"How much?" the burly man asked, raising his voice.

He wasn't stupid. He was a professional weapon forger, so of course he recognized the mace. Anyone who used a mace was someone with extraordinary strength.

Those who can enter the Gates of Hell, even those who use cold weapons, must possess at least a thousand pounds of strength.

“Five hundred jin,” Ye Zi replied with a smile.

"Who forged this? Based on the density of tungsten steel, this size should weigh at most fifty pounds. Five hundred pounds would be a bit excessive." The burly man asked as he switched to using both hands to receive it.

"I forged it myself; I'm quite strong." Of course, Ye Zi wouldn't tell the other party that it was created by the system.

The burly man gripped the handles of the two maces with both hands, and Ye Zi slowly placed the maces on the ground.

"Good heavens, it's almost 500 pounds." The burly man's arms were bulging with veins as he barely managed to lift the double maces, then he could no longer put them down.

Ye Zi reached out and took the double maces, then asked with a smile:

Where should this be checked?

The burly man said:

"What's the point of even checking this?"

Wang Baozhang said:

"Check if this is tungsten steel, and see if there are any areas for improvement."

The burly man said:

"You don't care if it's tungsten steel or not, with this density, its hardness is definitely no worse than tungsten steel."

Improvement? Improvement my foot! I can't even do this kind of work. You're just trying to make me look bad.

Wang Baozhang said with a mocking expression:

"Twenty years of dedicated blacksmithing, and that's it?"

The burly man didn't argue; he took a cell phone from the tool bag hanging to the side and started dialing.

After the call connected, the burly man said:

"Honey, Baozhang wants to find a partner. Tell your aunt to help arrange some blind dates in the next few days. Please keep it in mind."

Then the call ended.

Looking at Wang Baozhang again, his expression changed.

"Brother, can I call you brother instead? Stop messing around with this blind date thing."

"It's too late. Your sister-in-law will definitely arrange something for you. Her classmate from last time was quite good."

"Good my ass. A steamed bun is gone in two bites, and you eat four bowls of rice in one meal. That's not even counting the side dishes. Your figure is passable, and your face is comparable to yours. You call that good?"

"She's so good, why don't you marry her?"

"Well, there's nothing I can do about it. I like your sister-in-law's type."

"It's because I think she's ugly."

The burly man ignored Wang Baozhang and instead looked at Ye Zi, saying:

"Brother, how did you hammer so much tungsten steel into such small pieces? Do you have any secrets? Can you share them? If not, I'll even kowtow and become your apprentice."

Ye Zi shook her head and said:

"There's no secret. I don't know anything about forging. It's just hammering. If I feel it's not heavy enough, I add tungsten steel. If I feel it's too thin, I add more tungsten steel. And then it's just hammering."

"that's all?"

Ye Zi nodded seriously.

The burly man stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then muttered to himself:

"Does sheer force produce miracles?"

Too lazy to come out, Ye Zi could lift a 500-pound weapon with one hand so casually; her strength was definitely more than the minimum standard of 1,000 pounds, possibly even 3,000 to 5,000 pounds. She then asked:

"Brother, how strong are you?"

The leaf extends five fingers.

"Five thousand catties, that's huge!" the burly man exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s five tons, ten thousand jin,” Wang Baozhang said.

"Five...five tons?"

Ye Zi nodded and smiled:

"The results of the test just now should be correct."

The burly man muttered:

"Were the ancients crazy? Why would they use so much strength to become generals and bring glory to their ancestors, but instead go to work as blacksmiths? They must have loved their jobs so much."

Then he continued speaking to Ye Zi:

"Brother, we've been researching ancient heavy weapons lately, but we're always missing something. We might need your help. Do you have some time?"

"I should have some, I've been pretty free lately."

"Okay, I'll call you then."

Leaving the forge, Ye Zi asked:

"Are you two from the same clan? His name is quite casual."

Wang Baozhang said:

"Yes, we are cousins. My mother and my aunt got pregnant one after the other, and we were born on the same day, around the same time. I can't say for sure who came first or who came after."

However, he is my uncle's son, and he has always been stronger than me since he was a child, so everyone assumes that he is the older brother.

We grew up together. Later, I joined the army, and he stayed home to work as a blacksmith.

He learned the blacksmithing skill from his maternal grandfather and became obsessed with it.

His real name is Wang Baoxiang, like the elephant in Chinese. "Wang Dachui" is a nickname I gave him; he's always been carrying a hammer since he was little, so we're used to calling him that. He was already there when I walked in.

"Go inside?" Ye Zi asked, puzzled. This was the second time he had heard Wang Baozhang say this.

"Yes, we call this place the Gate of Hell. Joining means entering the gate."

Ye Zi nodded, then asked:

Why is this place called the Gates of Hell?

"The military and armed police are the country's visible forces, while the national security agents and police officers who infiltrate the enemy are those who operate in the gray area."

And we are the demons who crawled out of the dark hell.

Ye Zi raised an eyebrow. What does this have to do with the name?

Wang Baozhang continued:

Have you heard of the Southern Heavenly Gate Project?

Ye Zi nodded and said:

"I've seen it online."

"The Nantianmen Plan is a military plan, an operational scheme that is out in the open."

Since we are evil spirits who crawled out of the dark hell, the corresponding name for the military is naturally the Gate of Hell.

"Evil spirits set out, and when they return, they carry the lives of their enemies; the only place they can pass through is the Gate of Hell."

Ye Zi nodded, and then said:

"So the Southern Heavenly Gate Project is real? And those seemingly impossible weapons are real too?"

"I don't know if it's true or not, but we are real."

"These combatants don't get paid or mission bonuses. Is the allowance enough for them to live on?" Ye Zi asked casually.

"If you don't open for business for three years, you can live off it for three years once you do."

Just like when you handed over the cultural relics last time, you earned three million in one go. For people like us, who are usually either unemployed or ordinary workers, three million is undoubtedly a huge sum of money. As long as we don't spend it extravagantly, it's not a problem to live on it for two or three years.

Besides, don't underestimate the subsidy; over ten thousand yuan a month is a considerable sum no matter where you look.

The amount of over ten thousand is supposedly a subsidy, but it's actually still considered salary. The task bonus is just extra money; it's just a word game.

Is the chance of being born into a good family really that high?

"More or less," Wang Baozhang said dejectedly.

"A friend has been killed?"

"Um."

Ye Zi nodded and said:

"It seems we can't underestimate the abilities of foreigners."

"In a real one-on-one fight, the foreigners' kung fu is just so-so, but they can't stop them from forming illegal teams."

Moreover, my friend died from gunfire, not from a melee combat.

"Do I also need to participate in firearms combat?"

"When there aren't enough people, yes."

To put it bluntly, we're basically mercenaries living in the country, but we only take orders from the government. There are things the army and police can't do, so we have to handle them.

"For example?"