Justin Alexander was seated in church with his fists clenched and his head lowered, praying to G.o.d.
He was a faithful believer. As long as there were no matches on the weekend, he would rather give up his training and attend a church service.
The sound of footsteps grew louder behind him. Alexander opened his eyes and saw a priest that he was very familiar with walking towards him.
Alexander had known this priest ever since he was a child. Back then, the priest was still middle-aged, but now, the priest had turned into a white-haired old man.
"My son, you look lost. Did you encounter some troubles?" the priest asked.
"I did something wrong before, and I want to seek forgiveness from G.o.d," Alexander answered.
"If you want to repent and atone your sins from the bottom of your heart, G.o.d will forgive you," the priest answered in a deep voice.
Alexander raised his head. "Father, my suspension is about to be lifted. I want to return to the arena."
"That"s great, son. You are still young. You can still achieve a lot if you return to the arena; however, I hope that you won"t make that same mistake again," the priest said as he took a seat beside Alexander.
"But I can"t find a suitable coach." Alexander sighed before continuing, "I"ve contacted several reputable coaches, and they"ve all rejected me. You should know that I was suspended for using performance enhancing drugs. I"ve touched the taboo that no athlete should ever touch."
"Child, that is a thing of the past. I"m sure you won"t be using drugs again, right?" the priest asked.
"That"s a given. I will never touch something like that for as long as I live," Alexander answered resolutely.
"My child, it looks like you"ve found your road to redemption. Believe in yourself. G.o.d would never abandon you, so you should not give up on yourself. Continue moving forward, and G.o.d will give you guidance. Who knows, a miracle might occur in the very next moment," the priest said as he touched the cross on his chest with a hand before patting Alexander on the shoulder. "Child, I will give you a piece of advice. If you feel a lot of pressure and stress, find a place to vent. Perhaps you will feel better."
...
In front of the main door of a building, Dai Li was reviewing a promotional poster in detail. The poster was the layout plan of the building, and on the top of the poster were the words, "Holly"s Shooting Club," as well as a photograph of Mr. and Mrs. Holly.
On the side, Holly pointed towards the layout plan and announced, "The shooting club is divided into three parts. On the right here is the indoor shooting range, the place at the back is the outdoor shooting range, and on the left, this is the shooting training center."
"The indoor and outdoor shooting ranges both use real guns and live rounds, whereas the shooting training center uses practice guns used in matches. In some shooting clubs in America, it is mandatory for users to possess a gun license before they can perform live rounds practice, but for my shooting club, as long as you are over 21 years old, you can perform live rounds practice. For those who are above 18 years old but below 21 years old, they can only use pistols, and for those not yet 18, they can only use practice rifles in the shooting training center. Let"s go inside."
Holly brought Dai Li into the shooting club. Descriptions of all kinds of guns were pasted all over the walls, and every gun had a one-to-one ratio display picture, the name of the gun, the gun"s caliber, production house, as well as some information about the gun.
A price list was placed in an area with high visibility. On the price list was the rental price of every gun.
Holly, who stood on the side, continued his introduction. "In my shooting club, clients are allowed to bring their guns. However, still select rented guns. I have a lot of cla.s.sical guns here; you can"t buy these from Walmart or your regular gun stores."
Buying a gun in America is easy. There is a total of around 50,000 legal gun stores in America, which is about the same as the number of Shaxian country snack stores in China. Apart from gun stores, even Walmart has designated areas that sell guns. Apart from that, there are more than 5000 annual gun exhibitions in America on average, and one could purchase a rare or cla.s.sical gun from those exhibitions.
Most ordinary gun owners possessed a pistol or a hunting rifle, and very few owned a submachine gun, an automatic rifle, or a machine gun. In truth, from the perspective of self-defense, a pistol would be more than enough. Besides, the price of a pistol was lower, as they could be purchased for around 300 or 400 dollars.
And if an ordinary citizen had the urge to shoot a gun, renting a gun from the shooting club was obviously very cost effective. It was like going skiing; although skiing equipment isn"t expensive, very few people would actually bring their own gear. They would rent and use the items from the ski resort instead.
