Chapter 12 Not Human

The shooting range is located in the third campus of Jingyun University, which is relatively remote.

The main building is oval-shaped and occupies a considerable area. It has multiple indoor training rooms, an open-air shooting range to the left of the main building, and a semi-open building to the right, used for live-action shooting competitions.

There were about 300 students participating in the shooting course today, and they were randomly assigned to groups of six.

After receiving their training firearms, the students began listening to the instructors explain the procedures and various safety precautions.

Meng Er stood there with a calm expression, holding the dagger that was no different from a child's toy to her, her eyes lowered, habitually ignoring the subtle stares and glances around her.

This is the first time she's ever handled a gun in this life, even though it's the result of various castrations to ensure safety.

In her previous life, Meng Er had participated in several hunting trips. Because she needed to build relationships with clients and business partners, she inevitably came into contact with this popular entertainment activity in the so-called high society.

The gun I held back then was far superior to the one I have now, both in terms of its lethality and its feel.

She has never needed external stimulation to obtain mental pleasure.

In the final group photo session, while everyone else was all smiles and holding up the heads of their prey, she often had a few rabbits piled up at her feet.

This led to Meng Er being jokingly referred to as a "rabbit killer."

Now, surrounded by a group of high school students, Rabbit Killer is the only one who hasn't even passed the preliminary test, making him visibly 'out of place'.

Her performance was not particularly unique in this vast, open-air shooting range.

Many of the specially recruited students stood silently in place with their guns in hand, neither intending to load them for shooting practice nor showing any interest in asking the instructors for guidance.

They seemed to be just there to earn some extra hours of study time, but it wasn't necessarily that they weren't interested. However, seeing how skilled and casual the others in the venue were, they somehow managed to suppress their curiosity and eagerness to try.

Meng Er thought for a moment, then turned and walked into the main hall, finding an indoor training room with available seats.

To be allowed to conduct live-fire target practice, one needs to pass a preliminary assessment and sign some liability agreements. True to her nature, since she was already there, she might as well just pass the assessment.

Not long after she left, a group of people arrived at the empty space outside the main building where there were few students.

These people had different expressions, but they were all relaxed and casual, and their shooting uniforms were clearly different from those of the other students.

One of them casually waved, and a short boy appeared out of nowhere, standing in front of them and whispering as if giving a report.

"Just went in? Tsk..."

The crew-cut man, with slightly dark skin, frowned and said, "Didn't I tell you to find an excuse to stop her? What are we going to do now?"

He turned his head and glanced at his companions.

"Do you know which training room she went to? Just let that coach give her a quick lesson and she'll pass." The girl in yellow was a little impatient. She paused, "Let me remind you again, I think what you're doing is really childish."

The crew-cut boy chuckled, "What's so childish about it? You were suddenly thrust into the role of student representative. You don't care if you're represented by someone else, but I do care, okay?"

She rolled her eyes, speechless.

A girl with her sleeves rolled up said, "Indeed, this is the first time that a student representative has not come from our student council. We can't just not react at all, can we?"

They are student council members, and to outsiders they are certainly a group.

But they all knew perfectly well that the other person, like themselves, was merely making an example for the person behind their supporters, testing the strength of this student representative.

If she can't even solve this small problem, then, as the crew-cut boy said, what right does she have to represent all the senior students?

There are many prominent figures in Jingyun, many of whom are outstanding individuals admired by their peers in different fields.

They're all old rivals who usually compete with each other.

Suddenly a new face appeared, completely outshining them all, and supposedly has no background whatsoever.

To truly be magnanimous and ignore someone is not grace, but rather a sign of weakness and acquiescence.

It wasn't a deliberate act of confrontation; they disdained to do so. They simply expressed their modesty and indifference: if she truly lived up to her reputation, then they would 'recruit' her.

Just as the crew-cut guy took out his phone to make a call, he was suddenly nudged by the person next to him.

"Hey, she's out!"

"ha?"

It's only been less than ten minutes, right? The crew-cut boy and the others all turned to look at Meng Er as he walked out of the main building.

Then we focused on the piece of paper in her hand.

That's it...?

The initial assessment is indeed not difficult; you just need to answer a few basic questions and pass the shooting test.

But less than ten minutes...?

The crew-cut guy stared at it for a while, then smiled confidently and said, "I guess he has some basic skills. That's not surprising. There have been quite a few amateur enthusiasts in recent years, and several shooting ranges have opened."

Besides, they came here to test Meng Er's character and abilities, so it's better that she can save them trouble.

When Meng Er walked out of the main building, she also noticed that group of people, mainly because their eyes and expressions couldn't hide anything.

Sure enough, the group moved over in a flurry. The young man with the buzz cut at the head of the group clearly had a strong look of scrutiny in his eyes, and his tone was somewhat condescending when he spoke.

"You are Meng Er?"

"no."

Meng Er gave a casual reply and walked past them, her expression unchanged despite the stares of the crowd.

"puff……"

Someone couldn't help but laugh out loud, and the expression on the buzz-cut boy's face immediately turned very unpleasant.

Feeling embarrassed, he raised his voice and called out to Meng Er in a somewhat irritated tone, "Who hasn't seen you, the student representative, give a speech at the school assembly? If you're not Meng Er, then who is?"

Meng Er paused, turned around, and let out a soft "Ah," "So you already know me."

Then a few more muffled, suppressed laughs rang out.

She watched the crew-cut boy's increasingly angry expression and couldn't help but find it amusing.

These kids do have some cunning and scheming skills, but in her opinion, they're still too naive and immature.

