Chapter 4: The Great Military Region Competition

  Since the shooting range incident, Lu Zhongming never managed Xie Xiaoshuai again. Xie Xiaoshuai still participated in various training sessions with a carefree attitude, and everyone had gotten used to his ways until the new recruits arrived. All the new recruits became formal soldiers, rank: Private.

  During the new recruit period, Xie Xiaoshuai and Lei Wei became close friends due to their similar personalities. Xie Xiaoshuai also learned about Lei Wei's reason for becoming the new recruit platoon leader: with the military district commander's favoritism towards the Wild Wolf Battalion, they received priority in equipment distribution and military reforms. As a result, the battalion members gradually developed a sense of superiority, and their original pioneering spirit dissipated. The battalion commander recognized the crisis and sought help from his old brother (the commander of the Resonant Snake Special Forces Brigade). He asked a small team from the special forces to engage in an encounter battle with the Wild Wolf Battalion. The special forces broke through multiple layers of defense and killed the battalion's officers, defeating the Wild Wolf Battalion. This made them realize their own shortcomings and understand the phrase "there are heavens beyond the heavens." They humbled themselves and began training diligently. When Lei Wei's team completed their mission and prepared to return, it coincided with the new recruits' enlistment time, so he was asked by the battalion commander to stay and help train this batch of new recruits. The goal was to raise the starting point for these new recruits, who would eventually become the elite and backbone of the Wild Wolf Battalion.

  After the new recruit training ended, Lei Wei returned to his original unit. Xie Xiaoshuai was assigned to the Sharp Blade Squad's First Platoon of the Wild Wolf Battalion and began his formal military career. At the same time, it surprised Xie Xiaoshuai that Lu Zhongming turned out to be the platoon leader of the Fifth Platoon of the Sharp Blade Squad.

  Because of what happened to Xie Xiaoshuai in the new recruit squad, he was strictly ordered not to speak out, so his situation wasn't widely spread. However, the squad leader and instructor still knew about it. Therefore, they adopted a laissez-faire management approach, letting him do as he pleased, except for daily training, where he didn't have to do anything else. Xie Xiaoshuai was still careless and sloppy, participating in daily training in a lackadaisical manner, as long as he met the assessment indicators, that was enough.

  Half a year has passed in the blink of an eye, during which Lian Zhang and the instructor have talked to Xie Xiaoshuai several times, hoping that he can come up with something to show off. Because Xie Xiaoshuai's class leader Li Qiangwei is very dissatisfied with Lian Zhang and the instructor's indulgence towards Xie Xiaoshuai. He thinks Xie Xiaoshuai has a good relationship with some leader, came here to slack off, affecting their class's assessment results, pulling their class's legs, after all, their class has been ranked first in the whole regiment for several years.

  Xie Xiao Shuai's words almost made Lian Chang and the instructor vomit blood: "Why do you have to be on par with a small sergeant? These honors are all nonsense. When it's time for him to see, I'll show him my skills."

  Now, even Lian Chang and the instructor were speechless towards Xiao Shuai, and they had no way to deal with him. They could only try their best to comfort his squad leader Li Qiangwei, telling him not to mind the gains and losses in front of him. As a result, Li Qiangwei was increasingly dissatisfied with the relationship between this company commander and instructor who were particularly close to Xiao Shuai.

  That day, the Wild Wolf Corps received an order from the military district regarding the military district's grand competition. The order required each department to send personnel participating in the grand competition to report to the military district a month later.

  The order was quickly issued to each battalion and company of the Wild Wolf Brigade, and the brigade party committee attached great importance to this competition. It required each unit to select the best business elite to participate in the intra-Brigade competition, and only the winners could participate in the division-level competition. The ultimate winner would be sent to the Group Army, where all the business elites from the Group Army would gather to participate in the Military Region Competition.

  When the list of participants for the shooting competition was announced, it caused a stir. Xie Xiaoshuai's name was unexpectedly on the list of ten participants. As the company commander and instructor's focus object, everyone thought he was just a mediocre soldier. However, no one expected that the company commander and instructor would send him to participate in such an important event. This made many older soldiers who were not selected very dissatisfied, and they went to find the company commander and instructor to argue. The reason was: A mediocre soldier and a private first class did not have the qualifications to participate in such a major competition. They all thought they were better than Xie Xiaoshuai and should be participating in the competition instead. Li Weiqiang was the most emotionally agitated among them.

  Although the company commander and instructor are the military superiors of the company, they cannot ignore the feelings below, which will bring great trouble to their management. In the end, Lu Zhongming settled the matter with one sentence: If he is not qualified, then no one in the whole company is qualified.

  Afterwards, many people ran out to ask Lu Zhongming if he knew something. Lu Zhongming just replied calmly: His shooting level is beyond your reach. As a witness of the shooting range incident at that time, although it was humiliating to be suppressed by a new recruit, he still admired Xie Xiaoshuai very much. The military camp will always be the world of the strong.

  The competition began like this, and Xie Xiaoshuai easily passed the selection of the camp and the regiment. After seeing Xie Xiaoshuai's shooting level, even the old soldiers in the regiment had no voice. The competition in the regiment was very simple, just 100m rifle fixed chest ring target and 50m pistol fixed chest ring target, which was basically not difficult for Xie Xiaoshuai.

  The competition within the division was a 100-meter rapid-fire shooting, and Xie Xiaoshuai scored first place with a score of 33 seconds and 30 shots all hitting the target, which attracted the attention of the leaders, who were looking forward to his performance in the military region's competition.

  Xiao Shuai's company received a commendation from the division. The company commander and instructor were overjoyed, their faces glowing with pride that such an outstanding individual had emerged from their own company, giving them a boost of prestige in front of other company commanders.

  Xie Xiao Shuai, on the other hand, didn't show any excitement about these things. To him, there was nothing worth boasting about. He remained as carefree and nonchalant as ever.

  Now everyone in the platoon looks at him with new eyes, and they don't think there's anything wrong with his carelessness, thinking that maybe after the military competition, Xiao Shuai will be transferred to another place.

  "Xiao Shuai, you must get a good ranking in the military district competition! I and the instructor are both looking forward to your performance." The company commander looked at the private in front of him with great satisfaction.

  "Just do it." Xie Xiao Shuai replied lazily.

  "Do you think you can get first place in this big competition?"

  "It's a fight for second place, the military is a place where dragons and tigers hide, who dares to say they can take first place?" Xie Xiaoshuai still had that lazy attitude.

  As for Xie Xiaoshuai's attitude, Lian didn't mind at all. What he wanted was Xie Xiaoshuai's guarantee, as long as Xie Xiaoshuai could get a good ranking in the competition, that would be the honor of Lian team, and by then, Lian team would stand at a new height.