Chương 67: _【+】(67)

_【+】(67)

Giao Văn, who had been hovering around Tề Mặc for the past two days, always seemed to pop up behind him. Whenever Tề Mặc's gaze swept over, he would just grin foolishly, looking like a complete idiot, with none of the gravitas of an Italian mafia boss. It made even Ly Tâm feel secondhand embarrassment for him. But it was all to avoid Tề Mặc's wrath. What was there to be afraid of? At worst, he'd be sent to Mars to dig for coal.

Fortunately, for the past two days, Tề Mặc had acted as if Giao Văn didn't exist, directing his cold expression solely at her. Giao Văn, in turn, held his breath. No immediate outburst meant a deeper, more vicious anger was waiting for him. It made him work so hard as Tề Mặc's bodyguard, hoping to dissipate some of Tề Mặc's anger. But as it turned out, facing him every day was worse than being exiled and having peace of mind.

On this day, the morning sun bathed the world in light. The treetops swayed gently with the breeze, and the chirping of birds came from the branches. The atmosphere was mild, a rare beautiful day.

Standing in a dark room, Ly Tâm glared at Hoàng Ưng before her. Why did she have to be here? Her injuries hadn't even healed yet. On such a beautiful day, why couldn't she be basking in the sun, taking a stroll, and focusing on her recovery? Why did she have to be dragged into this empty basement by Hoàng Ưng?

Hoàng Ưng looked at Ly Tâm's resentful gaze and shrugged. "It's the boss's order. If you don't want to listen, I certainly won't stop you."

Hearing it was Tề Mặc's order, Ly Tâm rolled her eyes. The punishment had arrived. After a few days of Tề Mặc not mentioning it, she had thought he wouldn't punish her. Now it seemed that Tề Mặc's words were to be absolutely believed, unconditionally believed, because he would never forget. She raised an eyebrow. "How am I to be punished?"

Hoàng Ưng picked up a small leather case he had brought with him. As he took out its contents, he said, "I don't know. My mission today is to teach you how to use a gun."

"A gun." Watching Hoàng Ưng open the case and push it in front of her, Ly Tâm stared at the gleaming black, unassembled handgun inside and looked at Hoàng Ưng with a puzzled expression.

Hoàng Ưng's usual casual demeanor was replaced by a serious expression. He said in a low voice, "Watch my movements and the sequence. I'm only teaching this once." With that, he suddenly grabbed the handgun parts and began to assemble them.

His movements were incredibly deft. In an instant, all the parts came together to form a state-of-the-art handgun. Without even looking at Ly Tâm, Hoàng Ưng quickly disassembled it, placed the parts back in order, then turned to face her, his expression blank. "Your turn."

Ly Tâm's lips twitched slightly. She reached out, recalling Hoàng Ưng's sequence, and asked, "Why are you teaching me to use a gun? What kind of punishment is this?"

Hoàng Ưng's expression turned cold. "No talking during training. I'll give you two minutes. If you go over, don't blame me for being impolite." As he spoke, he walked straight to the side and, from some corner, whipped out a lash. He cracked it in the air. The sound of the whip slicing through the air instantly reached her ears. The sharp sound and the force of it made Ly Tâm freeze for a moment.

Seeing this, Ly Tâm knew Hoàng Ưng was serious. She frowned slightly but said nothing, starting to assemble the handgun. Was Tề Mặc's punishment to have her learn to shoot? What on earth did that mean?

Silence. Only the ticking of the timer in Hoàng Ưng's hand could be heard. Tick, tock, tick, tock. "Twenty seconds left," Hoàng Ưng warned coldly, without even looking at the timer.

Hearing this, Ly Tâm raised an eyebrow and quickened her pace. But for someone like her, who thought pulling the trigger was all there was to using a gun, two minutes was clearly not enough. She couldn't get it assembled.

"Hoàng Ưng, can you teach me one more time? Your movements were too fast just now, I didn't see clearly," Ly Tâm said, looking up at Hoàng Ưng as time ran out.

