The name sounded decent at first, but once she learned the story behind it, she couldn't help feeling it was far too casually chosen.
And although the weapon sounded enticing, Lan Jin kept thinking—had it somehow wandered into the wrong world? Could technology these days really create something this advanced?
For a moment, Lan Jin truly doubted it was even real.
Still, if it really did have such terrifying destructive power, then fifty thousand contribution points wasn't expensive at all.
Lan Jin asked curiously, "Has our technology already reached that level?"
Brother Zhang only smiled without answering. Many things were never told truthfully to ordinary people, so only insiders knew how strong the Guo family's backing truly was. But thinking about it carefully, it was already the year 2122. With so many other advanced technologies around, producing something like this wasn't so hard to believe.
"No matter what, weapons produced by the base are guaranteed to be of a certain quality. You can buy without worry. And this weapon, while high in grade, still has to be used in combination with the wielder's own ability. If your ability is overused, the weapon can't reach its full potential."
In other words, if you had an ability, it could make that ability stronger. But without an ability, it was nothing more than an ugly ornament. Ordinary people had no real reason to buy it.
Lan Jin asked, "Are weapons like this common?"
Brother Zhang laughed. "Of course… they're not common at all. A first-tier weapon has to match a suitable ability, and you have to have the right amount of contribution points to buy it. With those requirements, they're never mass-produced. Think about it—how many people could meet all those conditions? Our entire base only has this single first-tier weapon."
Lan Jin asked, "Then how do you know I can afford it?"
"Those crystals and that snake you just traded in will fetch a good price. Even if you can't afford it right now, you should be able to soon." Then Brother Zhang added, "Actually, you've probably guessed that I have a favor to ask. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been so helpful all the way here. After you buy the weapon, I have a special mission I hope you'll take on. Whether you accept or not, I'll still answer everything you want to know."
Lao Gao gave him a sidelong glance. "You knew we had questions for you?"
"We're not fools. Let's skip the pretense. I can tell you've used abilities before, but you don't really understand them, and you seem to know nothing about the dangers outside. I don't know where you're headed or how you got here, but walking over the ice won't shorten your journey—it'll only make it longer. The dangers ahead are everywhere."
Ling Jiang smirked. "That sounds scary. Doesn't your base have its own ability users? What kind of task could they not handle, that you'd need us for?"
Brother Zhang let out a faint, mocking laugh. "This mission has to do with those ability users themselves. I can't say more unless you agree. But I'll be leading the team myself, and once it's done, even if you want to leave, I promise the reward will make it easy for you to take away everything you've earned."
The mention of a reward piqued Lao Gao's interest. Some missions rewarded you with weapons, after all. "Why don't you tell us what the reward is first?"
Brother Zhang hesitated for a moment, then said, "A gun. Small, refined, with incredible firepower. Comes with matching ammo. Normally, bullets are consumables—you fire one, it's gone. But both the gun and its ammo are specially made. These bullets can be reused. One gun with twenty bullets is enough to last a long time."
Clearly, that alone wasn't enough to tempt them. So Brother Zhang pulled out his phone and made a call. "Xiao Wang, send me the picture of the reward for the special mission. Yes, that one."
He hung up.
Seeing the phone in use, Huang Jinghe perked up immediately. "Wait, phones work here? There's signal?"
Brother Zhang put the phone down. "Inside the base, yes. We built our own tower. Without it, communication would be a pain in this terrain. But it only works within the H City base area. If you want to call outside, it's possible—we have satellite phones made by the base. They can make calls and do other things, but they're expensive. And the person you call has to have one too."
Huang Jinghe could already guess the other side had phones. His parents were military, and if the H City base could use them, he didn't believe the Capital city base didn't have them.
And if bases could already contact each other, there was no need to spend that money.
He leaned forward, still excited. "So your base can contact other bases? My parents are military—could I reach them?"
"It's possible," Brother Zhang said, "but if they're away or busy, you can only send a message through someone else. But yes, contact is possible."
Then he asked, "When you leave, are you heading for another base?"
Too focused on the thought of calling, Huang Jinghe didn't even think to hide it. "Before we lost contact, my parents were in the Capital city base. So we can reach them?"
Brother Zhang thought for a moment. "That's simple. I'll take you to make a call later. But please think carefully about what I said."
At this point, whether they agreed or not, it would be rude to reject him outright. Still, Huang Jinghe's impulsive honesty had clearly put them in a weaker position. Lan Jin exchanged a glance with Lao Gao before saying to Brother Zhang, "Why don't we look at the weapon first, then you can tell me more about that ring? Something that expensive—I have to understand it clearly. You don't take returns here, do you?"
"The base stands by its products. No need to talk about returns."
Even so, Brother Zhang followed Lan Jin to the ring display counter and began explaining it in detail.