Chapter 43: Devil Training Camp Three

  The trainees spent the first half of the night with their eyes wide open, their hands on their clothes, ready to put them on and run at any moment. Some people didn't even take off their clothes. However, there was not a single sound in the corridor or playground, and everyone gradually relaxed. By the second half of the night, drowsiness attacked, and everyone couldn't hold out anymore, sinking into dreams one after another.

  At 3:00 am, fully armed Xu Mingliang stood at the staircase of the dormitory building with his hands behind his back. He raised his hand to look at his watch and nodded to Ma Xiangdong who had been staring at him. Immediately, a urgent whistle sounded. Emergency assembly! The sleepy trainees were in a flurry, some couldn't find their clothes, others grabbed someone else's pants and put them on hastily.

  Zhan Peng sprang up, grabbed the training uniform top on his hand and put it on, pulled up his pants with one kick, and jumped under the bed with both feet just fitting into his shoes. By the time he had pulled up his pants to his waist and tied his shoelaces, he found that No. 17 was even faster, already putting on his backpack.

  Two people carrying backpacks rushed to the door, and Qi Yunfei also followed suit. At this time, other dormitories also had people running downstairs one after another. Listening to Ma Xiangdong yelling downstairs: "Hurry up, don't be like a woman! The last ten will be deducted two points!"

  Three people had just rushed to the stairs when a high-pressure water column suddenly poured down on them, immediately sending the unprepared students tumbling in all directions. Some students were even knocked to the ground, but Zhan Peng managed to grab hold of Qi Yunfei and No. 17 with one hand each, and the three of them linked their arms together to withstand the impact of the high-pressure water jet.

  Zhan Peng shouted: "Quick! Everyone will not fall down if they hold together!" The other students immediately followed suit, and after a long time, they finally formed a crooked and twisted team.

  A hint of approval flashed across Xu Mingliang's eyes, but he quickly put on a stern face. "You're all idiots! A three-year-old can stand up straighter than you guys. Get back to bed!"

  In the next two hours, Ma Xiangdong blew the emergency assembly whistle twice in a row.

  At 5:00 in the morning, the wake-up call sounded. The trainees who had been exhausted were not dare to be slow and ran to the front of the building with full equipment, finished formation within five minutes. This time they didn't have high-pressure water jets waiting for them.

  Ma Dong looked at the trainees who had finished their 5km cross-country preparation with a mischievous expression, "Announce today's morning training session: everyone will run twenty-five laps around the inner circle of the playground with full load, those who cannot complete it within one hour and forty minutes will be sent back to their original unit."

  "My goodness!" someone in the back row whispered. Running twenty-five laps was equivalent to running thirty kilometers non-stop, and that was with full weight-bearing, this was just morning exercise, who knows what would happen during regular class time? Qi Yunfei sneaked a glance at Zhan Peng, his face had also turned somewhat pale, he had never tried running so far without stopping before.

  "What's up? Is it a feeling of challenging the limit? If someone wants to quit, they can say so now." Ma Xiangdong asked with a smile.

  The students glared at him angrily, but no one announced their withdrawal.

  "What a pity." Ma Xiangdong shrugged indifferently and shouted: "Attention, right turn, run - march!"

  The trainees ran wildly around the playground, chasing each other, no one wanted to fall behind and be sent back to their old unit. They had long forgotten what it meant to breathe in three steps and out in three steps, gradually some people began to turn pale, panting non-stop.

  Zi Yunfei and Zhan Peng ran side by side, although they had been persisting in carrying heavy loads across the field every day, but they would never rush so fast, so as they ran, they gradually felt tired. After six laps, the breathing rhythm of the two people was completely disordered.

  The instructors who were always running around the team were still urging them: "Speed up, how can you run like an old lady with small feet? Was this how you used to run? Faster, faster, faster!"

  "Damn it... how much faster can I go?"

  "You're going so fast that even bullets can't catch up with you!" Huo Ting strode past him, shouting: "No talking in the ranks, shut your mouth and run!"

  Zi Yunfei looked at his back and pouted, the Zhan Peng beside him was accelerating, he could only grit his teeth and accelerate to catch up.

  Xu Mingliang looked at the team that had already run eleven laps, and the 270 students were now divided into four echelons. The last echelon was half a lap behind the first echelon. He said in a low voice to Ma Xiangdong: "Score according to physical fitness selection standards."

  The fourth squad's trainees were almost exhausted, running dizzily with leaden legs that couldn't be lifted. The playground was filled with the chaotic sound of footsteps. Several instructors ran alongside them, surrounding them in the middle. One instructor shouted: "Faster! If you don't want to run, go gather over there!" Their fingers pointed towards a truck parked at the entrance of the barracks, which had appeared there at some unknown time.

  Zi Yunfei and Zhan Peng barely counted as the first echelon, he gritted his teeth and stared at the instructor running in front, panting and saying: "I'm fucking about to run to death!"

  "Shut up! You talk too much, two points deducted!" a instructor shouted from behind.

