thefictionvixens Chapter 10: Gun King Showdown? Uncle, are you just playing for fun?
Chapter 10: Gun King Showdown? Uncle, are you just playing for fun?
At dawn, before the thin mist had dissipated from the mountains, the assembly whistle of the 4th Sharpshooter Company of the Iron Fist Regiment rang out over the camp.
"All personnel! Target: Shooting Range One, move out!"
Instructor Gong Jian was wearing a brand-new camouflage uniform today, and he looked exceptionally energetic.
But the lingering melancholy in his eyes reminded everyone: I'm still under immense pressure today, and whoever gets caught is doomed.
Especially the way he looked at Li Erniu, it was as if he wished he could shoot him dead.
Li Erniu, dressed in his training uniform and carrying a rifle slung across his shoulder, mingled among the training squad, looking like he hadn't woken up yet.
Last night's hot pot noodles earned him a lot of praise, but it also made him a thorn in Gong Jian's side.
"Squad Leader Lao Hei, something's not right here," Li Erniu whispered to Squad Leader Lao Hei beside him.
Sergeant Lao Hei, his face dark, replied in a low voice, "You still know something's wrong? Yesterday in the combat, you threw the instructor to the ground; during the run, you led the instructor astray; and at dinner, you even made the instructor call you 'Third Uncle'... Today, this shooting range will probably be your 'guillotine'."
Li Erniu chuckled, neither confirming nor denying.
Upon arriving at the shooting range, Gong Jian stood on the command platform, with rows of rifles neatly arranged at his feet. Two hundred meters ahead, rows of chest targets were swaying slightly.
"Let's talk about today's subject!"
Gong Jian surveyed the entire area: "Two hundred meters away, a swaying chest-ring target! Ten bullets per person, one minute time limit! This is not only a test of your accuracy, but also a test of your ability to capture targets in a dynamic environment and your mental fortitude!"
He paused, his tone becoming extremely serious: "The Fourth Sharpshooter Company has no cowards. In this assessment, anyone who scores below ninety rings, no matter who they are, even if you're the King of Heaven, you have to crawl three laps around the shooting range in a low-prone position! No food until you finish!"
This requirement was not difficult for the soldiers of the 4th Sharpshooter Company.
As long as you perform normally, you can achieve your goals.
But there was one exception—Li Erniu!
Gong Jian's gaze finally settled on Li Erniu, a meaningful smile playing on his lips: "Especially those 'special talents' who have just joined the company. Although the cooks are in charge of logistics, they are soldiers when they put on their uniforms! Li Erniu, as the representative of the cooks, you must participate in the assessment today, and the standards are the same as those of the main platoon! Do you have the confidence?"
"Reporting to the instructor! I have confidence!" Li Erniu puffed out his chest and shouted loudly.
In fact, everyone in the company knew that when Li Erniu was in basic training, his shooting score was only slightly above average. At most, he was an excellent soldier, but far from being a "sharpshooter".
What kind of place is Silian?
That's the elite platoon of the entire regiment!
Any one of them could easily crush the best soldiers in any other company!
Gong Jian's decision to have Li Erniu participate was a blatant act of settling a personal score, a clear attempt to destroy Li Erniu.
"Alright! He Chenguang, Wang Yanbing, you two lead the first group, set an example for Comrade Li Erniu!"
The first group of shooters took their positions.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The crisp sound of gunfire rang out in unison.
He Chenguang's movements were as fluid as flowing water, his breathing was extremely steady, and each bullet seemed to be precisely aimed at the swaying trajectory of the target.
One minute later.
"Report the target!" Sergeant Lao Hei shouted into his earpiece.
"Target number one, He Chenguang, ten bullets, one hundred rings! All bullseyes!"
"Good!" the whole company cheered.
Gong Jian nodded in satisfaction. He was indeed the promising soldier he had chosen.
"Target number two, Wang Yanbing, ten bullets, ninety-nine rings! One shot slightly off!"
Wang Yanbing clenched his fist in frustration, glanced sideways at He Chenguang, then at Li Erniu, and whispered, "Erniu, see that? This is the standard of our Fourth Company. You better take it easy later, don't actually crawl through the entire firing range!"
The results of the next few groups were all amazing.
The sharpshooter team lived up to its reputation, with the vast majority scoring above 95 points, and even the lowest scorer scored 92 points.
Gong Jian's mood improved considerably as the soldiers' performance improved, and he even offered praise from time to time, until the last group.
"The last group!"
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Li Erniu slowly walked to his shooting position.
"Brother Niu, keep it up! Don't miss the target!" He Chenguang and Wang Yanbing cheered for Li Erniu!
Li Erniu lay on the ground, his hand gripping the cold barrel of the gun.
In that instant, the [Firearms Mastery] skill in his mind was activated.
The target, which had been swaying, seemed to have come to a standstill in his eyes.
The humidity of the air, the slight difference in wind direction, the muzzle velocity of the bullet, the vibration frequency of the barrel... countless complex data were frantically calculated in his mind, and finally converged into a perfect shooting curve.
"Begin firing!"
The moment Gong Jian finished speaking, Li Erniu opened fire.
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!"
Ten gunshots rang out in almost three seconds! This wasn't aiming; it was pure venting! It was an attack!
By the time he finished shooting, the other members of his team hadn't even finished aiming yet!
