Chapter 13: The Shooting Gallery Bet

  The cold winter wind was biting, all the trainees were dressed in puffy clothing, holding guns and sitting in formation on the shooting range, watching as the instructor led a few trainees to repeatedly check the firearms used for shooting.

  This outdoor shooting range is very large, located on the middle of a mountain, and was leveled using explosives and manual labor. The underground tunnels are dense like a spider web. According to the instructor, this shooting range was built by the first batch of students who returned to the academy after the Cultural Revolution, and Qu Mingjun and his peers were typical beneficiaries of their predecessors' hard work.

  When Qu Mingjun first saw the shooting range, he was amazed. The area of this shooting range is probably larger than that of a large playground, not to mention that it is built on a hillside and covered with dense grass. It is said that this lawn is also the largest in Asia. The instructor introduced that this shooting range can conduct live-fire exercises for all infantry light weapons, including high-altitude machine guns, 40 rocket launchers, and 82 recoilless cannons. The Stone Gate Army Academy is indeed worthy of its reputation as the Asian West Point, and its grandeur is comparable to that of the US Military Academy at West Point.

  Now in the cold winter, the long grass is withered and yellow, lying limp on the ground. The biting cold wind blows by, adding a sense of solemnity to the atmosphere. After a month of marksmanship training and live-fire exercises, Reconnaissance Team 14 has finally entered the formal shooting practice - prone position 100-meter accuracy shooting assessment.

  Qu Mingjun was confident, holding his gun and sitting in the queue waiting. This assessment is divided into groups, with ten people going up each time, each person having ten bullets, and each person can shoot twice, with the best score counted towards the assessment results. At home, Qu Mingjun liked shooting very much, often following the elders and brothers in the family to go hunting or hunting, plus he was born smart, learning the theory of shooting quickly grasped the key points, in the previous real bullet experience shooting, the scores were all very good. This time he even more accumulated his strength to shoot a full ring. Before the assessment, the company leader said that if you get a perfect score in the shooting assessment, you can directly report three merits. Although I'm not sure how to do my best, taking first place in many assessments and making many achievements can prove it, right?

  New recruits all have a bit of tension, as the saying goes, "Practice soldiers for a thousand days, use soldiers for a moment", now it's time to test them. Everyone in their heart is repeatedly reciting the instructor's prompts, such as finding their own target first, consciously aiming, unconsciously firing, and so on. This is not a joke, during the shooting experience, there was someone who had no bullet holes on his target, but the person next to him had almost 160 rings of score on his target. Later, it was discovered that this kid had shot all the bullets onto the target of the brother next to him. According to the instructor's words, this brother is indeed a hot-blooded Lei Feng who loves to help others.

  "Guo Xiangyang, Cui Ze,..., Qu Mingjun, Wang Jin,... Li Dongkuan." The teacher was taking roll call while looking at the attendance sheet.

  "Present!" The ten comrades who were called out answered in order and ran to the front of the formation, lining up in a row.

  The coach waved his hand and Guo Xiangyang hastily led the team to run towards the preparation area.

  District team leader Feng Shaojun, who had been busy helping the examiner on this side, smiled and took over 100 bullets from the instructor and handed out 10 to each person. The yellowish bullets were held in Qu Mingjun's hand, weighing heavily on his palm, and the streamlined bullet body reflected a cold metallic luster. Qu Mingjun couldn't help but grip it tightly and prayed for his upcoming shooting in his heart.

  "Be careful, watch your target, just shoot as you normally do." Guo Xiangyang loaded the magazine while quietly reminding his brother.

  Soon, all the bullets were loaded, and the cartridge was put into the bullet bag on his chest. Guo Xiangyang gathered the team and ran towards the shooting area.

  Ten people stood behind the shooting position, Qu Mingjun opened his eyes wide and looked forward. The green target 100 meters away was neither big nor small, and the white circle in the center was slightly shaking in the cold wind. This is not good, today's wind power is not very small, it will definitely affect the shooting score.

  "Hey, Qu Mingjun." Beside him, Cui Ze didn't even turn his head, quietly calling out to Qu Mingjun.

  "Huh? What's up?" Qu Mingjun was puzzled, this old soldier had never been very friendly with him, but since helping Ma Xiaotian, his attitude had become somewhat softer. However, he had never seen him take the initiative to greet himself before. Was he planning something? Qu Mingjun suddenly became vigilant.

  Choi Tae turned his head to look at the instructor who was still bowing down to draw the flower name list, half-turned his face and narrowed his eyes to look at Qu Mingjun, "Want to compare gun skills with me? Dare or not?"

