Chapter 25: Cheating Again

Lin Xinghai did not respond to Roger’s remark, which, in a way, served as a tacit agreement. If he could serve as the primary marksman for the squad, it would be entirely beneficial and carry no risks for him. Of course, those were concerns for later; the most important thing right now was to continue collecting blood energy.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Lin Xinghai fired continuously at the approaching zombies, fully displaying his marksmanship. When shooting at zombies within 30 meters, his headshot rate was over 70%. This feeling was excellent; he even had the illusion that he was becoming more proficient with every shot. However, when he inadvertently glanced at his system panel, he realized it was no illusion. His "Basic Marksmanship" proficiency had actually reached 40.1%.

His practice had truly increased his skill by 0.1%. Of course, the price for this seemed quite steep: he had fired over 200 rounds in total. Did that mean it would take 2,000 rounds to improve by 1%? 10% would require 20,000 rounds? And 100% would require 200,000 rounds? That wasn’t even accounting for the fact that consumption would likely increase as he progressed. If that were factored in, a million or two rounds would surely be necessary.

"Marksmanship is truly something that has to be fed with bullets," Lin Xinghai muttered to himself.

Just as he was firing with gusto, the convoy’s speed began to slow down. Lin Xinghai looked ahead and noticed that the surrounding scenery had changed. Tall buildings stood in the distance, with skyscrapers rising from the ground. While most of these skyscrapers had snapped in half, the remaining sections still stood forty or fifty stories high.

"Are we heading into the city center?" Lin Xinghai wondered.

At that moment, Roger began calling out names. About half the people in the vehicle were called and stepped forward. "Alright, you all come down with me. We’ll be entering the city center shortly," Roger said.

"Wait! What about the rest of us?" Lin Xinghai asked with curiosity.

"There are too many high-rises in the city center. When these buildings collapsed, some of them blocked entire streets. Under these conditions, it’s impossible to clear a path for the armored vehicles."

"Therefore, the team will split here. The commander will lead a group of elite forces on foot into the city center to retrieve the energy crystals. The remaining members will stay with the armored vehicles, evacuate Tianshan City, and wait for our radio notification before returning to pick us up. So, all you have to do is follow the team back along the route. With the protection of the armored vehicles, your safety is guaranteed," Roger patiently explained the subsequent plan.

If it were an ordinary recruit, they would have happily accepted such an arrangement upon hearing it. But Lin Xinghai was different. Why did he come on this mission? Ultimately, it was for blood energy. If he followed the armored vehicle back and stayed inside the whole time, he would have no opportunity to collect blood energy. Entering the city center on foot, however, would present plenty of opportunities. He could simply squat down to tie his shoelaces whenever he passed a corpse, and the job would be done.

"Captain Roger, I request to enter the city center," Lin Xinghai said quickly.

"No, the city center is too dangerous," Roger refused without a second thought.

"Captain, don't worry, I can protect myself. As long as I have enough ammunition, ordinary zombies can't get near me," Lin Xinghai insisted.

"Your marksmanship is improving quickly, and you have reached the standard of a qualified mercenary. But that isn't enough. The danger level in the city center is incomparable to here. You saw those high-level zombies earlier; I can tell you responsibly that the number of high-level zombies in the city center will be more than ten times that of this area. And it’s not just high-level zombies—you might even encounter even more terrifying mutated ones." Roger spoke with a stern expression. If such a situation arose, an extra burden would only increase the danger for the entire squad. His decision was based on his responsibility toward both Lin Xinghai and the entire Sky-Splitting Mercenary Group.

"My marksmanship isn't up to standard? This is forcing me to cheat again!" Lin Xinghai whispered to himself before opening the system panel. He clicked the "+" sign twice, spending 9 points of blood energy to raise his marksmanship proficiency from 40% to 60%.

"Old Luo, do you see those three zombies in the distance?" Lin Xinghai said, pointing to three zombies that had emerged from the ruins.

Roger narrowed his eyes. He didn't know what Lin Xinghai was up to, but he knew the lad was about to cause trouble—something evident from the way he had addressed him as "Old Luo." Lin Xinghai didn't care what Roger was thinking; he needed to demonstrate his strength. After speaking, he raised his Rip-Tearer rifle.

He did not fire immediately, waiting until the three zombies were within 50 meters before pulling the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive shots rang out. The three charging zombies were all struck in the head without exception and collapsed. The entire sequence looked smooth and almost aesthetically pleasing. Everyone in the vehicle who witnessed this had their mouths agape, and Roger’s face was filled with astonishment.

Hitting a zombie from 50 meters away was something few in the First Squad could do. As for someone like Lin Xinghai, who could take down three zombies in a row based on pure feel without even aiming carefully, only Roger and Chen Hao could achieve that in the entire squad.

"Actually, this is my true strength. I didn't want to discourage you all, so I didn't show it fully before," Lin Xinghai said with an embarrassed smile.

Roger: "..."
The others: "..."

Roger felt a flicker of relief that he had adjusted his mindset and stopped comparing himself to Lin Xinghai, or else he felt he might become depressed.

"I believe my marksmanship is sufficient for self-preservation. Besides, I'm the type who performs better under pressure; when I encounter danger, my marksmanship improves further. The reason my skills improved so rapidly is because I felt the crisis and squeezed out my potential. If I follow you into the city center, I believe my marksmanship will break through again, and I’ll become the first master sharpshooter of our Sky-Splitting Mercenary Group," Lin Xinghai continued to talk nonsense with a straight face.

Regardless, he could attribute all the system's "unreasonable" aspects to his innate talent, especially since he had that fake "special constitution" as a cover.

Roger: "..."

With Lin Xinghai putting it that way, what else could he say? If he prevented Lin Xinghai from becoming a master sharpshooter, would he be labeled as someone who was jealous of talent?

"Fine! I'll talk to the commander. If he agrees, I have no objections," Roger said after a long silence.