Drained Dry

"I'm ready."

Jiang Xueming nodded, raising his hands, waiting for the shooting instructor's next command.

"Sigh," Teacher Liu looked like he had something to say but didn't. To be honest, at first, he hadn't taken Bu Liuxing's sudden, inexplicable emergency invitation seriously.

A Xing often had wild ideas and made strange requests.

Including this time, the young master had casually opened his mouth and summoned big shots from all fields to this place.

Just to conduct a physical test for this kid, Jiang Xueming?

If it weren't for the connection through A Xing's mother, the three teachers present would have likely found such a ridiculous request for sudden overtime incomprehensible.

But just now, Jiang Xueming's meticulous expression and calm, solemn attitude while disassembling the firearm had changed Teacher Liu's perspective.

Looking at the young man, Teacher Liu was reminded of many cadets when they first entered the police academy – they were all like this, as if shouldering some mission, full of vigor and vitality.

All of this made Teacher Liu feel it was necessary to take this assignment seriously.

"Just humor him," Teacher Li chimed in from the side. "As long as Young Master Xing is satisfied."

Teacher Liu completely ignored his old friend's sarcastic remark and took out the MOLLE system from the weapon bag, helping Xue Ming put it on.

"Mr. Xue Ming, let's go. Come with me for a run."

"Do I need to familiarize myself with the range first?" Jiang Xueming put on the gear.

Teacher Liu pushed open the low gate at the entrance to the shooting range. "You're quite clever."

Xue Ming followed closely behind him. "I've seen it at a shooting club."

Teacher Liu jogged along, leading Xue Ming through the complex, narrow paths.

"Watch carefully. We'll only run this once. Remember as much as you can. We'll be shooting at these targets later."

"Okay."

"The test is the simplest CQB introductory shooting, the full name is..."

Jiang Xueming replied, "Close Quarter Battle, indoor close-range combat."

"Don't interrupt when the teacher is speaking, Student Jiang," Teacher Liu called out from ahead to the student behind him, though his expression was cheerful. "While you're not wrong, it's rapid reaction close-range combat in complex environments like simulated alleyways, buildings, and residential homes. But not all combat that happens indoors is called CQB."

They passed six rooms with complex environments and targets of varying heights, followed by a straight path with four windmill targets on either side.

"Jiang Xueming, there are sixteen indoor silhouette targets, three sets of fixed targets with three each, four sets of windmill spinner targets of various sizes with eight each. There are uphill and downhill sections, sudden stops, and close-range targets at right-angle turns. A total of fifty-seven targets. Did you remember them?"

"I remembered."

"How much did you remember?"

When the two returned to the entrance of the shooting range.

Jiang Xueming said, "I remembered all of them."

"All of them?" Teacher Liu's eyes widened, his blood pressure rising. "Think before you speak! This place was just renovated. CQB training is very dangerous. Although the shooting stalls have solid wood walls, some places are reinforced with steel bars. If you miss, the bullet will ricochet. Don't hurt yourself."

"Thank you for your concern, Teacher," Jiang Xueming said with a smile. "But I really remembered all of them."

"Remembered them all, remembered them all." Teacher Liu frowned and said nothing more. He packed his firearm and magazines, muttering under his breath, "Young people just like to talk tough. I'm running this course for the first time, and I haven't remembered it all, but you have."

Old Liu didn't say much more. He kindly advised Xue Ming, "Shoot each target only once, whether you hit it or not. I'll say it again, be careful. I didn't bring a bulletproof vest or helmet. Don't hurt yourself."

"Okay, thank you, Teacher." Jiang Xueming followed suit, packing his gear with Teacher Liu.

The Sig Sauer P220 has a magazine capacity of only eight rounds, and even an extended magazine can only hold ten.

With fifty-seven targets, Teacher Liu prepared seven extended magazines, placing three in the pouches on his tactical vest and the remaining four on the front of the MOLLE chest rig.

This arrangement had two benefits.

In the complex environment of the first half, when reloading, he could simply reach for the magazines on his left hip and complete the reload without being hindered by the narrow space.

For the uphill shooting in the latter half, after emptying the magazines on his waist, it wouldn't impede his climbing. The magazines on his chest were closer to his gun hand, allowing for faster reloads.

To prevent magazines from falling during rapid movement, Teacher Liu prepared seventy rounds of ammunition, even though there were only fifty-seven targets.

Jiang Xueming's SVI Infinity was already a competition pistol. Its magazine, with an extended base pad, had a capacity of twenty-three rounds. He only needed to carry three magazines to complete the entire shooting session, which meant three fewer reloads than Teacher Liu. All three magazines could be placed on his chest, not on his waist. The SVI's grip had a magazine well, which would shorten reloading time.

