Chapter 148

Brother Yang, if I could be assigned to your company, that would be great—having you watch over me, at least I wouldn't be so miserable!

Kong Long truly misses that feeling of being looked after in the new recruit company.

With Lu Yang acting as a buffer between new and veteran soldiers, mediating their relations, everyone gets along more harmoniously.

Now that he's been assigned to a company, Kong Long, who's been posted to the Third Company, is unfamiliar with the surroundings; the veterans, seeing his sturdy build, are giving him a hard time "looking after" him.

Although the squad and platoon leaders see this as a kind of tempering, to Kong Long it's outright "abuse".

He explained to the veterans countless times that his muscular endurance is poor—just dead muscle built from protein powder in the gym—but they just wouldn't listen.

Finally the platoon leader decided, and Kong Long just became the assistant machine gunner in a daze.

The assistant machine gunner's main job is to lug the machine gun while running—damn, it's life‑threatening!

Lu Yang, however, laughed: "You think our company is easy?"

Kong Long looked over at the comrades scrambling to get on motorcycles and said: "You have your own ride, you even got a license, you can go out for a spin on weekends—how is that not easy?"

Lu Yang raised a finger and shook it: "The Sixth Company is the Iron Foot company—all kinds of fancy leg‑tormenting training you haven't even seen; we run five kilometers in the morning, noon, and night, and on weekends and holidays we do ten kilometers fully loaded—look at my shoe soles, the tread's worn completely smooth."

Serving in the Sixth Company wrecks not only your knees but also your shoes.

Other branches might wear out a pair of shoes in a year or two, but in the motorized infantry company you probably need a new pair every six months.

At the end of the day, Lu Yang's current privileges are earned through his repeated good performance, not conjured out of thin air.

"Thank goodness you're in the Third Company; if you were in ours, you'd probably be even worse off."

"Do you think the human motorcycle is trained that way? Do you know people can actually run while carrying a motorcycle?"

Kong Long's eyes nearly popped out: "Running while carrying a motorcycle—is that something a human brain could even devise as training?"

Lu Yang, holding the Type 89 Heavy Machine Gun on the ground, said: "You should be glad you got assigned to a decent company and platoon—the squad leaders even help you carry your pack, stand, and ammo box; they'd really make you run while lugging a motorcycle, but you wouldn't want that."

Kong Long's throat gulped as he already imagined several soldiers sprinting while carrying motorcycles.

"The Sixth Company trains you to become a motorcycle, then makes you run while carrying it."

"And the Seventh Company—don't they have you push armored vehicles and pull tanks while running?"

Lu Yang laughed: "You're quick to extrapolate. By the way, do you know where the rest of our squad ended up?"

Kong Long shook his head: "All I know is that you went with the squad leader; Cup Brother was assigned to the Military Police, which you told me; when I first came down to the company I hadn't had a chance to go out, wasn't close with the veterans, and didn't know who to ask."

"Then you didn't ask the 'know-it-all'?"

"You mean Assistant Squad Leader Wan?"

"Yeah."

"I also don't know if you know him, and..."

Kong Long lowered his voice: "He's pretty nasty—once he secretly put Yakult into my protein powder, I saw him; once that stuff goes in, a whole can of powder is wasted."

"I really don't want to mess with him, for fear he'll sell me out one day."

Lu Yang almost snorted with laughter, "Adding Yakult to protein powder?"

"That sounds like the kind of low‑down thing Wan Baoshan would do."

"What bad things are you saying about me?"

Just then, Wan Baoshan walked up from behind.

Lu Yang put an arm around his shoulders, smiling: "Kong Long says you bullied him—let me get revenge for him."

Because we're both assistant squad leaders and we met during the training detachment, our relationship is pretty good.

Hearing it was about the Yakult incident, Wan Baoshan immediately got worked up.

"Well, Kong Long, you're still snitching on me? I saw you only taking in protein, worried your nutrition was unbalanced, so I deliberately helped you boost it."

