Chapter 152 - 108: Squad Leader Hao Rises to Power

Today’s lesson is called "When You Have a Jealous Squad Leader".

Squad Leader Hao demanded that Fang Huai do two more pull-ups than the highest record.

Fang Huai was as stiff as a board but could only manage 29 pull-ups, the last one he just couldn’t complete no matter how he kicked—halfway up, it just wouldn’t go any further.

So, Hao Chengbin found a backpack strap and made him hang from the bar for a full ten minutes.

The first-class soldiers who thought Hao Chengbin was biased towards Fang Huai were at a loss for words when they saw the bloody blisters on Fang Huai’s hands after he came down from the bar.

Equally giving it his all, and still only managing 32 pull-ups, Zhang Yang felt his hopes for escaping additional training dwindling even further.

Damn it, at this level of the pull-up game, how long will it take to improve by just one? This kid has only trained for one day; how can he just do one more when he says so?

If he does one more, that’s thirty-five!

Qi Xiaohui was absolutely tormented by Song Lin.

Qi Xiaohui managed 17 pull-ups, getting kicked several times by Song Lin, who, gritting his teeth, surpassed him by hitting 22, leaving a 5 pull-up gap!

Meng Qiang had 18, Xiao Haishan had 11, but Xiao Haishan was not satisfied either and challenged for another 5-kilometer run.

Chang Ming...8 pull-ups, Han Yong rapidly improved, astonishingly managing 6.

Squad Leader Hao immediately announced the next exercise.

"Half push-ups! Hold for 20 minutes!

Fang Huai’s hand is injured, switch to 300 squats! Chang Ming, go cook breakfast; from now on, your training will be in the evening!"

This is for real.

The first-class soldiers began to get nervous at the thought of half push-ups.

"Yes, squad leader!" Fang Huai was the first to respond, immediately beginning his squats.

Chang Ming quickly escaped the danger zone, retreating to the safe area of the canteen.

The new recruits quickly got down, but the first-class soldiers looked at each other, nobody moving an inch.

"Get down, did you not hear me! Each second late, add a minute!"

Hao Chengbin was no kind-hearted old squad leader like Fang Hongliang; seeing the first-class soldiers dragging their feet, his anger flared up instantly.

The first-class soldiers were cursing inside, but they had no choice but to get down, all the while thinking about which old squad leaders they should unite with to resist this outsider.

"I think you all just lack training!"

After Hao Chengbin finished speaking, he didn’t care about their thoughts. He went up to the bar for the first time, showcasing his strength.

It was beyond everyone’s imagination.

In less than a minute, 36 pull-ups!

And after a short break, he did another 18 ab curls. It looked like the old soldiers had a habit of training their waist right after their arms.

This routine was truly terrifying.

Fang Huai watched, cursing inwardly.

A third term non-commissioned officer, with such results!

He had always thought Squad Leader Hao wasn’t that good at the pull-up bar because he never showed off in front of everyone, except for taking a stroll after meals with the new recruit group.

The most exercise he gave to anyone in the new recruit group was to Yue Tao’s butt.

According to Peng Yingqirui’s calculations, he kicked Yue Tao’s butt more than 240 times in three months.

And Squad Leader Hao indeed didn’t have top running scores.

Now thinking back, it was a good thing Jiang Peng didn’t choose to challenge Squad Leader Hao in pull-ups and chin-ups.

Otherwise, wouldn’t he have been beaten to a pulp?

After Squad Leader Hao finished his set, the grievances of the first-class soldiers were somewhat quelled.

Zhang Yang, the only first-class soldier who could do 30 pull-ups, had a lean build.

Looking back at Hao Chengbin, his training gear was at least an XL, with the typical middle-aged man’s physique, and yet he managed 36 pull-ups. The level of strength was simply not on the same level as theirs.

If they dared to defy him, he could strip off his sergeant stripes and still leave them good for nothing.

...

