Chapter 56: 56: Internal Competition

Over the next few days, Joe Ga had been helping Nis get accustomed to her new gun, and of course, he was also practicing with his own firearm. The SVD was incredibly efficient, with a shooting range of 850 meters, which was absolutely sufficient for small-scale, low-intensity combat. Due to the shooting range, Joe Ga had experienced several sweet victories—several battles where they had pressed the enemy without any real danger, which made him even more enthusiastic about the SVD! The shooting range Joe Ga had chosen was near the airport, selecting a small hill and setting up targets on the vast grassland below, ranging from near to far. There were handgun targets at 10 to 25 meters, then the range extended to rifle targets from 50 to 400 meters, and beyond that, there was a set of targets every 100 meters, all the way up to 1800 meters. All the targets were fixed onto iron frames on the ground, each with a human-sized steel plate 2 centimeters thick. Once shot, the targets would emit a 'clang' sound, providing a satisfying resonance for the shooter. It wasn't until the seventh day of Joe Ga and Nis's training that Karman couldn't resist joining them. The old guy's instinct for shooting was ingrained in his bones, but he had previously used old guns like the AK47 and AKM, so he needed to practice handgun shooting to avoid having to resolve matters with a knife when sneaking up on the enemy. The three of them didn't interfere with each other, as they were practicing at different ranges. In less than two days, their form gradually started to pick up, and the situation began attracting the attention of others in the company. Sayram and Ayu spent two days there and left with their egos bruised. Eventually, the ones who chose to stay were Sayram's two nephews, Zhabu and Nas. These kids initially just wanted to mooch off Joe Ga's bullets for practice but soon lost confidence due to Joe Ga and Nis's shooting achievements. Then, the two young lads from Africa decided to stay at a rate of one dollar per hour, taking up binoculars to act as spotters for Joe Ga and Nis. The human-shaped steel targets were divided into three zones: the head worth three points, the torso two points, and the limbs just one point. As people who lived by the gun, it was inevitable that they would be a bit competitive, and so... "Get ready, start!" With a shout from Nas, who was missing half of his palm, Joe Ga, Nis, and Karman instantly drew their handguns in front of the targets… "Bang bang bang bang…" With a series of gunshots, the wine bottles about 15 meters in front of them suddenly shattered. At this moment, the differences between the three were apparent. Karman used a Glock 17, with no trait other than 'speed'! He fired 17 shots in quick succession, and with a bit of grip strength to keep the gun from jumping, even blindly, he would have smashed all five bottles. Nis was entirely different, her approach focused on stability, holding the gun with both hands and firing shot by shot—five bullets for five targets. The speed was naturally a bit slower, but her accuracy was higher. Joe Ga, by comparison, was much more aggressive, with both speed and accuracy. The moment the competition started, from drawing his gun to firing was done in one fluid motion, less than 2 seconds to shoot five bullets, all hitting their marks. That almost instinctual ease of shooting prompted Zhabu and Nas to erupt into fervent cheers. However, the content of their competition was a bit different; it was not about precision or speed but whether each person could use a magazine's worth of bullets to hit the designated targets per round. Wasting bullets was fine, but missing a target meant elimination. For Joe Ga, a 15-meter target range was too simple; he was used to shooting 25-meter moving targets, so these fixed targets presented no challenge for him. Sёarᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. The only aspect Joe Ga found slightly amusing was setting his own goal to just hit the neck of the bottle, so while Karman and Nis's targets shattered upon impact, Joe Ga's bottles would only burst at the neck, leaving the rest intact. Anyone could tell that Joe Ga's pistol shooting skills had reached the very top, but real combat was not the same as the competitive shooting Joe Ga pursued. In fact, it was Karman's approach that embodied the essence of real combat. The moment you encounter an enemy, unleashing all your firepower and getting the drop on your opponent to kill them first is what's most important. Of course, it's best if you can be more precise, but whether you shoot the head or somewhere else, or how many bullets you use, there's no issue. You can only worry about these things if you're alive, after all, how much do bullets cost? By contrast, Nis's use of the pistol was a bit rigid. She was a sniper who graduated from a regular military academy and used her pistol very standardly and methodically. With her pistol skills, she would have more than enough to be a police officer, but she fell short in the chaos of the battlefield. However, she was a sniper, and if things really got to the point where someone got up close, the P90 would certainly be more effective than a pistol. After the first round was done, the second round of 25-meter targets commenced. The target was still glass bottles, but the choices of weapon started to differ among the competitors. Joe Ga still chose to shoot with a pistol, while Karman opted for an AK74, and Nis chose a P90. Joe Ga was still quick to draw and fire, nailing all five shots. Karman's turn was amusing, though. The old guy held the AK74 at his waist and pulled the trigger without aiming. Two three-round bursts shattered the five bottles. He was even faster than Joe Ga, and the power of a rifle was naturally more fierce! Nis methodically shot five rounds with her P90, breaking all five targets. Although her shooting was stable and accurate, in terms of effectiveness, she was still at the bottom. Then the shooting distances kept increasing: 50 meters, 100 meters, 200 meters, 300 meters, 400 meters... 800 meters... 1000 meters... 1500 meters. Joe Ga was most confident in his shooting within 400 meters, but when it came down to a real contest, he realized that Karman, with an AK74, had absolute dominion within 100 meters, and could match him around 200 meters as well. Only when the distance stretched to 300 meters did Karman, who didn't like to use sights, resorted to using bursts to blindly hit the targets, and his hit rate was extremely high. It was only at the distance of 400 meters that he would miss, with a magazine of 30 bullets he might only hit two or three targets. This was also because they were shooting from a high position; if it were on flat ground, in the plains, you simply couldn't see the target at 400 meters. Joe Ga, of course, excelled in both speed and hit rate, but it was only after truly competing with Karman, an old-timer, that he understood how formidable the old man was. No, not 'how formidable', but too formidable. At a distance of 100-200 meters, he would just shoulder the rifle and shoot, no need to aim at all. The stance with the rifle stock tucked under his ribs had an indescribable clunky feel to it, but Joe Ga realized that this pose was convenient for shooting on the run. This was real guerrilla warfare. If in the plains, within a radius of 100 meters, if he and Karman were pitted against each other, Joe Ga felt that he most likely wouldn't stand a chance against Karman. Karman wasn't pursuing accuracy; what he sought was the ability to quickly incapacitate the enemy. At such close range, in a place like Africa where bulletproof vests were scarce, basically, as long as you 'hit the target,' it could be lethal, there really was no need for him to hold himself to the competition standards like Joe Ga did. This was true combat orientation, born from years of war and human life. It was the hallmark of someone practical and experienced in actual combat. Compared to Karman's domination between 100-200 meters, and Joe Ga's incredible skill within 200-400 meters, Nis fell a bit short. This young woman's P90 could only hold up to 200 meters. When entering the 300 meter range, she had to switch to a G29 sniper rifle, otherwise she simply couldn't keep up with the pace. But as distance increased, the situation began to change!!!