With a whoosh, a figure sprang up from below and landed in front of Chang Ye.
It was Qianlong Number 88.
Number 88's face was full of excitement. "That prospect you brought back actually triggered the Sharpshooter Line?"
"It wasn't just triggering the Sharpshooter Line. The next four hundred shots were all 10.9!"
Number 88's entire body shook. He let out a soft breath. "His path may have to change. Maybe he should take the Special Operations Path!"
At first, everyone had envisioned Lin Xiaosu taking the Espionage Path, but his trial results now showed Number 88 another possibility: special operations!
"Special operations has one problem," Chang Ye said. "Although he has extraordinary talent with firearms, his physical condition is a weakness. On a truly dangerous battlefield, he would be at great risk."
"His physical condition can be modified," Number 88 said. "How about I talk to him now?"
"Gene Modification is a serious matter. Modern genetic technology still has major flaws. Unless there is no other choice, it would be better to let things develop naturally." Chang Ye said, "Why don't we see how far a true firearms prodigy can go in a complex environment with nothing but a gun in his hand?"
Her finger lightly tapped a button on the coffee table.
The instant she pressed it, Lin Xiaosu's surroundings suddenly changed.
The previous setting vanished, replaced by a dense jungle.
Four words flashed in the air: "Jungle Nightmare."
The wind blew past, icy to the bone. Eerie sounds rang out, making his hair stand on end. In an instant, Lin Xiaosu felt as if he had truly entered a jungle.
Enemies were everywhere.
His hand shot up, and he fired. A figure in camouflage that had just stepped out from behind a tree was hit in the head. Blood sprayed out. Though he knew it was a holographic projection, his stomach still clenched violently at that moment...
There was movement behind him. Lin Xiaosu spun around, ducked behind the tree he had just passed, and fired again, taking down another enemy.
The jungle ahead suddenly stirred. His third shot killed the enemy before the man could even show his head.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle...
Three consecutive shots flew toward three separate directions, and three sprays of blood burst forth...
Gunfire erupted as branches and leaves flew through the jungle. It all felt incomparably real.
Every shot Lin Xiaosu fired took an enemy away. The jungle's complex terrain and countless hiding places seemed not to exist in his eyes.
As for himself, the instant an enemy raised a gun, he could always accurately determine where the enemy was. There was not the slightest mistake in his evasive maneuvers. Every choice was the most reasonable one. Even if time were paused and a meeting held to analyze it all, his decisions would still be optimal.
Number 88's eyes lit up completely.
Chang Ye softly exhaled. "This Jungle Nightmare perfectly recreated the real 4.12 invasion. If the person trapped at the center of the encirclement back then had been him rather than Number 1362, our comrades would not have had to die for their country. It would have been an epic annihilation of the enemy invaders!"
As soon as her voice fell, Jungle Nightmare ended!
This Jungle Nightmare had been implanted based on a real event, perfectly recreating that day's scene. Enemy special forces had invaded, and Qianlong Number 1362 had died for the country.
Qianlong had incorporated this scene into the system to train special operations personnel.
No trial participant outside the official members had ever passed it successfully.
Yet he had not merely passed. On his own, he had counter-killed every invading soldier—a total of seventy-seven people.
Number 88 said, "I understand what you mean. He doesn't need Gene Modification. Even with his current physical condition, combined with his extraordinary marksmanship and reflexes, he is already a qualified special operations soldier. He could pass the assessment directly and be awarded an official Gold Medal."
Number 1362 had been an official Qianlong Gold Medal.
He had died in that invasion.
But when Lin Xiaosu took Number 1362's place, he successfully wiped out the invading force.
That meant his actual combat ability had already reached the level of an official Qianlong Gold Medal. How unbelievable was that?
Xinyue looked from one person to the other and finally could not hold it in any longer. "Hey, hey, is becoming an official Gold Medal really that easy? You two judges seem to have reached a consensus. Have you considered how I feel after failing to become official for eight months?"
"Get lost! Who cares how you feel?" Number 88 shot her a glance.
"Fuck..." Xinyue jumped sky-high.
Number 88 looked at her calmly. "Article 172, Clause 3 of the Qianlong Regulations: anyone who dares insult a superior loses ten points! Xinyue, your assessment score is currently only 852 points!"
"I... I meant... I work hard day and night. Every moment, I think about easing Qianlong's burdens. I wasn't cursing anyone, really, I wasn't... Save me, Sister Chang Ye..." Xinyue landed beside Chang Ye with a pleading look on her face.
Chang Ye gently shook her head. "Given the context, Number 88's punishment is justified by the rules after all. There's no way to change it. Be more careful in the future."
"I..." Xinyue's face changed on the spot, but the instant the word left her mouth, Number 88 stared at her. Her chest heaved several times before she swallowed the explosive words that had been about to follow. "That kid isn't my superior, right? If I take him on, I won't offend anyone, right? Let me give my opinion. Blowing up an ordinary invading force in the jungle is nothing. If he's got the skills, let him try taking me on!"
She flicked her finger and tapped the watch on her wrist, entering the system!
Number 88 and Chang Ye exchanged a look and smiled at the same time.
This really was not a bad plan.
Wasn't Lin Xiaosu good at gunfights?
Hadn't he just wiped out an entire invading force?
