Volume 1 Chapter 2: Testing Guns in the Mountains

  Within two days, the money and guns were quickly delivered. Duan Guoxue brought two students back to the village. Although the hundreds of dollars amazed the families of the two children and they politely declined the small sum, under Duan Guoxue's explanation and repeated requests, the two families had no choice but to accept. In their boundless admiration for Duan Guoxue, several children followed him with all their heart.

  In the following days, because several children and family members were asked to keep secrets, everyone also knew the principle of not exposing wealth, so they lived as if nothing had happened, quietly and calmly as usual. Those who should farm farmed, those who should read books read books, and those who should attend classes attended classes. Anyway, it was just like usual. Whenever there was free time, Duan Guoxue would take several students to search for the mineral deposits he needed in the deep mountains and old forests, while also training them in basic military skills such as formation, running, load-bearing cross-country, ambush, shooting, etc. Although Duan Guoxue didn't know much himself, he personally trained with the students. In any case, in this chaotic world, having the ability to protect oneself was the most important thing.

  Among several students, Wei Zirong's family was relatively well-off, but only had a little money and not much. Although he was smarter than others, he was more sensitive to numbers. In Duan Guoxue's mind, this kid was a material for financial management. Although the current training content is unrelated to his strengths, putting him by his side for a longer period of time will deepen their relationship.

  Zhao You Tian, last time I took him out to sell the formula was because this kid has a big head, good physical strength. Although it was a bit unfair to let him be the camel last time, he's only 15 years old and already has a height of 1.7 meters, which is rare for people from the south. What's even more valuable is that he's not one of those skinny tall guys, but rather sturdy and strong, able to carry over 100 catties of weight and walk quickly without getting winded after two miles. If Duan Guo Xue lets such a good seedling go, he'll probably get struck by lightning himself.

  Zhao Baodi is two years younger than Zhao You Tian, but he doesn't have his brother's sturdy build. Although he is slightly taller than his peers, he has a slender figure, and sometimes the villagers would speculate that Zhao You Tian had eaten his share of food, leading to Zhao Baodi's poor development. However, this young man is very intelligent, and many things taught by Duan Guoxue are quickly grasped and understood. His hands and feet are also very agile, and he is now Duan Guoxue's first assistant when doing experiments and making new inventions.

  Huang Peilu and Huang Peiliang are a pair of twins, both 9 years old this year. They were seen by Duan Guoxue and Wei Zongrong Zhao Youlian being sold by human traffickers when they returned from selling prescriptions. Duan Guoxue couldn't bear to buy them at first, but the two children seemed to understand their fate. At first, they didn't cry or make a fuss for several days, eating and drinking whatever was given to them, and doing things on their own initiative. They waited on Duan Guoxue with hammering legs and pressing backs. However, Duan Guoxue was clearly not born to be a master, and he was very uncomfortable with this kind of life where clothes were handed out and meals were served. After strictly prohibiting the two children from living and thinking like slaves, Duan Guoxue not only took out his own pocket money to raise the two brothers but also let them go to school together with their peers. As for the three loud knocks on the ground that the twin brothers gave after meeting their benefactor, Duan Guoxue accepted them in a big way.

  Gan Fulin was a bit of an oddity among these people, a young man from a minority ethnic group in the mountains. Although there were many minority ethnic groups in Baise, most of them lived deep in the mountains and had little contact with the outside world. This kid was unusual, not content to stay in his own village, but instead came out to study with the Han people, and was particularly fond of following Xiang Guoxue around, whether it was during meals or experiments. He always found ways to get close to Xiang Guoxue, which made Xiang Guoxue's psychological lessons even more challenging to accept this special student. Moreover, this kid was said to be the son of a certain leader in his village, and from time to time, people wearing ethnic clothing would come to visit him with respectful faces.

  These children are currently the closest people to Duan Guoxue and also the most trusted ones. Although they now have a large sum of money, which can buy some adults' loyalty, Duan Guoxue does not trust the loyalty bought with money.

  Duan Guoxue finished today's running and weight-bearing wilderness training, but instead of letting a few people practice aiming with wooden guns as usual, he took out the two real guns he had bought last time. Seeing the real thing, Huang Jia's two brothers didn't show any expression changes. They can often enter Duan Guoxue's room, but this thing is something that Duan Guoxue now prohibits them from touching. For them, Duan Guoxue's orders are absolutely not to be disobeyed. Wei Zhourong and Zhao You田 had known about the two real guns for a long time, so they were eager to try them out. Zhao Baodi and Gan Fulin, on the other hand, looked somewhat surprised.

  "Brother Bao, bring me the thing I asked you to assemble a few days ago from my bag." Duan Guoxue took one of the cylindrical objects that Brother Bao brought over and screwed it onto the muzzle of his rifle.

  "You few, stand one person every 10 meters, pay attention to the size of the gunshot sound."

