Chapter Fifteen: The Killing Intent on the Dagger

  After the opening, each class leader stood in the queue, loudly giving orders while leading their classmates to start practicing seriously. The two actions that originally seemed simple, when it was his turn to do them, Qu Mingjun found himself struggling to produce the kind of murderous aura that the captain had.

  Qu Mingjun has always been a person who pursues perfection too much, and in his dictionary, there are no words such as "almost" or "make do". Although in the eyes of others in the class, Qu Mingjun's opening and closing of the bayonet had already reached a very high standard, doing it with great precision and efficiency, without any hesitation or sloppiness. However, Qu Mingjun himself was still not satisfied.

  The class leader, Guo Xiangyang, gave the order and they practiced for several rounds. However, he found that the movements within the class were still not coordinated, even the two crisp sounds of closing and opening the gun bayonet did not sound together. It wasn't until he walked out of the formation to take a look that he realized it was still a problem with their movements. Some people had too many small actions, constantly subconsciously looking down, touching their hands up and down, and couldn't complete the action in one swift motion, resulting in the entire process being slower than others. Guo Xiangyang corrected them for a while, emphasizing several places that often had problems, and then let them freely experience it on their own.

  Qu Mingjun did it over and over again, feeling it in his heart, but no matter how he did it, or what others said about him doing well, he just felt that there was something not quite right with himself, as if he couldn't find that usual feeling. Qu Mingjun gritted his teeth, since he couldn't figure it out, he would just keep doing it until he understood it clearly.

  Yan Weidong went from one class to another, occasionally stopping to give guidance. When he arrived at Class 6, he was drawn in by Qu Mingjun's fierce movements.

  Yan Weidong looked at Qu Mingjun for a while, furrowed his brow and walked up to him, saying in a low voice, "Stop!"

  The whole class of six stopped and stared over here, Yan Weidong signaled them to continue practicing, and called Qu Mingjun alone from the team to ask him, "What are you doing? You're so stupid in practice, what do you want to do? Want to ruin your own hands?"

  Qiu Mingjun only then noticed that his left hand's tiger mouth was actually already clamped by the gun ring with a big hole, but the weather was too cold, and not much blood flowed out.

  He furrowed his brow, and Qu Mingjun bent down to scoop up a handful of yesterday's snow from the ground and slapped it onto the wound. Yan Weidong didn't stop him, instead watching his actions with great interest. It wasn't until Qu Mingjun had managed to stanch the bleeding using the cold compress method, his face twisted in pain, that he spoke up: "What's going on? I think you did a pretty good job, so why are you being so reckless?"

  "Reporting captain, I'm getting a reading!" Qu Mingjun straightened his body.

  "Looking for a feeling? What kind of feeling?"

  "It's that kind of feeling!"

  "What kind of feeling is that? Ha, you say I'm what kind of feeling?" Yan Weidong said with a playful smile.

  "It's... it's..." Qu Mingjun suddenly found himself at a loss for words to describe Yan Weidong's gun-wielding style, so he simply and directly said: "It's that kind of murderous aura you have."

  Yan Weidong was slightly surprised, initially thinking he was just making it up, but unexpectedly this kid had actually seen something. The killing intent is not a tangible thing, but a kind of feeling that comes from a person's aura, movements, and spirit. Yan Weidong had been on the battlefield when he first joined the army, personally taking down eight or nine enemies, so the killing intent naturally developed. However, decades of peaceful life had long since worn away the killing intent on Yan Weidong's body.

  However, when Yan Weidong raised his gun and the trigger clicked, revealing a hint of the murderous intent that was either you or me dying. But for those who have not experienced life-and-death struggles, it's estimated that they would generally not be able to sense this.

  Yan Weidong looked at Qu Mingjun with a slightly complicated expression, reached out to take Qu Mingjun's gun, and said in a low voice: "I'll only do it once, watch closely!"

  Qu Mingjun nodded slightly with a silly expression.

  Yan Weidong half-turned and faced Qu Mingjun, saying: "You give the order!"

  Qu Mingjun was a little puzzled why the captain wanted to turn sideways against himself, but he still gave the order honestly, "Open the gun bayonet!" "Good!" Yan Weidong's killing intent accompanied by a crisp "click" sound broke out again.

  Qu Ming's eyes lit up in front of him, and it turned out to be this.

  Yan Weidong put away his gun and turned around, saying: "Did you see that?"

  Qu Mingjun was confident and said, "I'll try again!"

  Yan Weidong watched Qu Mingjun's meticulous pressing of the gun ring, his five fingers closed and placed under the gun's muzzle. With a "good" command, as he pressed the trigger, Qu Mingjun's eyes narrowed, his body suddenly leaning forward slightly, and in an instant, a faint but firm killing intent rose from his body.

  Yan Weidong patted Qu Mingjun's shoulder with some satisfaction and walked away slowly.

  "Qu Míng Jùn!"

  "Arrived!"

  "Fall in!"

  "Yes!"

