Fatal Shot - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: High-Stakes Combat (Part 3)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Big Pineapple couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Killing two Sea Vultures with one bullet? Is that even possible?”
This was totally possible in reality, sniper rifle bullets had such strong abilities that they could pierce through not just two Sea Vultures but even ten, and it wouldn’t have been anything strange. However, in a game, this seemed completely impossible because in War, if bullets didn’t kill the target when it was hit, the damage will be “absorbed” by the target completely. In this situation, even if a bullet pierced through a target’s body and kept moving forward, the living object that was hit would only take mandatory minimal damage.
Unless this bullet’s damage was so high that it was enough to have more than half of the residual power after killing the target, then the bullet would continue to cause damage after it pierced through the target. But this kind of damage would be deducted forcibly. Even if it was initially over 1,000 points of damage, the second target would only receive damage of less than 100 points.
Therefore, with these few points of secondary damage, it was impossible to take down a Sea Vulture—in theory. So how could Feng Luo kill two Sea Vultures with his tenth shot?
Actually, at first, Feng Luo’s bullet pierced through the first Sea Vulture’s neck, creating 1,500 points of fatal damage—an instant kill. Then, with some leftover power after the bullet, it hit the other Sea Vulture’s wings, causing 60 points of white damage. What Big Pineapple and the others could not have guessed was that the second Sea Vulture hit by the stray bullet was also the wounded Sea Vulture that had been hit in the tail by Feng Luo’s sixth shot and had dropped to around 1,400 HP.
In the end, even though only 50 points of damage had been done, its HP was reduced to less than 5 percent and took on a “Heavily Injured” status. Therefore, two Sea Vultures had been taken down in one shot!
Moreover, while falling to the sea from 100 meters in the sky, the second Sea Vulture’s leftover HP was cleared due to the impact against the water, resulting in XP for Feng Luo.
“Two Vultures with one bullet!” A Light Armor Warrior with the ID “Neutron Star” smacked his lips and looked at Feng Luo admirably.
“What a pro!” said a female healer player named “White Crescent,” also looking at Feng Luo in awe.
Feng Luo lowered the M110 and looked at Big Pineapple with a big smile. “Well, how should this be calculated?”
“Huh? Damn! What is this?” Big Pineapple rubbed his head.
How could this happen? According to the game, it would normally be impossible to hit two birds. Moreover, it wasn’t just one hit. He’d killed two of them at the same time.
However, Feng Luo had not killed the second Sea Vulture directly. He’d only hit it, and it had died while falling to the sea. So, how many points should be given? Two? This was not suitable. Three points? Four points?
While Big Pineapple was still in a dilemma, Black Panther took the initiative and admitted his defeat. “I lost!”
The way he looked at Feng Luo was a complicated mix of frustration and shock. However, due to his pride as a Sniper, he took the initiative to admit his defeat. After all, following the rules of two hits with one shot, even if the latter Sea Vulture hadn’t been killed by being hit, Feng Luo should get at least three points.
“Pure luck!” Feng Luo said.
Black Panther’s look became serious suddenly. “This isn’t luck! Your first few shots didn’t miss because you couldn’t hit the target. They missed because you were experimenting. When you were shooting, you paid most of your attention on the boat, so the first few shots had weak results. On the sixth shot, you found what you wanted, so all four shots after that hit the target. The tenth shot even killed two targets. To be honest, I had already lost this contest when you started the sixth shot!”
Black Panther’s words caused surprise in the others’ faces. By most people’s calculations, it was impossible to shoot with high precision on a rocking boat like this. Did Black Panther mean that Feng Luo had managed to shoot precisely just now?
“How is this possible?” said Big Pineapple.
Big Pineapple stopped fussing about matters of points. After listening to Black Panther’s words, he immediately looked at Feng Luo’s face.
Feng Luo smiled faintly, not admitting anything, but also not denying it.
“I originally thought the three continuous shots were luck,” Black Panther said in a disappointed tone. “But when I finished shooting and watched your tenth shot carefully, I realized that when you were aiming, your body was swaying in a rhythmic pattern. Although the boat was affected by the wind and waves, the travel direction and speed did not change, and the wind’s strength and direction were stable, so this kind of rocking has a pattern. However, precise mental calculation and an astounding shooting instinct are needed to adjust the deviation caused by the pattern when firing, plus hitting the sea birds flying in the sky.”
“Are you two bullsh*tting?” Big Pineapple’s head swiveled back and forth between Feng Luo and Black Panther, looking left and right.
“I have to admit, I’m not as good as you are at this,” said Black Panther. “I never even considered overcoming the deviation caused by the wind and waves by adjusting using my body. Actually, I always thought that high-tech equipment like the solo combat assistive system could do calculations for large data in this kind of circumstance to correct shooting deviations.” 1
While saying this, Black Panther kept looking at Feng Luo’s eyes.
Listening to him, Big Pineapple looked at Feng Luo like he was looking at a monster. His facial expression at that time, if translated, would have been: I didn’t study much, but don’t you guys lied to me!
“I will compete with you again next time!” Finishing his sentence, Black Panther held his sniper rifle, turned, and walked toward the cabin.
After Black Panther left, Big Pineapple stared and Feng Luo and asked, “Do you have anything to say?” His face was full of curiosity, just like the people around them.
“Like what?” Feng Luo said with a smile.
The truth was roughly as Black Panther had described it—just not as incredible as the precise mental calculation he had described. Feng Luo did it mainly depending on one thing. Instinct!
Instinct was difficult to clearly describe. For example, in a baseball game, the right moment to swing at a pitch arose instinctually, but it was impossible to describe the feeling. Shooting was similar. For some excellent Snipers, the moment the bullet was fired, some already knew they could put away their gun.
This was because characters in games had much higher sensitivity with fully open perception, which was at a level several times that of reality. It wasn’t hard to grasp the concept of the rocking pattern and the degree of variation on the ship; the tough part was to overcome the shooting deviation from the swaying.
Feng Luo couldn’t have done it at first either, but half a day of training of shooting on a boat had helped him develop this skill. After his first shot when combat began, he had a faint feeling. After a few experimental shots after that, that “feeling” became clearer. On the sixth shot, his body absorbed the feeling completely. Then he’d had the latter four continuous hits!
Feng Luo believed that if Black Panther had continued trying, he also could have deduced this feeling.
It wasn’t easy to describe, so Feng Luo did not bother trying to explain. Instead, he said to Big Pineapple, “Hey, banker, time to settle the bill!”
“Settle? Oh… Settle…” Big Pineapple was shaken from his daze, then laughed. “Sh*t. I’m distributing now, huh?”
As everyone had placed their bets on Black Panther, even if he lost his silver crystal to Feng Luo, he could still have earned at least 10,000 Credits. He was the biggest winner of this high-stakes combat!
“Haha…! Sorry, excuse me. I’ll treat everyone a meal next time I’m back in Storm City.” While laughing, Big Pineapple speedily swept the money and the crystals on the table into his backpack with one slick movement. “Oh yes, this is yours!”
Big Pineapple was still rather trustworthy as a banker. Aside from returning the silver crystal placed as a bet by Feng Luo, he also gave him a Federation note of 1,000 credits.
Just as the two of them were distributing the money, the female Doctor known as White Crescent suddenly pointed towards the sea and shouted, “Hey! Look, there’s something behind us!”
“Hmm? Let me see!”
The telescope used by Big Pineapple was still on the table. Hearing White Crescent’s words, he raised it to his eyes and gazed behind the boat. A few seconds later, Big Pineapple let out a bewildered shout. 1