Gu Canghai looked at the old fellow with amusement, cursing under his breath, "At this rate, we might as well not bother fighting, just surrender straight away. Look at them, tsk tsk..."
The old man with the star on his shoulder glanced back at Gu Canghai, gave him a disdainful look, and curled his lip, "Old Gu, you really don’t need to be griping here, do you? Seems like you were the one who let this kid through. Must be pretty pleased with yourself, huh?"
Gu Canghai glared and abruptly stood up, "You damn loudmouth, always barking at everyone!"
Watching Gu Canghai leave in a huff, the old man kept muttering, "That old coot is definitely going to sneak off to laugh about this."
Outside the green tent, many patrolling soldiers saw an old general standing at the entrance, unsure of what he was doing. All they could see was him shaking continuously, seemingly from laughing too hard.
Gu Canghai never expected that after his first impressive performance, Shen Jingwei would ask to enlist in the military. He couldn’t fathom the young man’s true intentions; he just thought that Shen was intrigued by the formidable characters in the army and wanted to have a go at it himself. Gu Canghai, never one to play by the rules, even in his older years, was more of a playful scamp than Shen Jingwei.
"Which unit do you want to join?"
"Any unit from the Northeast would do."
Gu Canghai’s eyes bulged, "Look down on our Beiping Military Region, do you!"
Shen Jingwei was even less courteous, "Yes, I do. They’re all pampered by policy, nothing solid like the Northeast Army!"
"Hey, you little brat!"
"Just tell me if you can do it or not."
Perhaps truly bested by the kid’s stubbornness, Gu Canghai tossed him into the Northeast Tiger Force, a world-renowned Special Forces unit known as the Death Soldier’s Hell, a brigade that even the steeliest warriors both loved and hated.
"Listen here, whelp, your age definitely doesn’t meet the standards. I’m putting my old face and my military conversion on the line to squeeze you in there. If you disgrace me, I swear I won’t let you off!" These words were Gu Canghai’s carefully crafted mix of threats and pressure, covering all bases.
Unfortunately, Shen Jingwei simply curled his lip dismissively, "Who are you trying to scare, huh, cut it out!"
It was this very Shen Jingwei, who no one anticipated, that would make a name for himself in the Black Tiger Special Brigade filled with experts.
Push-ups, nine thousand eight hundred, shattering the record of eight thousand six hundred and fifty-six;
Sit-ups, the old soldiers could do nine thousand three hundred, but he did them for eight hours straight, breaking the ten thousand mark;
Armed swimming, a wild kid from the mountains left the old soldiers miles behind;
Wilderness survival, soldiers who had studied military textbooks from armies around the world never knew that personnel mines needed to be designed based on human psychology;
In less than a month, this 14-year-old new recruit had become the unofficial leader of the other new soldiers. After every slight, they would come to Shen Jingwei to get their revenge. For the first time, the old soldiers of the Black Tiger tasted what it was like to be bullied by one of their own. What a mess!
Scalpel! Everyone who saw his small physique immediately thought of this word, like a shiny scalpel brimming with killing aura.
"Brother Wei, are we just going to keep waiting ?"
The reply came sharply and decisively, no room for doubt, like a blunt knife cutting through a thick hemp rope.
Three people were hidden in this snow-covered highland, the last three remaining soldiers of the Red Army, their final gasp of life.
"Bear, are you sure the Blue Army’s command center is here? We’ve disobeyed orders to come here, not to mention getting thrown into the brig is the least of our worries—we’ll be the laughing stock if we don’t catch them."
"According to the satellite, this is the place." The voice was deep and barrel-toned, suggesting its owner was no small individual.
"The satellite doesn’t prove anything. It’s been three hours; by now the Red Army probably knows we have their radio. They control the terminal, cooking up some deception isn’t a big deal." Shen Jingwei lay in a snow hollow, his breath venting through the carefully dug hole.
"Alright, I’ll go check it out," a soft and magnetic, yet youthful voice chimed in.
"Don’t move a muscle!" Shen Jingwei barked sharply, and the voice stopped, "We three acting on our own is technically against the maneuvers’ rules. The control department can easily call a halt and declare Blue Army’s defeat, but the fact that the Red Army remains on high alert means they haven’t stopped it yet. We are the last bit of hope. I’m not one to show off, but if it’s a rehearsal, then it should be carried out with the mindset of real combat. Even if it comes down to a single man with one gun, I’d breach a hole in their defense—screw any exercise protocols, why should the Blue Army lose just because of them? Pure nonsense!"
The few old generals in the exercise command center were outraged, those young devils completely disregarded their hard work in devising the exercise rules. They’d spent many sleepless nights on them, only to have these brats dismiss it all as nonsense!
"If we’re going down, we’ll go down one by one. The fewer risks we take, the greater our slim chance of winning. Bear, if I get taken out, make sure to destroy the radio."
"That’s not an option; we can’t let you take the risk alone."
"Right, we can’t let you go alone!"
An argument ensued over who would die first. In the command center, expressions turned solemn; this scene was all too familiar from the days of war. There would always be those who valued others’ lives over their own.
"Report, Red Army informs they’ve located the radio and can reach its position in five minutes."
Upon hearing this, there was a pang of regret among those in the tent. They were just too young. While they had considered using the radio for tracking, they had neglected the possibility of being tracked in return. The importance of actual combat experience was vividly highlighted; soldiers in peace times simply lack the life-or-death instincts and danger awareness honed in bloody battles.