v1c10 (1/2)
Volume One: Eastwood Is All Stones
Chapter 10: The twilight of blood
Xu Le had his reasons to be cautious. During the previous incidents, he was very sure that his electric prod was powerful enough to completely disable a human, but he could not guarantee the same thing against a stalwart wild buffalo.
What happened next proved that Xu Le was right. After he approached the giant dark brown bull, which was still lying on the ground twitching, the bull suddenly shot out a stream of air from its nostrils and kicked the ground hard with all four legs. The explosive move threw the bull off the ground back on its all fours and sent it charging toward Xu Le.
Xu Le squinted his eyes slightly, his face turned slightly pale again. It seemed as if he had been dumbstruck and simply froze there in terror. He was still holding that electric prod in his hand, but now a section of sharp blade had sprung out at the tip, and the prod now looked more like a military bayonet.
Instantly, the young lad had transformed his fear into a great power through the help of the release of a large quant.i.ty of adrenaline. At the most dangerous moment he turned his body. A gust of wind shot past his face as the raging bull charged past him. He forcefully opened his small eyes as wide as he could so he could see clearly every movement of the bull. Then, he stabbed downward firmly with the metal bayonet in his right hand!
Xu Le had excellent eyesight. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to maintain such excellent speed when it came to repairing appliances. As part of the package, his hands were also very steady. Therefore, the spot where the thin and long metal blade went in was just perfect.
……
……
A split second later, the metal bayonet was taken out of his grip by a tremendous force and stayed inside the bull’s neck two inches downward…blood began to drip.
With a loud bang, the raging bull, strong enough to withstand an electric prod, raced past Xu Le’s side in the most vicious style and crashed into a small slope in a magnificent way, sending more dirt and gra.s.s into the air.
Xu Le stared at the bull on the ground thoughtlessly. Only after a long silence, his legs finally stopped shaking and a touch a healthy redness finally returned to his cheeks. At the previous moment, he was indeed frightened, because today he didn’t expect the bull to have such a vigorous vitality and charge so viciously even after the powerful electric shock.
After a long quiet pause and still with lingering fear, he finally approached the bull cautiously. Having made sure the bull was already dead he carefully pulled out the dagger from the back of the bull’s neck.
The sharp tip of the dagger had completely destroyed the bull’s brainstem. Naturally the bull could no longer jump up to demonstrate its anger. Out of habit Xu Le squinted his eyes and glanced at the blood drops at the tip of the blade. The red liquid seemed to exhibit a faint s.h.i.+ne in the murky and darkening dusk. He didn’t feel the slightest exhilaration or excitement from his success, instead, felt a bit of fright and an urge to evade.
“When can the Handle be used twice in a row?” he suddenly turned around and yelled loudly at the repair shop owner on the other side of the electric fence, his voice filled with complaint and anger.
The Handle – that was the name he chose for the electric prod plus dagger. The design of the metal weapon was truly delicate, but delicacy alone was not enough. After a full charge, it can only release an electric current once; far inferior compared to real military grade weapons of the same kind. Other than a very smooth curve at the handle, exceptionally comfortable for a tight grip, Xu Le didn’t find anything else attractive.
That was why he named it the Handle.
Had the electric prod been capable of releasing two electric currents in a row, the situation wouldn’t have been so hazardous at the previous moment. No wonder Xu Le showed no respect to Uncle Feng Yu, his teacher in electronics repair and the very designer of the Handle.