Silence!

A deathly silence enveloped the crowd, everyone frozen in place, their faces filled with disbelief, as if time had stopped once more.

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The scene of Bai Ye smiling and firing the gun seemed etched into their eyes.

"It actually... misfired!?" After a long pause, someone exclaimed in shock.

"Impossible!?" Li You shot up from his seat, his eyes wide open, bloodshot with emotion.

More and more cries of astonishment erupted.

"Damn! A six-bullet Wheel of Fate, even the King of Heaven would have to take a shot, yet Bai Ye is unharmed!?"

"Can a Forbidden Item misfire too? This quality is questionable."

"What do you know? It's not a misfire. Forbidden Items have their own will. It must have acknowledged Bai Ye, which is why it didn't fire!"

"Look! The gun... the gun is glowing!"

Under the astonished gazes of the crowd, the Forbidden Item [Breath of Bones] suddenly burst into a blinding blood-red light, which spread until it enveloped Bai Ye completely, as if a god had descended.

Suddenly, Bai Ye felt a strange sensation in his heart. He looked at the [Breath of Bones] in his hand, as if he were looking at his own right hand, with an illusion of a blood connection.

Containment successful?

Bai Ye wasn't surprised. If the six-bullet Wheel of Fate couldn't successfully contain it, then [Breath of Bones] would be somewhat impolite.

As the blood light dissipated, the aberrant blood vessels on [Breath of Bones] slowly wriggled, first withdrawing from Bai Ye's right hand, then retracting into the gun body, disappearing completely.

The bone-crafted gun body gradually lost its color, turning into a matte black metallic hue.

In the end, [Breath of Bones] became indistinguishable from an ordinary revolver.

"It seems..." Bai Ye lightly spun the revolver in his hand, his wild eyebrows slightly raised, "this Forbidden Item has some taste."

He twirled the gun and casually tucked the revolver into his pocket.

The boy's arrogant words echoed in the ears of the crowd, yet no one refuted him. In fact, they felt it was only right from the bottom of their hearts. Perhaps only such a person was worthy of possessing a Forbidden Item.

Only now did the crowd snap out of their shock, but their gazes at Bai Ye remained filled with awe, as if the recent events had draped him in a veil of miracles.

"Hahaha..." A burst of laughter came, East District Commander Tan Jie beaming with joy, "The Forbidden Item belongs to our East District! Wang She, what do you have to say now!"

Facing Tan Jie's arrogance, Wang She's face was as calm as water, silent, his cold gaze sweeping between Tan Jie and Bai Ye. His subordinates gripped their guns tightly, as if waiting for his command.

Tan Jie's smile slowly faded, giving his men a signal, and the atmosphere instantly became tense.

Suddenly, Wang She chuckled lightly, "Brother Bai Ye is indeed a young talent, but it's a pity he's been demoted to a slave of the East District. Would you be interested in joining us in the West District?"

Tan Jie's expression changed abruptly, quickly stepping forward to Bai Ye's side, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, "The slave matter is just a misunderstanding. Now Xiao Bai is my brother, the East District Deputy Commander. How could he join the West District, right, Xiao Bai?"

His gaze at Bai Ye was filled with hope and threat.

Bai Ye smiled slightly, brushing off Tan Jie's hand, and said calmly, "Before containing the Forbidden Item, you called me Xiao Bai, and I didn't mind. But now that I've contained the Forbidden Item, what do you think you should call me?"

In front of everyone, Tan Jie's face changed repeatedly. He suppressed his anger and smiled, "Brother Bai Ye, I'm not good with words, but I always keep my promises. From today on, you're my sworn brother, and together we'll rule the East District!"

Bai Ye raised an eyebrow, "Old Tan, how many times have I told you, use titles in public!"

Tan Jie was stunned, thinking when did you ever say that? And you didn't use my title either, but he didn't dare to argue, fearing Bai Ye would join the West District, so he forced a smile and said:

"Yes, yes, Deputy Commander Bai! Brothers, hurry up and greet him!"

The dozens of East District subordinates called out sparsely, "Deputy Commander Bai!"

Bai Ye nodded in satisfaction, waving his hand grandly, "Let's go home, boys!"

The East District subordinates looked at each other, hesitant to move, casting sidelong glances at Tan Jie, whose expression was not pleasant.

Tan Jie forced a smile, "What are you standing around for? Didn't you hear Deputy Commander Bai?"

A large group of people marched back to the East District.

The West District Leader Wang She and his men stood there with grim faces.

"Commander, I..." Li You stammered.

"Shut up! Useless!" Wang She shot him a cold glance, "Let's go."

Soon, they left as well.

As the two factions from Graysoil Town withdrew, the onlookers also dispersed.

In the East District, at the Tire Tavern.

Tan Jie and others enthusiastically surrounded Bai Ye, everyone cheerfully holding their cups, speaking vulgar words, drinking cheap liquor.

The Tire Tavern wasn't originally called that. The red-painted wooden sign read — Old Times.

The tavern owner, Old Wang, was over forty, with graying hair. It was said he had read some books and had a bit of an artistic air, hence the name Old Times. No one knew what he was reminiscing about, nor did anyone care.

Due to limited funds and a lack of good materials for renovation, he dug up a lot of discarded tires from the junkyard to use as seats. Most people in Graysoil Town couldn't read, didn't recognize the three characters for Old Times, and only referred to it by the tires.

"Now that Deputy Commander Bai holds a Forbidden Item, we no longer have to worry about those aberrant monsters outside!"

"Yeah, those mutant beasts have surrounded Graysoil Town for almost a month. If we don't deal with them, we'll starve to death."

"These mutant beasts are really cunning. I feel like their intelligence is almost on par with humans. They know that attacking Graysoil Town head-on would result in heavy losses, so they deliberately stay outside, cutting off trade routes, preventing us from going out to exchange for food."

"By the way, Deputy Commander Bai, it's the first time for us to see someone contain a Forbidden Item. Could you demonstrate its power for us, let us broaden our horizons?" someone fawned.

Bai Ye, still feasting, hadn't spoken when Tan Jie suddenly snapped, "What are you talking about! It's not a sideshow, what demonstration! Besides, firing [Breath of Bones] drains the user's qi and blood. Can you just demonstrate that casually?"

Then, like changing faces, he smiled at Bai Ye, "Deputy Commander Bai, don't mind these guys. A person's qi and blood are precious, better to save your strength for dealing with the mutant beasts."

Bai Ye patted Tan Jie's shoulder with his greasy hand, "Old Tan, you know how to talk. Someone, bring me another plate of meat!"

"This..." A pained look flashed in Tan Jie's eyes. In Graysoil Town, eating meat was a luxury. Most people could only afford one meal a day, rarely seeing meat, and often went hungry for days.

Now with the mutant beasts besieging the town, their food reserves were nearly depleted, and only someone like him, the Commander, could eat meat every day.