Tianjin, starting with unorthodox methods to achieve immortality

By the time the group returned to their tent after the meal, it was already completely dark.

The lights inside the tent were on, but the light was dim and flickered occasionally, indicating that the voltage was not very stable.

Yue Shan walked to the table and spread out a map, which now had some markings and arrows drawn with charcoal pencils.

"The location for this mission is an abandoned dye house deep in Rat Alley."

"It wasn't an infiltration; it was a coordinated operation to encircle and suppress the enemy."

His finger pressed heavily on a mark on the map that was circled three times with charcoal. "According to our informants and preliminary reconnaissance, the backyard of this dye house has been transformed into a stronghold by the Soul-Sealing Woman. At least three to five people will meet there tonight."

"The Soul-Sewing Granny lineage uses sinister methods, which are not as simple as just sewing up corpses."

"They believe that appearances can be altered and souls can be sewn together, and they often engage in activities such as live body sewing and soul dismantling."

"At this critical juncture in Linhe County, the gathering of these people poses too great a risk and must be eliminated."

After Yue Shan finished speaking, he turned his gaze to Zhao Tie on his left.

Zhao Tie took out several yellow talisman papers from the cloth bag. They were covered with complex runes drawn with cinnabar, and some of them were stained with dark brown stains.

"I tested the air outside the dyehouse during the day. Besides the fishy smell, there was also a putrid smell like wet mud."

"There might be corpse carriers and people from the Yin-Yang Cult among them," Zhou Ling said softly, her fingers unconsciously rubbing her hidden weapon pouch. "Or they might be raising something."

Wu Tong snorted coldly: "Whatever it is, just chop it up."

"It's not that simple." Yue Shan shook his head.

"Battalion Commander Liu will send a reinforced platoon to assist us."

His gaze swept over Chen Mo and the others. "We'll break in simultaneously from the front gate and the abandoned well in the backyard, heading straight for the core. We'll kill or control the main target in the shortest possible time."

"Wu Tong, while you lead your troops to launch a feint attack from the main gate to draw attention, Chen Mo, this is your first mission tonight. Just stay behind and use the paper figures to assist. Don't linger in the fight. If anything unusual happens, retreat immediately."

"Zhou Ling, choose a sniping position further away, prioritize your own safety, I'll sneak in from the backyard."

He looked around: "Remember, our primary objective is to eliminate the threat; if that's not possible, self-preservation is the best option."

"Do you understand?"

As he spoke, Yue Shan walked to a wooden box next to him, opened the lid, and inside were several Mauser pistols and matching leather magazine pouches.

Chen Mo was stunned. They even provided guns? Are the benefits at the Inspection Bureau really that good?

Having lived two lifetimes, he has never touched a real gun.

"For your safety, each of you will be given a self-defense weapon and three full magazines, ten rounds per magazine."

Yue Shan picked up a Mauser pistol and skillfully inspected the bolt. "The bullets are specially made by the Ordnance Bureau to ward off evil spirits. The bullets are mixed with silver powder and copper powder, which have a certain killing effect on evil spirits, but don't expect to solve everything with them."

"Remember, this is a last resort. It might work on ordinary people, but it will have limited effect on things that are thick-skinned or intangible."

He distributed Mauser pistols and magazine pouches to everyone.

In addition to her pistol, Zhou Ling also carried a Type 1888 pistol that was nearly a meter long, which she was mainly responsible for long-range point-and-shoot kills.

Chen Mo took the heavy pistol.

The gun was cold to the touch, with slight wear on the wooden grip and a faint smell of gun oil.

He tried to grip the gun handle, his fingers searching for the trigger, his movements revealing a clear lack of familiarity.

He's clearly a novice.

Yue Shan watched Chen Mo fiddling with the pistol and asked, "Never used a gun before, have you?"

"No, no." Chen Mo nodded honestly.

Although firearms were sold in the private sector, their price of several tens of dollars per gun was undoubtedly a luxury for the Chen family in the past.

Later, when he had money, he didn't think to buy a weapon for self-defense.

Yue Shan didn't say anything, but walked over, took the Mauser pistol from Chen Mo's hand, and demonstrated the basic operation.

Teach him how to eject the magazine, how to inspect the chamber, how to load the magazine, how to cock the hammer, and how to disengage the safety.

"This is a genuine German Mauser C96, which we call a Mauser C96 pistol or a box pistol." Yue Shan's voice had the air of an instructor. "Its effective range is about fifty paces. At this distance, as long as you hit it accurately, taking down a human target with one shot shouldn't be a problem."

"Beyond this distance, the accuracy drops rapidly, and the power also weakens."

"Remember, we are using specially made exorcising bullets. The bullets are light and have a slightly slower initial velocity than ordinary bullets, but they have an added exorcising effect."

He paused, glanced at Chen Mo, and said, "It's for saving your life when your knife can't reach it and your spells don't work, understand?"

"Understood!" the group replied.

Yue Shan handed the gun back to Chen Mo: "After the mission is completed, if there is still time, you can go to the camp's makeshift shooting range to practice. You don't need to become a sharpshooter, but at least you should know how to make it fire and how to hit what you want to hit within ten steps."

"Now, I'll give you half a quarter of an hour to go through the steps I just explained a few times, so that you won't get stuck or accidentally hit your own people when you need to."

"Yes, Captain."

Chen Mo took the gun, walked to the side, and tried loading, chambering, and engaging the safety, following Yue Shan's demonstration.

He has an exceptional learning ability, and his movements quickly went from clumsy to fluent and standard.

After checking his gun, Wu Tong glanced at Chen Mo, who was practicing, and seemed to purse his lips, but said nothing.

Zhao Tie remained silent, simply tucking his pistol into a convenient spot behind his waist and continuing to organize his talismans and wooden stakes.

Half an hour later, Yue Shan gave the order, and the team set off.

. . . . . .

Deep in Rat Alley, an abandoned dye house.

Contrary to the outside world's imagination of a dilapidated and chaotic place, the backyard inside the dye house has been completely transformed.

The dilapidated brick walls were covered by canvas stained with dark red stains, and the ground was covered with dense dark red runes.

In the middle of the dye house was a stone platform about half a person's height. The platform was not flat, but carved into a groove, which was now filled with slowly flowing black viscous liquid.

At the edge of the stone trough lay a pulsating, tumor-like object.

The surface of the tumor was covered with suture marks, and below it was a small mouth that was opening and closing, making a faint sucking sound.

The air was filled with a strong, putrid stench.

Three figures surrounded the stone platform.

The leader was an old woman with a hunched back, her face deeply wrinkled, and her eyelids drooping so much that they almost covered her eyes.

She wore a necklace of eyeballs around her neck. In the dim light of the oil lamp, the shriveled eyeballs seemed to be moving slightly, reflecting the flickering flames.

"The time is almost up."

The old woman stared at the fleshy growth at the edge of the stone trough, her voice filled with fanaticism, "The divine child needs more fresh flesh and blood to fully stabilize his form. Why hasn't the Crimson Moon Blood that the Moon Worship Cult promised to send arrived yet?"