Chapter 27 - 227: The Gun Hunt

Chapter 27: Chapter 227: The Gun Hunt

The countdown in his mind had reached zero. When Xu Mo pushed open the door, he wasn’t met with the usual morning crispness, but a faint chill.

Dawn was just breaking. A rosy glow appeared in the east as the sun struggled to free itself from the horizon’s grasp, bathing everything in light. Yet, despite this vibrant scene, Xu Mo felt little warmth. He took a deep breath. The cold, dry air that flooded his lungs carried a distinct chill, so sharp it made his nostrils sting.

"How did it get so cold so fast?" Xu Mo couldn’t help but shiver slightly.

Just two days ago, the morning temperature could still be described as "cool." But today, Xu Mo felt it was probably only around ten degrees. This drop in temperature was highly unusual, even eerie.

’Did the climate change drastically after the apocalypse? Or was this a weather phenomenon unique to this area?’ Xu Mo had no way of knowing, but the direct sensation in his body told him winter was no longer a harbinger; it had arrived with a fierce offensive.

Since the sun had risen and dispelled the darkness, the window for relatively safe outdoor activity had opened. The chill was palpable, but it couldn’t deter his established plan.

Xu Mo quickly checked his gear. The Bone-Cutting Knife was tucked securely behind his back, in the easiest place to draw from. The sizable backpack was slung, empty, over his shoulders. And most importantly, there was the "Gun Room" sign. Today, his target was firearms.

His destination was clear—the detached, three-story Western-style house he had discovered at the end of a relatively secluded street during his last expedition.

The door of that house was relatively intact, and the dark, seemingly heavy-duty security door had left a deep impression on Xu Mo. Compared to the simple security doors of ordinary residences, this one looked far more solid and imposing, fitting his idea of a "place likely to contain important items."

Stepping out of his shelter, Xu Mo quickened his pace, partly to warm up and partly to minimize his time exposed outdoors. The hilt of his Bone-Cutting Knife grew warm in his grip as his wary eyes scanned the surroundings.

Soon, the three-story house appeared at the end of Xu Mo’s line of sight. It stood alone in a somewhat open area, complete with a derelict little yard whose surrounding wall had mostly collapsed.

Unlike the utter ruin of most buildings in town, this house presented an eerie state of having been violently ravaged and then forgotten by time.

The building’s exterior walls, which should have once been a bright color, were now covered in stains and mottled watermarks. Large patches of paint had peeled away, revealing the dark gray concrete underneath. The glass in several windows was completely shattered, leaving behind Black Holes that looked like the eye sockets of a skull. Jagged shards of remaining glass hung from the frames like crossed fangs.

What caught Xu Mo’s attention was the concrete near the threshold. A large splatter of blood, now dried, blackened, and viscous, stained the ground. The deep, dark red was exceptionally stark against the grayish-white concrete.

The dried bloodstain stretched into the yard, pointing toward a skeleton lying prone in the grass not far away. The skeleton was in a twisted position, its clothes long since rotted away, making its original appearance unrecognizable. There was no telling if its owner had been trying to flee the house or desperately break in before death.

All these traces silently spoke of the violent conflict and misfortune that had once occurred here.

Xu Mo first observed cautiously from the perimeter for a while. After confirming there were no signs of activity, he approached the front of the building and stood before the heavy security door.

’This is it!’

Xu Mo took a deep breath of the cold air, suppressing the slight quickening of his heart from anticipation and the unknown. He took the cloth-wrapped sign from his backpack, revealing the two words that would make any apocalypse survivor’s heart race—Gun Room.

Choosing a suitable height, Xu Mo affixed the "Gun Room" sign perfectly straight. The bright red words were exceptionally stark against the dark door.

Having done this, Xu Mo took a step back. Looking at the security door, he couldn’t help but wonder, ’What’s it like behind this door?’

’A private treasure trove of some gun enthusiast? Or the base for a small club disguised as a residence? Will it have the rifles and pistols I’ve been dreaming of? Is there enough ammunition? Are they locked in a sturdy safe?’

All these questions would be answered the moment the door opened.

Xu Mo gave himself one last check: the Bone-Cutting Knife was within easy reach, and his backpack was empty, waiting to be filled. Without further hesitation, he firmly pressed his palm against the cold surface of the door, focusing all his concentration.

"Open!"

A faint light flowed, and the scene before him stabilized amidst the distorted light.

Xu Mo forcefully pushed open the security door, now bearing the "Gun Room" sign, and stepped inside.

In the next second, Xu Mo froze at the entrance as if he’d been cursed, his pupils contracting violently in utter shock. His breath caught in his throat.

The scene before him was completely different from anything he had imagined, far exceeding even his wildest expectations.

This was no private collection room or small club storeroom. This was practically a miniature, well-equipped military showroom.

The space wasn’t particularly large, but its layout was compact, filled with a cold, industrial sense of power. Soft light cascaded from the ceiling, illuminating every detail.

Xu Mo’s gaze was completely captivated by the walls on either side.

On the left wall hung rows of long guns with stark lines, gleaming with a bluish or matte black sheen! He recognized some: sniper rifles that looked intimidating just by their presence; assault rifles he had seen countless times in movies and games; and shotguns with thick barrels, ferocious in close combat. But there were many more unfamiliar firearms whose models he couldn’t name, though he could tell at a glance they were nothing ordinary. They were all secured in various positions on the gun racks.

The right wall was slightly more "approachable," but it made Xu Mo’s heart pound just the same. Neatly displayed there were all kinds of handguns, from classic military models to sci-fi-inspired designs with a modern feel. The selection was exhaustive, and they gleamed under the lights with the unique cold glint of combined metal and polymer.

On the counters, ammunition was laid out in dense rows, the brassy tips of the bullets reflecting a tempting light.

This was the first time Xu Mo had ever seen so many firearms and so much ammunition, all at once and at such close range. The shock of directly facing these pinnacle creations of humanity’s industrial civilization of slaughter was far beyond anything he could have compared from a screen or his imagination. It was an instinctual awe of absolute power, coupled with an irrepressible tremor of desire to control that power.

The sixty-second countdown had already begun its silent procession, but Xu Mo’s mind had gone completely blank. He was utterly stunned by this sudden, unimaginable bounty.