Chapter Eighteen: Return of the Beast

  Today's lunch was a stir-fry of potatoes, beef, and onions with dried tofu, served over a big bowl of white rice, topped with some chili sauce. After a few quick stirs with chopsticks, it became a Chinese-style beef fried rice. In the high-altitude military camp in Xinjiang, where even oxygen is scarce, our usual meals are pitifully plain. My comrade Chang Sun-ting and I have been exercising heavily for three months since enlisting, and we've spent all our allowance at a small grocery store run by a Han Chinese near the camp, buying instant noodles, canned ham, and other treats. Being able to eat something like this is truly a luxurious indulgence.

  Every time I take a bite, I couldn't help but let out a satisfied sigh, but this wouldn't affect my speed at all. In the blink of an eye, the delicious food in the bowl would be gone, leaving not a single grain behind. Holding the empty bowl, I reluctantly stuck out my tongue to lick it clean in a clockwise direction until the entire bowl was spotless and shiny. Only after I had licked up every last drop of sauce did I lift my head and fix Long Sun Ting with a green-eyed stare, my gaze deadlocked on the lunchbox in his hand.

  Chang Sun Ting looked at the delicious food in the box with a worried and bitter expression, his Adam's apple rising and falling, but he couldn't bring himself to pick up the chopsticks in his hand.

  I looked at him with a pleased expression and said with a smile: "You don't have to force yourself, if you really can't finish it, brother can help out."

  Chang Sun Ting quickly hugged the lunchbox into his arms, carefully protecting it, and glared at me, shouting: "Despicable!" His tone was too intense, and for a moment he inhaled too much air, his face immediately turned pale, and he dry-heaved several times while hugging the fragrant food.

  "Hmmph..." Under the disbelieving gaze of Zhang Sun Ting, I pulled out a toothpick from my body and picked at my teeth with satisfaction: "We are soldiers, apart from having strong physiques and solid military skills, we also need to have survival abilities that can adapt to various environments. Truly elite troops can hide in a pit for over 20 hours until the target appears and then launch a surprise attack. Think about it, brother - they must keep most of their bodies hidden in human waste, eating, drinking, urinating, and defecating all within the pit. The single-person food they carry is all soaked in feces, even if the packaging is good, when opening it, some harmful substances will inevitably seep in. They can't use their hands to wipe it clean, only using their teeth to gnaw away at the contaminated part bit by bit. If food is extremely scarce, then they can only close their eyes and swallow directly... Compared to them, we are still far behind."

  Ugh...

  After listening to my malicious and detailed description, Zhang Sun Ting finally fell to the ground, spewing out the gastric juice he had endured for a long time. I smiled wickedly and patted his back vigorously.

  Chang Sun Ting vomited for a full three minutes, until all the acid in his stomach was gone and he was left with dry heaves. He struggled to get up, looking like he had just been through an all-night battle with ten women, so drained that he didn't even have the energy to curse me.

  I dug out the lunchbox that Zhangsun Ting had thrown away from the muddy water, and sighed: "If you don't like to eat it, you can give it to me. Why throw it into the sewer? Do you know that for a soldier, wasting food is equivalent to wasting life?" My voice gradually became cold and stern towards the end: "We are now hiding in the sewer eating, at least we still have fragrant stir-fries and hot rice. If we were really on the battlefield, lying among the broken limbs and soaked in bloody mud, would you also be unable to bear the nausea and waste your own life?"

  Handing the lunchbox permeated with sewage and stinky mud to Zhang Sun Ting, I calmly said: "Eat it."

  The aroma of potato stewed beef mixed with the peculiar smell of stagnant water in the sewer, plus the hot air that rushed up, caused Long Sun's Adam's apple to move again. He looked at the lunch box with a strange expression and hesitated for a long time before reaching out his hand.

  I wiped the mud off my uniform with a sweep of my hand, then reached directly into the lunchbox and grabbed a big handful of food, sending it into my mouth. I chewed slowly for half a minute before swallowing, then said calmly: "Food must be thoroughly chewed to be better absorbed by the intestines. If you swallow them whole like a date, you are wasting your life. If you want to survive on the battlefield, you must numb your unnecessary sensory nerves and overcome your biological instincts."

  Chang Sun Ting remained silent for a long time, then reached out to grab a handful of food, slowly putting them into his mouth. As the muddy water from the sewer touched his tongue and seeped into his taste buds, his throat suddenly convulsed, and his stomach churned up a stormy wave. Just as he was about to lose control, he heard a stern low growl: "Don't vomit, swallow it!"

  Chang Sun-ting's fist heavily hit the wall of the sewer, and in the midst of flying blood from his knuckles, he desperately bit into something in his mouth. Every time his stomach churned again, he would swing his fist heavily, and amidst the flowing blood, he also chewed for thirty seconds like me, then slowly swallowed it into his own stomach.

  The two of us sat silently in the sewer, you and I taking turns eating the food from the lunchbox bit by bit. Chang Sun-ting even stuck out his tongue to lick up all the juice from the box, just like me. He then tossed the empty lunchbox into a corner of the sewer with a clang, and big tears finally began streaming down his face. No matter what, he was still just a mad bull, unable to become as twisted as I am.

