The Sharpshooter from Star System No. 4

Shooting was Liu Zheng's proudest and most confident skill.

Growing up in Star System No. 4—a place riddled with danger, poverty, and violence—she was a hole in the Empire's resplendent robe, a tear that existed objectively but was ignored by the high and mighty.

Liu Zheng's family was ordinary. Both her parents worked in factories. Though robots could, in a sense, fully replace low-level labor, the Imperial government regulated the ratio of human to machine workers to ensure ordinary humans could still earn a living. Her parents weren't unemployed, and her family wasn't starving.

Before her S-level psychic power was discovered and she was elevated to the skies, getting to hold a gun was the unexpected joy of seven-year-old Liu Zheng's life.

Every family has its poor relatives. Liu Zheng's family was the poor relative. One snowy day, her mother brought ten-year-old her to Star System No. 2.

She saw skyscrapers and all sorts of aircraft crisscrossing the sky. At the home of her mother's cousin—an aunt who worked in the Star System No. 2 police department—she saw a gun for the first time.

It was a perfectly ordinary GF-60, the standard issue for every Interstellar Empire officer, yet in that moment, it utterly captivated Liu Zheng.

After much pleading, the aunt placed the unloaded gun in Liu Zheng's hands. At that instant, she felt she had found the thing she would love for the rest of her life.

The mother and daughter stood at the entrance of a luxurious shooting club in Star System No. 2. Finally, gritting her teeth, the mother traded her return seated ticket for a standing one. The money saved bought ten bullets. Ten-year-old Liu Zheng chose the gun that drew her most—the GF-60—and hit the bullseye ten times in a row. As she followed her mother out, still wanting more, the club owner stopped them.

"She has real talent. She could be a professional shooting athlete. Give it a try."

Liu Zheng's fate was changed by those words. She began shuttling frequently between Star Systems No. 2 and No. 4, cherishing every chance to shoot. She drilled her muscle memory until, late one night, she suddenly made a gun-holding gesture in her sleep, startling her mother who had come to tuck her in.

The club owner covered most of her training costs, but a small portion still had to come from her own family. Her parents were both quiet people, but behind her back they quietly took on extra work to fill the financial gap. Though she came from Star System No. 4, when she trained alongside the students from Star System No. 2, her pretty, new clothes and her smart brain account with plenty of allowance were all wordless love.

At fifteen, Liu Zheng did not disappoint her parents' love. In the Interstellar Empire Youth Shooting Competition, she took the championship with a near-perfect score. The prize money was enough to repay the club owner's support and help support her parents at home.

Determined to grow stronger, sixteen-year-old Liu Zheng entered Haoyue Military Academy, a local academy in Star System No. 4. That same year, she underwent psychic testing and came out S-level. The entire star system was shocked. The system governor received her personally, and her parents' eyes sparkled with tears.

Two years later, she naturally entered Moye Military Academy, one of the Empire's six major military academies, carrying the hopes of her entire star system on her shoulders.

If she could successfully enter the Military Department and rise to power, she would change not just her own fate but the fate of the countless households in Star System No. 4, whose development had been stalled because of its position near the border.

Her performance during the trial period mattered. As the "phoenix" from Star System No. 4, interstellar media followed the performances of the spotlight students at the six major academies.

She could not afford to be mediocre. At least in shooting, Liu Zheng absolutely could not lose.

The revolver in her hand was slightly warm. The students of Group Blue took their positions on the obstacle course, loading three bullets into the cylinder.

"Liu Zheng definitely won't let you off," Jin said, his tone gloomy. "And Shen Shouli definitely won't let me off either."

He stood beside Xu Lingqu with a deathly pale, listless look. "Why don't I just stay at the starting line and let the instructors behind shoot me dead?"

"Didn't they say getting hit by an instructor deducts double points?" Xu Lingqu said casually, watching the instructors straighten the obstacles and cover that had been knocked askew. "If you value your life that little, you might as well just be my mobile shield."

"You're so heartless..." Jin's face turned green. He curled a strand of his shoulder-length red hair and muttered under his breath, "You shouldn't have enrolled in a military academy. There's a more fitting job waiting for you..."

Xu Lingqu didn't catch what he said. She turned to ask, but a not-so-familiar person sidled up.

"Um, if you don't mind, I could be your mobile shield." Wang Qihu said this awkwardly. He'd been eavesdropping on Jin and Xu Lingqu's conversation, remembered how Xu Lingqu's tripping him had saved him earlier, and, in a burst of gratitude, jumped in without thinking.

One look at Xu Lingqu's expression told you she had absolutely no idea who Wang Qihu was. Though he'd expected as much, it still stung a little.

"Uh, sorry, I, I just..." Wang Qihu's face flushed red. He stammered for ages before finally resigning himself, "I think the mobile shield tactic is worth trying. If I can cover for you, you cover for me next round."

Xu Lingqu and Jin exchanged a glance. Jin bared his little tiger fang. "Her? With that build of hers, she couldn't even cover half of you."

Wang Qihu looked down at his own impressively muscular frame and blushed even harder.

"But the two of us together can definitely cover you, and you can definitely cover both of us." Jin immediately slung an arm around Wang Qihu's shoulders and looked at Xu Lingqu. "Commander Xu, give it a try?"

The instructors finished setting up the training ground. Xu Lingqu briefly explained the mobile shield plan.

In essence, by using the fixed obstacles and cover on the field, there was a route that could dodge the shooting angles to the maximum extent. But even on that route, there were gaps. That was when a mobile shield moving at high speed alongside you could achieve perfect evasion.

Now the three of them were covering each other, and it was their first time cooperating, so Xu Lingqu didn't give the other two the exact minutiae of the route.

The starting gun fired. All three set off at once, staying close to Xu Lingqu. The first short stretch went smoothly. The second stretch had the biggest gap, requiring maximum use of bodily agility to get through.

A bullet grazed past Xu Lingqu's cheek, missing her by the narrowest margin. Close call, but she made it. The third stretch began, and the mobile shield plan kicked in at this most critical segment. Wang Qihu immediately moved to block beside Xu Lingqu and Jin, cutting off the sniper's angle.

A bullet hit Wang Qihu, but they were already closing in on the finish line. He figured his death was worth it, but then another bullet came, just like the last time, from an incredibly tricky angle, hitting Xu Lingqu one step short of the goal.

She rolled sideways and fell. The sniper's name popped up on her smart brain.

It was her again. Liu Zheng.