Chapter 1168: Divine Archer

On the playground, by the fence, there was a one-hundred-meter obstacle course.

It consisted of eight sets of obstacles: stepping stumps, ditches, low walls, high platform jumps, rope ladders, single-plank bridges, high walls, and low stake nets. From these, several variations had been derived: one hundred meters, two hundred meters, or even three hundred meters.

But to speak of the most grueling, it was still the proper four-hundred-meter obstacle course.

It required running one hundred meters first, then traversing the obstacles back and forth for two hundred meters, and finally sprinting another one hundred meters to return to the starting point; it was a mandatory part of the unit's physical training. As for the assessment standard for soldiers, the passing mark was set at two minutes and thirty seconds.

However, in actual unit training, the passing line also meant failing. No military commander would ever demand merely a 'pass' from the officers and men under his command...

Gao Cheng, a cigarette dangling from his lips, watched Wu Liu Yi running for his life in the field and smiled at Wang Yan: "How about it, do you have confidence?"

"How could I not? The old squad leader is the top soldier of our regiment, nay, of our entire division. Just looking at his movements, one can see they follow specific principles; that hole in the low wall, if not mastered properly, will scrape a huge red mark across your back in an instant. But I will definitely be faster than two minutes and thirty seconds; after all, I run fast myself and my stamina is quite good, so just the two hundred meters of empty running back and forth will improve my time considerably."

"Then I'll be watching; if you can't beat two minutes and thirty seconds, you'll have it rough, kid."

"A piece of cake." Wang Yan waved his hand, completely unconcerned. "Mainly, I have to compete with the old squad leader. If everyone is just thinking about passing, then what's the point of being a soldier, right, Company Commander?"

"That's why we call him a good soldier; look, he doesn't need others to lecture him, his awareness is already higher than everyone else's. You can't do this, or else the Political Instructor will be out of a job. With your awareness so high, who is he supposed to instruct?"

Gao Cheng laughed heartily, looking at Shi Jin beside him, and He Hongtao, the Political Instructor of the Third Company. He had been transferred to partner with Gao Cheng to jointly oversee new recruit training, and He Hongtao hosted the evening ideological study sessions.

He Hongtao smiled: "Old Seven, your words are incorrect. Just because one's awareness is high, does that mean it cannot be further strengthened? Ideological and political work must never be relaxed for a single moment. How about this, Wang Yan, I'll have a chat with you tonight."

Because Gao Cheng was the Company Commander of the Seventh Company, he was called Old Seven.

"Ai, no need, no need; I think he's doing just fine. Tonight I'll give him a good talk on how to be a soldier, and how to be a good soldier." Gao Cheng blocked him directly.

He absolutely would not let He Hongtao try to woo Wang Yan; this was his precious treasure, the apple of his eye, and he would rush anyone who dared to snatch him...

Faster said than done; in just a short while, Wu Liu Yi, gritting his teeth and panting heavily, ran past the starting red flag. An old soldier on the side, holding a stopwatch, glanced at it and said: "One minute forty-five seconds; you've improved again, Wu Liu Yi."

Gao Cheng smiled: "I remember it was fifty before?"

"Forty-nine." Wu Liu Yi was still breathing heavily, hands on his hips, looking toward Wang Yan. "Come on, let's see how much capability you have."

Wang Yan raised an eyebrow, walked to the starting point, while the old soldier on the side fiddled with the stopwatch and nodded to Wang Yan: "Ready."

The moment the old soldier's voice fell, Wang Yan shot forward like an arrow, sprinting the first one hundred meters at flying speed.

Under the gaze of numerous officers, old soldiers, and new recruits, and amidst the cheers of the new soldiers, Wang Yan leaped over the stepping stumps in three strides, flew across the ditch two meters long, wide, and high, vaulted sideways over the low wall... his movements flowed like clouds and water, incredibly smooth.

But he was only fast at the beginning; later, during the crawling, weaving around pillars, and so on, he slowed down, clearly showing unfamiliarity with the techniques, until he finished the final one hundred meters, Wang Yan was also panting heavily, displaying his exhaustion.

The old squad leader holding the stopwatch stared at the dial in a daze, first cursed "Holy crap," and then loudly announced the result: "One minute forty-seven!"

"Holy crap!"

At this result, everyone erupted in clamor. Regardless of whether the hand-timing was accurate or not, everyone was timing by hand anyway. Even if one added a generous ten seconds, it was still under two minutes. And this was Wang Yan's result on his very first attempt; once he became familiar with the obstacles and adapted to the rhythm, his speed would surely be even faster.

Gao Cheng paused for a moment, then laughed heartily: "Wu Liu Yi, your record is about to be broken."

"Anyway, I've beaten him once." Wu Liu Yi also smiled. "Probably just this one time; in the five-kilometer cross-country run, I definitely can't beat him."

"Ai, starting to be shameless now, are you? How long has he been training, and this is his first time," an old soldier scolded with a laugh.

