Scholars in the courtyard

Siheyuan, outside the alley.

A figure limped past.

The person who came was less than 1.6 meters tall. He was wearing a gray cotton coat and trousers. He looked bloated with baggy clothes.

His hands were in his sleeves, his hair was balled up, and he looked unkempt.

He had an ordinary, sallow face and an inch-long beard. He looked very mature, like an old farmer who was overwhelmed by life.

As the man walked, his right leg swung from the inside out from time to time, and his body swayed accordingly. His expression was dull, and only his eyes were shining when he moved.

The lame man walked slowly through the alley, his eyes quickly flashed past the door of the courtyard, and he saw two figures smoking at the corner, and then continued forward.

After a while, I came to the alley behind the courtyard. After looking carefully for a while, I quickened my pace.

The sky was bright, but the lame man chose dark alleys, as if he couldn't see the light.

Finally, when they came to a large courtyard, they slowed down again and slowly walked into the courtyard.

"Lao Kang, you're back. How are you today?"

An old man came into the door and asked with a smile.

Lao Kang's lame man's face was still dull, but he smiled, making people feel silly and honest.

"Uncle Ma, I'm not alive today. I came back early."

"However, the Chinese New Year is coming soon, so maybe it will be available tomorrow or the day after."

Lao Kang said, and the old man nodded with a smile.

"You are not young anymore, it's time to find a home for yourself!"

"After you save enough money, tell your uncle to find one for you."

Lao Kang grinned after hearing this.

Say nothing.

Lao Kang swung his legs and walked home.

Uncle Ma sighed from behind, "Oh, it's all the little devil's fault!"

Lao Kang clenched his fists.

When he arrived at the door of his house, Lao Kang did not move in a hurry. He glanced at the traps lying beside him. After making sure that no one was coming, he opened the shabby little door on the right and walked in slowly.

And when he entered, behind the small door on the left, there was a foot-long animal trap underneath. If someone who didn't know it stepped in suddenly, his calf would probably be cut off.

Lao Kang walked in, and it was dark inside.

After a while, after his eyes got used to it, he put the animal trap away and put it under the bed.

Then, Lao Kang closed the door, sat under the window, and slowly raised his right leg on the table through the sunlight.

He rested for a moment, then pulled up his trouser legs, exposing half of the wood.

prosthesis

The entire lower leg from the knee down is a prosthesis.

Lao Kang looked at the prosthetic leg, his face twisted with anger, and it took him a long time to calm down.

Others call him Lao Kang, but in his heart, there is only one mask.

Wearing a mask for a long time may become a habit, but it cannot replace the name given to you since childhood.

The original name, apart from himself, could still recite a few words silently in his heart, no one in the world shouted it anymore.

Lao Kang stretched out his hand to untie the wrapped bandage, then took off the prosthetic leg and placed it in front of the table.

Only then did I realize that the prosthesis was actually hollow, and something faintly fell down.

A bunch of messy parts, a few bullets, a piece of paper, and a small wooden stick.

Lao Kang caught it with his hand, then arranged the parts neatly, and then carefully looked at the piece of paper, which showed how to assemble and use it. After reading it step by step, Lao Kang skillfully assembled the scattered parts, and soon a hand-sized pistol was assembled.

It is the FP-45 Liberator pistol.

This kind of pistol can only fire one bullet at a time, which is very inconvenient to use.

And the movement is not small, basically it will be exposed after one use.

However, these were not within his scope of consideration.

If you don’t succeed, you will succeed!

The one he used to use before was thrown into the Western Sea at night because he was afraid of being discovered when he moved.

If the gun was still there, many things would be easier to do. Unlike now, we still have to organize help.

However, later it turned out that this was necessary.

Many of his colleagues who were better than him were discovered in this way.

But he was able to survive and lurk by relying on caution.

"For now, we can only make do with it."

Lao Kang looked at the assembled pistol and slowly fell into memories.

The mission target is Yang Xiaotao.

The eighth-level fitter of the Red Star Rolling Mill is even the designer of the heating furnace. According to insider information, this guy is also the developer of a high-yielding corn.

Such young people also belong to Class B in their list.

However, although talents like Yang Xiaotao are not protected by personal guards, street jurisdictions will pay special attention to them.

These days, he has tried many times to get close to the target, but there are always a few pairs of eyes scanning him.

Those people have murderous intent.

Because of this, he didn't succeed.

However, he was confident that he could complete this mission because he had already figured out Yang Xiaotao's life pattern. If he was given some time, he would have plenty of opportunities to carry out assassinations.

And it can be disguised as an accident, so you won't be discovered.

However, the order given by the organization cannot be fulfilled without action.

Of course, he doesn't care about the organization's orders.

Deep in my heart, I have persisted all these years. He doesn't care about life or death.

The only thing that supported him from living a poor life until now was never money and women, but the hatred in his heart.

He wants revenge.

Revenge for his family, revenge for his wife who never got married, revenge for this leg, and revenge for his miserable life.

In a daze, Lao Kang seemed to see his own world.

The servants who came in and out of the courtyard, the servants who were respectful and polite to him, and the girls who wanted to climb onto his bed and offer themselves pillows.

And all of this is gone.

Gone.

boom

Lao Kang thumped his prosthetic limb, and the dull sound made him regain his composure.

"Why?"

"Why?"

Lao Kang has asked himself countless times in his heart, why is he like this?

He originally had a happy family, a wealthy life, a lot of money, and honest servants.

Later, the Japanese came and the family ran to the south. Later, the Japanese fled and they returned here.

Live a worry-free life again.

But later, he had nothing.

Who does their family's wealth hinder?

Why knock them down?

Why not give them a way to survive?

Finally, he understood, there was no why.

