Chapter 16: Unfair Competition

  "Ninety-three ring!" Lei exclaimed excitedly. He hadn't expected to score so well, which meant he had at least three bullets hit the ten-ring.

  Lian Chang heard the thunder and Lei Na's frantic cry, then angrily shouted: "What are you yelling about?!"

  Lei immediately realized he had gone too far and stood up straight, responding loudly: "Sorry, I was just a bit too excited! Carry on!"

  Lian Chang's face was gloomy as he came before Lei, saying coldly: "I'm telling you, there's nothing to be happy about. You've only just cleared the 93rd ring. In other words, if this were a real fight, you would have made at least seven mistakes that allowed your enemy to stay alive. And each of those mistakes could have given them an opportunity to take your life."

  Facing these long words, Lei felt that he had nothing to say, and could only loudly say: "Sorry! Commander Lian! I will work harder in the future, Commander Lian!"

  Lian Chang turned around and shouted at the others: "You are indeed trash, only when someone scores 100 rings will I admit that he is not trash!"

  What's the point of a hundred rings? Lei An made up his mind that he must meet Lian Chang's requirements.

  *

  Training, training, always continuous training. Before they knew it, Lei and the others had been here for almost three months. At this point, any one of them had basically met the requirements of a company commander. Lei could now carry tens of kilograms of weight and run ten kilometers in fifty minutes, complete loading and shooting in thirty seconds, although he couldn't hit 100 rings every time, but he could also shoot ten rounds in a row at targets over 100 meters away.

  That day, Lian Chang gathered everyone together and loudly told them: "In the blink of an eye, you have been here for almost three months. In another week's time, your new training life will come to an end. One week later, you will all go down to different companies! Are you wondering why there is only one new recruit company here, why there are no other troops? Well, I can tell you the reason now!"

  Lian Zhang said what they had always wanted to know, at first they didn't think much of it, but after staying here for a long time and slowly adapting to life here, their thoughts naturally increased. They were very curious why there was no human smoke in the surrounding tens of miles, very curious why there were no other brother units, very curious why Lian Zhang always didn't tell them his own number, very curious why it was only training except for training, all of this was what they wanted to know.

  Lian Chang's tone was no longer as furious as when the new recruits first arrived. He saluted everyone, then spoke in a very calm and gentle manner: "First of all, I want to apologize to you all. Without your consent, I brought you here, and all of you were randomly selected to come here."

  "Random selection?" Lei was confused, what's going on here? Weren't they assigned here like new recruits in other troops after signing up? Is it that the lives of new recruits in other troops are completely different from theirs?

  Lian Chang's words dispelled all the doubts in Lei's mind, and he slowly said: "Now each unit has special forces, but it's not easy to become a member of the special forces. Many members of the special forces are even composed of officers, which not only wastes human resources and materials, but also wastes time. That's why the superiors decided to hold this 'Zero Plan'."

  Zero plan. Everyone looked at each other after hearing this, what is going on? What are they exactly? Are they just playthings in the hands of those in power?

  "After observing everyone's reaction for a long time, he continued: "The so-called zero plan is to cultivate social youths like you into elites within the troops in a short period of time. If this plan succeeds, it will not only save the military a lot of financial and time resources, but also greatly improve the combat effectiveness of the troops."

  "Reporting! May I ask a question?"

  Lian Chang nodded slightly towards Lei Wei and said softly: "Go ahead and say what you want."

  "Are you saying we're just test subjects?" Lei asked loudly.

  Lian Chang didn't want to admit it, but this was indeed the truth. He nodded gloomily and said: "You can put it that way, so I'll say sorry to everyone here."

  Lei lightly laughed and loudly said to Lian Zhang: "Lian Zhang! Although I'm not happy being used as a test subject, you have nothing to owe us! Honestly, we're all very grateful to you. It's because of you that we've grown up, it's because of you that we've transformed from ordinary people who didn't know what was going on into strong warriors in the military camp! So we're very thankful to you, don't believe me? Ask the others!"

  Lian Zhang shifted his gaze to others, and the crowd shouted: "Thank you, Lian Zhang! Without you, there wouldn't be us today! We've learned a lot from you, and we've developed the ability to remain unafraid, unflustered, unruffled, and undaunted in the face of any difficulty or danger!"

  Lian Chang was so moved by everyone's words that he almost shed tears, but he forced himself to hold back and kept saying to everyone: "Thank you, it's me who should thank you."

  "Comrade Company Commander! I want to know how we're doing. Have we become the elite of the troops?"

  Lian Chang controlled his emotions, looked around at the crowd, and from their eyes, he could see that they were all eager to know the answer. Lian Chang slowly replied: "If compared with real special forces, you are still far behind, but I can guarantee that you are absolutely among the best of the new recruits who entered the army at the same time, even surpassing many old soldiers!"

  "Hehe." Everyone was secretly smiling in their hearts because they knew that Lian Chang didn't talk big, which meant that they were really strong now.

  Lei laughed and said: "So, does this mean that Operation Zero was a success?"

  As soon as he heard about Operation Zero, Lian Zhang excitedly exclaimed: "I say success doesn't count, we have to do something that will make the superiors truly convinced!"

  "What's going on? Speak up, Commander!" Everyone was shouting and chattering, having been suppressed for almost three months now. Now that they knew they had been treated as test subjects all along, they wanted to do something to vent their emotions.

  Lian Chang mysteriously smiled and said: "This is the reason I called everyone here today."