Chapter 899: Precision Under Pressure

That afternoon, Xia Qing slung her sniper rifle over her shoulder and stepped onto the shooting range at the Forty-Nine Practical Training Base, practicing long-distance shots on moving targets.

As Luo Pei put it, “You have to increase your effective range to 2,100 meters by the end of September. We need to scare off any scumbags looking to sneak into our base’s Evolved Forest to poach. Otherwise, we’re in for endless trouble.”

Having been exposed to Synthetic Toxin for too long, Luo Pei had suffered irreparable damage to his body. His once top-tier Vision Evolution was now stuck at level nine, with his shooting range dropping from 2,200 to 2,000 meters.

That 2,100 meters? It’s the range that Luo Pei, Hui Three’s top sniper, publicly claimed as his own.

Why set the deadline in late September? That’s when migratory birds pass through the human district of Hui Three. If Xia Qing can’t push her range to 2,100 meters before then, Hui Three will have to shell out for another elite sniper from another base—pretty much telling everyone Luo Pei isn’t what he used to be, or that Hui Three’s lost its best shot.

That’s why Luo Pei is counting on Xia Qing to step into the shoes of a top-tier sniper.

Long-range sniper accuracy depends on all sorts of complicated factors: Blue Star’s rotation, wind speed, visibility, air humidity, terrain—you name it. Trying to push your effective range from 2,000 to 2,100 meters in just two months isn’t exactly easy.

But Luo Pei truly believed the goal and deadline he’d set for Xia Qing were within reach if she pushed herself. Just earlier, he’d taken her to get her Evolution Ability tested, and discovered her Vision Evolution had reached level nine and a half. When Luo Pei himself was at that level, his effective range was exactly 2,100 meters.

Knowing Xia Qing’s Vision Evolution had leapt up, Luo Pei was so overjoyed it was like his own injured eyes had returned to their prime. He even slapped Xia Qing’s shoulder three times in a row—there was no hiding how high his expectations were.

All that attention piled on the pressure. Even with her talent, Xia Qing had to feed the sniper rifle with thousands of rounds and devote countless hours to practice if she wanted to sharpen her accuracy and efficiency.

Besides Xia Qing, there were 15 other Azure Dragon snipers on the range, all training hard under Luo Pei’s watchful eye.

A sniper’s job is to take out key targets and equipment on the enemy team—they can change the tide of battle. The number and quality of snipers says a lot about a base’s or combat team’s overall strength.

Out of these snipers, ten were Evolved fighters, and five were ordinary people with sniper talent. With enough intense training, even an ordinary person could reach a mid-level sniper’s skill after Blue Star’s evolution, and as long as they had proper protection, they could take on missions in the field.

After the Great Evolution, most humans on Blue Star—whose physical skills doubled—are just ordinary people. Of Hui Three’s 1.9 million population, nearly 1.896 million are regular folks, and only a little over 3,000 have evolved. There’s no way you’d trust the entire base’s security to just a handful of evolved defenders.

The Azure Dragon Squad, ranked first among all of Hui Three’s teams, had more than six hundred members, two-thirds of whom were Evolved fighters—a ratio that’s unmatched across the base.

Lying behind cover, Xia Qing had Hu Zifeng—a level five Vision Evolutionary—on her right, Peng Jian at level six next to him, Zhang Ling at level seven to her left, and even further down was Tang Huai, restless and muttering to himself.

Zhang Ling was one of only two snipers on the range, besides Xia Qing, using this particular model of sniper rifle. Her range maxed out at 1,700 meters, with Luo Pei setting her target at 1,820—just enough to pass as a senior sniper.

“Bang!”

With Luo Pei guiding her, Zhang Ling took nearly three minutes to line up her shot before finally squeezing the trigger and hitting the stationary target 1,700 meters out—nine points!

“Ding.”

To Zhang Ling, the sound of the shell clinking against the stone was probably music to her ears. But to Xia Qing, it just felt like a punch to the gut.

See, a regular bullet costs four to twenty credits each, but the ammo for the sniper rifles Xia Qing and Zhang Ling used? That price had been hiked up to a whopping 320 credits per shot.

Every time Xia Qing pulled the trigger, she was basically firing off over a pound of Green Lantern meat, premium Greenlight rice, or a pound of Green-Lamp pine nuts…

So while the Azure Dragon snipers—whose ammo was reimbursed—heard a sweet melody with each shot, all Xia Qing heard was:

“Your credits: -320!”