Therefore, he hated those who divided his family's land.

Therefore, he wants these people to be hungry and cold forever.

Therefore, anyone who makes this place better is his enemy.

Treat the enemy with one hit.

Lao Kang put the Liberator pistol into his arms and took out a bullet.

This kind of pistol only has one chance, and it must be close to the target to be effective.

Therefore, in order to ensure the completion of the mission, Lao Kang decided to add some ingredients to the bullets.

After putting on his prosthesis, Lao Kang went to the kitchen again and found a small blue bottle among the bottles. After opening it carefully, he put the bullet in it, shook it twice, took it out with tweezers, and put it on the table. Let dry.

Everything is taken for granted.

After doing this, Lao Kang started cooking in the kitchen, but his mind was thinking about how to get rid of Yang Xiaotao.

This operation was a bit hasty, but it was not without opportunities.

Because of the exchange group, a lot of manpower from the surrounding police stations was redeployed, and there were loopholes in the protection around the courtyard.

Just like when he passed by today, he didn't see his companion from last time.

So this is an opportunity, but before taking action, he needs to confirm the location of the target.

In such a large courtyard, sometimes there are several families in a row of houses, and he needs to find the target.

Because you only have one chance.

After dinner, Lao Kang lay on the bed and fell asleep slowly.

As usual, the courtyard quickly fell into silence. It was freezing cold, and everyone was under the quilt. Those who had a wife hugged her to keep warm, and those who didn't could only hug their quilts.

In the courtyard, Yang Xiaotao was sitting on an armchair, looking at the "Complete Works of Lu Xun" in front of him. Ran Qiuye was walking around the room, coming over to take a look from time to time. Both of them had read this book, but they gained something every time they read it.

Ran Qiuye gained the thoughts in the article, but Yang Xiaotao not only gained this, but also gained credits.

Now, Yang Xiaotao has made enough use of this book and has accumulated more than 1,000 credits. If he hadn't exchanged items from time to time and was busy with work and had less time to read, he could at least flip through these credits.

Yang Xiaotao is thinking about how to use these credits.

At present, the engineer's assessment tasks have not been completed, and the main skills cannot be improved.

So we can only improve sub-skills.

Subskills that can now be improved include Fishing, Cooking, Carpentry, and Mechanical Mastery.

Yang Xiaotao looked at the various levels. Fishing and cooking skills were both level four, mechanical proficiency was level three, and carpentry was level two.

The four sub-skills give different things. The improvement of fishing skill gives a bunch of tickets, cooking skill gives eggs and duck eggs, carpentry focuses on fruits and vegetables, and mechanical proficiency seems to give blueprints.

Moreover, the credits required for the four sub-skills are also different.

Fishing skills require less to upgrade, cooking skills are the same as carpentry, and the highest level is mechanical proficiency.

Yang Xiaotao thought again and again, taking into account current life needs and credit allocation, and finally decided to upgrade his fishing, cooking and carpentry skills to level five.

After calculating the credits, I have just enough points left to exchange for daily items.

After reading for a while, Ran Qiuye was already lying on the bed. Yang Xiaotao looked at the time and saw that it was ten o'clock. Then he put the books away and put some coal in the stove. Then he washed his face and went to bed.

Putting his arms around Ran Qiuye, Yang Xiaotao started to upgrade after a moment of silence.

"Ding, the host consumes 400 points to increase the fishing skill level."

"Ding, congratulations to the host. The fishing skill has been upgraded to level five. The monthly rewards are: 10 kilograms of national food stamps, 20 money, one foot of cloth coupons, 1 kilogram of cotton coupons, half a kilogram of sugar coupons, and one kilogram of wine coupons."

"Ding, the host consumes 450 credits to improve the cooking level."

"Ding, congratulations to the host. Your cooking skills have been upgraded to level five. The monthly rewards are: 20 kilograms of meat stamps, 10 kilograms of eggs, 10 kilograms of duck eggs, and 10 kilograms of goose eggs."

"Ding, the host consumes 200 credits to improve the carpentry level."

"Ding, the host consumes 300 points of credits to improve the carpentry level."

"Ding, the host consumes 450 credits to improve the carpentry level."

"Ding, congratulations to the host, the carpentry has been upgraded to level five. The monthly rewards are: 20 jins of vegetables, 20 jins of fruits, 20 jins of rice, and 20 jins of fine grains."

With his eyes closed, Yang Xiaotao only felt a burst of random thoughts in his mind, and then a stream of information continued to stir in his mind. He quickly digested the experience after leveling up, and his whole body was trembling unconsciously.

Ran Qiuye only felt that the man behind her held her tighter. The frequency of trembling and the place covered with her hands made her face slowly turn red.

After Yang Xiaotao had completely digested it, it was already midnight. Yang Xiaotao opened his eyes. The excitement in his mind had not faded away. It was as if he had taken stimulants and he was full of energy.

The woman in her arms was like a kitten. She touched her hand with a smirk on her face, kissed Ran Qiuye's hair gently, then lay close to her neck with her eyes closed, checking the personal panel at this time.

Yang Xiaotao

Age: 23

Credits: 211

Skill:

Engineer (not activated)

Fitter Level 8.

Fishing skill level five. Level 5 cooking skills. Carpentry Level 5. Mechanical proficiency level three.

Exchange column: 5

Pets: Wood Elf, Chinese Pastoral Dog.

Items that can be redeemed: cuttlefish balls, pissed beef balls, fish tofu, mushroom balls, sweet and spicy.

After reading it, in addition to getting more gifts every month, the biggest gain is the improvement of skills and the ability to become better.

I thought to myself, I will practice my cooking skills tomorrow and see the difference between level 5 cooking skills and level 4 cooking skills.