“This is bad… Meng Chao is actually going through his test with Zuo Haoran? Will he get disturbed?”
“He definitely will. Even though they’re shooting two different targets they’ll be able to see each other’s actions and results very clearly. Meng Chao’s state of mind will definitely be affected, and he might go through a mental breakdown.”
“Meng Chao… he’s too foolish. He should have read the examination rules carefully and figured out that the shooting test is conducted in pairs formed based on the ranking from the first two tests. His maximum punching strength and speed are good, so he should have preserved some of his strength and gotten third or fourth place in the class. Then, he could avoid competing against Zuo Haoran.”
The students were anxious.
But some decided to indulge in wishful thinking. “Would Meng Chao’s state and luck be really good today and he would end up getting really good marks?”
Those who had that hope were mostly formed of the low scorers in the class. They did not intend to get into college.
Those among the top ten in class snorted.
“Impossible. You won’t be just firing one shot during the shooting test. You’ll need to assemble three guns on your own, then fire ten handgun bullets, twenty rifle shots, and thirty caseless bullets specifically made for submachine guns. You need to shoot ten fixed targets and ten moving targets. I won’t say anything about managing to get one or two lucky shots, but it’s impossible for you to get lucky with every shot.”
“You can still try your luck when it comes to fixed targets, but the points for moving targets are three to five times those of fixed targets. They move based on the trajectory and speed of monsters, and each target only appears for a few seconds. They’re really fast. They also drift about, so you can’t rely on your luck for that.”
“The school does not really teach us how to shoot moving targets when it comes to our shooting classes. But Zuo Haoran specifically trains with moving targets when he practices in Falcon Gun Club.”
The low scorers could not accept this. “There’s also the Golden Target, right? Doesn’t it offer you more points than normal targets?”
The ace sharpshooters in the class laughed. “The Golden Target is the last of the twenty targets. It’s the smallest, is positioned the furthest away, moves the fastest, and also has the strangest movement trajectory. That target is the size of a fist, and it’ll be placed fifty meters away. It’s even faster than monsters, and it only appears for one second, so you need to predict its appearance beforehand.
“Unless your shooting skills, feel of the gun, and reaction time are perfect, you won’t be able to hit it. It’s impossible for even Zuo Haoran, so he won’t be wasting his bullet on that Golden Target!”
The low scorers felt all their fight drain from them. “Then, doesn’t it mean that he doesn’t have any hope in winning at all?”
The ace sharpshooters sighed. “He never had any hope. We can only wish that Meng Chao will get good results and win against himself.”
“Zuo Haoran, Meng Chao!” The invigilator called them a second time.
While the students discussed things among themselves, the two people moved forward.
“Meng Chao, wait.” The homeroom teacher suddenly came over and put a hand on his shoulder. He said softly, “Forget about your ludicrous fight based on your personal feelings. Right now, the most important thing for you is to get into the second stage of the national college examination.
“It’s normal if your shooting skills can’t compare to those of Zuo Haoran. Don’t break down. Once you lose your composure, you’ll miss every single target, and no matter how good your results were in the beginning, it’ll be useless!”
“Ahem.”
The invigilator coughed softly.
Meng Chao nodded. “I’ll do my best, Mr. Wang.”
“That’s good, then. Persevere. Try to ensure that your accuracy is higher than seventy percent. You’ll then have a chance to get into the next stage!”
The homeroom teacher punched the air and smiled at the invigilator before he left.
Meng Chao and Zuo Haoran each stood at their shooting spots.
Placed all over the table before them were mixed up pieces.
They belonged to handguns, rifles, and submachine guns and were piled up together until they formed a small hill.
The two men looked at each other.
The mocking look in Zuo Haoran’s eyes burned like a fire that seemed ready to scorch Meng Chao to ashes.
Meng Chao’s gaze was a little unfocused. It seemed like his mind was elsewhere.
He could not help it. Notifications just kept popping up at the corner of his eye. This was the side effect of gaining contribution points. His gaze constantly drifted about, and it made it look like he was always ignoring others.
When Zuo Haoran noticed that he was being ignored, the anger in him burned even hotter.
Beep!
