Chapter 217: Yuan Lang Shows Off, Chen Jun Poaches Talent!
After running fifty kilometers in a forced march, they ultimately finished just a few minutes shy of four hours.
All the cadets were completely exhausted, having forgotten all about the honor and ideals that brought them here, not even caring about the little dignity they had left.
Their minds were filled only with thoughts of rest and sleep, and their stomachs growling from hunger.
All the cadets persisted, with none giving up along the road; their physical fitness was basically up to standard, and Yuan Lang was fairly satisfied.
Not only did he have a truck bring them back, but he also had the canteen add two extra dishes at noon.
However, this small reward from Yuan Lang held no appeal at all for the cadets who thought they were going to run to death on the road.
Nearly half of the cadets began to regret why they came to this place to suffer.
Especially Tuo Yonggang, whose mentality was already unstable; after enduring verbal and mental humiliation earlier, he now faced physical torment.
After running back fifty kilometers, his mentality was about to explode; he was just short of hugging his quilt and having a good cry.
Cheng Cai understood “taking advantage of someone’s misfortune” well and empathetically said, “Yeah, the old troops were so much better; there’s nothing much to learn here, so why come here to suffer? It feels totally not worth it.”
Xu Sanduo chimed in, “I really want to go home; I really want to go back to Seventh Company.”
Tuo Yonggang, who already had strong “homesickness,” saw that Cheng Cai and Xu Sanduo empathized, immediately solidifying his belief that he came to the wrong place.
He had almost no attachment to A Detachment; all the beautiful expectations before coming were thrown to the back of his mind.
On the day they returned from the fifty-kilometer forced march, training showed no relaxation at all; it was still the same high-pressure physical training every day as always.
Morning practice, noon practice, afternoon practice, evening practice.
They were just short of practicing while sleeping!
Under this endless physical training, the cadets’ bodies were always in a state of high fatigue, and their mental states remained constantly tense.
Their brains had no room to think of anything else, and their bodies only wanted sleep for recovery.
This training rhythm continued for a week, just as the cadets were all dazed by the physical demands and about to collapse.
Things finally took a turn.
Qi Huan announced that starting next Monday, live-fire shooting would begin.
Tuo Yonggang, who had been dejected, perked up at the news, jumping up from the ground, even thinking he misheard.
After confirming from Wu Zhe that he didn’t mishear, Tuo Yonggang excitedly announced publicly.
“Tomorrow, I’ll use bullets to tell them what true firearm all-rounder is, let this group of dead old A see that the military has more than just old A.”
Where there’s danger, jump there.
That’s a paratrooper!
As one of the most dangerous branches of service, paratroopers need to master a vast array of technology and skills, with firearms mastery being particularly complex.
Tuo Yonggang could use eleven weapons, and all his weapon assessments were close to full marks.
So, Tuo Yonggang was most confident in his firearm shooting ability, besides parachuting, believing even old A weren’t as good as him.
After being abused in A Detachment for a week, cursed at like dogs.
Tuo Yonggang had enough.
He wanted to use firearm shooting to fight a splendid comeback battle.
Xu Sanduo saw Tuo Yonggang boasting so boldly and originally wanted to mention that Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi, who came with him, also had great marksmanship.
They had won awards in the division-level grand competition, definitely no worse than Tuo Yonggang’s marksmanship.
But Cheng Cai spotted it in advance, promptly grabbing his arm and giving him a few looks, preventing Xu Sanduo from revealing their hand.
Tuo Yonggang truly thought his marksmanship was invincible, absolutely the best among the cadets.
Tomorrow’s live-fire shooting would surely shock everyone.
Time to show off properly!
With this excited and exhilarated mood, Tuo Yonggang was exceptionally hyped that night.
If not for the physical training being so draining, with his body in extreme fatigue and too tired to stay awake, he probably would have been too excited to sleep.
Training camp day eight.
Around five in the morning.
Still about an hour before full daylight, the sky just a hazy grayish dawn, all cadets were brought to the shooting range.
They organized into formation, divided into four columns, each with eleven competitors.
The shooting rules were simple.
Magazines were preloaded with live rounds; cadets needed to fire all bullets within one minute, then scored based on shooting results.
By coincidence.
Among the eleven competitors in the first column, there were exactly Xu Sanduo, Cheng Cai, Wu Liu Yi, Tuo Yonggang, and Wu Zhe.
