Chapter 12: Target Control

Eight shots, five missed, three bull's-eyes. This result was indeed quite dramatic.

As Arthur placed the empty gun on the table, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Is he controlling the target? He's controlling it! He's controlling it!"

It was unclear who said it, but someone mentioned "target control."

The staff sighed and said to Arthur, "Buddy, if you're not particularly attached to the SW1911, or if you don't want John's matched gun, anyway, you've won. Three bull's-eyes, five misses... that was beautifully shot."

In shooting competitions, gun control refers to controlling the shooting posture. Every shooter must control their gun while shooting; it's a basic skill, like having two legs for a running race.

But target control is different; it means hitting whatever score you want. To achieve that, you must have complete mastery.

"Is this guy kidding? His shooting is random. Can you call this target control?"

"Today is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this in my life."

A few bystanders started discussing. They found Arthur's shooting style unscientific, irregular, and incorrect—in short, it was all wrong. However, achieving target control with such a method was unreasonable.

It's well known that in any competition, it's easy to lose, and hard to win, and to win just right, you have to be a master. But to win as you please, to have everything under control, you must be a super master.

But Arthur didn't know how he did it. His hands were numb, his mind was numb, and honestly, he just shot blindly.

Arthur looked at John, and John looked at Arthur.

After a moment of silence, Arthur whispered, "Um, actually..."

"Will, do you have this gun in stock?"

"We do, but only one. Are you going to buy it?"

John ignored the staff and said to Arthur, "Keep shooting your bullets. I'll go pay and do the paperwork."

Then John left. Arthur opened his mouth, then said to the staff, "Do you believe I was just lucky? Do you believe it? It's just a coincidence."

Awkwardly and politely smiling, the staff said, "Do you want to continue shooting? Um, we can order the left-handed version of the SW1911. Once John's gun qualification is approved, the gun will arrive."

"I'm not left-handed, and it's my first time shooting. I... forget it."

Arthur decided to give the money to John. Anyway, he also wanted to buy a gun, although he intended to buy a Glock. But with the current situation, it wasn't appropriate to mention it anymore.

Let's just buy a more expensive gun; everything was so inexplicable today, let it be.

After shooting a few more guns, Arthur finally decided to give up. Although he felt reluctant, it was stupid to injure his arm the first time he shot a gun.

Leaving the indoor shooting range with the staff, they arrived at the reception room to do the paperwork and pick up the gun. John's information was also filled out.

John simply said, "Not shooting anymore? Let's go then. We'll go to Walmart and then I'll drop you off at the company."

Why did things suddenly turn out like this? It felt very awkward, but Arthur was really confused. He wanted to explain something but found there was nothing to explain.

Once they got into the car, Arthur wanted to say something, but John interrupted, "It was my idea to bet with you. Don't say anything. It's just over a thousand dollars. I can afford it and pay for it."

Arthur had nothing to say. He rubbed his face, smiled helplessly, and John continued, "The shooting range today was too small. Tomorrow I'll take you to the outdoor shooting range in the suburbs. You like playing with guns, right? Tomorrow I'll take you to shoot rifles. You can shoot whatever gun you want."

John's tone sounded normal, but the content seemed somewhat resentful.

Arthur cautiously said, "John, I'm... It's my first time shooting a gun. I don't know how I did it. You have to believe me."

John nodded, then calmly said, "I'm looking forward to seeing how you shoot rifles tomorrow. Oh, don't worry, I won't bet with you or compete with you. I'm just curious. You're a genius."

Arthur felt John shouldn't be so petty. He hadn't offended John, so why did he feel like there was sarcasm in everything John said?

It's better not to say anything. Arthur thought it was best to remain silent at this point.

The atmosphere was somewhat strange, but everything went smoothly and seemed normal. They bought things at the supermarket, and John happily accepted Arthur's treat when they went out to eat.

When Arthur was dropped off at the company, it was already dark. But importantly, in the end, John didn't mention anything about testing Arthur's skills. It was as if he had forgotten about wanting to learn a few tricks from Arthur. He just gave some instructions and left.

Arthur was left alone in the company. He didn't feel like exploring or visiting the company. After tidying up the mess, Arthur, who was exhausted, checked the time and finally connected his phone to the WiFi and sent a video to his dad.

Despite being tired, Arthur was excited when the video call connected. There was no sign of fatigue on his face.

"Dad, my SIM card doesn't work when I'm abroad. The hotel I stayed at yesterday didn't have WiFi, so I couldn't message you. I've changed to a hotel with WiFi today. We can use video calls for communication from now on."

Arthur's tone was relaxed and joyful as if he had forgotten to call home because he was too excited.

"You should have at least called. Your mom was so worried. Are you okay over there?"

Arthur didn't plan to say he had arrived in Los Angeles yet because he couldn't explain it. Of course, he would have to tell them, but he would wait a few days and come up with a suitable reason.

For now, Arthur just wanted to report that he was safe. So he calmly said, "I'm fine, what could happen? You and Mom don't need to worry. I'm doing fine here."

After chatting for a bit, he ended the video call. The excitement on Arthur's face immediately disappeared, and he collapsed onto the mattress.

He was too tired. Arthur just wanted to sleep now, and he didn't want to think about anything else.

However, just as he closed his eyes, Arthur suddenly remembered something important. He immediately sat up, grabbed his bag, and took out the phone Captain had given him. He deleted the video on it, restored the phone to its factory settings to ensure no evidence was left, and then lay down again, almost immediately falling asleep.