Acting Skills

The back row of the hovercar.

Qing Chen looked at Li Changqing with some curiosity. "Was it Old Nine who said I wanted to play with a sniper rifle?"

Li Changqing said with a smile, "He told me all of that, saying you're a genius at handling firearms, able to hit any target within 50 meters."

"There's no need to rush to the sniping range today," Qing Chen asked casually. "Did someone suggest it?"

"Yes, when I took Qing Yi to visit Old Nine said your marksmanship was amazing. So, after hearing about you, Qing Yi really wanted to see for himself," Li Changqing said. "Old Nine also said that whatever gun or bow and arrow you have, you can hit the target in three tries at most. By the way, Qing Yi's bodyguard team also has a sharpshooter, specially selected by his father from the Federation Group Army. He even joked that he wanted to have a match with you."

Qing Yi.

Qing Chen seemed to be deep in thought.

At one point, he wondered if Qing Yi was also a Time Walker.

After all, a fierce gunfight had just taken place on Xingshu Road when they returned last week, and many people in the know wanted to know who the sniper was.

Now, the precocious Qing Yi suddenly says he wants to see his marksmanship; the timing is too coincidental.

But if Qing Yi is also a Time Walker, then that makes sense.

It's not that Qing Chen is suspicious; it's just that his situation is rather delicate, so he needs to think things through more...

If Qing Yi really is Time Walker, which one of He Xiaoxiao's group would he be?

Li Si is most concerned about the Shadow Struggle?

Zhang San helped Huan Yu provide false information?

Or... Huan Yu?

Of course, this is just a preliminary guess.

There were more than 20 people in He Xiaoxiao's group chat, and more than 10 of them had never spoken, so Qing Chen couldn't make any arbitrary guesses about their identities.

There is only one conclusion that can be confirmed: be careful of Qing Yi.

It's not that Qing Chen has confirmed that Qing Yi is the Time Walker, but rather that he's making a bold assumption and conducting careful analysis.

If someone with the identity of Qing Yi becomes Time Walker, it will be extremely dangerous.

Because such people can even use the power of their family factions to gather and control other Time Walker, forming a very large force in the Outer World.

For example, if Zhang Chengze had admitted yesterday that he was Time Walker, he might have been secretly bought.

Inside the floating vehicle, Qing Chen sensed a faint fragrance wafting around him; it was Li Changqing who had moved to his side.

He silently moved aside, constantly reminding himself that this was his master's sister...

This is Master's sister...

But then Li Changqing said, "Old Nine said you really want to play with sniper rifles, but when I said I'd take you to the sniping range today, you didn't seem very happy."

Qing Chen said calmly, "I killed quite a few people last week, and I'm still not quite over it."

Li Changqing laughed and said, "I heard that you only killed one person when you were in the Octagon Cage. Now many people say you're a living Buddha in the Octagon Cage. It's okay, the world is so chaotic, you'll get used to it sooner or later. Today we're just playing around with guns and doing target practice, we won't kill anyone."

Qing Chen doesn't need to practice sniping today, but he needs to act.

Because today, it's probably not just Qing Yi who wants to see his sniping skills.

For example, the Xiao Ying is now pricking up its ears.

But Qing Chen didn't know that Xiao Ying wasn't concerned about the sniper rifle; he was learning some advanced techniques from Bai Zhou.

The hovercar traveled all the way to the Upper Third District.

However, once the airships arrive here, they must strictly follow certain routes and the vehicles must have electronic safety protocols, otherwise they will be shot down from the air.

Qing Chen knew why the airship could only fly along a specific route: flying over the conglomerate's mansion allowed for a complete overview of the estate, making it convenient for spies to study the defenses.

Compared to the lawless areas of the Lower Three Districts, this is perhaps the safest place in the entire City No. 18.

Li Changqing said to Qing Chen, "In a few days, after Old Nine recovers, have him get an electronic security agreement for your car as well. That way, you can freely enter and exit the Upper Third District. But remember, never fly over the conglomerate's mansion."

The Upper Third District don't have many skyscrapers and modern technology, nor the heavy light pollution of a cyber city. Instead, pavilions, terraces, and courtyards are everywhere.

At night, the red lanterns resemble a galaxy of stars.

Flying over here, Qing Chen felt as if he had traveled back to the prosperous Tang Dynasty.

The only thing is that the conglomerates in the Inner World seem to particularly like to use vermilion and bright red to decorate their mansions, so this place is richly colored, like the most vibrant oil painting.

