Chapter 16: The Innate Sovereign of Firearms
However, as this group left the cafeteria, they halted in their tracks upon seeing others striding purposefully from the periphery, returning to their own rooms. These individuals did not dine in the cafeteria, but chose instead the meals prepared by their assistants—a fact that made one thing clear: they had passed the assessment!
To pass the assessment was to become a Dragon Dormant reserve. Once they accumulated enough points, they would attain what everyone dreamed of becoming—a true Gold Medal Dragon Dormant.
“Hey, brother!” Lin Xiaosu patted the shoulder of the timid young man eating next to him.
The young man looked up and returned a slight smile.
“What’s your name?”
“Zhou Zhen. And you?” the young man replied.
“Lin Xiaosu,” he answered. “What’s your area of expertise?”
Zhou Zhen said, “I might be here by accident. I just like tinkering with computer viruses.”
“A hacker?”
“No, the guy who brought me here said I can’t call myself a hacker anymore. I should call myself a red-hat.”
“When did you arrive?”
“Just now! How about you, Xiaosu?”
“Just now as well… You must have chosen the Espionage Division, right?”
“Yeah, the ‘Network Control’ subsection. Which did you choose?”
It was an ordinary question, but Lin Xiaosu hesitated for a moment before replying, “Firearms, I suppose.”
After the meal came training time. Lin Xiaosu and Zhou Zhen parted ways at the entrance to the training area—Zhou Zhen headed to Espionage, while Lin Xiaosu entered the Firearms Division.
Up on the hilltop behind them, a small courtyard resembled a waterside retreat from Jiangnan; a woman sat on a swing, her toes tapping lightly to send her flying, radiating utter leisure.
She was Changye.
But this Changye was utterly different from the one Lin Xiaosu had met. Her facial features were unchanged, but her skin was now far fairer, for she had shed her synthetic protective skin. Now, her complexion was as flawless as a newborn’s, unmarked by the sun. Her hair, no longer perfectly arranged, floated freely. As if unshackled, she exuded an ethereal, fairy-like ease.
Opposite her sat a petite beauty, her eyes lively, her small mouth busy devouring grapes at an astonishing pace. In mere moments, the grapes vanished before her, the bunch reduced to a single grape.
The petite girl spoke: “Sister Changye, have you really not found a cure for your own poison?”
“There’s a glimmer of hope, but not true success yet.”
“You have to work harder! Honestly, you’re completely ripe—you should make plans for your future man. Otherwise, all your charm would be wasted, wouldn’t it?”
“Xinyue, Xinyue, can’t you think of something proper at your age?” Changye sighed gently.
“I’m always thinking of proper things. I keep wondering what gods I must have offended—every time my reserve points near the thousand-point threshold, something unexpected happens to knock them down again.”
“Ahem…” Changye’s expression grew a bit awkward…
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on a certain direction.
Xinyue’s eyes followed hers.
In the air before them, a projection appeared—a handsome young man, swaggering toward a test area, his stride reminiscent of a libertine. Two bold letters marked the test area: Zone B.
“Zone B! Firearms Division!” Xinyue cried out. “Didn’t you say the one you brought back was a genius in criminal investigation? Why isn’t he in Espionage Division Four? Why’d he go to Firearms?”
“This one… he’s an odd bird. Sometimes he seems clever, sometimes a bit muddled. Never mind, once he’s had a look around, he’ll quickly understand what it means to be in the wrong field. He’ll turn back after hitting the wall.”
Lin Xiaosu entered the Firearms Division.
He swiped his card at the door; his personal information appeared on the large screen, along with the basic rules of the Firearms Division.
The Firearms Division was a vast domain, encompassing all kinds of firearms and equipment. Everything was laid out for use, with instruction manuals displayed nearby.
Lin Xiaosu walked along the racks, marveling at sights unimaginable in the outside world.
Dragon Dagger: seven inches and eight-tenths long, forged of tungsten steel, suitable for thrusting, slashing, and chopping, the blade capable of bearing two hundred pounds…
Dragon Rope: eighteen meters long, able to bear five hundred pounds…
Launch Needle: a range of fifty meters, an espionage weapon…
Dragon Blade: three feet long, special forces use only…
Reverse Sheath: female-only, concealing launch needles, an espionage weapon…
As Lin Xiaosu beheld the array of equipment, his thoughts ran wild. My god, what kind of place is this? Tea cups, plates, briefcases, umbrellas—these could all be deadly weapons, fine, but even bras and hairpins are lethal? Won’t this give people psychological trauma? How can anyone date without being on edge? How’s anyone supposed to enjoy life?
