For a moment, the central control tower was strangely quiet.
Everyone there, even someone like Weaver who wasn't a combat officer, had received professional military training, so none of them were completely clueless about this kind of thing.
That's why, after seeing the footage Vincent pulled up, they quickly understood what had happened.
But just because they understood it, they found it even more unbelievable!
No matter how they thought about it, they couldn't figure out how Raymond managed to hit Leonid behind cover—and even get a headshot with just one shot. It was just too bizarre!
The distance between the two wasn't extreme, but it certainly wasn't close—at least 200 to 300 meters. That was well outside the normal effective range of a handgun.
At that distance, bullets could easily go off course.
Even without obstacles, none of them were confident they could hit a target from that far with a handgun—let alone shoot through cover and get a headshot.
Faced with something they couldn't understand, they had no choice but to remain silent.
"Let's keep watching," Vincent said as he switched the view back to split-screen mode, though he didn't step away from the controls.
Even Vincent and the others, who could replay the footage, hadn't figured out what happened. So it was even more confusing for Leonid, who was directly involved.
The only thing he could connect was the sudden force that hit him from above.
Right after that, the loudspeaker announced that he was "eliminated" and the machine declared Raymond the winner of the first match. That said it all.
"I got shot in the head?" Leonid was completely lost.
He didn't know where Raymond had been or where he had fired from, and no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand how a shot could hit the top of his head from his position.
But he didn't have time to think about it because the second round was about to begin.
This time the roles would be reversed.
"I can't afford to slip up again. I have to win this round," Leonid said to himself.
He really had no choice now.
At first, Raymond had said that he'd lose as long as he lost one out of three games. But Leonid insisted on changing the rule to best two out of three.
This meant that if he lost the second round, the game was over—even if he won the third round, it wouldn't matter.
Soon, the two switched sides under the staff's guidance.
After the weapon room was reset, the second match began.
Anyone watching both camera feeds noticed that, just like in the first round, Leonid rushed into the armory as fast as he could and started picking out his gear.
Raymond, on the other hand, was still walking slowly as if he had all the time in the world.
But unlike the first round, no one thought he was slowing down.
Acting cool without the skill is just dumb, but if you have the skill to back it up, then it's real confidence. Raymond had used the first round to prove how strong he really was.
Even though no one had figured out how Raymond managed to "eliminate" Leonid through cover, the result spoke for itself—no one could deny it.
Soon, just like in the first round, Leonid quickly assembled the weapon of his choice.
This time he didn't choose the sniper rifle again. Instead, he assembled a submachine gun.
Sniper rifles like the Steyr Scout are great for defending a fixed position, but not ideal for charging or attacking.
Now that Leonid was on the offensive, he needed to change things up.
Meanwhile, Raymond surprisingly chose the exact same weapon as in the first round. He calmly assembled another Desert Eagle and once again left the armory on time.
"Does Dr. Raymond only know how to use that one gun?" In the control tower, Claude couldn't help but look puzzled as he watched Raymond reassemble the Desert Eagle.
Vincent looked at him. "Did you find out how Agent Leonid died in the first round?"
That one sentence silenced Claude.
He knew exactly what Vincent meant—if he still didn't understand Raymond's method of attack, how could he question the man's choice of weapon?
The worst part was that he couldn't argue back—he had no idea either, even after thinking about it for so long.
A little embarrassed, he quickly tried to change the subject and pointed to the main screen. "Let's see if Leonid can win this one. Look, he's already getting close. If he closes the distance, the firepower of a submachine gun is way beyond that of a handgun..."
"Agent Leonid is eliminated. Dr. Raymond wins round two."
The sudden announcement over the loudspeaker cut Claude off again.
The entire control tower fell silent in an instant!
What had just happened?
Everyone had been watching both camera feeds closely. Leonid looked much more prepared this time and was getting closer step by step.
Raymond, on the other hand, looked like he was going for a walk. When he reached the top, he took a quick look around and then relaxed.
He didn't mess with the high tech gear on the high ground like Leonid did in the first round, nor did he make any aggressive moves like Leonid did in this round.
So how did he win again?
Right now, Claude wasn't the only one left speechless by another unexpected twist.
Everyone watching the match fell into complete silence.
Without saying a word, Vincent started to operate the console again, pulling up the footage of the last thirty seconds. This time he split the central screen into four different camera angles.
Each one showed Raymond from a different angle.
As expected, when the footage began to play, they saw Raymond once again casually flicking his gun-holding arm—just like in the first round.
Right after that came the announcement of Leonid's defeat.
Two "eliminations", exactly the same setup... No one thought it was just a coincidence anymore, because something like that couldn't happen twice in a row by chance!
In other words, Raymond, who everyone thought was crazy for challenging Leonid... turned out to be a real hidden expert!
Based on those two shots alone, even among S.H.I.E.L.D.'s top agents, there were few who could match him.
"Agent Weaver, did you already know how capable Dr. Raymond was and just let us walk into this?" Claude said with a bitter smile as he looked at Weaver.
"Would you believe me if I said I had no idea?"
Weaver looked just as shocked. She wasn't taking it much better than Claude.
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