  Qu Ming Jun, who was normally cold and arrogant, was just an eighteen-year-old young man after all. He was at the age where his blood was boiling with passion, especially when provoked. He immediately replied in a cold tone, "What's there to be afraid of? Let's settle this based on the results of this assessment."

  Cui Ze smiled and said, "Alright, but since we're betting on a match, shouldn't there be some stakes?"

  "Go ahead, you won't win anyway." Qu Mingjun said disdainfully.

  "A week's worth of socks, and all the shoes, including washing and polishing rubber shoes and applying oil to leather shoes, how about that?" Choi Tae didn't know why but he was full of confidence and not at all put off by Koo Myung Joon's current tone.

  "Deal!" Qu Mingjun stretched out his hand and pulled the rifle sling.

  Cui Ze smiled and stopped talking. Actually, it's no wonder that Cui Ze had a plan in his heart, although it was just a simple 100-meter prone shooting, but today the wind was strong.

  Although the instructor's oral instructions during shooting training also said "one hundred not to repair, two hundred aiming at the ear line, three hundred aiming at the edge, four hundred edges together", in fact, there is still a certain impact. Generally, soldiers with less live ammunition training can only admit defeat when encountering such weather conditions. No way, aiming at the ten ring, hitting the nine ring or eight ring is normal, if it's 400 meters tactical shooting, this wind force doesn't know whether it will run off the target (i.e., the bullet doesn't know where it went, zero ring on the target, commonly known as running off the target).

  Choi Tae received sniper training in the military, so he has some experience with determining and correcting for wind resistance in high-precision shooting. Even if Go Min-joon had a big head start, it's unlikely that he would have received this kind of training in middle school. Moreover, regular shooting practice only emphasizes the three-point line of sight, and as for the phrase I mentioned earlier about correcting for wind resistance, it's not something that just anyone can quantify - it really depends on individual experience. Go Min-joon is definitely going to lose this time. Just thinking about how he'll have to wash his own socks and shine his shoes after acting so cool all day makes Choi Tae want to laugh.

  Qu Mingjun's heart was also a bit tense at this time, and he was constantly calculating the size of the wind force in his mind, trying to recall the relationship between the aiming point and the wind force during the last two shooting experiences, and silently reciting the wind deflection mnemonic taught by the instructor. However, no matter how hard he thought, he still couldn't grasp it firmly, sighing that if there was no wind or experiencing it in this kind of weather would be much better.

  If it doesn't work out, then just give up the first shot and consider it experience. It's also good to make a good achievement in the second shot. Qu Mingjun made up his mind.

  "Everyone, take your positions!" The examiner next to him gave the order.

  Everyone simultaneously gripped their guns tightly, took a few steps forward and stood on the shooting platform.

  "Take aim!"

  Qu Mingjun swiftly took a big step forward with his right foot, propped himself up with his left hand on the ground, and stably lay down on the ground in a half-reclining position. He then retrieved the magazine from the ammunition pouch and loaded it into the Type 81 automatic rifle in his hands.

  "I repeat once again, everyone remember, if a firearm malfunctions during shooting, lay the gun flat in front of you, muzzle forward, raise your right hand to signal to the examiner, and do not make any move until the examiner gives an order! Remember, no!" The examiner shouted sternly in the strong wind.

  "Remember!" The ten people all shouted in unison with hoarse voices.

  "Ready to fire!" The examiner saw that the red flag symbolizing readiness had been raised in front of the target, and gave the last order before firing.

  Qiu Mingjun's right hand exerted force to push the gun forward, placing the lower guard of the gun steadily on a sandbag in front that was used as support. His right hand quickly pulled back the bolt. His eyes were tightly focused on the sighting device.

  The judge waved his red flag down with a loud shout: "Fire!"

  "Bang!" A sharp, ear-piercing cry accompanied by a strong smell of gunpowder came from beside Qu Mingjun. Qu Mingjun's heart skipped a beat as he glanced sideways with the corner of his eye to see that Cui Ze was the first to fire.

  Damn it, he got ahead of me. Qu Mingjun silently cursed and quickly composed himself, carefully taking aim.

  The sights are aligned, the top is level, pressing down on the center of the target. The wind is northwest, adjust to the left. The feeling, damn it, the feeling just won't come out. Forget it, take a deep breath, slowly exhale, pre-press the trigger, hold your breath, unconscious firing...

  "Bang----" Qu Mingjun's gunshot also rang out, followed closely by Cui Ze's second shot.

