318: Chapter 315 The Five Elements Within and Without Are in Motion

Li Changsheng had seen firearms many times; he had even experienced bullets grazing past his cheek on multiple occasions.

But those were either from a great distance, or he had cover.

This time, however, at a distance of ten meters, it was no different than having a gun pressed right against his face.

The psychological terror of clearly seeing the pitch-black gun barrel was multiplied exponentially.

"Gulp!" A sound of swallowing came from nearby.

It was clear that both Lux and the researchers were terrified by Mr. Li's actions.

"Mr. Li, we really don't need to imitate others. Isao Machii's test was conducted at a distance of over twenty meters, and he used soft pellets, which significantly reduced the muzzle velocity."

Lux whispered, trying to dissuade him. This wasn't a test; it was a contest of pride, a gamble with his life.

Meanwhile, there was a flurry of discussion and hesitation in the monitoring room.

This Mr. Li had already shocked them greatly just now. If the test failed and he ended up dead, they would only be left to study his corpse.

"Quiet, all of you! This is Li's choice. According to our psychologist's profile, Li is not an impulsive guy. Besides, isn't this an opportunity? Tell that armed guard to cooperate fully with Mr. Li's test. I want to see the real-time physical data during the test!"

As he spoke, Old Michael's eyes were already gleaming. This was absolutely a rare opportunity.

They had observed Isao Machii many times; his actual physical feedback wasn't significant, and his fluctuations could only be considered slightly better than average.

This could only mean that the man possessed a strong physical advantage—in other words, his reflexes were naturally fast, combined with incredibly powerful dynamic vision that allowed him to precisely capture extremely fast-moving objects.

But right now, with a real gun at such close range, even Isao Machii would likely be killed instantly by a single shot, without even having the chance to draw his blade.

Hearing the instructions through their headsets, several staff members hurriedly gestured to Lux, signaling her not to get in the way.

Seeing this, Lux furrowed her brows. She didn't know if she had gone crazy, or if this group of researchers had lost their minds.

"Sir! Please be advised, I will fire the first shot within ten seconds. If you can dodge it, I will fire a second shot, or you can give me a signal and I will stop immediately!"

The armed guard adjusted his stock and shouted loudly.

Hearing this, Li Changsheng gave an OK gesture. He could clearly see the complicated expression on the other man's face.

It was... that kind of... "Hmm... I've never seen such a request before" expression.

Yes, that's right. This armed guard had been poached from a legitimate PMC company. He had seen people flee and beg for mercy when held at gunpoint, but this was his first time seeing someone actively request to be shot at.

At this moment, many staff members responsible for testing other subjects were casting glances toward this area.

So much so that... "Ah! It's broken! It's broken!"

A wail rang out. In the distance, due to staff negligence, a man testing weighted squats had been pinned to the ground by a barbell, his spine showing signs of twisted fractures.

"Shit!" Hearing the commotion, two nearby staff members quickly withdrew their gazes and hurriedly began to move the barbell off the test subject.

Damn it, if they looked again, they were afraid they'd lose their jobs.

Seeing this tragic scene, the rest of the staff, no matter how curious they were, forced themselves to look away again.

Time ticked by, and both Li Changsheng and the armed guard were holding their breath and focusing.

However, although Li Changsheng's eyes were fixed on the gun barrel, his ears were actually twitching slightly.

"Click~ Clang~"

The extremely faint sound of the firing pin striking inside the chamber quickly grew louder. Almost simultaneously, the gun barrel spat out a burst of flame and a visible puff of smoke and Qi mass.

In an instant, a sense of crisis washed over his entire body. His spine went "patter, patter"~

It adjusted rapidly like a cobra's spine, and every hair on his body stood on end.

Accompanying the slight movement of his bones, his muscles were instantly activated as if by an engine.

His waist and hips became the primary engine. With a surge of force, his back foot pushed hard against the ground, channeling his internal power with full force. This drove his front foot forward, which then stepped out. After the front foot landed, the back foot followed in a continuous step.

With forty percent of the force on the front foot and sixty percent on the back, this was the Xingyi four-six stance—a stance of emptiness and solidity. It was a footwork pattern that was extremely subtle but incredibly swift for both dodging and attacking.

As the saying goes: "The feet strike with intent, never missing; the signal relies entirely on the push of the rear leg." The latter half refers to this very principle.

When one part moves, everything moves. The internal Five Elements must move, and the external Five Elements must follow. The subtle movement of his footwork drove his body, causing him to complete a dodging slide in a split second, like a willow swaying in the wind.

As the saying goes, "Striking a person is like a kiss; striking a person is like weeding." This refers to Xingyi's footwork, highlighting its explosive readiness.

It was similar to the principle of a bullet striking the rifling of a gun barrel; once moved, wind, thunder, earth, and fire all arrived together—fast, ruthless, and accurate.

In less than a second, as the sound of the bullet fully echoed throughout the testing ground, Li Changsheng came to a stop once more.

From a distance, it looked as if he hadn't moved a single bit, but one could notice that he had imperceptibly shifted half a step forward and to the side.

It was like a frame skip: one second he was there, the next second he was here.

After firing the shot, the armed guard couldn't help but be stunned. He quickly lowered his firearm, raised his goggles with one hand, and rubbed his eyes carefully.

"Shit, did this guy move just now? Or did he not?"

From his frontal perspective, it was even more bizarre; there was a visual illusion.

That is... he clearly saw the bullet pass through Li Changsheng, but the guy was perfectly fine, and there was no sense of the bullet entering his body.

It was just like hitting a ghost; there was no solid sensation, it just passed straight through.

Meanwhile, everyone in the research room had wisely chosen to call up the high-definition camera footage to check.

There was no other way; from the normal perspective, they were just as confused, as it was a complete frame skip.

Slowing it down allowed them to see the trajectory of the movement a bit better, but it was too blurry—so blurry that the person was just a streak.

"My God, is this even human?"

"Shit, he completed so many movements in less than a second. Not only did he dodge the bullet, but he also perfectly bypassed it and stood back on the bullet's trajectory."

Indeed, captured by the high-definition dynamic camera, Li Changsheng had taken one step followed immediately by another; the two movements were almost joined together.

The span was very small, and during the movement, his body, under such extreme speed, was like a weeping willow swaying in the wind.

He swayed halfway through, and in that sway, the bullet passed exactly through the gap before his body swayed back onto the trajectory.

This was why it looked like the illusion that he had been hit.

"Has the analysis of Li's physical data come out yet?" Old Michael was also shocked, but he still remembered the main task.

"No... it's not working. We discovered that in an extremely short period, all of Li's metrics were skyrocketing, reaching a peak, but then quickly settling back down.

The duration of the fluctuation was only about 0.3 seconds. There is too little data; we can't analyze anything of value at all."