Chapter 33: Astonishing
Chapter 33: Astonishing
One quiver held thirty arrows. Lan Mu not only used up all the arrows from his own quiver, but in that intense rapid-firing, he also used up one of Fang Moqi’s quivers!
With six quivers in total, Lan Mu fired one hundred and eighty arrows in one minute.
To the people present, this was practically machine-like speed!
Perhaps the fastest instantaneous speed someone could achieve was three arrows per second, or even five arrows per second. But this was sustained for a full minute. Someone who could shoot five arrows in one second might not manage one hundred and eighty arrows in a minute! This wasn’t just about speed anymore; it also involved requirements for endurance, balance, and a series of other abilities.
“How is this possible?”
Fang Moqi stared fixedly at Lan Mu’s smooth, delicate hands. His worldview, forged over more than a decade of roaming the wilderness, was somewhat shaken.
“He clearly hasn’t practiced archery long-term, so why is he so fast? This speed… it’s inhuman!”
He didn’t know that Lan Mu beside him was indeed not human.
Wang Ling and Du Yu rushed forward first to start counting the arrows on the ground.
Fang Moqi didn’t need to count at all. With just a glance, he knew he had lost.
And the gap was very, very large.
The tally came quickly. Wang Ling stood there dumbfounded, speechless, while Du Yu shouted excitedly, “We won!”
“The gray arrows hit one hundred and fifty targets, for a total of four hundred and fifty missiles shot down!”
As for Wang Ling, he said quietly, “The black arrows hit one hundred and nine targets, for a total of three hundred and forty-seven missiles shot down…”
The gap was huge, almost a crushing defeat.
“You miscalculated. Thirty of the black arrows were shot by him…”
Fang Moqi spoke while examining the arrows.
He quickly noticed that Lan Mu hit three missiles with every arrow, while his own arrows sometimes hit two, sometimes three, and sometimes four or five.
“The speed per arrow should be consistent, so with one hundred and eighty arrows in the end… he maintained three arrows per second for a full minute?”
Fang Moqi’s own maximum firing rate was five arrows per second, but his accuracy was extremely poor at that speed. In this kind of training, he could only manage three arrows per second at most to ensure his arrows could hit the missiles.
Moreover, he couldn’t sustain three arrows per second for a long time. If graphed, his speed would show a wavy fluctuation.
So, overall, Fang Moqi’s average firing rate over one minute was 1.31 arrows per second.
This speed was enough to stand proudly at the pinnacle of the archery world, yet today his defeat came too suddenly.
“How did you do it? Maintaining a stable firing frequency of three arrows per second for so long?” Fang Moqi asked this question.
Lan Mu made a sound. “Talent.”
“……”
Fang Moqi’s lips moved slightly. He wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words.
Finally, he suddenly said, “Let’s have another match?”
Du Yu came over excitedly. Hearing this, he paused. “Brother Fang? Are you trying to weasel out of it?”
Fang Moqi’s face darkened. “How could I possibly welsh? A bet is a bet. I’ll fulfill all three of your requests, as long as they don’t violate my principles.”
Du Yu grinned strangely. “Heh heh heh…”
“Sigh…” Fang Moqi sighed, ignoring Du Yu, and fixed his gaze on Lan Mu again.
“Can we have another match? This would just be a friendly spar outside the bet.”
Lan Mu asked curiously, “Did you not use your full strength? Are you not convinced?”
“I indeed did not use my full strength…” Fang Moqi put down his large bow and took out his small bow. It was less than two chi long.
“Alright, let’s do it!” Lan Mu was also curious. Would switching to such a small bow really make a difference?
He understood that Fang Moqi already represented the human limit in archery speed. Whether it was speed, endurance, or the balance and stability of his wrists, those were all skills honed through countless trials.
“No, we won’t do the missile training this time.”
“We are practical shooters. We should shoot living things.”
Fang Moqi was most confident in his hunting archery. Shooting moving targets and shooting moving creatures were different, especially flying creatures.
“Have you ever practiced shooting mosquitoes?”
Lan Mu was stunned, surprised. “Shooting mosquitoes?”
Fang Moqi nodded and had Wang Ling go fetch something. Soon, Wang Ling brought a can. It was transparent, and inside were ten mosquitoes.
