Mercenary's War

If this was a publicity stunt, then Alexander has achieved his goal.

Set an impossible target to draw everyone’s attention, then get as close to that target as possible, and even if you don’t achieve the goal, it’s enough to create a sensation.

If Gao Yang freezes the final result at seven hits out of ten, then he is honored even in defeat, and Alexander has already proven his gun.

The performance is so good that it exceeds the limits of human use, and it has been proven for the designer and manufacturer of this gun.

But Gao Yang doesn’t want to be honored even in defeat, and neither does Alexander.

Because the premise of this bet wasn’t Alexander wanting publicity, since Alexander never thought about whether this gun could be sold, he simply wanted to win, to make those who doubted him shut up, that’s all.

However, Remington’s CEO Max sees it differently, he considers Alexander’s words as a joke, so he made a bet with Alexander online.

Blowhards, keyboard warriors, such people are everywhere, and Max was just casually arguing with people online, he didn’t expect the Alexander Arms Company to actually turn the bet into reality.

As the CEO of Remington, Max holds a significant position in the light arms industry. He knows the impact of his words and actions, so he would never let himself be used as a tool for publicity, but he didn’t expect Alexander to really make a groundbreaking rifle.

Now everyone understands, a super rifle has been born, regardless of who wins this bet, the Alexander Company is the ultimate winner.

It’s like giving competitors a live advertisement, and in such a sensational way, Max’s face looked extremely unpleasant.

But Alexander’s face isn’t looking good either, from a marketing standpoint he’s already succeeded, but Alexander only wants to win, not sell more guns.

As for Gao Yang, he doesn’t want to be honored even in defeat, he only wants victory, complete victory.

Max didn’t let anyone capture his somber face, when Gao Yang finished his first round, he quickly smiled at Alexander and said, "Although it didn’t succeed, it’s still very good, congratulations to you."

Seeing Max’s complicated expression, Alexander wasn’t particularly pleased, so he said solemnly, "A good result is still a loss, and I want to win."

Max exhaled, smiled, and said, "You’ve become famous in one battle, your company’s famous now, isn’t that enough?"

Alexander looked at Max and slowly said, "I know what you’re thinking, this gun cannot be mass-produced, the current technology conditions create too high a scrap rate, the market is too small, no matter how expensive I sell it, manufacturing this gun is a loss from a business standpoint."

Max spread his hands in confusion, and Alexander smiled, "All guns are produced by factories and provided to shooters, but I’m not a gun merchant, I’m a shooter, I just want to make the best rifle, not limited by cost, just a shooter’s rifle for a shooter."

Max showed an epiphany, nodded, and then smiled, "I understand, though I find it incredible, I really understand, so maybe we can discuss cooperation, you know, our company is a leader in technology and equipment, perhaps we can cooperate in production, or you can consider transferring the patent."

Alexander shook his head and said quietly, "It’s too expensive, you won’t want to buy the patent."

Max smiled confidently, "Perhaps I don’t think it’s too expensive."

Alexander said solemnly, "I invested about forty million dollars for this gun."

Max was immediately stunned, to invest forty million in the development of one gun, and it’s a high precision rifle with low expected production and sales, this cost is a bit too high, but if it gets noticed by the military and procured as a military standard rifle, even selling well in the global market, this price is actually very low.

Max indeed has high hopes for Alexander’s rifle, because it has all the elements needed for success, except it’s too expensive.

Frowning and contemplating for a moment, Max said solemnly, "Perhaps we should sit down and have a good discussion."

As a businessman, Max is very open to turning an online argument into a business opportunity.

But Alexander doesn’t think that way, he just said lightly, "Let’s wait until it’s over, our shooter needs to continue."

Gao Yang had already reloaded the magazine, he didn’t use a pre-loaded magazine but loaded the bullets one by one himself.

The target moved slightly and stood up again.

Gao Yang carefully observed the position of the target, not using a telescope, but the scope on the rifle.

After memorizing the positions of all ten targets, Gao Yang adjusted the scope zoom from 16x to its maximum 24x, lower magnification offers a larger field of view but once the positions were memorized, he could use higher magnification.

Seven hits out of ten in the first round was Gao Yang’s best, he indeed is a practical shooter, performing better under pressure.

But Gao Yang only wants to win, he doesn’t care for any honor in defeat.

Honor in defeat is prepared for Alexander as a manufacturer, not for Gao Yang as a shooter.

Victory is victory, defeat is defeat.

Gao Yang is a shooter, and also a warrior, there’s no honor in defeat in his dictionary.

Exhaling slowly, Gao Yang said quietly, "We can begin."

With a beep, Gao Yang started shooting.

He didn’t think about anything, wasn’t time to think, just shot as quickly as possible and controlled the rifle’s posture, once the rifle was stable and ready for the next shot, he’d already aimed at the new target, then immediately fired again.

At the slowest, within ten seconds, but for Gao Yang, the ten consecutive shots seemed to exhaust all his strength.

After shooting, Gao Yang felt all his strength drained, but still strained to turn and look at the people timing and reporting the targets.

"Ten shots... six hits! Confirmed, ten shots six hits!"

The result Gao Yang feared the most had occurred, the state during the first shooting round was the best, and the result was also the best.

Even if he continued shooting, the scores would only get worse, this beyond-limit shooting method can’t be sustained, only achievable in peak condition.

The crowd let out wave after wave of exclamations, ten shots seven hits, ten shots six hits, though the second round missed one, the result still proved stability.

Max stared blankly, lost in thought, while Alexander clapped but his face was full of bitterness.

Gao Yang sighed deeply, closed his eyes, although he didn’t want to be honored in defeat, it seems he can only accept the result of being honored in defeat.