All the students remained still.
They looked at Shi Lei with doubt and indifference.
Shi Lei was taken aback momentarily and blew his whistle again.
"Immediately! Now! Or else, you’ll run an extra lap."
Yue Qingqing handed the fainted girl in her arms to Lu Zhu, stood up, and met Shi Lei’s gaze.
"Coach Shi, although I’ve never been a soldier, I know about camaraderie. Now that my classmate has fainted, you are asking us to abandon them and continue training. Isn’t that a bit inhumane?"
Shi Lei thought to himself, finally, it’s happening.
The fox’s tail has been exposed after all; as expected, she’s a troublemaker.
He said harshly, "Don’t make it sound so grand. As long as you are under my command, I will not allow you to slack off. Little tricks like these won’t deceive me."
Zhong Quan also stood up and locked eyes with Shi Lei.
"You decided we were faking without even looking at them? Doesn’t that show you were biased against us from the beginning?"
Shi Lei suddenly felt his temples throbbing, his anger growing more intense.
"Are you defying orders?"
To him, this was an immense disgrace.
Facing such provocation in his first year of training new students—how would he ever continue being a coach?
"I’ll say it one more time. Go to the field and start running now, or you will all be punished, at least ten laps around the field!"
From childhood to adolescence, students grow up receiving education from various teachers.
Obey, respect authority.
Endure the tests of the system.
Such habits seemed ingrained in their very beings.
Especially the naturally gentle girls, who had been examples of good students all their lives, never faced with such confrontations with authority figures.
Unconsciously, they wanted to retreat.
But seeing their classmates standing up, especially Yue Qingqing who stood up for their comrades, a sense of courage arose in their hearts.
So what if it’s the coach, so what if it’s authority?
They weren’t the ones in the wrong!
While other classes underwent regular training, they suffered unequal treatment due to the coach’s bias.
Is this what’s meant by fairness?
They could accept it passively today.
But if they faced the same inequality in the future, would they continue to hide?
Would they always beg others for fairness and justice?
Thus, everyone looked at Shi Lei with a united, hostile gaze.
Yue Qingqing’s voice wasn’t loud, yet it resounded in the silence.
"We call you coach out of respect, but you should also respect us. When your student faints, your response is indifference and neglect. Ask yourself, do you truly deserve the title of coach?"
Shi Lei was fuming, angrily taking off his hat and throwing it to the ground.
"Fine! You think I don’t deserve to be your coach? For students like you who are sneaky and only know how to defy superiors, I indeed am unfit to teach!"
Just then, the school leaders arrived with the school doctor.
The situation had escalated; several students fainted under everyone’s eyes.
Even if Shi Lei ignored it, the watching coaches wouldn’t.
The approaching person was Director Gao of the Finance Department.
Upon hearing that something happened to Yue Qingqing’s class, he felt uneasy, sensing something was wrong.
Three school doctors came along.
Short-staffed, they first assisted the three students with the severest symptoms.
Touching their foreheads, they knew something wasn’t right.
Looking at the military training uniforms soaked in sweat, hands clammy and cold, faces pale as sheets.
"They’ve got heatstroke! Notify the infirmary to prepare ice and saline, we need to cool them down immediately to avoid serious consequences."
Hearing the doctor’s words, Shi Lei, who looked like a tough man, involuntarily stepped back.
These students weren’t faking it?