Rebirth of a Mercenary: The Ace Mercenary Forced to Be the Beloved of the Group

The moment Xie Huai'an pressed the timer, Lu Xiao was already lying prone on the target.

The first shot. The gunshot rang out across the empty firing range. The spent cartridge ejected from the ejection port, bounced twice on the concrete ground, and then came to a stop. The electronic target display screen flashed and showed a number—a bullseye.

Lu Xiao's bolt-pulling motion was as smooth as a machine; before the spent cartridge hit the ground, the second shot rang out. A bullseye. The third shot. A bullseye. The fourth shot. A bullseye. The fifth shot. A bullseye.

All five shots fired at the fixed target hit the bullseye, with bullet holes clustered densely in a small area the size of a fingernail in the very center of the target paper. Subsequent bullets passed directly through the holes created by the previous bullets, tearing the same hole larger and larger.

The moving target begins to slide out.

Lu Xiao's gun barrel rotated smoothly along the target's trajectory, as if it were being guided by an invisible thread.

First shot at the moving target, a bullseye. Second shot, a bullseye. Third shot, a bullseye. The target popped out from behind cover, giving the target less than two seconds to fire.

Lu Xiao pulled the trigger a fraction of a second before the window closed. The bullet grazed the edge of the cover and landed on the target paper—a bullseye. The second target popped out, and he fired almost instinctively. The bullet arced through the air and landed in the exact center of the target paper. A bullseye.

Total score: 100 rings. Perfect score.

He looked up from behind the scope, a standard Lu-style smile on his lips.

It wasn't arrogance—he had every right to be—but the smile on his face at that moment conveyed more satisfaction. He was in good form today, every shot hitting its mark.

Bai Ye lay prone at his target position.

First shot. The gunshot echoed across the firing range, the spent cartridge ejected, and the electronic target indicator lit up—a bullseye. Second shot. A bullseye. Third shot. A bullseye. Fourth shot. A bullseye. Fifth shot. A bullseye. Five shots on the stationary target, all bullseyes.

The moving target slides out. First shot on the moving target: a bullseye. Second shot: a bullseye. Third shot: a bullseye.

The target popped out. His reaction speed was absurdly fast—the target had barely peeked out from behind cover when he pulled the trigger, without hesitation, without any correction. The bullet struck the target paper, and the target indicator lit up—a bullseye. The second target popped out, the same action, the same rhythm, the same result. A bullseye.

Total score: 100 rings. Perfect score.

The viewing area was silent for a full three seconds.

"Two perfect scores." Xie Huai'an's voice came from the side. He glanced at Lu Xiao's target display, then at Bai Ye's, and wrote a line in the communication log. After writing it, he looked at it again, and the vertical line between his brows deepened slightly.

Lu Xiao stood up from the target position, slung the sniper rifle over his shoulder, and looked at the scores of 100 and 100 displayed side by side on the two target position screens.

After a moment of silence, he smiled.

He hadn't encountered a sniper opponent in a long time.

No one inside the Void could beat him, and most of the enemy snipers he encountered on missions were no match for him. Now, a sixteen-year-old recruit, who was supposedly "touching a sniper rifle for the first time," achieved the same perfect score as him.

Others might feel frustrated, but Lu Xiao doesn't.

He thought it was fun. It was fucking fun.

"Interesting." He lowered the sniper rifle from his shoulder, turned to Xie Huai'an, and said, "Xie Huai'an, stationary targets and regular moving targets are boring. Change Bai Ye and me to ultra-long-range targets. Start at 1,000 meters, adding 100 meters each round, until a winner is decided. Since we've come this far, let's see where the limits are."

Xie Huai'an glanced at him.

"The perimeter of the firing range is now sealed off; we can begin," he said.

For long-range targets, the range starts from 1,000 meters.

The effective range of this standard-issue sniper rifle is one kilometer. Beyond this distance, the trajectory is affected by multiple factors such as wind speed, humidity, temperature, Earth's rotational deflection, and even batch differences in ammunition, resulting in a sharp decrease in accuracy.

The target position was moved to 1,000 meters.

Bai Ye glanced at the scope and adjusted three parameters—wind speed compensation, distance correction, and humidity deflection. His fingers moved the knobs without hesitation, each adjustment precise to one-tenth of a mil. Then he pulled the trigger. A bullseye. Lu Xiao also scored a bullseye.

1100 meters. A perfect score of 10 rings in the daytime. Lu Xiao also got a perfect score of 10 rings.

1200 meters. Bai Ye still got a bullseye. After Lu Xiao pulled the trigger, the target report device showed a delay of almost half a second before it popped up—a bullseye.

1300 meters. 1400 meters. The target position was moved further and further away, and the target paper had shrunk to a small dot in the scope.

The air at the firing range began to grow heavy. The sound of the wind, the electronic beeping of the target detector, the clatter of spent cartridge cases hitting the ground—every sound was amplified several times over, so clear it felt like it was right next to your ear.

1,800 meters.

When Xie Huai'an casually announced this number, even Lu Xiao himself felt it was a bit crazy. The effective range of this sniper rifle is 1,000 meters, and 1,800 meters is almost twice that number. A bullet travels in the air for more than two seconds, and the bullet drop needs to be calculated in meters. Any tiny environmental variable can cause the bullet to deviate from the target.

Lu Xiao pulled the trigger.

The bullet tore through the air, piercing a hole in the target paper 1,800 meters away. The electronic target indicator beeped—the sound echoed across the range for almost a second before fading away. A number appeared on the display screen.

Nine rings.

Applause erupted from the viewing area.

1,800 meters, nine rings – this score surpasses the highest historical record for aerial sniping assessment.

Lu Xiao looked up from behind the scope and let out a long breath. He was quite satisfied. Although he didn't get a bullseye, scoring a nine at this distance was already an exceptional performance.

Bai Ye lay on the ground.

His movements were slower than before—not because he was nervous, but because he was using the strength of his sixteen-year-old body to control a sniper rifle with recoil far exceeding its tolerance.

He found a very short window during a brief interval in the wind speed change, and then pulled the trigger without hesitation.

The spent cartridge case ejected and struck the concrete ground with a crisp clang, unusually clear in the silent firing range. The target signal light illuminated.

Ten rings.

The entire firing range was silent for a full five seconds.

The wind stopped, the breathing stopped, even the sound of spent cartridges rolling on the ground stopped. Then Lu Xiao suddenly scrambled to his feet, his movements so fast he almost tripped over his own tripod.

He took three steps at a time to reach Bai Ye's target position, looked down at the gun he was using—a standard model, without a custom grip, without personal calibration, and the same bipod he had just complained about.

Lu Xiao stared at Bai Ye's face, his voice cracking, rising a full octave higher than usual, echoing for several seconds in the empty shooting range.

"Are you even human?!"

Bai Ye stood up from the ground and patted the dust off his knees.

He met Lu Xiao's wide, bell-like eyes and tilted his head. He thought for a moment and answered seriously.

"I am."