Chapter 350: Granny Yu, Whether This Works Out Depends on You
Xu Qi and the others had never seen a crystal energy gun before. They only noticed that this gun looked different—there was no magazine.
Without a magazine and only a large groove, how was it supposed to fire? How did it even work?
Mist frowned. “Did Tan Yong hide a bunch of junk? This doesn’t make sense.”
He turned to Mu An’an for answers.
Mu An’an frantically waved her hands. “Don’t ask me. Even Qu Jingwen probably doesn’t know. Tan Yong didn’t trust anyone. Even if he told Qu Jingwen that there were guns hidden here, he wouldn’t tell her what these guns actually are.”
While everyone was making wild guesses, Su Tao said in a serious tone, “Fangzhi, pack everything up. Let’s go.”
Lin Fangzhi walked around, and with a few waves of his hand, he swiftly stored everything into his spatial storage.
The group climbed out one by one, got into the car, and headed back.
Su Tao held out her hand toward Lin Fangzhi. “Give me one. Let me take a look.”
Lin Fangzhi handed her a gun.
Everyone’s eyes focused on Su Tao.
She turned the gun over in her hands, frowning. Although it resembled the crystal energy gun, with a similar groove and barrel, there were noticeable differences.
For instance, the crystal energy gun was entirely transparent, exquisite, lightweight, and easy to carry.
This gun, however, was made of steel like an ordinary firearm—heavy and solid.
“Give me a crystal core.”
Lin Fangzhi, like a walking Doraemon, handed her one.
Su Tao inserted the crystal core into the slot, rolled down the car window, and aimed outside—
The group seemed to understand her intention, holding their breath in anticipation.
Su Tao pulled the trigger—
Nothing happened.
She froze, tried again, but the gun remained unresponsive.
Moreover, the crystal core hadn’t been consumed as it would have been in a functional crystal energy gun.
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Feeling a bit awkward, Su Tao retracted the gun, rolled the window back up, and coughed lightly. “Maybe there’s a mechanism we’re not aware of. Let’s take it back and ask the weapons expert—Granny Yu.”
When they returned to Taoyang, Xu Qi couldn’t hold back and said to Su Tao, “Boss, I don’t think these guns are reliable. If they were really crystal energy guns, Tan Yong would have armed us and used us to take over other bases long ago. He was an ambitious man—he wouldn’t have hidden such powerful weapons and left them unused.”
Su Tao agreed.
The crystal energy gun was overwhelmingly powerful—it could take down a blood scythe beast with a single shot, even from long range.
Most importantly, non-ability users could wield crystal energy guns.
If Tan Yong had access to a stash of crystal energy guns, he could have easily started a rebellion. With enough manpower, he could even overthrow Xindu.
Keeping them hidden instead of using them really didn’t make sense.
Xu Qi spoke solemnly. “My guess is these are defective guns that he secretly acquired. After going through all the trouble to get them, they turned out to be useless. He couldn’t bear to discard them but also feared being discovered, so he hid them away.”
Su Tao nodded. “That makes sense.”
“So, Boss… I suggest we buy a batch of weapons through official channels. It’s more reliable.”
Su Tao hesitated. “Roughly how much would that cost?”
She still remembered how expensive her first handgun was when Shi Zijin took her to Dongyang. It had left a lasting psychological scar.
Xu Qi, experienced from his time managing operations, quickly calculated. “A mid-range gun costs about 100,000 Federal Credits. If we want at least 50 guns, that’s 5 million.”
Su Tao let out a breath of relief and reverted to her generous boss persona. “Alright, get it from Qian Rongrong. I’ll authorize up to 8 million.”
Her past poverty must have been the reason for that lingering price shock.
Xu Qi set off to contact weapons suppliers.
However, to his surprise, Taoyang had been blacklisted.
“Brother Xu, don’t make things hard for me,” one supplier said apologetically. “Orders from above—no one is allowed to sell weapons to Taoyang. Anyone who does will be out of business.”
Xu Qi’s face darkened. “Who gave the orders?”
“How would I know? I’m just a small-time runner. Maybe you should think about which big shot you might’ve offended.”
Xu Qi sneered. “I don’t believe everyone would refuse money. If you can’t do it, I’ll find someone else.”
Yet, after contacting three more suppliers, he was met with the same rejection.
This was serious. Xu Qi immediately reported back to Su Tao.
“They all refused? Did you mention we’re willing to pay a premium?”
Xu Qi nodded grimly. “I did. I even offered 10% above market price, but they still rejected us outright. I’m afraid we’ve really offended someone with serious clout.”
Su Tao rolled her eyes. “It’s probably the Shou’an Base. We refused to sell them supplies before, and we clashed at the Alliance Summit. Now they’re retaliating by blocking our access to weapons.”
Xu Qi sighed. “I’ll keep searching for other suppliers. Since Shou’an’s power has weakened after their city fell, they don’t control the weapons market like before. Someone will be willing to sell—just give me some time.”
Su Tao let him proceed but had a sinking feeling that external purchases were no longer a viable option.
It likely wasn’t just Shou’an Base behind the embargo.
Any base or organization threatened by Taoyang’s rise would eagerly participate in cutting off their weapon supply.
Taoyang was like a baby clad in armor—if they acquired weapons, they would become a formidable warrior.
A militarized Taoyang was a terrifying prospect.
Without weapons, no matter how prosperous Taoyang became, it wouldn’t pose a real threat due to its lack of combat power.
The leaders of other bases knew this well—they had preemptively choked Taoyang’s weapon supply to prevent it from becoming a true force to be reckoned with.
Understanding this, Su Tao felt an overwhelming weight on her shoulders.
Fame had brought them visibility, but it also meant being surrounded by unseen enemies and hidden dangers.
Being a boss… was no easy job.
Shaking off her thoughts, Su Tao grabbed one of the guns from the underground cache and went to find Granny Yu.
Granny Yu’s first question when she saw her was, “Did you buy the weapons? I had Meng Qian remind you.”
Su Tao sighed. “That’s exactly why I’m here. Taoyang is under a purchasing ban—no one will sell us weapons.”
Granny Yu froze, then murmured, “I should’ve known… They’re not fools. Why would they let you arm yourselves and grow stronger? I’ve grown too careless.”
Su Tao handed her the gun. “There’s still one option left, but whether it works depends on you. Do you know how to use this gun? Or if it’s broken, can you fix it?”
Granny Yu didn’t even touch the gun—just one look, and her eyes widened in surprise.
“Where did you find this? I made this gun… but that was a long, long time ago.”
