Chapter 14: The 400-Meter Hurdles

At the divisional competition site, the contest was in full swing.

Not knowing where he would be assigned, Su Yang focused intently on the starter ahead, waiting for the whistle to blow.

“Are you ready?”

An experienced second-phase soldier held a stopwatch in one hand and brought a whistle to his lips, loudly asking.

“Ready!” Su Yang tensed his body and responded firmly.

“Set!” The veteran reset the stopwatch, raised his hand, and blew the whistle sharply: “Toot~~~”

Before the sound faded, Su Yang’s taut body shot forward like a drawn bowstring released with a swift snap.

In no time, Su Yang cleared the first short sprint, sharply turned to vault over the cross poles, then rolled down into the trench.

“Damn, that soldier is fast! Look at those moves—he must be an old hand disguised as a rookie!”

The officers and veterans gathered around the divisional headquarters couldn’t help but marvel.

As seasoned soldiers, they were used to the speed of the initial 100 meters—many ran it quickly, so that was nothing special.

What amazed them was how swiftly the rookie tackled the obstacles; even some old soldiers might not do better than this guy.

“Su Yang, keep it up!”

The cheers from the new recruits of the Merit Regiment rang in Su Yang’s ears, though he paid them no mind as he crawled through the dog hole and climbed onto the varying-height platforms.

The 400-meter obstacle course included triple and quintuple step poles, trenches, low walls, dog holes, varying-height platforms, high walls, low-pole barbed wire nets, and a single-plank bridge—over a dozen challenges in total.

For this competition, Su Yang had learned many techniques from a seasoned veteran and practiced relentlessly until they were second nature.

Though 400 meters didn’t seem far, Su Yang truly understood the old soldier’s saying passed down through generations:

Better to run five kilometers than 400 meters.

The reason was simple: after five kilometers, a short rest would have you bouncing back to life.

But after 400 meters, anyone would feel soreness all over for a full day.

Biting his lip, Su Yang surged out of the barbed wire with fierce movements and charged toward the next challenge.

This competition wasn’t a duel between a few individuals; he couldn’t gauge his speed by comparing with others. All he could do was give his utmost and rush forward as fast as possible!

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“Su Yang is way too fast! Isn’t he afraid he’ll run out of energy later?”

A rookie next to Xi Wa watched him dart through the barbed wire like a lightning-fast lizard, moving limbs in perfect coordination, and couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Yeah, if he keeps this up, his speed’s gonna plummet after a while!” another recruit said worriedly.

Though competitors, they were all from the same company, and Su Yang was their platoon’s pride. So several recruits fretted over his stamina holding out till the end.

“Don’t worry! Our platoon sergeant often secretly asks our squad leader for tips. He definitely has it under control,” Xi Wa said cheerfully, showing no concern for Su Yang.

As a comrade in the same squad, he had long admired Su Yang’s dedication and trusted him completely.

While everyone was chatting, Major Miao of the Night Tiger Reconnaissance Company and Chen Guotao hurried to the divisional headquarters and stood beside Captain Song of the rookie company.

“Old Song, how’s it looking? Are the new recruits from the Merit Regiment performing well?”

Hearing the voice, Captain Song turned to see Major Miao’s dark-skinned face, his expression immediately souring.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your recon company? Coming to divisional headquarters like this—be careful the regimental leaders don’t come inspect the company.”

Normally, a deputy company commander wouldn’t dare show attitude to a senior captain, but this old fellow was persistently eyeing the recruits Song had trained.

Major Miao paid no mind to Song’s tone, still smiling as he watched the swift figure overcoming obstacles on the field.

“Of course I have business at headquarters, but I just happened to drop by to check on some fine recruits.”

“I think you just wanted an excuse to come,” Song retorted sarcastically, then ignored him.

Xi Wa and the others felt awkward witnessing the tension but had to salute Major Miao and Chen Guotao according to military protocol.

“Greetings, commanders!”

Major Miao recognized the honest-looking Chen Xi Wa and greeted him: “Chen Xi Wa, I know you!”

Xi Wa was taken aback: “The commander knows me?”

“Of course! Your squad leader is one of my men. I’ve already heard about that guy on the field, you, and of course, the rookie who hit my soldier, Zhuang Yan.” Miao’s expression turned oddly as he spoke.

“Reporting, Commander, Little Zhuang didn’t mean it!” Xi Wa, initially excited, became flustered at the mention of Zhuang Yan and hurried to explain.

“Alright, Xi Wa, our company commander was just joking. Don’t take it seriously!” Chen Guotao, who liked Xi Wa, quickly came to his aid.

“Heh heh!” Xi Wa gratefully glanced at Chen Guotao.

After some brief chatter, Su Yang had already cleared the final obstacle and was giving his all toward the finish line.

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“Su Yang!” Xi Wa and the others hurried forward to catch the nearly exhausted Su Yang.

“One minute thirty-six point thirty-six seconds!”

The moment the results were announced, both veterans and rookies fell silent.

The rookies were stunned by how incredible this guy was.

The veterans were shocked.

“This is a rookie? Damn, that time would be top-notch even among veterans.”

The rookies didn’t know most veterans’ times, but the veterans certainly did.

According to training standards, two minutes and ten seconds was passing for the 400-meter obstacle; two minutes was good; finishing under one minute fifty seconds was excellent—let alone one minute thirty-six seconds.

This was the level of an elite veteran.

“Well done! Just as I expected, this trip wasn’t in vain!”

Major Miao smiled upon hearing the time.

“Squad leader, you’re amazing! You must be first. I just heard—no one else has broken one minute forty seconds yet, and only four have finished under one minute fifty seconds,” Xi Wa said happily, supporting Su Yang to the side and analyzing the situation.

“Su Yang, good job! Put even more effort into the firearm disassembly and assembly later. Win first place there, and even if you don’t rank top three in the remaining events, you’ll still take the overall first!”

Chen Guotao approached and handed Su Yang a bottle of glucose water he’d prepared.

The 400-meter obstacle was extremely taxing; to face the upcoming events with full energy, replenishing strength was essential.

Nothing replenished energy faster than glucose.

“Thank you, Platoon Leader Chen. I’ll keep pushing and aim for another first!” Su Yang accepted the glucose water, took a sip, felt his energy revive somewhat, and looked at Chen gratefully.