoman sent the message, a reply came right back.
"Brother Man, I was wrong! I shouldn't have laughed at you last time! I encountered it today too! It was so scary! I felt like I could have died right there!"