CH 20.2

The next morning, Bai Jing arrived at the Gu Conglomerate’s Gambling House in a hover car.

Qiao An was already waiting for him at the door and led him to the first floor via a hidden passage. Bai Jing had been here several times before, but each time he entered, he felt a sense of unreality.

The view was all white, the empty corridor seemed to stretch on forever, and the lights stretched inward, grid by grid, as the two men walked around, filling the room with a sense of technology.

The smooth walls glittered with a floating glow, which Qiao An described as some kind of high-tech protective wall that couldn’t be shaken by even the most powerful super powered laser cannons.

The circular pressure door slowly opened after Qiao An completed his iris and genetic identification. The space inside was enormous, but Bai Jing noticed the man sitting on the leather sofa immediately.

The straight military uniform outlined Gu Yuanzhao’s long, straight body. In Bai Jing’s eyes, every muscle wrapped under that uniform was full of strength and perfection.

He was sitting in a casual posture, yet he exuded an aura that couldn’t be ignored.

“Come and sit down.” Raising an eyebrow, Gu Yuanzhao gestured for Bai Jing to sit opposite him.

Bai Jing had just sat down when a rectangular box was pushed over to him.

The box was made of some kind of material, silvery grey in color, with a metallic texture, intricately engraved with flowers and a logo in the top right corner: LS.

If Bai Jing had known anything about brands, he would have noticed that it stood for Luo Shi Group, the Empire’s number one weapns manufacturer and the sole partner of the Empire’s military weapns.

Every weap*n produced by the Luo Shi Group was a high-quality item that was never sold to the general public and could only be obtained through special channels..

Opening the box, an exceptionally fine silver pistol appeared in front of Bai Jing’s eyes.

Gu Yuanzhao: “This is the latest energy gun developed by the Luo Shi Group, codenamed L9, with a length of 203mm, a weight of 0.58kg, a muzzle velocity of 1500m s, an effective range of 100m, and a caliber of 4.5-9mm.”

Bai Jing’s pretty eyes widened slightly when he heard his introduction:

Both the muzzle velocity and the range of this energy gun were several times higher than the guns he had used in the past, and its performance was incredibly high!

His white fingertips touched the silver barrel of the energy gun gently, which felt smooth and sleek, light and compact, and exuded the coldness of a high-grade metal, making him reluctant to put it down for a moment.

Gu Yuanzhao: “This L9 is internally equipped with the newly developed air compression technology, so there is no need to fill it with bullets, just pull the trigger and the air that is compressed to the extreme is enough to shoot through any kind of metal, even mid-level mechs.

Not only that, it also has automatic aiming and focusing technology, so that even the inexperienced can quickly get the hang of it.”

Gu Yuanzhao’s deep dark eyes looked at Bai Jing: “I think this energy gun suits you very well. Do you …… like it?”

For some reason, the knot in his throat rolled unconsciously as he waited for the teenager’s answer, surprisingly with a hint of imperceptible tension.

“En, I like it very much.”

Bai Jing looked up and gave Gu Yuanzhao a big smile.

His smile was so clean and clear, so bright and natural, that it was like a beam of light shining in, causing the man opposite to freeze in place for a moment, his heart suddenly losing its balance.

But the smile was only momentary, because soon the young man’s eyes fell back on the silver energy gun, looking at it for a long time before moving his eyes away reluctantly.

Then he closed the lid with a ‘snap’ and pushed it back in front of Gu Yuanzhao.

Gu Yuanzhao:?

Bai Jing lowered his eyes, “Thank you, but it’s too expensive a gift for me to accept.”

He had seen the energy guns in the window of Starnet, and the guns that were placed in the first row weren’t as well made, fast, or with the same range as this one, but even so, their price tag was over a million starcoins.

This gun was so superior that it must have cost more than a million, or even more than twice or three times that.

As much as he liked the energy gun, he couldn’t afford it in any case with only 1.7 million starcoins in his account.

Most importantly, he still owed Gu Yuanzhao 38 million for the treatment of his genetic decay, so who was he to accept such an expensive gift again?

He couldn’t be so greedy.

Gu Yuanzhao looked at Bai Jing’s downcast hair.