Dai Li looked at the price list. The guns were divided into three categories. The first were pistols, and the rental rate was 25 dollars each; the second were automatic rifles, and the rental price was also 25 dollars each. The third was the machine guns which had a rental rate of 50 dollars each.
The price listed included a fixed number of bullets; for example, ten bullets were given for the rental of an SKS semi-automatic rifle for 25 dollars. 50 bullets were given for the rental of a UZI submachine gun for 50 dollars. Of course, the bullet of the 9mm caliber UZI submachine gun was much cheaper than the 7.62 bullets used by the SKS semi-automatic rifle.
After using up all the given bullets, one would have to spend money to purchase bullets. Bullets of different calibers were priced differently. However, one thing was certain. The bullets in shooting clubs were more expensive than the prices at Walmart.
Apart from that, the price lists included an advertis.e.m.e.nt for the application of VIP deals. For example, the cheapest was a VIP deal that cost 499 dollars. One could rent a gun 11 times, plus a one-time-use for an M249 machine gun or a Degtyaryov machine gun, one use of an MP5 submachine gun, an M4, or an AK-47 rifle, and two pistols uses as well as one semi-automatic rifle use. To sum it up, it was spending 499 dollars for the rental and use of guns for a total of 17 times. The higher-priced VIP deal that cost 799 dollars allowed for a total usage of 42 times. On average, the rental of a gun didn"t even reach 20 dollars. It was much more cost-effective when compared to renting a gun separately.
Apart from the VIP deals, there were also a few gun rental packages. Some of the packages were very tasteless. For example, the price for the rental of two pistols was 40 dollars. In Dai Li"s opinion, going to a professional shooting range to experience shooting two pistols was anything but money well-spent. It was very probable that only those who were aged between 18 and 21 would choose that sort of package.
Of course, there were also combinations of several more popular guns. For example, there was a package named "We"ve won World War II." That package was a combination of the Thompson submachine gun and the MP40 submachine gun. Renting the guns separately would cost 50 dollars, but the package reduced it to 44.90. Although both those guns were ancient, they were the cla.s.sic submachine guns of the second world war, and they were very popular among gun enthusiasts. There was another package, the "American Army Package," it included the M9 pistol, the M4 rifle, and the M249 machine gun. The full set of US military equipment was also a favorite and hot package.
Apart from the rental price of guns and the price of bullets, the rental of the shooting lane also cost money. An indoor lane cost 30 dollars per hour while the outdoor shooting lane cost 50 dollars per hour. The target sheets also cost money, but the cost was mainly to cover the labor for changing the sheets. It was the US after all; as long as it was human labor, it cost extra.
If it were the outdoor shooting range, the target equipment would also cost money. Take for an example a row of beer bottles, or perhaps a few humanoid gun targets, maybe even a watermelon or a hanging apple. Each and every one of those would have a clear price tag.
Dai Li looked at the price list and began calculating in his mind.
Under normal circ.u.mstances, buying a gun in a gun store, a pistol would cost from 300 to 500 dollars. The selling price of a long-barrelled gun would be around 1000 dollars. The price might be lower if it was bought directly from the factory in a gun exhibition. Based on the rental price of 25 dollars, deducting the cost of the bullets, the breakeven point for a long-barrelled gun would be around 60 plus times. The people who come here would never only rent one gun. If that were the case, the price wouldn"t even be able to cover the cost of renting the shooting lane. Under normal circ.u.mstances, it is common for a person to rent two guns. If that"s the case, the usage rate of the guns is quite high.
And the charges for these shooting lanes, it is merely a profiteering business. It"s just the simple act of providing a location, and the maintenance fee is so low that is can be considered insignificant, but the price is more than ten dollars per hour. It is comparable to opening a cyber cafe and not just charging people for computer use, but for internet use as well, not to mention the charge for the used area of the computer table. These "two-sided" charges sure are well-played. Considering that in the calculation, spending two hours here would cost at least 200 dollars. A front-row seat for the LA Lakers was also around 200 dollars, wasn"t it? No wonder Blake told me that Holly"s shooting club could earn him several million annually. Renting guns, selling ammo, renting shooting lanes and target equipment... With these sorts of charges, there is no way to not make a profit.
