Chapter 52: How About a Marathon to Spice Things Up

It really is just like that old saying: the soft-hearted fear the hard-hearted, the hard-hearted fear the reckless, and the reckless fear those who have nothing left to lose! This Qi Tian is truly as resourceful and courageous as the division commander described. He actually thought of using this kind of high-stakes gamble to force Fang Jinxiang to back down!

Zhu Xiaotian couldn't help but applaud, seemingly captivated by Qi Tian's maneuver.

However, Nie Feihong beside him clearly caught many more details. The expression of admiration in his eyes was several shades deeper than Zhu Xiaotian's!

Old Zhu, you still haven't seen through all of Qi Tian's intentions. This kid is far more astute than you imagine.

The regimental commander means that they chose the inner berths, leaving the outer four beds open, right? Actually, I noticed that point too. Using the Six Tigers of the Fierce Tiger Regiment as a human shield on their outside completely cut off any lingering thoughts the veterans had of coming forward to fight for the beds. Once and for all!

No, that's still not complete!

Nie Feihong smiled, turned to look at Zhu Xiaotian, and asked in a deep voice: Do you know why Qi Tian and his men only occupied three beds, leaving four for the six members of the Fierce Tiger Regiment?

Naturally, because there were fewer of them and more from the Fierce Tiger Regiment.

Yet when they pieced the beds together, the Fierce Tiger Regiment members hadn't even returned yet! You and I have both looked at the dossiers of these new recruits; it was completely impossible for them to have had any prior contact with the people here. In other words, they didn't know who these beds belonged to before they arrived!

That's true. Analyzed that way, it is rather strange that they only claimed three berths...

Zhu Xiaotian frowned slightly, clearly stumped by Nie Feihong's question. Seeing this, Nie Feihong didn't plan to keep him in suspense any longer and directly pointed out every intricate detail of Qi Tian's layout:

Although they didn't know who previously owned these berths, they could be certain that all seven single beds were reserved for the elite figures in the selection zone. Moreover, this group of veterans was tightly knit; otherwise, the other veterans participating in the selection would definitely not have remained indifferent. Qi Tian only chose three beds and left the four remaining ones open, which was a disguised message to those elite cliques: You still hold the majority; we only take a small fraction of the resources to rest. While it will have an impact on you, it's definitely minimal, and you are still at the top here!

At the same time, these five new recruits are completely welded into a single rope. As you saw just now, that alone is enough to make these elites wary. The choice Fang Jinxiang made at that moment wasn't actually whether to take a risk and go all out with these five new recruits. Instead, he had to consider whether, after sacrificing a small portion of their resources, occupying the remaining majority would still be enough to support them in ultimately passing the assessment.

The answer was obvious: six people sharing four beds meant they would just be slightly cramped, with no major impact. Especially for Fang Jinxiang, he lost nothing yet neutralized a crisis. You must remember, these five new recruits genuinely dared to go toe-to-toe with him in a life-or-death struggle!

Good grief... I get it now. Fang Jinxiang was forced to answer a multiple-choice question custom-made for him by Qi Tian!

Zhu Xiaotian drew a sharp breath and laughed in sudden enlightenment!

Having comprehended all of Qi Tian's strategic layout for tonight, when he looked back at the big screen and saw Qi Tian guarding the outermost perimeter, a trace of worry clearly crept onto his face. It was the kind of anxiety one feels upon discovering a fine sapling, only to fear that it might not survive the selection trials! After all, these five new recruits had joined the military far too long ago. Many skills that required time and tempering were not yet fully mastered by them!

Yet this incomplete mastery was by no means because these five lacked excellence or effort. On the contrary, it was precisely because they were too exceptional—so exceptional that they had come into contact with higher-level matters far ahead of schedule. That was why they faced the problem of having insufficient service time while some of their fundamental skills remained insufficiently honed!

At this thought, Zhu Xiaotian stood up directly and spoke solemnly to Nie Feihong beside him:

Regimental Commander, I give you my word: if you hand these five new recruits over to me, within three years at most, I can forge them into an elite combat force. At the very least, they won't lose to the tactical squads of the special forces!

As soon as Zhu Xiaotian uttered these words, Nie Feihong immediately understood his intent. This was a clear-cut bid to claim these five due to advantages that completely overshadowed their shortcomings, aiming to cultivate them as a key priority!

No, we cannot offer them any assistance. Don't forget who brought them here!

Nie Feihong said, waving his hand to signal his deputy commander to sit back down:

I know what you want. Five raw, uncarved blocks of jade with innate talent and minimal rough edges are right in front of you, and you want to keep them to train meticulously yourself. But don't forget, Division Commander Leng is still watching from behind. The people he brought are naturally for him to decide. Besides, there is also Wei Ping's child in there. If we talk about who wants them to stay the most, apart from me, who dares claim first place? Even if the kid couldn't do anything at all, just having him by my side as a communications orderly and seeing him every day would make me happy. But right now, we can only play by the rules first. As for the final outcome, it all depends on the fortune of these five lads!

...

At eight o'clock sharp that morning, a crisp whistle pierced the air from outside the greenhouse!

Hearing the sound, the hundred and eighty-some people resting inside the greenhouse rushed out to form ranks.

Company Commander Fu Wei of the First Battalion and Company Commander Shen Biao of the Second Battalion stood straight before the crowd like a pair of pine trees.

Glancing at the selection veterans before them, who still looked exhausted yet wore expressions of unyielding defiance, Fu Wei smiled half-heartedly and began:

Come on, veterans. Get ready to welcome the third day of your selection. As per usual, to wake you up as quickly as possible, we'll kick things off with a marathon for entertainment. Unloaded, two laps of yesterday's all-terrain half-marathon route. Time limit remains one hundred and fifty minutes. Move out!

The moment Fu Wei's voice fell, the veterans, who had endured two days of torment, bolted forward without a moment's hesitation. In contrast, the few in Qi Tian's squad had not yet fully shaken off their sleep.

Sleeping at four, waking at eight, and right off the bat we're forced into a marathon without even a little extra time allowed. The selection for this Vanguard Regiment is seriously going to kill us.

Who's saying otherwise? Right now my eyes are so heavy I can barely open them, and my legs feel as heavy as if they're filled with lead. I slept on my side for four hours, and the entire left half of my body has no sensation left. Good grief, just kill me now!

Bang! Bang!

While Song Wei and Lin Mang were muttering in a daze, two gunshots suddenly exploded right by their ears! Thin wisps of acrid smoke rose instantly from the tips of their boots!

Crap!

The two of them snapped wide awake instantly. Looking in the direction of the gunfire, they saw First Battalion Commander Fu Wei looking at them with a half-smile.

Well, what do you say, rookies? Are you awake yet?

Major, are you out of your damn mind? Were those live rounds?! Song Wei's expression shifted drastically, his tone laced with terror!

Of course, he wasn't the only one. Anyone in their shoes would have been thoroughly frightened by Fu Wei's two shots. After all, those were genuine, bonafide bullets—the kind that could kill you if they hit your body! Although they had witnessed Fu Wei use live ammunition to drive away Ma Zhe last night, back then the bullets had been miles away from them, so naturally they hadn't felt scared. But those two shots just now had been barely a centimeter from their shoetips. That kind of direct sensory shock from live ammunition was enough to make anyone's scalp instantly tingle and their whole body run cold!

Our Vanguard Regiment has never had the habit of using blank rounds to scare people.

Second Battalion Commander Shen Biao curled his lip and, right in front of Qi Tian's five-man group, pulled back the bolt of the assault rifle in his hands:

If you're awake, start running. Talk back to me one more time and see if I don't fire straight at your crotch!