Li Changqing earnestly instructed, "After you return to the Banshan Manor, don't wander off. If you want to go out, you have to stay with me... City No. 18 is no longer safe. People who should have come and those who shouldn't have come have all arrived."

After an unknown amount of time, Qing Chen began to hear a rumbling sound coming from below the floating vehicle.

He recognized the sound; it was the sound of an anti-materiel sniper rifle.

The hovercar landed at the foot of the hill behind the Banshan Manor. A low mountain, like a flood control dike, cut the entire Banshan Manor in two.

The sniper targets are set up along the mountainside, including 800-meter, 400-meter, 200-meter, and 50-meter targets.

The prepared firearms were not limited to sniper rifles; Li's servants also transported a full set of automatic rifles and pistols by vehicle.

More than twenty people had gathered at the shooting range, half of whom were brought by Qing Yi.

Qing Chen spotted the short Qing Yi in the crowd at a glance. This junior high school student seemed out of place in the adult world, yet he was the most dazzling.

The other person still sported the well-behaved watermelon head and was quietly watching a young man crawl on the ground and pull the trigger.

Not far away, Li Yinuo, Nan Gengchen, and Li Tongyun were also there, playing with ordinary firearms.

But then Li Yinuo came up behind Nan Gengchen and began to teach him how to shoot and how to aim.

Once the hovercar came to a stop, Qing Yi stepped forward to greet them, "Aunt Changqing, Uncle Qing Chen, good morning."

Qing Chen found that this kid was quite stoic, calling someone who was only three years older than him "uncle" without showing the slightest sign of anything amiss on his face.

Qing Chen asked with a smile, "Did you bring a gift this time?"

Upon hearing this, Nan Gengchen, who was concentrating on shooting not far away, trembled slightly, and in his heart he admired Chen Ge's shamelessness in asking a junior for a gift.

It's definitely Qing Chen himself.

Moreover, Nan Gengchen knew something: from the perspective of the Qing family bloodline, Qing Yi was of the same generation as Qing Chen, but now, through his relationship with Li Changqing, Qing Chen had already been "super-elderly".

They inadvertently gained an advantage over the other Shadow Candidate.

On the other side, Qing Yi obediently said, "I brought it."

As he spoke, a servant beside him brought over a box containing a silver pistol with intricate patterns engraved on its body.

Qing Yi smiled and said, "This pistol is a limited edition commemorative model from Lei Thunderfire Armaments, a subsidiary of the Qing family. It's called 'Sudden Stop of Life.' It was once sold for two million on the black market. It hasn't been fired a single time since it was produced. I heard from Old Nine that Uncle Qing Chen is a sharpshooter, so this gun is a perfect gift for you."

"Good boy," Qing Chen said with a smile as he took the box and handed it to the Xiao Ying beside him.

He has no way of using this gun; the best course of action is to sell it on the black market or give it to someone else.

Just as people have fingerprints, so do firearms, and the fingerprints on firearms are the rifling.

When a bullet passes through the rifling of a gun barrel, the rifling will leave tiny marks on the bullet's surface, and these marks are the unique imprint of each gun.

Therefore, in many cases, tracing the marks left by rifling on a bullet can help identify the firearm used by the perpetrator.

This "Sudden Stop of Life" was handled by Qing Yi, so the other party must have left behind ballistic test data. Every bullet that I fired with this pistol could potentially be compared and identified by the other party.

At that moment, the sniper lying prone on the ground pulled the trigger again.

The exhaust port on the side of the anti-materiel sniper rifle emitted a blast of air, stirring up the surrounding smoke and dust.

The roar of the engine interrupted everyone's conversation. At the 800-meter target, a range worker from the Li family waved a flag and announced the target: 9 rings!

The sniper pulled the trigger again, a 9-ring shot.

But then we saw this person fire ten shots in a row, all of which were within the 9-ring, and even five shots were ten-ring.

Li Changqing exclaimed, "His marksmanship of 800 meters and within 9 rings is truly remarkable; he can definitely be called a sharpshooter."

Qing Yi looked at Qing Chen: "Uncle Qing Chen, would you like to give it a try?"

Qing Chen thought for a moment and said, "I've only ever played with pistols and automatic rifles, and I've never shot at a target this far."

The sniper slowly stood up. "A pistol comparison is fine too."

This time, Qing Chen didn't hesitate. "Okay, Yinuo, get me a pistol."

"Which one?" Li Yinuo asked.

"Either is fine," Qing Chen said calmly.