Holly brought Dai Li to the counter. The shelf behind the counter was filled with all kinds of guns, and behind the counter was a man and two girls and three staff. The three of them all had pistols on their waists.
"Coach Li, which gun do you want to try, just choose whichever," Holly pointed toward the guns.
Dai Li looked dumbfoundedly at the gun shelf instead. He only recognized half the guns, and that was only because of the games he had played before. He had never touched a real gun before.
"Um… about that. To tell you the truth, I don"t have a gun license, so I haven"t used a real gun before," Dai Li could only answer honestly.
"I"ve almost forgotten, you aren"t American!" Holly had only just remembered.
American adults who had never touched a gun were considered strange. The population of the US is around 300 million, but there is a total of 270 million guns. Removing minors who are below 21 years old, there were enough guns in America for every American to have one, with several million left over. So amongst the adults, almost everyone knew how to use a gun.
"If that"s the case, let me help you pick." Holly grabbed a pen and the gun selection menu before pointing towards a silver pistol on the gun shelf, and saying, "This M500 revolver is the most powerful pistol in the world. The kinetic energy generated from the launching of the bullet is double that of the famous "Desert Eagle." The power it generates is almost the equivalent of a powerful rifle. The weight of the pistol, without bullets, is 2.32 kilograms, which is close to a lightweight submachine gun."
"That is a Thompson submachine gun. You"ve definitely heard of this gun before. It was the favorite weapon of the Chicago mob in the twenties, the burst of this gun is extremely satisfying, the rhythm that goes "da da da," giving it the nickname "The Chicago Typewriter.""
"The M4 rifle, the main rifle for the US Army, is also the most stable rifle of the US Army. It uses .223 caliber Remington bullets, which is also the most common rifle bullet in the US…"
"Hold on, I remember the M4 rifle is supposed to use the 5.56mm bullets," Dai Li interrupted Holly"s explanation.
"The 5.56mm bullets were the standard bullets during the Vietnam war, but only the military used those. The bullet used by civilians in shooting ranges are the .223 bullets. For an ordinary person, the difference between the two isn"t that big." Holly pointed towards the AK47 on the side and continued, "The AK47, the king of the long-barrelled guns, this is a gun you cannot miss."
"The SPAS-12 multipurpose shotgun is something you have to experience. This is the most commonly seen shotgun in Hollywood movies, like "The Terminator,""Jura.s.sic Park"..."
"The M249 machine gun… Yeah, let"s forget about machine guns for now. We"ll head towards the outdoor shooting range. I"ll show you my baby, it"s way better than the M249."
...
Hitting the target with real bullets was completely different from playing a first-person shooter game. When playing a game, all one needed to do was click on the mouse and within a few seconds, thirty bullets would have been shot. In real life shooting, however, it was not like that. Every shot was fired with a pull of the trigger. If one aimed seriously for every single shot, it would take a long time to finish shooting 30 bullets. Moreover, Dai Li was a beginner, so his rate of shooting was much slower.
After about an hour in the indoor shooting range, Holly brought Dai Li to the outdoor shooting range. Dai Li also had the chance to witness the "baby" that Holly mentioned earlier.
The gun was placed on top of a shelf, six dark and s.h.i.+ny steel pipes that sent s.h.i.+vers down people"s spines. Although Dai Li"s understanding of the gun stopped at the game level, he still recognized the gun on first sight.
"The Gatling gun!" Dai Li couldn"t help himself.
As the world"s first practical machine gun, the Gatling gun was certainly famous enough, and more importantly, the gun could easily be recognized. The gun barrels tied together are the Gatling gun"s most prominent feature. It was hard to forget after seeing it.
"I didn"t see this thing in the advertis.e.m.e.nt outside," Dai Li remarked as he stepped forward to touch the Gatling gun, unable to help himself.
"This is the good stuff you get to enjoy after purchasing a VIP package." A hardcover manual seemed to appear from nowhere into Holly"s hand, then he continued, "The things inside this manual are exclusive to the VIP of my place. They"re all rare items, so I did not put them on the price list."
"Which means the things inside are the real essence of your club?" Dai Li asked.
