Chapter 69: Targeted
The dormitory was very spacious; actually, calling it a dormitory was less fitting than calling it a warehouse.
It was clearly a rundown military unit warehouse that had been converted, with dozens of bunk iron beds placed in the dormitory.
The soaked rookies were led into the dormitory by the special forces soldiers. Ma Da held a loudspeaker and shouted loudly, his echo filling the warehouse.
“This is your dormitory. From today until the end of training camp, you’ll live here!
Your respective names are posted on the beds; go find yours. Note that we are soldiers; this is a barracks dormitory, so you can’t forget the basics. Housekeeping will be checked every day!
Since you claim to be some bullshit king of soldiers, I don’t need to remind you how to do housekeeping, right?
Everyone, go tidy up your own bedding. Get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow for training.”
After Ma Da finished speaking, he turned to leave.
“Report!”
Ma Da turned back and saw it was Qiang Zi. He asked, “Something wrong?”
The rookies were soaked through, and the temperature in the mountains wasn’t like at the barracks. Now Qiang Zi felt himself starting to shiver all over. He said to Gray Wolf, “Gray Wolf, is there hot water?”
Ma Da heard the rookie’s fanciful remark and sneered coldly. At this point, he still hadn’t recognized reality—what did he think selection training camp was? A free excursion?
“Should I prepare tea for you too? There’s a faucet in the corner.”
Qiang Zi wouldn’t give up: “Then… what about the toilet?”
Ma Da pushed Qiang Zi to the entrance and pointed to the pitch-black wilderness: “See that?”
Qiang Zi looked in the direction Gray Wolf was pointing—nothing but wasteland: “What?”
“What do you see?”
“Wasteland…”
“Yeah, vast heaven and earth offer great potential. Solve it yourself.”
After Gray Wolf finished speaking, he left, slamming the big iron door shut with a clang.
The rookies stared at the closed iron door, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Chang Ning knew a bit about the selection training camp situation, so he didn’t waste words with Gray Wolf like Qiang Zi did.
Chang Ning found his spot and quickly tidied up his bedding, took off all his wet clothes, and was already lying in bed.
“Brothers, since we’ve come here, don’t expect any good conditions. Having a place to sleep is already good.
Hurry and tidy up your things and sleep. Today was just a show of force; the harder parts are ahead.
I reckon later on, even sleeping will be a luxury. These old birds will definitely find ways to mess with us.”
“Hey, Chang Ning, don’t sleep yet. Looks like you know something—tell us about it.”
Deng Zhenhua heard Chang Ning’s words and leaned over the bedside, wanting Chang Ning to analyze it for him.
Though he hadn’t known Chang Ning long, through observation he found Chang Ning was definitely not simple.
First of all, Chang Ning was eerily calm.
No matter how vicious the old birds’ words were, he never saw any change in Chang Ning’s expression.
From start to finish, he maintained a blank face, and Chang Ning’s physical fitness far exceeded everyone else present!
So Deng Zhenhua was even more determined in his idea of hugging thighs. Seeing Chang Ning seemed to know the inside story, he quickly went up to inquire.
“I don’t know anything; I’m just guessing.
We’re here for training camp, and Wolf Fang’s special forces soldiers will definitely use a strict selection mechanism to pick talent.
I don’t know what the selection mechanism is, but anyway, it won’t let us be comfortable.
So, all I can say is hurry and rest while you can.”
After speaking, Chang Ning closed his eyes, looking like he didn’t want to be disturbed while resting.
Seeing Chang Ning really didn’t want to talk, Deng Zhenhua could only grudgingly walk away rubbing his nose. Pestering him would only annoy people and go against his original intent of hugging thighs.
Actually, Ostrich had misunderstood Chang Ning; he really didn’t know the inside story. Granted, Chang Ning knew some original plot, but he had transmigrated himself—who knew what changes would happen.
Besides, the original plot didn’t detail some things; Chang Ning only knew the gist, and he couldn’t say those things. If what he said didn’t match reality, he’d just get complaints—not worth it.
Exhausted from the day, when Chang Ning wasn’t disturbed, he fell asleep extremely fast. Ostrich had just left when he was already asleep.
Let the early morning emergency assembly go to hell! Resting hard was the way.
Rushing out too fast would make Gao Zhong Dui suspicious and force them to redo it under tear gas—what was the point of suffering that? If they could do it once, why do it twice?
Chang Ning fell asleep too fast, missing the famous scene where the nickname Ostrich was born.
But it didn’t matter; it was just flavoring in the training anyway—like chicken ribs to Chang Ning, fine to have or not.
At 2 a.m., the exhausted rookies in the dormitory were snoring loudly. Gao Zhong Dui brought Gray Wolf and others right on time to the dormitory entrance and asked the sentry on guard duty: “How are the rookies?”
“They’ve already fallen asleep.”
Gao Zhong Dui nodded in satisfaction and said, “Begin.”
“Yes!”
The sentry grinned mischievously, unhooked the tear gas grenade from his chest, walked to the iron door, and carefully opened a gap big enough for the tear gas grenade.
“Click!”
The sentry and Gao Zhong Dui with his subordinates pulled the pins on over a dozen tear gas grenades and tossed them into the dormitory.
