The Invasion Day – Chapter 23

Table of Contents | Character Guide

Chapter 23

Fu Shiwu stretched out his hand to press down the beer can that Tang Xuhai was holding up to him.

He asked cautiously: “Tang Xuhai, are you okay? What happened?”

Tang Xuhai was taken aback for a second, then he replied happily: “Nothing happened.” 

Nothing happened?

“If everything’s okay, how come you’re laughing like a fool?” Fu Shiwu looked at him suspiciously.

Tang Xuhai’s face instantly turned dark: “Why do you say that?”

Fu Shiwu apologised sincerely: “I’m sorry, but your expression right now is really like that.”

Tang Xuhai’s mouth twitched a bit, then he decided to not argue over such a trivial matter and shared his happiness with Fu Shiwu instead: “Actually, something good happened. My leg is healed.”

“Healed?” Fu Shiwu thought he understood, so he nodded: “Although it’s no longer swollen, you should still be careful.”

Tang Xuhai said: “It’s not just that. I mean my leg is completely healed. It’s like how it was before I was injured, and even feels better than that.”

Fu Shiwu was at a loss: “But you have a steel plate in your leg, how could it feel the same as before?”

Tang Xuhai was also a little puzzled, but he had been constantly distressed after his leg was injured, so no matter how strange the current situation might seem, he was unwilling to think of it in a negative light. He would rather have this situation last longer, or, in the best case, last forever.

“I don’t know either, but isn’t this great?!” Tang Xuhai’s excitement sank a bit.

Fu Shiwu frowned and said in a low voice: “No matter what the cause may be, we should do a thorough check when we have the chance.”

“Yeah.” Tang Xuhai nodded. He would do that even if Fu Shiwu didn’t tell him to. Compared to anyone, of course he was the most curious about what happened to his leg.

“Let’s not talk about this for now!” Tang Xuhai put down the beer, grabbed the clothes and handed them to Fu Shiwu: “Take them, try them on and see if they fit. If they don’t fit, I’ll go back and change for you. Now I could take all the aliens down, so don’t hesitate to tell me what you need.”

Fu Shiwu accepted Tang Xuhai’s kindness, but he still remembered the reason why Tang Xuhai had to head out today: “Where’s the water?”

“…” Tang Xuhai was silent.

“…You forgot?” Fu Shiwu asked hesitantly.

“No! I didn’t forget!” Tang Xuhai jumped and ran towards the door: “I’ve actually planed to head out again!”

“Hey! You can go after dinner!” Fu Shiwu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

But Tang Xuhai’s figure had disappeared behind the door.

Tang Xuhai picked up the empty jug of water at the door and walked towards the residential area that Fu Shiwu had explored yesterday.

When he passed by this place earlier, he took a quick glance and saw a large water purifying machine. Speaking of purifying machines, the residential area of Heavenly Gardens didn’t actually have one.

If their residential area had carried such a large purifying machine, Tang Xuhai wouldn’t have gone to Fu Shiwu’s workplace to get bottled water from there.

To explain why this was the case, there was a long story to be told, which happened between the water station and the water purifying company. After all, this world had people who acted as ‘sand monopoly’ and ‘cement monopoly’, so obviously there would also be people who took up the role of ‘water monopoly’.

To unfairly rule out competition, the water station’s operator had repeatedly used tricks to damage the filtering core of the purifying machines, forcing the manufacturer to have to repair them every once in a while. The cost of maintenance far exceeded the profits earned, which no one would be willing to pay for, so the machine had to be taken away from Heavenly Gardens.

No matter how much the water purifying company complained, the property couldn’t handle this issue and there was no way out. As a result, each household either installed their own purifier at home, or turned to bottled water provided by the station.

When this happened, Tang Xuhai and Wen Zhaoming hadn’t moved to this residential area. This was exactly why Fu Shiwu, a nerd who was only living by himself and unlikely to care about pursuing a better quality of life, had a water purifier at home. Nerd Fu Shiwu would never compromise with people who tried to monopolise water like that station.