"Correct, you can put it that way. The guns in this manual I bought in gun exhibitions myself. You can hardly find them in regular gun stores," Holly said as he opened the first page of the manual, and pointed at a sniper rifle with a long barrel. He then continued speaking, "I highly recommend this to you. The Barrett M82 12.7mm caliber sniper rifle. This rifle can penetrate light armor and bring down a helicopter, it can even destroy a light bombardier pa.s.senger aircraft. Because of its overwhelming power, this gun is prohibited to be sold in certain areas. A lot of gun stores would treat this gun as their most prized treasure."
"Those legendary killers, they use this, right?" Dai Li asked.
"That, I don"t know." Holly shook his head and continued, "In truth, buying this gun requires special registration, and every man who owns a gun is recorded in the files. Besides that, the selling price of this gun is ridiculously high, and when paired with the add-ons and accessories, the cost goes through the roof. The 12.7mm bullets are also very expensive. Besides gun collectors, only shooting clubs would buy something like this."
As Holly spoke, a prominent and tall employee walked towards them with an army-green colored box.
"Boss, the bullets are here," the big guy said.
"Thanks, Jim. Just put the bullets here." Holly turned around as soon as he finished and continued speaking with Dai Li, "This is what I have especially prepared a carton of bullets for you."
"That"s a lot. I"m actually just a beginner, when will I be able to finish?" Dai Li asked with a puzzled face.
"These are the bullets for the Gatling gun. Although an entire carton looks like a lot, for the Gatling gun, all it takes is a few minutes. Since we"re playing with the Gatling gun, of course you will need a carton of bullets. Only then will you have fun!"
...
The barrels of the Gatling gun were boiling hot, and the various targets far away had long ago been shredded.
Using the Gatling gun. Finis.h.i.+ng a carton of bullets in just a few minutes. The feeling was indeed very satisfying.
However, Dai Li stayed on the following Barrett M82 sniper rifle for a long time. He aimed carefully for every shot, since the production cost of the 12.7mm bullet was already considerably high. With every pull of the trigger, 40 to 50 dollars were gone.
At that moment, the big guy who brought the carton of bullets earlier hurried over and whispered something into Holly"s ear.
"Is there really something like that? Alright, I"ll be right over," Holly said.
"What"s wrong? Did something happen?" Dai Li put down the gun in his hand.
"There"s a client, and it seems like there are some problems," Holly answered.
"Is someone refusing to pay? It can"t be that someone is causing a scene? If there"s anything you don"t lack here, it"s guns, an entire armory. By my estimation, the guns you have here are enough to equip a small army. I would never believe that someone would dare cause a scene here at your place," Dai Li said.
"There"s a guy, he might be on some drugs, and he"s someone I know. I have to go check it out. According to the law, people on drugs, mental health patients, and convicted persons are not allowed to practice live rounds shooting in a shooting range. You can continue and have fun, I"ll be right back," Holly said.
"I"m done, continually shooting for several hours is pretty tiring." Dai Li stood up and rolled his shoulders. Even if the gun was placed on the ground, the recoil of the Barrett M82 sniper rifle still numbed both his arms.
"Alright, you should go to the lounge and have a cup of coffee. I"ll be back after I settle that client." Holly turned to leave upon finis.h.i.+ng his sentence.
...
Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop…
Alexander steadied the M249 machine gun and shot at the targets located far away with a burst of fire. All 60 bullets in the box were quickly used up.
"Not enough!" Alexander lowered his head and glanced at the plastic container for bullets. The bullets that he bought were already gone.
After Justin Alexander left the church, he decided to listen to the advice of the priest and find a place to release his stress. His car coincidentally pa.s.sed by Holly"s Shooting Club, so Alexander decided to shoot a few rounds at the shooting club, to lighten his mood.
Alexander"s action had long attracted the attention of the employees of the shooting club. The others who came to the shooting club all aimed properly and made shots one by one. Alexander, on the other hand, shot away like he had no care in the world the moment he pulled on the trigger. Added to that, his expression was incredibly savage, even seeming a little hysteric. It naturally increased the vigilance of the club employees. They suspected that Alexander was on drugs.