"That Yakult from the little shop costs one yuan a pack—I myself can't bear to drink it, yet I gave you three packs, and you still don't appreciate goodwill?"

"Fine, if you don't want to drink it later, hand over all that protein powder and I'll drink it for you!"

Lu Yang looked at Kong Long: "Nananana, his true colors are showing—he's just after your protein powder."

Kong Long snorted, clearly displeased: "Even if I fed it to pigs, I wouldn't give it to that jerk Wan Baoshan—'Brother Yang, if you have time later, come by our company and I'll give you the rest to drink!'"

Lu Yang raised his hand to stop him, indicating he wasn't interested in that stuff; normal food is fine for him.

Wan Baoshan then suddenly said: "I heard you guys were talking earlier about where the others went after being assigned to companies—I'm the right person to ask about that."

Lu Yang exclaimed: "You even know that?"

Wan Baoshan said with slight pride: "You should say, there's nothing in the regiment I don't know."

"Your batch of recruits—you're the most famous; you also got the best treatment when assigned to companies; next is that 'Airplane Brother,' also called 'Cup Brother,' who was assigned to the Military Police."

"That guy isn't any good—he's really sneaky. Not long ago he was lurking in the little woods by our company gate; luckily I found out in advance, otherwise I'd have suffered a big loss."

Lu Yang confirmed from Wan Baoshan that Zhang Jiaheng is indeed very scheming.

Earlier when I asked him for his license, it wasn't just casual looking—he was clearly trying to find a weakness.

Next time I get the chance, I'll kick him in the butt and then take off running.

Aside from anything else, with Lu Yang's current leg skills, there really aren't many in the regiment who can keep up with him.

Even Zhou Kaidong thinks Lu Yang is naturally destined to cultivate the flesh to saintliness; his initial weakness and illness upon joining were just pure accumulation before eruption.

But only Lu Yang knows that his rapid progress comes not just from his own effort, but largely from the system's "break then build" effect.

When others torture their legs to the limit, the result is either rhabdomyolysis or a crazy buildup of lactic acid—being unable to get out of bed or walk for two or three days is normal.

But with Lu Yang it's like exploiting a bug: as long as he abuses his legs to the max, the system just keeps pumping his leg attributes and endurance.

Wan Baoshan continued: "There's a kid who can cook, has a chef's certificate, and luckily got assigned to the regimental mess hall."

"Besides, there's a troublemaker who was in your squad and got assigned to Armored Seventh Company."

Just hearing the word "troublemaker," Lu Yang and Kong Long knew he meant Ding Tengfei.

Because in the recruit company, the troublemaker, there's no one more famous than him.

But neither of them expected he'd actually be assigned to the best company of the Special Third Regiment.

Kong Long didn't understand: "Didn't they say that those with poor grades would be assigned to the production base to raise pigs? I remember his basic‑training assessment was average, so why was he still assigned to the Seventh Company?"

Lu Yang was also puzzled, not knowing who arranged this lower‑company assignment, making everything chaotic?

He knew that Gao Feng, deep down, looked down on Ding Tengfei, and even after the later stage of basic training changed, he still looked down on him.

Yet, Ding Tengfei was carelessly assigned to the toughest, most elite hardbone Seventh Company, becoming an armored soldier.

Wan Baoshan, seeing the two a bit surprised, shrugged and said: "Anyway, your batch's company assignments are pretty random, with no pattern at all, as if done on a whim."

"However, there's one thing you might have misunderstood: the Seventh Company is indeed excellent, but Ding Tengfei didn't get into a combat squad."

Kong Long asked: "What? Did he go into the Cook Squad with a big ladle?"

Wan Baoshan shook his head: "The hardbone Seventh Company has ten squads in total; the tenth squad belongs to logistics support, tasked with guarding the outdoor tank training site. That's a godlike job—many have sharpened their minds to try to get in, but none can."

"Where is it located?"

"Head that way, keep going forward, you have to pass through the Division's production base."

