Chapter 30: A Warhead

At that moment, Peng Donghai really kicked Liu Xiaotian away.

This brat, what do you think this training ground of mine is? A place to shoot cartoons?

And this, in fact, isn't even the most frustrating thing for Peng Donghai.

What frustrates him most is that, in his communicator, a voice immediately sounded: 'North North, I'm Shu Ke, ready to launch!'

"Who? Who the hell is speaking?!" Peng Donghai's anger was fully expressed in his tone.

But...

"Peng Donghai, right? You little brat, as a company commander your temper's gotten long! I'm Zhou Tianzuo, what do you need from me?"

Peng Donghai: ……

Who would have thought the speaker would be him? This "old man" should be happily lounging with an airplane at the parachute training field, so why did he come here to do what?

But he daren't say that!

Don't look at him as an officer; Zhou Tianzuo, this first class sergeant major, is still just a soldier, but……

Even if he became a battalion commander, he still wouldn't dare speak to Zhou Tianzuo like that.

Of course, Zhou Tianzuo is a remarkably low-key first class sergeant major; even when he enters He Zhijun's office he doesn't need to knock, but on a daily basis, even when he sees a junior platoon leader, he's always polite.

But in the entire Iron Fist Group, only Peng Donghai, the company commander, is not on that list.

Why?

Peng Donghai's own uncle used to be Zhou Tianzuo's company commander, and their relationship has always been good.

Back then, Peng Donghai was just in elementary school; when he followed his father to the base to visit his uncle, Zhou Tianzuo even took him to dig out bird nests.

With that relationship, would he dare to pull rank as an officer? Never mind Zhou Tianzuo daring to kick him; if his retired uncle found out, he'd likely get a beating that's nothing light.

"Uncle Zhou, no, Class Monitor Zhou, how could you..."

Peng Donghai's tone was a bit sheepish.

He wanted to ask Zhou Tianzuo why he could connect to the frequency he was using, but having said half of it, he swallowed the rest back.

This really isn't a coincidence.

Zhou Tianzuo only found out half an hour ago that Chen Shanming was giving the trainees a day off today.

He had just finished inspecting a helicopter sent by the military region, personally piloted it for a test flight, and after one loop he ended up here.

This walkie-talkie communication equipment only has a few channels, so Zhou Tianzuo naturally could find it easily.

But he didn't expect that, after confirming the channel used by Sixth Company, before he could even speak, he heard Liu Xiaotian's 'call request'.

Coincidentally, Zhou Tianzuo had also watched that cartoon, and on a whim he replied with a line.

Liu Xiaotian naturally recognized Zhou Tianzuo's voice, replied 'Received,' and then immediately pushed the control lever beside him.

Yes, that's pushing the control lever.

If you've never seen a tank, pay attention here—it's useful for picking up girls and bragging.

(I won't write the data; after I wrote the tank specs yesterday, readers accused me of padding, and I was speechless.) In short, if you can operate a tracked excavator and a loader, learning to drive a tank is relatively easy.

First, the Type 99 tank has no steering wheel, only control sticks.

Of course, tanks with steering wheels do exist, but only in a few models, and most of them are foreign.

Domestically, currently only one or two models are steered by a wheel.

Second, to drive a tank you must ensure you can handle the jolts; otherwise, vomiting inside the cabin would be rather embarrassing.

At this moment, Liu Xiaotian gave no thought to whether he could handle the jolts.

If you were to describe his driving style with car-driving, it'd be like jamming his foot into a mailbox and flooring it all the way.

A tank whose top speed is only sixty-five kilometers per hour, upon starting, Peng Donghai beside it actually felt a push-back sensation.

He even suspected that this kid was trying to test how many seconds the Type 99 tank's zero-to-hundred acceleration takes!

At that moment, Peng Donghai really wanted to ask: 'You little brat, are you here to race a car?'

Too bad, he didn't get the chance to speak.

Because, the moment the tank started, Liu Xiaotian headed straight for a two-meter-wide ditch and charged into it.

Peng Donghai dares say his tank-driving skill ranks among the top ten in the whole group, but now, in the less than ten seconds since the tank driven by the new recruit Liu Xiaotian just started moving, he felt a bit carsick.

Just then, Peng Donghai felt his stomach flip outright.

Fortunately his bladder was empty, or else that jolt could easily have made him burst.

Meanwhile Liu Xiaotian was all excitement; the Type 99 tank he drove kicked up a cloud of dust and rushed straight toward the distant slope.

It can be said that, for other soldiers, the tank-driving training subject is something many feel resistant to.

Really, the riding experience is just too bad.

Especially when training driving skills, one must go through those prescribed pits, ditches, gullies, and even scaling low walls.

Each lap driven is a torment to the internal organs.

Although, when they first enlisted and saw those imposing big machines, they were all eager to get inside and drive them personally.

Believe me, nobody thinks that a photo of someone wearing a tank cap, opening the hatch and showing half their body, once sent home, would basically not be a problem with their girlfriend.

But once you actually get up and drive a lap, the first thought afterward is likely regret.

Peng Donghai has always thought that, even if he's an oddball, driving a tank is always a pleasure.

But now he just wants Liu Xiaotian to stop quickly.

If it weren't for the secure restraints on the seat, he'd probably have been jolted all the way into the ammunition rack by now.

To be frank, Liu Xiaotian is indeed quite excited right now.

"Jiaweis" presented before his eyes those data and operational diagrams, giving him the illusion of becoming a "super soldier," only lamenting that the tank's top speed is only sixty-five kilometers per hour.

If only it could go faster……

Just as he thought that, Liu Xiaotian was stunned to discover that a set of data he couldn't understand at all, at the moment it appeared in this era, began rolling through his mind like computer code.

Fortunately, he has basically adapted to those data now.

After the automatic organization of the huge amount of incomprehensible stuff that had been forcibly pumped in last time, he discovered that he could gradually understand some of the formula data.

The moment those data appeared, Liu Xiaotian realized that those data and formulas he couldn't understand were likely the way to improve the tank's maximum speed.

Before he could sort it out, Zhou Tianzuo's voice sounded again in the communicator.

"Liu Xiaotian, you've had enough fun—come down, I have something to discuss with you."

(End of chapter)