"Here," Li Yinuo said, casually picking up a pistol from the table in front of her, which was covered with guns, and tossing it to Qing Chen.

Qing Chen took it and casually lifted it up. "Has anyone used this pistol just now? There are only seven bullets left."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and fired all seven remaining rounds in the magazine.

With a click, all the bullets were fired, and the gun jammed at the front.

There were indeed only seven bullets.

This scene stunned everyone around: Amazing!

Everyone has seen people with accurate shooting skills, but the ability to immediately tell how many bullets are in the magazine is like a mystery.

It's important to know that this was a handgun that Li Yinuo randomly picked for Qing Chen, not one that Qing Chen chose himself!

The next moment, the range staff checked the target paper and waved the flag: 10 rings, all 7 shots were 10 rings.

The sniper frowned. Qing Chen was shooting at a 50-meter target. Getting all ten rings was nothing special; he could do that too.

The key point is that you don't need to be familiar with firearms; you can achieve this result just by firing a gun anywhere.

Moreover, the recoil did not affect the stability of the shot at all.

As the saying goes, the layman sees the spectacle, while the expert sees the details. The sniper knew that Qing Chen hadn't even deliberately aimed.

This is the absolute feel of a gun.

Li Changqing clapped and laughed, "Old Nine wasn't lying, your marksmanship is indeed excellent."

Qing Chen didn't say anything, but walked to the table, picked up an automatic rifle, and fired at the 200-meter target. After emptying a magazine, all the shots were still bullseyes.

Extremely stable.

He switched to an automatic rifle and still got a perfect score of ten.

The sniper that Qing Yi brought became serious.

Qing Chen looked at him and said, "Shall we give it a try?"

The sniper shook his head. "No need to try. You have an absolute feel for guns; I'm not as good as you at these things."

Qing Chen showed no intention of holding back, and his move immediately had a deterrent effect.

Qing Yi, standing to the side, said with a smile, "Uncle Qing Chen, why don't you try the sniper rifle again?"

"Okay," Qing Chen without any pretense.

He selected an anti-materiel sniper rifle, recalling his reaction when he first used "Winning People Over with Conquer by Virtue," and pulled the trigger at a 400-meter target.

"Ten rings!"

However, Qing Chen seemed completely unaccustomed to the enormous recoil; his entire body shifted slightly, and the sniper rifle's muzzle deviated from the target.

Everything was exactly the same as his reaction when he fired the first shot, even the muscle reactions were perfectly replicated.

Qing Yi glanced silently at the sniper, who whispered, "That's definitely the reaction of someone firing an anti-materiel sniper rifle for the first time. No one can fake that. Besides, look how clumsy he is when loading the bullets; that's hard to fake either."

When it comes to loading ammunition, Qing Chen was definitely not faking it.

He never loaded bullets into the anti-materiel sniper rifle!

Because "winning people over with Conquer by Virtue" doesn't even require loading; you can't even find the loading port!

"But he hit the bullseye," Qing Yi said softly, looking at Qing Chen's figure lying prone on the ground.

"He has an absolute feel for both pistols and assault rifles. When shooting at a 400-meter target with a sniper rifle, hitting a bullseye is normal," the sniper said in a low voice. "The important thing is to look at 600 meters and 800 meters. At 600 meters, it's impossible to see the target clearly with just a 16x optical scope. At 800 meters, when the trajectory starts to show a slight parabola, let's see what score he gets."

During the conversation, Qing Chen had already aimed at the 600-meter target and pulled the trigger.

Staff member waves flag: 6 rings!

Everyone present thought it was normal, and that being able to hit the sixth ring was already very impressive.

Only Nan Gengchen was internally screaming, "Let's get this on! Brother Chen, let's get this on!"

At first, he thought that Qing Chen's unreserved display of skill during the shooting was not quite in line with his personality.

But now that I think about it, only a mix of truth and falsehood is more convincing.

In this way, after everyone has witnessed Qing Chen's arrogance, they will believe in his later concealment of his true abilities.

Based on his understanding, judging from Qing Chen's marksmanship on the night of the blood-stained administrative road, hitting the bullseye every time at 1000 meters would be normal.

If Qing Chen couldn't do that, he would never let the bullet pass through his legs; Qing Chen wouldn't risk his personal safety!

The anti-materiel sniper bullets were as long as a palm; if they hit a leg, the leg would be gone instantly.

Qing Chen wouldn't take such a gamble.

