Chapter 151: Preparing For Parachute Jump
“Jump!”
With Ma Da’s loud shout, Chang Ning leaped down from the two-meter platform. As his combat boots touched the ground, Chang Ning rolled forward to dissipate the force.
Even so, the reaction force still shook his calves, causing a burst of soreness.
Immediately after, Chang Ning quickly moved aside, and Geng Jihui curled up his body, leaping down from the simple platform.
His body slammed onto the ground, and his face twisted in a grimace of pain.
Xiao Zhuang stood on the simulated platform expressionless, gritted his teeth, and leaped down.
Don’t let his calm and effortless appearance throughout the process fool you; he was actually very nervous inside.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t handle this level of impact, but the high-intensity ground training over the past few days had already caused everyone’s calves to swell.
“Three Swellings Three Dissipations, then up to the Blue Sky.”
This described the new recruit training process for the paratrooper military unit.
From the discovery that Chang Ning had acrophobia until he overcame his psychological barriers and joined the others in accepting parachute training, B Group had already conducted three days of high-intensity ground simulated parachute jump training on the parachute training ground.
Strictly speaking, it was the six people other than Ostrich who were undergoing paratrooper training.
Ostrich came from the Eagle Division, the ace paratrooper military unit of the Southeast Military Region, so he had naturally mastered impressive parachute jump skills long ago.
Chang Ning and the others underwent over 10 hours of specialized training each day, including simulated exit from aircraft, airborne posture, simulated landing, emergency situation handling, packing parachutes, and more. The monotonous training had worn down the six of them completely.
Without comparison, there’s no harm. Whenever their legs ached unbearably, seeing Ostrich watching from the side killed their anger instantly, so they all flashed the international gesture at Ostrich to express contempt for his slacking.
“Bastard! Who told you to sit on the ground like that? Get up and slow march!”
Qiang Zi had just sat on the ground rubbing his sore calves when Ma Da unleashed a torrent of scolding on him.
Seeing Qiang Zi’s miserable situation, Chang Ning quickly stood up from the ground and began slow marching around the training ground, afraid that if he was slow, Ma Da would spot him and he would suffer the same fate as Qiang Zi.
“Rumble~”
The roar of a helicopter came from the sky, and Chang Ning looked toward the direction of the sound.
He saw a small black dot in the sky heading straight for the parachute training ground. Gradually, its sound grew louder, and its outline became increasingly clear.
“Rookies, your paratrooper life officially begins today!”
Ma Da shouted loudly to the B Group members against the wind and noise from the helicopter.
“Are you crazy? We’ve only trained for three days! Sending us up now, are you planning to kill us all by smashing us down?”
Hearing Ma Da announce the next training plan, even the usually good-tempered Chang Ning couldn’t help but yell excitedly at Ma Da.
Ostrich, as the only professional in B Group, also started to look uneasy.
“Heh. I told you long ago, they’re just a bunch of lunatics!” Xiao Zhuang said with an angry laugh.
“Three Swellings Three Dissipations, then up to the Blue Sky.”
Ostrich had repeated this endlessly in their ears over these three days, but the swelling on their legs hadn’t even subsided from the first round!
In Chang Ning’s estimation, they needed at least another week of ground training before they could barely board the airplane for the actual jump phase.
Facing everyone’s doubts, Ma Da remained unmoved: “It’s not that exaggerated. You’ve already firmly memorized the action essentials over these three days. As Ostrich said, parachute jumping isn’t that scary; a few more jumps and you’ll be proficient.
As long as you control your body in the air just like in training, no dangerous situations will arise.”
While they were talking, the helicopter drew closer. They stared as it hovered over the training ground and slowly descended.
After landing, everyone could see that the pilot was Flying Wolf.
Chang Ning gave Ma Da a deep look, then turned and walked toward the dormitory.
“Chang Ning, where are you going?”
Seeing Chang Ning turn and walk away without a word, unsure of what he was doing, Lao Pao stepped forward and grabbed him tightly.
“What else can I do? Of course, go back to pack the parachute packs and put on equipment.” Chang Ning’s expression was calm, showing no sign of anger.
“Chang Ning, we’ve only trained for three days; going up now is too dangerous!”
Seeing that Chang Ning didn’t seem to be joking, Xiao Zhuang panicked. He couldn’t watch his good brother gamble with his life.
Qiang Zi stared at the helicopter with its engines still running and swallowed hard.
None of the participants in the parachute training were mentally prepared for jumping; they’d only trained for three days!
Anyone facing this situation wouldn’t stay calm.
Chang Ning didn’t explain further and just headed to the dormitory, where their parachute packs were stored.
As always, whenever the instructors made a decision, these rookies had no way to make the instructors retract it.
Rather than stalemating like this, it was better to go back and check the parachute packs, preparing for the first parachute jump.
Chang Ning was betting that the entire A Group wouldn’t risk sending them into a military court by letting anything happen to them.
Actually, the most nervous now weren’t B Group but A Group’s instructors, since it wasn’t them jumping and the risks were uncontrollable.
Besides, if it was really as Ma Da said—that as long as the actions in the air didn’t go wrong, there’d be no life-threatening danger—Chang Ning still had a bit of confidence in himself.
He had all the actions memorized in his mind; if the parachute didn’t malfunction, the worst was breaking a leg.
No fear!
The others looked at the departing Chang Ning, exchanging glances unsure of what to do, while Ma Da stood with arms crossed, not urging them.
Both sides stalemated like this, until finally Geng Jihui and Ostrich took the lead in catching up to Chang Ning.
Ostrich’s skills were excellent; he had nothing to worry about. The reason he stalemated with Ma Da was to stand with his teammates.
Only after Xiao Zhuang was pulled away by Lao Pao did Ma Da breathe a sigh of relief.
Earlier, he had been afraid the rookies would resist him to the end.
“To be honest, if they really went against us, we wouldn’t have any good countermeasures now; they’re no longer little rookies.”
Ma Da said to Flying Wolf, who had stepped down from the cockpit.
“So this time you should thank Chang Ning. If he hadn’t taken the lead in walking, I think this bunch would really have confronted you head-on.”
Seeing Ma Da’s predicament, Flying Wolf felt some schadenfreude.
Back then, Gao Zhong Dui wanted to assign this job to him, but luckily he dodged it; otherwise, today’s protagonist would be him, Gao Sheng Han.
“You have the nerve to say that? I took on this thankless job for you. Later, if you don’t treat me to a good meal, watch out!”
Ma Da said to Flying Wolf with a smile.
“Fine, to the guesthouse; order whatever you want.” Flying Wolf knew he couldn’t escape and said generously.
“Why go to the barracks guesthouse? I’ve been craving roast whole lamb lately; arrange it.”
Good grief, upon hearing Ma Da wanted roast whole lamb, Flying Wolf’s expression turned unnatural.
One roast whole lamb cost several thousand!