“Rat-tat-tat”
Gray Wolf Ma Da pulled the trigger at the sky, and the gunshots shattered the silence.
“Emergency assembly!”
The rookies jolted awake from their dreams. Tear gas grenades spun on the ground, spewing white smoke. The pungent smell of the gas took effect immediately, incredibly effective.
Choking from the tear gas with snot and tears, they fumbled in the dark to put on clothes. The rookies couldn’t even open their eyes; one glance and tears streamed down.
They dressed in panic and ran toward the door. Chang Ning was relatively rational among the rookies, though even he was made quite disheveled by the gas.
“Quick, there’s water in the corner—everyone wet your clothes and wrap them around your heads.”
Whether it worked or not, try it first.
Hearing the reminder, the rookies rushed to the sink and did as Chang Ning said.
Meanwhile, Chang Ning was already at the dormitory entrance. He didn’t bang on the iron door; he’d tried earlier and the dormitory door couldn’t be opened now.
Once everyone had wet clothes wrapped around their heads and felt a bit better, they surged toward the dormitory door, banging on the iron door and shouting for Gao Zhong Dui to let them out.
Gao Zhong Dui outside heard the shouting from the dormitory but remained unmoved. He knew the gas concentration inside, and he could gauge how long the rookies could hold out.
“That’s enough.”
Figuring it was about time, Gao Zhong Dui then had the sentry open the door.
Seeing the door open, the rookies coughed and rushed out of the warehouse in panic.
Gao Zhong Dui stood at the entrance, watching the rushing rookies. Not all were as neatly dressed as Chang Ning; some came out in just vests and shorts.
Ma Da and the other special forces soldiers mercilessly pushed them back into the dormitory: “Put on clothes! No clothes, no coming out!”
Seeing only Chang Ning was fully dressed, Gao Zhong Dui gave him a cold glance but said nothing.
Here, Chang Ning was even prepared to be told to redo it like Chen Guotao in the original plot, but Gao Zhong Dui didn’t follow the plot.
After a while of chaos, the rookies finally lined up outside the warehouse.
Gao Zhong Dui looked at the rookies coldly: “How was it? Rest well? I think you’ve all experienced Wolf Fang special forces’ hospitality. Now answer me—any regrets?”
The rookies: “Loyal to the motherland! Loyal to the people!”
“Good, you’ve all got guts.
I hope you still have the energy to shout slogans in the days ahead.
It’s 2 a.m. now. Because some of you performed so satisfactorily just now, I decide to have you do five hundred push-ups!”
At this point, Gao Zhong Dui specifically glanced at Chang Ning; clearly, the “some people” he mentioned referred to Chang Ning.
“Gray Wolf, from now on, if I see them comfortable for even 1 second, you’ll be uncomfortable for a month!”
“Yes! Everyone, target mud pit—double time!”
Once the rookies were in the mud pit, Gray Wolf shouted: “Five hundred push-ups—begin!”
The mud in the mud pit wasn’t deep, but as the rookies did push-ups, it was enough to give everyone a mud facial.
“Rookie, tell me—are you hungry?”
Gray Wolf walked up to Chang Ning, holding the loudspeaker, and said.
“Report! Not hungry!”
He had helped the medic share some field rations, plus what he’d eaten before, so Chang Ning really wasn’t hungry now.
“Good, rookie—you look spirited. I’ll add some pressure for you.”
Gray Wolf Ma Da sat cross-legged on Chang Ning’s back. Chang Ning hadn’t expected Gray Wolf to do this; he was directly pressed into the mud, a suffocating sensation hitting him instantly.
Covered in mud with Gray Wolf on his back, Chang Ning strained to push up: “Damn, Gray Wolf, how much do you weigh? Time to lose weight.”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Does all this tendon meat of mine need to lose weight?”
“You’re joking, right? Tendon meat? Why does your buttocks feel pretty soft?”
Doing push-ups with a man on his back made Chang Ning uncomfortable. Since he was uncomfortable, why should Gray Wolf sit there leisurely?
“Haha~”
The rookies burst out laughing at Chang Ning’s cheeky words; some even collapsed into the mud because of it.
Gray Wolf was so infuriated by Chang Ning that he stood up and stomped hard on Chang Ning’s back with one foot: “Good, you don’t look tired.
Then I’ll increase your burden—add one hundred push-ups!”
Now the rookies quieted down, but Chang Ning felt very wronged.
“Hey, Gray Wolf, can you stop always picking on me?”
“Heh, rookie—speed up!”
Having been teased by Chang Ning earlier, Gray Wolf wouldn’t let him off easily.
‘Fine, target me. If I can make you comfortable, I’ll take your name!’
“Gray Wolf, you said it.”
“Hm?”
While Gray Wolf was wondering what Chang Ning meant, a huge force hit under his foot. With his other foot still on Chang Ning, Gray Wolf instantly lost balance and fell into the mud pit.
Of course, Chang Ning didn’t have it easy either; Gray Wolf was too close, and the splashing mud hit him in the face when he fell.
“Gray Wolf, can’t blame me—this is what you told me to speed up on.”
Chang Ning deliberately put on a “I’m so wronged” look as he gazed at Gray Wolf Ma Da.
