Chapter 51: How Steel is Made (Part 2)

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  Zhan Peng was running at the front of the queue, splashing through the muddy water, and rapidly crawling forward. Suddenly, a crisp gunshot sound came from beside his ear, "Dang Dang Dang Dang..." A series of breaking air sounds came from above his head. Qi Yunfei, who was closely following behind him, shouted loudly: "It's bullets!"

  The trainees were startled and looked up at the sky, Xu Mingliang had used a tracer bullet, and the trajectory of the bullets was clearly visible in mid-air. The sound of the bullets breaking through the air was getting closer and closer to their heads, all the trainees pressed their bodies tightly to the ground, desperately speeding up their crawling forward, occasionally looking up at the position of the trajectory.

  When all the students ran to the finish line, Ma Xiangdong said coldly: "Go back and run again!"

  This time, the trajectory was much lower, and the trainees even felt that the bullets were brushing past their scalps. "Faster! Speed up! Don't let the bullets catch up to you, go!" Zhang Peng and Qi Yunfei shouted desperately.

  Chu Heng, who had been closely following behind, trembled and asked: "They... they won't really shoot at us, will they?"

  "Never mind so much, speed up!" Zhan Peng pulled Chu Heng with all his might, and the three of them took the lead in breaking through the iron wire net at a record-breaking speed.

  The fear of death permeated the training team, and the trainees felt as if they could touch the hem of Death's garment with just a stretch of their hand. The fear made them forget their fatigue, broke through their physical limits, and greatly accelerated their progress, almost crawling at a flying speed, and in the blink of an eye, they had already reached the finish line.

  Xu Mingliang's face, who had been watching with his arms crossed and a cold gaze, revealed a faint smile.

  It wasn't until 1 pm that Ma Xiangdong blew the assembly whistle, and Xu Mingliang said with a faint smile on his face: "Congratulations, you all passed the 400-meter obstacle assessment. Your speed just now is almost as fast as the old soldiers who have been through the battlefield." Iron Blood Military Soul - Cheetah Legend 51

  After lunch, the trainees were taken to a 600-meter-high cliff that was almost vertical and bare without any grass. Ma pointed at the cliff and said: "From today on, we will add a new subject - climbing. Now I'll give you all a demonstration."

  He took out the climbing rope and hung five large static ropes around his waist, using his hands and feet to hook onto the rock crevices as he climbed upwards. The students gazed up at him with their mouths agape, seeing Ma Dongliang stick to the cliff face like Spiderman, rapidly advancing towards the top of the precipice. In less than ten minutes, he had successfully reached the summit.

  Ma Dong chose five thick tree trunks on the cliff top, tied the static rope to them and let it hang down to the bottom of the cliff. He grabbed a rope and slid down the cliff with his legs tucked in. Looking at the trainees, he said: "These five ropes are left for you to save your lives. On the battlefield, no one will hang a rope waiting for you to borrow power. So try not to use it."

  The instructors rushed forward, almost hand in hand, teaching the trainees how to climb, where to step with their feet and where to place their hands. Two hours later, the trainees began to climb on their own.

  One step, two steps, three steps... with 50 kilograms of heavy backpacks on their backs, the trainees repeatedly climbed up and down without end. Night fell, but Instructor Ma still hadn't blown the assembly whistle.

  Zhan Peng's ten fingers were all worn out from the rock crevices, and every time he climbed up, he would leave a bloody handprint on the rock. His fingers were throbbing with pain. Twelve hours of physical training had left him in a state of near exhaustion, and he really didn't have the strength to lift his hands anymore. Suddenly, he felt dizzy and fell from the cliff, suspended in mid-air by the safety rope around his waist.

  Zi Yunfei wanted to learn from Ma Xiangdong's example and grab the static rope to slide down, to help Zhan Peng escape danger. However, he didn't think that his palms hadn't grown thick calluses yet, and sliding down like this for less than 100 meters, his hands were already bloody and lacerated, and he couldn't bear the pain and let out a loud cry. His hands involuntarily loosened, and he fell to the ground from the waist.

  Xu Mingliang waved his hand, and the two instructors grabbed the static rope to quickly climb into mid-air, pulling Xuan Peng back to the edge of the cliff, slowly sliding down to the ground.

  Ma turned eastward with no expression, merely raising his chin slightly to signal the other students to continue.

  Xu Mingliang walked to the side of Qi Yunfei and Zhan Peng, looking at Qi Yunfei's palm, he said indifferently: "Special forces don't know what pain is! If you can't take it, then quit!"

  Zhan Peng, who had come to his senses, stood up shakily and gritted his teeth: "Even if I die, I'll die here. I'm a soldier, not a coward!" He rushed to the cliff edge, inserted his bloody fingers into the rock crevices, and began to climb up with gritted teeth.

  Qī Yún Fēi silently tightened the belt around his waist, stretched out his bloody hands to grasp the rocks, and with his body close to the stone wall, he used both hands to pull himself up step by step towards the top of the cliff.

  Xu Mingliang slowly turned around and walked away, his uncontrollable tears streaming down his face. The warmth of those tears almost made him want to let out a loud cry. He didn't dare turn back, fearing that if he did, he would be unable to resist the urge to order an end to the training.

  Thus, the trainees struggled through two months of grueling physical training.