The invigilator pressed on the timer. Ten fixed targets appeared at the end of the long shooting lane across from them.
The ten fixed targets would be up for three minutes. The examinees had to finish assembling the three guns within three minutes before they were allowed to shoot at the fixed targets in a relaxed manner.
The rules did not limit the examinees on how many fixed targets they had to strike. If they were absolutely sure in their gun technique, they were allowed to completely skip the fixed targets and shoot the moving targets.
After all, the moving targets were worth three to five times more than the moving targets. In fact, some were even worth ten times more.
But there was no examinee who would be stupid enough to do that. The shooting skills of high school students were amateurish, and while they were alright with shooting fixed targets, they could only count themselves lucky whenever they hit.
Kacha, kacha, kacha, kacha.
The rhythmic sounds of compartments being assembled together came from Zuo Haoran.
Every day, after classes ended, he would go and practice at the shooting club, so he was incredibly familiar with the military-grade guns of Dragon City. His movements were smooth, and there were no flaws or redundant movements in his actions.
Even the students who called Zuo Haoran’s morals into question had to admit that it was a joy watching him assemble guns.
The teaching director grinned widely when he saw his nephew’s outstanding performance.
Demon Yan looked at his watch. “Zuo Haoran’s speed has increased by ten percent. He can already catch up to most of the students in the rocket classes. As expected, guns are his strongest subject.”
Compared to Zuo Haoran’s dazzling performance, Meng Chao kept a much lower profile.
He was not much slower, but he operated at the pace of a normal high school student. His movements were methodical, and he even occasionally stopped to think or rub his fingers against a compartment carefully. His eyes were half-lidded, so no one could tell what he was thinking.
Everyone was anxious, but due to the disciplinary rules in the exam hall, they could not urge him to hurry up or give him encouragement.
Besides, Meng Chao’s performance today was already much better than his usual performance during shooting classes.
He had already surpassed himself, so what else could they ask for?
“Alright, at least I got him to calm down.” The homeroom teacher sighed in relief.
‘That’s correct, Meng Chao. Competing is all a child’s talk. It’s fine even if you can’t win against Zuo Haoran. It won’t stop you from getting into college!’
As for Principal Sun, he had been sitting in a corner and seemingly taking a nap, when he suddenly opened his beady eyes and swept his gaze over the table of guns.
He was not looking at Zuo Haoran, but at Meng Chao.
He only watched for half a second before his heavy eyelids fell closed once more.
“It’s pretty good, hmm?”
The Heavy Cannon of the past and the current small, shriveled-up old man started dozing off again.
“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”
It had just been one minute since the test begun, and Zuo Haoran had already perfectly assembled all three guns. Like a whirlwind, he fired all ten of his handgun bullets and all thirty of his submachine bullets.
Inner 10th ring! Inner 10th ring! Inner 10th ring! All forty bullets hit the inner 10th ring, and it was perfect!
The students could not help but cover their mouths. They swallowed their cries of surprise.
At that moment, Meng Chao finished assembling his guns and began shooting.
Unfortunately, more than two minutes had passed.
It was clear that he was affected by Zuo Haoran’s perfect performance. Even though his movements were harmonious and he was quite precise, he made the worst possible mistake.
“He’s using the semi-automatic rifle?” the students whispered.
Usually, when ace sharpshooters fired fixed targets, they used handguns or submachine guns.
Handguns had a short shooting distance while submachine guns were not very accurate. That’s why they were perfect for fixed targets to get basic marks.
Semi-automatic rifles had optical gunsight, so they possessed the highest accuracy. They were used to get high marks when shot at moving targets.
This was the classic strategy, and it was what Zuo Haoran did.
When Meng Chao was done firing all his handgun bullets, he seemed to have been thrown into confusion. He picked up his semi-automatic rifle and started firing without care.
Even though his results were pretty good and he managed to get some inner 10th rings, which made it seem as if his results were about the same as Zuo Haoran’s, they were about to enter the moving target stage, and Meng Chao would have to use his submachine gun to shoot at the drifting targets.
What was about to happen was simply too despair inducing. The students looked at each other, and before their eyes, they saw a big, brilliant zero shining brightly.
