Chapter 17: The Shooting Range
Chen Meng immediately laughed; after all, his tutoring came with a price tag.
“No problem, no problem,” Chen Meng’s expression changed. “During school hours, you can ask me any questions you have about runes. There are eleven weeks and two days left until the college entrance exam—wait, including today, that makes it five thousand eight hundred yuan.”
“Deal.” Tang Wenjing nodded, not even bothering to haggle. For her, this was just pocket change.
...
That evening, after returning from his cram school, Mouse Beibei was already waiting for Chen Meng.
“A roast chicken?”
Chen Meng glanced at the gold bar Mouse Beibei produced, practically drooling. This one was worth seven or eight hundred yuan—over the course of a week, he could easily make five or six thousand from Mouse Beibei.
This surreptitious shopping service was simply a goldmine!
By the time the college entrance exam rolled around, he’d have nearly seventy thousand, much more than he’d ever make by handing Mouse Beibei over to the animal protection association.
No wonder there were so many people doing overseas shopping in his previous life.
“Here!”
Chen Meng bought the roast chicken for Mouse Beibei, watched him finish eating and leave, then hummed a little tune as he headed home.
Checking his phone balance at home, he found an extra six thousand yuan—Tang Wenjing had transferred it to him.
She promised five thousand eight hundred, and insisted on giving two hundred more. How could she be so unreliable, not keeping her word?
Hmph!
With his previous four thousand two still left, Chen Meng’s savings had once again broken ten thousand.
...
Saturday arrived in the blink of an eye.
After breakfast, Chen Meng headed straight to the martial arts hall. Mo Xiaoyi was already training by then.
Chen Meng looked at Mo Xiaoyi and noticed a bruise on his face, as if he’d been hit by someone.
“Senior, did you get into a fight?” Chen Meng asked curiously, and it looked like he’d lost. His face was swollen—the other party must have hit him pretty hard.
“Yes, I fought with someone,” Mo Xiaoyi answered bluntly. “I lost. He beat me up. It’s not a big deal—our school has special medicine, and I’ll recover quickly.”
“Senior, you train in martial arts every day. How come you still can’t win a fight?” Chen Meng was puzzled. Was what he was learning useless? Mo Xiaoyi seemed so skilled, yet he lost.
“My opponent has already advanced to the first-tier Divine Body,” Mo Xiaoyi said calmly.
“What? Are you out of your mind?” Chen Meng was astonished. “You’re just a regular person, even with some martial arts training. How can you be a match for a Divine Body? Their top speed is 25 meters per second, and even at your absolute best you might hit 10. Their punch can reach a thousand kilograms—do you even have a hundred?”
Mo Xiaoyi couldn’t argue with Chen Meng, but insisted, “He’d just recently advanced and took the Iron Black potion, which focuses on defense. His speed and strength aren’t that much higher than mine, he’s just harder to hurt. I couldn’t make a dent in him.”
You can’t hurt him, but one punch from him and you’re done for.
“Next semester, when I advance to Divine Body, I’ll seek revenge,” Mo Xiaoyi declared, refusing to let it go.
Chen Meng chuckled inwardly. Are you so sure you’ll win after advancing? He made it a semester ahead of you, and might still crush you then.
This senior was certainly stubborn.
“All right, let’s start today’s training,” Mo Xiaoyi said. In reality, Chen Meng practiced alone.
Since he hadn’t accumulated enough gold bars, Chen Meng wasn’t in a hurry to ask Mo Xiaoyi for help.
After training, Chen Meng thought for a moment. “Senior, I’ve booked shooting practice tomorrow afternoon from two to six. Are you coming?”
Chen Meng wasn’t familiar with the skeet range and hoped Mo Xiaoyi could show him around.
But Mo Xiaoyi shook his head. “I’ve used up my study time for the month, so I won’t go. When you choose a coach, I suggest you pick someone with real combat experience.”
...
The next day, Chen Meng slept an hour longer.
The intense study lately had left him mentally exhausted—it reminded him of his senior year of high school, repeating the grind with no end in sight.
“Morning!” Chen Meng greeted his mother and grabbed a pancake from the plate she brought out.
His mother grumbled, “Did you brush your teeth and wash your face? That’s so unhygienic.”
Chen Meng had just taken a bite, but put it down obediently.
...
After breakfast, he went to the martial arts hall to train for a while, then, seeing the time was about right, took the bus to the skeet range.
An hour and twenty minutes later, Chen Meng arrived at the range.
It wasn’t in the city center but rather on the outskirts, occupying a vast area—about a dozen acres. The perimeter was tightly built with red brick, and every three meters there was a sealed glass window letting in light.
“Hello, student!”
As soon as Chen Meng stepped through the entrance, a female receptionist stopped him.
He took in her leather outfit and neat, tied-up hair—she looked quite efficient.
“I’ve signed up for your shooting training. My session is booked for this afternoon.”
“Please show your ID.”
Chen Meng paused, then handed her his ID card.
The woman took out a work tablet, scanned his card, and nodded. “You’ve booked from two to six this afternoon, a total of four hours. Do you have any preferences for your coach?”
Chen Meng recalled Mo Xiaoyi’s advice. “No other requirements, just one: real combat experience.”
The woman pondered, tapped a few times on her tablet, and seven names appeared.
“These seven coaches meet your requirements and have openings this afternoon. You can pick one.”
She showed Chen Meng the profiles on her tablet.
Chen Meng studied them carefully. The first was a man who had served on the Jiangzhou City enforcement team and participated in numerous missions—definitely experienced. The second was a woman, formerly a student at a second-tier university, gifted in firearms, who had joined a raid against cultists and even killed a first-tier Divine Body cultist—a remarkable record. The remaining four had similar backgrounds, but the last coach caught Chen Meng’s eye.
His profile was brief: stationed on the Wildlands border, fighting beasts, followed by a bold statement: “I’ll teach you real marksmanship!”
The man’s face was cold and stern, with a military bearing.
Strangely, he had only two bookings that afternoon, though his maximum was ten. The other coaches had at least six students each.
Chen Meng didn’t understand why, but the man’s history intrigued him. He’d fought beasts, possibly entered the Wildlands, maybe Chen Meng could ask him about conditions there.
“I’ll choose him,” Chen Meng said, pointing to the last man, whose name was Lu Guang.
The woman nodded. “All right, but even if you’re dissatisfied midway, you’ll have to wait until next session to change coaches.”
What was that supposed to mean? Did she think he’d want to switch coaches?
Ridiculous.
Following her directions, Chen Meng entered the range.
Inside, he was stunned.
The entire range was built with open spaces and enormous glass panels overhead, so the light refracted and the area was brilliantly bright.
He scanned the various training zones and quickly found Lu Guang’s area, where a boy and a girl were already waiting.
They looked about his age—probably students—and Chen Meng had already noticed that most people at the range were students, mainly university undergraduates.
He casually asked the pair and confirmed his guess—they were both freshmen at Jiangzhou City’s universities, like Mo Xiaoyi.
They chose Lu Guang for the same reason as he had—drawn by his profile.
While the three waited anxiously, the clock ticked to two.
From the training room behind them, a sleepy, stubbly middle-aged man emerged.
It was Lu Guang, wiping his face with a damp towel—using only one hand, because he was an amputee. Yet his profile had shown him with both arms.
“I want to file a complaint! This is fraudulent—how can someone with one arm teach shooting? My parents paid for me to learn marksmanship, not charity work.”
The female student reacted the most fiercely, speaking out immediately, and the male student clearly felt cheated too.
ps: Lu Guang has appeared—whoever requested his character, please come claim him~