Infinity, The Arcade Age

Several hours later, beneath a remote bridge, Qin Ming puffed on a cigarette, taking a long drag before exhaling with a sigh.

"Tsk, business these days isn't what it used to be. Things are getting harder to sell."

By now, he had sold all three guns but had acquired some new items: six or seven knives that couldn't be taken out of this world, a couple of watches, a metal belt, a pair of earrings, a nose ring, and even a gold tooth.

"Tsk, these aren't as easy to sell as guns. And the worst part is, they've all been used. Most people don't want second-hand stuff."

He didn't want to throw them away, but keeping them seemed pointless too.

Looking at the pile of random junk beside him, Qin Ming grew increasingly frustrated. His brain worked overtime, trying to think of a way to sell these items.

After a while, when no brilliant ideas came to mind, he angrily flicked his cigarette away, grabbed his bag of goods, and started walking toward the street.

A short time later, after trading the junk at a scrapyard for two packs of cigarettes, Qin Ming was back on the streets, feeling content again.

"Hmph! As the Junk King, I never make a bad deal! You might make a big profit, but I'll never lose!"

Twirling the gold tooth he'd taken from some poor soul, Qin Ming strolled down the road, thinking about whether he could bump into some members of a poaching gang and make a bit more cash.

These poachers worked for Vise-Teschion, the final boss of the first act of Cadillacs and Dinosaurs. They were nothing more than a gang of thugs, aiding Vise-Teschion in trafficking dinosaur bones and meat.

The guys who tried to rob Qin Ming earlier—the ones with the knives—had been part of this gang.

However, as Qin Ming walked down the street, he didn't run into any poachers. Instead, he spotted an unexpected visitor.

He immediately took a sharp turn into a nearby alley, disappearing around the corner.

Leaning against the wall with a serious expression, Qin Ming's eyes sharpened. He cautiously drew his revolver from his inventory and peeked out to observe the situation.

At the other end of the street, a tall, burly man was walking expressionlessly down the road.

This was the same man Qin Ming had seen leave the bar earlier, following another customer. He was likely one of the remaining adventurers.

Qin Ming quietly cocked the hammer of his revolver, taking care not to make a sound. As the man turned his back and walked ahead, Qin Ming took a deep breath, concealed his revolver beneath his coat, and began striding toward the man.

Hearing footsteps approaching from behind, the burly man paused, his senses sharp. He turned his head slightly, trying to see the figure approaching in the darkness.

Seeing that the poor visibility made it hard to identify the newcomer, the man's face grew tense. He quickly turned to face Qin Ming, his muscles tightening as he slowly reached for the short blade at his waist.

Was this person a random NPC or another adventurer?

Who cares? Whoever it is, I'll kill them!

The two drew closer.

At ten meters, the man tensed further.

At eight meters, his hand tightened around the hilt of his blade.

At five meters, the man's eyes flashed with killing intent, and he raised his weapon.

And then—

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Like lightning, Qin Ming drew his revolver and, to the burly man's shock, unleashed a barrage of point-blank shots, firing wildly and hitting the man with a barrage of bullets.

Blood sprayed from six wounds as the man staggered backward and collapsed onto the ground.

Qin Ming, fumbling to eject the spent cartridges, quickly reloaded his gun.

Once the revolver was fully loaded, he cocked the hammer and, without hesitation, emptied another round of bullets into the man lying on the ground.

Now riddled with twelve bullet holes, the man's eyes were wide open in disbelief, even in death. He hadn't expected Qin Ming to have a gun, let alone one as powerful as this.

After all, as an adventurer, his body—like that of all NPCs in this world—had been digitized. Even a direct hit to a vital organ wouldn't necessarily kill them outright, as their bodies functioned with a sort of "health bar."

Generally, their health was equal to ten times their constitution stat. Additionally, as this was a beginner world, adventurers benefited from a protective mechanic that doubled all their attributes. Even Qin Ming, who didn't have an especially strong body, now had 8 points in constitution, giving him 80 hit points.

This burly man, clearly much stronger, had a base constitution of 7. With the double boost, that gave him 14 points—equal to 140 hit points!

Even a normal gunshot at close range wouldn't have been enough to kill him outright, especially since his talent was damage reduction. His skill, Steel Muscles, allowed him to negate all damage below half his constitution stat, and reduce damage from anything stronger.

With that much health and such a powerful defense ability, normal bullets would've barely scratched him.

That was why the adventurer he had stalked earlier had been so easily killed without putting up a fight.

But this tank of a man had been taken down by two volleys of bullets, all because no one could've predicted that Qin Ming would get his hands on a green-quality revolver capable of dealing 20 fixed damage in less than two hours of entering the Nightmare World!

Staring down at the lifeless body, Qin Ming calmly reloaded his revolver, preparing for any other threats, then drew a cross in the air in mock reverence.

He quickly collected the man's loot, including the short blade, and holstered his revolver under his coat. Crouching low, Qin Ming hurried away from the scene.

He left nothing behind except for twelve spent shell casings and a corpse.

Back at his beloved hideout under the bridge, Qin Ming pulled out the blood-red key and the short blade.

Looking at the blade, Qin Ming shook his head in disappointment.

"Tsk, what a waste of a white-quality weapon."

This blade had been the reward the muscle-bound man earned after killing another adventurer and using the blood-red key to open their loot.

Now it was in Qin Ming's hands, but since it hadn't dropped legitimately, it wasn't recognized by the Nightmare Space, and it had a new label: "Cannot be taken out of this world."

Qin Ming stared at the blade, cursing his luck.

"Tsk! If you were going to die anyway, why couldn't you have died at my hands? At least then I'd have gotten another piece of equipment! People like you just don't know how to make the most of things! No wonder you got killed!"

(End of Chapter)