Chapter 20: Squad Leader, You

"Subject, march in step and halt!"

"When you hear the command for the goose‑step, kick your left foot straight ahead about 75 cm!"

"The leg must be straight, the toe pressed down, the sole flat against the ground, about 25 cm off the ground......"

In front of the Shengqi Tai, on the cement ground, Squad Leader Zhou Kaidong is demonstrating how to goose‑step.

Goose‑step, quick‑step, and run are called the three major marching styles.

Like equipment inspection, roll call, cross‑stand, halt‑turn methods, it is also part of formation training.

It is a basic skill every soldier must master and will recur throughout their military career.

Although Lu Yang had, before enlisting, received guidance and practice from his older brother and his comrades, it was only a brief run‑through, not even the basics.

Fairly speaking, Zhou Kaidong's goose‑step is far, far better than the one his older brother and the others walk.

Not only are his eyes sharp and his foot thrust crisp, the sound of his shoe soles striking the cement is resonant and powerful; his movements flow like clouds and water, pleasing to the eye.

They say a soldier's quality is judged by the solidity of his fundamentals, and this holds true for Zhou Kaidong, a third‑term veteran.

Lu Yang is convinced that the Squad Leader is definitely a Soldier King in their old unit, at worst an elite.

"Did you see the movements clearly?"

"Now, you all do it once."

After the demonstration, Zhou Kaidong steps back a few paces to create distance, letting the new recruits march goose‑step toward him.

"Stop, stop, stop, what a mess, start over!"

He orders another take, but Zhou Kaidong remains dissatisfied.

He even bluntly says they look like a flock of newly‑hatched ducklings, absurdly funny.

Even though Lu Yang walks seriously, when a whole squad does the goose‑step together, if anyone lags even slightly, the overall impression suffers greatly.

One, two, three times, everyone's legs go numb, yet they still fail to meet the Squad Leader's standards.

Especially Kong Long, whether due to a side‑task or distraction, accidentally stepped off the line.

Infuriated, Zhou Kaidong yanks off his hat and hurls it at him, shouting like a telegraph operator.

"I just can't understand, why is a goose‑step so hard? Are you all a bunch of pig‑brains?"

"Your formation training is still not sorted out; are you proud of yourselves?"

"Look at Sixth Squad, look at Eighth Squad; they've already started teaching the next material!"

"Can each of you have some dignity, can you spare me some effort, can you?!"

"Can!"

"Can what the hell!"

Facing the chorus of responses, Zhou Kaidong still shows no pleasant expression.

In training mode, he is like a vicious stepmother, utterly unreasonable; even the heavens would have to take two slaps.

Privately, he is a completely different person, able to joke and much more easy‑going.

Lu Yang even suspects the Squad Leader suffers from severe schizophrenia.

Otherwise, how could he switch between two personalities so smoothly?

Zhou Kaidong roars: "Talk is cheap, fake moves; 'can' isn't shouted, it must be backed by real action!"

"It's fine you didn't get last week's Moving Red Flag for internal hygiene, after all your level is that lousy."

"But you must bring me a Moving Red Flag for military training, understood?"

"Yes!"

The Moving Red Flags in the unit are divided into three types.

They are for internal hygiene, military training, and conduct discipline.

Last week's internal hygiene inspection saw Third Squad's overall performance mediocre; although Lu Yang's personal hygiene was decent, it only represented him.

The Moving Red Flag assessment evaluates the whole squad's average level; a single standout cannot affect it.

Originally, Lu Yang hoped that during Monday's hygiene check, he could help tidy up the poorly‑maintained blankets.

He wanted to see if a last‑minute scramble could let other squads compete, but Zhou Kaidong stopped him.

The reason was simple:

If you help them, they'll become dependent, expecting you for everything, and won't work hard on their own.

Being a soldier isn't about slacking off, and you certainly shouldn't just put on a show for a Moving Red Flag.

If you can't be grounded as a person, you'll never go far in the army.

Lu Yang, the Squad Leader knows you mean well, but good intentions must not be abused.

Being a soldier is a discipline, and being a Squad Leader even more so; if you ever become a Squad Leader, you'll understand what I mean.

At that moment, after hearing Zhou Kaidong, Lu Yang's mind opened instantly, and he sighed at the hardships veteran leaders face.

In fact, veteran Squad Leaders also have their own evaluation system: the Moving Red Flag.

The more Moving Red Flags a Squad Leader collects, the easier they are to be awarded excellence after basic training ends.

As for why Zhou Kaidong didn't mention the conduct discipline Moving Red Flag,

it's because of Ding Tengfei; that flag may remain out of reach for Third Squad for a long time.

Zhou Kaidong gave a simple command to straighten the formation and solemnly said: "Soldier, temper yourself into steel! If one try fails, do ten; if ten fail, do a hundred!"

"If we can't get past this, the rest of us won't need to learn anything; we'll just grind it out here!"

"If you still can't walk properly later, I'll have you practice step by step, one command, one movement!"

Hearing the words "one command, one movement," everyone—including Lu Yang—instinctively felt fear.

Not long ago they had just endured it; it was like a nightmare.

The so‑called one‑command‑one‑movement means one command, one action.

In plain terms, it means training them frame by frame like a freeze‑frame animation.

The most terrifying part is that after Zhou Kaidong shouts a command, he becomes mute.

The recruits can only stand in a single‑leg, arm‑swinging posture, maybe for two minutes, maybe five, or even ten minutes.

To avoid such torture, the entire Third Squad took it seriously this time, even the lanky Ding Tengfei became a bit solemn.

Although he feels no belonging to this squad, he has no identification with being a soldier at all, and even his enlistment was forced by his family.