Setting aside the ergonomic design of other firearms, this was the most direct performance difference between a $5,000 and a $1,500 gun.

This coach had gone to great lengths in arranging this shooting test to save face for Bu Liuxing.

Teacher Li sat in front of the monitors, looking at the camera feeds in each isolated booth, ready to press the timer.

"Ready?"

Jiang Xueming leaned in, wanting to get a clear view of the teacher's demonstration.

"Ready."

"Go!"

A sharp whistle signaled the start.

On the monitor, Teacher Liu burst into the first room. Without any pause, he fired as he moved, entering the next room.

There were occasional hesitations during his reloads, and he often misjudged the remaining ammunition.

He was fast, though. Very fast.

Showing no intention of slowing down, he moved through small rooms in the narrow corridor, hitting targets while maintaining his movement.

Heavy breathing could be heard from the closed-circuit television. It was incredibly difficult to hold your breath, shoot, and move quickly simultaneously. For someone on their first run, who immediately started firing on their second, this CQB exercise was far from easy.

As they charged the slope, the crackling gunfire was accompanied by the sound of Teacher Liu's chest, lungs, and throat gasping like a bull.

The fan targets rang out one by one with a ding-ding-ding sound.

The final score was two minutes and forty-four seconds.

Fifty-seven targets, fifty-three hits, four misses.

All fixed targets were hit. In the latter half, Teacher Liu seemed to have little stamina left and struggled to maintain concentration. The small targets rotating with the fan wheel were difficult to hit.

Old Liu ran back to the entrance, panting heavily, his face flushed red.

"Hoo hoo. I'm exhausted. I need to smoke less. Hoo. How was it? Old Li? Was the score decent?"

Teacher Li smiled, "Still got it, old man."

"I could have been faster," Old Liu said, looking at the timer and the scoreboard. "It's my first time, and I didn't remember the positions of a few targets. It's bound to be a bit rusty. And this damn gun jammed, what bad luck."

"Your turn, kid!" Old Liu leaned on his knees, took a bottle of cola, and said to Jiang Xueming, "Be careful. Seriously, be careful."

Teacher Li turned back and added, "Safety first. Just finishing this course is good enough, it's really tough. Are you ready?"

"Yeah." Jiang Xueming held his gun, ready. "I'm ready."

"Three, two, one."

"Go!"

The whistle blew again.

The three coaches at the entrance of the shooting range heard the continuous roar of gunfire from Infinity's five-inch barrel.

Old Liu was still resting, only halfway through his cola, and Teacher Li had gone to the restroom.

Jiang Xueming raced back from the ramp to the entrance and slapped the big red button on the timer.

The final time on the timer was...

One minute and forty-four seconds.

Teacher Li had just returned to the CCTV monitor, about to greet Old Liu.

Old Liu, however, was staring at the TV screen with a blank, stunned expression, speechless, as if he had seen a ghost.

Only Bu Liuxing's fitness coach glanced over a few extra times.

Xue Ming pulled out the magazine, ejected the remaining eleven bullets, and laid them on the table.

He pulled back the slide, ejecting the last bullet still in the chamber. Just like last time, before the casing was ejected by the extractor, he firmly gripped it in his hand.

The primer was down, the bullet tip was up.

After finishing these actions, he finally let out a long sigh. His face turned pale, holding his breath until the very end, he had completed the entire course.

It was like the end of a battle; only when he was completely disarmed did he have the time to relax and breathe.

"Is this kid just shooting randomly? Did he just run through and come back?" Teacher Li finally understood what had happened and asked Old Liu in a low voice, "What's going on?"

"Old Li, look at the scoreboard and the video before you speak. Don't insult me by saying he was shooting randomly," Old Liu pulled Coach Li over. "Look at his reloads. It's like he treated the targets as imaginary enemies. The CQB competition doesn't restrict reload timing, but both of his reloads were performed only after clearing the targets in the current area, or when he was sure he was in cover."

"Look at the technique of his centered-axis locked stance in this run."

"And look at this transition to the triangle shooting method."

"When reloading, there were no extra rounds left in any magazine. In such intense movement, he calculated his spare ammunition precisely."

"Fifty-seven hits out of fifty-seven shots, and you say he was shooting randomly? He wasn't shooting randomly at all. I think he came prepared."

Teacher Li was just a combat coach, and he only half-understood. "Are you kidding me? He's a full minute faster than you? Is it because the gun we prepared for him was that good?"

"Yes. We were a full minute behind. This is his first time touching Infinity. No matter how good the gun is, it wouldn't make that much difference." Old Liu turned back and asked Jiang Xueming with utmost caution, "Who exactly are you, sir?"

