Elder Jefferson was among the first in Pengcheng to use nutritional supplements, which is why he now naturally possesses the physical conditioning of a Body Tempering Realm martial artist.

Elderly individuals like Elder Jefferson, who had nearly all been on the battlefield, were very familiar with the various parts of firearms. Therefore, with the manual, assembling a firearm for him was not difficult at all.

Everyone watched Elder Jefferson, who, following the manual meticulously and yet slowly, assembled each component of the firearm piece by piece. Everyone dared not even breathe too heavily, for fear of disturbing the movements of Elder Jefferson’s hands at that moment.

Only when Elder Jefferson had completed the assembly of the special sniper rifle could everyone carefully examine the full view of the firearm.

Considering the barrel and body, the sniper rifle must have been over two meters long; with an arm’s thick barrel, one could tell at a glance that the caliber of its ammunition was definitely not small.

Before the catastrophe, if someone had said it was the main gun barrel of a tank, people would have believed it.

Everyone had no doubt that this sniper rifle was termed a personal weapon, but even warriors at the Inner Breath Realm probably couldn’t use it on their own without support. Even with support, it was likely that non-martial artists would be done for after firing just one shot.

Elder Jefferson handed the assembled sniper rifle directly to Robinson William and then picked up the box containing the disassembled parts of the remaining nine sniper rifles, revealing a special box loaded with ammunition beneath it.

Elder Jefferson carefully picked up a box from the bottom, opened it in front of everyone, and revealed the individually wrapped packages inside.

Only after tearing off the outer packaging did everyone see the bullets glistening with a metallic sheen.

Elder Jefferson handed over three bullets to Robinson William in succession: "William, I’m giving you three bullets. Find a tough target and test out the power of this rifle."

After receiving the bullets, Robinson William didn’t leave immediately but stayed in place, continuing to await further instructions from Elder Jefferson.

"Finn, you won’t have any issues setting up the communications station, will you?"

"Elder Jefferson, you can count on me."

"It’s not just about installing the communications station!"

"Elder Jefferson, I understand what you mean. I assure you that in three months, every official in the camp with a rank of junior historian or above will have a cell phone in hand."

After hearing Finn’s promise, Elder Jefferson nodded.

"Rylan, take care of these medicinal supplies. The manual states the storage requirements and shelf life. These things are consumables, and though they’re somewhat better than what’s made in Pengcheng, their cost-effectiveness isn’t great. Use them when necessary, don’t hoard them as if they’re treasures."

"I understand, Elder Jefferson!"

Although Robinson William had not yet tested the power of the firearms, by seeing Elder Jefferson decisively allocate the first two items, everyone else began to wonder if Elder Jefferson was going to distribute the firearms immediately as well.

"Zander."

"Present!"

"Take this manual and assemble the remaining nine rifles."

"Yes, sir!"

Zander was the commander of the frontline operations department of the original garrison troops. After merging with the camp, since there were no changes within the garrison troops, his position remained essentially unchanged.

Even though he was a commander and hadn’t truly been on the battlefield, as someone in a frontline role, he was quite familiar with firearms. After taking the manual from Elder Jefferson’s hands, he only needed to glance over it twice before starting his work.

Wryden didn’t assemble the sniper rifles according to the manual like Elder Jefferson did; instead, he dove right in and completed the task in one go. With the assembly of the first rifle finished, the speed of assembling the subsequent ones gradually increased. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

After assembling all nine sniper rifles, Wryden placed them neatly in the airdrop box and then stood up and reported, "Report, the nine sniper rifles have been assembled."

"Wryden, you take six," said Elder Jefferson.

When Elder Jefferson issued such an arrangement, everyone’s faces revealed an expression of surprise.

Although the military camp had merged into the camp, Elder Jefferson had neither disbanded the original troops nor inserted any officials among them, aside from reassigning some soldiers at the beginning. The troops maintained their original personnel configuration.

And now, Elder Jefferson was entrusting the opposition with six crucial weapons, knowing that there were only ten sniper rifles in the airdrop box in total.

Elder Jefferson’s action was undoubtedly a demonstration of his utmost trust in the troops.

Despite Elder Jefferson having handed over six sniper rifles, a few ’clever individuals’ had concerns about other aspects, but his next statement immediately made them feel as if they were judging the noble by their own standards.

"Wryden, later you arrange for someone to collect six base units of bullets," Elder Jefferson said.

Upon hearing this, the military officials felt elated. Elder Jefferson was showing his trust in the military department with concrete actions.

Then, Elder Jefferson spoke very seriously to the military officials: "I’ve given you the guns and bullets; I’m entrusting you with the camp’s security as well."

Hearing Elder Jefferson say this, all the military officials stood at attention and said in unison, "We swear to defend the camp’s safety."

Only after hearing their response did Elder Jefferson nod with a smile and say, "Alright, that’s all for today’s business. You’re all busy people. You’ve been here all morning, and I don’t know how many tasks you’ve delayed. I won’t keep you for lunch; carry on with your work."

After Elder Jefferson said this, the crowd took their turn to say goodbye to him.

Dong Tianyu thought he was done and was ready to leave like the others, but just as he was about to speak, Mr. Thompson suddenly pulled him aside and gestured for Dong Tianyu to stay quietly behind him.

When everyone else had left, only the members of the elder’s group remained in the room.

After signaling Robinson William to close the door, Elder Jefferson slowly started, "You don’t resent me for giving most of the firearms and ammunition to the military, do you?"

"Not at all!"

"How could we!"

...

Seeing the insincerity in their responses, Elder Jefferson said somewhat helplessly, "Keep pretending, keep it up. You old folks are even craftier than monkeys with all your fur. The younger generation might not understand the reasons, but surely you can see through this, right?

It might seem like the military camp has been integrated into our camp, and on the surface, it looks like we have the upper hand. However, I believe you understand the reality: it’s said that they depend on us, but in truth, we rely on them for protection.

Right now, we have only one Patrol Office left to maintain security within the camp. But externally, we are no match for those professional soldiers.

We have no choice but to give them the guns, and since we’ve given them the guns, we shouldn’t withhold ammunition from them either. Otherwise, they’d have the guns but harbor resentment toward us in their hearts, better to avoid sour grapes and just settle the score.

As for the remaining four weapons, we’ll keep one in the Patrol Office, Robinson William will hold on to one, Rylan gets one, and Dong Tianyu, you take one too."

While the distribution of the first three rifles seemed reasonable, Dong Tianyu never expected Elder Jefferson to allocate one to himself.