Ethan put down the silver-white revolver in his hand that still slled of gunpowder, a victorious and proud smile appearing on his face.
This was the first ti since completing his self-redemption during the Egypt incident that he had taken the lead as the core of a team and brought a thrilling battle to a decisive end.
The exhilarating feeling of toying with a powerful enemy and crushing them with sheer strength was far more intoxicating than anything he could experience at any top-tier club in London.
Lin Jie, after confirming the UMA's death, imdiately lost his strength and slumped down, kneeling on one knee. He used the [Serene Heart] in his hand to prop himself up, panting heavily.
Continuously activating the [ntal Staircase] for high-intensity tactical calculations and precise shooting was still a significant burden on his current ntal energy.
Yet, his eyes also sparkled with excitent.
The seamless coordination between him and Ethan had given him his first taste of the charm of two-person combat.
Without William and Julian, their combat style had beco sharper and more efficient.
Ethan could handle strong control and burst damage with [Morning Star] and [Evening Star], while Lin Jie used his tactical mind and the precise pinpoint kills of his [Serene Heart] to deliver the final blow.
This was a new, aggressive and invasive combat mode.
"Our little 'temporary partnership' works pretty well together," Ethan's words, tinged with teasing, ca from the doorway.
Lin Jie looked up and gave Ethan a smile without saying a word, then took out a small silver flask from his chest, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.
The spicy brandy burned down his throat into his stomach, the heat quickly dispelling the cold and fatigue.
After briefly recovering his strength, Lin Jie stood up.
He stared at the two silver-white revolvers in Ethan's hands.
"Ethan, can I ask a question?"
"Of course," Ethan replied, still basking in the joy of victory, in a good mood.
"These babies of yours," Lin Jie pointed at the two powerful armants, "why have I never seen you use their true abilities before?"
"Whether on the Dartmoor Wilderness, or in Egypt when we were being chased by that giant eel with nowhere to run."
Lin Jie's tone carried a hint of helplessness.
"If you had shown this trump card earlier, we could have suffered at least half as much!"
This resentful question froze the smile on Ethan's face.
He lowered his head, gently caressing the two guns in his hands engraved with patterns of the "Rising Sun" and the "Waning Moon" as if stroking a lover.
"Because," he finally spoke after a long silence, "I didn't dare use them."
"Didn't dare?" Lin Jie was slightly taken aback, unable to comprehend that in this world, there was sothing Ethan Redgrave didn't dare to do.
"Yes, didn't dare." A bitter smile appeared on Ethan's face. "Because they don't belong to ."
"They are the relics of my best friend, the one I abandoned in the desert."
"These two guns were designed by his own hands. He always said that gravity was ant to pull companions back from the brink of danger, and repulsion was ant to push danger away from companions."
Ethan's voice grew heavy with sorrow.
"After his death, these two guns beca proof of my 'sin'."
"Every ti I pick them up, I see the final image of Ayden before my eyes."
"I was afraid. I was afraid of using this power."
"Because I didn't deserve it."
This confession plunged Lin Jie into a prolonged silence.
Lin Jie finally understood why Ethan, in previous battles, had preferred to use those flashy but inefficient alchemical bullets for weak attacks, never using this pair of truly powerful trump cards.
It wasn't about hiding his strength.
It was a "ntal shackle" he had set for himself, one he could not overco.
"What about now?" Lin Jie asked softly.
"Now..." Ethan raised his head, his eyes regaining their clarity and determination.
"Now, I think I've finally found people worth protecting again."
"So," he raised the [Morning Star] and [Evening Star] in his hands, the muzzles of the two guns gleaming with a newborn light under the moonlight.
"They have finally found their new master."
Lin Jie nodded. After resting for a mont, he walked over to the Tongue-Ripper's corpse, crouched down, and began examining it carefully.
This UMA's skin and flesh were extrely tough. Even after being hit head-on by the repulsive shockwave from Ethan's [Evening Star], it only suffered severe internal injuries without large-scale ruptures.
Its hard claws and sharp tongue-blade were all precious materials that could be used to forge piercing or cutting-type Grotesque Armants.
However, Lin Jie's gaze didn't linger on these obvious treasures for too long.
His attention was drawn to sothing he had personally shattered.
That was the Tongue-Ripper's throat bone.
Or, using more scientific terminology, the hyoid bone.
