Another Sniper Elite

With her "Tremendous Strength" enhancement, she could send even a giant monster like that stumbling backward with a kick; Min Tao, relying on nothing but raw muscle, had also managed to knock it reeling. That was already beyond what an ordinary person could achieve.

Min Tao stood up, brushed the dust off his clothes, and said, "Still room for improvement."

He turned to Tu Ran and praised her, "No wonder you've become such a standout in our cohort. I never got the chance to work with you before, but after teaming up twice today, I can see you're truly exceptional."

"You flatter me." Tu Ran curved her lips.

The Research Institute personnel were trying to figure out how to move the monster out of the shelter, with the guards lending a hand.

Min Tao said, "Looks like they don't need us here anymore. Let's head out."

"Alright." Tu Ran nodded.

Their mission was complete; the rest was no longer the Pioneer Team's concern.

The three of them left quietly.

Because of the gene monster incident, the school had urgently evacuated all students and faculty, leaving the entire campus eerily silent.

"It's already two in the afternoon. Let's go grab something to eat," Xiao Di suggested.

They'd been working since morning, dealing with two gene monsters without a single meal.

"Sure," Min Tao said, then looked at Tu Ran walking on his left. "Want to join us?"

Tu Ran nodded. "Sure."

She was hungry too, after all.

The three discussed it and decided to go to the Executive Department's staff cafeteria.

Though the lunch rush had passed, the cafeteria was still packed with Executive Department guards grabbing a quick meal between shifts.

Tu Ran casually picked two dishes and carried her tray to a table by the window.

She set the heavy machine gun slung around her neck down on the seat beside her.

Min Tao and Xiao Di soon joined her, sitting across from her.

Xiao Di glanced at the food on her plate and asked in surprise, "That's all you're eating?"

Tu Ran blinked. She looked down at her tray, piled high with food. "This counts as little?"

She looked at the trays across from her.

Okay, so she was eating considerably less than them.

Their trays were stacked with food like small mountains.

For manual laborers, eating that much was entirely normal.

"I ate some compressed biscuits this morning," Tu Ran explained.

"That makes sense." Xiao Di nodded, didn't press further, and dug into his own meal.

For the rest of the time, the three ate in silence, no one bringing up any new topics.

Min Tao finished first, setting his chopsticks aside and wiping his mouth.

"Tu Ran, uh... can I call you that?"

"Sure." Tu Ran nodded. It was just a form of address.

She continued eating.

"Do you want to go watch the junior and senior cadets' graduation gala?" Min Tao asked with a smile.

"Aren't we not allowed to leave Pandalim District?" Tu Ran set down her chopsticks.

Honestly, she wasn't that eager to go. A gala—she'd rather spend the time lying in bed at the hotel.

"The venue is right next to Pandalim District. It's less than a ten-minute walk from here."

That close?

Tu Ran wiped her mouth and searched her predecessor's memories.

The training base did seem to be around here.

"Come on, let's go," Xiao Di chimed in, excitement making his brows dance. "We can also see if the training base has changed, whether it's still the way we left it."

"When does the gala start? What if we happen to get a mission at that time..."

Xiao Di's face fell. "If we get a mission, we'd have to finish it first. I just hope we're not that unlucky—we're finally so close to the training base."

Min Tao patted his shoulder. "Don't worry. The three of us working together won't take that long, and the gala runs at least three or four hours."

"True enough." Xiao Di's excitement returned.

Tu Ran looked at the two of them and sighed inwardly.

Might as well go take a look. It was, after all, her predecessor's alma mater.

After lunch, the three returned to the Executive Department to stand by.

That afternoon, five more gene monster attacks occurred. Tu Ran's team dealt with one, while the other four were handled by the remaining ten pioneers.

The gene monsters this time were not strong—far inferior to the two from the morning.

Bullets could easily pierce their bodies.

Their only real asset was speed; those eight legs were no joke, carrying them out of sight in a flash.

Tu Ran found it a headache.

If she activated "Instant Teleportation," she could easily catch the monster.

But "Instant Teleportation" wasn't like "Tremendous Strength."

"Tremendous Strength" was harder to notice.

With "Instant Teleportation," if she pushed even a little too hard, her speed would exceed human limits and the guards watching would immediately notice something was off.

So she had to exhaust herself running alongside Min Tao, cornering the monster from both ends.

Xiao Di handled the sniping from an elevated position.

What impressed Tu Ran was Xiao Di's exceptional marksmanship. Even with the monster moving at high speed, he could accurately predict its trajectory.

Twelve shots in a row, nine hits, taking out seven of the monster's eight legs—leaving it with just one, barely able to stay upright.

Tu Ran and Min Tao immediately closed in and injected it with a dose of anesthetic.

The monster's eyes rolled back instantly, and its single remaining leg stopped struggling.

The rest was no longer up to the trio.

Xiao Di came thumping down the stairs with his machine gun, admiring his handiwork.

Tu Ran was completely won over.

She'd said it before—anyone who'd survived this long in the Pioneer Team was formidable.

"Xiao Di, your marksmanship must put you in the top three in our cohort, right?" Tu Ran asked.

"Of course," Xiao Di said with a raised brow. "In the entire Pioneer Team, no one can outshoot me except Xi Chunzhi, who's still a bit better."

For someone like Tu Ran, who was decent in every other area but hopeless when it came to sniping accuracy, she genuinely admired these people.

After inheriting her predecessor's memories and learning about her weakness in sniping, she'd thought about practicing more, trying to improve in that area and overcome that shortcoming.

But she'd been in this world for nearly a month now and had almost no free time. Her last trip to the training ground had been ages ago.

To become a sharpshooter, one inevitably had to invest a great deal of time and calm concentration.

For Tu Ran, who had to squeeze every day as if it were two, she was starting to understand why her predecessor had adopted a strategy of winning through sheer volume.

She now shared the same attitude.

As long as the firepower was heavy enough, precision could take a backseat.

"Quick, quick, quick—let's get to the training base. The gala's already been going for half an hour." Xiao Di grabbed Tu Ran and Min Tao by the arms, tugging them along as he pulled them away.

It was clear he really wanted to attend that event.

The three quickened their pace and reached the training base within ten minutes.

The guard at the gate didn't stop them.

One look at their outfits told him they were pioneers.