Chapter 42: First Taste of Defeat

  Lei smiled at Ge Hui again and said, "No, the class leader has already called me to eat, because I just had a little feeling now, I'm afraid that after eating, I'll forget again, so I want to finish cutting these before going to eat."

  Ge Hui saw that Lei's temper was still quite stubborn, so he came to another chopping board and started cutting with a knife. As soon as Lei saw Ge Hui wanting to help him cut, he hurriedly called out: "Old soldier, no need, I can handle these by myself, you go eat first."

  "Cut it out, you think I don't want to go eat? The class leader assigned me the task of teaching you how to chop vegetables. If you can't learn, even if I could go eat now, I won't have a good day in the future." He suddenly smiled at Lei and said, "Besides, if you learn to chop vegetables earlier, my work will be easier later on. So, this isn't me helping you, it's me helping myself. Watch closely how I do it." After that, Ge Hui picked up the potato and started chopping.

  Lei also chuckled lightly and said, "Although you want to help me, your words don't sound sincere."

  "Dong Dong Dong"

  Although it was already 9 o'clock in the evening, and people who had finished their shifts were starting to wash up and go to sleep, the kitchen's operating room still kept sending out the crashing sounds of knives and chopping boards.

  "Awesome! Eleven minutes! Lei! You're really too awesome!" Ge Hui shouted at Lei while holding his watch.

  Just now they did a test for Lei, cutting a full plate of shredded potatoes, and Lei only used eleven minutes. Pang Hong reached out to grab a handful of shredded potatoes from the plate, looked at them, and then nodded: "Hmm, not bad, Lei. After this short month of training, you not only make good mantou, but your knife skills are also on par with Ge Hui. If you keep up this level, then in two days' time at the Spring Skills Competition, you will definitely take first place in the cooking class."

  "Really?" Lei put down his knife and shouted loudly.

  Lu Liang, standing beside him, looked at Leizhi's shredded potatoes and then at his own potato shreds that resembled potato sticks, shook his head and sighed: "Alas, Leizhi, you're indeed formidable. I arrived at the cooking class two days earlier than you, but now your skills are unknowingly far superior to mine!"

  Standing beside him, Wang Zhen kicked Lu Liang's buttocks and scolded: "Of course! Others only rest for six hours a day and spend all their time practicing. What about you? You sleep for over ten hours a day and still try to find ways to slack off during work!"

  "I didn't! Monitor, you be the judge. I admit that I slept a bit longer than usual, but it wasn't that long, and when did I ever slack off?" Lu Liang protested with his hand covering his buttocks.

  Lei smiled as he looked at the two of them, after a month of getting along, they were like close brothers now, and such bickering was common. Lei's gaze stayed on the chopping board, as if he had already become the first in the cooking class, that chopping board was like an arena, and he was engaged in a life-and-death battle with Yunlong, the class leader of Sanlian Qi Class.

  Shh

  Just as everyone was laughing together, a sudden whistle came from outside the restaurant. Ge Hui looked at his watch after hearing the whistle and cursed: "Damn it, what are these little brats doing? It's only 9:15, how can they blow out the lights so soon?"

  "No, this doesn't seem like a curfew signal!" Wang Zhen shouted with furrowed brows.

  Pang Hong also furrowed his brow and listened carefully to the whistle outside, which sounded very short. He muttered: "It can't be an emergency assembly, what's going on with the assembly now?"

  Only the urgent knocking on the door was heard outside, followed by the shouting of the clerk: "Sergeant Hong! Hurry up! The whole camp is gathering urgently! The cooking class must also participate! Sergeant Hong!"

  "Got it!" Fat Hong shouted loudly as he rushed out of the control room with everyone else. As they ran, he yelled back at Lei: "Lei! Help me bring all the stuff over, I'll go take a look at what's happening first!"

  "Got it!" Lei shouted as he rushed towards the dormitory, his speed was the fastest in the cooking class. When he put on his hat, backpack and water bottle, and tied his belt, others just arrived at the dormitory. Lei grabbed Pang Hong's equipment and rushed out of the door, shouting "I'm going first!"

  In less than five minutes, the whole camp was assembled on the drill ground. Lei looked around and saw that everyone except for the cooking class was armed to the teeth. He asked Hong in a low voice, "Squad leader, what's going on?"

  Pang Hong also lowered his voice: "Not very clear, it seems that there is someone in the mountain, and our superiors want us to search for them!"

  As expected, after everyone arrived, the camp commander, a pale scholar, shouted loudly at the front: "Brothers, this time it's not a drill! I just received orders from my superiors that there is a group of unidentified bandits hiding in the nearby mountains, and our mission is to find these people!"

  In this era, how many soldiers have really fought with guns in a relatively peaceful country? Hearing that this time is real, everyone's heart has some tension. Although everyone has a lot to say, without permission, the playground where hundreds of people gathered can hear a needle drop.

  Wei Ping, the commander of the White-faced Book Student Army, held a brief rally in front of everyone and said: "The detailed situation has already been known by the leaders of each unit! Remember, the most important thing in this mission is to find out where the other party is. Without orders from superiors, no one can privately fire at the other party!" As he spoke, Wei Ping swept his gaze over his subordinates. They were real soldiers, standing straight and tall. There were three infantry companies, a machine gun company, an artillery company, totaling around 400-500 people. Only he knew the true danger of this operation, but there were some things he couldn't tell these brothers. If possible, he hoped that this operation would be zero-casualty. Finally, he shouted loudly: "However, if you encounter a special situation and don't have time to request orders from superiors, you can directly shoot the other party! Did everyone understand?"

  "I understand!" The loud shout of several hundred people seemed to shake the mountain.

  When everyone's heart has a little bit of fear, Lei, who has undergone special training, is inexplicably excited at this moment, and finally can have real bullets fired!