The surrounding soldiers were dumbfounded.
"What is he doing? Is he firing blindly?"
"He hit a 200-meter wobbly target so hard he barely even glanced at the scope before finishing?"
"It's over, Erniu has given up on treatment. The bullet probably flew off somewhere."
Gong Jian was also stunned, then roared angrily, "Li Erniu, do you think this is shooting at Japanese machine guns? If you can even hit the target with this kind of shooting, I'll call you..."
He almost blurted out that name again, but quickly shut up.
Sergeant Lao Hei sighed and said helplessly, "Report the target."
The entire venue was so quiet that only the distant chirping of birds could be heard.
Everyone was waiting for that dismal result so they could send Li Erniu to the track and field competition.
The target reporter's puzzled voice came through the earpiece: "Report... target number ten, Li Erniu... seventy rings."
"Hahaha!"
Finally, someone on the sidelines couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Seventy rings? Seventy rings in 200 meters? In other companies, that would be last place, right?"
"As expected, the cooks in the mess hall are good with a spatula, but not so good with a gun."
Gong Jian laughed heartily. This time he was truly happy, and the pent-up frustration he had been feeling all day vanished instantly.
He walked over to Li Erniu, looked down at Li Erniu lying on the ground, and said in a low, mocking voice, "Third Uncle, it seems your marksmanship doesn't quite match your seniority. Seventy rings...tsk tsk, if this score gets out, you'll utterly disgrace our ancestors!"
"Hey! Old Hei, take Comrade Erniu to the starting line of the shooting range! Low crawl, three laps, not an inch less!"
Gong Jian finally had a point, and he stood up straight.
Li Erniu didn't get up, but instead frowned and looked ahead with a puzzled expression.
"Something's not right," Li Erniu muttered. "I was absolutely certain I got them all right."
"A perfect score?" Gong Jian sneered. "The target announcer reported 70 rings, which is the result of a combination of electronic sensing and visual estimation. Li Erniu, just admit defeat! Do you think the target announcer would lie to you?"
Li Erniu suddenly stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at Gong Jian with extremely serious eyes: "Reporting, Instructor! I don't believe this result! I request to go see the target myself!"
"Hey, you're still not convinced?" Gong Jian chuckled. "Fine, I'll give you a quick death. Lao Hei, go take the target down and bring it right here. Let the whole company see how Comrade Li Erniu manages to miss the bullets!"
Sergeant Lao Hei glanced at Li Erniu, shook his head, turned around, got into the jeep, and drove towards the target area.
He Chenguang moved closer to Li Erniu and asked worriedly, "Erniu, how did you fight just now? The speed was so fast that even I couldn't keep up."
Li Erniu didn't speak, but silently asked the system in his mind, "System, are you kidding me? I exchanged for a divine-level mastery, seventy rings? Are you kidding me?"
System: [Host, please rest assured, everything produced by this system is of the highest quality. You did indeed hit the target ten times. The reason it was reported as a 70-ring score is because three of the bullets accurately passed through existing bullet holes in the target. Once the sensing layer of the electronic target paper was severed, passing through the same spot repeatedly would not generate a new sensing signal.]
Upon hearing this, Li Erniu's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
Holy crap, this works?
"Are you serious? My technique has reached the level of 'bullet overlap'?"
System: [Not only did the bullets overlap, but due to your extremely high firing rate, the three bullets entered one of the bullet holes almost in a straight line.]
Just then, Sergeant Lao Hei's car returned.
Sergeant Lao Hei, carrying the swaying target ring, had an extremely strange expression on his face.
He got out of the car, his steps even a little unsteady.
"Instructor, this target..." Old Black, the squad leader, hesitated before speaking.
Gong Jian snatched the target and shouted, "Look! Everyone come and see! Look how many holes are in it... uh?"
Gong Jian's voice abruptly stopped.
He stared intently at the center of the target paper, as if frozen in place. His mocking smile froze on his face, then gradually turned into fear, bewilderment, and even existential doubt.
All the soldiers in the company gathered around.
On the target, at the bullseye of the ten-ring, there was a perfectly regular, enlarged hole.
Around that round hole, there were six scattered bullet holes, all within the ten-ring.
"One, two, three, four, five, six, seven..."
Wang Yanbing counted, his expression freezing: "How come there are only seven holes? The remaining three missed?"
"Even if you miss the target, you can still report a score of 70, because the seven shots mentioned in the instructions were all within the top ten."
Gong Jian said coldly, "Li Erniu, did your remaining three bullets go to waste? Seven shots hit the bullseye, and the remaining three missed. What do you call that..."
"Report!"
Li Erniu suddenly interrupted Gong Jian, pointed to the largest bullet hole, and said in a serious tone:
"Xiao Gong, take a closer look at that big hole. Aren't there three overlapping scorch marks around the edge?"
Gong Jian shuddered, lowered his head again, and stared intently at the round hole.
He could clearly see that the edge of the bullet hole was not a normal tear, but rather a strange spiral overlapping layer. It was the mark left by three bullets that had penetrated through the same point in a very short time with almost the same rotation angle and trajectory!
"This...this is impossible..."
He suddenly looked up at Li Erniu, his eyes looking as if he were looking at a monster in human skin.
"Triple missile integration? You've got a triple missile integration on a 200-meter wobbling target?!"
The entire venue was deathly silent.
Even the wind has stopped.