After several tests, William Clark was absolutely certain that his soul growing stronger was no illusion.

This meant that those white light particles released when killing monsters really could increase his soul’s strength!

But this also meant he had to attack and kill monsters to obtain more white light particles—something that was a gamble with his life.

As time passed, after more than ten hours, William Clark reached the middle floors of the building. Because he was afraid there might be monsters lurking inside, he explored each floor with extreme caution, which naturally made his progress very slow. Then, on this middle floor, he discovered the remains of the two fools, Black and White.

The two corpses were already unrecognizable as human. Whether flesh, organs, or bones, almost everything had been devoured and gnawed clean by monsters. Only a few traces of blood and bone fragments remained, proving that these things had once been two humans.

When William Clark saw the remains of Black and White, he didn’t feel the satisfaction of avenging a great grudge—only fear, trembling all over, and the urge to vomit.

It took quite a while before William Clark managed to overcome his disgust and fear, and carefully explored this floor, especially the area around the two corpses. Sure enough, he found the policeman’s handgun!

When he found the handgun, William Clark felt his heart racing so fast he nearly fainted. He gripped the gun tightly, and only after a long moment did he remember to carefully point the muzzle forward, then began to examine the magazine.

This was the first time in William Clark’s life he had ever touched a firearm. The guns from military training didn’t count—after all, those couldn’t be played with at will; they were just placed on the ground for you to crawl up and fire a single shot. He had no idea how to load or unload bullets, or how to remove a magazine.

This was truly the first time in William Clark’s life he had ever handled a gun. Following his memory, he imitated the actions he’d seen white police officers use to load and unload magazines, and checked the grip at the back of the gun. Sure enough, he managed to remove the magazine.

“Please, just one or two bullets left, just one or two…”

As William Clark muttered under his breath, he looked at the magazine—and was stunned.

Only three bullets were missing from the magazine!

How could that be!?

William Clark fell into deep thought.

This was something he found hard to understand.

At that moment, William Clark even forgot the fear he’d felt upon seeing the two corpses, and began to examine the situation on this floor.

The remains of Black and White had been completely torn apart, but from the way they were scattered, it was possible to roughly determine where the two had been killed. It was in the central hall of this floor—spacious, with an excellent view, and unlikely to be ambushed by monsters from either side.

According to William Clark’s memory of the monsters’ running speed, as long as the white policeman spotted a monster, he could have emptied the handgun’s magazine in a short time. During that period, the monsters wouldn’t have been able to get close to him.

But why were only three bullets used?

William Clark was completely baffled. He even tried to reenact the white policeman’s actions in the central hall.

Spot the monster, raise the handgun, pull the trigger—bang, one shot; bang, a second shot; bang, a third shot…

No, that’s not right!

William Clark snapped back to his senses. According to his simulation, the white policeman would definitely have emptied the magazine. Something else must have happened, which caused the policeman to fire only three shots. Could it be that the black homeless man stabbed him in the back again?

No, that didn’t make sense. According to what William Clark knew about America, racial tensions between whites and blacks were extremely severe—so severe they’d torn American society apart, as bad as the gender divide. If the white policeman had seen the black homeless man stab him in the back, there’s no way he wouldn’t have been on guard. The positions of the two corpses made this clear: the black homeless man’s remains were at least five meters away from the white policeman’s.

So, William Clark guessed that something else must have happened, causing the white policeman to pull the trigger only three times before giving up on shooting…

“The handgun was useless!?”

William Clark came to this conclusion.

In the scenario he’d simulated, the only way this could happen was if, when firing the handgun, the bullets wouldn’t shoot, or had no effect at all. That would have shocked the white policeman, so he tried a second time—same result. Then a third time—still the same. After that, his reaction would have been to run for his life, not stand there and keep shooting. If the same thing happened three times in a row, no one would try a fourth time in a life-or-death situation.

William Clark realized this possibility, and his heart instantly turned cold.

Firearms are humanity’s most powerful modern weapons. Setting aside vehicles and strategic weapons, guns are the most universal personal weapons available to humans, and a symbol of humanity’s dominance over all other creatures on Earth.

If firearms are useless—whether they can’t cause damage, or the bullets won’t even fire—then humanity’s combat power would be set back by centuries, from the age of firearms to the age of cold weapons. For people facing hordes of monsters in the afterlife, this would be the worst possible news.