Thus, a day of madness ended; other than eating and drinking, it was almost entirely high-intensity training.
After a day, Zhang Jie was exhausted but had gained a lot.
After dinner, Zhang Jie lay on his bed, tilted his head, and immediately fell asleep.
Seeing Zhang Jie fall asleep instantly, Ross and the others didn't have much to say.
"Can you guys handle such high-intensity training?" Caesar suddenly asked.
Ross merely glanced at him, then at the sleeping Zhang Jie, "When I was his age, I probably could. At least not now."
The youngest, Yin Yang, just quietly said, "I can't keep up."
Rhode and Christmas exchanged glances.
Clearly, they also knew the intensity of this special training was too high, so high that most people couldn't endure it. Yet, this guy, currently sound asleep, had gritted his teeth and persevered, though it was only the first day.
At midnight, Zhang Jie was woken up.
He used cold water to quickly clear his head and get into a ready state, then headed to the Shooting range.
The midnight Shooting range was stark white under the searchlights, with the diesel generator roaring in the distance.
Caesar's golden teeth gleamed in the light. He picked up an AA-12 shotgun as if it were a toy; blue smoke still wafted from the cooling vents on the barrel.
"Feel a real man's toy," Caesar threw the gun over. Zhang Jie nearly fumbled it. The fully automatic shotgun was much heavier than he expected, and the polymer stock was covered in bullet-impact marks.
Caesar pried open the ammunition box with a tactical dagger. The clinking of brass casings sounded like wind chimes. "FRAG-12 high-explosive rounds," he picked one up and handed it to Zhang Jie. "The warhead's explosive power is almost comparable to a 40mm grenade." His fingertips gently traced the red marking on the rim of the casing. "If you miss, remember to write a will."
These were his specially made rounds, the only ones on Earth.
With the click of a remote control, the hydraulic target machines 200 meters away rumbled to life. Rusty steel targets rose one by one. The third row of targets even had rotten pork hanging from them to simulate living targets.
"The rules are simple," Caesar's thumb traced his throat in a cutting motion. "Make them all disappear."
After the high-intensity special training during the day, Caesar naturally knew that Zhang Jie couldn't withstand high-intensity training right now.
However, he didn't need to go to such lengths here, because his training plan consisted of only one sentence: aim and pull the trigger.
Zhang Jie raised the AA-12 shotgun, roughly aimed, and then pulled the trigger.
After the first shot, Zhang Jie felt the recoil was manageable.
Zhang Jie's shoulder was against the bulletproof plate, and his eardrums buzzed from the explosions.
Targets shattered in the gunfire, and shrapnel embedded in the earth wall behind with dull thuds.
"Shitty posture!"
Caesar kicked Zhang Jie behind the knee.
The moment he knelt, those large, fan-like hands were already pressing on his waist and abdomen.
"Thrust your hips forward, spine straight," hot, gunpowder-scented breath puffed into his ear. "Convert this bastard recoil into forward momentum!"
During single-handed reloading training, Caesar pulled out a stopwatch.
"Clear the drum, reload, and continue Shooting within five seconds." He spat beside Zhang Jie's combat boot. "Overtime, and you lick it clean."
Zhang Jie felt a wave of nausea. This 'magic damage' instantly invigorated him, and he pulled the trigger like a madman, his hands numb from the vibrations.
The magazine release button had been specially polished, and Zhang Jie's pinky finger was cut and bleeding. But when he completed his third smooth reload, Caesar finally revealed his white teeth.
"Kid, phase two begins!"
A jeep roared into the Shooting range. Caesar gripped the steering wheel with one hand, a grenade launcher in the other.
"Get in!" He sharply turned the wheel, drifting the rear of the car in the centrifugal force. As Zhang Jie grabbed the roll cage, the barrel of the AA-12 pressed against his lower back.
"Put it on!"
Caesar threw a black backpack. Zhang Jie quickly put it on.
"Start moving Shooting!" Caesar roared.
Amidst the dust of the moving Shooting, Caesar's roar drowned out the engine: "Three o'clock! Live target!"
As Zhang Jie turned, he saw a dummy tied to a wooden stake, dressed in civilian clothes.
"Don't care who it is," Caesar had already snatched the shotgun and blasted the target. "There are no bleeding hearts on the battlefield! Don't eat sour radishes!"
Splintered wood scratched Zhang Jie's face, drawing blood.
He realized once again how foolish his hesitation was. Although he had been a master for a long time, he couldn't bring himself to kill innocent people unless it was during a mission.
However, now he understood: whether on the battlefield, during a mission, or even in everyday life, if an inappropriate person appeared in an inappropriate place, then close your eyes and eliminate him!
As for being a saint, that's for the dead to meet; the living only need to become devils.
What Zhang Jie didn't know was that outside the training ground, Ross, Yin Yang, Rhode, and Jensen were watching his performance.
"Compared to Ling Feng, he is indeed much weaker, but his endurance and persistence are enough to move people."
Ross's assessment was very fair.
"At least I like this guy more," Christmas grinned.
"It's rare to hear you voluntarily say you like someone," Rhode said with surprise; this was uncommon.
Christmas shrugged indifferently, "You just don't see it often, and it's not like I don't say it, you damn bastard!"
Only Jensen stood a little further away, his eyes fixed on Zhang Jie's direction, wondering what he was thinking.
Yin Yang remained silent, but the admiration in his eyes never faded.
On the training ground, the training continued. Caesar's final test came without warning.
Caesar suddenly braked. Zhang Jie, not yet steady, was pulled to the edge of a cliff.
"Do you see those balloons?"
Fifty meters below the cliff, under the searchlights, three groups of red balloons swayed in the airflow.
Before Zhang Jie could utter "No," Caesar pushed him off the cliff.
The moment the sensation of weightlessness gripped his heart, muscle memory took over his body.
The AA-12 spewed fire during the fall. As the first balloon burst, Zhang Jie's back automatically arched.
After the second hit, he felt the tug as the parachute automatically deployed. Caesar had already set up safety devices, but the madman had lowered the deployment altitude to the critical limit.
When Zhang Jie scrambled back to the cliff top, Caesar was polishing his golden Desert Eagle with sandpaper.
"Do you know why I used a shotgun?"
He asked without looking up, then suddenly raised his hand and shot out a light bulb fifty meters away. "Because a real man..."
The muzzle turned towards Zhang Jie's chest, "...needs to cover all angles like shotgun pellets."
The heavy golden Pistol slapped against Zhang Jie's bleeding chest. "Now you're barely passable."
Zhang Jie revealed a faint smile, though the streaks of blood on his teeth made his expression much more ferocious.
Caesar looked at the man, his face covered in gunpowder and mud, grinned, and slapped him hard on the shoulder.
Truthfully, Zhang Jie's performance satisfied him. Although there was a momentary hesitation when Shooting the humanoid targets, that wasn't a problem.
"Now, you're half a man."
Zhang Jie: "?"
"Wait, why only half?"
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