Chapter 80: Firecrackers
“This person’s strength is obviously not weak. Just that single sword thrust was full of Qi. I even felt a faint trace of sword Qi. Moreover, that attack did not prove his exact rank and he may be a lot stronger than what I thought” Xiu Wenle thought. He can affirm this person’s strength and was sure that he cannot compare. If they fight, the sound will be sure to alarm the people in the house and would only cause unnecessary trouble.
“En, what you said is rational,” the opposite party slightly paused, but nodded thereafter, “Good, we can work together to seek the print technology. We can decide what to do later once we have found it. The one with the best strength will get it then.”
After coming to an agreement, the two people both in black clothing started to inspect every room in the big Grand Alliance Headquarters. They immediately knew that rooms without a lit lamp were vacant, so they went to inspect every single room that had light on to find the print technology. They visited several lit rooms, but the place was just too big, enormously big.
They searched all the rooms without leaving any trace behind.
Finally, they arrived at the room which was brightly illuminated. Before the gate, in the open area, can be seen six to seven big things suspended in midair. They cannot fathom what they were so they just ignored it and looked at the three people inside the room. The three people inside are chatting, one of them sat before the door of the room. It was a robust man with protruding muscles. His face showed sharp edges with distinct features, his expression shows seriousness with his hair in the back standing erect like steel needles. Xiu Wenle’s heart immediately tighten upon seeing him. He understood that this fellow’s strength may even excel his.
The other two squat while checking the six and seven suspended things in the open area at the gate. One of them was a little girl with scarlet hair of about ten years old while the other was wearing a decadent princely golden robe!
“Hong Xiaobao!” The other person wearing black immediately gasped in surprise. He lowered his voice while saying, “Hong Xiaobao martial arts is extremely low and that little girl is also someone we do not have to worry about. Only the guard standing in the front will be hard to deal with. Do you have any idea what our plan will be, little friend?”
“The best method would be if we can get ahold of Hong Xiaobao to interrogate him about his print technology. However, this guard doesn’t look simple at all.” Xiu Wenle knit his brow and continued, “We will wait for a while, wait till that guard lowers his defenses, then we will act.”
Stealing the print technology was the reason why they searched the whole headquarters, but obviously Xiu Wenle changed his plans after seeing Hong Xiaobao. Stealing the technology is not important anymore, as long as they can directly take Hong Xiaobao with them, they can just feed him some poison to control him. When that time comes, they can make him spill out everything about the printing system. They could even get more benefits this way. Maybe they can even get more ideas out of Hong Xiaobao in order to create endless money!
“En, that’s decided then!” The person in black knew that this plan was better than what they had earlier, especially now that Hong Xiaobao only had one guard and one little girl by his side. Waiting for the opportunity to seize Hong Xiaobao to show itself was the idea that gave the greatest of possibility!
Since they have discussed what to do, they no longer worried and abruptly stopped searching for the technology. They hid in the shadows, watching Hong Xiaobao tinker with the several objects in the open area.
“Put these gunpowder inside, then seal the opening.” Hong Xiaobao took a bamboo tube and filled the inside, then sealed it afterwards. He continue saying, “This firing line part should not be ruined, everything depends on this for this to ignite.”
Gunpowder? Bamboo tube? Firing line? What kind of thing was that?
Watching the objects in Hong Xiaobao hands made Xiu Wenle and the mystical man full of curiosity. What Hong Xiaobao said was something they cannot fully comprehend.
“En! Is his how big brother Xiaobao did this?” the little girl also manipulated the bamboo tube and filled it with gunpowder just like Hong Xiaobao did. Xiu Wenle saw that those bamboo tube were the size of a small boy’s arm, but he couldn’t identify how thick or thin they were so he did not think any further. Those tubes are about half a foot long and they can see the little girl unceasingly filling it with those powder inside.
Quickly, the little girl completely filled the tube.
They then heard Hong Xiaobao mumble after seeing the girl fill in the bamboo tube, “En, these are almost complete for our Grand Alliance to use. It was a pity the time was not sufficient, or else I could have gone and make a better and complete firecrackers. These things are not sufficient at all.”
“His expression and words clearly confirms that this thing called firecrackers are to be use in their grand opening ceremony, but he was not able to complete it”
Xiu Wenle and the man in black look at each other. They knew that Hong Xiaobao is extremely intelligent, but they still cannot find what these bamboo tubes are used for.
This time they heard Qingqing’s sweet and delicate voice asking, “Big brother Xiaobao I am really curious. This thing that’s called firecracker, what is its final form?” Her voice was somewhat chilly, but was still very pleasant to the ears. Xiu Wenle and the man in black grew curious when they heard her question.
“This, do you really want to know?” Hong Xiaobao smiled immediately. “Let’s try out one then!”
The firecrackers back on Earth was used almost every holidays, especially when someone got married. This may be different to the actual firecrackers, but the issue is that this world did not have anything resembling gunpowder. Therefore, this firecracker was significantly different, particularly with the bamboo tube that Hong Xiaobao created. He did not exaggerate when he said that this was almost the same as a grenade in straight firing.
