I Don't Agree to the Terms

Gou'er's figure suddenly swayed, and he collapsed on the ground. Xia Zhang, seeing this, hurried over to try to help him up.

When he grasped the other person's body, he found that not only sweat was seeping out of his hands, but also blood and grease.

"Xia... save... my mother," Gou'er's eyes were filled with terror as he looked at Xia Zhang, his mouth opening and closing, while Xia Zhang could only vaguely make out a few words.

In the next instant, all the houses were set alight, and people struggling to escape came running out.

Their faces reddened as if the intense heat was baking them to the point where they could no longer breathe.

Some were dehydrated from running, eventually shrinking into mummified corpses that heavily fell to the ground; others, too obese, ignited their own body fat while trying to flee, turning into giant fireballs, spreading the familiar yet horrifying scent of roasted meat similar to when Xia Zhang cooked game.

"Xiao Zhao, Uncle Zhang, Brother Li, Aunt Chen..." In this hell of screams and moans, Xia Zhang realized something—it was the middle of the night, yet the sun scorched fiercer than at noon.

Xia Zhang, feeling the bronze bow on his back beginning to heat up, instinctively looked up at the sun.

The glowing disc continued to approach, especially the nine crimson tentacles that boasted triumphantly, as if they were nine new suns.

The sun looked hundreds of times larger than before, as if it were swelling.

He struggled to draw the bronze bow and from the stored bronze arrow bag, he fitted nine mulberry arrows all at once.

At that moment, a rhythm unique to an Abnormality crept over his body.

"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine... Nine exactly," Xia Zhang's voice carried a suppressed tone.

Despite the intense heat, the nine mulberry arrows didn't ignite; instead, they emitted a certain grandeur.

"I am the village's hunter, any beast that threatens our village..."

Tears of blood streamed from Xia Zhang's eyes as he stared directly at the sun.

"I will take care of it myself!"

As the words fell, the nine mulberry arrows turned into streaks of light, traversing the distance through space, cutting through the sky like fiery meteors into outer space.

The sun, with its nine massive tentacles, blinked its eyes as if it had pupils.

The mulberry arrows pierced through the nine tentacles, and at that moment, the sun let out a painful scream, like a giant bird crying in anguish.

A violent burst of golden light exploded, and Xia Zhang's body shone with fire, more than half of his body burnt, a surge of heat welling up within him.

It was as if he contained nine suns inside his body, turning everything around him into scorched earth.

"Cough, Gou'er, sorry, Brother Xia couldn't save your mother. After I die, I'll make amends for you," Xia Zhang collapsed on the ground, lifelessly looking up at the sun.

The sun was still immense, but it had lost its previous boastful strength; it seemed frightened of him.

Indeed, afraid of him—the hunter, a hunter who had hunted wild beasts for twenty years.

"An Abnormality is nothing more than a wild beast that can be shot down with arrows; they too feel fear," Xia Zhang could feel the sun moving away and the temperature dropping.

He knew that the sun would never dare to wreak havoc in their kingdom again, for it had lost its claws and wings and could never come close again.

Everything around him solidified, the empty bronze arrow bag and the bronze bow melted due to the high temperature emitted from his body, forming a large expanse of bronze lava.

This made Xia Zhang feel somewhat incredulous; how could these two small bronze items melt so much bronze liquid? Then, he felt himself sinking, his original wounds beginning to solidify within the bronze lava, the nine suns' fiery heat sealed within him.

His consciousness also began to sink into darkness.

"Am I about to die?" This thought emerged in Xia Zhang's mind.

"How could it be, I'm just letting you heal," another voice suddenly resounded in his heart.

He recognized the voice instantly—it belonged to the mysterious middle-aged man who had once given him the bronze bow and the mulberry arrows, and instructed him to 'shoot the sun.'

"Have a good sleep, and when you wake up, everything will get better," the voice consoled him in his heart.

"Alright, it's a promise!" Xia Zhang made an agreement at the last moment of his consciousness.

"Of course!"

Having received an affirmative response, Xia Zhang fell into a deep slumber.

From a distance, Gu Shanhai was observing a large expanse of buildings cast out of bronze, with a multitude of peculiar patterns emerging that ultimately formed a brand new abnormality.

An abnormality known as Solar Shooting.

Perhaps in tens of thousands of years, Xia Zhang would be awakened, or maybe the next time the sun foolishly dared to come too close and flaunt its power, Xia Zhang would, driven by the abnormality's instinct, be awakened and take action against the sun once more.

These things, Gu Shanhai could not know, but what he did understand was that Solar Shooting was an important strategic move in the human faction's handling of abnormalities.

"Teacher, you've succeeded..." Rein looked at the place where Xia Zhang now lay in suspended animation with a complex expression. Being able to repel the sun was already quite an accomplishment.

"Yes, we have succeeded. There will be more of this kind of thing in the future, won't there?" Gu Shanhai said evenly.

"The miracles constructed from pain and belief are too cruel," Rein felt hypocritical because, after all, he was a beneficiary of this situation.

"You're right, I too wish there was a perfect solution, but for that, you'd have to talk to the abnormalities, especially the sun that was just repelled," Gu Shanhai said, seemingly unconcerned with these details. He was more interested in the next steps in his research, and then he added, "I've allocated half of the people from the Thirteenth Division to prepare to learn the technology of creating artificial abnormalities with me."

"This will become the foundation of our nation."

"Couldn't the other twelve divisions do it?" Rein asked.

"They could, but I can't guarantee that the technology wouldn't fall into the hands of those with ulterior motives." Gu Shanhai knew that the twelve divisions, unlike the Thirteenth Division which he had reformed, functioned more like normal administrative and coercive bodies, conducting related research but not delving as deep as the Thirteenth Division.

The Thirteenth Division was originally established for supervisory functions, but Gu Shanhai had since endowed it with many more powers.

"Pick some people, even if it falls into the hands of those with intentions, it won't be lost," Rein thought for a moment and finally suggested. As long as human civilization ruled, it didn't matter who retained the technology.

After all, if those with ulterior motives actually stepped out, it would mean Rein no longer existed, otherwise with his capabilities, he could suppress all dissenters.

"Give me a list in a few days," Gu Shanhai didn't refuse, agreeing to Rein's suggestion. To him, it didn't matter; he wasn't planning to be around for thousands of years anyway.

What did future problems have to do with him? He could only offer a little help at best.

Rein nodded and then left to attend to his duties.

Gu Shanhai, however, was looking at a ball of sunlight in his hand. It was a part of the sun.

Xia Zhang had shot out nine eyes that the sun had manifested, and Gu Shanhai had taken the opportunity to obtain a part of the sun to use as material for the Child Skill.

Indeed, those nine scarlet entities were not tentacles but the eyes of the sun; it was as if Xia Zhang had blinded the sun and Gu Shanhai had heartlessly gouged it at the same time.

If the sun dared to come again, it would be utterly mad.

Once turned into an abnormality, the sun was not lifeless but alive.

There was no need to worry about the sun escaping; without its nine eyes and a part of its core, it could hardly move, essentially no better than a disabled sun, thereby losing its threat entirely.

"Heh, thanks to the sun, my old pal, for the material," Gu Shanhai sneered before tucking away the segment of the sun.

In the future, perhaps more related abnormalities would arise, and all these would serve as Gu Shanhai's material reserves. Of course, the precondition was that Gu Shanhai could resolve these abnormalities.