Tang Xuhai walked into the residential area and headed directly to the Western Medicine clinic. He was wearing a tight T-shirt and a pair of track pants that had many pockets. Tang Xuhai directly climbed in through the opening that Fu Shiwu had cut out previously and collected more normal saline.

Before leaving, he deliberately took another careful look at the whole area. In fact, a lot of people was lying dead in this community, but this amount seemed much lesser than the actual population. The remaining people should have escaped.

Tang Xuhai returned to the bomb shelter with one full jug of water. Passing by a small shop on the road, he grabbed some tableware, towels, toothpaste, toothbrushes and even took the chance to wash up a bit.

This afternoon, battles and confrontations were taking place everywhere in the country, and at this point, to everyone’s surprise, something happened.

In a prison, a prisoner ragingly cut off all the bars on his cell with his bare arms and lethally stabbed an alien that broke into the prison.

On her way to flee, a young girl screamed in fear, then ripples visible to the naked eye flew out of her mouth and hit the alien that was jumping at her till it spit out blood.

In the city, seeing his subordinates being killed one after another, a gang boss cried out in anger, then a flash of lightning as thick as a python struck the alien.

In the countryside, a sturdy farmer was trapped with tentacles wrapped around his arms, then amid his despair, a monstrous force exploded from his body and tore the alien in half.

The turnaround that the whole world was looking forward to had finally appeared. And almost immediately, everyone learnt that all these people had just recovered from a fever!

But Fu Shiwu and Tang Xuhai, who were hiding in the bomb shelter inside Yun City’s Dongtian Theater and never brought their mobile phones with them when they left home, weren’t aware of such news at all.

Tang Xuhai drew the pistol from behind his waist and handed it to Fu Shiwu: “This gun is for you.”

“A gun?!” Fu Shiwu looked at the pitch back pistol that was glimmering with a dark light in utter astonishment and swallowed hard. He took a sip of water: “Where did you get it?”

Facing this kind of weapon that could only be seen on TV, any layman’s first reaction would be to shrink in fear.

Looking at his hand that was nervously unsure of where to touch, Tang Xuhai couldn’t help but laugh: “I found it on the way. Take it, the safety catch is already set, it’s safe and won’t accidentally discharge.”

Fu Shiwu took a breath, quickly calmed down and looked up at him: “You take it. Weren’t you a soldier?”

“I have many ways to deal with aliens. You can hold onto this gun for self-defence.” Tang Xuhai said firmly: “I will teach you how to use a gun.”

He now knew that Fu Shiwu was more daring than he had thought. Besides, judging from the fact that he could master the technique of injection in a short time, his coordination ability must be exceptional. Tang Xuhai felt that if he was to get out of this alive with Fu Shiwu by his side, it was natural that he should train Fu Shiwu to become a fighter.

Although there were only six bullets now, given Tang Xuhai’s skills, in this apocalypse where law and order would gradually collapse, he wouldn’t have to worry about finding more bullets for Fu Shiwu.

Fu Shiwu pondered the idea for a moment, then he solemnly nodded and took the gun with both hands: “I will try my best!”

Tang Xuhai smiled. This was exactly the good side of Fu Shiwu that he saw through. When Fu Shiwu had to make a choice, he would quickly choose one that brought on reasonable benefits, either for himself or for the greater good. As long as he made up his mind, he definitely would act without hesitation.

With the current state of this world, being decisive was a very important quality.

