Bang!
A crisp gunshot rang out. Adam Holly looked at the monitor beside him, and it showed a score of 9.7 points.
It wasn’t a good score; even claiming it was average would be barely believable. However, Holly was satisfied with the score, because it was the first shot of the last ten shots, and the main function of this shot was to mark the target, so a score below 10 wasn’t considered bad. According to the way the Olympics calculated the score, getting 9.5 points with this shot would be considered an acceptable result.
After a few dozen seconds, all eight contestants had finished their first shot, and only one of them managed to get 10.2 points. The other contestants each had a score below 10. And Holly’s main competitor, the curly haired youth named Prince, got a score of 9.6. He was behind Holly by 0.1 points.
On the second shot, Holly scored 10.2 points. It seemed like the adjustment he made after his first shot really improved his accuracy. Prince’s second shot was 10.1 points, so he was still behind Holly by 0.1 points.
On the third shot, Holly scored 10.5 points. It was the best score up to that point.
The applause came quickly and faded just as quickly.
Compared to other sports, the audience for shooting sports was usually quieter. They would only applaud when the results were really good, and the applause didn’t appear often; after all, shooting athletes also needed a quiet environment during the competition.
Although the best score for the event was 10.9, in proper competitions, a score of 10.5 was already considered to be on the high side. Even in international competitions like the Olympics, a score above 10.5 would only appear once or twice in a competition, and in those cases, it was usually due to luck. This was basically equal to hitting the center of a dollar coin from 50 meters away. It couldn’t be done without luck.
After the first three shots, Holly’s score improved with every shot. At that point, he had already achieved an advantage with his lead, and besides Prince, the other competitors had basically already withdrawn from the fight to become the champion.
On the fourth shot, Holly achieved a 10.1 score again, followed by the fifth shot, Holly hit a 10.5 again with some adjustment and received a full round of applause. The sixth shot, Holly’s score was 10.0. The seventh shot, Holly hit a 10.1 score again.
Six consecutive shots, and all of Holly’s scores were above 10 points. There was no disputing that it was a world class display.
…
“Holly is really good!” Dai Li couldn’t help uttering those words as he looked at the results displayed on the big screen. Holly was leading Prince by 1.4 points, and his entire lead had been achieved through the seven most recent shots. On average, every shot Holly took was 0.2 points higher than Prince’s.
In a competition of this level, if a shooter was able to get an average of 0.2 points more than another contestant, it basically meant that they were in different leagues.
Dai Li calculated in his head and then said, “There are only three shots left. If Prince wants to win, on average, each of his shots would need to be higher than Holly’s by 0.5 points, which means that if Holly scores 10 points, Prince would need to score 10.5 points. It is still possible to score 10.5 points, but to achieve such a high score in three consecutive shots is very rare. It looks like the game has already been decided.”
“Not necessarily.” Blake shook his head. “Don’t forget that Holly is the ‘Tragic Last Shot.’ Even when he leads throughout the match, his lost shot may make him lose all his advantages.”
“Tragic Last Shot? That was the Adam Holly of the past.” Dai Li had a bright smile on his face. “The reason he came to our training center was to get help solving this issue, wasn’t it?”
“He has only trained at our place for ten days. Ten days, it’s so short, how big of a change could he have made!” Blake said in frustration.
“Ten days, huh. It is enough for him to be reborn.” Dai Li’s tone showed incomparable confidence.
…
Holly looked at the results displayed on the screen.
I am leading Prince by 1.4 points. If he wants to beat me, he needs to catch up by 1.5 points within the last three shots. This is basically impossible. For the following three shots, I need to be stable.
Holly’s thoughts stopped there. He raised the rifle in his hands and aimed in front of him.
Bang! After the crisp sounding shot, Holly looked at the small screen beside him. On it, it showed where the bullet had landed as well as the score for that shot.
“This shot is 10.0 points,” Blake muttered, he then immediately turned his gaze on the big screen far away. He wanted to know what Prince’s score for this shot was.
10.4, I’ve allowed Prince to catch up by 0.4 points. I still have a 1 point advantage. Holly took a big breath, calmed his mind, and prepared for his ninth shot.
The referee quickly signaled for the ninth shot. Holly lifted his rifle again, aimed, and finished shooting.
“9.9 points. Holly is clearly starting to seek stability in these two recent shots. Now we will see whether or not Prince is able to take advantage of this opportunity. He was able to catch up by 0.4 points just now, but we don’t know if he will be able to catch up by a few points with this shot.” As Dai Li finished speaking, the big screen displayed Prince’s score.
“Prince’s score for the ninth shot is 9.7 points. He didn’t close the gap, but lost another 0.2 points; the difference between his score and Holly’s is now 1.2 points.”
