When Ni Tiansong’s voice first rang out, the people surrounding Gu Zhaoping turned their heads.
The only one who didn’t react was Gu Zhaoping herself.
She was wearing ear protection, completely oblivious to external sounds, and even Mao Xinci was fully focused on the target ahead, undisturbed by the commotion.
Ni Tiansong hadn’t expected to run into Gu Zhaoping in a place like this so soon after returning to the country.
He was quite shocked.
He glanced at his cousin—wasn’t it his cousin who invited him here to relax?
For a moment, he even wondered if his cousin had heard something and deliberately invited Miss Gu as a guest.
But after a brief thought, he felt his secrecy was tight, and he wasn’t one to show emotions too openly in front of unfamiliar people.
His cousin shouldn’t have had the chance or knowledge to know about his connection with Miss Gu.
So, he found it even stranger.
When they heard Ni Tiansong’s approaching footsteps and his call of “Miss Gu,” everyone present froze, their hearts skipping a beat!
They stared in shock.
Had Young Master Ni actually shown up?
Wasn’t his cousin supposed to send him back?
They looked at Young Master Ni, whose expression was no less stunned than theirs, and then wondered, wait, this is Miss Gu?
Young Master Ni, you know her?
Young Master Ni’s heart sank, his eyes darting nervously between the two, utterly confused about what was happening.
He’d never heard that his cousin knew Gu Zhaoping, especially since she’d been living abroad all this time…
What was going on…?
Ni Tiansong studied Gu Zhaoping for a moment as she was shooting, pausing so as not to disturb her.
He turned to his cousin,
“What are you all doing? You know Miss Gu too?”
His cousin’s heart jolted, but he forced himself to answer,
“Uh, yeah…Cousin, we invited Miss Gu as a guest today to get to know her. We’re playing a shooting game, and Miss Gu seems interested, haha.”
Yang Qi was also dumbfounded.
He glanced at Ni Tiansong, then his mouth moved faster than his brain,
“Yeah, yeah, we’re hosting Miss Gu…”
Mid-sentence, Gu Zhaoping fired her fourth shot with a loud “bang,” startling several people.
Yang Qi hurriedly turned to look, checked the target, and was stunned, unable to believe it. He glanced at the screen displaying the ring count, his eyes widening…
What?!
What was this?
He thought he was going crazy—another 8.2 rings?!
His words were cut off by the sound of Gu Zhaoping’s shot, choking on his sentence, nearly coughing.
No, was this reasonable?
Gu Zhaoping, did you take some kind of performance enhancer today?
Going god-mode like this?!
Her second shot didn’t even hit the target, and now she’s pulling off two shots above 8 rings?!
You’re messing with me, right?!
As Yang Qi and the group of young masters stood there dumbfounded, Ni Tiansong looked away.
Though surprised by Gu Zhaoping’s performance, he’d seen her chess skills before, so her being talented wasn’t too shocking.
In fact, he appreciated his cousin’s arrangement.
“Looks like Miss Gu really enjoys shooting. You planned a great activity.”
Young Master Ni’s face twitched, and he and Yang Qi looked like they’d just eaten something foul.
A great activity?
Did they arrange this out of kindness?!
Something was off!
Could Gu Zhaoping really have grasped the knack after just a few words from the coach?
No way—if that’s the case, what’s the point of them even trying?
Could a normal person do this?
They refused to believe it!
Yet Gu Zhaoping’s movements were steady.
She held the gun firmly with both hands, calmly aiming at the target’s center, and fired her fifth shot.
As the gunshot rang out, Yang Qi jumped!
8.2 rings!?
What did this mean?
Yang Qi’s eyes nearly popped out.
He stared at the target and the screen, unable to make sense of it, and then…wait, this number seemed familiar.
Why did it feel familiar?
The sequence—hadn’t he just shot 7.8, 7.9, 7.9, 8 rings?
And what had Gu Zhaoping shot?
7.9 rings, 0 rings, 8 rings, 8.1 rings…?
Yang Qi’s heart skipped a beat as a terrifying thought hit him, but he immediately dismissed it.
