Golden Target

"Crap, Meng Chao is actually testing with Zuo Haoran, won't he be interfered with?"

"Definitely, although the two are shooting at different targets, they can see each other's every move and score clearly. Meng Chao's mentality will definitely be affected, and he might even collapse."

"Meng Chao is too stupid. He should have studied the exam rules carefully and figured out that the gun test is in pairs, sorted by the first two scores. Since his punching power and speed are so strong, he should have reserved some strength just now and got third or fourth in the class to avoid Zuo Haoran."

The classmates were secretly anxious.

Some people also had wishful thinking: "Could it be that Meng Chao's state and luck are against the heavens today, and he will shoot a super high score?"

Most of those who held this hope were the bottom students in the class who didn't plan to take the Undergraduate exam at all.

The top ten in the class all sneered at this.

"Impossible, the gun test is not just firing one shot, but assembling three guns by yourself, and then ten pistol bullets, twenty rifle bullets, and thirty caseless assault bullets for submachine guns, shooting ten fixed targets and ten moving targets. It's okay to be lucky with one or two shots, but how can you be lucky with every shot?"

"You can gamble on luck with fixed targets, but the score for moving targets is three to five times that of fixed targets. It completely simulates the speed and movement trajectory of monsters. Each target only appears for a few seconds and is extremely fast and erratic. How can you gamble on luck?"

"Usually, the live ammunition shooting classes in the school don't teach us how to hit moving targets very much, but Zuo Haoran specializes in practicing moving targets in the 'Falcon Gun Club'. How can we compare?"

The bottom students were still not convinced: "Isn't there also a 'Golden Target' with a score ten times higher than ordinary targets?"

The gun experts in the class all laughed: "The Golden Target is the last of the twenty targets, and it is also the smallest, farthest, fastest moving, and most strangely trajectory. The fist-sized target is fifty meters away, running faster than a monster, only appearing for one second, and requires advance prediction. Unless the shooting skills, gun feel, and nerve reaction speed all reach 'perfect', who can hit it? Even Zuo Haoran can't hit it, and he won't even waste bullets on the Golden Target!"

The bottom students were discouraged: "Then there's no hope at all?"

The gun experts sighed: "There wasn't any hope in the first place. I just hope Meng Chao can show his style and defeat himself."

"Zuo Haoran, Meng Chao!" The proctor called for the second time.

Amidst the students' discussions, the two stepped forward.

"Meng Chao, wait."

The Teacher Wang suddenly walked over, pressed his shoulder, and whispered, "Put down the ridiculous rivalry. The most important thing for you now is to get into the second round of the Undergraduate exam. It's normal for your marksmanship to be inferior to Zuo Haoran's. Don't let your mentality collapse. Once your mentality collapses, every shot will miss the target. No matter how good your previous scores are, it's useless!"

"Cough cough."

The proctor coughed lightly twice.

Meng Chao nodded: "Teacher Wang, I will do my best."

"That's good, persevere and try to suppress the miss rate to below 30%. There is hope to enter the next round!"

The Teacher Wang waved his fist, smiled at the proctor again, and retreated.

Meng Chao and Zuo Haoran stood on their respective shooting positions.

The long table in front of them was filled with mixed parts.

The parts of pistols, rifles, and submachine guns were piled up into a small mountain.

The two looked at each other.

The sarcasm in Zuo Haoran's eyes was as intense as fire, as if to burn Meng Chao to ashes.

Meng Chao's eyes were a little scattered, as if he couldn't concentrate.

There was no way around it. Information kept popping up in the corner of his eye. A side effect of gaining Contribution Points was a shifty gaze, as if he was ignoring everyone else.

Seeing that he was being ignored, Zuo Haoran was even more enraged.

"Beep!"

The proctor pressed the timer. At the end of the long shooting range opposite the two, ten fixed targets rose up.

The ten fixed targets would remain for three minutes. The examinees had to complete the assembly of three firearms within three minutes in order to calmly shoot at the fixed targets.

The rules did not limit how many fixed targets the examinees had to shoot. If they had absolute confidence in their marksmanship, they could even not shoot a single fixed target and shoot all moving targets instead.

After all, the score for a moving target was three to five times, or even more than ten times, that of a fixed target.

But no examinee would be so stupid. High school students' marksmanship was still very immature. Fixed targets were the main course they could chew on, while moving targets were just a matter of guessing.

"Click, click, click, click!"

The sound of parts assembling with varying tones came from Zuo Haoran's fingertips.

Training at the Falcon Gun Club after school every day, he had long been thoroughly familiar with the Dragon City military's standard firearms. His movements were smooth and flowing, without any omissions or redundancies.

Even the classmates who questioned Zuo Haoran's character had to admit that watching him assemble a gun was a pleasure.

The Dean of Students was even happier than words could describe at his nephew's outstanding performance.

Devil Yan also glanced at his watch, "Zuo Haoran's gun assembly speed is 10% faster again, catching up with most of the Rocket Class students. Sure enough, marksmanship is his strongest point."

Compared to Zuo Haoran's flamboyance, Meng Chao was much more low-key.

It wasn't that he was particularly slow, just at the level of an ordinary high school student, methodical and occasionally stopping to think, or carefully stroking a certain part, half-closing his eyes, not knowing what was floating in his mind.

Everyone was anxious, but due to the examination rules, they couldn't urge or encourage him.

Besides, Meng Chao's performance today was already much better than in regular firearms class.

He had already surpassed himself, what else could everyone ask for?

"Good, steady." The homeroom teacher breathed a sigh of relief.