He left the cold weapons untouched.
Ahead were the regular firearms.
There were all kinds—submachine guns, machine guns, rocket launchers, even miniature missiles. Of course, they were loaded only with training rounds…
Lin Xiaosu picked up a small handgun, barely eight inches long, about the size of a large phone. He figured if he were ever sent on a mission, he’d probably only want something this size.
He pushed open a nearby door, gun in hand.
Beyond the door was a vast, walled platform. As soon as Lin Xiaosu entered, lights flared and, as if by magic, the platform became an open wilderness.
He knew this was no magic—just modern holographic projection technology.
The gun in his hand wasn’t a real firearm, but more like a game controller.
Essentially, he was playing a game—except this game was extremely realistic. If he could hit the targets here, he’d be able to do it with a real gun in the field. That was the point of the training.
A target appeared ahead, about a hundred meters away.
“He’s picked the G2 pistol: short barrel, highly concealable, but the accuracy is hard to control. How many shots do you think before he hits the target?” Changye tapped her toe on the ground.
The projection before her showed Lin Xiaosu’s full environment.
Xinyue laughed, “With all his book learning, if he can even see the target, that’s impressive—let alone hit it.”
“That’s where you’re wrong. You can call him clumsy, but don’t say his eyesight is poor. I bet he’ll hit the target within three shots!”
Bang!
Lin Xiaosu pulled the trigger. The first bullet missed the target by at least ten meters.
That’s the downside of pistols.
Short-barreled pistols are notoriously hard to aim. In modern policing, hitting a suspect at fifty meters is the mark of a sharpshooter; a hundred meters is a matter of luck.
“Told you—wrong field!” Xinyue exclaimed gleefully, producing a bag of sunflower seeds from somewhere and began snacking.
Second shot fired—Xinyue froze. “Well, I’ll be damned. He hit it! Must be dumb luck.”
Third shot—the electronic screen displayed: 8 rings!
Fourth shot: 9 rings!
Fifth shot: 10 rings!
Sixth shot: 10.5 rings!
Lin Xiaosu spun the gun around his finger, adding difficulty for himself. He raised his hand—seventh shot: 10.5 rings!
Changye sprang up, her eyes shining.
Xinyue shouted, “No way! Is this for real? Has he trained before?”
“According to his file, he really hasn’t. And his 10.5 rings, too—he started by missing entirely, then improved shot by shot. He obviously wasn’t familiar with the gun, but in just seven shots, he’s become proficient. Watch his movements.”
Lin Xiaosu spun around in a full circle, raised his hand, and fired.
From raising the gun to firing, there was no hesitation at all. The screen showed: 10.6 rings!
Xinyue said, “This isn’t fair. It took me three months of practice to break a hundred rings in ten shots—the best in Dragon Dormant, or at least close—and this kid does it in a flash! Are you sure he’s never trained?”
Changye’s eyes twinkled. “Shooting comes down to three things: eyesight, hand-eye coordination and stability, and the intuition to adjust for parameters. I never doubted his eyesight. His intuition seems outstanding. Now, let’s see how stable he is. If every shot from now on is over ten rings, he’ll be the second ‘Gun God’ after 066!”
Lin Xiaosu fired ten shots in a row, each scoring 10.8 rings.
Another ten shots—10.9 rings!
That was the highest standard.
Next, fifty shots—each one 10.9 rings.
Changye and Xinyue’s jaws dropped.
His stability was astounding.
Then Lin Xiaosu started showing off—spinning, running a few steps, drawing and firing on the move, even shooting while leaning back dramatically. His actions broke all the rules of shooting, where most people had to remain as still as possible for accuracy. He bounced around like a monkey, yet every shot scored a flawless 10.9 rings.
It was unprecedented.
A hundred shots!
Two hundred!
Three hundred!
Five hundred!
With a boom, a splendid blossom appeared on the electronic display—a bullet streaked through the screen like a shooting star, dazzling and shocking.
Xinyue and Changye exclaimed in unison, “He’s triggered the ‘Gun God Threshold’…”
Five hundred consecutive shots above ten rings—triggering the Gun God Threshold meant instant clearance of the fixed-target stage, and the birth of a new high score in the shooting range.