But experience taught him, and during these days in confinement he thought a lot, realizing he might have been too high‑profile.

He now just wants to drift, take things as they come; he doesn't want any discomfort, let alone have the veterans repeatedly mess with his mindset.

Under Zhou Kaidong's almost harsh demands, this round indeed yielded far better results than before.

The only disharmony is Ding Tengfei's kick, always half a beat slower than the others.

"Ding Tengfei, your kicking motion is a bit slow; keep up with the rhythm. Do five more rounds, then we'll let everyone drink water and rest."

"Listen to the command, turn back, march… go!"

…

During the break after dismissal, Lu Yang went to use the toilet.

The Flag Platform is closer to the Shushe lou than the Da cesuo at the training ground.

The most important thing is that the hygiene is much better than the Da cesuo, since too many people go there.

Even though it's quite cold now and someone cleans daily, the raw vigor of hundreds of teenage boys is still painfully glaring.

It might be tolerable during the day, but especially at night, Lu Yang always has to hold his breath and rush in to take care of business.

So by comparison, the toilet inside the Shushe lou is a mess of clean hygiene.

Lu Yang stood on the steps, sliding the lock to prepare to open the gate and release water, when Zhou Kaidong suddenly walked in from outside.

Then, soaking wet, he stood beside him, making Lu Yang feel completely uncomfortable.

WTF?!

Don't you know the basic etiquette of restroom socializing?

Don't you know that men have to keep a distance when they pee?

Then that's an offense!

Lu Yang first chuckled softly, then teased, "Squad Leader, you're a bit heated; you need to drink more water."

Zhou Kaidong's eyelids twitched: "Good kid…!"

After finishing, Lu Yang felt a thrill of revenge.

He was about to slip away when Zhou Kaidong called him back, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and slapping it into his hand.

"Take it."

"Squad Leader, I don't smoke?"

"It's not for you to smoke; it's for you to give to someone else."

Seeing Lu Yang's confusion, Zhou Kaidong led him to the outer corridor, pointing toward the distant Flag Platform.

In the direction he pointed, the Third Squad's rest area was clearly visible, with one person standing apart.

That person was Ding Tengfei.

In the two days Ding Tengfei was absent, everyone got along harmoniously and lived comfortably.

Ding would come back whenever he felt like it, and because of his unlikable temperament, being isolated was only natural.

Zhou Kaidong said, "No matter how unlikeable Ding Tengfei is, he's still part of the Third Squad; you're all one unit. Do you get what I mean?"

Lu Yang glanced at the cigarette in his hand and asked, "You want me to talk to him?"

Zhou Kaidong hummed, "It's clear this kid holds a grudge against me, has objections; if I talk to him, he'll definitely not listen."

The Instructor also did some ideological work, but he was mostly perfunctory.

"After all, you and he are fellow villagers and both Conscripts, so it's easy to find topics."

Lu Yang asked, "What if I try and it still has no effect?"

Zhou Kaidong patted him and said, "Just give it a try, a dead horse is treated as a live one. If it really doesn't work, the next company can only assign him to the production base to raise pigs; there he can cause trouble to anyone he wishes."

The unit's production base basically requires no training; daily life is just raising pigs and planting vegetables.

It's called a hell for good soldiers and a paradise for slackers.

Only truly hopeless Conscripts are assigned there when they drop to the next company.

But Lu Yang knows that the Ding Tengfei of now would most want to go there.

Relaxing for two years, eating and drinking well without training, and once his Conscript term ends, he'll leave quickly.

However, at least until then, he must not let him affect the Third Squad's honor, nor hinder his own training progress.

The system must constantly learn new knowledge to double‑boost physical attributes; being stuck in this limbo makes Lu Yang uncomfortable.

"I'll give it a try."

"Mm."

Zhou Kaidong patted him and then left first.

Lu Yang lowered his head, glanced at the water stain on his sleeve, and his eyelids twitched.

Is that thing water or urine? Did the Squad Leader wash his hands after coming out earlier?

Originally, Lu Yang intended to tuck the item into his pocket, but a cigarette pack in his trouser pocket would be too conspicuous and would affect training.

After thinking, he decided to put the item back in the Shushe lou and then return to the training ground.

But just as he took his first step, shortly after the Company Commander and Instructor followed from behind.

Holding a register and a plastic bag, they were ready to launch a surprise inspection of the quarters while no one was around.

Gao Feng thunderously declared, "This time, besides the quarters' hygiene, the focus is on checking for contraband!"

Damn it, last night on night patrol, there was a kid in the 7th squad who secretly hid under the blanket reading novels on an mp3, with such tiny text he's not afraid of ruining his eyes!

I want to see how much contraband we can find this time, especially those secretly hiding cigarettes and electronic products; once caught, they will be severely punished without mercy!

At lunch, they didn't see the Company Commander and the Instructor, which made the new recruits feel something was off.

As they were walking toward the dormitory building, they suddenly saw quilts being thrown out of the windows one after another.

They fell to the ground like free-falling objects, turning into one gruesome corpse after another.

Seeing this, the new recruits stared dumbfounded, then all turned in unison toward their respective squad leaders.

The squad leaders also felt their scalps go numb, instantly sensing that something big was wrong: "A surprise internal inspection!"

Zhou Kaidong turned his head to stare at the new recruits in his squad, his face deathly pale: "You guys, you didn't hide any contraband, did you? Don't mess with my head at a time like this!"

Lu Yang broke out in a cold sweat; earlier he had casually put his cigarettes in the locker, never expecting they'd suddenly do this.

By now they must have already been discovered!

Oh shit, this time it's probably more bad luck than good......