Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Chapter 176 Gunfight Competition

Chapter 177 Gunfight Competition

"It seems Sophia was right after all; Mr. Zhou seems quite confident in his marksmanship," Windsor said with a smile.

"Of course I'm not wrong," Sophia's face regained its previous brightness, "You'll soon find out just how amazing Mr. Zhou really is!"

A proud look appeared on her face, as if she were not praising Zhou Xin, but showing off herself.

Zhou Xin frowned inwardly; this little fangirl seemed to really see him as her idol.

He originally wanted to discuss the land lease discreetly, but Sophia unexpectedly forced him to compete with these professional hunters.

Fortunately, Wyatt is not the owner of this land, so even if he offends him because of the shooting contest, there is no need to worry too much.

Having decided to compete with his opponent, he never intended to deliberately admit defeat; after all, he also had his pride.

It would have been better if he hadn't agreed, but now that he has, he will do his best.

"Miss Sophia has flattered me too much. I hope you won't be too disappointed later," he said with a smile.

Wyatt snorted inwardly: What a big mouth you have. You won't disappoint people, so that means I will?

He didn't think Zhou Xin was being modest; on the contrary, he felt that Zhou Xin was showing off.

He stood up calmly and said, "Then let's go out and have some fun!"

Under his leadership, everyone got up and went outside, while Bell, as the host, went inside to prepare guns and ammunition for them.

Zhou Xin followed them to an open area not far from the wooden house.

There are some sandbags piled up here, and some paper targets standing in the distance. It seems to be a makeshift shooting range that has been specially built.

"How should we conduct the competition?" Zhou Xin observed their surroundings. "Should we just shoot at these fixed targets?"

"That works too. We can decide the winner by the number of rings hit. It's simpler, but you can decide that!"

Wyatt, looking confident of victory, generously let Zhou Xin choose the method of the competition himself.

"So," Zhou Xin smiled, "how do you usually compete?"

Sophia chimed in eagerly, "What Dad and the others like most is bottle-hitting, which involves one person constantly tossing bottles into the air, and both sides taking turns shooting at them. The one who hits the most bottles at the end wins."

Although the wine bottle moves through the air along a single path, it is still a moving object, making it much more difficult than a fixed target.

Moreover, the person throwing the bottle would deliberately throw it in different directions each time, and there are only a few seconds from when the bottle is thrown to when it hits the ground. The process of aiming and shooting must be completed within this time, which is a great test of a person's comprehensive shooting ability.

While shooting at a flying bottle is somewhat difficult, it's still much easier than shooting a bird soaring through the sky.

The former is, after all, an inanimate object with a fixed path of movement, while the latter's movement is truly without any discernible pattern.

Zhou Xin has always used birds as his training targets, from Western Australia to the South American rainforest, and now to Alaska. Countless birds have fallen victim to his cruelty.

Now, when he shoots birds in the air, although he can't be said to hit the target every time, his hit rate is as high as 80% or 90%.

Therefore, for him, shooting and throwing wine bottles was quite simple.

"In that case, let's shoot bottles too," he said, glancing at the guns Bell had prepared, and asked, "What kind of guns should we compete with?"

"Anything is fine, you can choose any gun you like. I'm used to using this one," Wyatt said, picking up a Remington M700. "I've killed at least seven or eight hundred, if not a thousand, large prey with this gun."

"Not bad, this is indeed a cool gun. Since I can use either, I'll use my own."

After he finished speaking, he took out his Beretta 92F from his waist.

Although he had practiced with other firearms with his teammates during this time and had gained some experience, he was still most proficient with pistols.

When he pulled out a pistol, both Wyatt and Windsor couldn't help but laugh.

"It seems you're not a hunter after all. In Alaska, no hunter uses a pistol to hunt. If you encounter a larger prey, it's just like tickling them."

Windsor is right. Hunters usually choose more powerful rifles, shotguns, or double-barreled shotguns to increase their hunting success rate.

This way, even if the shot only hits the prey's body or limbs, it can render the prey unable to move or resist.

With a pistol like Zhou Xin's, unless it's a precise shot to the brain, it's very likely to just tickle you.

Faced with their almost mocking smiles, Zhou Xin did not argue: "For a gold prospector, this gun is enough."

"Alright, alright," Wyatt forced a smile, "It's your choice which gun to use. Anyway, we're having a marksmanship contest, and this gun is obviously good enough to shoot bottles."

So, after Bell confirmed that both of them were ready, the match officially began.

Since Wyatt's gun required pulling the bolt to lock each time it was fired, its rate of fire was naturally slower than Zhou Xin's pistol. To be fair, Bell suggested that the two take turns firing.

The rules are simple: each player has ten bottles, which means ten chances, and Bell takes turns throwing them.

Whoever hits the most bottles wins.

Wyatt, confident of victory and out of courtesy to Zhou Xin, generously chose to make the first move.

Those who act later can observe the throwing habits of the person throwing the bottle in advance, naturally giving them an advantage.

After setting up his gun, he gave Bell an OK sign in the distance.

Belle, wearing a helmet, began to throw the beer bottles in her hand one by one.

boom!

A piercing explosion assaulted everyone's eardrums, accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, and the first beer bottle was successfully hit.

"Nice!"

Windsor and Walsh both exclaimed in praise.

Sofia pouted, silently repeating to herself: "I missed, I missed, I'll definitely miss next time!"

boom!

Another shot was fired, but this time the bullet grazed the bottle and missed.

Then, the third shot also missed.

A mischievous smile appeared on Sofia's face, and the curse in her heart grew even more urgent.

Knowing that he was facing a hunter with excellent marksmanship, Bell would throw the bottle in different directions each time to make the shooting a little more difficult, trying to make it seem random.

This was indeed effective; Wyatt's second and third shots both missed.

But he was experienced after all. After two failures, he quickly adjusted his mindset and hit the target with three consecutive shots.

"Wyatt is amazing, he's incredible!"

Windsor was clearly interested in Wyatt and kept praising him.

Bell smiled slightly and threw the bottle again at a tricky angle.

boom!

Wyatt missed again.

But he hit his target with every shot after that, and didn't miss again.

Ultimately, Wyatt finished his shooting streak with 3 out of 7 shots, or a 70% accuracy rate.

This hit rate is obviously already very high.

He stood up, dusted himself off, and looked at Zhou Xin with a smug look, as if to say: Now it's your turn to embarrass yourself.