Chapter 50 Arrival at the Grand Martial Arts Base

  "Attention!" Feng Shaojun saw Colonel Fan and Captain Li walking over from a distance, and hastily gave the order to the crowd sitting on the ground.

  "Sit down, sit down." Captain Fan's face was somewhat stern, and he waved his hand to let the training team members sit down before he even approached.

  "Let me just tell you briefly, earlier our eight major military academies' team leaders were all called to a meeting by the organizing committee of this military competition, and at the meeting they announced the official competition events for this competition." Captain Li nodded to Major Fan, got permission, and then began speaking.

  Qu Mingjun and his team of 15 people (12 team members, two leaders Fan Shaojie and Li Shangwei, and one staff member from the Stone Gate Lu Institute's training department as a liaison officer) have been at this codenamed "Challenge" training base for three days now. They have basically figured out the surrounding terrain and basic situation.

  This small training base itself is not very large, only including an office building, three dormitory buildings, a reception house and a large canteen. The personnel of the base are not many, the three dormitory buildings are mainly used for trainees coming to this training base, and the office building includes the base's usual office, information center and command and observation hall during exercises and training.

  Although it's not big here, the training area outside the headquarters is not small, including forest areas, mountainous areas, part of a lake and grasslands. A training base that can include so many landforms makes both Fan Shaobo and Li Shangwei, who are visiting for the first time, marvel at how great this place is for military training.

  The altitude here is not considered too high, Qu Mingjun and the training team members were all selected from among thousands of students, and after strict training, they basically didn't feel any big reaction and adapted to the environment. Today they are led by Feng Shaojun to go for a slow run in the mountainous area to maintain their physical strength and prevent it from declining.

  "This military exercise is different from the previous ones, all three headquarters have sent observation teams, it's not clear if they are just observing or have other tasks. Along with this training project has also undergone changes. This exercise is divided into three days, each day a major category, and each major category is further divided into several subcategories. Currently, we only got the first day, which is tomorrow's competition category, the second day's competition category will only be notified to us on the evening of the first day." Captain Li said while shaking his head, it seems that there are too many unexpected situations, resulting in their insufficient preparation. The team members listened seriously.

  "On the first day of the competition, all the events are technical in nature, which is relative to the physical quality assessment events. This category includes several sub-categories: first, full-armed climbing, then sliding down, then sprinting 100 meters into the shooting range, starting from 400 meters and using various firearms to shoot at targets until 50 meters. At 400 meters, it's the Type 88 sniper rifle, with 10 rounds of ammunition, aiming at 10 balloons. Then at 300 meters, it's the light machine gun, with 30 rounds of ammunition, aiming at moving targets. At 200 meters, it's the Type 95 automatic rifle in prone position shooting, with 10 rounds of ammunition, aiming at half-body targets. At 100 meters, it's the Type 95 automatic rifle in kneeling position shooting, with 10 rounds of ammunition, also aiming at half-body targets. At 50 meters, it's the Type 92 pistol, with 5 rounds of ammunition, aiming at half-body targets." Captain Li paused for a moment, looked at the expressions of his team members, and continued, "Then there's the individual tactical comprehensive drill, and finally, the five hand grenade throwing accuracy test."

  "This is all the martial arts subjects for the first day. The requirement is that all subjects are timed, and each subject also needs to check the completion rate, such as shooting, which checks how many rings you hit. We don't know the specific formula for calculating the total score. That's basically it." Captain Li finally finished explaining the situation of the first day's trial.

  Team members, take a look at me and I'll take a look at you. It seems that this big competition is not easy to complete, it's not just about having strong limbs, but also using your brain. Looking at the small projects on the first day, are you mainly rushing for time or completing the project? The key question is that no one knows how the judges score these projects, what formula they use to calculate, if we can figure it out, then we'll have a plan. But now it's clear that the top wants to keep it secret, so everyone has to think more.

  "What's wrong? Are you having trouble?" asked Captain Fan as he sat down with everyone.