After all, in the circles she frequented, hypocrisy and deep scheming were basic qualities for everyone. As long as there was profit to be made, there were plenty of two people with deep-seated hatred who could sit together and chat happily.

So much so that Meng Er saw their naive methods as a kind of innocent fun reminiscing about the past.

“Since we know each other,” Meng Er said calmly, “why don’t we go to the shooting range together? I’ve heard that Jingyun has some students who are professional shooting athletes and have won awards. I’d love to see them.”

"Oh, this person wouldn't happen to be you, would it?"

"..."

That's strange.

The plot is unfolding in a very strange way; how did it suddenly become her taking the initiative to extend the invitation?

The crew-cut boy even subconsciously turned his head to look at his companions, only to be met with slightly bewildered faces.

After struggling for a while, he could only manage to utter one sentence, "How did you know..."

Then he saw Meng Er glance at his hand, and the rest of his words naturally stuck in his throat.

She observed that calluses inevitably form on the surface of the gun after holding it for a long time.

Realizing that he had not only lost control of the conversation but was also heading in an unpredictable direction, the crew-cut guy secretly took a breath and said, "Fine!"

The people behind him exchanged glances, all showing expressions of disbelief.

It's really unbelievable how someone can be led around like that.

They silently assessed Meng Er in their hearts, letting the hot-headed, clueless young man take the lead.

Meng Er nodded slightly, turned around and walked towards the shooting range. The group was stunned for a moment, but soon followed her in a grand procession.

Gunshots rang out intermittently at the open-air firing range, and it was rare to hear any outstanding scores from the monotonous system announcements; most results were mediocre.

Meng Er and her entourage entered the venue, instantly attracting the attention of many people.

The scene was clearly not as tense as they had imagined, even though not all of these people were student council members; most were just members.

But they all have qualities that make them stand out from the average person.

For some reason, they followed Meng Er obediently until she stopped at a deserted shooting spot, at which point the group stopped in their tracks.

The other students were completely confused. What happened to the show that was supposed to be interesting?

That's it?

Meng Er put on his goggles, bent down to load and chamber a round, raised his hand holding the gun, and aimed.

The buzz-cut boy's expression, which had been slightly annoyed at being led around the whole time, changed slightly.

He could tell that Meng Er's posture wasn't exactly standard, but the ease and skill with which he performed the move was something an amateur could never achieve.

“I’ve heard that Jingyun’s students are all quite competitive, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do.”

Meng Er did not pull the trigger. She sensed the change in wind direction at the open-air shooting range and said calmly, "I wonder if I have the honor of asking you for some shooting tips."

The crew-cut boy paused, ignoring the strange feeling in his heart, and was about to nod in agreement.

Meng Er decisively pulled the trigger repeatedly, controlling her slightly trembling arm. After several loud bangs, she took off her noise-canceling headphones and turned to look at the crew-cut boy.

"Number 12, ring 10, ring 10, ring 10... Your score is: 10/10".

"Thank you for your guidance."

Meng Er's expression was indifferent, as if he were only looking at him, and his calm, slightly cold gaze seemed to overlook the people behind him.

"Oh, those classmates seemed to have come specifically to see me, right?"

"How can I help you?"

Although she spoke in a questioning tone, she didn't seem to be waiting for an answer. She lowered her eyes to examine the gun in her hand, and sure enough, it was a children's toy, with almost no recoil.

The crew-cut boy and the people behind him remained silent.

It wasn't that they didn't want to talk, but for a moment just now, Meng Er inexplicably gave them the feeling that an elder was standing in front of them.

That imposing expression, though not angry, made it seem as if he was about to utter the terrifying yet effective threat of suspending their credit cards.

"N-It's alright now."

The boy with the buzz cut even had a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.

They came suddenly, and they left even more suddenly.

This left a group of people who were waiting to see a good show completely bewildered, unable to see a single spark throughout the entire process, except when Meng Er fired at the target.

-

The student council members walked out of the open-air shooting range.

Suddenly, someone called out the name of the boy with the buzz cut and said, "You could achieve that score too, right? Besides, isn't shooting moving targets your specialty? Even if you're evenly matched on stationary targets, you can compete in this!"

In short, losing momentum so inexplicably is really frustrating.

The crew-cut boy wiped his sweat, unusually devoid of his usual arrogance.

He lowered his voice and said, "You don't understand."

"...?"

They just don't understand what this stuff is.

The crew-cut boy sighed and said seriously, "You all know that I went hunting on the African savanna with my uncle from abroad last summer, right?"

Everyone knows that this kid was constantly posting on his WeChat Moments during that period, and he mentioned it a lot when he came back from school.

He said in a low voice, "The way she fired her gun just now was exactly the same as one of the really skilled guys in our team back then. You might think it sounds unbelievable, but I can only say that there are gunners with that kind of presence..."

"He has hunted no fewer than one hand's worth of ferocious beasts."

"Compared to people like that, I still have a good sense of self-awareness."

I remember this guy posted a message on his WeChat Moments, where he specifically mentioned that amazing person and posted photos of his house with many skull specimens of what people generally consider to be ferocious wild animals.

The group fell silent.

"But... wasn't it said that her family background was very ordinary? That she came to Jingyun for money, this..."

The crew-cut boy chuckled, "I bet you guys I shot that deer head last summer. If it's not as good as I say, I'll give you the deer head specimen."

"..."

The credibility instantly reached its maximum.

The boy with the buzz cut shook his head and sighed, "As expected, those who can be our senior year student representatives are no human beings."