“First column, ready, begin!”
Qi Huan gave the start order.
The eleven competitors in the first column sprinted forward, running about ten meters to the shooting position, uncovering the oilcloth on top; what was underneath made them all frown collectively.
“Damn, why is it disassembled?”
Wu Zhe saw the completely disassembled rifle, his mind buzzing instantly.
With only one minute for shooting, running ten meters took two seconds; reassembling the parts, getting prone in shooting stance—even at top speed—would take over ten seconds.
Leaving only about forty seconds for aiming and shooting.
Wu Zhe could feel from grabbing the magazine that it was full of bullets; even if not, definitely over twenty rounds.
Firing twenty to thirty bullets in thirty-odd seconds, while ensuring hit rate.
In this field of vision environment, the difficulty was way too high.
No wonder Wu Zhe cursed!
The other cadets felt the same as Wu Zhe; seeing parts scattered on the ground made their scalps tingle, with unprecedented pressure.
And the previously fully confident Tuo Yonggang was cursing inwardly even more.
The only calm ones were the Three Musketeers.
Steel Seventh Company’s shooting was taught hands-on by Chen Jun; A Detachment’s tricks, Chen Jun had played them to death long ago; the warriors he cultivated were all elites in shooting, knowing tons of shooting routines and skills.
Especially Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi as direct disciples, having received some of Chen Jun’s true teachings.
Their strength was top among the top!
Even Xu Sanduo, who awakened relatively late and joined Steel Seventh Company half a year later, improved his shooting technology very quickly in subsequent training.
Thus, even with poor visibility and needing to reassemble the gun to shoot.
They could still stay calm!
Entering position without a word of complaint, immediately diving into weapon reassembly at max speed, finishing the Type 81 Rifle in just over ten seconds.
（PS: Original drama all Type 95; in reality, at that time besides A Detachment, other troops hadn’t re-equipped yet, still using Type 81 Rifles; impossible to assemble a gun never used before.
So adjusted per actual situation: weapons used by cadets during training camp aren’t Type 95, still the traditional Type 81 Rifle.）
Wu Liu Yi finished assembling the firearm first, after all, the top under Chen Jun in Steel Seventh Company.
Cheng Cai and Xu Sanduo second and third.
Conversely, Tuo Yonggang, who yesterday claimed firearm all-rounder proficient in eleven weapons, due to poor visibility couldn’t see clearly, plus mindset hit by the pile of parts, had his personal state plummet dramatically.
Even a simple daily firearm assembly took him nearly twenty seconds.
And when he finally assembled the gun, got prone to shoot, he found the target 150 meters away blurry and unclear.
Even with Air Force 0 vision, he could barely see a small white dot.
The small white dot was the ten-ring bullseye; he could only aim at it.
But when he pulled the trigger for the first shot, Tuo Yonggang discovered an even bigger problem, making him furious all over.
From the dust kicked up behind the target, Tuo Yonggang saw that the bullet he clearly aimed at landed at least a meter above the target.
Meaning the bullet he just fired had veered way off to his grandma’s house.
With the bullet deviating that much, only one possibility.
These guns weren’t zeroed!
Using a completely unzeroed gun to shoot targets in this pre-dawn hazy visibility, with only pitiful thirty-odd seconds.
Who the hell could hit them all???
Tuo Yonggang’s forehead veins bulged with rage; he could only forcibly suppress the surging anger, shooting while trying to correct the trajectory.
Wu Zhe’s side was similar; his bullets were flying all over.
The other competitors’ situations were basically bullets hitting by chance; in this harsh environment, desperately seeking trajectory zeroing.
Among them, quickest to zero were Wu Liu Yi and Cheng Cai.
They both received Chen Jun’s true teachings on quick weapon zeroing and increasing hit rate in disadvantaged environments.
Xu Sanduo was like the other competitors, just guessing and firing blindly.
However, even Wu Liu Yi, fastest at assembly, couldn’t fire all bullets in the gun; he ran out of time after less than half.
“Stop!!”
With Qi Huan’s order, everyone had to cease firing.
Cadets who couldn’t immediately stop their trigger fingers suffered punishment, all deducted two points.
Then came reporting targets…
“Target one three shots, target number two two shots, target three ten shots, target four four shots, target five one shot, target six nine shots, target seven two shots, target eight three shots, target nine two shots, target ten seven shots, target eleven two shots, done.”