  Who would dare to mention it? Team members looked at each other, no one dared to speak up.

  "Come on, let's discuss the project for the first day." Fan Shaojie picked up a branch and drew on the ground, and the team members all gathered around him in a semicircle.

  "Look, the general route is like this." Captain Fan took a pen and roughly sketched out some of the terrain near the training base headquarters, then continued to say, "First, we set off from here, then climb. This time it's not that simulated building in our school, but real cliffs. The actual elevation of this cliff is... so we need to... Parachuting down isn't much to talk about, just pay attention to your body posture and also... So when shooting comes, you need to pay attention to... In individual combat tactics, comrades must ensure that their movements don't become distorted, they must... Hmm, throwing hand grenades accurately is something we haven't practiced yet, so later when we get back..."

  "Is there anything else you'd like to add?" Captain Fan threw away the branch and patted his hands, asking everyone.

  Qu Mingjun was staring at the pattern on the ground, deep in thought. When he heard Fan Shao's question, he subconsciously reported, "Reporting to the instructor, can we help each other a little during the trial?"

  "It's not allowed," said Captain Fan. "This martial arts competition is in groups of eight, with each military academy sending one representative. Then, each group will depart every 20 minutes. You won't be able to and don't have the opportunity to help each other."

  "20 minutes? What if the shooting on that side overlaps with our group?" Qu Mingjun asked.

  "This is not a big problem, on the shooting range side it's not who comes first to shoot first, but after a small group arrives, they will arrange uniformly. When arriving at the target field, your previous time will be recorded, and during the shooting process, the time will also be recorded separately."

  "Oh, so that means as long as I complete the climbing and downhill stages quickly, I can get more rest time at the shooting range?" Qu Mingjun's eyes lit up, this way he could avoid mistakes in the shooting stage.

  "It's not entirely the case, we've seen the situation at the shooting range before, and it's no problem to have three groups going on at the same time. Maybe there are fewer judges, but I think having two groups going on at the same time is a must, unless the group from 40 minutes ago hasn't finished shooting yet, which I don't think is possible. The only way you can rest is if you're the first one in your group to arrive at the shooting range and the last person is slower, so there's just that little bit of time difference."

  Can this still be considered rest time? Qu Mingjun was very depressed, even if he ran first, how much difference could there be between the last and the first place? They were all elite soldiers selected from the eight major military academies, it's better to let the first place have more rest by running last.

  "Is there anything else?" Captain Fan looked around.

  "So the most critical issue is that everyone should allocate their physical strength well. I think the focus of the military competition assessment should still be on the completion degree of each subject, so everyone should pursue the speed of completing the subjects on the basis of ensuring the completion degree of the subjects."

  Captain Fan looked at everyone nodding in silence and continued, "Then let's take it back, after getting our equipment tonight, we'll have a good rest. Tomorrow, we'll be going to the battlefield to fight. Come on, let's cheer each other up."

  The team members all smiled, stood up and formed a big circle. The fourteen people, including Captain Fan and Lieutenant Li, put their hands together and shouted in unison: "Kill!"

  After returning to the dormitory building of the training base, everyone washed up simply and had dinner. Then they followed the other seven members of the Army Academy representative team to receive equipment. The issued items were similar to those used in regular training, with the only difference being that a model of a 95-style automatic rifle was issued, which was exactly the same size as the real gun, with a similar weight and material that fully complied with the actual object. It's just that it can't be loaded, and it can't be fired.

  Qu Jun and others curiously took it back to play with. Cui Ze even had the idea of finding a manufacturer to buy one for collection.

  After going to bed at night, Qu Mingjun suddenly found that he didn't feel the slightest bit sleepy. At first, he didn't think much of it and just lay there, but the more he lay there, the more anxious he felt in his heart, as if he had forgotten to do something or was worried about something that he couldn't let go of.

  Am I nervous? How can I be nervous? Qu Mingjun suddenly found himself amusing, how could he be nervous? Is it because the big martial arts competition is tomorrow? Ridiculous! For someone who has seen so many scenes like this, it's simply ridiculous. But ridiculous or not, what level can I reach tomorrow? Can I get first place?