“Okay, I’ll teach you how to use this gun.” Tang Xuhai walked over and pulled up the gun in Fu Shiwu’s hand, giving him an introduction of each component: “This is the trigger, this is the security catch, and this is the magazine. When you release the security catch… “

With a crisp “click”, he pressed down the safety catch. Tang Xuhai pulled the slide and said: “Now the bullets are loaded, as soon as you pull the trigger, it will fire. If the gun isn’t in use, remember to set the safety catch in place. To set the safety catch, you do this…”

Tang Xuhai took the gun from him and the two remained very close to each other. Tang Xuhai meticulously taught him how to set the safety, mount the magazine, remove the magazine, take out the bullets, then insert the bullets…

Tang Xuhai taught seriously, and Fu Shiwu studied even more seriously.

His personality had always been a bit on the rigid side. To learn a skill that would directly affect life and death, he would certainly put 110% of his concentration and efforts into it.

Just like Tang Xuhai thought, Fu Shiwu’s hand-eye coordination was remarkable. Tang Xuhai only demonstrated to him once, yet Fu Shiwu could line up the whole process all by himself, then after a few practices, he could perform the steps dexterously.

Tang Xuhai nodded in satisfaction as he took the gun from Fu Shiwu’s hand: “Okay, let’s practise slowly. I’ll show you how to disassemble the gun and assemble it back later, it’s a side skill. Now let’s teach you how to shoot. Shooting isn’t just simply firing a bullet. If you can’t hit the target, it’s a waste. In shooting, the first requirement is that you must hold the gun correctly. If you can’t hold the gun steadily, don’t expect to hit your target.”

Tang Xuhai said grimly, then Fu Shiwu pushed his glasses up and nodded equally grimly.

“I’m going to do it once. Watch me.” Tang Xuhai said.

Tang Xuhai held the barrel with his left hand and pushed the grip into his right palm, then he closed his right hand and held tightly onto the pistol. The two hands that were spreading out now naturally moved down at the same time. He looked straight ahead, then his hands suddenly clenched together and neatly pulled the trigger.

“Crunch!” A soft sound startled Fu Shiwu.

Because the aura surrounding Tang Xuhai was too overwhelming, he forgot that the bullets had been taken out and the safety wasn’t set.

“After you master the correct method of holding a gun, you won’t even need to aim during an emergency. You can hit the target just by raising your arm.” Tang Xuhai raised the muzzle and said proudly.

Hearing so, Fu Shiwu felt all the blood in his body surging to his heart.

“Of course, for a newbie like you, let’s not think about it for the time being.” Tang Xuhai poured a bucket of cold water on him again. “Let’s not think so far ahead. For now, let’s learn how to aim correctly first.” But then he wouldn’t want to crush Fu Shiwu’s enthusiasm, so he added one more sentence: “You can take that as a goal.”

Fu Shiwu felt a lump in his throat, part of him angry and part of him provoked. Do you think that you’re funny? Or very funny? You’re definitely teasing me, right?!

Tang Xuhai let him hold the gun and held his hand, helping him to settle into an accurate posture: “Accurate aiming posture requires hard work. Later, I will put a target on the wall for you to practise aiming. Remember, with a gun, a slightest miss can have very serious consequences! The muzzle must always point at the right target. During practice, you can place your finger on the trigger to give a certain amount of pressure, but don’t pull the trigger randomly. Wait for your heart to completely stabilise and your awareness of firing to reduce to the lowest level, or even reduce to zero. Do you understand?”

Fu Shiwu thought hard for a long time, then shook his head sorrily.

“How should I put it… It means that you should aim until your consciousness totally becomes blank. The moment you feel only the target in your mind, you can pull the trigger.” Tang Xuhai simplified it a bit.

Little did he know that this brutally straightforward teaching method of his would give birth to a legendary gunner in the future!

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The translator has something to say: Not sure if it’s just me being unfamiliar with these gun jargons, but just in case you are confused, here’s a very quick demonstration of a gun’s anatomy to make this chapter slightly easier to digest.

The most important components of a handgun that you probably will see being mentioned in future chapters include: Muzzle, slide, barrel, safety (or safety catch), trigger, grip and magazine.

Also, this is how a handgun should be held: