Chapter 39: Chapter 39 Practicing Shooting Chapter 39: Chapter 39 Practicing Shooting The next day, they carried the body from 902 down to be burned and divided up the useful materials from Li Aixue’s ho. The door remained unrepaired; they just left it as it was.
Both the first and second floors were considering moving up, but thinking of the room that had housed a dead body for several days, they were sowhat apprehensive. They thought about approaching Cheng Yang to move to his place, but recalling the weapons Gu Pan and the others had moved that day, they lost their nerve.
Now that much of the snow next to the ground floor had been cleared and so sunlight could get in, they settled in to live there. It was cold, but it was still their ho, equipped with doors and locks, and that felt safer than moving to soone else’s place.
That evening, Chen Shaonan distributed a stun gun he had made to everyone, small and easy to carry, but very powerful.
Gu Pan was truly grateful that her neighbor was a chemistry teacher and thankful that they were not naive idealists.
Three days later, Lu Ruisheng assembled several handguns and gave one to everyone in 901 for self-defense.
Lu Ruisheng himself took a submachine gun, and Gu Pan a sniper rifle, as they were familiar with these weapons. As the others didn’t know how to use firearms, teaching them to use handguns was more appropriate.
Ammunition was limited; everyone received only eighty rounds—thirty for practice, and the rest for future defense.
The first morning, they didn’t practice shooting; they familiarized themselves with the guns, disassembling them and learning about their functions. Only in the afternoon did they go outside for live-fire practice.
Shooting practice wasn’t feasible inside the building, so they went to a cleared space by a mall. Now, without snow, there were not many open spaces, primarily just narrow paths. The area in front of the supermarket had been extensively cleared previously and, now turned upside down, was mostly deserted, so they chose this spot for practice.
Though people often passed by, it didn’t matter. Who would be reckless enough to watch others practice shooting? Didn’t they value their lives? Generally, people would take detours when they saw ard individuals.
Lu Ruisheng had calibrated each gun after testing and then marked several positions on the walls of the mall across the street.
In the Space, Lu Ruisheng had previously taught Gu Pan, so she could just find a spot to practice on her own now. She had already mastered the handgun, but needed a sufficient distance to practice with the sniper rifle.
Everyone else simply followed Lu Ruisheng’s commands: “One-handed or two-handed, it’s up to you to find the most comfortable stance. Right now, we’re not aiming for perfect form but for best outco and highest efficiency.”
Cheng Yang and Chen Lang thought Lu Ruisheng’s stance looked cool, so they mimicked his one-handed approach.
However, the other middle-aged participants felt more stable using both hands, except for Feng Zhekai, whose steady hand from years of holding surgical tools adapted well to firing one-handed too.
Lu Ruisheng continued, “When gripping the gun, apply even force, wedge the handle into the web of your thumb, relax the index finger, and keep the wrist and upper arm straight. Use the upper arm to guide the forearm, and try not to tense up.”
Everyone adjusted their stance following his commands.
“Eyes, notch, and front sight in alignnt. Squeeze the trigger with even, straight pressure, intentionally preloading and unintentionally firing.” Lu Ruisheng walked in front of them, helping to correct their posture.
Maybe it was because of the apocalypse, or perhaps it was their instinct to survive, but everyone learned quickly.
Lu Ruisheng returned to his position and led everyone to raise their guns: “Inhale before firing, hold your breath when firing, and exhale afterward.”
After speaking, he fired the first shot.
Cheng Yang followed with his shot, and then several others fired as well.
Once Lu Ruisheng confird that everyone had fired, he instructed everyone to put down their guns before he went to check their hits.
Everyone hit the target without missing, which was beyond Lu Ruisheng’s expectations. What surprised him even more was that Lu Xuerong had a natural talent. Her first shot was almost at the eighth ring.
He then led them to fire the second and third shots and afterward let them practice on their own. However, today each person had only ten bullets, so they were all very conservative, not firing continuously but constantly practicing outdoor aiming, judging wind direction, and light.
Seeing them practice, Lu Ruisheng went over to instruct Gu Pan.
Gu Pan went up to the third floor of the supermarket and found a suitable angle at the window to practice shooting at an unfinished building opposite.
Lu Ruisheng stood behind her, pointing out tips closely, and Gu Pan was soon able to focus on the target range.
It’s said that in extre environnts, people learn faster. Under normal circumstances, these people might not have been able to hit the target for days, but now they had all gotten the hang of it in just one day.
In the evening, they were heading ho when the building manager of apartnt 401 stopped them.
The manager said to them, “No one from apartnt 501 has co out for two days. We knocked but there was no response, so I was hoping you could help us break the door and see what’s inside.”
Gu Pan said, “That doesn’t seem appropriate, does it? What if the person is all right? If we break the door and the person gets angry with us?”
The manager said, “No, that won’t happen. For one thing, they wouldn’t dare; for another, I think the person might be gone. If they are dead, it’s not good to leave the body in the house for too long, even though it won’t decompose because of the cold. But having a corpse lying around inside the building isn’t good either.”
This wasn’t entirely unexpected. In these tis of apocalypse, they’d been staying inside without going out to look for food, only waiting to ask others for support. They couldn’t have lasted long.
Moreover, indeed, if the person were dead, leaving the body there wasn’t right. Eventually, it could beco a source of disease. So, Gu Pan said, “Alright, let’s go have a look.”
Then, they all followed the manager of apartnt 401 to the front of apartnt 501.
Lu Ruisheng pushed the door and said, “I’ll go upstairs to grab so tools. You guys keep knocking.”
The manager knocked again, loudly, but still, there was no response.
The woman from apartnt 502 also ca out and said, “Normally, their child would run around and knock on our door a few tis, even if there was nothing going on. These past two days, there has been no sign of movent. I also feel sothing is wrong.”
The manager told the owner of 502, “Let’s witness this together then. When soone from the seventh floor helps break the door, we can see what’s inside. If the person is indeed gone, we can’t just leave it like that.”
Apartnt 501 agreed with this too, as they didn’t want their neighbors to be living next to corpses.
It wasn’t long before Lu Ruisheng ca back with the tools. The door wasn’t deadbolted, so it was easy to pry open.
Inside, they found that the grandparent and grandchild of apartnt 501 had already died in the bedroom.
The manager took the lead in wrapping the two bodies in blankets, and then Lu Ruisheng and Cheng Yang helped carry the bodies downstairs to the designated place and burned them.
As for their house, it was left empty for the ti being. If soone from below wanted to move in later, they would deal with it then. Generally, people were still unwilling to live in a room where soone had died.
Since everyone had grown accustod to death—too many had frozen or starved to death—everyone was now worried about what their own family would eat or burn tomorrow. Who had the heart to pity the dead?
So even thought it was better for more people to die. With more deaths, there would be fewer people competing for resources, and their own families would benefit more.
The apocalypse truly tested human nature. Therefore, Gu Pan never tried to probe people’s hearts during the apocalypse. Aside from her husband, she couldn’t fully trust anyone else.
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