No, how could that be possible?
Was Gu Zhaoping deliberately outscoring him by exactly 0.1 rings each time?
Was that something a human could do?
Did she think she was a special forces sniper?
Even if it was a coincidence, it was too coincidental—coincidental enough that he felt he should go buy a lottery ticket.
At that moment, Ni Tiansong suddenly turned, noticing the gun Yang Qi was still holding, and asked,
“Were you just competing with Miss Gu?”
Yang Qi, wiping sweat from his forehead, jolted at Ni Tiansong’s words, nearly dropping the gun as he hurriedly handed it back to the shooting coach.
“Uh, yeah, yeah, it was me.”
Ni Tiansong casually asked,
“How’d you do?”
Yang Qi’s face twisted for a moment, sweat pouring down.
If he revealed his scores, it’d feel too coincidental.
But during their conversation, Gu Zhaoping didn’t pause, continuing to fire her remaining five shots.
Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!
The screen quickly displayed her scores.
Yang Qi’s heart lurched, closing his eyes, silently praying, please don’t be too good, please don’t be too good…
When he finally dared to look, his eye twitched like it was spasming.
His gaze landed on the screen, and he froze entirely.
Yang Qi’s eyelid twitched.
8.1 rings, 8 rings…
9.1 rings!?
Yang Qi’s face jolted, still unable to believe what he was seeing!
He still remembered his own scores.
If his memory wasn’t failing him, if he hadn’t slipped into early dementia…
Based on what he recalled, Gu Zhaoping had scored exactly 0.1 to 0.2 rings higher than him on every shot!
Except for the second shot…
The second shot she missed entirely, scoring 0 rings!
Wait, but even excluding that missed shot, her other nine shots were all 0.1 to 0.2 rings higher than his. Was that really a possible coincidence?
Was this world real?
Was there some kind of code or glitch?!
In that instant, Yang Qi’s pupils trembled, beginning to question the reality of the world he was in!!
Gu Zhaoping finally stopped, put the handgun back, and removed her ear protection.
She turned around, her tone casual and light,
“You’re really impressive. You won.”
The ring counts for their ten shots were neatly displayed side by side on the big screen, perfectly aligned for comparison, with the right side slightly higher than the left for every shot—except for that missed second shot.
Yang Qi’s face turned ashen.
He stared at the screen in disbelief, then at Gu Zhaoping’s hands, his mind swirling with thoughts.
No, no, something’s wrong.
Gu Zhaoping, wasn’t she rumored to be some jujitsu master…and…right!
She’d even broken chess records?
How could this be?
Was there really someone so skilled at everything?
How could she be this good at everything?!
He felt this wasn’t a level a normal person could reach!
What, did she think she was some world-class athlete?
Was she okay?!
Sure, in terms of total rings, he scored slightly higher than Gu Zhaoping, but that was only because her second shot completely missed the target!
Given the freakish consistency of her later shots—all hitting above 8 rings with such precision—that missed shot felt like an intentional insult!
What kind of win was this?
Was this even a win?
Anyone with eyes could see Gu Zhaoping deliberately threw that second shot!
Gu Zhaoping, what are you doing?!
Yang Qi’s mind was consumed with this maddening question.
At that moment, Gu Zhaoping turned to Young Master Zhou beside Yang Qi and said,
“They say you’re the best among them, right? Come on, I’d like to test your skills.”
Young Master Zhou instinctively took a step back, as if scared off by Gu Zhaoping!
She wasn’t human!
No, he wasn’t an idiot.
Anyone could see Gu Zhaoping was deliberately playing them—this was score control!
She could’ve easily beaten Yang Qi, so why did she intentionally miss one shot?
There was no other reasonable explanation except humiliating Yang Qi!
Was her throwaway shot just to provoke him further?
Seeing his lack of response, Gu Zhaoping raised an eyebrow slightly,
“They say you’re better than all of them. I couldn’t even beat Yang Qi, so you wouldn’t be scared to face me, would you? You should be able to beat me too, right?”
“Or…are you actually not as good as Yang Qi, so you’re afraid to compete?”
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