  Captain Yan Weidong called Qu Mingjun out of the team, Qu Mingjun ran to the front of the team in a standard and standardized manner, standing at attention facing the captain, but he still didn't know what the captain wanted him to do.

  "We've been practicing the stabbing exercise for more than a week now, and all the movements have already been taught to everyone. However, it's still not good enough, some comrades' stabbing actions are still too feminine." Yan Weidong raised his chin and nodded at Qu Mingjun, saying: "Of course, there are also several comrades whose movements are practiced well. Now, let's welcome Comrade Qu Mingjun to demonstrate the stabbing exercise for everyone."

  Although he had experienced many grand scenes in his family, Qu Mingjun still clearly felt his heart beating faster and faster. With the guard's command, Qu Mingjun swiftly and neatly performed a good gun salute.

  "Ready, aim — fire!"

  Qu Mingjun's body half-turned, his left foot stepped forward, facing the front, his right hand simultaneously exerted force, throwing the gun to the front of his left shoulder, his left hand quickly followed up, "crack" a crisp sound, gripping the lower guard. His legs slightly bent, the muzzle and throat were at the same height, his right hand moved down to grip the neck of the gun, Qu Mingjun's eyes became even more sharp like an eagle, his whole body was like a tightly strung bow, ready to burst out at any moment.

  "Ready!" The officer on duty gave the first action command!

  "Kill!" A loud roar burst out of Qu Mingjun's mouth, his left foot stomped heavily on the ground, and with a strong momentum, he thrust the bayonet forward at an imaginary enemy's chest. The military knife gleamed with a bloodthirsty light, as if it was about to tear through the air, and Captain Yan Weidong, standing beside Qu Mingjun, couldn't help but blink his eyes.

  As the command was given, Qu Mingjun perfectly completed all 15 stabbing movements with strength and vigor, his killing intent soaring into the sky. Before the captain could even speak, all the cadets couldn't help but erupt in their most enthusiastic applause, with the sixth squad's applause being particularly vigorous. Especially Wang Jin's exaggerated clapping posture was eye-catching; if it weren't for the strict discipline of the formation, this kid would have probably whistled already.

  The captain signaled Qu Mingjun to fall in, and only then did Qu Mingjun feel the breath he had been holding in his chest ease up. After running back into formation, Qu Mingjun even felt his legs trembling slightly. Qu Mingjun scorned himself inwardly - what was this, getting excited over such a trivial matter? It was strange, wasn't he someone who had seen the world and weathered storms? Why was he like this? Was it because of the captain's recognition? Or because of the envious glances from the rest of the team? Qu Mingjun couldn't help but mock himself - it seemed that in the end, he was just an ordinary person after all.

  "Great, I hope all comrades can learn from Comrade Qu Mingjun and quickly master the movements. Of course, it's not just about mastering the movements, you must also practice with a sense of momentum, when thrusting, you must have that kind of 'either you die or I die' desperate momentum, don't laugh, it's the momentum of a desperate fugitive. You must be fearless and unyielding. Only then can you master the movement." Yan Weidong waited for everyone's applause to stop before lavishing praise on Qu Mingjun.

  "Next, each class will continue to practice, in addition to decomposing movements, they can also properly practice continuous movements. Note that there should be pauses between movements and the movements should be uniform. The class leaders must pay special attention to the momentum of their classmates when performing the movements. Ah, only when this momentum is practiced well can it be considered truly practicing the stabbing exercise well." Yan Weidong looked down at a list in his hand, "Comrades whose names I call out, step forward."

  "Feng Shaojun, Li Dongkuan,... Cui Ze, Qu Mingjun..." Yan Weidong rattled off the names of twenty people in one breath. Those who were called out responded loudly with a "Present!" and then ran to the front of the formation to line up automatically, although they had no idea what their captain was trying to do.

  "Each class, open!" According to the designated division of the venue, each class began to practice on their own, leaving only 20 people behind for roll call. Although the 20 people stood upright, they were all wondering in their hearts. Qu Mingjun vaguely guessed something. The 20 people left in front seemed to be the best at assassination training, and it seemed that the captain had some extra plans.

  "Leaving everyone behind is mainly because the training exercises that everyone has been doing are relatively excellent." Yan Weidong explained, "Of course, it's only relatively excellent."

  Qu Mingjun's eyebrows jumped up, what does it mean? Are we not good enough? Qu Mingjun felt a bit indignant in his heart, and he was not the only one. The twenty people who stayed behind mostly thought so too.

  Yan Weidong smiled, "Not convinced? Not convinced is good, I like soldiers who are not convinced. Only those who are not convinced have the possibility to continue improving. Those who easily satisfy themselves, I think they won't make much progress."

  "However, for you to have a simple understanding, listen to my command, line up in order of height and assemble!"

  The remaining twenty people quickly moved and soon lined up in order of height. Qu Mingjun was eighth in line.

  Yan Weidong looked at everyone standing at attention, didn't say a word, picked up his gun and walked to the front of the formation, in front of Feng Shaoyun, suddenly raised his gun and stabbed forward, "Kill!"