Chapter 5 New Recruits Report for Duty 3

  After walking for a long time, Lei gazed at the spot thirty meters in front of him, where a row of brand-new military backpacks were piled up. This could be said to be all the gifts these new recruits had. Although it was a new recruit company, Lei secretly counted that there were about fifty people, because more than fifty military backpacks were piled up opposite them. There wasn't much in the backpacks except for a few sets of spare underwear and two suits of summer clothes that were no longer useful now. Then Lei looked around at his surroundings, which was all snow and nothing but snow. He thought back to how he had arrived here, but couldn't think of where this place was. Because they had set out at night and sat in a fully covered large truck, Lei secretly calculated that the truck had been winding its way on this rugged mountain road for almost ten hours, not counting the three hours spent driving around the city. So he had no idea where here was. Not to mention doing what he used to hear about, like deserting, the only way to leave this place was to ring that big bell and let them personally escort you out of here. As soon as he thought of the bell, Lei's gaze shifted again to a hundred meters away, using his eyes to judge that the bell weighed at least over a kilogram, really couldn't figure out how it had been brought here.

  Just as Lei was lost in thought, he heard a very soft voice on his right side: "Hey, Lei, long time no see, my name is Zhang Nan, nice to meet you, I didn't expect you to become the class monitor so soon."

  Lei didn't dare make any big movements, he just glanced to the right with his peripheral vision. It turned out that it was a little fatty standing next to him who was talking to him. The little fatty was slightly shorter than Lei, but his body was two sizes bigger than Lei's, and he also had a baby face. Seeing that Lei didn't respond, the little fatty thought Lei hadn't heard him, so he raised his voice a bit and said: "Hey, Lei, how are you? My name is Zhang Nan."

  Lei smiled slightly and winked at Zhang Nan to show that he had heard, then lowered his voice and said: "Oh, Zhang Nan, hello." It was only then that Lei realized that although everyone's bodies hadn't moved, they were all whispering to the people next to them. Since everyone was around the same age and in the same environment, their conversations flowed particularly smoothly.

  Zhang Nan smiled at Lei and said again: "I didn't expect you to become the class leader as soon as you arrived here, it's really too awesome."

  Lei saw Zhang Nan speaking with a bit too much enthusiasm and hastily called out: "Your movements are too big, be careful not to shake off the snow on your body."

  Zhang Nan Yi heard Lei's words and quickly stabilized his body shape. He then said with embarrassment, "Thank you, I'll be troubling you a lot from now on."

  Lei had just wanted to respond when he saw a black figure appear in the distance. He hastily raised his voice slightly and shouted: "Everyone be quiet, Lian Zhang is here."

  Under the reminder of Lei, everyone's conversation stopped immediately. Perhaps Lei was wrong, and Lian didn't come alone this time. An old soldier-like man followed behind Lian to get here. Lian looked around at everyone, and after confirming that no one had less snow on their body, Lian chuckled: "I didn't expect you guys to be so self-aware, but don't think about playing any tricks." Then Lian pointed to the old soldier behind him and shouted loudly: "This is our company's medic 'Zhao Hua'. If anyone of you can't hold on, it's best to really faint on the ground. If Zhao Hua finds out who is pretending to faint, he will receive different treatment from others. So, until I say stop, even if you have a thread of strength left, you must stand well for me here."

  Needless to say, this different treatment will not be well received. Lei was originally thinking about how to steal a little laziness, but facing the sanitation worker, Lei had to hide all his thoughts. Time is slipping away second by second, although the snow on his shoulders has not increased much, but the snow on the backpack in the distance has already reached 10 cm thick. From when they started standing here until now, at least eight hours have passed. Eight hours, standing still for eight hours, this was something Lei dared not even think about before entering the military camp, but now he has done it, and so have all the other new recruits.

  "Bang", at the ninth hour when Lei stood there, Zhang Nan beside him fell to the ground. Before Lei could even think of helping Zhang Nan up, a figure flashed before his eyes and kicked Zhang Nan in the body while a long voice sounded in Lei's ears: "You damn trash, I told you not to pretend to be dead!"

  Just now, the one who flashed in front of Lei's eyes was Lian Chang. Zhang Nan's body flipped twice in mid-air under Lian Chang's foot before landing on the ground. Lei glanced at Zhang Nan with a slanted eye and saw that his face was pale, his lips were frozen purple, and he had no signs of life, as if he had died there. Seeing that his kick had no effect on Zhang Nan, Lian Chang waved his hand, and the medic named Zhao Hua walked over to Zhang Nan's side. He placed his hand on Zhang Nan's neck artery, and after ten or so seconds, Zhao Hua looked up at Lian Chang and said, "He really fainted."

  Lian Chang was taken aback when he saw Zhang Nan really faint, and he cursed in a low voice: "Trash, so useless." After cursing, he also slightly waved his hand to the medic.

  The medic, after receiving the company commander's order, exerted himself with his right hand and Zhang Nan was already on Zhao Hua's shoulders. Then he stood up and ran away from here at a speed of 100 meters. Lei watched the medic's movements and secretly exclaimed: "Wow, so powerful! Zhang Nan weighs at least over 160 jin, but the medic seemed to be carrying a bag of cotton." Lei glanced at the company commander and thought to himself: "This is the kind of soldier he has trained? Even a medic is this powerful, then..."

  "After the medic left, the platoon leader yelled at everyone: 'You bunch of trash are really useless! You can't even stand for a while! Alright, now go get your backpacks and follow me back to the dormitory to assign beds!'"

  As soon as they heard that they didn't have to stand there anymore, Lei and the others immediately relaxed like deflated balloons. However, when they wanted to take a step forward, they found that their legs had already gone numb and couldn't move at all. Lian Chang didn't care about this, he shouted loudly: "You bunch of trash, didn't you hear me? I'll count to thirty, if anyone hasn't picked up their own bag after thirty counts, then they'll stand here for another two hours! One, two."

  As soon as the countdown began, everyone forgot about their numb legs and rushed towards their backpacks. "Thud, thud" - not a single person failed to fall to the ground, but they gritted their teeth, using their hands to crawl forward desperately, while their feet kicked back with force, immediately leaving behind a messy trail of footprints in the snow.

  "Twenty-nine, thirty!" The company commander stopped counting and turned to look at these new recruits, who were all lying on the ground panting heavily, but each of them had a backpack in hand.

  The new recruits saw the company commander's icy gaze and struggled to get up from the ground, but the numbness in their legs had not completely dissipated. One by one, they stood up only to fall back down again.