Chapter 12

“Wait! Don’t go in yet!”

“What’s wrong?”

The bandaged woman, whose arm had been grabbed, turned around in confusion, only to be surprised to find that both Leon and the black goat in his arms had their eyes tightly shut as if they’d been blinded by some intense light. Leon was even starting to tear up profusely from the corners of his eyes.

“This hospital is alive!”

Looking up at the towering black flames in her soul vision, Leon, whose “eyes” had been scorched by the flame’s glow, endured the searing pain like a firebrand and explained while pulling on the bandaged woman’s arm: “Just now, when you were about to enter, it seemed like it received some kind of signal, suddenly gaining its own soul… And… It’s probably hundreds of times stronger than an ordinary soul!”

The entire hospital? After hearing Leon’s words, the bandaged woman nodded to show she understood. The eyes behind her mask slightly narrowed as she began quickly analyzing the situation.

The most likely scenario is either an anomalous item directly attached to the building, the ability of an out-of-control contaminator that can manipulate architecture, or the entire hospital has been temporarily removed from the world, no longer following the rules of reality.

However, for the first case, it shouldn’t have such precise control, activating just as I’m about to step in; as for the third case, not only does it require sufficient strength, but also breaking through the rank of the world. If its power is only equivalent to hundreds of souls, it probably couldn’t achieve this.

So… Most likely, the ability of the out-of-control contaminator is related to the building, or maybe it needs to rely on the structure to function.

“You don’t need to go inside, just help me from outside!”

After pondering for a while at the entrance of the hospital, the bandaged woman bent down to open her suitcase, retrieving several sets of matte metal components from the bottom and assembling them with great dexterity.

As the item she was putting together gradually took shape, Leon was quite astonished to realize that he found it somewhat familiar.

A brass tube filled with threads inside, an actuating group made up of a chamber, shock absorber spring, locking mechanism, and trigger, a bracket clamped under the long tube, a shoulder support conforming to the curve of the shoulder, and a single-barrel telescopic sight mounted on top of the long tube…

No… This doesn’t feel right, does it? I thought you would charge in with a Bible in one hand and a war hammer in the other, chanting spells and using mysterious items to purify anomalies, but instead, you handed me a sniper rifle?!

Under Leon’s stunned gaze, after completing the assembly of the gun, the bandaged woman first took out three small silver cans from the very bottom of the suitcase, clicking one of them onto the side of the brass barrel. She then opened what seemed to be the “magazine” accessory below, showing Leon the bright white metal nails inside.

“This is a portable nail gun the director helped me get from the Military Department, powered by disposable gas tanks to propel the nails. Its range and power are much weaker compared to the normal version, only about over five hundred meters, but it’s enough to penetrate the hospital’s outer walls and directly eliminate the target.”

While explaining, the bandaged woman handed over the other two gas tanks to Leon and earnestly instructed:

“I’ll go inside to look for that out-of-control contaminator and see if I can deal with it directly. If I fail, I’ll try my best to keep it close. In that case, don’t hesitate to shoot! Also, there are still quite a few nails left in this gun, but we only have three gas tanks, so you only have three chances. If you miss all three shots, you must immediately evacuate and return to the Clearing Bureau to wait for the director. Got it?”

“…”

I got it… But you trust me too much, don’t you?

Looking at the strange brass “sniper rifle” on the ground, Leon couldn’t help but feel uneasy.

In my previous life, although I didn’t play chicken often, I used keyboards and mice back then and never touched anything like this. Being able to normally fire bullets out would already be considered lucky, let alone shooting while you’re tangled up.

To be honest, I’m really afraid that my shot won’t kill the out-of-control contaminator, but might take you out first…

“You don’t have to worry about hitting me.”

“Maybe I know a little bit about operating it…”

Recalling some films he watched in his past life, Leon hesitantly said:

“Find a high place with good visibility, spread your legs and lie flat on the ground, keeping your body close to the ground, then rest your shoulder against the stock. Align the scope, the muzzle, and the target in a straight line?”

“Hmm?”

Upon hearing Leon’s words, the bandaged woman looked surprised and asked: “Prone shooting drill? Do you have a military background?”

“Barely… counts, I guess?”

Leon’s eyes flickered as he evaded the question: “My parents were mechanics under the Military Department before they sacrificed themselves, and they taught me a little about these things… uh… just a tiny bit.”

Ah, I see…

After hearing this, the bandaged woman nodded understandingly without doubting the source of this knowledge. However, she soon shook her head and said:

“Your answer isn’t entirely wrong, but that’s the aiming method for another type of mid-range rapid-fire firearm. That kind of weapon has a shorter range, and the sight is level with the gun body, so you can confirm the target using the three-point alignment.”

None of the contents above contain any errors!

But mine is different. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the position of the scope is higher than the gun body. Using the three-point alignment rule will cause the nail’s landing point to deviate below the target.”

Pointing at the scope mounted on the barrel, she drew a slanted line in the air between the scope and the muzzle, then explained to Leon, who looked enlightened: “After the nail is fired, its trajectory isn’t actually a straight line but slightly falls downward. To use this medium-long distance precision aiming firearm, you must understand the nail’s flight trajectory, calculate the landing point, and adjust your sights and muzzle using the mil-dot system…”

“Zzzt!”

[Through Emma Arman’s detailed and easy-to-understand explanation, you successfully activated the Black Iron Badge “Shooting Novice”]

[Shooting Novice: Only underwent basic training, a novice shooter with rather poor accuracy]

[Wearing Effect: Although only having undergone simple training, you’re still better than completely unfamiliar ordinary people. When consciously adjusting the aim of the muzzle, your shooting accuracy will receive a slight increase]

[Advancement Path: After completing 200 live rounds of shooting or 1000 simulated firings, this badge will automatically advance to the Bronze Badge “Shooter”. Current progress: 0/200, 0/1000]

[Hidden Characteristics: None]

“Zzzt”

[Through your own learning and thinking, you’ve mastered a low-level firearm shooting skill, activating the abnormal badge “Materialist Soul (Bright Red).”

Your understanding of firearms shooting is “low”, but due to your adeptness in thinking, summarizing, and self-adjustment, every time you fail while aiming at the same target, the probability of hitting next time will slightly increase.]

(End of Chapter)