But that force had only been an ordinary army.
Now they would switch opponents!
Switch to whom?
Xinyue!
Xinyue was a Gene Person, and her genes were especially unique. Her combat ability was astonishing as well, especially in complex terrain.
This girl was full of defiance. Letting her face this newly risen firearms prodigy in a fierce battle on a complex simulated battlefield would show whether he could rely solely on the gun in his hand to survive the hunt of a true genetic expert.
Xinyue had already passed the trials.
The reason she had not yet become an official Qianlong Gold Medal was not her fighting ability. In fact, judged solely by combat prowess, she was no different from an official Qianlong Gold Medal.
The system recorded all of her skills and her best state. As long as she connected herself to the system, it could create a version of her inside it, allowing her to use her own abilities to launch an assault against Lin Xiaosu.
Inside the system, the jungle remained.
But the enemies were gone.
Suddenly, Lin Xiaosu was slightly startled. There was an enemy ahead!
His gun snapped up, and he fired!
The enemy had clearly been in front of him when the shot was fired, but the instant the bullet left the barrel, the enemy suddenly appeared behind him.
A faint, almost imperceptible shadow streaked through the air.
This was no ordinary enemy. It was an invisible person!
And the speed was absolutely inhuman!
Lin Xiaosu's gun suddenly thrust out from beneath his arm, and he fired!
The person behind him suddenly skimmed along the ground, fast as lightning. Lin Xiaosu sharply twisted at the waist and fired again. This shot was not aimed directly at the invisible person's head, but at the path ahead. If the enemy did not change course, he would collide with the bullet the moment he reached that area.
That shot!
Even Number 88's heart skipped a beat.
No Qianlong member lacked proficiency with firearms, but most people judged gun use by whether their shots were accurate. Who could step beyond the concept of "accuracy," predict the enemy's movements, and lay an ambush with a gun? Probably only a handful of Sharpshooter Gods could do that.
Lin Xiaosu had predicted the enemy's movements and laid a gun ambush—against an invisible person, no less. That was unbelievably badass. Number 88 put himself in that situation. Could he, relying only on a gun, have done better?
Most likely not!
Fuck, this was absurdly heaven-defying...
Xinyue was equally shocked.
Though she was currently a system avatar rather than physically present, all her focus was connected to the version of herself in the system. The person inside the system shared her sensations.
Faced with that predictive shot, Xinyue brought out her true skill. Her toes slammed into the ground, and she shot into the sky.
It was a midair change of direction.
The maneuver itself was unbelievable, because changing direction in front of a bullet essentially meant being able to evade bullets.
Yet even that turn remained within Lin Xiaosu's prediction. He raised his hand and fired three times, the three bullets forming a triangular pattern that sealed off every inch of space through which Xinyue could rise.
What a Xinyue! Her body twisted sharply like a pretzel.
All three bullets slipped past her at once.
The bullets were successfully avoided, but the momentum carrying her upward vanished as well.
Her body stalled for an instant. In that fleeting opening, Lin Xiaosu's gun spat out one final bullet. Pfft!
Xinyue's left chest was blown apart in the holographic projection!
"Ah!" Xinyue let out a strange cry in the small courtyard. Her hand clutched her left chest as she tore off the sensor connected to her body and withdrew from the system.
Before leaving the system, she had to feel real pain. The sensor electrically stimulated her body, producing the same pain as the injury inside the system. Once she left, the pain naturally disappeared.
The pain was gone, and her left chest was intact, but Xinyue was utterly enraged. "Bastard! I'm going to kill him in the real world!"
"Have you got no ambition at all?" Number 88's face darkened. "As a Gene Person, wearing the title of Reserve Number One that you named yourself, you fought an ordinary person in the field you excel at and ended up like this. And you still have the nerve to say you'll kill him in real life?"
Xinyue's face was dark with fury, and her chest rose and fell sharply, but she stopped herself from rushing down the mountain.
Number 88 turned his gaze to Chang Ye. "This new member has already cleared the firearms route. Should we give him a reserve slot now?"
"No rush. His path has only just begun. Don't define his path for him from the start." Chang Ye said leisurely. "I'll continue watching and see which track he chooses next."
"Fine, I'm leaving first!" Number 88 moved and left the small courtyard.
Chang Ye turned her gaze toward Xinyue.
Xinyue was still fuming.
Chang Ye smiled. "Everyone has their own specialty. Which Qianlong member has never lost? Are you going to be like this after losing once?"
Xinyue groaned. "Sister Chang Ye, if you want to comfort me, at least choose different words. Everyone has their own specialty... His specialty is criminal investigation, while mine is special operations. I lost to him precisely in my own specialty, not his."
"I already told you not to define his path too early. Perhaps special operations is his path to begin with?" Chang Ye said leisurely.
Xinyue's eyes brightened slightly. "You mean that one day in the future, I might carry out a special operations mission with him?"
Chang Ye smiled lightly. "Are you looking forward to it?"
"Looking forward to my ass! That bastard dared to blow up my boobs. What are my boobs for? They're my future son's food bowl! Blowing up my boobs means smashing my son's food bowl. You think I'll let him off? I have to hang him up and beat him first. Until I vent this anger, he can forget about teaming up with me!"
Her figure rose, and she vanished.
Before you continue