Dai Li stood on a platform with a 50m rifle at a gun range. He was facing a piece of white paper with a coin-sized black circle in the center.

The judge, the jury, the notary, and Nick Reiss were all with him.

Wilfried had a coin in his hand and was comparing it with the black circle on the target. "Everyone," he said. "This is the target sheet. The black circle in the center is as big as my coin. Does anyone disagree with this setup?"

No one showed any sign of disagreement. Wilfrid then took out an air rifle and spoke to the notary. "Sir, this is a rifle specially designed for compet.i.tion. Please check it."

The notary took the rifle and checked it carefully. Later he returned it to Wilfrid and said, "Nothing wrong with it."

"Let me clarify one thing in advance. The scope on this rifle cannot magnify things. The target you see through the scope is as big as the real one. Am I right, sir?"

"Yes," said the notary.

"OK. So, I think we can get started." Wilfrid gave the rifle to Dai Li.

Members of the jury all looked at the target 50 meters away, excited to see Dai Li"s attempt.They were disappointed, however, that they couldn"t see the coin-sized black circle at all.

"Can you see the target clearly?"

"I can only see the target paper. I cannot see anything on it."

"Same here. Shooting something you cannot see? Impossible for me."

"I think it"s hardly possible for anyone to shoot a coin 50 meters away. I don"t think he can do it."

"But why did he ask to do this if he can"t? I think he can."

"I will admit that he is great at shooting if he can shoot the target at such a distance."

Members of the jury discussed in low voice. Meanwhile, Nick Reiss was very confident.he can"t shoot the target if there"s no magnifying scope on his rifle."

Dai Li seemed calm. He used the copy card of Adam Holly and had gained the 70% of Adam Holly"s strength.

A coin 50 meters away is out of the sight for an average person. From the perspective of a professional shooter, the black circle equaled the size of the ninth ring in a compet.i.tion and the ninth ring was the lowest standard for such an athlete.

Adam Holly was the top shooter in the world. 70% of his strength equaled the strength of a normal Olympic athlete. It"d be easy to shoot the ninth ring with 70% of his strength.

Dai Li put up the rifle and aimed at the target. He pulled the trigger.

There was no gunpowder explosion because this was an air rifle. Its sound was clear and easily distinguishable. He shot, and the next second people refocused on the target.

"Did he make it?"

"I don"t know. It"s too far to see."

Dai Li gave a signal to an employee of the gun range and the worker pressed a b.u.t.ton to send the target paper to Dai Li and the audience.

"Oh my G.o.d. He made it for real!"

"It was such a long distance, but he hit it!"

"How did he do that? Does he have an eagle"s eyes?"

Someone in the jury cried out.

Nick Reis froze. Dai Li had done it. It was beyond Reiss" imagination.

Soon, he calmed down. Then he said, "Only once, it might be a coincidence."

Dai Li seemed to read Reiss" thoughts. He said to the worker, "Please set up another piece of target paper. I will shoot again."

A new piece of paper was then set, and the worker pressed the b.u.t.ton to send it to the spot 50 meters away. Dal Li again aimed and shot.

The second target paper was sent back. The bullet hole was clearly in the central black circle.

"He hit it again. Hitting the mark twice consecutively is not a coincidence, is it?" a juror asked. Several jurors nodded and agreed.

Reiss was embarra.s.sed. He was proven wrong so quickly.

He refused to give up easily, however. He wanted to find some more excuses to argue.

Dai Li did not even give Reiss the opportunity to complain. "One more piece of target paper, please."

…

The third piece of paper was set up. After the first two shots, Dai Li had optimized his aiming. His third shot was close to the exact center of the black circle. This was even more impressive.

"He shot the center at such a long distance. It"s unbelievable!"

"The defendant didn"t lie. I must say he is a sharpshooter."

"I don"t think a sniper in special forces could do that."

"I agree. A sniper rifle works with a functional sighting telescope. The scope on this air rifle did not magnify the target. He aimed with naked eyes."

"It"s not only a matter of sight. His aim was also perfect. At a distance of 50 meters, the slightest movement will lead to a huge difference."

Nick Reiss was annoyed with all of these discussions.

Dai Li didn"t stop after the third shot. Before long he had shot the target a fourth time.

His fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth followed.

Every shot was on target.

Everyon went from being stunned to expecting him to hit his targets. They had gradually gotten used to Dai Li"s success.

Dai Li stopped after ten and Wilfrid showed the stack of target paper to the audience. "Everyone saw this with their own eyes. My client is fully capable of hitting a coin from 50 meters away. I don"t think there will be any more questions about his shooting skills."

Jurors nodded. They obviously recognized Dai Li"s abilities.

The only one who didn"t want to recognize the result was Nick Reiss.

If he admitted Li was skilled, he had to admit that Li was reasonable to a.s.sume he was able to shoot Gardner in his leg. That was to admit that Dai Li had no motive, making a first- degree murder charge groundless.

It"s so far away that the target is beyond my sight, but he could hit the target. Why? Is there something wrong with the gun?

Nick Reiss thought about it for a while before exclaiming, "Wait! I want to check the air rifle!"

He decided to not take any chances, although he knew the rifle was probably fine.

"No problem," said Wilfrid.The lawyer gave the air rifle to Reiss.

The notary scowled at once and looked at Nick Reiss angrily. He had checked the air rifle with his own hands, so such a request was insulting. It was almost an accusation of collusion with the defendant.

Reiss took the air rifle and made sure the scope was not capable of magnifying the target.

Wilfrid said, "I think you"d better try to shoot the target, Reiss."

He then asked for another target to be set up.

Reiss hesitated for a moment and finally stepped onto the shooting platform. He picked up the gun. A prosecutor"s job was to send criminals to jail, which often led criminals trying to take him out. Given the gun problem in America, he felt as though he was in constant danger. So, Reiss himself practiced shooting often and had gotten fairly good at it. However, all of his skills were useless in this situation He could barely see the target paper. As for the coin-sized black circle, it was totally beyond his sight.

d.a.m.n it. I can"t see the black circle. How can I aim at it? How could I shoot? How did Dai Li do that? Reiss complained in his heart.

He aimed at the target as exactly as possible, but he found that at such a long distance, even the slightest movement of his arms caused a huge difference in the target paper and might even make him miss the target

As the minutes ticked away, Reiss started trembling more and more.

Three minutes pa.s.sed before Wilfrid said, "Reiss, the time of the judge and jury is precious. Could you please be faster?"

"I need time to aim! The defendant was given time to ai, wasn"t he?" argued Reiss.

"My client was much faster than you though. I don"t think another three minutes will help you either. You don"t want to keep us waiting forever, do you?" Wilfrid was intentionally irritating Reiss.

Finally, Reiss pulled the trigger.

After the gunshot, Reiss looked to the target expectantly. He hoped very much that he had hit the target. From so far away, he couldn"t even see the target paper clearly.

The target was sent back to the audience and there was no bullet hole on the paper at all.

Reiss had missed the target.

"Why don"t you take a couple more shots to see if you hit it" Wilfrid said sarcastically.

Reiss was embarra.s.sed. Luckily, the judge said, "Did you find anything wrong with this gun?"

His question eased Reiss" sense of shame. He shook his head helplessly and said, "Nothing wrong with it."

"That is to say, my client has proven that his shooting is excellent. I think you all admitted this, right?" asked Wilfrid.

It was obvious that the jury and the judge acknowledged this. The only one left was the prosecutor, Reiss.

With a notary"s presence, Reiss could not deny it. Faced with the fact, he nodded helplessly and admitted with a low voice, "Yes, his marksmans.h.i.+p is great."

Wilfrid smiled. He took his briefcase from his a.s.sistant and got out a doc.u.ment. "This is my client"s psychological a.s.sessment report issued by the Psychology Research Inst.i.tution of UCLA, which shows that my client has no tendency towards violence. It makes the prosecutor"s accusations regarding this tendency totally groundless. I will propose this report be admitted as evidence to the court."

The report in Wilfrid"s hands made Nick Reiss more upset. His reasoning had been taken apart bit by bit. There was no way to accuse Li of first-degree murder now

He did not even think he"d win if he accused Li of intentional injury. The jury was obviously favoring Li as of right now. Any further accusations would just turn the jury against Reiss. They would sympathize with Li and pa.s.s a verdict in his favor.

It seems that my perfect record is about to come to an end...