Chapter 19: Cat and Mouse

That night, precisely at ten o’clock.

The Iron Fist Battalion’s lights-out whistle sounded on time, signaling all soldiers to immediately rest, forbidding any unnecessary outings or activities.

On the rooftop of Building A in the male barracks, in the dormitory of First Squad.

Song Wei raised an eyebrow, grumbling irritably, “What’s with the show? I don’t see anything wrong. Why are they stopping us from having dinner? Just because you’re the new squad vice-commander, you have to give blind orders? Let’s see how you explain this to the Second Squad tomorrow!”

“Lights out means silence. If you don’t speak, no one will think you’re mute!” Qi Tian retorted coldly.

At this moment, his conviction only grew stronger.

When the lights-out whistle blew, only their floor echoed with hurried footsteps, while the veteran barracks downstairs remained utterly silent.

Coupled with his earlier suspicions, Qi Tian was almost certain that tonight there would be a major operation.

There was no way they would just sleep soundly and comfortably through the night.

And indeed, things unfolded exactly as Qi Tian had anticipated.

Less than an hour after all soldiers on the top floor had just fallen lightly into slumber, a sharp, urgent assembly whistle suddenly pierced through from below the barracks!

Having long prepared, Qi Tian rolled out of bed, waking the others, swiftly changed into his training uniform, and dashed downstairs.

At the entrance, Xu Guoqing stood quietly with the squad leaders of the ten squads.

Seeing Qi Tian, they exchanged knowing glances and nodded subtly, as if expecting this.

Old Hei glanced at his stopwatch with a stern face and said, “The fastest was First Squad’s Qi Tian, sixteen seconds—quicker than any new recruit batch we’ve ever had in emergency assembly!”

“Second Squad’s Zhang Meng reporting!”

No sooner had Old Hei finished speaking, Zhang Meng rushed down the stairs, nearly in step with Qi Tian.

Clearly, he too had been on alert tonight and hadn’t gone straight to bed.

“Not bad. Form up. Tonight’s emergency assembly doesn’t require squads to line up separately. Form four rows of eight, in order of descending the stairs!”

The Second Squad leader waved at the two, a hint of displeasure flashing in his eyes.

At this moment, everyone could tell that these two must have discovered something during dinner, hence their readiness.

Just their speed alone was nearly twice as fast as any previous batch of new recruits!

Yet, even with such foresight, Zhang Meng still lagged behind Qi Tian by a few seconds, despite being positioned closer to the stairs in the dormitory than First Squad.

If the Second Squad leader was satisfied, there would be a ghost going on.

Within minutes, more and more recruits came rushing down the stairs.

Mostly from the First and Second Squads, but a few from other squads as well, like Jiang Chong from the Third Squad, who also trained at the Sports Academy.

Relying on years of triathlon training, he shot down the stairs like a cannonball, astonishingly fast.

“One minute and six seconds. Everyone’s assembled. Are you trying to imitate grandmas crossing the street with that speed?”

When everyone had gathered, the recruits hadn’t yet grasped what was happening before Xu Guoqing scolded them sharply.

No one dared retort; they braced themselves to hear what he would say next.

“Listen carefully. This is the last time in your military career that your emergency assembly will take over a minute.

If anyone drags the whole company down again, I’ll personally send you to the pig farm to raise pigs!

As for why I called you downstairs tonight, the answer is simple: I couldn’t sleep and wanted to play a game with you!”

“Commander, you can’t sleep, so why bother us? We have training tomorrow!”

Before Xu Guoqing could finish, a ripple of discontented murmurs arose near the front of the formation.

He ignored the complaints and continued, “The game is called Cat and Mouse. It’s simple.

You recruits are the mice, and your ten squad leaders along with the veterans of Iron Fist’s First and Second Battalions are the cats.

As mice, you get a thirty-minute head start to flee to Cangshan Mountain, five kilometers northeast, to hide.

This is the only area allowed. No one may hide anywhere else. Anyone who breaks this rule will be severely punished!

After thirty minutes, the cats will take their training rifles and go hunting on the mountain. When the morning wake-up whistle blows, the game ends.

One warning: the last ones alive might not get a prize, but those caught or ‘shot’ by the cats will definitely be penalized!

So scatter and hide well—that’s your best chance to survive.

Any questions? If not, get moving! Don’t ruin my game mood!”

“Commander, what about our training weapons?”

“You want weapons?” Xu Guoqing glared fiercely at the questioner, tone sharpening.

“Have you ever seen a mouse dare to go head-to-head with a cat? You should be hiding, not asking for weapons. Are you crazy?”

Hearing this, Qi Tian immediately understood Xu Guoqing’s intent.

He wanted the veterans to give the recruits a harsh lesson, to make them fully realize the gap between themselves and the seasoned soldiers.

With that thought, Qi Tian sprinted toward the northeast, shouting as he ran:

“Old Hei started the stopwatch the moment the whistle blew. Including time to get downstairs and hear the game rules, we have less than twenty-five minutes left. Brothers, let’s go!”

With Qi Tian’s reminder, all the recruits instantly grasped the urgency.

The once orderly formation broke apart in an instant; everyone dashed at full speed, fearing falling behind and being ‘shot’ by the veterans.

Watching the backs of the fleeing recruits, Old Hei glanced down at his stopwatch, then chuckled quietly to the squad leaders beside him.

“That kid Qi Tian, he’s sharp. He doesn’t miss even the smallest detail.”

“Yeah, yeah, everyone knows you’ve got a promising recruit under your wing, Old Hei. Stop praising him in such roundabout ways!”

“This kid really is good. I’ve never seen a recruit react that fast on the first try!”

“Old Hei, didn’t you notice? The ones complaining about the commander and the game at first were from your First Squad, someone named Song Wei, right?”

“That’s him. When you work with the veterans later, make sure to aim carefully at Song Wei and give him a hard lesson. He needs to understand the cost of questioning his superiors!”

Those last words came from Xu Guoqing.

The ten squad leaders all nodded with smiles and replied, “Understood, mission accepted!”

Meanwhile,

Over a hundred new recruits from the New Recruit Company had already burst through the gates of the Iron Fist Training Base, sprinting full speed toward Cangshan Mountain in the northeast.

However, just outside the base, a few weaker soldiers staggered toward the roadside bushes, vomiting heavily.

Don’t forget, they had forcefully stuffed down several bowls of spicy, oily tofu pudding at dinner.

The harsh exercise triggered a violent reaction from the food.

Not only did it severely sap their strength, but each one was forced to stop, retching bitterly as if expelling their very bile.

Seeing this scene,

Recruits from the First and Second Squads involuntarily thought of one person.

The very same person they had fiercely complained about just before rest.

If it weren’t for that person, perhaps they too would be doubled over by the roadside, vomiting endlessly.

And utterly powerless to win the game ahead.