Chapter 55: Even the Rocket Launcher Won't Work (Please Keep Reading)

Officer Wang pushed open the door and reported the test scores to Department Chief Niu.

Department Chief Niu nodded with satisfaction.

He took a set of keys from the wall and led Li Aiguo to a storage room not far from the office.

The key turned the rusty, heavy iron lock, and with a creaking sound, the massive iron door slowly swung open.

A wide variety of weapons were displayed on the wooden shelves inside the warehouse.

There were pistols such as Type 7, Type 8, ten-shot, twenty-shot, revolver, and Type 13, as well as infantry rifles, copper-sleeved rifles, Type 28, Type 38, Type 79 rifles, carbines, Thompson submachine guns, ZB light machine guns, Canadian heavy machine guns, and more.

The condition of the weapons was generally poor, covered in rust, and some were even incomplete—clearly phased-out equipment from active military units.

In the corner, Li Aiguo spotted two M1 81mm mortars.

Sunlight filtered through the glass windows, casting a cold, dark sheen on the black barrels.

Judging by how well-maintained they were, these pieces were definitely in working order.

Just load a shell into the tube, and the wall across the street could be blasted to the ground.

Seeing Li Aiguo staring intently at the mortars, Department Chief Niu hurriedly waved his hand. "Those are out of the question. Don't even think about it."

"If you want to get locked up, just don't drag me down with you."

The dream of firing a mortar had been dashed.

Reluctantly, Li Aiguo walked over to the wooden shelves and began rummaging around.

"Hey, the bazooka is off-limits too!"

"You look like a good kid, so why are you just as greedy as your master?"

"You can only choose a handgun."

Reluctantly putting down the bazooka, Li Aiguo picked up a pistol.

Unlike ordinary handguns, this pistol was exceptionally large, featuring a brown grip and a silver-gray frame, making it look remarkably imposing.

Seeing Li Aiguo holding the pistol as he walked over, a trace of reluctance flashed in Department Chief Niu's eyes. "You young rascal certainly have a good eye. This Colt M1911A1 pistol was captured from the Smith Task Force by the fighters of the Twenty-Third Regiment."

"It is said that in the Burma battlefield, American devils once used this type of pistol to shoot down a Japanese Zero fighter after firing four consecutive shots."

"We only have this single one in our locomotive depot."

Li Aiguo fiddled with the pistol for a moment before a crucial question popped into his head. "Chief, do we have matching ammunition?"

"Let me check..."

Department Chief Niu took out his ledger, flipped through it for a moment, and smiled. "You're a lucky kid. There are just two hundred rounds of .45 ACP pistol ammunition in the warehouse."

Two hundred rounds of ammunition might not sound like much, but it was plenty.

As a train driver, the opportunities to actually fire a gun were rare.

However, according to the regulations of the Armed Forces Department, each driver was only allowed to draw four rounds of ammunition at a time.

Loading the bullets into the magazine, Li Aiguo, under the watchful eye of Department Chief Niu, test-fired a few rounds at the shooting range.

The crisp gunfire echoed in the air, and the bullets struck dead center in the bullseye.

"Not bad, you've got your master's flair."

Only then did Department Chief Niu help Li Aiguo complete the paperwork.

From this moment on, Li Aiguo finally possessed a heavy-duty firearm of his very own.

Returning to the Armed Forces Department, Li Aiguo was just about to bid farewell to Department Chief Niu when a delicate-looking woman came running from a distance.

Speaking in broken Mandarin, the woman told Department Chief Niu that their child had fallen ill, and she wouldn't be able to bring him lunch at noon, asking him to make do with a meal at the locomotive depot cafeteria instead.

"I understand, Little Jin. Hurry up and take our son to the hospital."

The woman nodded, glanced at Li Aiguo, and offered a slight nod of acknowledgment before hurrying away.

