"This... this is..." Rick's voice lost its hoarse stability for the first time, with a hint of uncontrollable trembling. He stared at the hairpin in his hand, as if he wanted to see through it.
"It's Qingyi's." Wen Shifei suppressed the turmoil in her heart and answered in a hoarse voice, "She asked me to keep it... She and Zero fell at the edge of the fortress... We were separated..." She hadn't finished her words.
"Qingyi?! Zero?!" A deep, hoarse voice, like two pieces of rusty steel rubbing against each other, suddenly came from the back of the crowd. The voice wasn't loud, but it carried an indescribable penetrating power and a heavy pressure that instantly drowned out all the noisy discussions.
The crowd seemed to be separated by an invisible force, automatically making way for a wide passage.
A figure slowly walked over.
His build wasn't as imposing as Rick's, and he was even a bit skinny. Yet, every inch of his muscle was tightly entwined around his frame like the gnarled roots of an old tree, brimming with explosive power. He wore a similarly oil-stained, washed-out canvas jacket, the sleeve of his right arm tucked loosely into his belt. His face was the most striking feature—weather-beaten, deeply carved with wrinkles like the sharpness of a knife and axe, a microcosm of the steel wilderness of the lower city. A massive, hideous scar slashed diagonally from his left forehead, past his tightly closed left eye (which was covered by a cold black metal eye mask), and extended to his jaw, seemingly cleaving his skull. His only remaining right eye, its pupil a cloudy, dark yellow, like the embers of an extinguished fire, now blazed with a sharp light that shook even Wen Shifei's soul, as if it could penetrate his flesh and see into his heart.
His pace was slow, even a slight stumble, his left leg clearly showing signs of an old injury. But each step carried a tremendous weight, as if the entire steel fortress were trembling slightly with his steps. An invisible, rusty smell, a mixture of thick gunpowder, engine oil, and the stench of blood, washed over him. It was the scent of a true war beast, one that had crawled countless times from mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
He walked in front of Rick, his gaze not even staying on Wen Shifei for a second. His cloudy and sharp right eye was fixed on the small alloy hairpin in Rick's hand.
Time seemed to freeze. The entire bustling steel fortress fell into a momentary silence. Only the hissing of welding sparks continued in the distance, and the sound of hammers striking metal had ceased. Everyone's eyes were focused on the thin, terrifying figure and the hairpin he was staring at.
Old Gun - Wen Shifei instantly confirmed that this man who looked like he had crawled out of the furnace of hell was the only way to survival mentioned in the secret code, "Old Gun"!
Rick's body was as tense as a fully drawn bow. He carefully and almost reverently handed over the small alloy hairpin, his voice filled with unprecedented repression and... a hint of fear: "Boss... it's... it's the lady's..."
Old Gun's left hand, thickly calloused and with unusually thick knuckles, slowly, ever so slowly, reached for the hairpin. His movements carried an almost frozen heaviness, as if his hand weighed a thousand pounds. When his fingertips finally touched the cool alloy, the air seemed to be sucked out of the entire steel fortress.
There was no roar, no questioning. Old Gun simply used his rough fingers to gently stroke the smooth curve of the hairpin over and over again, as if touching the most precious and fragile object in the world. His fingertips lingered on the almost invisible blue crystal, trembling slightly.
Wen Shifei held her breath. She saw Lao Qian's cloudy right eye, like an extinguished ember. Something deep in the pupil was violently surging and shattering. It wasn't tears of sorrow, but something deeper and more terrifying—the bloody abyss revealed when the iron barrier that had supported countless years collapsed in an instant. The muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably beneath the scar, and the huge scar looked even more hideous in the dim light. His aura had not weakened, but instead, he was like a volcano about to erupt, accumulating devastating lava within.
"Where... is she?" Lao Qian's voice sounded, as hoarse as sandpaper rubbing against rusty steel plates. Every word seemed to be squeezed out from a broken chest, with a heart-pounding calmness.
"The edge of area B-7...the gap between the outer deck of the fortress and the abandoned ventilation shaft..." Wen Shifei forced herself to speak, her voice dry, "She and Zero were blown away by the Executioner's shock wave...and fell down...we...we were separated..." She added with difficulty, "Zero...Zero protected her...should...should still be alive!" She didn't dare to say the cold will in Zero's silver eyes at the end, the feeling was equally disturbing.
"Zero..." Old Gun repeated the name. The dark storm swirling in his single eye seemed to freeze for a moment, a flash of extremely complex emotions passing through it, too fast to grasp. Then, the storm intensified. He no longer looked at Wen Shifei, his gaze still fixed on the hairpin in his palm, as if to imprint it deep into his soul.
"Boss! Executioner Squad! Three! They're moving towards the 'Iron Felt' outpost on our periphery! Very fast!" A hurried voice suddenly came from an observation post suspended above, echoing with a metallic loudspeaker, breaking the suffocating silence! "Outpost requesting instructions!"
alarm!
Lao Qiang's hand, stroking the hairpin, suddenly clenched! He gripped the cold metal tightly in his palm! He suddenly raised his head! His cloudy right eye instantly blazed with a terrifying, murderous light! All the collapsing emotions were instantly compressed and ignited, transforming into a rage and murderous intent that burned everything! The invisible pressure was like a tangible shock wave, instantly sweeping across the entire space, making everyone feel breathless!
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