There is no lack of shooting cases in the US, especially ones that involved people on drugs. They have delusions and have no idea what they are doing. It"s not like situations where an irrational drug addict who has a gun in his hand starts shooting at a crowd had never happened before. But Alexander was a famous celebrity, which meant that it was difficult for the employees of the club to check up on him directly as they were worried about the repercussions of an action like that. So, they went ahead and informed Holly instead.
At that moment, Alexander still did not realize that his behavior of venting pressure had turned him into a terrorist in the eyes of the club employees, he continued looking at the emptied bandolier and mumbled to himself, "Time to go buy more bullets."
At that moment, a person was walking purposefully towards Alexander.
"It"s Adam Holly!" Alexander recognized him immediately after setting his eyes on him.
Alexander and Holly were both well-known athletes in the US. The both of them used to be representatives for the US national team, partic.i.p.ating in the Olympic Games. So it was natural they knew each other. However, the relations.h.i.+p between them was only that of an acquaintance, they did not know each other that well.
Shooting and track and field were two separate sports, after all, and there wasn"t much chance for athletes to meet each other. Even if it were in the Olympic Games, the shooting event was one of the earlier sports whereas track and field was usually slotted in the middle phase of the Games. By the time Holly"s game had ended, Alexander"s sprint might not have even started. It was even more improbable for the two to have any sort of interaction, which was why they couldn"t be regarded as familiar with each other.
"Hey, Justin. I never would have imagined that you would be here," Holly put on a friendly smile, but in truth, he was observing Alexander"s face in detail. He wanted to determine if Alexander had taken anything.
As a shooting athlete, Holly had good eyesight, so he could clearly see Alexander"s face from far away. Alexander"s eyes were bright, and his emotional state also seemed normal. He didn"t look like a person who had taken drugs.
"Adam, it"s been a while. I heard you won the world champions.h.i.+p again. Congratulations," Alexander said.
Holly stopped in front of Alexander, his face still smiling, but both his eyes remained fixed on Alexander. He was still trying to affirm Alexander"s state of mind.
Doesn"t look like the face of a person who has just taken drugs, but I can"t be careless. If he really took drugs before coming here to shoot at targets, my shooting club will also be penalized by the government. I better stop him from continuing to shoot. As Holly thought of that, he said, "Justin, it looks like you"ve run out of bullets. Why don"t you take a break, come to my lounge, and have a cup of coffee. I"ve just got a stock of top-grade Cuban cigars."
"Alright, if you insist," Alexander agreed and nodded.
...
At the lounge, Dai Li stood beside the window with a hot cup of coffee in his hand as he looked out, and what he saw was Holly leading a black man into his sight.
That should be the client Holly mentioned just now. A black man. Looks quite muscular, like an athlete. Hmm, he sure looks familiar. Have I seen him somewhere before?
It took Dai Li several seconds, but he finally recognized Alexander.
If I"m not mistaken, that black man used to be the fastest man in America, Justin Alexander!
Back in China, Dai Li used to be a track and field coach, so he had some knowledge when it came to world-renowned track and field athletes. When Alexander made his name, Dai Li was the track and field coach of the Chinese national track and field team, so Dai Li could recognize Alexander after a more detailed observation.
I remember a few years ago, before Kittel retired, Alexander was just behind Kittel. His personal best was 9.78 seconds, although it is still quite a distance away from Kittel"s world record. Among the current active athletes, excluding Kittel, he is the only person who can make it within 9.80 seconds. This guy is probably also an S grade athlete. However, I haven"t seen him in any race in the past few years.
As Dai Li thought of that, he pulled out his phone and searched for information on Alexander online. It didn"t take long for him to see the news about Alexander"s match suspension.
So he was suspended by the International Olympic Games Committee for using drugs. That"s why there had been no news on him in the past few years.
...
Alexander walked into the lounge and happened to see Dai Li.
This person sure looks familiar, I should have seen him before. Oh yeah, he"s that Chinese Coach Li, I"ve checked his training center before.
I remember this Coach Li also knows about track and field training, he even trained that "Blade Warrior" Philip. To be able to make a disabled person who has lost both his legs run faster than an ordinary person, that was way too incredible.
Wait, the priest told me that G.o.d will provide me with guidance, and now I"ve met with this Coach Li, could this be G.o.d"s guidance?