Barney and Christmas led William along the dimly lit path in the castle towards the newly built shooting range. This shooting range alone cost William 1 million pounds.
Upon arriving at the shooting range, Barney opened the door with a password and fingerprint, then joked with William, "Boss, let us input your password and fingerprint first. Otherwise, when we leave tomorrow, you'll have to spend a fortune finding someone to break open this alloy door."
William chuckled. After inputting his password and fingerprint with Barney's help, William seriously examined the small shooting range.
The shooting range had a two-story armory and a basement, which contained a double-layered password room. It stored all the weapons William had sent back for Barney last time: five AWP sniper rifles, ten M4 rifles, dozens of Glock 17/18 pistols, and some classic revolvers, along with a large quantity of ammunition, grenades, stun grenades, smoke grenades, listening devices, bulletproof vests, helmets, night vision goggles, walkie-talkies, and even a M249 machine gun and a Stinger missile launcher with four spare missiles.
This was William's armory, and also his weapon collection room. He would place all his favorite weapons here in the future. After William changed all the armory passwords, he took out a Glock 17 and a magazine and walked towards the firing range.
The firing range had three lanes: 50 meters, 100 meters, and 200 meters. Anything further would require going outdoors. William loaded a magazine into his Glock 17 at the 50-meter lane and began test firing with a series of bangs.
Barney and Christmas both watched through binoculars as bullet holes continuously appeared in the bullseye of the paper target. After William emptied a magazine, Barney gave William a thumbs-up. To be able to hit the bullseye with every shot during rapid firing was excellent even for mercenaries who lived on the edge of life and death. For William, who lived in the world of ordinary people, it was truly remarkable.
Barney instructed William, "Boss, your shooting talent is excellent, and your shooting posture is very standard. There's no problem with your draw and accuracy. With more practice, you'll improve your shooting speed. Many times, if you're faster than others, the result is that you live and they die."
William knew Barney had a quick-draw specialty. "Barney, can you teach me your quick-draw technique? I know you can empty a revolver in less than a second. Barney, can you demonstrate it for me?"
Barney didn't hesitate. He had a good impression of William. If William wanted to learn, he would teach. Besides, quick-draw relied on talent. Talented people could draw and shoot in mere hundredths of a second, while some, no matter how much they practiced, couldn't reach that speed.
"Boss, quick-draw, to put it simply, is about drawing your gun faster and more accurately than others. While there are some techniques, the most important factors are talent and practice. Those with strong talent can easily become masters. Quick-draw demands a lot from the wrist." After saying this, Barney stood in the shooting lane next to William, rubbing his wrist. His revolver was always kept on his lower back for concealment, allowing for a quick draw when an enemy wasn't paying attention. Bang, bang, bang! Barney emptied the six rounds from his revolver in the blink of William's eye.
It was William's first time seeing someone draw a gun so quickly up close. Six shots fired in a blink. Looking at the six holes in the paper target, William was startled. If he had encountered that, he would definitely not have been able to dodge and would have been shot instantly.
William felt that he wouldn't even have time to cast a magic shield before being hit. The power of that revolver was immense, and he didn't think he would survive if he took all six shots.
Damn it, he still needed to be careful in the future. Don't think that having magic made him invincible; William would still die if he got shot.
William's marksmanship was actually very good now, just not as fast as Barney's. While drawing speed was crucial in a duel, accuracy was the most important. And he wouldn't be foolish enough to face someone head-on; with mental scanning, sneak attacks were the way to go.
William returned to the armory and grabbed a short-barreled Smith & Wesson revolver. Following Barney's instructions, William quickly drew his gun and emptied the cylinder with a "bang, bang, bang," taking four seconds. William looked at Christmas, who was chuckling beside him, feeling a bit embarrassed. It looked simple, but it was incredibly difficult to actually do.
Barney looked at the slightly flushed William and said with a smile, "It's alright, boss. You'll get better with practice. I've been practicing this skill for over ten years. It's normal not to be familiar with drawing like this for the first time. You're much better than Christmas here. Christmas has been practicing for almost three years and still isn't as fast as you are today."
Christmas looked at Barney speechlessly. When had he ever practiced quick-draw? But seeing Barney glare at him, Christmas could only nod and say, "Yes, boss, your talent is still very good. For your first time, you've done very well. You'll get better with more practice. Boss, I have faith in you."
"Shut up, Christmas. God, your words of comfort are too fake. Don't talk to me like that anymore, or I'll be tempted to punch you."
William knew Barney and Christmas were comforting him. He himself knew he didn't have much talent in this area when he drew the gun earlier. His hands were very uncoordinated, like they were tied together, completely lacking the ease he had when holding a Glock with one hand.
Thinking about Barney's movements and then his own clumsiness made William quite depressed. He checked his watch and saw it was almost 11 o'clock. "Forget it, I'll practice on my own later. If I have any questions, I'll call you, Barney. It's 11 o'clock, let's go back and rest. You guys are leaving tomorrow, so get some sleep early."
William put the weapons back in the armory, led the two out of the shooting range, and returned to the castle. As they walked, he sensed Caesar and Toll Road patrolling the castle. He said to Barney, "No need to patrol now, there are no security issues. Let everyone go back and rest."
Although Barney didn't know why William didn't want Caesar and Toll Road to patrol, he still followed William's instructions. He took out his walkie-talkie and said, "Caesar, Toll Road, go rest now. No more patrolling. We need to wake up early tomorrow to go to the airport and fly back to America. Go to bed early so you don't oversleep."
Caesar's reply came through the walkie-talkie, "Understood."
After William, Barney, and Christmas shook hands and wished each other goodnight, they went upstairs to their rooms.
After he had showered and lain in bed for three hours, William dressed and quietly slipped out of his room's balcony. He used his mental power to scan the surroundings. The castle was silent at 2:30 AM. After sensing no one, William strolled towards the Archangel statue in the garden.
Upon reaching the statue, William followed the method his grandfather had told him and opened the hidden compartment between the statue's feet. William didn't look closely; he directly placed a half-meter-long, platter-sized sealed cipher cylinder from the compartment into his storage space. After restoring the compartment to its original position, William carefully observed the surroundings for a moment before returning to the castle empty-handed.
Carefully, making no sound, he walked all the way to the basement. He used a password to open the castle's safe room. After closing the alloy door, William used his mental power to carefully scan the safe room a few times, confirming there were no issues. After changing the safe room's password and settings, William finally took out the cipher cylinder that Henry had hidden for ten years from his storage space.
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