  Damn it, why am I thinking about this again. Qu Mingjun silently scolded himself, don't think about it, must not think about it. Sleep, must fall asleep... But, there's no sleepiness...

  Qu Mingjun turned over restlessly, and it was only then that he noticed there wasn't a single snore in the dormitory. This is strange, normally with twelve people in the room, who isn't a heavy sleeper? What's going on today?

  Qu Mingjun was puzzled and couldn't help but sit up, looking around in all directions.

  This was good; all twelve in the room sat up one after another with him.

  "What's wrong with you guys? Why aren't you sleeping?" Qu Mingjun was startled.

  "Huh? Yeah, how come none of you are sleeping?" Cui Ze also wondered.

  "Hehe..."

  "Hehe......"

  "Hahaha......" The whole house burst out laughing as we looked at each other.

  Feng Shaojun pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one up and smiled as he said: "You guys are all thinking about tomorrow's martial arts competition, aren't you? Can't sleep?"

  A substitute player leaned against the headboard and laughed: "I can sleep, but you guys keep turning over and making a creaking sound, which makes me also unable to sleep."

  "Bullshit, you're always snoring loudly at home, can't sleep any differently?" Another substitute player chimed in with sarcasm.

  "Yes, it seems like there are always a bunch of messy thoughts in my head, not even a bit sleepy." A big teammate knocked on his head and admitted.

  "It takes a thousand days to cultivate soldiers and only one moment to use them. It's normal not to be able to sleep at this critical moment." Guo Xiangyang spat out a smoke ring, which slowly dissipated under the moonlight.

  "But we can't not sleep, brothers. We still have the big martial arts competition tomorrow." Feng Shaojun said, "Let's finish this cigarette and see who falls asleep first!"

  "Let's compete then." Everyone knew what was at stake and agreed in unison.

  "Right, Cui Ze, tell a joke. It's just in time for everyone to smoke and relieve their boredom." Feng Shaojun wanted to use humor to relax everyone's mood.

  "Hey, let me tell you a true story about our company," said Cui Ze with a smile. "One Sunday evening during roll call, two of our veteran soldiers were missing. By the time it was almost 10 pm and lights out, our company commander got anxious, so we went to look for them. All the old soldiers scattered out, and several squad leaders even ran to the train station and bus station. They came back at midnight but still couldn't find anyone."

  Everyone listened with relish, and Qu Mingjun was no exception. When he heard this, he couldn't help but say, "Isn't that deserting?"

  "Listen to me," Choi Jae-chul rolled his eyes at Kook Min-joon, "Lieutenant Colonel Ahn was worried about this matter and thought it couldn't be reported to the higher-ups, so he called the battalion commander to report the situation. The battalion commander also rushed over. Just as the battalion commander was about to gather some men to investigate, those two guys strolled back on their own."

  "Guess where they went?" asked Cui Ze with a smile.

  "Huh? Who the hell knows where they went?" Everyone was dissatisfied and said, "You're dragging this out, spit it out already, come on!"

  "These two kids got drunk and couldn't make it back from the restaurant, so they climbed onto the roof of our company's pigpen and fell asleep. They didn't wake up until morning and then ran back." Cui Ze couldn't help but laugh.

  The whole house was filled with laughter at once.

  "Didn't you guys search everywhere? How come you didn't find it?" Qu Mingjun also smiled, but still asked.

  "Who the hell knew they were on top of the pigpen, and they all ran to different houses and grounds to look for them. I really admire them, they can sleep so long in such a smelly place."

  Hahaha...

  "Let me tell you something, we've been together for a year..."

  Hahaha...

  "I have this too..."

  The old soldiers had many stories to tell, and under the barrage of several paragraphs, everyone in the house burst out laughing, all their worries disappeared, and they tacitly ended this impromptu chat session and entered dreamland.

  How about tomorrow's results? Believe in yourself and do your best!