"Don't worry about that; anyway, I won once."

Everyone burst into laughter, saying that even Wu Liu Yi had such a day. They all knew Wu Liu Yi was just comforting himself; no one cared about his shamelessness at this moment; they preferred that Wu Liu Yi could afford to lose.

Wang Yan walked back smiling, waving to the new recruits who were shouting praises, having just heard Wu Liu Yi's remark, he said: "The old squad leader is right; although I let him win, we had agreed beforehand that I would let him win. Today I let him win, and the difference was two seconds, so I accept the actual result."

Shi Jin laughed heartily: "You keep saying 'let him win' with every other word, and yet you say you accept the result?"

"It was agreed upon long ago," Wu Liu Yi said with a smile. "Anyway, I won once."

"No problem." Wang Yan gave his official approval.

Gao Cheng looked left and right; seeing no disciplinary patrol, he took cigarettes from his pocket and passed them around, of course giving one to Wang Yan as well, and even helped light it for him.

He said with satisfaction: "You don't need to specifically train for this four-hundred-meter obstacle course; your physical fitness is sufficient. I estimate that once you get familiar with it, you could run it in one and a half minutes; just run it a couple of times on your own when you have nothing else to do. Or wait until our regiment, division, or army holds a grand competition, then you can undergo specialized crash training. If you really run it in one and a half minutes, you'll securely take first place and directly earn an individual Er Deng Gong. When the time comes, I'll sign you up; make sure you perform well."

"Rest assured, Company Commander; I guarantee there will be no problem."

Gao Cheng nodded with a smile, then continued: "You have already mastered the basic drill, physical fitness, and tactical movements. How about this: go to the shooting range and practice with your gun to see how your marksmanship is. If you're good, you'll become a sniper; if not, you'll be an assault trooper."

"Is that appropriate?" Wang Yan asked.

"I am in charge of the new recruit company's training; what I say goes. What is there to discuss about appropriateness?" Gao Cheng waved his hand, completely unconcerned.

In short, no matter how one argued, Wang Yan was flawless.

Gao Cheng patted Shi Jin beside him: "You go, take him to the shooting range to practice, and teach him things like disassembling and assembling the gun."

"Yes!" Shi Jin responded, turned, and led Wang Yan away.

The new recruits naturally did not know what Wang Yan had gone off to do; they were still some distance away, but they knew one thing for sure: Wang Yan was awesome. They didn't need to go up and run to know Wang Yan was awesome, because Wang Yan had always been awesome.

By now, more than a month had passed. Drill training was complete, and tactical movements were basically learned, with only the degree of proficiency remaining an issue; although physical fitness had not yet fully improved, their muscles had already adapted to the fatigue and pain. No one stayed awake half the night complaining anymore; everyone fell asleep the moment their heads hit the pillow, snoring loud enough to shake the heavens.

Over the past month and a half, Xu Sanduo had also undergone significant changes.

Wang Yan had taken him for extra practice almost every day; he had not fallen behind in any subject. Although he was not the best, he was certainly not dragging the team down. The loudmouthed Bai Tiejun could not compare to Xu Sanduo.

In short, one sentence sums it up: Xu Sanduo had spirit now.

But he was not yet that excellent top soldier; he had spirit, but he still lacked that kind of indomitable belief.

In comparison, the shrewd Cheng Cai was doing much better; although he also lacked such a belief, he knew what he wanted and knew how to achieve it, which was very important.

Cheng Cai's results in various subjects were all at the top. Of course, he was not the best, because there could only ever be one who was the best, and that was the person he hated so much his teeth ground together, yet found impossible to even see the back of.

Wang Yan's strength made Cheng Cai feel despair.

Arriving at the shooting range, Wu Liu Yi went to fetch a Type 92 military pistol, a Type 81 assault rifle, and a Type 85 sniper rifle, and also brought a large pile of ammunition.

"Currently, these three are the weapons we are equipped with; try them all. This ammunition is enough for you to shoot all day." Shi Jin pointed at the items on the table and said, "Come on, try them quickly. When I first became a soldier, knowing we would practice shooting the next day, I couldn't sleep all night. Being a soldier is certainly not just for the sake of touching a gun, but it must be said, touching a gun feels really great."

"Does it still feel great now?"

Shi Jin smiled: "This is an armored infantry regiment; we are a mechanized infantry company. Our squad drives a Type 89 amphibious armored vehicle, which has a heavy machine gun mounted on it; tell me, does that feel great or not?"

Wang Yan smiled slightly, then picked up the pistol and began fiddling with it.

Shi Jin taught the disassembly and assembly once on the side, and Wang Yan learned it on his own; the same applied to the other two guns.

After disassembling and assembling the firearms for a while, Wang Yan began live-fire target shooting.

Bang~

"Five rings!"

Bang~

"Nine rings!"

Bang~

"Ten rings!"

Bang bang bang bang~

"All ten rings! Damn impressive!" The voice of the soldier calling targets at the range rang out with a hint of admiration.