Noticing that the woman had the standard facial features of a Korean woman, coupled with her surname Jin and her broken Mandarin, Li Aiguo began to understand why Department Chief Niu had retired from active service early.

With a soft sigh in his heart, Li Aiguo exchanged a few casual remarks with Department Chief Niu and turned toward the finance section.

The pistol at his waist felt heavy, occasionally bumping against his upper thigh and causing some discomfort.

Li Aiguo figured he needed to get a holster to secure the pistol to his belt.

That was a task for another day, though; his most immediate mission right now was to collect his salary.

Even before officially starting work, he was able to draw this month's salary—such an unheard-of thing was actually happening right before Li Aiguo's eyes.

Holding 102 yuan in his hand, along with a stack of meal tickets, oil tickets, match tickets, laundry tickets... Li Aiguo was moved almost to tears.

In comparison, those black-hearted bosses from his past life who paid last month's salary at the end of next month deserved to be hanged from utility poles.

As for a boss who paid before the twentieth, he would graciously allow them to pick a slightly shorter utility pole.

"Comrade, comrade..."

The clerk in the finance section looked at Li Aiguo's emotional state with a hint of perplexity.

After calling out to him twice, the clerk pointed to the receipt slip. "Comrade, please sign your name here."

"Right, right..."

Stepping out of the locomotive depot, Li Aiguo felt the sky was exceptionally blue and the chirping of the birds was remarkably melodious.

Clutching the 102 yuan, he felt the unique, swaggering confidence of a ten-thousand-yuan-holder from the future.

With money in hand, he had to live it up!

Pedaling his bicycle, he arrived at the Chaoyang Vegetable Market.

He spent 2 cents to buy five catties of bok choy.

Then he detoured to the grain station to pick up five catties of cornmeal on behalf of Auntie Liu next door.

Auntie Liu had mobility issues, and every half month she would entrust Li Aiguo to buy grain for her.

When he rode his bicycle back to the quadrangle courtyard, it was already lunchtime, and the air was filled with the aroma of food.

Walking up to Auntie Liu's doorstep and seeing that the "Honorable Family" plaque was still not hanging on the lintel, Li Aiguo breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Both Liu Tianquan and Liu Diyuan were survey team workers who had been drafted for a mission three years ago, and the assignment was classified.

Even Auntie Liu had no idea where they were.

This showed that the mission was far from simple.

Coupled with the fact that it was now 1956, the project of "growing mushrooms" in the Gobi Desert had long since been put on the agenda.

They were most likely prospecting for mushroom-cultivation sites deep in the Gobi, or they had joined the 519 Geological Survey Team to search for uranium in the frontier.

Whichever it was, they were risking their lives with nine chances of death and one of survival.

Composing his thoughts, Li Aiguo knocked on Auntie Liu's door.

Auntie Liu was busy cooking. Seeing Li Aiguo standing outside with a cotton cloth sack, she hurriedly invited him in.

"Oh, child, I'm troubling you again."

"Don't say that, Auntie. With Tianquan-ge and Diyuan-ge away from home, as a neighbor, it's only right that I help out."

Li Aiguo emptied the cotton sack into the flour vat, folded the bag neatly, and tucked it into his canvas pouch.

The sack could be used again next time.

By then, Auntie Liu had already fished out five mao in cash and a five-catty coarse grain ticket from her pocket.

"Child, take this."

Li Aiguo didn't stand on ceremony; he took the grain ticket and slipped it into his pocket.

Glancing over at the bowl of mixed-flour noodles on the table, he asked, "Auntie, Tianquan and the others send back so much money every month; you could easily afford fine grains."

Auntie Liu smiled. "Back in the old days when the chaotic armies swept through Beijing, I had seven brothers and sisters, and with nothing to eat, I was the only one who survived."

"I'm old now. Eating those refined grains would just be a waste."

Knowing Auntie Liu's temperament, Li Aiguo didn't press the matter further. He turned around and walked back to his room.