Hoàng Ưng's face was devoid of any other expression. He looked at Ly Tâm coldly. "Three seconds, two seconds, one second." As the countdown ended, the leather whip in Hoàng Ưng's hand suddenly lashed out towards Ly Tâm like lightning. Ly Tâm hadn't expected Hoàng Ưng to actually strike and quickly dodged. But Hoàng Ưng's whip was like a living thing, changing direction and chasing after her, striking her arm hard.

Ly Tâm felt a searing pain and glared at Hoàng Ưng. "My status is the same as yours. Without my consent, you can't lay a single finger on me." They were the ones who had said this, and now he was actually hitting her.

Hoàng Ưng's expression remained indifferent. He said in a low voice, "This is the boss's order. If you have a problem with it, you can go to the boss. Now, start over. This time, you only have one and a half minutes."

Hearing it was Tề Mặc's order, and seeing that Hoàng Ưng was showing her no mercy, Ly Tâm watched as he disassembled the half-assembled gun she had been working on and immediately started the timer, without even asking if she was ready. She gritted her teeth, endured the pain in her arm, and quickly began to assemble the gun.

She was a master thief. What she had learned was to be quick with her eyes and hands, to train her sight and fingers. Although Hoàng Ưng's movements had been fast, she had definitely seen them clearly. She just hadn't wanted to learn. But now it seemed she had no choice. She cursed Tề Mặc in her heart, but her hands moved faster, assembling the handgun.

"One minute and twelve seconds." Hoàng Ưng glanced at the gun in Ly Tâm's hand and stated the time coolly. It seemed this Ly Tâm was just like last time: capable. As long as you squeezed her like an oil press, oil would definitely come out. Seeing this, Hoàng Ưng's brow relaxed slightly. He had originally thought the boss's order was too harsh for Ly Tâm, but now it seemed that might not be the case.

Ly Tâm saw Hoàng Ưng nod. Before she could say anything, he turned and walked towards the adjacent training ground. Ly Tâm glanced at the thousand-square-meter training ground. It had been empty before, and she hadn't known what it was for. Now she knew. It was a dedicated shooting range.

Stopping at the firing line at the far end, Hoàng Ưng took the gun from Ly Tâm's hand and said coldly, "The distance to the other side is fifty meters. The bullseye in the center is one centimeter. Your training for today is to hit that spot with two shots. Otherwise, you'll stay here and not even think about leaving." As he spoke, without even looking up, he fired six shots in quick succession.

Ly Tâm saw only a single bullet hole on the target display next to her, but the machine's voice reported that all six shots had hit the bullseye. She raised an eyebrow at Hoàng Ưng. She had long known this guy was a good shot, but did he really need to show off like that?

Hoàng Ưng turned to look at Ly Tâm, casually tossed the gun to her, and said coldly, "If you can't hit it, you'll stay here. You can come out when you do." As he spoke, he ignored her and strode towards the exit.

Ly Tâm was slightly stunned. As he reached the door, Hoàng Ưng suddenly turned back. "Forgot to tell you, the rule here is no water, no food. You can take your sweet time." With that, he quickly slipped out. With a soft click, the main door closed and locked.

When Ly Tâm heard Hoàng Ưng say no water and no food, her face darkened. She looked at the handgun in her hand, then at the target on the other side. She gritted her teeth and said fiercely, "You want to starve me? No way. I, Ly Tâm, am not that useless." With that, she began to attack the target.

Bang, bang, bang. Pop, pop, pop. The crisp sounds echoed continuously in the empty space, filling the morning in the basement with vitality.

"Damn it, what the hell is this thing?" Lifting her already numb arm, Ly Tâm glared at the target in front of her. Not a single hit. She had been shooting for who knows how long, and not a single one had hit. If Hoàng Ưng hadn't demonstrated first, she would have thought the equipment was broken.

It didn't seem like a physically demanding exercise, but anyone who tried holding their arm out straight for a whole morning would know how difficult it was. Moreover, the recoil of this gun was strong. Her wrist had long since gone from sore and painful to numb. Ly Tâm leaned against the wall, dragging her arm, and panted slightly.

