Under the smiling gaze of the girl, Tan Yulin’s voice grew softer and softer, then he bowed his head, waiting for An Yiqing’s reproach.
After a moment, just when he thought An Yiqing had already left, a gentle voice sounded.
"Very good, Yulin, your training method is excellent."
Tan Yulin was startled, jerked his head up, and saw the relieved gaze An Yiqing had towards An Zhifeng and the others.
"Making them suffer more now will ensure their lives are safer later. I see them as brothers and wouldn’t want to lose a single one of them," An Yiqing sighed with a faint smile.
Tan Yulin looked at the girl before him and couldn’t help but see the shadow of Gu Yelin on her. Back then, when their leader trained them, he had said the same.
There had been complaints, but after the first brush with danger in real combat, when they had successfully evaded it, everyone silently doubled their daily training tasks...
Recalling his first meeting with Gu Yelin, Tan Yulin smiled warmly, his handsome, lively face full of nostalgia. He glanced at An Yiqing and exclaimed, "No wonder our leader, the eternal iceberg, fell for you. You two really are alike."
After hearing Tan Yulin’s words, An Yiqing pursed her lips into a smile and turned to look at the twelve men in the mud pit.
At that moment, An Zhifeng and his brothers, with fifty-pound sandbags tied to them, were being chased around by the fierce wolves. Compared to the somewhat pale complexions they had when she first saw them, An Zhifeng and the others were now a healthy wheat color.
Their bodies, originally somewhat frail, had become robust, with broad shoulders and narrow waists, and the hints of a six-pack had women going crazy.
An Zhifeng and his men were naturally handsome, and those sharply defined faces, coupled with broad shoulders, narrow waists, and well-defined muscles, turned the muddy pit into a model’s photoshoot.
Tan Yulin glanced at the time and saw it was about right.
At his command, the three fierce wolves were caught by the staff and locked away. As soon as the wolves were gone, the twelve men from An Zhifeng’s group collapsed, belly-up in the mud pit, panting heavily.
Tan Yulin walked leisurely into the mud pit with hands clasped behind his back, kicking at the "corpses" sprawled on the ground.
"Up, all of you! You can’t handle this little speed? Get up and see who’s come!"
The twelve men in the mud pit struggled for a while before slowly lifting their heads to look at the person beside Tan Yulin.
This one look changed everything; the "bodies" that were loosely lying in the mud scrambled up quickly, their eyes shining as they looked at An Yiqing, their faces showing no sign of fatigue.
"Miss, you’re here? When did you arrive?" An Zhifeng wiped his muddy face haphazardly and chuckled with a grin.
Since the twelve had followed An Yiqing, they had changed their way of addressing, calling her "Miss" just like Zhang Yusheng and the others did.
An Yiqing could only laugh and cry at this but helplessly accepted the title.
"How have these past two weeks been? You seem to have bulked up quite nicely," An Yiqing said with a beaming smile as she appraised the twelve men. When she saw An Zhiying, she nodded continuously, "Ah Shi, your complexion looks much rosier than before, but you haven’t gotten much tanner."
An Zhiying, also known as Ah Shi, who had a heart condition, now had normally fair skin instead of being overly pale. Despite being under the sun every day, he seemed not to tan at all. His height, originally 178 centimeters, had grown a bit, and his once somewhat youthful-looking handsome face had become angular, his eyes carrying a touch of cool detachment, making him appear more mature and steady.