Brian Carter originally intended to vent his frustration with BB pellets, but while playing real-life CS isn’t illegal, using replica guns is. When Brian Carter and his group of friends from the team were having a shootout with replica guns, they were suddenly busted by the police.

Fines and detention were inevitable. After spending a few days in the station, Brian Carter’s father managed to get him out, at least sparing him from a multi-year sentence.

The very next day after Brian Carter returned home from the station, he saw an ad online. The ad was for hunting at a private game reserve in Ethiopia, costing eighty-eight thousand yuan, and for an extra fee, you could even hunt lions.

Brian Carter wasn’t bloodthirsty; his interest in hunting was mostly curiosity. But everything in the ad catered to his greatest passion—playing with real guns and knives on the African plains. All of this made Brian Carter long for the experience. He thought that instead of nervously playing with replica guns, he might as well go to Africa for the real thing.

A person’s interests can’t just change overnight, and Brian Carter was the type to act on impulse. So he sold off all the replica guns and famous knives he had painstakingly collected, and together with his savings, Brian Carter scraped together a hundred thousand yuan—just enough for a trip to Africa.

Although a hundred thousand yuan was just the bare minimum, only enough to hunt some common small animals, Brian Carter wasn’t interested in shooting defenseless animals. He treated it as joining a tour group, and as long as he could play with real guns and see the African scenery, that was enough.

Brian Carter spent all his savings to get to Africa. After arriving in Ethiopia, he transferred to a plane that would take them to the hunting grounds—or perhaps, to hell. Then, Brian Carter found himself caught in a bizarre gunfight, and for the first time in his life, he killed four living people, plus a hyena.

Back when Brian Carter practiced shooting, he trained with both pistols and rifles, but his main focus was skeet shooting. So, Brian Carter’s shooting habit was to fire two shots in quick succession, especially at fast-moving targets.

Even though he hadn’t handled a real gun in years, and even though he was using an assault rifle instead of the shotguns he was familiar with, the habit of firing two shots came naturally to Brian Carter. Thankfully, even though it was more difficult, the results were still quite good.

As for why Brian Carter could pick up an AK47 and use it without any unfamiliarity, despite never having handled one before, he owed it all to his collection of replica guns. Also, as a true military enthusiast, even if he could only learn about firearms from the internet or books, he could memorize most gun schematics by heart. Once he got his hands on the real thing, he could take it apart and reassemble it. As for something as simple as the AK47, it was no problem at all.

And Brian Carter’s weekly real-life CS games—at least once a week—helped him master most tactical movements. After all, getting hit by a BB pellet really hurts.

To make his real-life CS games feel more authentic and to look more professional, Brian Carter had practiced various tactical moves and hand signals countless times by following online tutorials.

What Brian Carter had mastered was nothing compared to real elite soldiers, but compared to those untrained irregulars who pick up a broken gun and go to war, Brian Carter was definitely a cut above.

Chapter 5: Misfortunes Never Come Alone

Brian Carter didn’t want to grow old and regret not having experienced more in his youth, but now, Brian Carter wished more than anything that he was still at home, able to spend the rest of his life peacefully with his parents.

Only now did Brian Carter truly understand one thing: guns are not toys, they are weapons. The purpose of a gun is not for play, but for killing.

Brian Carter’s wish to play with guns in Africa had come true, but the price he paid was far too steep. He had only wanted to do some target shooting, but ended up killing four living people. What’s more, he himself might end up buried on the African savannah. And the root of it all was simply wanting to play with real guns.

For the first time, Brian Carter felt that gun bans might not be such a bad thing. If he could choose now, he would definitely pick living in China, where there are no guns to play with but also no need to worry about being shot at any moment. Only after losing something do people realize how precious it was.

He had never dared to kill even a chicken before, but this time he killed several people in a row. Especially since one of them was killed face-to-face with a knife. Although he didn’t feel much at the time, now that things had calmed down, Brian Carter felt disgusted and terrified. Still, he was grateful that it was someone else who died, not him.

Killing was only for self-preservation. As for the consequences of killing four people, Brian Carter had no regrets. There’s a Western saying that goes, “Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.”

But as for coming to Africa, Brian Carter regretted it deeply. Now, he only hoped he could return home, back to his parents.

Thinking of his parents gave Brian Carter the motivation to survive. He stopped wallowing in self-pity and began to think about how he could make it home alive.