Chapter 32: An Unforgettable Day (Please Continue Reading)

Late at night, while Su Yang and the others were sound asleep, down below the dormitory building, Vulture glanced at his watch and said to Instructor Zhou Lin, “We can start now.”

Zhou Lin looked at the concrete ground dusted with sand and smiled, “The Wolf Fang guys are really something else—such tough training.”

Vulture grinned with narrowed eyes, “They’re not rookies anymore. You can’t treat them like fresh recruits. Since this is intensive training, it has to look the part. Otherwise, what’s the point of me being here?”

“That’s true. A bunch of seasoned veterans need to be shown what a real scout is,” Zhou Lin nodded in agreement.

“You go ahead. I’ll take care of things here.” Vulture waved to the second-phase non-commissioned officer waiting nearby.

The second-phase NCO understood immediately and blew his whistle sharply. “Emergency assembly!”

Minutes later, Vulture’s face darkened as he glared at the last soldier standing, not even raising his eyelids. “Two minutes and twenty-five seconds. This is what you call the top scouts?”

Silence fell over the group. As veterans, they all knew Vulture was trying to assert his authority, so no one dared to argue like they did back in their rookie days.

“You lot are useless, a disgrace to the word ‘scout.’ Top scouts? I bet an eighty-year-old granny would outrun you all!”

Vulture’s cheerful smile from yesterday vanished, replaced by a god of death’s glare. His curses grew harsher with every word.

“One mistake from one of you, and the whole squad is punished. Now, all of you, drop down and do a hundred knuckle push-ups. Count them yourself.”

Almost a full company separated and began to lie face down. As they did, they discovered sand scattered on the ground and immediately began to curse.

“Damn it! Who’s the bastard who spread sand on the concrete? That’s cruel as hell!”

Seeing them dawdling, Vulture stomped over and kicked the ones still standing flat onto the ground, shouting foully.

“If I tell you to drop down, you drop down! When you’re in battle, you don’t get to be picky. Let me tell you—real battlefields don’t have sand, they have broken glass.”

Su Yang clenched his fists against the burning pain and began counting as he pushed up.

“One, two, three...”

Bang, bang, bang!

Vulture grabbed a Type 95 rifle from a nearby NCO and fired blanks while glaring at all those on the ground, berating them.

“Remember, this is the intensive training base. Don’t bring your company rules here. Here, you have no right to complain! No one will help you but yourself!”

—

After a barrage of words, Vulture moved beside Ye Cheng. Seeing his movements were precise and he made little noise, he took a flashlight from his pocket and shone it on Ye Cheng’s fists, revealing the sand that had been scraped away.

“Who told you to clear away the sand?”

Grabbing Ye Cheng’s collar, Vulture stared coldly.

“I...” Ye Cheng was caught red-handed and, knowing he was in the wrong, remained silent.

“Since some of you are cheating, everyone does an extra hundred push-ups. Lao Pang, add more sand.”

Vulture shouted to a third-phase NCO named Lao Pang, who quickly brought over a bucket of gravel and dumped it beside everyone’s hands.

“This place is for cultivating grassroots leaders. Those who come out of here become squad leaders or deputies. If you all cheat and slack off, the soldiers you lead will be the same. Then the army will be like a dam full of ants—once the flood comes, it’ll collapse.”

“You’ll be traitors to the nation.”

Su Yang glanced at Ye Cheng, who was too intimidated to even look up, and couldn’t help but smile.

Vulture was right—everyone here was the finest scout handpicked from each reconnaissance company across the entire division this year. In three months, when they returned to their units, they would carry all the military training for their combat squads.

If every one of them cheated and shirked responsibility, the army would indeed be doomed.

—

After two hundred push-ups, the group could barely lift their hands. Bearing over ten kilograms of gear, doing knuckle push-ups left their arms aching and their palms full of tiny wounds from the gravel, tender to the slightest touch.

“See that mountain over there? Twenty kilometers away. I’ll be waiting over there. Charge all of you! Anyone who falls behind doesn’t get to eat. This is an intensive training team, not a charity shelter. You don’t deserve food.”

Vulture issued the order for a nighttime armed assault once again.

The team quickly spread out. Everyone rolled up their pants and held their Type 95 rifles by the carrying handle with their right hand, so they could run while carrying their guns.

This was a trick the veterans had learned: carrying rifles on the back or chest during a long run would rub the skin raw and was difficult to manage.

—

Once outside the base, Su Yang began to feel uncomfortable.

Unlike the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company, whose routes were mostly on paved roads and well-maintained dirt paths, here they faced almost entirely wild trails.

Muddy, rugged mountain village paths paved with loose stones, occasionally crossing stretches of concrete road.

And it was still dark, relying solely on moonlight to navigate.

“Run this way! This way! No roads allowed!”

Whenever they got near a road, Lao Pang—leading the group—would drive them back onto the narrow paths beside the road.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. This is what you call scouts? Do you deserve to be scouts? At your speed, even a snail on horseback would be faster.”

The instructors seemed to relish seeing the trainees in such a sorry state. After running alongside them for a while, they would stop by the roadside and bark at each passing soldier like rabid dogs.

Physical exhaustion, relentless curses ringing in their ears, and the tense atmosphere created by the blank rounds firing repeatedly caused many soldiers’ pacing to fall apart.

They held together for the first half but, as dawn approached, several were soon left far behind.

—

In Ninth Squad, the front runners were Zhong Guotao, Su Yang, and Zheng Peng, who had previously argued with Su Yang.

Xiao Fei, probably a bit older, kept pace but was already gasping for breath.

Su Yang glanced back at the lagging Ye Cheng and went to support him.

“Don’t help him. Let him run on his own. If he’s weak, so be it. He’s just dragging down his comrades. If he can’t keep up, he can get on the vehicle at the back. Just admit defeat then.”

Vulture, driving a vehicle and shining headlights, saw Su Yang helping Ye Cheng and immediately yelled through a megaphone.

“Su Yang, thanks, but run on your own. I can manage.”

Ye Cheng pushed Su Yang away gratefully.

Su Yang had no choice but to run alone.

—

Near the destination, the weakest trainees couldn’t hold on any longer. While running, some vomited stomach acid and collapsed onto the ground…

—

The morning sun slowly rose. The scattered houses of a remote mountain village lay quietly along the roadside and hillsides.

The villagers who had risen early to farm seemed accustomed to the sight of armed runners passing through. They glanced briefly before returning indoors.

Only a few locals selling water and food, along with some village dogs, circled the passing soldiers.

As for the village children, they were still sound asleep, warm and cozy under their blankets.