Chapter Twenty-One: Finish It Quickly! Dodging Bullets?

"What's happening?"

A low voice resonated from the walkie-talkie.

As it turned out, although Yu Fei’s movements were swift, the members of the assault squad had managed to contact a supervisor from the Umbrella Corporation at the very last moment. This voice belonged to the supervisor in charge of the operation.

"So, things really did go wrong, didn't they?"

Yu Fei frowned slightly. In his plan, he hadn't intended to make contact with the enemy so soon. Just as he was contemplating how to resolve the situation, an impatient, demanding voice came through the radio again. Based on the tone, it seemed the supervisor hadn't yet realized the extent of the disaster, but that was only temporary. Once there was no response after repeated attempts, even a fool would know something was wrong.

After a moment of deliberation, Yu Fei picked up the walkie-talkie. He didn't speak immediately; instead, he made his way toward the second location at top speed.

The Umbrella Corporation had dispatched three assault teams into the mansion. One was stationed at the first platform, one in the corner by the entrance to the Hive, and the third was guarding the mansion's main entrance. These three teams held the key points; theoretically, if any one of them ran into trouble, the other two could react quickly and provide support. At the very least, there were large numbers of Umbrella armed personnel lurking all around the exterior of the mansion, ready to join the fray at any moment.

"Finish this quickly!"

"Eliminate the enemies inside the mansion first!"

Yu Fei sprinted toward the main entrance. As it happened, the third assault team, having heard the commotion, was also rushing toward him. The two parties met unexpectedly in a corridor. It was clear that the enemy was taken aback, obviously not expecting to run into Yu Fei here.

Though Yu Fei was also surprised, he had encountered far too many similar skirmishes while leveling his marksmanship to tier three. Almost by instinct, he opened fire.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Four consecutive shots rang out, instantly claiming the lives of four assault squad members. By the time the last member of the team reacted, he decisively fired back at Yu Fei.

Yu Fei remained incredibly calm, fixated on every detail of his opponent. As previously noted, he had learned the most important lesson during his marksmanship training: Do not be afraid! In such skirmishes, fear is the most useless thing; it clouds your thinking, disrupts your judgment, and ultimately leads to your death. To survive in such a situation, you must do one thing: face your fear, and then, overcome it!

Bang!

A bullet erupted from the squad member's muzzle. The gunpowder ignited, flashing with a spark that traced a straight, lethal trajectory. As a member of the assault team, the man displayed impressive psychological fortitude; even after sensing the deaths of his teammates, he used the steadiest hand to deliver his shot. Caught between fear and reason, the quality of this shot was perhaps better than anything he had ever produced before.

The moment the bullet left the barrel, a thought crossed the soldier's mind: *Got him! He’s a dead man!* His aim was perfect; he was certain to hit his target. He even began to imagine being rewarded and promoted to captain.

But unfortunately, the shot missed.

At the very instant the man fired, Yu Fei shifted his body to the right, narrowly dodging the bullet by a hair's breadth. He then calmly raised his hand.

BANG!!!

A bullet pierced the center of the soldier's forehead. Beneath his tactical mask, he still wore a faint, hopeful smile about his future—it seemed that even in death, he hadn't realized his life had already ended.

Yu Fei’s reaction to dodge and his movement to fire were simply too fast and too decisive. Throughout the entire process, the opponent’s consciousness was still immersed in his own shot; he hadn't even realized that Yu Fei had already dodged the lethal blow and turned to deliver a fatal one of his own.

In truth, one couldn't blame the man. Who would expect someone to be able to dodge a bullet? If it were an early flintlock, perhaps it would be understandable, but with modern firearms, even the slowest pistol bullet travels at over three hundred meters per second—nearly the speed of sound. With the distance between them being less than thirty meters, the time elapsed was less than one-tenth of a second. This was not a reaction speed humanly possible. In such a situation, the only thing a normal person could do was pray the bullet went astray. There was no other way.

Because a normal human simply cannot evade an attack at that velocity.

Well, in truth, neither could Yu Fei. While his physique had reached 1.5 and his mental capacity 1.2—both stronger than the average person—even he did not possess the ability to dodge a bullet. To be precise, Yu Fei had just dodged the opponent's shot—he was dodging the person, not the bullet already in flight. These two things are entirely different.

To dodge a bullet, one's physical reaction speed would need to reach or exceed the speed of sound, something a 1.5 physique could never achieve; even a 2.5 physique would struggle. But dodging a person is much simpler. As long as your mind can keep up, and your reaction speed is comparable to or even slightly slower than the opponent's, it is possible to dodge. The prerequisite is that you cannot be afraid. Throughout the process, you must fixate on every detail of the opponent and deduce their approximate trajectory.

The fear of firearms is innate in humans because we know they can kill us; overcoming this fear entirely is extremely difficult. Even for Yu Fei, had he not undergone the tempering of his marksmanship training, he could not guarantee he would remain absolutely calm while staring down a barrel. Being a good marksman and being fearless in the face of a gun are two different things. Even a world-class sharpshooter, without such specific training, could not achieve this. One can only say that this assault team member was too unlucky to run into the "cheating" Yu Fei.

"Ding!"

"Host has acted with benevolence; your merit is boundless!"

"Merit points +13!"

Another influx of merit points. After Yu Fei had leveled up his marksmanship and nearly exhausted his points, his balance surged back to fifty. With a little more accumulation, he would soon be able to acquire a third level-three skill.

Glancing at the fallen soldier, Yu Fei pulled out the walkie-talkie he had kept on his belt and said quite politely:

"Hello, could we talk?"