The accuracy of a person’s first shot determines the lower limit of their shooting talent.
In plain language, the very first shot someone fires can basically show whether they can shoot accurately, and just how accurate they are.
Many talented shooters reveal it from their very first shot, and the proportion is high—extremely high.
Only Gao Fei knew that what he had fired was his first shot.
He hadn’t felt the legendary recoil. The first shot had come so suddenly that Gao Fei hadn’t been mentally prepared, so he hadn’t properly experienced it.
But he had definitely hit. Gao Fei was absolutely certain of that.
Unfortunately, Sholokhov hadn’t seen it, so he was very angry. He glared fiercely at Samir and said, “You two had better get the situation straight. I don’t care if you pretend to be veterans, but if you dare…”
No one knew what he was going to say after “if you dare,” because the machine gunner spoke up and interrupted Sholokhov.
“He hit.”
The machine gunner held his machine gun, his eyes fixed on the armored vehicle that had been struck and was beginning to catch fire. He said very seriously, “I saw it. He hit.”
Sholokhov didn’t believe Samir’s words at all, but he had no choice but to believe his comrade’s. His mouth was still saying, “You’re messing with me,” but in the end he turned to Gao Fei and said, “You really hit it?”
“Yes.”
Sholokhov frowned. After thinking for a moment, he said, “Mm, it’s possible you got lucky. If you want to prove yourself, that’s easy. Hit another enemy and show me.”
Gao Fei also wanted to fire another shot to prove himself—or rather, right now he was more curious than anyone whether he could hit again.
Because that first shot really might have been luck. Even Gao Fei himself thought so.
But after the infantry on the armored vehicle got out, they weren’t going to stupidly run around everywhere, much less stand in place waiting to be shot. Unlike NPCs in a game, once these soldiers dismounted, they immediately dropped prone or sought cover at once.
At that moment, the tank that had hit the mine fired a shell, and then the remote-controlled machine gun on top of the turret began firing at the position directly ahead.
Using the tank’s fire as cover, the two surviving armored vehicles began moving forward. They wanted to form a triangle with the destroyed armored vehicle, so they could block bullets from both sides and cover the surviving soldiers’ retreat.
Right now, Gao Fei couldn’t see anyone at all. Even if he wanted to shoot, he had no target. But just when he thought he might have lost his chance to fire, the armored vehicle on the left hit a mine. With an earth-shaking boom, that armored vehicle immediately stopped where it was.
The armored vehicle on the right stopped as well.
They had collapsed. They didn’t dare charge anymore, nor did they dare cover or rescue their comrades. The only armored vehicle left began rapidly reversing.
Sholokhov suddenly said, “Get ready, get ready!”
Before Sholokhov could finish, Gao Fei saw a soldier who had just risen from a prone position and started sprinting.
Aim. Fire. Hit. Down.
This shot was still a little too fast—so fast that Gao Fei couldn’t quite react—so he still wasn’t entirely sure whether he had hit the target.
He only saw the target get up, run no more than two steps, and then fall forward again. He didn’t know whether he had hit him, or whether the target had thrown himself prone on his own.
“Hit!”
“Good!”
“Fuck!”
Samir shouted excitedly. The machine gunner gave a very steady cry of approval. Only Sholokhov yelled like a lunatic, “Impossible. This isn’t right.”
The machine gunner said in a muffled voice, “Enough. Admit it. No one else fired at all, and only our position had a convenient firing angle. Other than him, who else here fired?”
Sholokhov clawed hard at his face. Looking as if he were constipated, he said, “You can tell at a glance he’s a newbie who’s never fired a gun before. A hundred meters, moving target—how could he possibly hit? This isn’t scientific. This isn’t right.”
Gao Fei suddenly said, “It wasn’t a hundred meters. It was ninety.”
Sholokhov froze for a moment. Then he said in astonishment, “Are you messing with me? Now you’re going to talk to me about distance, are you? Listen! My visual estimation of distance is very accurate. Fuck! Is this a matter of a hundred meters versus ninety meters?”
Gao Fei said with a face full of confidence, “Ninety meters. My eyes are a ruler.”
“Good. Good. You wait. You just wait!”
Sholokhov didn’t argue for too long. It was very simple to verify Gao Fei’s words, because he had a laser rangefinder.
“Ninety meters, huh. Hmph. Mm?”
Sholokhov casually took out a laser rangefinder. He aimed it at the armored vehicle and pressed the switch. The data immediately appeared: ninety-two meters.
There was an error, but not a large one.
“Hiss…”
After sucking in a sharp breath, Sholokhov looked at Gao Fei and said, “You’re a sniper? No, that’s not right. You’re not a sniper.”
Sholokhov fell into self-doubt. He looked at Gao Fei and said, utterly baffled, “I served for four years, then worked for five years as a shooting instructor and safety officer at a range in Vladivostok. After that, I fought for five years in Syria. I have far too much experience. I’ve seen far too many recruits. Your body movements, your eyes, your expression—you’re a rookie newbie.”
After saying that, Sholokhov immediately overturned his own conclusion. With an expression of extreme bewilderment tinged with panic, he said, “But how did you hit? Why is your judgment of distance so accurate?”
What could Gao Fei say? Could he say that his accurate distance judgment came from the eyesight he’d trained back when he and his dad had contracted with the village to install solar streetlights?
He could only respond with silence.
Samir was still trying to help Gao Fei out. He whispered, “Sir, we’re in a battle. Can you please be a little serious?”
Sholokhov said sternly, “They can’t get away. Not one of them can get away. Cough, cough. Mm. Cough, cough. Uh…”
After making a series of strange noises, Sholokhov suddenly said, “How about you fire another shot? Hit another one for me to see. If you can hit, mm, then I’ll admit it. I’ll believe you’re not a rookie.”
Gao Fei had been searching for a target the entire time, but he had no target to shoot at, because those soldiers were crawling along the ground, giving him no opportunity to fire at all.
The ground was not flat. Aside from the trenches, there were raised ridges between fields, irrigation ditches, shell craters, and far too many places that could provide cover.
And Gao Fei was standing in a trench, with only his head exposed. So unless the enemy stood up, he truly had no chance to shoot.
Just then, dense and highly accurate artillery fire came in again. After more than thirty shells landed in succession, the tank with the broken track went completely silent, and the two armored vehicles were also hit by shells.
Now there was no need to shoot. The battle was basically over.
The good news was that Gao Fei had only fired two shots.
The bad news was that Gao Fei had only had two chances to fire.
Now there were no targets to shoot at. Gao Fei had no way to prove himself unless he fired at a fixed target—hit something at random to demonstrate his ability.
In truth, Gao Fei also very much wanted to fire another shot and see whether his first two shots had really been luck.
“How about I shoot a fixed target for you to see?”
Gao Fei was asking for Sholokhov’s opinion, but Sholokhov sighed and said, “Without a high-powered telescope, I can’t observe the point of impact. Besides, what’s the point of shooting a fixed target?”
After saying that, Sholokhov looked toward his comrade. He said to the machine gunner, “Was my experience wrong, or is there something wrong with my eyes? This isn’t reasonable. This isn’t scientific. What part of him looks like a veteran to you? Does he look like one?”
The machine gunner hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, “I don’t know. I only know I couldn’t do it. I’ve never been a shooting instructor or a safety officer. In any case, I don’t know.”