Nan Gengchen discreetly glanced around and realized that he was the only one present who was aware that Qing Chen had started acting. Even Xiao Tongyun was unaware of how ruthless Qing Chen's marksmanship was.

"Sixth Ring Road?" Qing Chen seemed slightly unconvinced after learning his score.

He pulled the trigger again, but this time he did even worse than before, scoring only 2 rings and almost missing the target.

Shoot again, 10 rings.

When they saw the bullseye, everyone was stunned for a moment. Some people thought, "Is the amazing skill of hitting the bullseye with three shots about to be performed again?"

Qing Chen fired again, scoring 7 points.

Qing Yi glanced at the sniper beside him, his eyes questioning.

The sniper said softly, "A perfect 10 is just luck. You aim at the target and fire. As long as you hit the bullseye, you'll eventually get a perfect 10. Getting a perfect 10 is what's real. If you're aiming for the bullseye every time but never hit it, then there's a problem. Boss, let's look at 800 meters. That's a hurdle. People who aren't good snipers can't get past that."

Qing Yi thought about it and realized that it made sense.

At this moment, Li Changqing smiled at Qing Chen and said, "Don't be discouraged. It's a rare achievement to hit the target at 600 meters on your first time handling a sniper rifle."

"That's true," one sniper said. "It was my first time handling a sniper rifle, and I didn't hit the target once. Let's try an 800-meter target instead."

Qing Chen thought for a moment and shook his head, "Forget it, if I'm already struggling so much in the 600 meters, I'm not going to humiliate myself."

"It's all about trying, Uncle Qing Chen," Qing Yi encouraged. "Anyway, it's the Li family's shooting range, and they won't charge us for the bullets."

"Then let's give it a try," Qing Chen said, crawling on the ground and turning the gun towards the 800-meter target.

This time, he aimed straight at the target, but when he pulled the trigger, the bullet didn't even hit the target!

Qing Chen slightly raised the muzzle, trying to calculate the arc of the parabola so that the bullet would hit the target, but he still missed!

Even the staff responsible for verifying the target paper moved further away, afraid of being hit by stray bullets...

The sniper next to Qing Yi explained in a low voice, "When he can't hit the target, he can't even know why he missed, so he can't adjust his trajectory. Adjusting the muzzle based on intuition is futile. At this point, wind speed and gravity will pull the bullet off course, and he probably won't be able to hit the target again. When I first practiced shooting at 800 meters, it took me two whole days to master the shooting technique."

As soon as he finished speaking, it was as if he was confirming the sniper's idea.

Undeterred, Qing Chen fired fifteen more shots, but only one hit the edge of the target paper; the rest missed.

Nan Gengchen watched his defiant and unconvinced expression and thought to himself that it would be a waste if he didn't win a Xiao Jin.

He doesn't want to watch any more movies without Brother Chen!

Li Changqing gently squatted down next to Qing Chen, patted his shoulder and comforted him, "Alright, alright, come practice again when you have time. You've already done very well."

"Alright," Qing Chen sighed as he stood up.

"Come on, I'm taking you somewhere else today," Li Changqing said with a smile when he saw him give up. "Li Yinuo, Xiao Tongyun, you two come along too. Today is the opening day of the Li Clan Academy's Martial Lecture Hall, and we'll take our new combat instructors there. Qing Yi, are you coming?"

Qing Yi shook her head and smiled sweetly, "Auntie, I hate going to school the most. I've finally managed to get out of town, so please let me have a break. You guys go ahead, I still want to play with a gun."

"Then be careful," Li Changqing said before leaving with Qing Chen.

As Qing Yi watched the vehicle drive away, he calmly said to the servant beside him, "Go behind the target paper and check the bullet marks. I need to know where his bullets landed."

"Boss, what's going on here...?" the sniper asked, somewhat puzzled.

Qing Yi said calmly, "True masters like to conceal their skills, but even the most discerning person can't resist showing off. For example, a master forger might leave his signature in the design, which is impossible to find unless you look very carefully. If he's a sniper with a youthful spirit, even if he deliberately misses the target, he'll unintentionally want to prove something, to prove that he's not a true loser. Of course, this is just an unnecessary testing step, and it's also possible that it's really his first time handling a sniper rifle."

When Qing Yi said this, he completely shed his boyish naiveté and appeared mature beyond his years.

There's a 5,000-word chapter, and another one tonight.

Thank you to reader 20180409174416031 for becoming a new ally of this book. You're a generous boss, and you can eat fish without getting a bone stuck in your throat!