The First Book: Reborn from the Fire Chapter 8: Team Essence

  "Run, run! Mianzi, you'd better run!"

  "General, I really can't run anymore! Kill me if you want!"

  "Kill you? I won't kill you! It's just that because of you, the whole row of people have nothing to eat, you deal with it yourself!"

  The scene above took place on the edge of a large reservoir outside the military camp. The reservoir was surrounded by green mountains and clear water, making it a picturesque landscape. However, to us, it seemed like the River Styx under the Naihe Bridge in the underworld, and we detested it from the bottom of our hearts.

  Heaven knows how many times we have to look at this reservoir every day, anyway since it was announced that we entered the physical training period, if there is a day I don't see this reservoir, I will know for sure that I am dreaming.

  From running with empty hands to finally carrying a backpack, I ran with all the equipment except for guns. I was so familiar with every blade of grass and tree on this road that in our eyes, almost every spot on this road was sprinkled with our sweat.

  But that's not all, 'Joan Wang' is very good at digging out the last bit of energy from your body. Apart from having to run several 5 kilometers on this road every day, we also have to do push-ups and sit-ups, and then there are single-bar exercises.

  Yes, we all learned this in school, and my physical education grades were pretty good back then. If I didn't do well in reading, I was always the main player at our school's annual sports meet every year.

  But when I got here, I found out for the first time that these seemingly insignificant push-ups, sit-ups and single bars are actually hard work. At that time, I was always cursing who invented this despicable thing.

  "On the first day of physical training, 'Qiao Yan Wang' said it's been a long time since we've exercised, so let's do less. Hehe, you guys are just waste, can only do one hundred push-ups, two hundred sit-ups, and fifty pull-ups!"

  What the...! One hundred push-ups at once? Two hundred sit-ups? Fifty pull-ups? What kind of international joke is this? Do you think we're dining in a hotel or something? Can't finish and still can take away? Go find some 'trash' on the street to try it out?

  Is 'Qiao Yan Wang' speaking heavenly script?

  At that time, my face turned green. For me who often participated in school sports training, I knew what it meant. You know, the most powerful brother in our school sports team could only do sixty push-ups at a time. You actually wanted us to do one hundred at once? If I can do forty, I'll be grateful!

  One, two... thirty-four, thirty-five... forty-one, forty-two...

  Needless to say, by the time we reach thirty, some people have already started to struggle; by forty, some have already begun to fall behind; and by sixty, there is not a single person left who can still get up. But all of this is in vain - our failure will only give 'Joan of Arc' an even better idea to punish us.

  "Are you done? Can't do it anymore? Alright, ***. All of you useless people put your hands up there, keep your body in a straight line, don't bend your arms, hold for 15 minutes."

  "Qiao Yan Wang"'s voice was thundering, one mouthful of rubbish on the left, one mouthful of rubbish on the right, to be honest, I've already been numb for a long time, anyway, now I consider myself as rubbish too.

  "Hmm, only 15 minutes, not long, right? Better than standing at attention for two hours. Oh, you think so? Then go try it out! The result will be that you are greatly mistaken."

  Why are human feet thick and arms thin? It's because the legs have to support the body, so they naturally need to be more developed than the hands.

  But hands are only for doing some skilled activities, now you're using your hands to support the entire body? And still using two shoulder joints? Then you'll know what pain is.

  But deep down, I know that once 'Qiao Yan Wang' says something, you'll definitely do it. All the curses we have in our hearts towards him are futile. If curses were effective, I think even if 'Qiao Yan Wang' reincarnated a million times, he wouldn't be able to live again. We don't have the right to say no. To hell with American human rights, anyway, here, the two words "human rights" are really meaningless.

  One minute, two minutes, three minutes, and big drops of sweat started coming out. Why is time passing so slowly?

  Eight minutes, nine minutes... my arms started shaking wildly like they were having a seizure, and the result was obvious. I thought 'Qiao Yan Wang' was already good enough, no one could do better than that, so of course he had to give us another punishment with a straight face, and naturally the scene above unfolded.

  The first person who couldn't run was naturally our company's acknowledged little brother, Peng Jue. The poor fellow, still in the midst of development, had to suffer this cruel torture with us, so I immediately stopped ahead and slowly ran back.

  "Why should I be penalized for being slow?"

  Don't look at Peng Zuo's young age, but there is a saying that children from poor families grow up early, and it makes sense that what is refined in the fire is fine steel. Now, although tears are still flowing on his face, I can also see a spark of strength in his eyes.

  "On the battlefield, if one person's small mistake can drag down all their comrades, then you must be brave enough to take responsibility."

  "Qiao Yanwang" coldly stared at Peng Zuo, this time surprisingly not using the stick in his hand to hit him, but instead seemed to be reminding all of us as he loudly said:

  "Moreover, from another perspective, your new recruit squad is a team, it's a collective, executing tasks together, and should return to the barracks together. In any situation or environment, no one can abandon their comrades, this is the essence of teamwork!"

  "Peng Zhen! Give me your backpack!"

  I had walked up to them and also heard a remark from 'Qiao Yan Wang', and for some reason, my heart suddenly felt warm. I grabbed Peng Yu's backpack with one hand and supported his right hand, panting slightly as I said:

  "Let's go together, hold on!"

  "Give me your water bottle and your backpack!"

  Big Zhang Fengbao also walked over and hastily took off his water bottle and bag that were pressing down on him.

  "Let's go together!"

  On Peng Zhuo's left side, there was also a comrade-in-arms, that is our fellow villager Xie Jian. This guy's physical fitness is not bad either, usually loves to make jokes, didn't expect him to rush back from the front like me too.

  It's really strange, when we supported Peng Zuo back to the military camp with tears in his eyes, everyone finally sat together for dinner. For the first time, we felt something else besides fatigue, a feeling that couldn't be expressed, but our hearts were warm and fuzzy.

  Just this once, on the way back to camp, 'Qiao Yan Wang' surprisingly showed great mercy. He didn't take that loud club and smash it down on our heads, nor did he scold us loudly. Instead, he quietly followed us back to the military camp. In the end, he even managed to squeeze out a smile on his face and said:

  "Not bad, progress from yesterday, today's full gear 5km cross-country is 21 minutes and 30 seconds, go eat!"

  And I also saw in his eyes a subtle flash of what seemed like emotion...