"Teacher, I still have a few questions I'd like to ask you," Jiang Xueming skipped the formal address. "I couldn't find any opportunity to breathe just now. Because it was my first time in this environment, my concentration would drop if I took even a slight breath. I only had one shot at each target, and I couldn't afford to miss."

Old Liu couldn't understand. This was a blind spot in competitive shooting knowledge. "Huh? You didn't breathe because of that?"

"Yes." Jiang Xueming clutched his chest, feeling very uncomfortable. This intense anaerobic exercise had caused lactic acid to build up in his body, and it would likely take ten minutes to recover.

But he still pressed on, grabbing Old Liu and bringing him to the video playback.

He pointed to several moments in the video, which were then played on loop.

"When I fired at this corner, it felt very awkward. I tried to imitate your stance, but our heights are different, and the situations were different. I want to know why you could hit the target without aiming. I could see it clearly on the monitor; you weren't using your eyes to aim."

"Another question. In this room, you fired an extra bullet. It was supposed to be one bullet per target, but you fired two. I know that's the Mozambique Drill. First, you shoot the torso to stop the target's movement, then you shoot the head to finish it. Can you teach me more? I only know one or two shooting stances. This sequence of movements should be applicable in many other scenarios. How should I adjust the angle of my aim by tilting my shoulders and neck?"

"Oh," Old Liu said, as if instructing a student, "Regarding aiming, if you understand the centered-axis technique a bit, you actually don't need to aim at targets at that distance. Our arms and torso are like a ruler and a compass. If you're not overly concerned with accuracy, you only need to use your body as a support for the firearm to hit the target at this distance."

Jiang Xueming pondered, "Is that so? Thank you."

Old Liu scratched his head honestly. "And about that... why you shot twice at one target, using the Mozambique drill... I just forgot. My brain was oxygen-deprived from the intense movement, and I tend to get distracted. My apologies, consider it a foul on my part."

Jiang Xueming didn't pay attention to these minor details.

He kept grabbing Teacher Liu, bombarding him with questions, and then invited the teacher into the shooting range. He treated the targets as imaginary enemies, asking about the breathing time for each round of shooting.

This went on for over half an hour.

Jiang Xueming ran through the shooting range more than twenty rounds by himself.

He then ran another eight rounds with Old Liu.

Old Liu's face was ashen. When he saw the "demon" return to the entrance, Jiang Xueming still looked full of energy and spirit.

The extreme time was shortened to one minute and six seconds. Excluding the reloading time, it was almost one target per second.

"No, no, no! No need to practice anymore, really." Teacher Liu pleaded, "I'm hungry, can we go eat? If you were to shout in any shooting association in HK right now, I doubt anyone would dare to compete with you for a medal. Are you even human? Humans have limits."

"I don't want a medal," Jiang Xueming said sincerely, "I feel like the connection between the third corner and the fourth room... I've been looking for a chance to adjust my gait. The passages between rooms feel awkward to run through. Three steps are too short, but four steps are too fragmented."

"Please stop, hero," Teacher Liu begged, his eyes darkening as if his mental energy and concentration were completely depleted. "You've drained me dry. There's nothing more I can teach you, really. From now on, you have to walk this path alone. Firearms shooting is like martial arts; you need to have your own martial way. We've been master and disciple, don't you always think about sending a white-haired person to mourn a black-haired one? I still need to tidy myself up to meet Young Master Xing, and I don't want this appearance to become a funeral look."

"But..." Jiang Xueming still felt it wasn't enough.

"Just let him go, Mr. Liu," Teacher Li said from the side, watching the show with a wide grin. "You've run out of bullets, and you haven't just drained him, you've drained his entire weapon bag too."

Old Liu quietly said to Teacher Li, "This kid is incredibly strange. Do you think you can escape?"

"Tch," Teacher Li scoffed. "Can your physique compare to someone like me who practices martial arts? He ran with you for so long. I don't believe he'll have the strength to deal with me later, hehe."

Old Liu first looked wronged, then gritted his teeth. "Li Zongzhu! You are so despicable right now!"

Jiang Xueming glanced at the titanium plating on the SVI's barrel, which was starting to darken from the prolonged continuous firing.

He was still unwilling to give up, wanting to become stronger. Otherwise, how would he get the proof of armed employees at the station? How would he deal with the Armadillo Hunters?

Seeing Teacher Liu's terrified expression, Xue Ming finally sighed.

"Then, shall we schedule it for next time?"

Old Liu, as if freed from a death threat, quickly agreed with a smile.

"Next time for sure! Next time for sure!"