On the twelveth day of training, the instructor brought the students participating in the target shooting segment to the shooting arena. Not everyone could participate in the target shooting training.
Participants were able to practice shooting while the rest of the students had to continue with their usual training, so target shooting was the most popular segment. When lots of female students heard that the recoil was strong, they lost their interest and were reluctant about going. Hence, many classes had no participants for this segment. The empty slots were in turn filled up by the male students who didn't manage to participate in this segment.
Therefore in this segment's showcase, there were twenty-six students. Only ten of which were females; the remaining sixteen were all males.
This was also the only time male and female students were allowed to interact. Rules in school were strict. At the military base, the males and females were separated by two entire sections; the buffer area between them was the area were soldiers resided, so they really have no opportunities to meet.
Xuan Mo didn't know about guys, but the girls were generally excited while being a little glum about the fact that they were going to get tanned under the sun. How image-ruining it'd be if the guys saw them tanned as dark as coal.
The twenty-six of them were brought into the training arena by Instructor Zhang. There were three other squads of soldiers there training. When they saw the freshies, they made space and sat by the side to rest while gesturing at them, smiling.
After teaching the gist to target shooting, the instructor brought the guns over and handed each of them one: "Everyone of you will have thirteen bullets. You can try shooting three first, followed by ten. You can take it slow if you're not accustomed to it; you have two hours to finish shooting the bullets, then off you go for the Showcase the day after tomorrow."
Before he finished, three shots sounded. After which, ten consecutive shots rang in the air. The masses delved into shock as one of the male students walked over with his gun and stretched his hand out: "Are there any more bullets?"
"Pff!" The instructor laughed, "do I look like I sell bullets? There are no more bullets after you're done shooting! You only get the thirteen bullets!" After saying that, he turned and walked over to the side.
The guy raised a brow. He looked around before walking over to the girls, saying: "Anyone here don't wanna shoot? Able to lend me your gun if you're not shooting?"
His politeness didn't match his cold expression.
And, what's he looking this way for? Xuan Mo felt extremely dissatisfied.
Of course she didn't know that her untannable pseudo glue material and her false stick-thin figure didn't match the gun at all; she looked like she wouldn't be able to complete shooting all the bullets at all, so she was the most probable person who'd need someone to help recycle her bullets.
Ignoring the guy's scorching gaze, she grabbed her gun, rounded past him and lied down, looking at the target in front.
The target was fifty metres away; not too far, nor too near.
Bang!
The first shot; she didn't know where the bullet flew, but Xuan Mo roughly got the recoil and bullet line figured out.
That's enough.
The second bullet–she hit bull's eye.
Everyone else started shooting as well. They didn't have their shooting report returned as of yet, so no one noticed her… except for the guy that was waiting to recycle her bullets.
She hit the centre for her third shot as well.
Her body hasn't shifted due to the recoil since the first shot. No one noticed her initially. Afterwards though, everyone was looking at her. The remaining few students rubbing their shoulders looked over as well. The soldiers and instructor were watching her; they sat watching her, and then, they stood watching her.
For the first four bullets, she shot them one by one normally.
For the fifth to the tenth one, she shot them continuously; the sound of gunshots rang consecutively in the air.
She placed her gun down amidst the reverberation of her shots, exhaling. She stood and looked around, realising that everyone was looking at her.
"Are the results out yet?" Instructor Zhou asked after waiting a while for the results.
The soldier replied in acknowledgement, ran over to the hut beside the targets. He came out with a paper after a moment. He looked at Xuan Mo strangely before handing the report to Instructor Zhang.
Instructor Zhang took it. He almost imploded when he saw the results. He exclaimed in surprise: "All bull's eye except for the first one that's lost?!" He raised his head to look at Xuan Mo. "Student, you from the shooting team?" He shook his head afterwards however, "that's impossible. The things the bunch of people use aren't guns, this doesn't make sense."
He asked excitedly: "You trained since young?"
Xuan Mo didn't reply. She seriously couldn't allow herself to fake a poor aim when the distance was only fifty metres. Now that she's hit the centre of the target so many times, she suddenly felt that it perhaps wasn't the best idea given all the looks she was receiving from the people around her.
No one required her to be low-key; there wasn't a need for her to be low-key either. She wasn't the Blue Planet's future, she wasn't afraid to change how this civilisation would unfold. According to the limited information she had access to, this civilisation wasn't included in the Cosmic Coalition's sphere of protection nor interaction, so she had no qualms about the bindings rules–she could do as she wished, but then again, that didn't seem very exciting.
How boring.
She placed her gun down and stood by the side, asking: "Can we leave after we are done?"
"Enh… ah no!" The instructor nodded his head on reflex before changing his reply in a flurry. He walked over cheerfully, "quickly finish your practice, I'll treat everyone to green bean soup!"
Treat everyone green bean soup? Wasn't that the one that the canteen gave out for free?