Shi Jin was stunned; this wasn't just damn impressive, this was damn impressive to the heavens.

He had watched with his own eyes as Wang Yan, holding the pistol in one hand, fired three sighting shots before unleashing a continuous barrage of bang bang bang, never stopping until he emptied the magazine, every single shot hitting ten rings.

Although it was only a ten-meter pistol target, continuous one-handed fire was something even he, a soldier who was already an elite, could not manage, unable to match Wang Yan's fluidity.

"Old Squad Leader, don't just stand there staring, load the bullets," Wang Yan said with a chuckle, then turned to the soldier in the distance and added, "If you please, fifty meters!"

"You kid." Shi Jin shook his head with a smile, yet he proceeded to load the bullets for Wang Yan. "You really never handled a gun before?"

"Really never. Why would I lie to you? Maybe this is just genius," Wang Yan said with a smile.

At that moment, the radio handset on the side crackled to life with the target caller's voice, announcing that the fifty-meter range was ready and fire could commence.

"Old Squad Leader is moving a bit slow," Wang Yan teased, then directly racked the slide of the pistol, chambered a single round, took a quick aim at the distant target, and fired with a bang.

"On target!"

He loaded another round and fired again.

"Seven rings!"

"Here you go." It was Shi Jin, who had finished loading the bullets and handed over the magazine.

Wang Yan clicked the magazine into the pistol, racked the slide to chamber a round, didn't even bother aiming, and fired straight away.

"Nine rings!"

Bang bang bang bang~

"All ten rings! Damn impressive!" The soldier calling targets was getting excited.

Wang Yan ejected the magazine, tossed it to Shi Jin, then picked up the radio: "If you please, pistol at one hundred meters."

"Damn impressive!" The target caller in the distance replied simply and directly, and they saw the man trotting off toward the far end...

And then the shouts of "Damn impressive!" over the radio never ceased.

One hundred meters with a pistol, every shot hitting eight or nine rings, and all rapid fire. Two hundred meters rapid fire with a rifle, similarly hitting eight or nine rings, the targets were swept to pieces, every burst landing on target. With the sniper rifle, after three sighting shots, he shattered a row of wine bottles on a barren hilltop over eight hundred meters away...

Shooting naturally depends on talent; not to mention targets several hundred meters away, even the ten-meter targets don't look very large, let alone those hundreds of meters out. Even though a sniper rifle has a high-magnification scope, it doesn't truly feel like the target is right before your eyes.

Wang Yan couldn't exactly be counted as talented originally, but as time passed and his various abilities improved, he effectively gained talent; at the very least, his eyesight was extremely powerful, and his senses were incredibly precise.

Another key point of shooting is steady hands and a steady body. This is precisely why soldiers' daily training involves hanging bricks while holding their rifles. Reality is not a game; the recoil of the gun acts physically upon the body. After one shot, the muzzle rises, and trying to aim at the previous spot again becomes strenuous.

But Wang Yan's body was powerful; he could firmly suppress the muzzle rise and maintain stability. Combining these two factors, he became a sharpshooter who never missed...

With the sudden emergence of this sharpshooter, the target caller's throat grew hoarse, Shi Jin fell silent, and Gao Cheng, who rushed over upon hearing the news, went wild with joy.

"Not bad, you kid, you really gave me a huge surprise. Great physique, shooting talent too; this is a bit exaggerated. If we hadn't seen it with our own eyes, no one would believe it if we told them," Gao Cheng said, patting Wang Yan's shoulder.

"I just follow my feelings; who knew every shot would hit?"

"Give you an inch and you take a mile, though you deserve to be arrogant. I don't know about the whole army, but in our division, you are simply this!" Gao Cheng gave a thumbs-up.

He continued, "Aiya, this actually puts me in a difficult spot. Think about it, basic training has only just passed the halfway mark, yet your drill, physical fitness, and shooting are all excellently beyond excellent; I really don't know where to place you."

"It's fine, Company Commander. I can just train together with everyone else. Drill, physical fitness, and shooting aren't things you practice for two days and then stop; as long as you're in the unit, you train every day. I feel I still have room for improvement."

"Ai, what you said is right, then let's do it that way," Gao Cheng nodded satisfactorily. "Actually, it won't be easy; later we still need to practice loaded cross-country running. Additionally, nearing the end, we have a long-distance march of over one hundred and fifty kilometers that you must take seriously. Injuries are a major issue; they affect you for life."

Wang Yan smiled: "My physique is good."

"With a good physique, you need to be even more careful."

"Yes, sir!"

Gao Cheng took out cigarettes and passed them around; everyone chatted cheerfully for a while before heading to the mess hall together. They had originally planned to train for the whole day, but as a result, Wang Yan only trained for the morning.

As for him now, firearms naturally didn't evoke much feeling; to make him feel stimulated, it would require launching missiles, actual combat strikes...

But obviously, that was impossible...