“I started practicing shooting mosquitoes when I was twenty-seven. I practiced until I was thirty before I mastered the skill of shooting mosquitoes.”
“You practiced shooting mosquitoes for three years?” Just how bored were you… Lan Mu inwardly complained.
Wang Ling opened the can. The ten mosquitoes immediately flew out. They were already tiny specks, flying out like fish returning to the sea. In the vast training field, they quickly became invisible.
Du Yu squinted, looking everywhere. The training field was so big, and the ten mosquitoes were too small. He simply couldn’t find them.
Lan Mu’s eyesight was different. He focused his eyes slightly and soon spotted four mosquitoes flying in the air. He didn’t find the other six; he didn’t know where they had hidden.
“Shall we start now?” Lan Mu said.
Fang Moqi smiled. “I practiced shooting mosquitoes for five years. You’ve never tried it; it’s too unfair.”
“I don’t want to take advantage of you. I’ll demonstrate first how to hit a mosquito, then you take your shot!”
“Today, no matter how many times you try, as long as you can hit one, I’ll consider it my loss!”
Lan Mu really hadn’t tried shooting mosquitoes before, so he said, “Is that how it works? Alright.”
Fang Moqi stared at the field, his hand already drawing his bow and nocking an arrow. The bow was small, and the arrows were small too.
What was astonishing was that Fang Moqi held three arrows in his hand at the same time. Lan Mu remembered him using this method of holding arrows before, then flicking them onto the string.
Everyone stood quietly. Fang Moqi and Lan Mu stood on the high platform, silently searching for mosquitoes.
Suddenly, a mosquito came near Du Yu. Du Yu noticed it immediately and hurriedly waved his hand to shoo it away.
The mosquito, startled, flew off in an erratic pattern.
Immediately after came the sounds of whoosh whoosh whoosh three arrows!
Before even seeing the arrows, Du Yu ducked down to the ground in fright, shouting, “Don’t shoot me!”
After all, the mosquito had been too close to him just now. The mosquito might dodge, but he couldn’t.
In an instant, they heard thud thud thud three times as arrows struck the ground from above.
Wang Ling and Du Yu rushed over to look. Wang Ling shouted excitedly, “A mosquito! A mosquito!”
Du Yu mumbled, “He really can shoot mosquitoes… and from this far away.”
Three arrows were stuck in the ground. One of them had precisely impaled a mosquito, pinning it dead to the floor.
“Clap clap clap…”
Lan Mu couldn’t help but applaud. It was too brilliant, remarkable archery… for a human.
From the high platform to the mosquito’s corpse was about sixteen meters. Not to mention firing three arrows almost simultaneously, just hitting a wildly flitting mosquito was already unbelievable.
Fang Moqi put down his small bow with satisfaction and explained.
“Lan Mu, a mosquito’s body is too small, and its flying speed isn’t slow either. To hit a mosquito within twenty meters, the arrow’s speed must reach a certain level.”
“Mosquitoes are very sensitive to air currents. The arrow’s speed must be fast, making the mosquito’s evasive movement as small as possible.”
“Then comes the key trick… forcing its movement!”
“I fired three arrows almost at once. Each arrow targeted a different position, predicting the mosquito’s potential escape angles.”
“My first arrow was launched a fraction of a second earlier than the second, forcing the mosquito to evade according to my plan. Then the second arrow was launched a fraction of a second earlier than the third, applying a second force on the mosquito. The final arrow arrived right there to finish it!”
“The three arrows had to be completed within one second, requiring strong eyesight and reflexes in an instant. They had to calculate from the mosquito’s position and flight path, quickly design the time interval between each arrow, and complete a series of actions in an extremely short time—only then could they kill the mosquito.”
“Besides, the speed of the arrows was also very high. I could only achieve it with this small bow.”
“This bow is custom-made by me, and the materials used are very special. The arrows shot from it are faster than those from any other bow.”
Fang Moqi explained in great detail. Wang Ling and Du Yu both nodded in surprise.
Lan Mu hummed and smiled. “Let me try!”
After saying that, he began to draw his bow and nock an arrow.
“Wait! Use this one.” Fang Moqi handed the small bow to Lan Mu and said, “Arrow speed is crucial! I know you shoot quickly, but arrow speed depends mostly on the quality of the bow. Better use my bow!”
