At 6:55 a.m., Ye Mo, Hang Menglin, and a group of assistant instructors left the training ground. They needed to first report on their duties before returning to their respective posts.
The trainees spontaneously formed a line to see off the instructors, all displaying faces of reluctance. The students selected for the East Playground were slightly red around their eyes.
After saluting, Ye Mo and the other assistant instructors boarded vehicles and departed.
Throughout, Hang Menglin showed no movement or expression. She drove her own car following Ye Mo and the others. As she exited the gate, she paused slightly, glancing seemingly towards the line of trainees, then with a press of the accelerator, her car roared away.
In that moment, Luo Ye even felt a hint of pity for her, devoid of friendship, love, and with a discounted family affection. In her world, emotions were like a desolate muddy field; both the ability to give and receive had been lost. What sustained her was only that deformed stubbornness. One wonders whether such a person’s heart... could tire?
At 7:00 am, the piercing sound of a whistle urgently rang out. The trainees, carrying their baggage, quickly rushed out, and after coming to a stop, they all seemed stunned by the neatly stacked pile of concrete bricks in front of Mo Datong.
No one was foolish enough to think the bricks were for building houses. Could it be that the instructors knew magic? These bricks were nowhere to be seen when they were saying goodbye to Chief Instructor Ye earlier on.
Deputy Chief Instructor Yue Santie stepped forward, "At ease!"
"Count off from left to right!"
"One, two, three, four, five... Twenty-seven!"
Yue Santie saluted toward Mo Datong, "Reporting to the Chief Instructor, all personnel are present, awaiting your command!" Read complete version only at novᴇlfire.net
Yue Santie turned back, "At ease!" Then, he stepped aside.
Mo Datong scanned the crowd, noting that everyone’s gaze fell on the bricks. His stern face reluctantly revealed a smile, or rather, satisfaction might be more appropriate, "It seems everyone is quite interested in these bricks. Front row starts, from right to left, each person takes two bricks and puts them in the backpack. By the way, these bricks have no specific markings; each weighs 2.5 kilograms. Upon return, if anyone has a brick missing even a chip off a corner, they’ll have to chew the whole brick!"
The trainees who had already anticipated the purpose lined up to receive the bricks. The moment they touched the bricks, those who had been nurturing any mischievous thoughts immediately resigned themselves to their fate. Mo Datong was right; these bricks were certainly unmistakable, clearly marked with the words "Military Use"...
After everyone had picked up their bricks, the instructors checked them one by one and marked each person’s brick with a different symbol. Damn, now there were surely no identical ones. That ghost talisman, probably only the instructors could recognize it.
Mo Datong, with a satisfactorily sharp smile on his tough face, said, "Very good, the original weight of the backpack is ten kilograms, plus the newly added five kilograms, including a 95-type rifle, two simulation hand grenades, a bulletproof helmet, two magazine clips, a water bottle, and a food pouch, the total comes to twenty-five kilograms, a very standard figure.
Students who truly cannot persist may set off a flare. Rescue personnel will appear swiftly. Of course, your selection journey will also end here.
Some female trainees may feel that carrying the same weight as male trainees is unfair, but on the battlefield, there is no such thing as ’ladies first’, and bullets do not choose to only hit male soldiers.
Choosing the military profession means learning to forget your gender, forget everything, and in training, achieve total self-forgetfulness..."
Liang Xiaorao sneaked a curled lip, muttering quietly, "Every instructor emphasizes the irrelevance of gender, but is it possible? Let the male trainees also have a period once a month, and while we’re at it, give birth to a kid to try it..."
"Pfft!" Sang Cao, standing beside Liang Xiaorao, couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.
Mo Datong’s gaze fixed sternly upon them, "That student over there, do you find what I’m saying amusing?"
Annoyed with herself, Sang Cao slapped her forehead, wrinkled her nose, and bit her lip, "Reporting to the instructor, it’s not funny!"
"Just answer the question, why the snarl and grimace?"
As Mo Datong spoke, the shoulders of most of the trainees suspiciously began to shake.
"Reporting to the instructor, I... I am annoyed with myself!" Sang Cao wished she could just find a hole to crawl into, considering her recent unaccustomed behavior...
"Since it’s your first offense, I won’t punish you severely. After the cross-country run, run five laps around the playground!" Ye Datong harshly scanned the crowd, "In the future, anyone who disrupts while I’m speaking will run at least ten laps, fifteen for a repeat offense, and so on. If anyone feels their energy is excessive and needs releasing, they can use this approach. Move out!"
Everyone, being the best picks from hundreds of people, naturally would not rush out foolishly like clueless young recruits. A long-distance cross-country run is about endurance and physical strength, especially not to overexert oneself in the early stages.