Chapter 140 - 96: The Survival Rule of the New Recruit

"Hey, Captain Zhou, come take a look."

On the third floor of the main building, in the computer room, a first-term non-commissioned officer had just finished a game of "Audition." Ignoring several "professional game-hanger killer" family members and others trash-talking each other, he stood by the window, looking down with great interest.

"Watch your language, I’m farming in Wild Boar Hole!" Zhao Jinchen said seriously, swinging his blade furiously on the screen.

As soon as he said that, the entire computer room erupted into howling.

"Damn, Captain Zhou, you can farm in Wild Boar Hole? Pick me up, I’ll go burn pigs with you!"

"Crap, our area is going to attack Shabake tonight, right during the evening inspection! I’ll just go play in your area, if we’re going to screw it up, we’ll do it together!"

The first-term non-commissioned officer then added, "Captain Zhou, did you let the new recruits rest at noon last year?"

Zhao Jinchen paused for a moment, then clicked a "Return to City" scroll, put down the mouse, walked over to the window, took a look, and laughed:

"Xiong Jie is tougher than me, huh? Not letting them rest on the first afternoon?"

Someone chimed in, "What are you talking about? Squad Leader Xiong went back to sleep, he just went up the stairs with me, even told me about it. Those new recruits are picking up the hoses on their own, this year’s batch is pretty self-aware."

"Oh?" Zhao Jinchen looked again and asked, "Hu Zhihong, how many lengths of hose did we use when we went to Global One for the police dispatch the day before yesterday?"

"We set up a water gun position on the second floor, and on the third and fourth floors, we went out with three guns, more than thirty lengths in total? They should be ready to pick up after being washed and hung out yesterday."

"It will take those four new recruits a whole playground of hoses to pick up by noon."

Immediately, someone laughed, "Damn, when I went up there, there was a private room next door that didn’t even know about the big fire happening. They were still yelling and screaming inside. Later, two hostesses came out, both undressed... they were having too good of a time."

"Right, the two guys even hid inside and wouldn’t come out! When they were finally called out and saw Captain Ye’s flashlight, they thought it was the police and dropped to the corridor floor with their heads covered!"

"Hahaha..."

Watching for a while, Zhao Jinchen couldn’t help laughing, "This Fang Huai is good at skiving off, directing others to work while doing none himself."

The non-commissioned officer next to him then said,

"I think it’s good to have a leader. Last year the issue was that no one listened to anyone else. I think this kid is capable.

And when did he not pick up any? I just saw him picking up a length faster than the other new recruits."

Zhao Jinchen watched Fang Huai below, who was pointing out to the hose-picking new recruits like an instructor, and shook his head with a light chuckle:

"I don’t like those who are too clever."

...

Downstairs, in the backyard.

"Fuck..." Xiao Haishan’s eyes widened.

"Fang Huai, are you left to pick up the rest on your own?"

Fang Huai waved his hand, "You guys should get familiar with picking up hoses, just practice for two rounds, especially Song Lin.

In the meantime, digest a bit. At one thirty, you’ll go to the equipment store and sleep for an hour. I’ll call you if any squad leader comes."

As he spoke, Fang Huai picked up a hose lying on the ground, quickly wound it twice, and then, as if the hose had no weight in his hands, it flew up and down, the hose on the ground got shorter and shorter as it was gathered in his hands.

In just over ten seconds, he had finished picking up a length of hose, placed it on the ground, loosened it, then tightened it, forming the shape in two moves.

It took others over a minute to pick up a length of hose; Fang Huai only needed ten-odd seconds.

"So in the future, we’ll all have to hide to sleep?" Han Yong frowned.

Fang Huai chuckled, "The squad leader lets us sleep because it’s Saturday today and also our first day down to the squadron. It’s just out of politeness.

Did you actually take it seriously?

If you sleep in the squad room, and the squad leader is up but you’re not, you’ll get scolded.

With more than twenty squad leaders in the squadron, if anyone dislikes lazy new recruits, they’ll get scolded as well.

You won’t sleep well anyway, and you’ll have to make the bed and fold the quilts when you get up. How much time could you possibly save?