Lan Mu waved his hand and refused.
“No need! I’ll use my own.”
Fang Moqi chuckled helplessly and shook his head. “You won’t succeed. Even if you shoot all day, you won’t hit a single mosquito!”
“It took me three full years to master this trick, and this bow was essential…”
“Thud, thud, thud!”
As soon as Fang Moqi finished speaking, Lan Mu shot his three arrows.
He didn’t shoot toward the ground but at a spot about thirty degrees upward from straight ahead.
Thud, thud, thud—all three arrows struck the wall, and they were spread far apart, unlike the tightly clustered pattern Fang Moqi had achieved by forcing the mosquito into position.
Wang Ling and Du Yu hurried to fetch a ladder, wanting to check if any mosquitoes had been shot on the wall.
Fang Moqi muttered, “No need to look. He definitely missed.”
All the while, he kept recalling the three stunning arcs he had just seen…
Yes, Fang Moqi was sure he had seen arcs! Not arcs from gravity! But one arrow curving upward! One curving left! And one curving right!
“Tracking arrows? No! They must just be curved arrows…”
“Just those beautiful arcs alone—even though they missed the mosquito, any slightly larger animal would have had no chance to dodge! That was also an amazing skill!”
Fang Moqi talked to himself, not noticing that Lan Mu had already shouldered his bow and walked down from the high platform.
When Lan Mu said to Du Yu, “Let’s go!”
His voice snapped Fang Moqi out of his thoughts. Fang Moqi walked down from the high platform with a puzzled expression and said, “Lan Mu!”
“Have you given up?”
“By the way… those three arrows you just…”
Before Fang Moqi could finish, Wang Ling exclaimed, “Mosquitoes!”
“Mosquitoes? What mosquitoes?”
“Huh? Mosquitoes? Did he hit them?”
Fang Moqi looked at the wall in shock. The three arrows were scattered far apart—some over a meter apart, others about three meters apart.
Wang Ling pulled out the arrows one by one and was astonished to find that each arrow had hit a mosquito, pinning it firmly to the wall!
Unbelievable! Superhuman!
“Three arrows… three mosquitoes…”
Fang Moqi stared blankly as Wang Ling brought over the three mosquitoes and three arrows.
“I’m leaving now. Notify me when it’s time to depart.”
Lan Mu spoke, then patted Wang Ling on the shoulder and said, “I’ll have Du Yu bring my passport over later. I have something else to do today, so I won’t be coming this afternoon. I’ll leave the visa matter to you…”
He placed his bow back into his backpack and strode out of the special training room.
Du Yu laughed heartily. “Three conditions! Don’t forget!”
“Just wait! We’ll make you fulfill them slowly! Haha!”
It was unclear what secret deal these two had. Du Yu tossed out his words and hurriedly chased after Lan Mu.
The door opened, and people outside rushed in. Seeing Lan Mu and Du Yu leave, no one tried to stop them. Instead, they all crowded around Fang Moqi, chattering.
“What took so long?”
“Did he win?”
“Obviously! Brother Fang must have won!”
“Brother Fang looks a bit off…”
“What’s wrong? Wang Ling, tell us!”
Everyone noticed Wang Ling and Fang Moqi standing dumbfounded in the room, with Wang Ling still holding three arrows and three mosquitoes.
They exchanged confused glances, not understanding what was going on.
Zheng Hui said urgently, “What exactly was the challenge? Wang Ling, that reporter is gone now. Hurry up and tell us!”
Wang Ling opened his mouth to speak, but Fang Moqi suddenly glared at him, his eyes blazing with authority.
“Have you forgotten the agreement?”
Fang Moqi stared him down. Wang Ling immediately shut his mouth, not daring to say another word.
Then Fang Moqi pushed through the crowd and headed toward his private VIP room in the club.
“All of you, prepare yourselves. The flight is tomorrow night. Don’t disturb me until then.”
With that, he disappeared down the hallway.
He left everyone exchanging bewildered looks, clueless about what had happened.
They could only keep pressing Wang Ling for answers, but Wang Ling, perhaps shocked by something, simply wouldn’t speak.
In Fang Moqi’s private room.
He was currently on a phone call with someone.
“Professor Shen… please tell me, in this world…”
“Is there really such a thing as Internal Energy?”