After a brief chat and a few words of encouragement to Kong Long, and reminding Wan Baoshan to look after his good brother, Lu Yang finally rode off on his motorcycle.

The engine faded away; watching Lu Yang's receding back, Wan Baoshan placed his hand on Kong Long's shoulder: "See? He's already in the army, you're in the army too, and in less than half a year the gap has widened so much?"

"Does it feel like a kind of self‑shame, being unable to show your hand?"

The Heavy Machine Gun Squad Leader also sighed: "Just after joining the company you become Assistant Squad Leader, and on weekends you can freely ride out. That's a perk only the backbone of a regiment gets. Kong Long, you really need to learn from them and keep up."

"Squad Leader, Assistant Squad Leader, I will work hard!"

"Don't just talk, you have to act. Later, bring an extra magazine, and we'll return the same way."

"No way! Squad Leader, I really can't run; this head of mine is all fake, built by drinking protein powder..."

Kong Long immediately slumped his face, wildly shaking his head in surrender.

He now wishes he could instantly become a skinny bamboo pole, at least to escape this disaster.

Just carrying a machine gun already tires him out, and he still has to lug an ammo box; how can he bear it?

The Heavy Machine Gun Squad Leader stared: "Is there a shortcut to success? If you want to be excellent, to stand out in the troops, you have to grit your teeth and persist!"

Wan Baoshan agreed: "Even if you can't reach Lu Yang's level, you should at least catch up to half of him, right? We're all from the same new regiment; he's now Assistant Squad Leader and can be promoted to Squad Leader next year."

Under the two's persuasion and the encouragement of others in the squad, Kong Long finally gritted his teeth and lifted an ammo box.

Although the process was extremely painful, the power of example is boundless.

To become as excellent as Lu Yang as soon as possible, he must give it his all!

Originally, Lu Yang was planning to ride over to Ding Tengfei's side to take a look.

After all, it's been so long since the lower company, and there's no news at all; taking a weekend outing to check would be fine.

But he didn't expect, while passing the Division's production base, to see Guo Yongwen in casual clothes at the gate.

"Comrade Guo, why are you here?"

"Hey, I should be asking you, why did you run over here?"

Lu Yang didn't hide it, telling the other that he wanted to visit his New Recruit Company comrades, and happened to be passing by.

But upon hearing that, Guo Yongwen's expression turned very strange, and he even advised him not to go.

"Why?"

"There's no why."

Guo Yongwen gave no explanation, but instead talked about his own reason for being here.

It turned out that the Regiment had arranged a job for Guo Yongwen's target inside the Division's production base.

The so‑called production base is actually a large fenced‑off Cai Di, a breeding area.

Many large units each have their own production tasks.

Some plant trees, some clear land, some grow vegetables, some raise chickens, ducks, geese.

Supposedly, the Navy also has logistics personnel who go out to sea to fish; it's literally a fisherman's paradise.

Self‑sufficiency is an old tradition left from the Eighth Route Army era, and it's why the troops' meals cost only about twenty yuan a day yet keep the soldiers well fed.

The vegetables they grow themselves and the chickens, ducks, geese they raise are not only trustworthy to eat, but also eliminate middlemen's markup, so cost concerns are minimal.

Guo Yongwen led Lu Yang inside; at a glance it was all kinds of Cai Di, with soldiers bustling about.

In the distance, a female comrade was feeding pigs outside the pigpen; seeing Lu Yang arrive, she smiled and set down her work.

"Ah, Lu Yang, you're here?"

"Hi, sister‑in‑law."

Wang Cuifen naturally knew Lu Yang.

The last time when thugs attacked outside, Lu Yang was the first to rush in.

At that moment, thanks to him swinging a stool and smashing that leader, otherwise Guo Yongwen would have lost a hand.

Suddenly, Lu Yang noticed a mismatched creature lying in the pigpen, entirely brown, bearing tusks...

"Wild boar?"

"Is this for some mixed breeding?"