Upstairs, Cao Yi and Ye Jiahong were standing by the window watching.

Both full of smiles.

Cao Yi nodded while watching Hao Chengbin intensely doing pull-ups, "How many has Hao Chengbin done? He’s still impressive."

Ye Jiahong laughed too, "The famous old squad leader of the province... What about those second-year soldiers? They are already old soldiers, is it right to let them train with the new recruits like this?"

Cao Yi chuckled softly:

"Train! With their physical fitness, what kind of old soldiers are they?

Are they qualified to rest?

Our Special Duty Team’s homegrown new recruits are in bad shape. The newly arrived sergeants don’t speak up, but not one is really convinced inside. They all think we can’t train good soldiers and only rely on transfers from the outside to make up the numbers!

Last year, we already had a personnel shortage, and a group was discharged. The recent batch of first-class soldiers were all used up on miscellaneous tasks.

Fortunately, this batch of new recruits is strong, it’s perfect for them to train with the first-class soldiers!

If we want to shape them properly, we need sparring partners; look at how Zhao Jinchen and Little Black spurred each other on and progressed. Aren’t they tough?

Fang Huai and Zhang Yang could make a decent pair; we definitely need to train one of them up."

"Yes, yes, yes, you’re the secretary, it’s your call; I’m just the mule," Ye joked.

"Nonsense, am I not just setting the foundation for you?"

The two stood at the window, laying out a blueprint for the future of the squadron.

However, if Fang Huai were here, he would scoff.

What the heck, Zhang Yang as my training partner? Does he have the staying power for two weeks?

...

Am, 8:50

Training tower.

In truth, the skill training for firefighting new recruits leaving the group wasn’t much different from a teacher’s lecture at school.

It, too, was a matter of rushing through the curriculum.

Take, for example, the water hose exercise: one person, two hoses.

In some regular squadrons, they take the annual new recruit training as a chance to rehearse, so all the old soldiers participate in the training and practice along with the new recruits.

But in the eyes of the veteran Special Duty soldiers, this was child’s play, really unnecessary to practice, yet it was an introductory course that new recruits could not skip.

Left with no choice, Squad Leaders Xiong and Liu had to schedule this subject for noon, for additional training.

The morning training wasn’t unsuitable for new recruits to learn, it just had to be a subject everyone could practice:

12-meter rope climbing exercise.

Also known as climbing up to the fourth floor using a rope.

Squad Leader Hao stood in front of the building, pointing at the hemp rope hanging from the fourth floor, and said:

"The big rope in front of you is called the main rope! It’s your tool to climb up to the fourth-floor window!

The side rope is the safety rope, clipped onto the safety belts you’re wearing! It’s there to protect you!

There are three ways to climb up.

The first way is the rope-stepping method, where you wrap both feet around the main rope, stand up straight, grab the rope above with both hands, then loosen your grip on your feet, and power your whole body upward continuously!

The second method is direct pulling! If your arm strength is awesome enough, you can climb up directly by pulling on the rope!"

Upon finishing the explanation of these two methods, even the veterans were curious.

A third way? They had never heard of that! Everyone climbed using the rope-stepping method because it was less tiring, and that way, they achieved the best results.

"Squad Leader Hao, is there really a third method?" a Non-commissioned officer asked.

Hao Chengbin couldn’t help but lift the corners of his mouth:

"Of course, there is! It’s also the method most commonly used by new recruits!

The third way is the rescue cry! Yell ’mom’ a couple of times, and the people assisting with protection will pull the safety rope and hoist you up!

If anyone uses this method today, I’ll hang them on the tree next to us, till lunchtime!"

The room burst into laughter.

The veteran soldiers also started discussing: This Squad Leader Hao really had a sharp tongue!

Cry for mom?

In the Special Duty Team, everyone bellows when practicing this subject!

With the physical strength standard of starting at thirty pull-ups on the horizontal bar, those who could climb with direct arm pulls without needing to step on the ropes made up the vast majority!

