Chapter 64: Just Try and See (Monthly Tickets for Follow-up Readers Only)

Qin Jun had plenty of thoughts running through his mind, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about them right now.

Never had he expected that Zhao Erwa would actually find him an investment channel today.

However, even if he did manage to buy a tiger-skin coat, he certainly wouldn't sell it later; he would simply keep it to show off in the future.

"Hey, hey, young man, what are you grinning about like a fool?"

"Even if there are still tiger-skin coats for sale in the capital right now, you haven't bought one yet!"

Just as Qin Jun was lost in amusing thoughts and giggling foolishly, Zhao Erwa snapped him back to reality with a slap.

"Forget it, I won't ask where you got the money. If you really buy one, you'd better figure out how to explain it to your family, lest you get a beating!"

With that, Zhao Erwa's mood turned somewhat gloomy.

With his current physical condition, making a trip to the county town was no easy task.

"What's wrong?" Qin Jun was clever enough; with just a glance, he could tell Zhao Erwa had something on his mind.

"It's nothing. To go to the county town, you have to arrange things in advance. You can't just disrupt the kiln's production schedule!" Zhao Erwa waved a hand.

Qin Jun chuckled. As soon as he asked, he had already figured it out.

"Feeling very inconvenienced, aren't you? Look, what is this? I prepared it for you!"

Through recent observation, Qin Jun found that Zhao Erwa was genuinely a good guy to be around.

Previously, Qin Jun hadn't really contributed anything, just hunting with Zhao Erwa every afternoon.

Yet when he asked Zhao Erwa to help buy a military overcoat, Zhao Erwa actually went and bought it. And this time, asking for help with a tiger-skin coat, Zhao Erwa hadn't complained about the trouble either. That was fantastic.

Therefore, Qin Jun pulled out a prosthetic limb directly.

"What is this? Leg wrappings? Why is it made of steel? Did you make this?"

Taking it and looking closer, Zhao Erwa grew increasingly baffled.

He could tell that this thing seemed to be custom-made to fit the shape of a leg.

But what was the use of this contraption?

Especially the steel plate at the very bottom, curved like that—what was it supposed to do?

"It's meant to be strapped to your leg. Why don't you put it on and see if it fits?"

Without saying much, Qin Jun acted directly.

You couldn't tell what it was for just by looking at it now, but once strapped on, a single test would reveal its purpose.

Zhao Erwa's severed leg had been amputated at the ankle, leaving the entire lower half of his leg intact.

Yet without a foot, walking was impossible.

If he used crutches, he wouldn't be able to get anything done.

The device Qin Jun had put together was designed to strap onto the lower leg, leveling both of his legs out.

Now they just needed to see if it fit properly. If not, modifications would have to be made on the spot.

Still, Qin Jun was quite confident in his own judgment; he had examined the leg carefully beforehand, and the measurements should be spot on.

With no foot, the hem of Zhao Erwa's padded cotton trousers was usually tied shut, and now it needed to be untied.

Though he had no idea what Qin Jun was up to, Zhao Erwa followed instructions anyway.

Suddenly, a thought crossed his mind: with this thing supporting one of his legs, would he be able to stand steadily?

So, he no longer cared about someone staring at his amputated limb and even unbuttoned his cotton trousers himself.

As Qin Jun adjusted the angle and guided one of Zhao Erwa's legs into the iron boot, the corners of Zhao Erwa's mouth began to twitch with excitement.

Once the prosthesis was slipped onto his leg and Qin Jun started tightening the screws and adjusting the tension, how could Zhao Erwa possibly fail to understand what this object was?

"Tighten it up a bit more so it's secure."

"You're something else, kid. It's the exact same height! Put some muscle into it, what if it comes loose?"

"Screw it down tighter, I'm not afraid of pain!"

"Get up, I'll do it myself. This thing's going to be mine from now on anyway."

"Haha! With this gadget, will I be able to walk around freely?"

Zhao Erwa possessed formidable strength; with a mere pull and push, he shoved Qin Jun stumbling back several steps.

No wonder Qin Jun had previously thought this fellow reeked of banditry.

Back when Qin Jun's air rifle was snatched, Zhao Erwa had given a single twist of his torso and shoved Qin Jun away.

It was the same now; a little bit of force sent Qin Jun staggering back multiple paces.

And that was just an unintentional movement driven by excitement.

One had to admit, Zhao Erwa's manual dexterity was impressive, and his grip strength was more than sufficient.

With just a few turns of his hand, he screwed the bolts down tight.

"Don't make it too tight either; it'll restrict your blood circulation. If the blood flow gets cut off and the muscles in your lower leg necrose, that'll be a real headache."

