Chapter 20: A Gun is a Soldier's Second Life

  "Shh... be quiet"

  A long and two short whistles...

  In our platoon's laundry room, several of us new recruits were washing clothes when suddenly a long and short whistle sounded.

  "It's a gathering signal." Hu Xinkuai stopped his hands and shouted at us.

  We hastily dropped what we were holding and quickly ran towards the assembly point.

  When we arrived at the assembly point, the duty officer on duty this week was also our new recruit platoon's fifth squad leader Zhou Zheng.

  Class monitor Zhou Zheng shouted at us: "Report your numbers."

  After we reported the number, Monitor Zhou reported to the duty officer how many people should be present and how many were actually present.

  At this time, our eyes' residual light discovered Lian Chang, and Lian Chang was standing at the upper right corner of the team.

  The squad leader ran to the company commander.

  The two men bowed to each other.

  "Report to Company Commander, New Recruit Battalion Three, new recruits should be XXX people, actual arrival is XXX people, please instruct."

  "Take a short rest."

  After a brief rest, Lian Chang came to the front of the troops and scanned his eyes from row one to row three.

  "New comrades, today I and the instructor followed the battalion commander to observe the brother company. Their new recruits' progress is faster than ours, what should we do?"

  When Lian Chang said these words, I couldn't help but shout out loud: "Surpass them."

  All new recruits followed suit and shouted: "Surpass them."

  I saw Lian Chang reveal a satisfied expression.

  Lian Chang said to us again, "There's not much time left for the assessment in our squad. I declare that starting this afternoon, we will begin firearms training. The first project of this assessment is to test your marksmanship."

  "Awesome."

  After the team disbanded, I couldn't hold back my excitement and shouted loudly, hugging Hu Xingwei's arm and jumping for joy. Hu Xingwei was also infected by everyone's enthusiasm and jumped with me.

  Sacred Steel Gun, I can finally learn it and possess it. It's awesome.

  At noon break time, I lay in bed and couldn't fall asleep for a long time, too excited.

  "Xiao Bin, damn it, are you still sleeping or not? If not, get out of here. What's with the silly grin on your face?"

  The class monitor suddenly scolded me, it seemed that my excited movements woke him up.

  I pouted and climbed down from the top bunk, walked to where the equipment was placed, grabbed two trainer grenades and walked out of the classroom.

  After arriving at the back mountain, I started vigorously shooting BBs at the tree stump.

  I never thought that just because of a noon break action, it would harm all the new recruits in our entire squad.

  Time had finally reached the afternoon.

  After assembly, we wore bullet bags and lined up at the armory to receive our guns.

  When I received my rifle, I was as proud as everyone else.

  At this time, Lian Chang's voice rang out.

  "Comrades, as a soldier, I hope you always remember that the gun is a soldier's second life. In any situation, it cannot be lost. It is as precious and important as life itself. I hope you treat your guns with the same care as your own lives."

  Yes, the gun is a soldier's second life. I will remember Colonel's words, during wartime, our elders defended our motherland under harsh conditions and defeated the enemy with millet plus rifles. With weapons, we can fight against the enemy. We should love and take care of our weapons even more.

  Under the simple guidance of the class leader, we learned how to shoulder guns.

  When Lian Chang announced the start of training, I saw that the class leader's face didn't look very good.

  The other squads have already started practicing how to hold guns and carry them on their backs, while our squad is still standing in formation, basking in the sun.

  Just as Class Monitor Wu was about to speak up, the class monitor walked over with a gloomy face.

  "Old Zhou, wait a minute."

  The monitor said to Class Five's monitor.

  The head of Class Five nodded and stood aside with the other class leaders.

  At this moment, I suddenly had an ominous premonition.

  The class leader walked to the front of the team, first giving us a cold smile. Then he loudly said to us: "Among you, today some comrade was very active, I've said it many times, during lunch break should be a good rest, didn't rest well, where did the energy for training come from? No need to say more, I still say the same thing, one person gets sick and the whole class takes medicine. But now it's the whole row that takes medicine, isn't that very energetic? Alright, let's change our training method."

  "It's all over." I thought to myself, knowing that the class monitor was referring to me when he mentioned a certain comrade.

  I didn't expect that because of my unusual excitement at noon today, it would affect everyone.

  "Today, we won't be practicing gun movements like other teams. Let's keep it simple, just hold the guns properly."

  When the monitor said this sentence, we all thought the monitor was not going to mess with us. Little did we think...

  The 4 class leaders began to instruct us one by one on how to hold guns.

  After we finished holding our guns, the four class leaders all walked to a place behind the troops where there was no sunlight and sat down, starting to chat. They completely ignored us.

  Alas, the class leader said it was simple, but where is it that simple? This is clearly a punishment for us. A rifle weighs seven catties and we have to hold it up. At first, it's still easy, but after a long time, we start to feel unbearable, our foreheads begin to sweat, and our arms start to tremble.

  "My god, Zheng Hao, if you turn a rifle into a shotgun, I'll make you kneel."

  The class monitor was scolding Zheng Hao behind us.

  "My god, Zhang Lei, what's wrong with your legs?"

  The squad leader saw new recruit Zhang Wei's legs trembling behind him and walked up to his face, scolding.

  I couldn't help but follow Zhang Yue's legs with my eyes.

  "My god, this kid's legs are actually trembling and his face is showing a painful expression. I thought to myself: 'What's wrong with him?'"

  At this time I heard Zhang Lei shouting to the monitor of Class 5: "Report to the monitor, I want to go to the toilet. The big one."

  "Hahaha..."

  I don't know why Hu Xingwei this idiot is smiling, I glared at Hu Xingwei with a bad temper, took one look and didn't understand, took another look and was startled, Zhang Yu's class monitor Xia Xiaoliu suddenly appeared behind Hu Xingwei.

  I saw Xia Xiaoliu, the class leader, remove the water bottle from Hu Xingwei's body, loop the rope twice and hang it directly on Hu Xingwei's gun.

  Hu Xinkuai's silly smile froze, and he looked at Xia Xiaoliu with a wronged expression.

  "Watch the yarn for me and hold it well, if the teapot falls down, just watch how I'll deal with you."

  Xia Xiaoliu glared at Hu Xinkuai and said to him.

  At this time, Zhang Wei got the permission of Zhou Zheng, the monitor of Class 5, and ran towards the toilet.

  "Brothers, I'm sorry, it's all my fault."

  After seeing all the class leaders return to the back, I apologized to everyone.

  "It's alright, Xiao Bin, don't mind it, Old Hu just likes intense training."

  I didn't expect Hu Xinyin to say this at this time...

  "Yes, Da Baozi, we don't blame you."

  At this time, Zhang Yu also comforted me.

  Other comrades also said the same thing, they all said it's not my fault, I'm very touched.

  I gripped the gun in my hand tightly and began to aim seriously.

  The first real contact with the rifle was very painful for us, especially when we had to maintain a posture without moving, it was extremely uncomfortable, and after a long time, our arms were very sore.

  The class leaders were right behind them, watching their every move, so they didn't dare slack off.

  Slowly, our bodies also started trembling, feeling unwell, too unbearable.

  When we heard the class monitor shouting "Alright, take a break!"

  We all collapsed on the ground.

  "Get out of here."

  Several class leaders saw us all lazily sitting on the ground and shouted at us in unison.