It was just that everyone wanted to vie for the best result.

Hao Chengbin noticed everyone’s disdain and laughed again:

"What I said just now was for the new recruits!

For veterans, 20 seconds is passing, 17 seconds is good, and only timings below 15 seconds are considered excellent!

Forget the outside standards; we in the Special Duty Squad have our own standards!

Over in Jiangxi Jiujiang, someone has already reached 9.53 seconds in this subject!

How about it, anyone up for the challenge?"

"I am!"

One person in the lineup raised his hand.

It was Fang Huai, who’d recently heard of this record-setter from the day of the horizontal bar baseline assessment, who had pulled off 42 reps.

Huang Yong from the county team had been newly transferred this year, and it was said that upon his arrival, he challenged the Squadron Sergeants to the horizontal and parallel bars. On the horizontal bar, he completed 44 pull-ups, and in the afternoon on the parallel bars, he grinded out 280 dips in one hour.

He claimed that if he took his time, he could surpass 300 reps.

This was also why people in the training did not really engage with the parallel bars: resting on bars was possible, and the Special Duty men were fierce, with a single afternoon’s training time, two or three people could wear themselves out and be done with the exercise.

Later, Instructor Cao stipulated that on the parallel bars, you play fast, and if you rest for more than 3 seconds, you come off the bars.

But no one has broken Huang Yong’s record to date.

When it came to arm strength training, he was extremely competitive.

This was the sorrow of Special Service Squadron 2: as the physical fitness of the old Non-commissioned officers declined, there was no outstanding successor among the First-class soldiers or those in the first stage.

Naturally, Hao Chengbin was also aware of this.

Seeing Huang Yong confidently raising his hand, he felt an urge to dampen his spirits.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled and said, "Huang Yong, how about we have a contest?"

His words caused a great surprise among the NCOs, and they were also curious.

Just what was the level of this new platoon leader?

Hao Chengbin had a reputation for drill formations, but few knew how long he had been preparing to transfer to this highest standard Special Duty Squad in the province.

Three years.

Throughout his time as a second stage officer, he had never slacked off.

In his second stage, while everyone else was taking it easy, he trained as if he were a new recruit; only entering his third stage, when his age started to increase and his waist could no longer take it, did he start to rest and intermittently train, just to maintain his physical fitness.

When Jiang Peng challenged him to a five-kilometer run, he had not run for several months, which is why his performance had slipped so much.

For a five-kilometer run, if you stop running for two weeks, your performance will gradually decrease.

That day, he considered it a return to training.

"Old squad leader, can you make it in 15 seconds? If not, there’s no need to come," Huang Yong said with a smile.

Hao Chengbin had a competitive streak in his bones and enjoyed putting people down, but now he restrained the impulse to tease because of his position, and seriously replied:

"Let’s change it up a bit, let’s add weight, and wear a full-load respirator."

Wearing an 18-pound full-load respirator, Huang Yong, being shorter, would certainly be at a disadvantage compared to Hao Chengbin.

But given it was his tenth year against Huang Yong’s fifth, having the same load wasn’t really taking advantage of him.

"Sure, squad leader, you call the shots," Huang Yong, seeing Hao Chengbin’s demeanor, didn’t dare to take him lightly and started to warm up his body attentively.

Even when a lion fights a rabbit, it uses all its strength.

Hao Chengbin, too, did a set of hand and foot warm-ups earnestly.

The veteran soldiers also started volunteering, suggesting that everyone do a turn with added weight to see who performed the best.

On the side, Zhao Jinchen surprisingly did not summon the new recruits but instead went to the equipment room himself to select two full-load respirators for them.

Ye Jiahong, holding the training record book on the side, also became ignited by the rousing atmosphere and picked up the stopwatch with a grin, saying loudly:

"Once you guys are done, I’m having a go too!"

Squadron 2 had been too comfortable for too long, and at last, there was a spark of "competitive spirit," which was exactly what he wanted to see.