Boom!
A round was fired out of the muzzle.
Lu Zhou felt the heat of the bullet on his arms. The shell peeled from the casing, leaving behind a trace of smoke.
However, he didn’t have time to react; his attention was totally focused on pressing the trigger.
Bang!
Bang!
The gun fired ten times.
All within ten seconds.
Lu Zhou turned off the safety switch and placed the gun on the table. He took off his noise-canceling ear muffs as Yan Yan spoke to him.
“Hit half of them in the chest target… Not bad, it only took you three days to get to this level. It took me a week to get to your level. Is there anything mathematicians can’t do? Do you calculate the trajectory of the bullet?”
“Of course not, you can’t really apply mathematics. At most, mathematics makes me a faster learner at other things.” Lu Zhou looked at the target and said, “Also, this is a fixed target. If the target and I were moving, I wouldn’t be able to hit anything.”
It had been two weeks since he arrived at this training base on the outskirts of Haizhou.
Over the past two weeks, with the help of Yan Yan and people from the General Staff Department, he had been receiving training in shooting, first aid, and evacuation.
Even though the training wasn’t difficult, it was excruciatingly boring.
After the excitement of being able to fire a gun wore off, the shootings made his wrist and shoulders hurt.
“Don’t be too pessimistic.” Yan Yan patted Lu Zhou’s shoulder and said, “How about try shooting a moving target later?”
“No, thanks. It hurts my wrists.” Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “Also, will I get to carry a gun?”
Yan Yan answered without any hesitation, “No.”
Even though Lu Zhou knew she would say this, he still couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
“… Then what’s the point.”
Lu Zhou hated wasting time on meaningless things.
“Practicing isn’t for you to carry a gun everywhere, it’s for you to know how it works. More importantly, it gives you a basic understanding of the types of guns…”
Yan Yan contemplated for a second before she shrugged and said, “… So you won’t pee your pants when you see a gun.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
Pee my pants…
What an exaggeration.
Lu Zhou felt like he would be scared in an intense scenario, but he definitely wouldn’t pee his pants.
Lu Zhou spoke.
“So you have experience in this area then?”
Yan Yan paused for a second and glared at him.
“… Don’t talk back to me! I’m your teacher, just listen!”
She cleared her throat and said seriously, “Shooting practice is over, theory class is next! First question, what should you do if your convoy was attacked, but you survived?”
Lu Zhou: “Get out of the car and find a bunker?”
Yan Yan said, “Wrong! The correct answer is to stay in the car. Congratulations, you just made yourself twice as likely to die. Trust in your driver, they are soldiers, they know what to do! Normally, there are three identical vehicles in your fleet, so getting off the vehicle will reveal your position!
“Second question. After you got off the car, you heard a gunshot, and it came from a tall building nearby. The attacker has a high power sniper rifle, what would you do?”
Lu Zhou wanted to go back in the car, but he thought about what if the sniper had armor-piercing bullets?
So, he changed his answer and spoke.
“… Run in a zigzag line?”
That’s probably the right answer.
I mean, I can’t run in a straight line, right?
However, Yan Yan began scolding him.
“Zigzag? What is this, Fortnite? Congratulations, you just doubled your chance of death again! The right answer is to find cover and stay put, and wait for someone to rescue you! Third question, what do you do if someone points a gun at you. This question is as easy as it gets.”
Lu Zhou: “…”
F*ck sake!
What does she want me to say?
Apparently, this is an easy question.
A nitrogen shield from my system inventory?
It should work.
But it’s not like I can tell her that.
Also, that thing is one-time use only, and I don’t know how powerful it is since I’ve never tried it.
Lu Zhou contemplated for a while and wasn’t able to find a good solution.
Logically speaking, I’m a mathematician that spent his entire life in a library. It’s not like I can do anything if a trained soldier points a gun to my face?
Unless that soldier was kicked in the head by a donkey.
Lu Zhou spoke in an uncertain tone.
“… Close my eyes and hope for the best?”
Yan Yan sighed.
“… I’m so done with you, how do you always answer so incorrectly.”
Lu Zhou would certainly die if this were a real-life scenario.
However, this time, Yan Yan didn’t ridicule him.
After a while, she spoke in a serious tone.
“When the time comes… Just surrender.”
Lu Zhou: “Isn’t that embarrassing?”
Yan Yan said, “It’s better than dying! Remember, your life is the most important thing! You’re not just an ordinary person, don’t do anything stupid.”
Don’t worry, I’ll try not to.
Lu Zhou sighed and spoke.
“… If it’s so dangerous I should just not go.”
Lu Zhou didn’t want to bother others.
Even though the International Congress of Mathematicians was interesting, not to mention the organizer was going to give him a prize, he didn’t expect it to be such a hassle.
He had already been training here for two weeks.
He would rather stay in his room and study mathematics problems.
Yan Yan quickly spoke.
“No, don’t, you’ve already gone through two weeks of training, it’s a waste to give up now. Also, I’m just making sure you’re prepared. Better be safe than sorry. I’m just making sure that, in the event of an unlikely scenario, you’re more likely to stay safe.”
Lu Zhou: “If someone as skilled as Wang Peng attacks me, I don’t think there’s anything I can do.”
Yan Yan said, “But you can’t just give up! At least find a safe place to hide.”
“Then?”
“Then we’ll save you!”
“Save me… all the way in Russia?”
“Sort of.”
Lu Zhou said, “How do you plan on going there?”
Yan Yan smiled mysteriously.
“You’ll know in two weeks.”