First marksman in the mercenary world?
Since ancient times, there has never been a fixed "first" in literature or a "second" in martial arts. Giving Gao Yang such a title was like roasting him on a fire; there's no doubt that troubles would follow him because of it.
Gao Yang knew he was a good marksman, but to call him the first marksman was an exaggeration of the cruelest kind. After all, warfare wasn't about one-on-one combat or comparing gunmanship to see who shot more accurately and thus declared the winner. Even an idiot with lousy shooting skills, if well-hidden, could ambush and kill with a single shot from behind. In the heat of battle, the so-called "first" meant nothing at all.
Without even a guess, Gao Yang knew it must have been Nate who had done him in. Only a remark from someone as influential as Nate would be taken as gospel by a magazine like Mercenary, the only magazine within the circle of mercenaries and one with considerable clout.