The vital spot that his [Serene Heart] had shot through and shattered.
Carefully, he extracted the shattered pieces of pale white bone fragnts bit by bit from the huge gash in the UMA's throat.
Then he placed the largest fragnt on his palm and observed it closely.
He soon discovered so peculiar phenona. The texture of this bone was very strange.
It possessed the hardness of bone, yet also had an elasticity similar to cork.
But what shocked Lin Jie the most was its internal structure.
At the broken cross-section, one could see that the inside of this bone was not the usual solid structure containing marrow.
Instead, it displayed a complex honeycomb-like structure composed of many visible micropores of varying sizes.
The structure looked very much like the high-grade soundproofing foam he had seen in his previous life.
A thought flashed through Lin Jie's mind.
He subconsciously brought that bone fragnt to his ear.
And then he heard...
Silence!
Absolute silence, where even the sound of air flow was consud.
He could feel that when external sounds entered his ear and passed through this bone fragnt, all vibrations were absorbed and neutralized layer by layer by its complex internal honeycomb structure, ultimately vanishing into nothingness.
This... was a natural silencer.
Lin Jie looked at the silver-black [Serene Heart] in his hand.
Why does firing a gun produce sound?
Essentially, it's just three parts.
First, the chanical collision sound when the hamr strikes the prir.
Second, the trendous roar produced when gunpowder burns and explodes violently inside the chamber, propelling the bullet forward.
Third, the sharp whistling sound produced when the bullet, after leaving the muzzle, tears through the air at supersonic speed.
And if...
If this peculiar bone with its "sound-vibration absorbing" characteristic could be integrated into the structure of the [Serene Heart]'s hamr, chamber, and barrel...
Then...
Lin Jie didn't dare to imagine further.
That would be a true "ghost gun".
An "assassin's blade" that could take a life from the darkness without the enemy ever noticing.
While Lin Jie was imrsed in the joy of obtaining unique materials.
A magnetic voice with a heavy Latin accent speaking English abruptly sounded from the shadows of the study.
"Not bad, rookies."
The voice wasn't loud but was sharp, slicing the relaxed atmosphere of victory in the study to pieces.
Both Lin Jie and Ethan's bodies tensed simultaneously.
They aid their weapons in the direction of the voice.
From behind the huge wall crack created by the Tongue-Ripper's corpse, in the deeper darkness belonging to the manor's back garden.
A tall figure was walking out of the shadows at a leisurely pace.
It was a Latino man who looked to be around thirty-seven or thirty-eight.
He was very tall, at least over 190 centiters, his bronze skin reflecting a healthy and powerful glow under the moonlight.
His facial features were sharply defined with hard lines, a pair of deep black eyes carrying an aggressive light.
He wore a severely worn old trench coat, its original color indistinguishable, and the sll of blood was detectable.
But the most eye-catching were the two large curved swords crossed at his waist.
Those two curved swords had a wild design, with strong Arabic influences, their slender, curved blades resembling bloody crescents.
And on the dark red blades were many eerie, faintly pulsating blood-red patterns.
An intense bloody scent and the oppressive sense of presence unique to an apex predator rushed towards them from his person.
"...However, according to Lisbon's rules,"
"The prey on a piece of land should... be selected first by the local master."
His gaze swept over the Tongue-Ripper's corpse on the ground.
"This tongue has good texture. It's mine."
He stated calmly, in a tone declaring ownership.
Then this man completely ignored the revolvers Lin Jie and Ethan had aid at his head and walked straight towards the Tongue-Ripper's corpse.
Arrogant, and powerful!
Lin Jie felt the killing intent emanating from this man before them was purer than any other human enemy they had encountered before.
It was a terrifying aura that fused himself with the very act of killing.
"Halt!" Ethan's voice rang out. "State your na and your identity!"
Hearing this, the man stopped.
He slowly turned his head, looking at Ethan with interest.
"...The Redgrave kid? Hmph, quite the tone you've got." He sneered, seemingly disdainful of Ethan's noble status.
"Listen up, rookies."
He placed his hands on the hilts of the two blood-red curved swords at his waist.
"My na is... Ricardo."
"As for my identity..."
He grinned, revealing a mouthful of stark white teeth.
"I.A.R.C. Hunter Ranking, forty-eighth place."
"'The Butcher' Ricardo!"
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