That's right, what was with this talk of a showdown? It was just childish talk. What if you can't compare to Zuo Haoran? It doesn't stop you from getting into an Undergraduate!

Principal Sun, who was sitting in the corner, seemed to be dozing off. He suddenly opened his beady little eyes and glanced at the gun platform.

He wasn't looking at Zuo Haoran, but at Meng Chao.

He only looked for half a second before his loose eyelids drooped down.

"Not bad, not bad."

The heavy artillery of the past, today's shriveled little old man, dozed off again.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Just one minute after the start of the exam, Zuo Haoran completed the assembly of three firearms and emptied ten pistol rounds and thirty submachine gun rounds like a whirlwind.

Ten rings! Ten rings! Ten rings! Forty bullets, without exception, each shot hitting the ten-ring mark, simply perfect!

The classmates couldn't help but cover their mouths, swallowing their exclamations.

At this moment, Meng Chao also finished assembling his gun and started shooting.

Unfortunately, more than two minutes had already passed.

He was clearly disturbed by Zuo Haoran's perfect performance. Although his movements were coordinated and his precision was good, he made a most serious mistake.

"Is he using a semi-automatic rifle?" the students whispered.

Generally speaking, gun masters use pistols and submachine guns when shooting at stationary targets.

Pistols have a short range, and submachine guns are not very accurate, which is just right for getting basic points on stationary targets.

The most accurate semi-automatic rifles, equipped with optical sights, are used to score high points on moving targets.

This is a classic strategy, and Zuo Haoran did just that.

After Meng Chao emptied his pistol bullets, he seemed a little flustered, but he picked up the semi-automatic rifle and fired it recklessly.

Although the results were not bad, he managed to hit twelve or thirteen bullseyes, which didn't seem to be much different from Zuo Haoran.

But then, using a submachine gun to hit erratic moving targets?

The scene was too beautiful, and the students looked at each other, a big, shiny goose egg appearing in front of them.

"No, I estimate that Meng Chao's strategy is to completely abandon the moving targets and shoot all the bullets at the stationary targets, which can also score a lot of points."

"That's true, many students with weak marksmanship will give up the moving targets, but, oh no, he was too slow assembling the gun just now, there's no time left!"

"Then hurry up, get as many points as you can, what are you waiting for?"

The students were so anxious that their eyes were spitting fire, wishing they could go up and shoot for him.

Meng Chao remained indifferent, just holding the submachine gun, waiting for the countdown to reach zero.

"Beep," time was up, and all the stationary targets fell down.

Ten seconds later, it was time for moving target shooting.

Meng Chao still had thirty assault bullets dedicated to the submachine gun, and Zuo Haoran had twenty semi-automatic rifle bullets.

The former has strong firepower, low accuracy, and strong recoil, making it extremely difficult to control, while the latter is designed for precision shooting.

The students couldn't help but let out a huge sigh.

The homeroom teacher stomped his feet in anger. Why doesn't this child learn from praise?

"This student Meng Chao is not very stable."

The Dean of Students said indifferently, "He is the student who found unorthodox ways to practice and ended up in the hospital, right? His personality is too extreme, and his future path will be difficult."

Devil Yan stared at Meng Chao, but fell into deep thought, a hint of suspicion appearing on his dark face.

"Principal?" Devil Yan leaned close to the shriveled little old man, respectfully, and asked in a low voice.

"Hmm, ah? Very good, very good." Principal Sun was awakened by him, nodded with a smile, and closed his eyes again.

Ten seconds passed quickly.

Shua shua shua shua!

Before the two examinees, ghostly moving targets rose one after another, moving crazily without any pattern.

Everyone held their breath.

Zuo Haoran also looked solemn, wrapping the gun strap around his arm, adopting a standard triangular stance, and shooting unhurriedly.

Four rings! Five rings! Three rings! Seven rings!

His moving target score was not as good as his fixed target score, but it far exceeded the limit of most students.

Each time he hit a moving target, even if it was just on the edge, the score was higher than hitting the ten ring on a fixed target.

On the other hand, Meng Chao struck a pose that no one had ever seen before and fired several shots. A small half of the bullets missed the target. Even those that hit the edge only scored below three rings. The gap between him and Zuo Haoran widened.

Nine rings!

Zuo Haoran's last bullet scored an amazing result. He expressionlessly put away his gun, showed the invigilator the magazines and chambers of the three firearms, took two steps back, and turned to leave the field. Only then did a hint of high-spiritedness appear on his face.

"Very good, Class 6's class monitor, very good!" The Dean of Students grinned.

"Student Zuo Haoran, well done." The homeroom teacher also congratulated him with mixed feelings.

In his heart, he thought, This kid is too awesome. Shooting like this will completely break the mentality of his classmates. Our class might have one less Undergraduate student. What kind of grudge do you have to be so aggressive?

Indeed, Meng Chao seemed to be stunned by Zuo Haoran's score and stood still.

Some people saw that he even closed his eyes, letting the targets flash past him.

"This is... a complete surrender?" The students looked at each other.

As time went on, the moving targets behind became smaller and faster. Since he could miss the targets in front, it was impossible to hit the ones behind.

"An ant trying to stop a chariot, overestimating himself." Zuo Haoran sneered in his heart.

Just then, at the end of the target lane, a golden glow flashed.

The last target, the high-scoring Golden Target, appeared.

This was equivalent to an additional question on the college entrance exam, and most students had never thought of hitting it.

Even Zuo Haoran had only hit seven moving targets just now, giving up on the last three.

But Meng Chao, at that moment, no, it should be said the moment before the Golden Target appeared, suddenly opened his eyes.