Qingqing also looked at the tube in his hand with utmost curiosity. She wanted to know if Hong Xiaobao said was true, that this thing can really erupt ear-splitting sound that can cause a cheerful atmosphere in some occasions after its ignition. Also, she wanted to flush out those two snooping dogs that were secretly listening in the shadows.
Having such thoughts, Qingqing did not continue being polite. After hearing Hong Xiaobao say that she can just put a little fire on the silver ignition wire on the bamboo tube, she lit up the wire immediately and threw it directly at the exit where Xiu Wenle and the man in black are standing. It directly fell at the foot of Xiu Wenle.
“Why did you throw it away just like that?” Hong Xiaobao expression changed abruptly upon seeing such a thing. He almost got scared to death by her upon seeing the lit wire. He gripped Qingqing’s small body with his one hand, put her under his arm without any care and ran as fast as he can towards the room Pa.s.sing through the gate, he threw himself inside and pressed Qingqing under his body. “Don’t you want to live anymore? Ah, I should get up! Big stupid bear, you also come in!” Hong Xiaobao said with incomparable seriousness. Qingqing stayed by his side almost every day, but this is the first time she saw his face fl.u.s.tered. She did not think of anything anymore and buried herself in his chest.
Actually, the might of this firecracker was not that great, but the place they were in before was completely filled with materials and bamboo tubes. What if all of them exploded?
“What, what is this thing?” Xiu Wenle and the man in black saw the little girl had casually thrown the bamboo tube in the area they’re in. They were a bit away, but not really far from where it landed. Xiu Wenle’s curiosity was piqued and he really wanted to go take a look. However, he was secretly cautious thus he did not go too near the bamboo tube and can only look from a distance.
He did not think too much about the girl casually throwing it, but Hong Xiaobao great change of expression and his immediate retreat was really strange. This thing was created for the grand ceremony, why would he fear it?
“This, do we take it back to take a look?” the man in black was also curious. Seeing Hong Xiaobao and the two other people entered the room as if fleeing from ghost and demons, he grasped the firecracker in his hand. “This thing releases smoke unexpectedly, how do you think it is used?”
“Release it! Quickly release it!” Xiu Wenle smelt the bone sulfur from the smoke and immediately realized that this thing was flammable. He right away released his true Qi to form a defensive Qi wall all over his body and started to run away. The man in black saw him running and quickly let go of the bamboo tube. It was pity it was too late.
“Bang!!!” A startling thunderclap resounded in the building. The blast resounded everywhere which made the whole Grand Alliance Headquarters shiver, provoking incomparable terror in this peaceful night.
Xiu Wenle’s whole person was directly blasted to sky by the shock wave. He rode this momentum to escape non-stop for several meters. His chest felt so stuffy that his heart almost stop beating. He spewed a mouthful of blood and felt a little better. Nevertheless, that explosion was really huge. He was not able to run far, so his right arm was shaken and bones can be seen from the web of cracks on his skin.
“Luckily that fool was in the rear and covered most of the blast, otherwise I would have been blasted to death,” Xiu Wenle felt lingering fear, but simultaneously rejoiced secretly.
Honestly, he also wanted to take a look at that bamboo tube a moment ago. Who would have thought that that fellow would have such bad luck as to pick it up? He feared that the man in black may have exploded to pieces already. Even if he did not die, he surely suffered a severe wound from that explosion.
Even he, who had right away set up true Qi to cover his whole body, had injured his right arm so much that it will take 2-3 months to recover. Had he not put up protection, he’d most likely be unrecognizable now.
“Scary! This Hong Xiaobao is truly fierce and scary!” Xiu Wenle soul was so frightened that he fled right away. He did not think of stealing Hong Xiaobao printing method anymore and just ran wildly, dashing about the streets while saying, “What is this firecracker bamboo tube? Is it possible that this is the fabled s.p.a.ce mine? Even my 6-martial artist cultivation can barely contend with it. Ah, it’s truly terror inducing! A fearful thing!”
Xiu Wenle was really frightened. Such a frightening thing, let alone him, even other may have not seen something like it before.
He is a 6-star martial artist, under this explosion, he unexpectedly has to duck and run. His entire right arm was still in severe pain that was hard to endure, even his bones were showing and part of them were shattered. After confirming that the distance was enough, Xiu Wenle abruptly stopped. He looked back look at the place where the pitiful man in black was and estimated that he was either killed or only half alive.
“It’s simply too powerful, too powerful! How can this Hong Xiaobao create such a thing?” Xiu Wenle dashed again while thinking, “This is absolutely the fabled s.p.a.ce mine! This is not good, I must tell this to Valley Master right away. I must be careful!”
He quickly returned to Warm Fragrant Building. After he shut down the windows and doors, he took a pen and started to right with gusto.
“Valley Master Hou Yuanxun:,Hong Xiaobao has studied a new weapon. It is quite similar to the legendary s.p.a.ce mine as its explosive power is earthshaking and can be called a weapon of ma.s.s destruction! We absolutely need to handle this with great certainty.” Xiu Wenle attached his sign and sighed.
Rolling the piece of paper, Xiu Wenle let out the carrier pigeon. After the paper was tied to its leg, he released it directly to the sky.