Her body hadn't fully recovered, and she was already quite weak. Now, with this prolonged standing and rigid posture, she was starting to feel exhausted from the inside out. Her slightly flushed cheeks were now turning a little pale, and beads of sweat dripped down her forehead one by one.

"What the hell? I'm so hungry. Tề Mặc, you're no good." Gritting her teeth, Ly Tâm started practicing again, her stomach growling. As hunger gnawed at her, she began to treat the target as Tề Mặc and unleashed a furious barrage of shots.

She had never really thought Tề Mặc would punish her. After all, he never had before. Although he spoke harshly, she always had merits to offset it. This time should have been the same. She had it all figured out. She didn't know what had gotten into Tề Mặc, but he had actually thrown her in here for punishment.

Fine, punish her. But why wouldn't he give her food? That was what she hated the most. Anything else was negotiable, but this was not. The angrier she got, the less she cared where the bullseye was, and she just unleashed a furious barrage at the other side.

On the top floor of the basement, Red Eagle sat in front of the monitor and shook his head slightly. "Isn't this too harsh? Her body hasn't recovered yet, and she's never learned to shoot."

Hoàng Ưng, sitting beside him, shrugged. "The boss ordered it. Do I dare disobey? I've already adjusted the target to the shortest distance for her. And I made sure she ate extra for breakfast before I brought her here. Besides, don't forget, we had never learned to shoot either. The boss threw us in there for three days and three nights. How old were we? Eight." Thinking of how they had been starving and on the verge of collapse, only able to leave after mustering all their strength to hit the target, Hoàng Ưng's expression soured.

Hearing this, Red Eagle looked at Ly Tâm on the monitor. She was clutching her stomach with one hand, shooting with a pained expression, sweat slowly trickling down her forehead. He said, "It's not easy being one of the boss's subordinates. This kind of thing looks like a punishment now. Only when you need it in the future will you know its benefits. She just doesn't understand yet."

Hoàng Ưng raised an eyebrow and glanced at Ly Tâm on the monitor. "Maybe she does understand. But she just really doesn't have the aptitude."

Hearing Hoàng Ưng's words, Red Eagle frowned slightly. Perhaps Hoàng Ưng was right. For the cunning and clever Ly Tâm to be practicing shooting so obediently now, perhaps she understood the meaning of this punishment. As for not being able to hit the target, it might really be a matter of aptitude.

But he didn't know that Ly Tâm, whose brain turned to mush whenever she was hungry, couldn't think about any deeper meaning right now. All she could think about was hitting two shots so she could leave. She was so hungry. It had to be said that while Ly Tâm was brilliant and quick-witted in some aspects, she was a complete idiot in others.

Bang, bang, bang. The crisp sound of gunfire echoed incessantly in the basement. From a rapid-fire staccato like popping soybeans, it slowed to one shot at a time, and now, only a single shot could be heard after a long while. A whole day had passed.

The night air was filled with the faint scent of grass and trees. The lights of a thousand homes illuminated the dark sky of New York, and the night deepened.

In the basement, Ly Tâm's hands were so tired she couldn't even lift them. Looking at the blank target opposite her, she clutched her stomach and squatted on the ground, her face pale. So tired. She was so tired she had no strength left. Her arms were as stiff as if they weren't her own. But she had clearly been concentrating so hard. Why hadn't she hit a single shot? If this continued, as Hoàng Ưng had said, she would starve to death here.

She glanced at the closed main door. A door like this was simple for her. She could open it with a flick of her fingers. But Tề Mặc's men were definitely waiting outside to throw her back in. How embarrassing. She, Ly Tâm, had never failed a training exercise in her life.

She tried to push herself up, but her weak body wouldn't support her. She slumped to the ground, completely drained of strength.

Ly Tâm knew Tề Mặc meant what he said. If she couldn't hit the target, she really wouldn't be able to leave. She had tried very hard, but she really couldn't hit it.

The thought of possibly starving to death here made Ly Tâm's whole body tense up. She propped herself up against the wall and slowly stood up. In the past, she would never have been this useless. She wouldn't be in this state after not eating for a day. Her willpower had been trained. She had endured such heavy training as a child, let alone this, which wasn't even that heavy.

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