“I think Meng Chao decided to completely give up on the moving targets so that he can use all his bullets on fixed targets. He has gotten a lot of points this way.
“That’s true. Many of the students who are bad at shooting give up on moving targets. But it’s still bad! He wasted too much time assembling guns just now, and there’s no time left!”
“Then he should hurry up and get as many points as possible! Why is he standing there staring into space?!”
The students were so anxious that they felt like they were about to jump out of their skin. They really wanted to shoot the targets for Meng Chao.
But Meng Chao remained unmoving. He only held the submachine gun and waited for the timer to go down to zero.
Beep.
It was time. All fixed targets fell.
Ten seconds later, the moving targets showed up.
Meng Chao still had thirty caseless bullets for the submachine gun, while Zuo Haoran had twenty bullets for his semi-automatic rifle.
The submachine gun had great firepower, low accuracy, and great recoil. It was not easy to control it. The semi-automatic rifle, however, was designed to be accurate.
The students could not help but release huge sighs.
The homeroom teacher was so frustrated that he stomped on the ground. Why did the child allow his ego to rush into his head after he just praised him?!
The teaching director gave a cool remark. “Meng Chao’s heart isn’t very steady. He’s the student who searched for deviant martial arts and ended up being sent to the hospital because of it, right? He’s too extreme, so he will probably have a difficult path ahead of him.”
Demon Yan stared at Meng Chao, but he was in deep thought. A hint of puzzlement rose on his tanned face.
“Principal Sun?” Demon Yan moved next to the small, shriveled old man and spoke respectfully. He softly asked for advice.
“Bwuh, wha—? Oh, it’s pretty good, hmm?” Principal Sun was stirred awake because of his words. He nodded with a smile before he shut his eyes again.
Ten seconds soon passed.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
The moving targets rose like ghosts before the two examinees. They started moving madly in an irregular pattern.
Everyone held their breaths.
Zuo Haoran had a solemn look on his face. He bound the strap of the rifle around his arm and put on the standard triangle shooting stance. He began shooting calmly.
4th ring! 5th ring! 3rd ring! 7th ring!
The results with the moving targets were inferior to his mixed target results, but it still far surpassed the limits of most students.
Every time he shot a moving target, as long as he managed to hit the edge of the target, he would still be able to get marks that were higher than hitting the inner 10th ring of the fixed targets.
As for Meng Chao, he put on a stance no one had even seen before and fired his submachine gun a few times. A few of his bullets missed the target, but those he did manage to hit, he only struck the 3rd ring or was even further outside. The gap between him and Zuo Haoran kept on growing wider.
Ninth ring!
Zuo Haoran managed to get an astonishing result with his final bullet. He pulled his rifle back expressionlessly and showed the bullet cases and magazines of the three guns to the invigilator. Then, he took two steps backwards, turned around, and left. It was at that moment that he finally appeared to be in high spirits.
“Very good, you did really well as the class rep of Class 6!” The teaching director was beaming.
“Zuo Haoran, you did well.” The homeroom teacher congratulated him as well with complicated emotions.
In his mind, he thought, ‘Seriously, you’re too amazing. If you shoot like that, you’re going to end up destroying the mind states of all your classmates, and we might end up having one less student being able to enter college. Just what sort of grudge do you have that you must act so aggressively?’
And just as he expected, Meng Chao seemed to be shocked by Zuo Haoran’s results. He just stayed still and did not move.
Someone saw that he had even shut his eyes. He just let the targets zip past him.
“Has he… completely given up?” The students looked at each other at a loss.
As time passed, the moving targets that appeared became smaller and faster. If Meng Chao had missed the targets in the beginning, it was impossible for him to be able to hit the targets that appeared later.
‘You overestimated yourself.’ Zuo Haoran laughed coldly in his heart.
At that moment, gold color flashed at the end of the shooting lane.
The Golden Target had appeared. It was the final target, and it was worth a ridiculous amount of points.
This was basically an additional question in the national college examination, and most students never thought about hitting it.
Even Zuo Haoran had only hit seven moving targets. He gave up on the last three.
But at that moment, Meng Chao opened— No. It should be said that right before the Golden Target appeared, he opened his eyes.