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墨書 Inktalez
I was just about to call Old Bi out for being so untrustworthy when, to my surprise, he completely ignored me and stubbornly approached Xiao Yu. He introduced himself while insisting on helping her carry her gear back to her room. However, it seemed that Xiao Yu wasn't very interested in him; she only exchanged a few polite words and didn't pay him much attention.
I had something to ask him, so I waited at Xiao Yu's door until he came out. I pulled him aside and said, "You guys finished the meeting, right? What’s the overall situation like? I’m telling you, my journey is tied to yours. Once the first week is over and we enter elimination, if you leave, I’ll have to pack up too."
"It's fine, it's fine. I'm sticking around just to catch a few more glimpses of the beautiful Female Instructor," Old Bi replied, still gazing into the room as if he were indifferent.
"I meant about your meeting," I pressed, feeling a bit anxious since he seemed so unfocused on serious matters.
"Oh, we split into four groups. I'm in Group 1. Hehe, not sure if it's the beautiful Female Instructor teaching us. By the way, what was her name again?"
"Xiao Yu!" I exclaimed as I snatched a camouflage hat from his hands. It was a Panama Hat, one I had only seen on TV, typically used in jungles and tropical rainforests. I couldn't believe this training camp was so trendy; instead of standard camouflage hats, they were using these! I definitely wanted to get one as a keepsake.
"Hey, don’t take mine! Everyone has one; yours is in your gear bag—go get it yourself!" Old Bi snatched it back without hesitation. "Starting tomorrow we have adaptive training. We’ll kick things off with a 5-kilometer weighted run while carrying our rifles in the morning, then classes afterward. In the afternoon after class, there’s another 5-kilometer weighted run. After dinner at night, we’ll have concentrated training that includes fifty meters of frog jumps, practicing on parallel bars and rings, push-ups, sit-ups, and other upper and lower body strength training. Oh right, it seems like you Instructors have to participate too! The weights are just sandbags strapped to our legs—check if you have any at home! Oh yeah, we got issued the new Type 95 rifles! Hahaha! You Instructors definitely don’t have those."
My face turned pale; did he really expect me to survive this? With that level of intensity, I wasn’t sure if I could keep up! But the new Type 95 rifle—I truly longed for it. Back in school when I helped the shooting Instructors move experimental firearms for their inspections, I had only touched the transport boxes while watching them take out the guns for practice; I had never even held one myself.
Old Bi walked away with a grin while I felt troubled for a moment. Eventually resigned to my fate, I went to retrieve my gear and returned to my room to organize it. Upon opening my backpack, there wasn’t anything particularly special—just a set of Camouflage Uniforms, Rank insignia, a Panama Hat, and some bedding items. As for other miscellaneous items like towels, washbasins, toothbrushes, and raincoats—we had all brought those along in our backpacks. After rummaging through everything for a while and finding nothing heavy as Old Bi had mentioned, it seemed he had tricked me again. If that was the case, then perhaps I could manage after all since there were no performance expectations at the start.
Once everything was sorted out, I opened the training manual. Unlike what we learned at our local academy, this manual focused on basic bandaging techniques and how to handle injuries to prevent further deterioration or infection. It didn’t take me long to grasp everything; however, the self-rescue and mutual aid methods using improvised materials truly amazed me with their creativity. Before I knew it, it was already midnight. Finally unable to keep my eyes open any longer, I fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning at dawn, I was jolted awake by the sharp sound of a whistle accompanied by a loud roar from Pig Head: "Get up! Assemble!" Reflexively sitting up straight, I quickly got dressed and ran outside. Here’s something interesting about military life: they always start with morning runs before returning for personal hygiene routines—unlike many places where people wash up first before starting their activities. Initially, it was hard for me to adapt but now I've gotten used to it; so there I was running while rubbing my eyes. When I stepped outside, I noticed many people were already standing in formation waiting—some even faster than me despite living on the first floor.
Surprisingly enough, once fully geared up with our equipment, we looked quite impressive as Scouts. Everyone wore matching Panama Hats and carried their backpacks while holding new Type 95 rifles with sandbags strapped around their legs—everyone appeared spirited and eager to showcase themselves.
As I was observing, I suddenly heard, "Listen up! Instructors step forward! Cadets, line up according to yesterday's formation, Group One in Row A, align to the right!" It was Liu Team giving orders from the side.
I glanced at the other instructors and noticed that Xiao Yu had been standing aside without joining the lineup. Since there were no experts present, it seemed she didn't have to participate in the morning run. The other two instructors and I stepped forward to join Xiao Yu, waiting for further instructions.