When shooters were behind on points, they naturally employed a more desperate shooting style, which made it easier to get a high score of around 10.5. However, risks always existed together with high rewards, and a more desperate shooting style would mean bearing higher risk, and the consequence of that risk was to get a lower score. In the ninth shot, Prince lost his gamble.
There was only one shot left, and the difference between them was 1.2 points. In theory, Holly only needed to get 9.8 points to secure a victory. Because the highest score for a shot was 10.9, if Holly hit 9.8 points, that would mean he would lead by 11 points; if that happened, even if Prince hit the highest point of 10.9, he still wouldn’t be able to win.
However, in reality, 10.9 points was something that rarely happened. Normally, even 10.5 points would be considered a very high score, and if Prince hit 10.5 points, Holly only needed to get 9.4 points to win.
However, Holly’s worst result that year was 9.7 points, and he hadn’t gotten a score below 9.5 points before.
Going by this data, victory was in the palm of Holly’s hand. However, Holly’s last shot couldn’t be looked at with a “normal” vision; he was the famous “Tragic Last Shot.”
Prince was deeply aware of this fact, so even though he was behind by a whole 1.2 points, he did not appear to be nervous. The pleased look on his face almost made it seem like he was the one in the lead.
Prince lifted his head and looked at the information on the big screen, and his expression seemed to indicate he was lost in his own memories.
The situation now makes me think of the American National Shooting Championship from a few years ago. I remember I was behind by even more, I think about 2.2 points, and I thought that I had definitely lost, but Holly’s last shot was only 7.7 points.
And during the American National Shooting Championship last year, in the last shot, I was also the one who was behind, and I did very badly on my last shot. I only managed 9.3 points, but Holly couldn’t even get seven points. That time, he didn’t just lose first place, but he even lost the second and third place, and in the end, he only placed fourth!
Tragic Last Shot, this nickname is really suitable. Ever since the Olympics where he missed his target, he has never been able to do well in his last shot. It used to be true in the past, and it will be the same today, so even though I am behind by 1.2 points, it isn’t an issue. The only thing I need to do now is to do well on my last shot!”
Yes, do well on the last shot, not only that, I need to shoot earlier, to put more pressure on Holly!
At that moment, Prince’s eyes filled with determination. He had already assumed that Holly would drop the ball in the last shot.
At that point, the referee signaled to indicate that the last shot could be taken. Prince immediately lifted his rifle and aimed at the target that was 50 meters away.
Bang! Prince was the first to pull the trigger.
A round of applause from the audience followed.
“10.6 points, Prince’s last shot was great. He actually hit 10.6 points, which is the year’s best result so far. Prince really is a world-class athlete. In a situation where it was the last shot, and he was behind by 1.2 points, he was not only able to withstand the pressure, but he struck back!” Blake couldn’t help but exclaim.
“10.6 subtracted by 1.2 is 9.4. In this case, Holly needs to score 9.5 points in order surpass Prince and win first place!” As Dai Li spoke, he logged into the system and began using the State Scale. He pushed all of the weights towards the side that stabilized the state.
All the weights have been added, and now Holly is at the most stable state that he can be. With his skill, getting 9.5 points should not be a problem! Dai Li secretly thought in his head.
…
As Holly lifted the rifle, he couldn’t help but think of the last shot he took in the Olympics where he shot at someone else’s target.
I’m not aiming at the wrong target am I? I should check one more time.
Holly lowered his rifle, checked whether or not he was aiming at the wrong target, then started to aim again.
At the same time, applause rang out.
Holly lowered his rifle for the second time, and then looked at the big screen.
Prince actually manage to get 10.6 points in his last shot. In that case, my last shot has to score 9.5 points in order to have enough to win!
Holly took a deep breath, lifted his rifle for the third time, and took aim.
9.5 points. My last shot needs to score 9.5 points, but in these last few years, all of my last shots couldn’t even reach nine points. Can I get 9.5 points today?
Holly aimed at the target. He focused on the black dot on the target located 50 meters away.
The target I am aiming at is mine, right? I’m not aiming at the target next to mine, am I!
The situation where he missed in the Olympic was like a nightmare. It was bothering Holly’s mind again, and he lowered his rifle for the third time.
Bang…
Bang…
Bang…
The contestants around him were finished with their final shots, but Holly looked as if he were a lost pedestrian. He stood there with a look of hesitation on his face.
Almost everyone there had their eyes concentrated on Holly. Their eyes showed that they were expectant. Not for the birth of a champion, but for Holly to perform badly on his last shot again, handing first place to someone else.
“D*mn…” Blake let out a long sigh and lowered his head. He couldn’t bear to keep looking at Holly. He didn’t want to see Holly fail again.
Not far away, Prince had finally smiled, and this smile became brighter every time Holly lowered his gun.