Chapter 42

Liu Xiaotian kept his word; half a month later, a thick callus formed on the outside of both his elbows.

Actually, many people have a misconception: in the anti-Japanese god dramas they've watched, a scene often appears where, when the Japanese are screening anti-Japanese activists, they always make people stick out their hands to see if there's a gun callus on the index finger.

A gun callus isn't impossible to form; it's just that forming one is no easy task.

For example:

Nowadays, more and more people have served in the military; setting aside those who hardly touch a gun during their two‑year service, in regular army large units there is live‑fire shooting every week on average, and the ammunition expenditure is at least over thirty rounds each time.

Yet after two years, who's ever seen a soldier with a gun callus on his finger? Even this term doesn't have an entry in some dictionaries.

(The author himself, a 2002 conscript, originally from a wild infantry unit reorganized into a certain regiment, a heavy machine‑gunner, model 67‑1, 250‑round ammo belt, 7.62 mm caliber, expended over twenty thousand rounds in two years of service, fingers still smooth.) A gun callus generally refers to the thick skin on the shoulder caused by long‑term rifle‑carrying marches, worn by the rifle strap.

What he wants to cultivate now is not a sniper with a specific mission, but an all‑round special‑operations soldier.

At one, one look `none, one wrong version%!'

Just this alone makes the "treatment gap" between these trained soldiers and other soldiers huge.

Over the past ten or so days of training, Liu Xiaotian noticed that the system seemed less active than at first.

In the past ten or so days of training, Liu Xiaotian and Wang Yanbing both set their sights on that big guy, the Type 10 sniper rifle, while He Chen Guang leaned more toward the 88‑type and 85‑type.

Then let me give a quick overview.

Even Chen Shanming hadn't expected that this recruit, labeled a "technical talent," could possess such precious mental fortitude.

What's more, after half a month of live‑fire training, Liu Xiaotian's proficiency in handling firearms and his shooting accuracy have improved further.

By comparison, a rifle without a bipod is somewhat better; when firing with support, the force needed with both hands to steady the barrel isn't particularly large.

Once, Wang Yanbing happened to overhear it and ran straight to Chen Shanming to report that Liu Xiaotian had a mental problem…

Moreover, Liu Xiaotian's relationships with He Chen Guang, Wang Yanbing, and Li Erniu have grown closer; they've completely merged into a single rhythm.

Although the skin on a person's elbow has few pain‑sensing nerves, that refers only to the surface.

Once the skin is broken, it hurts just as much.

"Tomorrow they'll be issuing some special ammunition; do you want to switch to an 88‑type or 85‑type?"

Seven missions, plus the points he already had, bring his total mission points to only ninety‑three.

But Liu Xiaotian doesn't care about any of this at all.

Some say heavy sniper rifles always have a bipod, so you don't need elbow strength.

In fact, that's just swapping one person for another.

One of the missions awarded only five points upon completion, making Liu Xiaotian so angry he almost fainted.

Even when firing single shots, the friction force on the elbows from recoil is limited.

Of course, this is a joke. Frankly speaking, if the target is a single biological organism, the 88-type with smaller caliber, slightly shorter range but better handling, and the 85-type with slightly larger caliber, range over a kilometer but slightly worse handling, are naturally more suitable than the Type 10 Sniper Rifle, which was designed and positioned for equipment targets.

Every type of weapon they might need to use in future missions, so they can play with whatever they like—there are no restrictions!

It can be said that, in getting along with comrades, Liu Xiaotian entirely relied on his own 'skills' to build friendships with everyone, having nothing to do with that smelly, rigid system whose words can make people stick out two li.

With the elbows serving as the two rear force points, to keep the gun stable at this moment, friction with the ground is inevitably produced, thereby forming calluses.

When the training ended that day, Chen Shanming called Liu Xiaotian, who had been seemingly sparring with the Type 10 Sniper Rifle over the past few days, to the side and asked with a hint of mystery:

But, as the system said, the rewards for these low-level tasks are pitifully few.

It's just that the outer shell wasn't changed.

""Instructor Chen, is there a drill tomorrow?" Liu Xiaotian asked bluntly.

Of course, what is being referred to here is not a sniper rifle but an assault rifle. Each time he fires, an electronic display appears in the eye he is not using to aim; Liu Xiaotian named it 'Character: Jiaweis'. Each time he raises the gun to shoot, estimating the second before that display appears, he clears his throat and says: 'Character: Jiaweis, data ready……'

For modern soldiers, generally any branch that frequently handles weapons will develop calluses on the elbows.

No matter how you say it, the Iron Fist Group is the 'label' of a mechanized infantry regiment—how could it freely expend ammunition? However, for the soon-to-be-formed Red Blood Cell Group, ammunition has no restrictions whatsoever.

The principle of triangular stability needs no explanation, right? So-called continuous fire means that after pulling the trigger, the bolt moves forward under the action of the recoil spring, the firing pin strikes the cartridge primer, igniting the propellant, generating gunpowder gas that pushes the bullet forward along the rifling.

And the so-called recoil is the force generated during the process where gunpowder gas pushes the bolt backward through the gas port.

But as for the soldiers' individual choices, Chen Shanming doesn't interfere at all.

Gunpowder gas pushes the bolt backward through the gas port; if the trigger is held down without release, after the bolt resets and the ejected case exits the ejection port, it will move forward again under the action of the recoil spring, resulting in continuous fire.

Only with this layer of callus protection can it be ensured that the shooter will not suffer skin abrasion during prolonged shooting, which would affect accuracy due to pain.

However, for guns with a bipod, especially a squad light machine gun, the bipod is the front point and the elbows are the rear points, forming a triangular distribution.

In the past month and a half, Liu Xiaotian has proven his tenacity as a soldier with facts.

The moment Chen Shanming uttered that sentence, he realized it must be that drill from the TV drama; although the timing is a bit off, if it weren't a drill, why would they change ammunition?

Moreover, his relationship with Cai Xiaoxin, who is somewhat annoying in the TV drama, is also not bad.

Chen Shanming felt a bitter smile well up inside.

In the span of a month and a half, the system had assigned him only seven training tasks.

After more than a month of getting along, in the eyes of the other soldiers, Liu Xiaotian seemed to have completely become a different person.

Originally he had worried that this recruit, who had already made some achievements in the scientific field, would be too dull-witted, but over the past month and a half of training he had completely overturned his initial judgment, and even felt a faint regret, regretting that this kid couldn't be a little more dull-witted.

Even if he had a third of Li Erniu's personality, wouldn't that be easier to manage?

Now it's fine—He Chen Guang and Wang Yanbing were already notorious troublemakers registered throughout the regiment and even in the Wolf Fang Special Forces Brigade; adding Liu Xiaotian, Chen Shanming just thinking about it gives him a headache.

""Hmm." Chen Shanming squeezed out a low nasal sound, counting it as a response……

(End of chapter)