  Every day at 4 am, they are awakened by tear gas or ear-piercing whistles. They start with a 30-kilometer cross-country run carrying 50 kilograms of weight, followed by single and double bars, horseback riding, push-ups, sit-ups, crawling, gun-holding, and obstacle courses... Then comes a whole day of rock climbing with 50 kilograms of weight, full-armed obstacle crossing, and intense hand-to-hand combat training. They crawl and roll around in the muddy water and stinky ditches non-stop. After dinner, there are various physical training exercises that last until midnight before they can finally climb into bed covered in mud and water. Their sleep time never exceeds four hours. Iron Blooded Military Soul - Cheetah Legend 51

  Even if they are exhausted to this extent, they have to keep one eye open at night when sleeping, because the emergency assembly whistle that may blow at any time has put their nerves in a state of high tension, as they know that slow action will result in an additional penalty of 10 or 15 kilometers.

  No one remembers how many kilometers they have run, how many push-ups they have done, how many cliffs they have climbed, and how much sweat they have shed. Their minds are completely devoid of the concept of time, with no distinction between day and night, only knowing that from getting up to lying down to sleep is another day survived. Their lives seem to be left with only the sound of whistles, only persistence. All the trainees gritted their teeth, encouraging and persisting each other, refusing to give up automatically.

  Chu Heng's usual mischievous expression had been replaced by a premature maturity, he had learned to be strong and patient, now his 50kg load 80km mountain march was as easy as a stroll, no longer needing to rely on others for support.

  Zi Yunfei was so tired that he didn't even want to talk, he vowed to become an excellent special forces soldier, gritting his teeth and persevering, upholding a soldier's creed.

  Zhan Peng has already forgotten how long he has been in this training camp, and he even forgot his own name. However, he firmly remembered the words of Jin Huan: "Special forces are a perfect combination of strong power and unyielding will." He finally understood where an unyielding will came from - it was "persistent effort and unwavering perseverance".

  After a hundred refinements, the remaining 36 students underwent a tremendous transformation. They became taller and stronger, with sun-kissed skin that had not an ounce of excess fat, robust physique, broad chest, bulging pectorals, flat abdomen, eight-pack abs, and muscles as hard and full as Michelangelo's David.

  The special hard qigong training unique to Chinese special forces makes them feel the realm of invincibility, their anti-strike ability has increased a hundredfold. Now if a tree trunk as thick as a bowl is struck on their body, the tree trunk will break into two pieces with a loud noise, while they only have slightly reddened skin.

  In the endless and boundless pressure, and almost invisible hope in training, they gradually got used to the hardship and tiredness, no longer feeling unbearable due to physical training. They were ambitious and thought that they could already face any unimaginable difficulties and complete any impossible tasks.

  Two months later, they finally welcomed their first rest day. Xu Mingliang informed them that after taking a bath and changing clothes, they would begin tactical coordination training.

  Fang Xiaotong had just stepped into the training camp when she was startled by the scene before her eyes, and she couldn't tell whether the people who were running with their waists bent on the 400-meter hurdle track were soldiers or land gods.

  They were one by one disheveled and dirty, with beards that had grown out to at least two inches long. The clothes on their bodies were so filthy that the color could no longer be seen; no, they couldn't even be called clothes, but rather a pile of tattered rags hanging from their bodies. They were covered in mud and dirt, looking as if they had just crawled out of a muddy pit after wrestling with a giant bear for three hundred rounds.

  Mud splattered on everyone's face, blurring their features, leaving only those wolf-like eyes gleaming with a chilling, eerie light, and that set of snow-white teeth, which could scare people half to death when occasionally revealed in a smile.

  In the dining hall, she was shocked again by the students' eating habits. They ate without even needing chopsticks, gathering around the table, stretching out their black "paws" to grab rice and dishes and stuff them into their mouths. Some people even grabbed food with their hands, stirred it in their rice bowls, and then lifted the bowls to pour it into their mouths. It made her wonder if these people had been starving for three years.

  "If it were you, having to fill your stomach within five minutes, you'd be the same." Lin Yang said softly from behind her.

  Xu Mingliang walked towards them with a smile and patted Lin Yang's shoulder: "What? Come to inspect my work again?"

  Lin Yang burst out laughing and said: "How dare I? I'm here to give the students a physical examination, and by the way, bring a few nurses to work for you."

  Xu Mingliang glanced at the male nurses following behind Lin Yang, then looked up and down at Fang Xiaotong, laughing: "You're going to throw such a beautiful girl into this tiger's den?"

  Fang Xiaotong's face suddenly turned red, and his heart was filled with shame and regret. What kind of training camp is this? It's clearly a beggar concentration camp!

  Lin Yang poked Xu Mingliang's waist and said in a low voice, "Don't talk nonsense, he is someone who voluntarily asked to work in the most difficult place." He then leaned over and whispered a few more sentences into Xu Mingliang's ear.

  After listening to Lin Yang's whisper, Xu Mingliang's gaze swept across Fang Xiaotong's face in a circle, with an ambiguous slight shake of his head. However, he quickly composed himself and bowed to several nurses, saying: "Welcome everyone to work here." He turned around and beckoned to the two instructors, waiting for them to run over before instructing: "First take them to the dormitory to settle down."

  Lin Yang looked at the trainees eating and whispered to Xu Mingliang: "Do you think we should have your soldiers do a physical examination this afternoon?"

  "Alright! Starting at 4 pm." Xu Mingliang responded with a sound, turned his head and gave the order to Ma Xiangdong.

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