117 Don'st Hide

The monarch had ordered a mud caricature of a human silhouette to be made and right now, the human clay figure was hanging from a tight rope entwined between two poles that were erected a few feet apart from each other.

The entire setup was done according to His Majesty's wishes because when they had asked the monarch if he would like to practice his shooting on the circular bullseye, he had vehemently refused.

It was a bit peculiar how the monarch had given very precise and specific instructions to make and set up the target but Ning Fu doesn't pay much heed to it.

However, what he paid particular attention to was when the monarch looked at the target with a distant gaze that harboured deep-seated resentment.

It was a look Ning Fu was intimately familiar with.

It was the bloodthirsty look he supported on the battlefield when he vying for an enemy's blood and felt his bloodlust rising in waves and bellows.

It seems that the monarch harboured many secrets.

Still, what surprised him, even more, was how Zhou Sheng watched the monarch's expression with a pensive look on his face intermingled with self-loathing and guilt.

His brother stepped forward and placed his hand on His Majesty's shoulder and a wave of bitter churlishness arose in Ning Fu's heart when he noticed that the monarch didn't shrug off Zhou Sheng's hand as he had done to him.

The monarch blinked his eyes and his face was wiped clean off all emotions and he gave a mirthless smile to Zhou Sheng.

Nonetheless, that doesn't seem to placate the younger boy because his expression changed and he whispered in a very soft voice that he no doubt, thought that only the two of them could hear.

"I don't mind it so you don't need to hide your emotions from me. Especially me, because that makes me feel like we have drifted apart."

It was at this point, Ning Fu wondered if the two realised that he and the Head Commander can still hear their barely audible words due to their inner martial arts but he doesn't point it out and let those two have some semblance of secrecy – even if there was none to be found.

When Zhou Sheng placed the gun in her hands, Su Li cannot help but be reminded of a time when that person had painstakingly taught her how to use guns in a shooting range when she had been staying outside the country.

The present scene brought a bittersweet well of emotions in her heart but she tries to curb her sentiments and concentrate on what was in front of her than reminiscence about the past.

What happened next made everyone have another understanding of their monarch because no weak-willed or a person who hadn't faced the vicissitudes of life could ever act like that.

Only a person who had seen the worst of humanity and lived to tell its tale could act like that and change their emotions without a moment's notice.

One moment the monarch was talking to Zhou Sheng and the next moment he had whirled around to face the target with a fierce look in his reddened eyes.

Quicker than they could blink, the monarch had gone into a weird stance – his feet were around 10 inches apart, with one of his sides slanted forward and he held the 'gun' in a grip that looked as if he had practiced it for years and years and the habit had become ingrained into his muscle memory.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.comfor visiting.

The elbows were slanted outward and then they all heard the bang-bang-bang of two rounds fired in quick succession.

This further proved that whoever had taught the monarch his shooting skills, had done it for several years and that this was the result of constant practice and not something that could have been learnt in a few months in a lackadaisical manner.

Ning Fu could say from his own considerable experience in practicing martial arts that some movements were just too clumsy to perform smoothly until and unless a person had practiced the moves for years on end and had developed the proper muscle memory.

And the monarch's smooth movements clearly showed that the said person had the muscle memory. Just from his stance and the fluidity of his motions, it was clear that the said person was very familiar with the gun and on its correct usage.

He didn't realise but the tension that had built up inside him when he saw the monarch asking for the gun subsided somewhat and he heaved a sigh of relief.

Before Ning Fu could think and come to terms with the weird stance he was seeing for the first time, he watched the quick reflexes of the monarch.

His Majesty let lose two rounds in quick succession.

Then, he dropped, rolled over to his side, came upon one of his bent knees, his hands drawn and tension in his shoulders and let loose another round.

Right after that, he jumped up from his kneeling position, his posture never faltered and walked towards the swinging target and fired the last three rounds.

What astounded Ning Fu more than the smooth, practiced movements was the look in the monarch's eyes.

With adrenaline coursing through his body, he realised the dead look in the emperor's eyes.