Chapter 72: Gao Cheng Goes All Out!!
The Martial Arts Special Training Team’s list was officially released, and the full-time special training began unfolding on the second day.
Full-time means that although they live together, their daily training and life are completely separate, with no connection whatsoever between them.
Even when going to the public canteen to eat, the Martial Arts Special Training Team does not eat with the company.
It’s equivalent to splitting into two companies.
Chen Jun, as the captain of the Martial Arts Special Training Team, needs to take full charge of all the team’s work and can no longer manage the company’s training.
So the First Platoon Leader position, which he hadn’t even warmed up to, could only be temporarily handed over to someone else.
Shi Jin happened not to be selected for the Martial Arts Special Training Team. With his ability and seniority, he was fully capable of managing a platoon, and Chen Jun took this opportunity to help Shi Jin “gain achievements.”
It was killing two birds with one stone.
So he specifically proposed to Company Commander Gao Cheng to let Shi Jin serve as acting First Platoon Leader for half a year.
Gao Cheng was very familiar with the troops’ mechanisms and had always been thinking of various methods to retain Shi Jin. Upon hearing Chen Jun’s suggestion, he immediately got it.
Serving as acting platoon leader in charge of company work was a very glorious achievement for a backbone squad leader.
Gao Cheng understood and praised the suggestion endlessly, greatly commending Chen Jun for his quick thinking, then promptly organized the entire company for assembly and announced this arrangement.
Shi Jin was very surprised by his “promotion,” and at the same time, he was extremely happy inside.
After all, acting platoon leader in the new recruit company as a non-commissioned officer wasn’t anything rare, but acting platoon leader in a regular company was a completely different concept.
For the company’s chief officer to make such an arrangement meant absolute trust in the non-commissioned officer squad leader.
To live up to Gao Cheng’s trust, the not-so-good-with-words Shi Jin could only express it through action, secretly vowing to lead the First Platoon well.
He diligently followed the training syllabus, training the First Platoon into the shape Chen Jun wanted.
Completely detached from the company, Chen Jun put all his energy into the Martial Arts Special Training Team, unreservedly bringing out all the experience and technology from his decades-long military career, and began a “sweeping overhaul” of the special training team members.
The seventeen elite soldiers who joined the special training thought that detaching from the company for special training would be freer and easier, little knowing it became their lifelong unforgettable nightmare.
And he gave this four-month period a very terrifying name—
“Hell Furnace”!
It was tantamount to throwing all seventeen special training team members into the furnace for high-pressure tempering, undergoing a complete transformation in all aspects amid the suffering.
It was precisely this refining process from scrap iron to refined steel that terrified the special training team members when they recalled it, but terrifying as it was, not one regretted it afterward.
They even cherished this experience immensely and would boast about it to others whenever they met.
Because in these four months, they learned real skills from Captain Chen Jun’s hands, benefiting them endlessly in their future military careers.
And the reason the four months of martial arts special training time made the team members both love and hate it.
Was that Chen Jun used special operations’ high standards, conducting high-pressure intensive training targeted at every martial arts project, and customizing training volume for every team member.
He checked the team members’ situations every day; once they adapted to this stage’s training, it would be intensified the next day.
This put every team member in an endless cycle of constant improvement and breakthroughs, always in a high-pressure environment, maximizing training effects.
To prevent the team members’ bodies from breaking down due to inability to keep up with nutrition and collapsing.
Chen Jun specifically teamed up with Gao Cheng to figure out a method, adding funding to the Martial Arts Special Training Team so that team members could massively supplement high-protein food, with various vitamins always keeping up.
Even facing super-high-intensity training volume, they could maintain their bodies at a relatively healthy level.
And it was precisely this Martial Arts Special Training funding that made Chen Jun feel that all the efforts he put into setting the goal were totally worth it.
Because Gao Cheng, for the teammates’ nutrition, couldn’t arbitrarily divert the company’s funding, nor did he want to rely on connections and background to apply to superiors for funding to give Steel Seventh Company special privileges. In such an unoptimistic situation.
If this got out later, it would inevitably lead to gossip and behind-the-back contempt.
Gao Cheng cared most about face and couldn’t tolerate this the most.
Gao Cheng took out his salary card, using all the salary he had saved in the troops to subsidize the special training team for nutritional supplements.
And without batting an eye, he boldly told Chen Jun.
“Go ahead and buy hard, spend hard, don’t think about saving money for me. As long as you improve the results, even if it’s all spent, I’ll be happy. If it’s not enough, just tell me anytime, I’ll figure out another way. Worst case, I’ll throw away this old face.”
With Gao Cheng’s words, Chen Jun’s heart was truly moved.
What is a company’s chief officer?
This is it!
This is the true head of First Company, the head of the Steel Seventh Company family.
With Gao Cheng’s bold words released, to not betray Gao Cheng’s unconditional trust, Chen Jun secretly made a fierce vow.
This time, not only to take the regiment competition first place, but also to go all out for division first.
And when Chen Jun relayed Gao Cheng’s words to the eighteen team members of the special training team, the entire special training team’s morale instantly maxed out.
All team members were stimulated to redness in the face, howling that they wouldn’t return without first place.
Chicken blood was injected into every cell in their bodies; no mobilization was needed from Chen Jun for the subsequent training—everyone went at it howling every day.
And they took the slogan shouted by Chen Jun as everyone’s motto.
This slogan was—
As long as it won’t kill you in training, train to the death.
In this atmosphere of unity from top to bottom, working together toward one goal, vowing to bravely seize first place, fearless of death or hardship, utterly mad.
The four months passed quickly, arriving at the last week before mid-year competition day.
After four months of hell training, the eighteen team members who trained giving their all had completely changed from head to toe.
They all got darker.
And all got stronger!
Their skin was worn off in three layers; the eighteen team members who had thoroughly transformed stood neatly there like sharp swords—
Intimidatingly sharp, unstoppable.
Gao Cheng, as company commander, personally came to assess the achievements and was very satisfied with the eighteen team members’ condition, also highly recognizing their training results.
He really wanted to send all eighteen team members to participate in the competition.
Because they had the qualifications.
But the grand competition’s rules were set: each company could only send ten people, plus one team leader cadre and one logistics personnel.
Not even one more; violations would disqualify them from the competition.
Gao Cheng could only, after praising everyone, issue a cruel order—
Eliminate eight more from the eighteen team members, retaining only the final ten that fit the rules to form the martial arts team to head to the regiment and compete with the heroes.