  Qiu Mingjun didn't have time to look left or right, hastily looking forward at the target frame, hoping to see the scorekeeper's report so he could adjust his next shot. Before seeing his own target's report, he saw a target pole rising from Cui Ze's side, shaking back and forth in front of the target. A ten? It was actually a ten!

  At this time, Qu Mingjun himself also reported the target, and saw that the target stick was placed in the lower right corner of his own target, paused for a moment, and then the target stick indicated from the center of the target to the right. Eight rings? How is it possible to be eight rings? Looking at the prompt of the report, he himself shot to the right? What's going on?

  Guo Mingjun seemed to have heard Cui Ze's snicker in his heart.

  Qu Ming's expression suddenly became anxious, and the next three shots didn't even hit a single ten-ring. On the other hand, Cui Ze had already scored three ten-rings out of five shots, with the remaining two being nine-rings.

  No, no! Calm down! Must calm down! Qu Mingjun gritted his teeth and told himself to take a deep breath in... out..., it's not a big deal, the first time was just an experience anyway, he had already decided to give up on it, and he would just have to try again next time. It's fine, definitely fine.

  Qū Míng Jùn yanked the brim of his camouflage hat back, pressed his right cheek tightly against the receiver cover again, and smelled the intense gunpowder scent coming from within. Relax, relax!

  Qū Míng Jùn suddenly felt that he couldn't hear any sounds around his ears, whether it was the howling wind or the gunfire from other shooting positions, all were gone. The steel gun in his hand seemed to be an extension of his arm, pointing straight at the 10-ring target in the distance. He felt it! Qū Míng Jùn suppressed his excited mood and began to aim and fire decisively.

  "Bang——", ten rings!

  "Bang——", ten rings!!

  "Bang——", ten rings!!!!

  Choi Je-na, who was next to him, sulked. How did this kid suddenly become so possessed? He's giving away the ten-ring shots for nothing. Damn it, I have to be careful now that there are only three bullets left. Don't lose to this kid in the end.

  Qu Mingjun's first round of shooting has finally come to an end, and the final score summary has not yet been released. Several people have already finished checking their guns and returned to the queue at the back. Cui Zeyang is very pleased with himself, this time the score clearly shows that he wants to be higher, next time in the second round of shooting, he must shoot a perfect ring to show Xiaoyang, let him know that his brother is still stronger than him.

  Qu Mingjun remained silent, lowering his head and carefully savoring the belated sense of gunpowder from earlier.

  The results are out, Qu Mingjun 93, Cui Ze 96, this first round can be considered settled. If it were just this once, Qu Mingjun would have to wash Cui Ze's socks for a week. However, the two didn't have time to bother with that, because in their group, there was actually someone who scored a perfect 100, class monitor Guo Xiangyang.

  Both of them were shocked to look at Guo Xiangyang, and they did not expect the class leader's marksmanship to be so good. Scoring a full ring in the Lu Institute's assessment was equivalent to achieving a third-class merit, which was truly stunning.

  Deputy class leader Li Dongkuan smiled and walked over to pat Guo Xiangyang's shoulder, offering him a congratulatory gesture.

  It was soon their turn again, and Guo Xiangyang originally didn't need to play the second round anymore. His perfect score in the first round had already secured his position as unbeatable. He could have directly reported this score to the examiner. However, Guo Xiangyang still whispered a few words to the examiner and continued to take the stage with his gun.

  Qu Mingjun clenched his fists and followed Choi Tae-oh onto the stage at a run.

  ……

  Bang!

  "Bang——"

  "Bang bang bang——"

  Oh no, in the second round, someone accidentally turned on continuous shooting and his score for the second round was ruined.

  Qu Mingjun was so focused on shooting that he didn't notice the situation outside. He had almost put all his heart into his own shooting, and felt very good, finding the gun feel with the first shot.

  Choi Jae was distracted by his own teammates' consecutive shots.

  Finally, when everyone stood up, Qu Ming let out a sigh of relief, while Cui Ze's face looked somewhat unsightly.

  This round, the two scores coincidentally turned around, Qu Mingjun 96, Cui Ze 93, this is good, as they say "no cleverness no book", the two actually tied, which made Cui Ze and Qu Mingjun look at each other a bit awkwardly, but in their hearts, they both let out a sigh of relief, fortunately not having to wash each other's dirty socks.

  Guo Xiangyang scored 98 rings in the second round of shooting, which is also a very good result. However, taking the best score from two rounds, this third-place finish cannot be escaped.

  Qu Mingjun saw Guo Xiangyang's talkative and cheerful appearance, and he was extremely envious in his heart.