Chapter 23: Only One Person
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He was answered by a series of gunshots.
Monica snatched the binoculars from the stunned Mr. Miller and peered over, seeing three clouds of white powder blooming in the air. She then shifted the binoculars to focus on Chuck, who lay prone, and through them she could see him more clearly.
Focus!
Violence!
Handsome!
Oh no!
Monica, easily drawn to bad boys and now often calling herself "Bad Girl Monica," cried inwardly.
She saw action stars like Jason Statham as handsome, tough guys, not to mention Chuck, whose looks even surpassed Hollywood's leading men. Monica's heartbeat echoed the rhythm of the heavy sniper rifle's semi-automatic fire, capable of continuous shots.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
More gunshots rang out.
"Did he hit all of them? Did he hit all of them?"
Mr. Anderson leaned his hands against the porch railing and tried to look into the distance, shouting at Monica who was holding the binoculars. Seeing that Monica was standing there motionless and didn't answer, he impatiently snatched back his binoculars and looked over.
In his sight, there was only the residual white powder floating in the wind.
"Holy cow."
Mr. Anderson exclaimed.
After Chuck finished this wave, he felt refreshed and comfortable. He stood up, put away the Barrett heavy sniper rifle, and nodded to the people at the house.
"Son, how did you do it?"
Mr. Anderson walked over quickly and asked excitedly.
If he had such amazing shooting skills, wouldn't he be able to brag about it to his buddies at the American Legion in the future?
"I'm good at math."
Chuck said casually.
"What does this have to do with math?"
Mr. Anderson was puzzled.
"A bullet's trajectory is nothing more than linear motion and free fall. It can be corrected by factoring in external conditions like wind speed, humidity, and air pressure,"
Chuck explained. "The bullet's trajectory is predictable and controllable."
"It's not that simple,"
Mr. Anderson said, shaking his head. "I've seen Marine Corps snipers talk about this, but even they have field notebooks to write things down and do calculations. You don't have any of that, not to mention you were shooting at moving targets!"
"So I'm good at math,"
Chuck reminded him again.
"..."
Mr. Anderson was speechless.
As a farmer who struggled with his tax returns every April, he didn't know whether to believe such a statement.
Is being good at math really that impressive?
"Can you teach me?"
Monica's eyes lit up, and she habitually nudged Ross.
"Who knows if he was just lucky?"
Columbia University paleontologist Dr. Ross Geller didn't dare to respond loudly, only mumbling under his breath.
"This is Monica and her brother Ross."
Mrs.Anderson saw Chuck looking at Monica and introduced them with a smile, "They called yesterday and said they wanted to come see the dog we had when they were kids."
"Hi."
Monica waved to Chuck nervously.
"Dr. Ross Geller."
Ross raised his head and extended his hand to Chuck.
As a fellow doctor, he had never felt inferior to anyone in his life!
Chuck looked at the hand he extended, but did not shake it back. He just nodded: "Dr. Chuck Wolfe."
"I'm Monica."
Monica, ignoring Ross's darkening expression, shyly introduced herself.
"Hello, Monica."
Chuck looked at the familiar face, and memories of the TV show Friends from his previous life flashed through his mind. He took the initiative to extend his hand to Monica: "Just call me Chuck."
"Hello, Chuck."
Monica was thrilled and placed her small hand in Chuck's large hand, her face full of joy.
"Hey! You're being really rude, you know that?"
Ross, seeing Chuck's discriminatory treatment, immediately couldn't help but call out.
"I don't think so,"
Chuck said calmly.
"I'm also a doctor, and I offered to shake your hand. Why did you ignore me but offer to shake hands with my sister?"
Ross said coldly: "Isn't that rude?"
"She's very clean."
Chuck frowned at Ross, the male protagonist of Friends who he had never liked in his previous life.
"What do you mean?!"
Ross said angrily, "What's wrong with me?"
"The wedding ring tan line on your left ring finger has faded. Judging from the marks, it was removed several months ago, which means you've been divorced for more than a few months. There are no signs of frequent removal and replacement, which means you're not a player."
Seeing that he had asked for it, Chuck no longer held back and spoke his mind frankly: "Also, on a Sunday you brought your sister to look for your childhood dog who is obviously long dead, which means you're not dating anyone and are single and aimless, otherwise you wouldn't be so bored.
The palm of your left hand is paler and smells more strongly of soap than your right hand, which means you've been washing your left hand vigorously.
A divorced man who has been single for several months with no girlfriend and nothing better to do, who frequently washes his left hand with soap. Regardless of which hand he extends, even after UV sterilization, I still don't want to shake it."
"Ew!"
Monica stepped away from her brother with a look of disgust.
"He's talking nonsense!"
Ross's face flushed red. "That's not what happened!"
"But you and Carol have been divorced for months now."
Monica, completely convinced by Chuck's deduction, contradicted him. "You really don't have a girlfriend right now. You used to love reading those comic books. Oh, and I heard Chandler and Joey say they saw you ducking into a video store the other day, trying to avoid people."
"That wasn't me!"
Ross felt like he was going crazy.
He regretted it so much.
Why had he been so insistent about the handshake? No handshake, no handshake. What's the big deal? Monica has OCD about cleanliness, so it's normal for her to be cleaner than him!
"Here you go."
Chuck ignored Ross, whose face was cycling between pale and red. He walked to his pickup truck and pulled out a spare bottle of hand sanitizer and handed it to Monica.
"Thank you,"
Monica said with a bright smile.
He was so handsome, so tough, and yet so clean—exactly what she was attracted to.
"I'll disinfect everything Ross touched a few times later."
"..."
Ross's eye twitched, and he glared at his own sister resentfully.
It would be one thing if a stranger said that, but it was devastating when his own sister agreed.
Unfortunately, Monica's eyes were all on Chuck, and she didn't even glance at him.
Chuck nodded approvingly, put the Barrett sniper rifle back in the pickup truck, and prepared to leave.
Although Monica was one of his favorite TV characters from his previous life, and she was very beautiful with an excellent figure, he still couldn't bring himself to make the first move.
After all, Monica didn't reach the level where he couldn't help but want to get closer to her, despite his severe social anxiety.
Until now, there was only one person who had that effect: Professor Alicia Harper.
This was the result of the fusion of his own consciousness and his predecessor's, along with their combined preferences. Unless he could find a way to overcome this psychological barrier in the future to compensate for this social defect, it would remain like the physical manifestation of his severe autism—beyond his control.
(End of chapter)
join patreon for update and advance 40+ chapters
https://www.p-atreon.com/c/Soulforger
(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)
"If you're enjoying this story, don't forget to drop a Power Stone! Your support keeps me motivated and helps the novel reach more readers."
"100 Power Stones this week = 1 extra chapter release!"
"500 Power Stones = bonus side story."