Chapter 6: Thrilling Psychological Battle
Day 5!
Chen Jun was as regular as the previous days. His 5 a.m. biological clock rang in his mind, waking him up on time. He left the dormitory and headed to the parade ground for training.
Passing by the washbasin, he splashed some water on his face and took a couple of sips to moisten his stomach.
The comprehensive base where Steel Seventh Company was located was in the wilderness with no water plant at all. The water they used was all pumped from underground wells.
With no pollution, it was fine to drink directly.
With the paving of the previous four days of training, Chen Jun’s condition on the fifth day was getting better and better. His legs were getting stronger, noticeably thicker than before.
They had reached a robust state, no longer chopsticks.
The needle-like soreness of the first day had long become a thing of the past.
To continue increasing the difficulty for himself, Chen Jun started fast running as soon as he got to the parade ground, setting the pace to four minutes, circling the parade ground.
The goal was to complete the enhanced version of the two training items before 7 a.m. breakfast—
10 kilometers of fast run as warm-up, followed by 5 kilometers of Fartlek intensified training.
Chen Jun thought today would be the same as before: running alone from dawn to sunrise, then going alone to the canteen for assembly and breakfast.
Unexpectedly, after he ran just one lap on the parade ground, a burly figure also arrived at the parade ground.
Chen Jun looked closely and saw it was Wu Liu Yi.
Wu Liu Yi, at 8 meters tall and weighing over 150 jin, was even 10 jin heavier than Chen Jun, who was 89 meters tall.
This showed how good Wu Liu Yi’s physical fitness was and how skinny Chen Jun’s body was.
Fortunately, Chen Jun was very smart.
He knew clearly where his weaknesses were and specifically chose the light gear 5 kilometers as the competition project to weaken Wu Liu Yi’s advantage as much as possible.
Otherwise, if it were full gear cross-country, Chen Jun couldn’t beat Wu Liu Yi even after training for another month.
Load running and unarmed running were completely different concepts. The former required a strong body for support. Chen Jun could improve his running speed in a week, but he couldn’t make himself robust in a week.
Muscle accumulation took time, and muscle lactate resistance took even more time.
“Wu Liu Yi has actually started training. Looks like I, the baggage of Seventh Company, have finally made the expert Wu Liu Yi feel threatened.”
Making an expert train due to pressure gave Chen Jun a sense of achievement.
He deliberately slowed down a bit, then greeted Wu Liu Yi proactively when he ran closer: “Yo, Wu Liu Yi, so you’re also doing morning runs? You should’ve said earlier; I would’ve waited for you.”
“I was woken up by someone getting out of bed, couldn’t sleep, so I came out for a casual run.” Wu Liu Yi was stubborn like a dead duck.
Clearly, it was because he felt the pressure and was training early to find his condition and feel, to avoid capsizing in the gutter on competition day.
“I can’t compare to you. I have to put in effort, or I can’t be left too far behind by you then.”
Chen Jun smiled without pointing it out. Mocking sarcastically might feel good for a moment, but it was all harm and no benefit to him. His goal was to integrate into the collective with effort, not to go to great lengths just to show off.
With that said, he resumed the four-minute pace rhythm.
Wu Liu Yi said nothing more and began to accelerate, surpassing Chen Jun.
When passing him, he deliberately glanced at Chen Jun.
With a hint of provocation!
“Kid, you think these beginner tricks can probe my bottom?”
Chen Jun, the old fox who had been a soldier for several lifetimes, saw through at a glance that Wu Liu Yi wanted to provoke him into matching his speed to figure out his limit. He didn’t buy it.
Pretending not to see Wu Liu Yi’s look, he kept running at four-minute pace, neither fast nor slow.
“So calm and composed?”
Wu Liu Yi was unwilling and gritted his teeth for another plan.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated.
To figure out how much progress and improvement Chen Jun had made in his crazy training over the past few days and whether he posed a threat.
Wu Liu Yi unleashed his full strength and started sprinting across the parade ground.
The sprint-like speed was really fast.
In less than two laps, Wu Liu Yi led Chen Jun by half a lap and came behind him again, still closing in quickly.
Once Wu Liu Yi caught up and overtook Chen Jun, he would achieve a very humiliating feat—
Lapping!
Being overtaken was one thing, but being caught up and about to be lapped was unbearable for most people; they would go all out to avoid the humiliation.
And Chen Jun’s reputation in the company was that he was notoriously face-conscious.
Wu Liu Yi wanted to use this goading method to force Chen Jun to show his true strength, thus probing during the chase.
Unfortunately.
In front of veteran soldier Chen Jun, Wu Liu Yi’s psychology play was still a bit green.
“This Wu Liu Yi is stubborn as a mule, but his brain is pretty sharp, even using psychology. Unfortunately, not only do I not buy it, I can even turn the enemy’s plan to one’s own advantage.”
Chen Jun’s mouth curved up in an old fox’s sly smile. He deliberately disrupted his breathing rhythm.
By consciously controlling it, he reduced his oxygen intake, accelerating stamina consumption and making his condition plummet sharply.
Then he put on an anxious expression, turned his head to glance at Wu Liu Yi, and then began to accelerate.
The whole performance was seamless, at least movie emperor level.
Seeing Chen Jun accelerate, Wu Liu Yi knew it was working. He further increased his speed, maximizing the pressure to force Chen Jun to go all out.
Chen Jun cooperated perfectly by constantly accelerating, even pushing the pace under three minutes at one point.
This was national first-class athlete level!
Chen Jun had deliberately disrupted his breathing earlier. Under this mindless sustained sprint, in less than a kilometer, his stamina was exhausted, and he showed severe physical exhaustion.
His face wasn’t the normal flushed sweatiness but a sickly pale and dry with dazed eyes.
If he continued forcing it in this state, vomiting would soon follow as a physiological reaction, then worsening to collapse and fainting.
Chen Jun’s body showing this sickly state showed how outstanding his acting skills were—even fooling his own body.
As the top in the whole regiment for light gear 5 kilometers, with his best time under 17 minutes, Wu Liu Yi knew running states very well.
Seeing Chen Jun’s pale face and floating steps, he knew Chen Jun had reached his limit.
“Has Chen Jun improved so fast? Five days to sustain a kilometer sprint. Give him half a month, and excellent 5 kilometers isn’t impossible. But with only two days left until the competition, this result is far from enough compared to mine.”
Wu Liu Yi analyzed in his mind, marveling at Chen Jun’s fast training progress while believing he had probed Chen Jun’s bottom.
Light gear 5 kilometers excellent was just under 18 minutes, while Wu Liu Yi’s best was just over 16 minutes.
They weren’t in the same league.
The faster the speed, the harder the improvement. From 18 to 16 minutes wasn’t just two minutes; it was from difficult to nightmare-level gap.
Even a talented genius couldn’t bridge it in two days.
With that thought…
The inexplicable pressure Wu Liu Yi had felt was completely released after this covert probing contest, confident that victory would ultimately belong to him.
