v1c10 (2/2)

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The design of the Handle was really flawed. The amperage of the output current was intentionally increased by twenty percent, resulting in the limitation of one usage per charge.

Feng Yu on the other side of the electric fence was well aware of all this. He could have easily resolved the flaw, but he never revealed it to Xu Le, nor corrected it himself – because that was how he wanted it to behave and how he wanted Xu Le to use it.

Since many years back, Feng Yu had always believed that it was no good for humans to rely too much on machines. Doing so would only obscure the possibility for the human race to peek deep into both the human body and the vast s.p.a.ce. But he didn’t want to, at least not yet, have that discussion with Xu Le, so when he heard the young lad’s angry inquiry, he didn’t bother to reply and only grinned. Taking the almost flattened cigarette pack out from his jean pocket, he took one out, lit it, and then began enjoying himself.

Completely defeated, Xu Le turned back and lowered his body.

Feng Yu looked on as the young lad busied himself on the other side of the fence, bathing in the twilight of the dusk. He felt a throb somewhere deep in his heart. He was actually a very relentless man, or else he wouldn’t have run to such a far-off place like Eastwood all by himself. The warm twilight s.h.i.+ning against the dark sky in the background, the silhouette of a young lad butchering the buffalo meat in front of the reddened setting sun, and once in a while wiping the blood off his hands with his clothes…this was indeed a very b.l.o.o.d.y scene, but also a scene suffused with the beauty of life. All lives in the world followed the cycle of life and death.

With the cigarette still burning between his fingers, Feng Yu fell into a daze. He stared at the young lad waving his knife back and forth and couldn’t help but remember the scenes he had read from cla.s.sical literature many years ago: In the harvesting season of autumn, farmers joyously reaped crops and survived off the remains of the plants; by the bonfire of the tribe, men and women joyously drank wine and chewed on the animal body parts they picked out from the fire.

A smile gradually crept onto Feng Yu’s lips. The joyous smile, together with his gray hair, seemed to have revealed his true age, and a sense of vicissitude.

He had always thought Xu Le was an interesting kid, because the kid seemed to have focused all his attention to those two dreams of his and never noticed his capabilities in other aspects, for example, his ability to kill a buffalo. Other than soldiers trained in the Special Forces, who else could have killed a buffalo with just a knife? Why else had buffalo meat always been rare on the black market?

Feng Yu remembered Xu Le’s earlier query and couldn’t help but grin more. Under the Federation government’s strict enforcement of arms regulations, which black market vendor would be bold enough to risk his life hunting buffalo?

That kid…was truly dumb sometimes. Didn’t he ever realize that they could run faster than a raging bull when they lured the buffalo away? Didn’t he ever realize that his ability to kill a buffalo with a single knife was something he could be more proud of than fixing a television?

“d.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n it…!” Xu Le cursed under the twilight as he continued the butchering task, overcoming the discomfort as best as he could. But eventually he couldn’t take it any longer. Hands on his hips, he began yelling at that shameless middle-aged uncle who just sat there and smoked his cigarette.

“This is over two hundred pounds not counting the bones. If you keep slacking off, when are we ever gonna have dinner?”

All these talents the young lad named Xu Le had shown were not that impressive in Feng Yu’s eyes, because he had seen countless geniuses throughout his long life. However, the calmness and serenity Xu Le had displayed when he killed the bull earlier, something mismatched with his age – even though his legs shook and his face whitened from fear, he still exhibited calmness and serenity – was the trait Feng Yu admired the most.

In the meantime, that was also what Feng Yu would consider the most uninteresting trait of the young lad. Therefore, when he heard Xu Le cursing with profanity, he was actually quite pleased. With a smile as big as a wild lily, he stood up and gave his own bottom a gentle pat.

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