Target reporting ended over the walkie-talkie; the entire shooting range fell silent.
Everyone’s faces looked awful.
Only Chen Jun, standing alone at the rear of the shooting range, hearing this terrible result, had his mouth curve up, inwardly delighted.
“As expected, similar to the original drama; Tuo Yonggang only hit three shots; following this development, I’ll soon have another great general, haha.”
Chen Jun murmured smilingly to himself, his gaze toward the shooting range eager.
“Shameful; you have the nerve to call yourselves Soldier Kings?”
Yuan Lang’s bone-chilling sarcasm broke the shooting range’s silence.
Then he unleashed: “Twenty-five bullets per person, eleven people total 275 rounds, yet only 45 on target.
Hit rate a mere 17%; this shooting range has never seen such poor results, never; absolutely disgraceful, whole group deduct five points.”
Actually, excluding hits by Wu Liu Yi, Cheng Cai, and Xu Sanduo, just the other eight’s hit rate was even worse.
A pitiful single-digit percentage!
But every cadet present had impressive backgrounds; they were outstanding performers in their instructor teams, with target scores basically full marks.
This 17% hit rate was unacceptable to them.
Especially Yuan Lang’s loud sarcasm, piercing to every cadet’s ears.
Already full of grievances, how could the cadets endure this humiliation? Even with great fear of Yuan Lang, it all erupted at this moment.
“Report!”
One cadet reported first.
“Speak.”
Yuan Lang gave them a chance, to push to the extreme.
“Guns completely disassembled, poor visibility, severely insufficient prep time; we had no time to shoot.” The cadet protested.
“Unilaterally emphasizing objective reasons, deduct two points.” Yuan Lang shot back sternly.
“Report.”
Wu Zhe, a second late, wasn’t intimidated by Yuan Lang and voiced his discontent.
“Number 39, so much nonsense, speak.” After sarcasm, Yuan Lang still allowed Wu Zhe.
“Guns’ sights not pre-zeroed; how long to zero a gun? Is one minute enough?” Wu Zhe chose to question.
“Questioning instructor with interrogative tone, deduct two points.”
Yuan Lang deducted first, then mocked: “Can’t shoot without sights? On the battlefield, no telescopic sight means surrender?”
“Report!”
Before Wu Zhe could retort, Tuo Yonggang impatiently interrupted.
“27, speak.” Yuan Lang said.
“I request to withdraw!!”
Tuo Yonggang picked no nit, but his words maxed impact; five short words stunned the whole audience.
Dozens of gazes turned sharply, unable to believe someone so bold.
But Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi’s eyes lit up upon hearing.
They knew the opportunity had come!
If they handled this wave well, Seventh Company had a chance to gain an excellent officer.
Yuan Lang had anticipated cadets buckling under, voluntarily quitting from hardship, or exiting training camp due to injury.
But never thought just one week in, a cadet would voluntarily announce withdrawal.
So he was stunned for nearly five seconds to process this sudden situation.
Responding directly: “Sure, everyone has the right to forfeit; if you can’t take the hardship, leave early, don’t waste everyone’s time.”
“Not forfeit, it’s withdrawal, it’s protest.”
Tuo Yonggang corrected Yuan Lang, glaring angrily as he questioned: “In this visibility, with these guns, who can complete the shooting mission?
I’ve never known what giving up means, nor can I give up a right I’ve never had.
Making us do impossible things is just to show your sense of superiority, satisfy your pervert’s sense of superiority.”
Yuan Lang had hard-countered Tuo Yonggang earlier to provoke retreat via reverse psychology.
But Tuo Yonggang was determined; Yuan Lang dropped his smile, face cold as he strode to Tuo Yonggang.
Grinding teeth icily: “Now I’ll give you two choices again.
First, fall back in line; second, I’ll find someone—if he can do what you think impossible, you get out immediately.”
“Squad Deputy, Squad Leader.”
Xu Sanduo’s overflowing kindness couldn’t stand it, wanting to play good guy, but too far, could only softly call those near Tuo Yonggang.
Cheng Cai was right of Tuo Yonggang, perfectly between Xu Sanduo and him.
Wu Liu Yi second left of Tuo Yonggang, Wu Zhe between them.