“Your credits: -320!”

Worse yet, it was the Iron Rooster’s smug little voice reading out the deduction every time. The throne of top sniper at Hui Three Base was sitting on a mountain of spent credit cards!

Honestly, Xia Qing hadn’t improved her effective sniping range for over a month simply because she felt 2,000 meters was plenty—and couldn’t bear to use up her expensive ammo on training.

She was dying to ask if Azure Dragon Squad could cover some of her training rounds. But the instructor was just too strict, so she didn’t dare. All she could do was bake in the sun and shoot round after round at a bamboo rat holed up in a big cage 2,030 meters away.

After six hours of practice and a mountain of credits down the drain, Xia Qing walked down the mountain at sunset—completely ignoring Tang Huai, who also carried the same expensive sniper rifle and trained at her own expense. He was using a cm-82 too!

Turns out, when you’ve got money, you really can do whatever you want.

Once Tang Huai got chased off by Old Goat, who was still spoiling for a fight, Xia Qing headed back to her territory in a slightly better mood. She passed through the Wild Grass Wall, strolled down the hillside, and immediately spotted the Red Squirrel family scavenging for handouts—plus the Red Fox family, lazing around the reservoir and laughing without a care. At that moment, she wanted to grab each one and give them a good scolding.

Seriously—how hard do I work to earn credits for this household? And yet you guys treat me like an easy mark!

Seeing Xia Qing return, the Red Squirrel family quickly stuffed all their food in their mouths. The two big ones and a baby scurried back to their tree hollow, while another baby ran over and burrowed into the pocket of Xia Qing’s protective suit.

As for the Red Foxes, the trio shook the dirt and grass from their russet fur—prettier than the evening glow itself—and trotted up to Xia Qing, staring at her with eager eyes.

Xia Qing pulled out her bug-repellent starter powder from her backpack and gave each fox a good dusting. She felt her spirits lighten instantly.

Once they’d had their medicine, the three foxes strutted off in satisfaction—faces scanned at the checkpoint—headed to Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine to mooch another meal.

How could that entire fox family pass the face scan? Easy—they show up every day. If Xia Qing didn’t register their faces, every single camera in the territory would flood her phone with intrusion alerts all day long!

And why don’t they search for food in Section Three anymore? Simple. Between the snakes, bugs, and rodents, every critter except Xia Qing’s pet Red Squirrels has been hunted clean by those foxes. That’s why Xia Qing tolerates their daily visits for free medicine.

So, strictly speaking, the only freeloaders left eating for free in Xia Qing’s territory were the Red Squirrel mom and her quick-footed, speed-evolved baby.

Little Fei Mao, the official staffer tucked in Xia Qing’s pocket, didn’t count as a freeloader at all. The other baby squirrel had already struck out on its own, choosing a territory in Section Three of Hill Forty-Nine, and rarely dropped by anymore—it’d been days since Xia Qing last saw it.

“Baa!” Old Goat, fresh from his brawl, bleated, reminding Xia Qing that it was time for dinner.

Xia Qing brushed fox fur from her gloves, her voice gentle. “Alright, let’s pick some veggies and head home to cook. What do you want for dinner, Boss? Cucumber, lettuce, ice plant with Fourth Ration Bar sound good?”

“Baa~~~”

“I’m exhausted—can you carry my backpack and hold the veggie basket tonight?”

“Baa.”

After picking veggies, they got home just in time to see Er carrying a basket of eggs out of the Chicken House with Monkey, in his green shorts, clinging to his back. Monkey’s dopey face slowly lit up with a smile when he saw Xia Qing return.

A human in the house meant good food, air conditioning, and maybe even a bath.

Xia Qing ruffled Monkey’s head and laughed—his silly face was even cuter than when he tried to look cool. She took the basket from Er’s mouth. “You’ve been learning from Er, Monkey? Good job! And Er, thanks for gathering all the eggs. You’ve really outdone yourself—tonight I’ll make boiled eggs just for you.”

Er wagged his tail and grinned a toothy smile.

After dinner, Xia Qing sat in the first-floor living room, listening to an agriculture program on the radio, shelling sunflower seeds with Monkey and enjoying the air conditioner. Suddenly, her pink phone on the table beeped.

Right on time, the handsome Huge Wolf arrived for his medicinal bath in her territory.