Do you really want to toss and turn on the bed for half an hour, anxious and worried, then get up?

And with such a short time at noon, if you don’t fold the quilt properly, your bed will look loose and sloppy in the afternoon. If the squadron cadres see it, you’ll be scolded more likely.

It’s better to do some work and find a place to have a sound sleep.

If we have to pick up hoses, we’ll sleep in the equipment store; if we have to clean or train on the parallel bars, we’ll sleep in the nearby training tower.

As long as the work is done, we can get up when the whistle blows. There’s no problem at all.

That’s a sound nap.

Even if the squad leader sees us and asks, we can just say we did some work at noon and were too tired so we needed a quick nap.

And with four of us together, if any squad leader calls out for something, we’re more likely to hear it.

Besides, squad leaders need to rest too. They won’t come to manage us themselves if they feel uneasy. For chores, they’ll definitely delegate the slackers to manage us; you’ve seen how explosive their tempers can be, right?

Don’t give them a reason to manage us. We need to make the squad leaders feel that we work more efficiently than they do, so the squad leaders will think they’re being meddlesome.

Don’t worry, give me a couple of days to get to know the squadron better. Whatever those second-year soldiers know, I’ll know. If you have any questions or don’t understand something, just ask me!

Be self-disciplined, avoid scolding, and avoid being punished>:

What I’m telling you are the best survival rules for new recruits."

The three new recruits, thinking of the first-class soldiers who were eager to pick fights in the morning, collectively tensed up and felt a surge of solidarity.

"Right, right, my big brother is still my big brother, awesome." Han Yong gave a thumbs up.

Xiao Haishan couldn’t help but exclaim, "No wonder Squad Leader Hao likes you so much."

Fang Huai looked toward the most silent and reticent Song Lin, his face carrying a teasing smile: "Song Lin, you smoke, right?"

Song Lin was startled, looking at the worldly-wise Fang Huai, he felt a panic as if he had been caught by a squad leader.

After a brief silence, he replied, "Yeah...do you? I’ve hidden a pack..."

"I quit smoking," Fang Huai waved his hand, "You reek of smoke; it’s evident as soon as you get close. If you get caught, the squad leader might come up with some twisted punishment like making you drink tobacco tea, wearing a large-brimmed hat wrapped in a blanket, smoking a whole pack at once—you wouldn’t be able to handle it."

"Then... what should I do? I can’t quit. I started smoking in junior high," Song Lin had heard about various tricks in the new recruit group and said with a bit of trepidation.

Fang Huai chuckled, "When you smoke, and everyone’s so close together during assembly, it’s really hard to hide the smell.

For sure, they won’t let us smoke in the first few months after we get to our units.

But in such a big place as the squadron, it’s too easy to sneak a quick smoke. The fear is getting sniffed out and questioned.

However, there are still plenty of chances for the squad leaders to hand out cigarettes. Squad Leader Chang of the Cooking Squad smokes; we can just help him out more.

As long as he gives you a cigarette, he can cover for you for a day.

Even if you sneak a smoke, and a squad leader smells it on you, you just say Squad Leader Chang gave it to you for working hard.

But Chang Ming has too short a service time. It would be best if you could find an old squad leader who smokes and has a nicer personality. Spot the work they need doing, volunteer proactively, and as long as you don’t mess up, the chances are pretty good they’ll discreetly slip you a smoke.

Old squad leaders’ cigarettes are always a bit safer."

As Fang Huai spoke, he summed up, "I’m only telling you all this to save us from some grief. Unity is just soft power; physical fitness is the real metric... Song Lin, how’s your physical fitness?"

Song Lin smiled awkwardly, "Average... It was okay in our company, but it’s probably a bit worse than those in the late training class. Our new recruit group squad leader said that it was alright for everyone in the class to do half an hour of Evening Exercise together, so I didn’t have to go."

Fang Huai waved his hand, "So you haven’t run five kilometers? What’s your fastest time for three kilometers?"

"11 minutes and 46 seconds."

Fang Huai: ...

