Chapter 1 (10)

  "When you brought back the troops, you ran faster than rabbits, and you forgot to take your hat."

  Liu Yibao was holding exactly that camouflage cap with "dead old two" written on it.

  Ma Cheng turned around and walked away, but was stopped by Liu Yibao.

  "You little scoundrel, trying to deny it? The door wasn't even closed, I've been waiting for you for half a day." Liu Yibao said, snatching the hat off Ma Cheng's head and putting the "dead old two" hat on him, then ran towards the company headquarters.

  Ma Cheng took off the hat and threw it to the ground, just as he was about to turn around to find another hat, Deputy Chief of Staff Xu Chun's shiny bald head appeared in the distance.

  "Ma Cheng, what's wrong with you? Stop dawdling! Deputy Commander Xin has arrived and is waiting for you. Let's go!"

  Deputy Chief of Staff Xu Chunlai is a Tianjin native with a very heavy accent. When he scolds people, it sounds like he's performing a crosstalk comedy routine.

  Ma Cheng had no choice but to walk forward, and a road inspector who had been eyeing him for a long time stopped him.

  "Comrade, Deputy Commander Xin is holding a meeting inside, please mind your military bearing and discipline."

  Ma said angrily: "My hat was snatched away by a tall man, you let me go in first and then talk."

  He didn't even give him a bit of face. "Those who are not in uniform will not be allowed to enter."

  Ma Cheng saw Xu Chunlai looking at him again, so he had to turn around, pick up the "dead old two" hat, put it on his head, cover the words in front with his hand, and quickly slip into the meeting room.

  Liu Yibao sat not far from the entrance of the meeting room, saw Ma Cheng wearing that hat coming in, and smiled with an open mouth. Ma Cheng sat down close to him. Xu Chun came to report to Deputy Commander Xin and gave the order "Sit, take off your hats", the meeting began.

  Deputy Commander Xin announced that the Thousand Miles Comprehensive Confrontation Exercise will start tonight, followed by Wan Ba Tian's announcement of the roles and tasks of each regiment in the exercise. Then, the regimental commanders representing both the red and blue sides took the stage to read out their letters of determination.

  Representing the Red Team, a company commander Liu Yibao showed his determination. Just now when the leader was speaking on stage, Liu Yibao was fully focused on familiarizing himself with the script below, and didn't even notice that Ma Cheng had swapped the hat at his feet. When he heard Wan Ba Tian call out his name, he picked up the hat without looking and put it on his head, running to the front of the stage with a standard motion like a meat skewer.

  Liu Yi Bao finished his bow to the chairman's podium, turned around and bowed again to the meeting attendees in front of him. Before he even started reading from his script, a burst of laughter erupted from below the stage. The three black characters "Die Lao Er" (meaning "Dead Second-in-Command") on top of his hat were just too eye-catching.

  Liu Yibao didn't know why the audience was laughing, he originally wanted to give an impromptu speech, but now being laughed at, he lost his confidence and read from the script instead. The script was written by Wang Youcai, a guidance officer known as the first talent of the Wild Wolf Brigade, with sentences that were like rolling thunder and passionate. Liu Yibao didn't realize that the more energetic he spoke, the louder the laughter from the audience became, even Wan Ba Tian's scolding couldn't stop everyone's ridicule. And his partner Wang Youcai pointed to his own head, but he still didn't understand.

  Liu Yi Bao didn't dare to read anymore and hastily concluded. When bowing to the chairman's platform, Wan Ba Tian didn't notice Xin Deputy Commander was present, and loudly shouted at him: "What kind of broken hat are you wearing? Your whole unit is so sloppy, what kind of discipline is this?"

  Liu Yi Bao took off his hat and looked, his face instantly turned bright red. He hastily ran down from the stage, when he returned to his seat at the back, Ma Cheng, who was previously sitting next to him, had already switched seats with someone else, and was now holding his own hat, smiling slyly at him.

  "Uhh..." A shrill alarm sounded, a group of heavily armed foreign military police rushed down from the vehicle, surrounding an ancient castle ruins embedded in the mountain wall in the wilderness. Several snipers carrying long guns quickly ran to nearby advantageous positions.

  A hostage was tied up and suspended from the sky corridor of a castle. A ghostly face flashed by, then quickly retreated. After a long wait, the ghostly face reappeared, gunshots rang out, and the sniper reported.

  I hit him on the head.

  In the dim light, the sniper's distinctive black face and slender body were exposed. At this moment, the ghost face appeared again, a cold light flashed, and the rope was cut off by an axe, the hostage who was suspended in mid-air fell down instantly, the protective air cushion on the ground had not been fully unfolded, the hostage fell heavily to the ground, blood and flesh blurred.