The teenager had turned his head slightly sideways, looking away, refusing to look at the box again.

Obviously he wanted it.

An unprecedented feeling of pity arose in Gu Yuanzhao’s heart.

Why did this young man make his heart break so much? He was only eighteen years old and should be high-spirited and energetic as was his right.

He looked at Bai Jing, his voice soft as he said: “Do you remember the agreement we signed? It was agreed that you would be paid five million starcoins a year.

Now that you have become a Level 1 Stone Gambler and are qualified to participate in the battle of gambling on stones, you can take two million starcoins in advance for the purchase of this energy gun.”

“Really? Thank you!”

Bai Jing’s eyes lit up, his voice full of joy.

It was only then that he showed a little of the innocence that should be expected of a teenager his age.

The silver-grey metal box was pushed back in front of him again and Bai Jing picked the L9 up impatiently, gripping the handle of the gun between his thumb and the index finger, his right index finger jamming into the trigger at the exact spot where it was pulled in a natural, flowing motion.

The eyes of Qiao An, who was standing on the side popped as he watched:

He wondered how the heir of the Luo Shi Group would look if he knew that his L9 had been given away by Young Master Gu for only two million starcoins?

He shuddered at the thought of Young Master Luo’s fiery temper.

Gu Yuanzhao: “Do you want to try it?”

Bai Jing jumped at the chance: “Can I?”

Gu Yuanzhao: “Of course you can.”

He gestured for Qiao An to hang up a target made of nano-absorbent material, which could take the pressure concentrated at a certain point and disperse it evenly to absorb it within a thousandth of a second, making it the most commonly used material for advanced practice.

Qiao An picked the largest target which was two meters in diameter.

L9 was quick on the uptake, but it took a long time for the inexperienced newcomer to get used to it, and he didn’t want to get caught in a wave of bullets.

Bai Jing took off his glasses and lifted the stray messy hair behind his ears, revealing his delicate features and his starry teal eyes which turned stern for a moment.

He stood at a distance of 20 meters from the target and found a bull’s-eye angle, with his feet about shoulder-width apart.

Raising his right hand, Bai Jing straightened his arm, grasped the handle of the gun in his palm and gently pulled the trigger with his index finger in a ready-to-firing position.

At the same time, the right eye was aimed at the bull’s eye through the sighting device and the trigger was pulled with a swift and agile movement. [Note]

The air bullet was fired at such a high speed that no trace of it could be caught.

Only a ‘bang’ was heard, the bullet had hit the red center!

A deep dent in the center of the bullseye landed and then spread out in an even circle with the shock.

‘What an agile movement, what a quick shot!’

Qiao An was amazed by Bai Jing’s move… Was this, was this called inexperience?

It had taken less than a second for him to set up, aim, and fire, what’s more his posture was more standard than many Imperial soldiers and his speed was unparalleled…

This frail-looking boy was simply terrifying.

Gu Yuanzhao walked up behind Bai Jing, his tall body enveloping the teenager: “That was a standard move, want to try something else?”

“En!”

Gu Yuanzhao gestured to Qiao An to change the target to a virtual moving live target.

This was much more difficult, requiring advance prediction of position and direction, as well as good timing, in order to achieve a hit on the target.

Bai Jing practiced until noon before he stopped reluctantly, his accuracy rate a staggering 98.75%!

This was a level that many Imperial officers couldn’t achieve!

Bai Jing’s forehead was covered in beads of sweat and his body visibly wet, outlining the lines of the youngster’s slender and thin body.

His pretty teal eyes were as clear and flawless as if they had been washed with water, making people want to-

“There is a bathroom here, go take a shower and change your clothes.”

Gu Yuanzhao turned his back to Bai Jing, his magnetic voice having an unconscious rasp in it.

“En, okay.” Bai Jing also felt uncomfortable with the sweat stains on his body, and being a lover of cleanliness by nature, wanted to wash it off as soon as possible.

Gu Yuanzhao’s tense body relaxed only after the teenager walked into the bathroom.

He must have been out of his mind just now, because when he had seen the teenager’s misty eyes, he’d had the urge to kiss them.