Seeing Zhao Erwa brute-forcing it, Qin Jun hurriedly intervened.

"I know what I'm doing. If it's too tight and my lower leg swells up, don't you think I'd feel it?"

Zhao Erwa glared at Qin Jun and continued tightening the screws.

When it felt about right, he tossed his crutches aside, intending to stand up and give it a try himself.

"Don't be in such a rush, lean on your crutches and get used to it first."

Qin Jun truly hadn't expected Zhao Erwa to be so impatient.

"It's fine. Back at the front lines, after this foot got injured, I used to hop around on one leg all the time—and that was in tropical jungles and mountainous terrain. What's this compared to that?"

At this moment, Zhao Erwa radiated boundless heroism, practically brimming with loyalty and valor!

True to his word, Zhao Erwa wasn't just bragging. After standing up, his body swayed only a couple of times before he quickly found his balance.

Then, he carefully took a few steps around the room.

He was testing the screws on his lower leg to see if any were too loose.

Clearly, the fit was quite appropriate.

Having walked a few steps and feeling pretty good about it, he couldn't help hopping up and down a couple of times.

This made Qin Jun's heart skip a beat, terrified that the guy would take a tumble right inside his house!

"Ha! This gadget you made is good, really good!"

"If I'd had this thing earlier, I wouldn't have had to be discharged from the army. This stuff is even more useful in the mountains."

"Damn it! With this thing, even if a whole troop of monkeys came at me, I could easily wipe them out!"

"Best of all, with this thing, I won't ever have to fear their sharpened bamboo stakes again!"

"I used to hate this leg for getting in the way; now I wish both of my legs were fitted with these iron boots!"

With that, Zhao Erwa pushed the door open with a brisk stride and stepped outside.

Entering the courtyard, he first walked quickly for a few paces, then broke into a fast run across the yard.

Once he fully adapted to the sensation underfoot, he started swinging his legs, breaking into jumps and high kicks.

The flurry of movements left Qin Jun dizzy with amazement.

Seeing Zhao Erwa's legs whirling like a fiery wind wheel, Qin Jun was left utterly dumbfounded.

This was genuine kung fu, paired with genuine talent.

Such physical resilience and body control were simply super-human.

If Qin Jun hadn't just personally helped him strap on this prosthetic foot, he never would have believed Zhao Erwa had been disabled just moments ago.

His current movements had already reached a terrifyingly proficient level.

Take the elasticity of the steel plate at the bottom, for instance—Qin Jun had designed it based on a foreign movie.

If both feet were outfitted with this gear, Zhao Erwa could practically transform into Superman.

Even now, with only one super-powered foot, he was already putting on an incredible display.

Front flips, back flips, spring-loaded flying kicks!

That single leg truly served as a heavy broadsword, hacking and slashing incessantly.

And with every landing, he smoothly leveraged the bounce of the elastic steel plate to launch his body back into the air, executing even more intricate maneuvers.

"Take it easy!"

"I haven't tested the elastic steel plate under your foot yet, so I don't know how strong the bounce is!"

Seeing Zhao Erwa's movements growing increasingly wild, Qin Jun began to worry.

What if the elastic steel plate he made wasn't up to standard? After all, without professional testing equipment, if it snapped, a nasty fall was guaranteed!

"Haha, it's fine. I tested it bit by bit; it can handle this much force!"

Despite saying that, Zhao Erwa still moderated the scale of his movements.

Once he finally came to a complete stop, Zhao Erwa calmed down as well.

"Iron is always a bit hard. With the cotton trousers padding it now, you don't feel much, but what about in the summer?"

Qin Jun paused; Zhao Erwa certainly thought ahead.

Waving a hand dismissively, Qin Jun replied, "We'll just make do when summer comes!"

Zhao Erwa glared at him. "I... you're not the one wearing it, are you? Just 'make do'?"

"You've got screw rods tightening right against the skin here. Can this thing even be worn in summer?"

Qin Jun chuckled and stayed silent.

With a helpless sigh, Zhao Erwa said, "If there's anything you want me to do, just spit it out!"

"Actually, this thing is quite easy to make; we just lack materials."

"Good materials aren't easy to get right now, but there are plenty of simple ones—like iron, aluminum alloy, or even wood?"

"No matter what it's made of, we need some tools, like a simple lathe!"

Zhao Erwa looked at Qin Jun in surprise. "What are you imagining? I used to be just an ordinary private, where am I supposed to get you a lathe?"

Qin Jun was equally astonished. It seemed this private Zhao Erwa actually knew what a lathe was.

Since he knew, there had to be a way.