  The first day, nine points were deducted, and it's unknown how many more points will be deducted for the training subjects in the future. If things go wrong, he might even be sent back to his old unit. This person, Qi Yunfei, couldn't bear the shame, so he gritted his teeth and kept running forward with his arms swinging.

  The instructors running alongside them kept shouting orders: "Faster, faster, speed up! Are you taking a stroll? Hurry up!"

  The trainees' legs were no longer under the command of their brains, they mechanically stepped forward, and more and more people with pale faces and cold sweats fell to the ground, occasionally a trainee who was too tired to lift his legs would fall to the ground with a thud, and then get up again and continue running.

  Some people ran and fell unconscious, were carried to the center of the playground by instructors on the side, and military doctors who had been guarding there immediately came to help them check their bodies. The team of trainees was greatly reduced.

  Zhan Peng slung the automatic rifle over his shoulder, slightly tilted his head to take a look, and closely followed by Qi Yunfei who was **like he had just been fished out of water**, with his nostrils flaring violently and his eyes as lifeless as a dead fish.

  Zhan Peng panted desperately, his mouth wide open as he gasped for air, but no matter how hard he breathed, it seemed like the oxygen was never enough, as if he had been thrown into a vacuum. His whole body ached, and every breath brought a sharp pain in his lungs, like needles stabbing him, yet he had to keep panting nonstop, or else he would suffocate to death.

  He kept telling himself: "Hold on, look at those instructors, if they can do it, you can too, hold on, hold on and hold on again!"

  His whole body was sweating like rain, dense sweat drops splashing on the track behind him, heavy panting sounds echoing far away, and the pain in his lungs had become tearing. His legs were out of strength, every time he lifted his leg up and down, it took a lot of effort. The weight of his backpack made him want to fall to the ground and never get up again.

  His lungs were bursting in pain, every cell in his body was screaming with exhaustion, and every step forward came at a great cost. But the stubbornness and refusal to give up deep within him drove him on. He shook his head violently, flinging away sweat and tears together. Suddenly, he let out a wild, wolf-like howl that reached the limits of human endurance. He felt all his blood turn into raging flames! He began to accelerate crazily, gradually closing in behind the leading instructor.

  Right behind him, Qi Yunfei let out a mournful cry, and inexplicably, someone who had clearly exhausted his strength suddenly found the energy to accelerate.

  The tragic cry to the extreme attracted Xu Mingliang's attention, and there was a slight movement on his face like granite carving. He looked at Ma Xiangdong who was also paying attention: "His fighting spirit is not bad, and he knows how to maintain his running speed at a central point of physical recovery and consumption. But his physical strength has already started to overdraft, let the doctor pay attention to him."

  The military doctor grabbed the emergency medicine box and rushed towards Zhan Peng, running alongside him while kindly advising: "If you can't make it, then don't run anymore. Why must you risk your life like this? Don't force yourself anymore, you're already at your limit."

  Zhan Peng glared at the military doctor, and a voice in his heart kept reminding him: "Don't say no, don't say it can't be done, never give up lightly!"

  He shook off the doctor, sprinting towards the finish line with all his might, even surpassing the leading instructor. Xu Mingliang and Ma Xiangdong watched as he stumbled step by step yet steadily approached the finish line, until finally, Ma Xiangdong couldn't help but say: "I seem to have seen a glimpse of Jin Da."

  Xu Mingliang nodded slightly: "It's interesting, the unyielding spirit on his body is very similar. As long as he can keep it up, with time, he will definitely be an extraordinary person."

  One hour and thirty minutes later, exhausted Zhan Peng crossed the finish line, suddenly stopping made him dizzy and showed symptoms of hypoglycemia and hypotension. Immediately, two military doctors supported his arms as they strolled on the playground. Zhan Peng gasped and waved his hand, indicating he could walk. The sweat on his body was steaming up, gathering into a faint white mist on top of his head.

  After stumbling for a dozen or so steps, Zhan Peng looked towards the finish line and saw Qi Yunfei also running over, panting like a dog as he collapsed to the ground. He walked over and pulled up Qi Yunfei, then dragged No. 17, who was retching at his feet, to get up, and turned to all the trainees who had crossed the finish line, saying: "Everyone get up and walk around, lying down like this can cause heart problems."

  His words seemed to have a certain appeal, and the students got up one after another, supporting each other in twos and threes, and walked unsteadily along the edge of the playground.

  Xu Mingliang looked at Zhan Peng's back with an appreciative gaze, beckoned to Huo Feng and nodded towards Zhan Peng: "Add two points for him."

  "Understood!" Huo Ting responded with a low voice, smiling happily. It's worth noting that earning extra points was a rare occurrence in the training camp.

  "Anyone who is late will be sent back." Xu Mingliang whispered a sentence to Ma Xiangdong, and turned around mercilessly towards the cafeteria.

  Ma Dong looked at his firm back, sighed, raised his hand to check the time, and shouted: "Assemble! Those who haven't reached the finish line don't need to run anymore, go wait on the truck!"