Cheng Ming had some confidence in his marksmanship. After all, given his abilities, firearms were the only thing capable of inflicting effective damage against supernatural creatures. Furthermore, the Mysterious Creature Research Institute received a large allocation of near-expiry ammunition every year for training purposes. Whenever Cheng Ming had any spare time, he would immerse himself in practicing at the shooting range—it was the only time he could completely lose himself, forgetting his mother’s illness, his own memetic infection, the trivialities of life, and those impending loan bills.
Aim, hold breath, pull the trigger.
Feel the recoil traveling from the palm, through the wrist, up the arm, and to the shoulder...
"Bang! Bang! Bang bang!!"
The first shot hit the forehead, followed by two shots to G09’s chest as if guided by muscle memory, and finally, he aimed back at the head for the last shot.
G09’s movements halted.
The metallic mask on G09’s face didn’t seem to have any bulletproof functionality; the two shots to the head penetrated the mask and embedded deep into the skull.
At the site where the bullets had hit its chest, two distinct holes were left, surrounded by supernatural tissue that quickly turned a dark purple and swelled rapidly—it looked almost like the rapid subcutaneous hemorrhaging that occurs when human blood vessels rupture.
"G09’s speed can’t match his." The burly man quietly spoke to the technician, "Increase the active limit of the supernatural cells by 5%, and double the output power of the mechanical skeleton."
Cheng Ming still hadn’t lowered his gun when G09’s previously extinguished electronic eyes lit up again, this time even brighter than before.
The swelling coagulated blood receded rapidly, and the supernatural tissues wriggled and expelled the embedded bullets from the body.
The bullets clattered to the floor, producing a crisp collision sound.
In just three seconds, all of G09’s injuries had healed.
Cheng Ming frowned slightly. With his abilities, this was already the limit. If even this level of attack was ineffective against G09, he would have no choice but to terminate the test.
G09 changed its previous aggressive advances and began approaching Cheng Ming slowly.
It seemed to want to corner Cheng Ming into a wall, then launch an attack.
While shooting and retreating, Cheng Ming realized that his 9mm handgun rounds, which previously caused G09 to halt, could no longer even penetrate G09’s "skin". Aside from the kinetic energy causing slight tremors in G09’s body, the handgun posed no threat at all.
"Thunk." Cheng Ming’s back hit the hard glass wall; he could retreat no further.
Although G09’s attack movements still appeared in slow motion to Cheng Ming, the spatial constraints made it impossible for him to predict and evade its movement trajectory.
This slow-motion view only affected Cheng Ming’s awareness, causing his body to move just as sluggishly as G09’s.
The first time he dodged G09’s attack was because he was positioned in the open center of the room; evasion only required moving in the opposite direction of G09’s attack. But now, G09’s fists came from both the left and right towards Cheng Ming, leaving no direction open for him to evade the impending fists.
The only escape route was to duck under G09’s arms and maneuver behind it. However, Cheng Ming’s physique didn’t allow him to complete such a series of movements before being struck.
The burly man serving as the "interviewer" had already noticed it—the only thing outstanding about Cheng Ming was his "reflex nerves," but his physical condition couldn’t keep up with his reaction speed. At this moment, the burly man raised his hand and ordered the Apostle to instruct the technician controlling G09 to "halt the attack."
Yet, in that instant, Cheng Ming felt a numbing current surge from his spine throughout his body, causing a reflexive shiver—and just with that shiver, Cheng Ming discovered he could actually move as quickly as in normal circumstances despite everything being in "slow motion."
In that moment, his body suddenly matched his reaction speed!
With a swift sidestep, Cheng Ming circled behind G09, pressed the muzzle to G09’s spine, and repeatedly pulled the trigger!
"Hmm?"
The burly man’s half-raised hand stopped there; from his perspective, Cheng Ming’s movements were so elusive they left a lingering image on his retinas—even as G09’s fists pierced through that lingering image, the real Cheng Ming had appeared behind G09, initiating a point-blank counterattack.
This level of speed could only be fully apprehended by slowing down the test footage.
"Was he hiding his true capability all along?" the burly man asked with a frown.
"Perhaps not," said another ’interviewer.’ "It might be a ’burst-type’ ability with significant limitations or costs, not something he can use frequently. Otherwise, with his reflexes and speed, he could have dominated G09 from the start and wouldn’t have been cornered by G09."
"That makes sense. It seems this speed isn’t his norm," the burly man nodded in agreement.
"Do we proceed with the test?" asked the middle-aged woman seated on the far left. "Given 116’s displayed abilities, even if they are unconventional, they fully meet our recruitment standards."
"I’d like to test the limits of his abilities," the burly man stated.
"Isn’t that a bit too harsh on 116?" The middle-aged woman appeared dissatisfied. "This isn’t the Bai Group’s Devil’s Training Camp; there’s no need to be so hard on him, Mr. Meng."
The middle-aged woman seemed ready to say more, but the young girl sitting in the center cut her off with a single sentence: "Continue the test."
The burly man pondered briefly, then said in a deep voice, "Adjust the active limit of the supernatural cells to 30%! Maximum output power for the mechanical skeleton!"
Their conversation wasn’t muted; Cheng Ming could hear that the test’s difficulty was being increased—which was simply explained: if Cheng Ming felt he couldn’t handle the increased intensity, he could choose to quit and thereby minimize injury or even avoid a fatal outcome.
If Cheng Ming didn’t choose to withdraw, then should any mishap occur, it could be blamed on him "showing off"—after all, they had "forewarned" the tester G09’s level would intensify, leaving the choice of whether to continue entirely in the tester’s hands.
At this point, even if Cheng Ming opted to quit, he could still join the hunting team.