That’s a whole minute faster than me!

"...What about the horizontal bar?"

Song Lin shook his head, "Not good, I can’t swing properly... just 20 reps."

Fang Huai was silent.

After a while, he reached out and took Song Lin’s hand:

"Bro, I’m sorry, I went through the back door. That third-class merit in the new recruit group should’ve been yours.

Don’t worry about what I just said; just train hard. With your fitness, you don’t need to sweat the small stuff."

Xiao Haishan next to them also threw an old punch, "Brother, you did right not joining the late training class, it’s totally unnecessary, and it just robs you of rest."

Han Yong started feeling a bit despondent.

Turning to look at the bars, the joy of being able to manage three pull-ups was now vanishing like smoke.

While everyone was flipping around on the bars, the scene of him hanging from the bar by his backpack straps was already vivid in his mind.

Muttering to himself, he grumbled, "Looks like I’m just padding the numbers..."

Song Lin hurriedly explained, "I was training even before I enlisted. I used to do street dance, breaking, in junior high, and I’m light, so I had a bit of an advantage. I haven’t improved much in the new recruit group; I’m just coasting on past experience!"

Fang Huai also patted Han Yong on the shoulder with a laugh, consoling, "Just focus on losing weight, and you’ll definitely get better. As long as your strength threshold exceeds your weight, pull-ups will get easier. Of the four of us, you’ve made the most progress."

With this, Han Yong perked up again, "Right, before we left the group, Squad Leader Hao weighed us, and at 162 lbs, I could do three pull-ups! My strength isn’t weak, once I’m down to 140 lbs, I’ll definitely be able to do many more!"

With these words, the tall and sturdy Xiao Haishan also nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I feel like I have room to improve as well."

Han Yong turned to him, "How much do you weigh?"

Xiao Haishan chuckled, "I’m at 175 lbs, can only manage 12 pull-ups."

Han Yong: ... (╬￣皿￣)凸

...

Wake up at two twenty noon, assemble at two thirty.

At two twenty, with the sound of the wakeup whistle, the new recruits straightened their postures and marched in line to the front yard downstairs ahead of time to assemble.

Zhang Yang, who had gotten up a bit earlier than ten minutes ago, had scouted around the squadron without finding any new recruits; now seeing the new recruits standing in a row in the front yard with their hands behind their backs, he came up to ask:

"Where did you go this noon?"

Looking straight ahead, Fang Huai loudly replied, "Reporting, we cleaned the kitchen and tidied up the hoses in the backyard!"

Zhang Yang looked at the sleep dust in the corner of Han Yong’s eyes and gave a dry laugh, "Tidying up hoses? Slacking off, right?"

"Reporting, squad leader, we collected 33 rows of hoses! Then we rested for 20 minutes," Fang Huai chimed in.

Just then, Chang Ming, who had finished checking the kitchen, walked by Zhang Yang without a glance and directly approached Fang Huai, offering praise with a smile:

"Nice work! Come and help out in the kitchen early in the afternoon. Whatever you want to eat, squad leader will make it for you!"

The new recruits all said, "Thank you, squad leader!"

Watching Zhang Yang, Chang Ming gave a smile and left to buy something outside the squadron.

Zhang Yang’s face fell immediately.

The new recruits he was supposed to lead seemed to have their hearts won over by Chang Ming at this moment.

And looking at Fang Huai, whom Chang Ming had praised, anger sparked within.

Shit, my team, and you’re leading them away. And tidying up hoses? They all went to do Chang Ming’s work, right?

Zhang Yang didn’t beat around the bush and turned to check the equipment room and the truck.

After a round, surprisingly, nothing was amiss.

The hoses were indeed all collected.

The neatly gathered hoses had their connectors spaced 15 to 20 centimeters apart, with hoses for police dispatch and training clearly sorted, and even the 80 calibre and 65 calibre hoses on the truck were not misplaced.

Fang Huai stood in the front yard watching Zhang Yang hustle, sneering inwardly.

Hmph, after five years as a firefighter and a strong memory, would I let a first-class soldier like you find any slip-ups in my work?