  After seeing several students walk to the corresponding distance according to their own requirements, Duan Guoxue fired a shot at the target with a bullet on top. With a "hiss" sound, Duan Guoxue noticed that after weakening through the silencer, the flame and smoke from the muzzle had weakened significantly. After testing more than 20 rounds of bullets and asking several students about the size of the gunshot and flame, he initially determined which silencer performed best. Duan Guoxue handed over two rifles to several students.

  "Pei Lu and Pei Liang are too small, don't use this gun. You four will each get 10 bullets today. Be careful not to just have fun and shoot wildly. Every five shots, switch people. The person next to you should pay attention to the bullet holes. Whoever shoots the worst has to help the others with laundry tonight." He left behind a few guys with shining eyes, while Duan Guoxue had the twin brothers keep an eye on them, then walked aside and took out a revolver.

  In the last transaction, Mr. Xu gave himself two German-made 98-style rifles, but only one revolver and one small-caliber automatic pistol for handguns. The two handguns were not recognized by Guo Xue, but the automatic pistol was set aside because it was not good for installing a silencer, while the revolver with a silencer was brought out to practice shooting.

  After dozens of rounds, the shooting speed of several children slowed down significantly. Duan Guoxue stopped practicing with his pistol and walked over. The four guys were no longer as excited as they were at the beginning, but instead rubbed their right shoulders and moved around.

  "Teacher, we shot according to the method you taught us before, with the gun butt tightly pressed against our shoulders. But after a while, everyone felt that their shoulders couldn't take it anymore." Big-sized Zhao You Tian spoke up to report.

  "This is because you are still too young and it's your first time shooting, slowly you will get used to it. Peiliang helped me bring over the bag, everyone gathered around, we learned how to maintain firearms." He then gestured for a few students to gather closer to him.

  Disassemble, dismantle, clean and assemble. Each step requires every person to operate twice to let students have enough proficiency.

  Wei Chongxin clumsily installed the last part, and Duan Guoxue took out a thing with glass on both ends and mounted it on a rifle.

  "Teacher, what is this?" asked Wei Zuirong, who was the most curious.

  "Sights."

  "What's a scope for?"

  "Take a look yourself." Duan Guoxue handed over the scope after taking a few glances, passing it to Zhao You Tian beside him.

  "Teacher! The distant things have become very close! And there's a cross in between too."

  "Let me see! Let me see!"

  "It's true, just like a telescope can magnify objects!"

  "Teacher, what is this cross in here for?"

  "Stupid, since the teacher said this is a scope, it must be used for aiming at targets!"

  "Right! Look at this crosshair, if you align that middle dot with the target, wouldn't you be able to hit it more accurately and from a farther distance?"

  Looking at the students who were eager to take a few more glances, Duan Guoxue was not in a hurry to give an answer. Over the past few months, these students had become accustomed to the new "toys" that would occasionally appear on their bodies, and they had also learned to explore and study the uses of these new "toys". This was another important reason why Duan Guoxue chose to focus on cultivating them - a person who only understood passive learning was not what he wanted to cultivate. If everything needed to be taught by him, it would exhaust him to death. On the other hand, this kind of proactive desire to learn and explore could save him a lot of trouble, and at the same time, the learning effect would be much better, saving himself a lot of time and energy. He only needed to control the dangerous parts of the exploration.

  "Teacher, it seems that Mr. Xu didn't sell us this thing at that time?" Zhao You Tian had a deep impression of the objects he transported because he was the camel last time.

  "Yes, Mr. Xu didn't sell this thing to me, I made it myself."

  "Why did the teacher only make one?"

  "Alas... Because the materials on hand are not enough, and I don't have much experience in doing this sort of thing, it took a lot of materials and time to finally come up with something like this." Duan Guoxue said dejectedly.

  "Then, teacher, when will you make another one? I'll help you find the materials, and I'll definitely find the best and most for you." Wei Zai Rong said excitedly. Just now in the shooting competition, he was the last one, even his younger brother's shots were much more accurate than his, which made Wei Zai Rong very embarrassed. The appearance of the scope gave him hope to get out of the pile of clothes.

  "After a while, there won't be any new mining plans for the time being. What's most important now is to fully understand the performance of these few guns. You also need to get used to these guns. Let's wait for a while first," said Duan Guoxue. After he finished speaking, Wei Xirong's face clearly showed a gloomy expression.

  "You few, help me keep watch around, Baodi help me aim and check the bullet's trajectory."

  Duan Guoxue had never actually handled a real gun, despite being fond of first-person shooter games like CS and Honor of Kings. The sight was something he had managed to recreate based on his own memory, including the crosshairs and wind deflection lines, which were actually from the game - he wasn't even sure if they were accurate. Fortunately, he didn't need to make long-range precise shots now; as long as he could guarantee accuracy within a 300-meter range, that was enough.

  After firing more than 30 rounds, Duan Guoxue also felt that his shoulder was starting to ache from the recoil, but fortunately, the adjustment was basically over. After letting the students fire three more rounds each, they confirmed the data of the scope and mount, and today's task was finally completed smoothly.