“Three rounds; the first person to hit the apple wins.” Pei Jiangchen pulled out a chair and sat down.
Tao Wei had already taken his seat nearby; he cracked his knuckles—producing a sound like popping beans—and let out a disdainful snort.
Amanda stood trembling behind the two men, a stopwatch in hand. Everyone present took a deep breath.
“Ready—go!”
Tao Wei moved with the ferocity of a tiger descending the mountain; he snatched up the gun from the table, and in the blink of an eye, had already stripped away the magazine and the slide.
In contrast to his opponent’s explosive speed, Pei Jiangchen’s movements were far more refined.
His fingers were long and shapely—perfect for playing the violin—and he disassembled the weapon with a rhythmic grace and aesthetic elegance akin to a musical performance.
He gripped the pistol’s handle with his right hand and pressed the magazine release with his thumb; with a sharp click, the magazine dropped into his left hand.
Tao Wei, at the adjacent station, was already removing the recoil spring. Meanwhile, Pei Jiangchen calmly set the magazine aside, unlatched the trigger guard, and began stripping the slide.
Amidst the hushed, focused silence of the onlookers, the only sounds were the crisp clicks of firearm components being disassembled.
Lian Yi seemed to be the only one not feeling the tension; he simply sipped his martini with a grin.
The PPK is a simple weapon; under normal circumstances, stripping and reassembling it takes little more than ten seconds.
By the time Pei Jiangchen removed the recoil spring, Tao Wei had already finished stripping the gun and was moving on to reassembly.
Tao Wei kept glancing at his opponent next to him, a look of unconcealed smugness on his face.
It was this momentary lapse in concentration that led to disaster.
He failed to align the guide rod with the recoil spring, causing it to slip off-angle; the spring, under tension and resisting the compression, suddenly snapped outward with force, striking Tao Wei squarely in the left eye.
Chaos instantly erupted.
Tao Wei clutched his left eye, cursing, while his lackey scrambled around like a headless chicken, searching the floor for the offending spring.
Lian Yi sipped his drink, smiling.
Amidst the commotion, Pei Jiangchen calmly disassembled the gun and began putting it back together.
“Found it! Found it!” The recoil spring was finally recovered.
By then, Pei Jiangchen had already assembled most of the weapon.
Tao Wei snatched the spring and frantically tried to catch up.
But the outcome had been sealed the moment he fumbled.
Pei Jiangchen maintained a steady pace; he attached the slide and racked it with a sharp clack. Then, holding the gun level with both hands, he aimed at Wen Shuyu, who was standing dozens of meters away.
A faint trace of gold flickered in his smoky, crystal-colored eyes.
Just as Tao Wei finished attaching the slide, Pei Jiangchen pulled the trigger.
The apple atop Wen Shuyu’s head exploded instantly, splattering pulp and fragments over his hair and shoulders.
Clack—the sound of the gun being racked again.
Tao Wei, who should have stopped and conceded, instead raised his gun and yanked the trigger without even aiming.
The bullet grazed Wen Shuyu’s hair and struck the wall behind him, shattering the brickwork with a loud crash.
Wen Shuyu’s brows furrowed sharply as he suddenly ducked low.
A second bullet struck the spot where he had been standing just moments before.
Screams of panic erupted throughout the venue.
Tao Wei’s eyes were bloodshot; just as he was about to pull the trigger again, a deafening *bang* rang out. The glass table in front of him shattered, sending shards flying in all directions.
An instant later, a searing-hot object was pressed against his temple.
“You’ve lost.” Pei Jiangchen’s voice was soft and low, yet carried an icy, razor-sharp intensity that belied his youth. “We both have one bullet left—it’s just a matter of where we choose to use it.”
Even Lian Yi’s smile vanished.
Tao Wei’s gun-wielding hand slowly dropped to his side. A servant from the Pei family stepped forward and took the weapon from him.
Only then did Pei Jiangchen put his own gun away.
“I appreciate the match.”
Pei Jiangchen paid no heed to the furious, frustrated Tao Wei, nor did he deign to look at the gloating Amanda—and he didn’t spare even a glance for Wen Shuyu in the distance.
He shoved his hands into the pockets of his board shorts and sauntered away in his flip-flops.