Chapter 46 - 22 A Blood Case Triggered by a Stumble_2

"Report, squad leader! I’m not wrong! I don’t want to take his punishment for him!" Lu Zexian, the second tough guy, appeared.

Lu Zexian, who had been quite happy just a moment ago, was suddenly drenched in disappointment when he received the blow and had to do deep squats as punishment.

"Heh." Hao Chengbin laughed once, then said.

"Fang Huai, bring me your backpack rope."

"Yes!" Fang Huai stepped forward out of the line, went to his bunk above, took out the backpack rope, and handed it to Hao Chengbin.

Hao Chengbin pointed to Yue Tao: "Stand next to Lu Zexian!"

Yue Tao immediately complied with the order.

With backpack rope in hand, Hao Chengbin wrapped and looped it around, binding Lu Zexian’s right hand to Yue Tao’s left hand with about 20 centimeters of slack in between.

"Starting today, you two will do everything together, including eating, drinking, peeing, shitting, and training! The rest of you will supervise! If they dare to untie the rope, you will all be punished together! Alright, you two don’t need to do it! Everyone else, go ahead! Is there anyone else unwilling to be punished?"

Silence fell eight times over.

Yue Tao, the clay figure, now showed a hint of doggedness.

"Report, squad leader! I made a mistake, I should be punished! If he doesn’t do it, I will!"

"Alright then, you ask him if he’s going to do it? Or you’re going to drag him through it?" Hao Chengbin said with a smile.

Yue Tao turned his head, with a challenging look: "Are you doing it or not?"

Lu Zexian ignored him.

Stubborn as he was, Yue Tao simply squatted down and began doing one squat after another, all the while tugging on Lu Zexian’s hand.

"Squad leader, I was wrong!"

This time, Fang Huai didn’t join everyone in performing the punishment, opting instead to wait. Hao Chengbin wasn’t looking for everyone to blindly follow discipline, but wanted them to understand for themselves what joining the troops entailed.

Soon, the others began to move as well, and Fang Huai followed suit.

"Squad leader, I was wrong!"

Clenching his teeth, Lu Zexian refused to squat down. He felt he was not the troublemaker; it was just that the world owed him justice.

Seeing this, Hao Chengbin turned and began tidying up his bed.

With a hint of dried-up grievance on his face, Sun Lianhai beside him kindly pulled at Lu Zexian and whispered.

"Just do it! We’ve all done it!"

Lu Zexian murmured softly, "Why should I? Why do I have to pay for his mistake? Once I’m moved to the squadron, if I encounter comrades who keep dragging me down, I won’t be polite either!"

Hao Chengbin turned his head, his eyes narrowing.

"Lu Zexian, are you so confident that you haven’t held anyone back? How many pull-ups did you do on the parallel bars? How many did Yue Tao do? Who’s holding back whom? Who’s the real drag?"

Lu Zexian was speechless. After a few breaths, he suddenly shouted.

"I might as well not be a soldier at all! I can’t compete in pull-ups, what else is he better than me at?"

With a dark face, Hao Chengbin turned around, opened the door, and pointed towards the direction of the Brigade Department.

"Then go! We don’t have a military discharge precedent! Let me show you a clear path! Make a fuss! Resist training! Get dismissed! Make a bigger fuss and you’ll be dishonorably discharged! Then become an unregistered resident! Be sent back to your place of origin! Carry that record with you for a lifetime, and your children won’t be able to take civil service exams either—let them know you’re a deserter!"

"Fang Huai, untie his rope, let him go!

By tying him and Yue Tao together, I was afraid he might influence Yue Tao! I bet Yue Tao will be much more successful than him in the future!

I don’t believe it, with that kind of thinking, you think you can survive in society? You’d just be rubbish!"

Everyone stopped to reflect.

Thinking back to the grand promises made to their families, the connections their relatives pulled in to enlist them, and the boasting to friends before leaving...

Only by becoming a deserter could one be sent back by the military and carry a lifetime’s punishment as an unregistered resident, affecting future generations...

Everyone present had thought about how to get home, and most had considered no longer being a soldier, but hearing the squad leader’s words, they all felt a little scared.

Fang Huai walked up to Lu Zexian, slowly untying the backpack rope with an unusually slow pace, and let out a long sigh.

"Ah..."

"Step back, and the world is your oyster...

Apologize properly to the squad leader and accept the punishment... Aren’t we all doing it? What have you got to complain about? Can you guarantee you won’t make mistakes... that’ll hinder us?"

"Leaving a way out for others is leaving a way out for yourself."

In order to persuade him, Fang Huai had no choice but to pull out some tricks from his past life.

Hao Chengbin heard every word from Fang Huai, clear as day, but he said nothing, pretending not to hear.

In reality, even if the matter escalated to the Brigade or Regiment Department, Lu Zexian wouldn’t be able to leave. It would just mean a higher-level person conducting the mediation, yet such a matter would spread internally, and his future Squadron Leader would hear about it, resulting in more disdain for him.

Getting into a fight might still earn you some leadership’s appreciation, thinking you have an upright character.

But running away when things get tough is definitely unappealing, speaking plainly, it’s just trouble in others’ eyes.

Finally, Lu Zexian took hold of the rope.

"Squad leader... I realize my mistake."

Lu Zexian was rather lucky.

He was facing a veteran soldier of nearly ten years, and Hao Chengbin didn’t want to jeopardize his own future over this rookie. If it had been one of the volatile squad leaders from nearby, who had been in for only three or four years, Lu Zexian wouldn’t have escaped a lesson in physical persuasion today.

The whole squad would have suffered along with him.

Which of these old soldiers hadn’t endured the same?

Hao Chengbin resumed his stern demeanor: "I’m giving you one last chance, 100 deep squats... no, you’ll do 150! From today on, whenever someone messes up, whatever the others’ punishment, you, will do half more!

When you reach the average physical level of the class, you’ll be treated the same!

You wanted fairness, didn’t you? There’s no such thing as absolute fairness in this world; fairness is something you have to fight for yourself!"