Roland had been busy for a while, and finally, it was time to eat. The two did not return to their rooms but instead, moved two chairs out and placed their plates on the wooden railing, sitting on the porch to eat.
From the time they started barbecuing, Roland had not said a word to Jimmy. The two completed the barbecue in silence, finishing their grilled meat and side dishes.
After cleaning up the dishes and utensils, they placed them on the barbecue grill. Roland went inside to fetch two bottles of beer, and the two sat on the porch, slowly beginning to drink.
Roland, "Jimmy, how well have you practiced the manual reloading I taught you last time?"
Having not spoken earlier, Jimmy was slow to react. Once he did, he quickly said, "I've gotten quite proficient at it, needing about 2 seconds to complete the reload."
Roland, "Wait for me a moment."
Roland put down his beer bottle, walked back into the house, and a few minutes later, he came out wearing his leather jacket again, although this time his gun belt was noticeably different from when they were hunting, laden with bullets and bullet-filled revolver cylinders, with two guns appropriately placed on each side.
Roland also carried a black bag, the contents of which Jimmy couldn't discern.
Roland, "Come on, show me what you've learned."
Jimmy, "Alright."
While Roland was changing clothes, Jimmy had already gone back to the car to retrieve his box of bullets. It was clear from Roland's earlier question what was expected, and if Jimmy hadn't realized that, it would have been an utmost folly.
Roland and Jimmy arrived at the shooting range they had used before. Nothing had changed there except for the small trees and grass around it growing lusher, seeming as if Roland had left the little range to fend for itself.
Roland, "Demonstrate for me."
Jimmy still aimed at the wooden stake he had shot at last year, planning not to rely solely on manual reloading as he also had a loaded speedloader on his belt.
Jimmy first shot a round, firing all six bullets from the cylinder, then raised the gun's barrel while simultaneously opening the cylinder to let the casings fall. His left hand had already grabbed the speedloader from his belt. As the barrel dropped, the speedloader was positioned above the cylinder. He gently pressed the button on the speedloader, and then the bullets dropped into the cylinder, with the speedloader falling to the ground.
Jimmy flicked the revolver to reset the cylinder and continued to fire six more shots at the wooden stake. His left hand had already grabbed a row of bullets exposed at the belt, repeating the unloading process. He pointed the barrel upwards, opening the cylinder to let the casings drop while simultaneously making the cylinder spin. As the barrel dropped, Jimmy placed six bullets into the cylinder with his left hand and then slapped the cylinder diagonally upward to reset it.
Jimmy again fired another six shots at the wooden stake, finally ejecting the casings and completing his demonstration.
Roland watched Jimmy's movements and nodded. Three rounds of shooting, eighteen bullets, all hit the wooden stake. Although Jimmy's proficiency wasn't as good as Roland's own, achieving this level was already quite remarkable.
Jimmy could shoot a round in less than 2 seconds. The speedloader reloading was slightly faster than manual, also taking about 2 seconds to complete, while manual loading took just over 2 seconds.
Jimmy put the gun back in its holster, picked up the speedloader from the ground, and placed it back on his belt before turning to face Roland.
Jimmy, "Roland, what do you think?"
Roland: "Not bad, it seems you've practiced a lot."
Roland squatted down, opened a black bag, and took out a DV camcorder, then he took a cassette from the bag and loaded it.
Roland: "This was brought by Chambers the last time he came here; it is said to be the latest model. I'm not familiar with it, you operate it."
Jimmy took the DV and said, "I haven't used it either."
Roland: "As long as it can record, that's fine."
Jimmy opened the side monitor screen, then found the switch on the camera, tried turning it on, and then saw an icon indicating recording had started on the monitor screen; the timing also began to scroll. Jimmy tried moving the camera slightly to the side, and the image on the monitor moved accordingly.
Jimmy: "I think it should be okay now."
Roland: "Pay attention, I'm only going to demonstrate this once."
Jimmy aimed the camera at Roland.
Roland looked at the tree stump in front of him, drew two revolvers from either side with both hands, and fired them simultaneously. After firing a round of bullets, he just lifted the guns while the shells fell, used the open cylinder to extract a clip from his belt upward, then flicked his wrist slightly, and the cylinder snapped back into place. Two revolver clips were now missing from his belt, completing the reloading.
For this round of shooting, Roland used only the revolver in his right hand. After firing six shots, he tilted the gun to eject the spent shells, then pointed the gun downward, and ran the cylinder over a clip on his belt. His right thumb pressed the bullets from the belt directly into the cylinder. The six bullets on the belt disappeared in the time it took the cylinder to pass over them and entered the cylinder.
This time Roland did not fire immediately, but instead used both thumbs to pick two clips from the belt and tossed them into the air. After shooting with both hands and ejecting the spent shells, the clips landed perfectly in front of his chest. He aimed the open cylinder now emptied of shells at the falling clips, scooped and lifted with both hands, and the two clips fell into the cylinder, snapping it back into place.
In the end, Roland emptied the bullets from both guns, placed the left revolver back into its holster, took the last two clips from his belt, and completed the final two routine rounds of shooting. These two rounds of shooting were the most normal operation in the whole sequence, but due to Roland's quick hand speed, it seemed like the cylinder flashed open to eject the shells and then closed, and the second clip was already in the cylinder.
Jimmy was completely stunned. He considered himself very proficient with the revolver, but he had never imagined that reloading could be done in such a way.
Whether it was the six loose bullets on the belt, the preloaded clips, or those tossed in the air to be caught directly by the cylinder, these maneuvers greatly surpassed Jimmy's understanding of revolver reloading.
Roland was not just fast but extremely precise, and his control of bullets and clips was nearly superhuman. Jimmy considered himself to have a Revolver Talent, but he could never achieve this level, he didn't even dare to think about it.
Roland placed the handguns back into the holsters and said to Jimmy, "Turn off the camera. You should have seen everything I can teach you."
Jimmy turned off the camera and handed it to Roland, who opened the cassette compartment of the camera and took out the tape.
Roland handed the tape to Jimmy, then said, "Take this tape home and watch it. Let's go, we're heading back."
At that moment, Jimmy was still dazed. His mind kept replaying Roland's maneuvers, almost subconsciously following Roland towards the cabin.
By the time Jimmy snapped back to reality, he was already sitting on a sofa. Roland was not in front of him but had gone back into his room to change into his usual home attire.