"The Cadet morning run consists of a full gear weight-bearing Five Kilometers! The specific route is a loop around the main road next to the dormitory building. Try to keep up with Team Leader Ding; there are no performance requirements, but the last three Cadets will miss breakfast!" After Liu Team issued the command to turn right, Team Leader Ding was already prepared and took off running first. A large group of Cadets quickly followed suit.
"Hehe, let's follow them and take a look!" Xiao Yu said as she gracefully dashed out. At this point, the three of us men couldn't bear to stay behind any longer and followed her out.
Running should be a routine for the ground troops. After about ten minutes of running, I noticed that everyone was maintaining a relatively orderly formation, with hardly anyone lagging behind or moving particularly slowly. Naturally, I didn't feel strained keeping pace with them.
Just then, I felt the rhythm of the group suddenly quicken. Curious, I looked ahead and realized that Team Leader Ding had increased his speed, causing the entire team to pick up their pace as well, forcing me to adjust my stride accordingly.
The speed picked up even more. Suddenly, it dawned on me—this was a deliberate attempt to create a gap and observe everyone's physical condition. After all, everyone usually runs Five Kilometers fully armed; since these were top candidates selected from various units, their performance in this subject should be similar. Only by increasing the difficulty—adding sandbags and increasing speed—could those with better physical fitness stand out. It was akin to how top students often complain that exams are too easy and fail to reflect their true abilities when scores don't vary much.
Xiao Yu was still able to keep up at first but had now fallen far behind. I glanced back at the other two instructors; they were clearly unable to keep up either and had dropped back happily to play the role of flower protectors. Since I wasn't carrying any weight, I could still maintain this speed, so I decided to chase after them because I wanted to observe the general level of this training team's Cadets.
As I ran ahead, I noticed someone keeping pace beside me. I casually glanced over; he was slightly taller than me but seemed younger—was he an Old Sergeant? He was running alongside me just like I was with the others ahead. Was he the last one? But he didn't seem rushed at all; in fact, he appeared quite relaxed. Strange—why wasn't he pushing himself? However, I didn't think much of it and continued running alongside him.
A few minutes later, the pace had become so fast that it was hard for me to keep up. Team Leader Ding was fully armed yet still managing such speed—was he not weighed down at all? I began to fall behind gradually and could start seeing the differences among everyone.
The entire group had split into four tiers: the first tier led by Team Leader Ding with a bunch of people; the second tier was about ten meters away from them; the third tier lagged another ten meters behind the second; while the fourth squad didn’t have a significant distance from the third tier but clearly formed a straight line with individuals spaced out too far apart—this was where the difference lay. Just as I thought this, my breathing started to struggle to keep pace—not crucial yet—but I noticed Old Bi had also fallen into the fourth squad, though he was near the front or perhaps at the back of the third tier running alongside someone else.
The person beside me maintained that same speed and thus was slightly faster than me. After noticing my lagging behind, he turned back and said, "Keep up." His voice sounded somewhat aged. "Hey," I replied, determined not to lose face against an Old Comrade as I pushed myself to catch up with him. Just as we reached an equal pace, he muttered to himself, "It's time to sprint." My breathing couldn't keep up with his rhythm; managing to stay alongside him was already a struggle—I had no strength left to engage in conversation.
It was as if I could hear the Old Sergeant's words echoing in my mind, and the entire team entered the final sprint phase, their speed suddenly increasing! The members of Fourth Squad in front of me charged forward like they had been injected with adrenaline. A few even surged ahead to catch up with the Second Team. I suddenly remembered that it was because the last three Cadets hadn’t eaten.
Heh heh heh, interesting. These members of Fourth Squad weren’t fools either; they had hidden their strength at first and were now unleashing it, just like a hundred-meter dash, relying on explosive power to impact their rankings.
As we rounded the bend, only a few hundred meters remained until we reached the dormitory building. All the Cadets began to shout and sprint, completely losing their formation. It didn’t matter whether they were hiding their strength or mustering their remaining energy; everyone was charging forward in a frenzy. I could already see Pig Head timing and checking people by the side of the main path before entering the dormitory.
At this point, I definitely couldn’t see Old Bi anymore, but I didn’t have time to worry about him. I couldn’t let myself fall behind the fully armed Cadets while running unarmed. So, gritting my teeth, I began to push myself to sprint. Coincidentally, Old Sergeant beside me also surged forward at the same time. Soon enough, we overtook several Cadets.
I was nearing the finish line when I suddenly heard Pig Head shouting from just a few meters ahead, “Ten seconds left to fail! Nine! Eight!”
In a moment of impulse, I shouted, “Ah!!!” and burst forward with all my might!
…
(To be continued; more excitement tomorrow!)
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