But Cheng Cai and Wu Liu Yi, with their mission, hoped Tuo Yonggang eliminated ASAP, completely ignoring Xu Sanduo, pretending not to hear.
The only other chance, Wu Zhe, was also furious.
He was the first to confront Yuan Lang hard; how could he advise Tuo Yonggang.
Moreover, Wu Zhe thought like Tuo Yonggang, disbelieving anyone could achieve excellent scores in these conditions.
He wanted to seize this chance to slap Yuan Lang’s face hard.
And Tuo Yonggang was confident in his marksmanship, still firmly believing even if someone better, not by much in these conditions.
Thus, facing Yuan Lang’s two paths, Tuo Yonggang added a demand: “I’ll pick you, just you.
If you can shoot with this gun in my hands, hit your so-called qualified score in one minute, I’ll forfeit as you say.
Otherwise, I withdraw, and I’ll declare to headquarters I quit due to disgust for crooked winds and perversions.
But that ain’t giving up~~”
Tuo Yonggang clenched teeth viciously, dragging the last word.
Yuan Lang’s jaw muscles twitched like piano wires, proving he was truly angry now, bottom line touched by Tuo Yonggang.
No more nonsense, expressionless: “Disassemble your gun.”
As Yuan Lang accepted Tuo Yonggang’s challenge, the entire shooting range atmosphere tensed to high pressure, quiet enough to hear breathing.
Tuo Yonggang yanked off his hat, smashing it to the ground, turned and squatted to quickly disassemble the gun.
Then stood, stepped aside, glaring at Yuan Lang.
Qi Huan went over without order, swapped to a freshly loaded 25-round magazine, restoring the shooting position to original.
The ensuing scene could only be described as delightful to watch.
Yuan Lang and Chen Jun were the same type, absolute gun sense experts.
Such experts’ understanding of guns surpassed normal cognition, reaching an incomprehensible realm.
Zeroing the gun was irrelevant to him.
With his weapon knowledge and body sensitivity.
Yuan Lang just needed to glance, or touch the front sight and rear aperture, to know the sights’ deviation.
Then in his mind calibrate, automatically perfect match when shooting.
“Current visibility better than before; I won’t take advantage.”
Yuan Lang walked to the position, turned one hundred and eighty degrees.
Squatted facing backward!
“Click click click…”
Reverse blind assembly extremely difficult, yet Yuan Lang’s movements flowed smoothly.
Seamlessly completed the Type 81 Rifle assembly.
Then in under twenty seconds, amid all cadets’ incredulous shocked gazes, fired all twenty-five bullets.
Yuan Lang finished, stood in triumph; total time under thirty seconds.
Finished in less than half the time????
Collective dumbfounded!
And when the range scorer clearly announced over walkie-talkie all twenty-five on target, the scene fell ghost-quiet again.
Cadets’ looks at Yuan Lang like they’d seen a ghost.
Even Wu Liu Yi, Cheng Cai, and Xu Sanduo were stunned by Yuan Lang’s godlike miracle, disbelieving a second person existed.
In their cognition, only Chen Jun could shoot that fast.
Now add Yuan Lang!!
After a full dozen seconds stunned, Tuo Yonggang’s last shred of unwillingness struggled, making him roar his final words: “I don’t believe it; must be fake.”
Yuan Lang didn’t explain, just shouted: “Bring the target over.”
Half a minute later.
An old A carried the target over, planting it before Tuo Yonggang.
Tuo Yonggang saw the target dense with holes, proving Yuan Lang’s twenty-five not only all on target, but most in the ten-ring bullseye.
What marksmanship? Too pervert!
Tuo Yonggang completely convinced.
Nothing to say.
“I… I forfeit~~”
Laboriously saying those three words, Tuo Yonggang felt too ashamed to stay, dragging leaden legs step by step out of the shooting range.
All cadets snapped from shock, their spirits utterly crushed by Yuan Lang.
Strength too overwhelming, total crush.
No one said a word; all just watched Tuo Yonggang step away until vanishing from the shooting range.
No one noticed.
Today’s first to leave the shooting range wasn’t actually Tuo Yonggang.
As early as Yuan Lang’s godlike performance, Chen Jun knew the outcome, quietly slipped away first toward Pumpkin Building.
Now Yuan Lang finished showing off; next, Chen Jun’s turn to perform.
Perform how to sweet-talk talent!