The masses quietened down and quickly went back to shooting their own targets. The guy didn't manage to borrow any more bullets to shoot in the end. Xuan Mo's performance seemed to have triggered him; he discarded his previous frivolous attitude, donning a serious one instead. His results weren't that good though. The other guy, the one that shot one five, four sixes, four seven and one nine, managed to get a relatively high score and didn't shoot out the target was one of the better shooters.
He was evidently dissatisfied however. He followed after Xuan Mo, before suddenly saying: "Hello."
Xuan Mo turned to look at him.
"I'm Tang Jing Ze."
"Xuan Mo."
"Have you learnt how to shoot previously? Who did you learn it from?"
"No, no one."
"Oh." Tang Jing Ze didn't believe her at all, but didn't dig any further. He quickened his steps to walk beside her, "can you teach me?"
Xuan Mo raised a brow and looked at him: "What's the use of learning this?"
"Why did you learn it then."
"I know how to do it, but I didn't learn it."
"…" Tang Jing Ze was silent for a moment before asking, "you mean, you know how to do this without learning it?"
"Enh."
Tang Jing Ze stared at Xuan Mo, thinking about something before saying: "Alright, I won't ask you, don't get angry."
Xuan Mo paused, before looking at him strangely: "I'm not angry."
"Then why are you lying?"
"I'm not lying."
"Even if geniuses existed, the word would be descriptive of a process. How is it possible that someone can become skilled at something the moment they try it?"
Xuan Mo was silent. How would she know the earthlings had such poor aptitude? It was just a gun, not some Quark Perish Anti-Aircraft Gun, what's there to train about?
Her triggered memories told her however that she's never encountered guns before, or should she say, not a lot of people in the entire country had the chance to come into contact with guns.
They were very strict about this. Xuan Mo couldn't help but think about the Military Museum her family clan donated that took up half a mini-planet.
Upon being ignored by Xuan Mo, he, who'd always believed girls' thinking were complex, didn't have anything else to say. The only thing flashing through his head was his emotional longing and envy the moment he saw Xuan Mo's shooting report.
They sat in rows at the spacious canteen, listening to the sounds of training outside. They looked at the scorching sun and cupped the chilly green bean soup, feeling extremely blissful. Some of the girls who were forcibly placed in this segment were extremely elated as well. When they saw that the instructors closed an eye to their chatters, they continued chirping away.
Xuan Mo placed it down after taking a sip. After which, she sat pin straight, staring at the bowl, unsure of what to do.
Afar, Instructor Zhou brought a middle-aged soldier over. He pointed at Xuan Mo saying something, then produced Xuan Mo's shooting report. The middle-aged soldier smiled as he said something, knocked on Instructor Zhou's forehead before nodding his head.
Instructor Zhou happily ran back to the canteen entrance and shouted at Xuan Mo: "Xuan Mo, Xuan Mo, come over!"
Xuan Mo stood swiftly and walked over slowly as though a real soldier.
"This is Commissar Li!" Instructor Zhou introduced as he walked over.
Instructor Li held Xuan Mo's shooting results. He analysed it for a moment before raising his head to look at Xuan Mo: "Lass, your parents bring you shooting a lot?"
"No." Xuan Mo shook her head, her expression unruffled.
"Once in a while?"
"Not even once."
"…then your parents are soldiers?"
"No."
"Someone's a soldier in your family? You have friends in the military? Aye… this is getting more absurd. C'mon, out with it, this is your number what time playing with guns?"
"First time."
The Commissar looked at Instructor Zhou in suspicion, scratched his head as he muttered something. He asked again: "How do you feel when you're holding the gun?"
Xuan Mo bit her lips; that was a hard question for her.
Though her head was filled with adjectives the previous owner would describe it as, she didn't say any of them–she could handle expressing simple emotions, but she still needed some practice before trying to use such abstract description. And so, she hesitated for a long time before finding herself a word to describe. "Very, familiar."
"Very familiar?"
"Enh."
"Are you a genius?"
Beside them, Instructor Zhou was rendered speechless. Commissar you sure are frank.
"No idea." Xuan Mo was honest. She knew what a genius was–when the occurrence and success rate of an information chain of a living being had a ninety-five and above percentage match with the information chain of the event. Xuan Mo was only average; she'd been tested before and her rate was somewhere between eighty-six to ninety-five.
On the Blue Planet however, the calculations were different.
"Do you feel familiar when you learn other things?" The Commissar looked at the figures outside, "for example going through an obstacle course, shadowboxing and the likes."
"Yes." Xuan Mo was very sure.
"How far can you go?"
"That'll depend on how far you can you."
The Commissar was quiet for a moment before he smiled: "What are you participating for in the Showcase?"
"Everything."
"…ah?"
Xuan Mo raised her head as she said earnestly: "They were being too noisy; I had no choice.
"…"