  "Although you wasted unnecessary physical and mental energy, it's already not bad that you can persist. I took out the wooden stick we used to practice dagger combat from my military uniform pocket, threw one at Zhangsun Ting and said: "In these three months, you taught me how to tap into my own life potential, and together with me successfully merged Aikido and dagger combat skills, making my abilities soar. Now it's my turn to teach you. This is the first lesson I'll teach you: on the battlefield, one must abandon human dignity and pride, the sooner you return to your animal instincts, forget about death and hope, the sooner you can bring out your true strength!"

  "I shouted: 'Use all your strength to knock me down!'"

  "Alright!" Zhang Sun Ting fiercely shook off the tears at the corner of her eyes, crouched in the sewer and assumed a combat-ready stance.

  I looked at him disdainfully and said: "Immature!"

  I sent the wooden stick into my mouth and bit it, I suddenly pounced like a wolf with all fours on the ground, I pounced to two meters in front of Zhang Sun Ting, heavily fell into the muddy water, the strong inertia pushed up the muddy water and dirty water of the big tent, in Zhang Sun Ting's unavoidable obstructed vision, I pounced again, rushed into his arms, easily placed the dagger at his heart position, coldly said: "You are already dead!"

  "Do you know why you lost? Because you still think of yourself as a human!" I sneered: "Animals all walk on four legs, only humans can stand upright and free their hands. In this low sewer, even when facing battle, your subconscious mind still makes you choose the squatting posture that allows you to get rid of the mud to the greatest extent, but is most unfavorable for fighting. You still haven't gotten rid of the pride of thinking of yourself as a superior being!"

  Chang Sun Ting nodded heavily, learning from me to put the wooden stick into his mouth, and buried his body in the muddy water with all fours, we two were staring at each other like beasts fighting to the death.

  The two of us suddenly let out a loud roar and crashed into each other, I stretched out my left hand to tightly grasp Long Sun Ting's right arm holding the "dagger", he also grasped mine in the same way. To prevent the opponent's teeth from attacking, our left elbows were slightly raised, pressing against the opponent's chin. The four legs stirred vigorously in the muddy water, constantly attacking and defending against the most vicious lower three-road attack, the two of us desperately wrestled in the more than half-meter-wide drainage ditch, rolling around like a pair of street urchins fighting.

  A burst of water sound came from above, and I didn't know who poured a large amount of polluted water into the sewer. Long Sun Ting and I rolled out of the muddy pit that was nearly a foot deep. When the dirty water rushed down, the pit became a puddle. We continued to wrestle for another two minutes before we simultaneously pushed each other away and got up, gasping for air that wasn't very fresh.

  When the two of us crawled out of the sewer, we were truly "fragrant for ten miles". We walked through the playground with our heads held high and our chests out, and everyone who passed by couldn't help but glance at us. Several military police officers hesitated for a moment when they saw us like this, but still gave up on correcting our military bearing.

  Chang Sun Ting warmly wrapped his arms around my shoulders and laughed loudly: "Fu Yinxue, you're really a super big pervert, but I like it!"

  I smiled and said: "Because you're also a mad cow, although it's still a bit short of being perverted, but at least you can barely keep up with my pace."

  Chang Sun Ting's smile faded as he said, "Brother, if we continue to train like this, what level will our combat skills reach?"

  After a moment of contemplation, I said dejectedly: "Judging from our individual combat capabilities, even if we continue to train like this for another three months, we can barely reach the level of ordinary special forces elites. But compared to super elites like Bo Shanna and my father's Imperial Guards, even if we continued to muddle along like this for ten years, without systematic training and learning, and unable to access real firearms, I'm afraid that together, we still wouldn't be a match for one of them."

  Moreover, in modern warfare, individual capabilities play a very small role, at most affecting the outcome of battles at the company level or below. If my brother and I don't have any special skills, once war breaks out, we'll be nothing more than cannon fodder. Even if we make great contributions and earn honors, whether we can get medals depends on the whims of our superiors. Who knows, maybe Colonel Hong will stick his hand out at that time and give us a hard time, leaving my brother and me speechless and tearful.

  Chang Sun Ting lowered his voice and said, "Since you've already gained this realization, that's the best. So, if there's anything that can enhance our brothers' strength, don't hide it anymore. Take it out and put it to use immediately! It's better than regretting it when we're on the battlefield and it's too late!"

  I stared at Zhangsun Ting in a daze, how did I not know that I had an artifact that could increase my combat power?

  "Less giving your brother a show!" Zhang Sun Ting revealed the kind of sly smile that men often see, "To be honest, I really admire you in this regard. You can quickly settle down with even the strongest and most capable women within one night. Don't think I don't know, oh, she handed over the key to her single dormitory to you before leaving. Your relationship is not ordinary! Are you stupid? Don't you know that the computer in her dormitory is connected to the military network? Inside, we can find the most systematic and advanced individual combat training methods and strategic command training materials. Don't tell me she didn't leave the boot password for you."