Chapter 302: No matter who you suspect, you can't suspect the strong-army old fellow!

Beep, beep-beep-beep-beep—

The piercing assembly whistle blasted in the pitch-black forest.

The recruits jumped up from the ground in fright, scrambling over to assemble.

Just as they formed ranks, a beam of flashlight shone toward them, dazzling them so they couldn't open their eyes.

Some saw black spots before their eyes from the glare and almost instinctively raised their arms to block.

But as soon as they raised their arms, the veteran roughly knocked them down, shouting, "What movement? Who told you to move? Can't you stand in formation?"

After the recruits finally struggled to adjust to the bright flashlight, Gao Feng coldly smirked, walked up to them, and swept the flashlight beam across their bare, hairy legs one by one.

"Look at your behavior, look at you like this—do you even look like soldiers?"

"......"

The recruits dared not speak, but felt extremely stifled inside.

Somehow, after a night's sleep, their pants collectively disappeared.

But perceptive soldiers like LiMin had already realized they'd been played by the veterans.

But they never expected the veterans to go this far—actually stripping them of their pants entirely.

But they didn't understand why they hadn't noticed anything during the process; after emergency assembly drills, they should have gained some alertness, so this shouldn't have happened.

Gao Feng sternly rebuked: "You lot didn't even notice when someone took your pants. If war broke out now, what would you use to fight the enemy?"

"Or do you want to march onto the battlefield with your bare backsides? Haha, you're literally a bunch of bare-assed soldiers!"

The recruits' faces flushed red; they involuntarily clenched their buttocks, their hairy legs trembling in the cold wind.

Gao Feng coldly said: "I don't want to waste words—everyone drop down now, do three hundred push-ups in place, then ten minutes of leg lifts, after which find the instructor to get your pants back!"

The recruits lay down one after another, but a stubborn few remained standing.

"Report, I object—you're deliberately messing with us!"

"If this were real combat, we definitely wouldn't sleep so soundly—I won't accept this punishment!"

Gao Feng chuckled, never expecting that after three months, when they were about to be deployed to a company, there would still be a hard-headed kid stepping forward.

This kid had previously kept quiet and gone unnoticed; it seems Lu Yang's method is still quite effective.

"What's your name?"

"Report, I'm QiDelong!"

"Don't you also have a younger brother named Long Dongqiang?"

"Report, my younger brother is Qi Dongqiang; he also enlisted, but was assigned to a different western unit!"

"Very good."

Gao Feng approached him, poked his shoulder with a finger, and said: "This lesson isn't testing your alertness, nor is there any reasonable or unreasonable—there are only two words: obey!"

"This is the first lesson I teach you after enlistment; it's also the two words every soldier should remember most!"

"If you think it's unreasonable, you can come see me privately after it's over to raise your doubts, and I'll answer them. But right now, your conduct is insubordination!"

QiDelong's chest rose and fall as resentment welled up inside him.

Gao Feng pointed at him: "I'll give you a chance—lie down and honestly finish the punishment, and we'll drop this. If I count to three and you're still standing, everyone will do six hundred push-ups and twenty minutes of leg lifts."

"I, I just won't accept it!"

The soldier named QiDelong looked tall and big, like a tough nut.

But inwardly he wasn't as strong as his appearance; after shouting those three words at the top of his lungs, tears immediately streamed down.

Gao Feng didn't respond, just began counting down: "3......"

LiMin stood behind him; seeing things were going badly, he quickly grabbed him and pushed his head down.

"Brother, I know you object, but you'd better comply now, or else all of us will suffer because of you."

"Don't you remember how when one person gets sick the whole group gets shots? We're a collective—even if we're about to be deployed to a company, we're still a collective for now."

Under LiMin's persuasion, the frank, big guy finally hit the ground at the last second, doing push-ups while wailing.

Tears and snot littered the ground as he kept saying, "I'm not wrong, I'm not wrong, I'm just not wrong," while doing them.

The veteran squad leaders stood aside, silently watching, and found the kid's personality rather interesting.

This lesson actually has two purposes; the first is alertness.

Before the three-day, two-night march began, Gao Feng had repeatedly emphasized that this was a drill simulating a real march.

During it, everyone was required to heighten vigilance, stay fully alert, and imagine being dispatched to the front lines to support the battlefield.

Originally, the Training Section's plan was indeed to take the recruits' rifles while they slept, then lightly punish everyone.

But after Lu Yang received this item, he found the content too rigid and flat, so he changed it to having strong-army locals pose as enemies.

In other words, if what Lu Yang put into the thermos had been poison instead of a sleeping draught...

... this entire company would have been wiped out during the march.

For that reason alone, Gao Feng's punishment of them is wholly justified.

Because they lack brains, let down their guard, and delay the fighter jets.

Furthermore, this adjustment also added a touch of absurd fun to the evaluation process.

A group of recruits who usually put on a stern facade wake up to find their pants completely gone—a sight that's hilariously funny, and thus serves as an amusing anchor point in this otherwise dull and tedious march.

Years later, when some of these recruits have been discharged and others have become veterans, they can still clearly recall that training march the night before they were assigned to a company.

During the march they ran into two enthusiastic strong-army lads, ate and drank their fill, slept a night, and woke up to find their pants gone.

After the punishment, the recruits were exhausted, drenched in sweat, with leg muscles sore beyond belief.

At least they got their pants back on.

The only pity is that they might not be their original pairs.

During a brief rest, someone asked about LiMin.

Brother Li, what the hell is going on? You said the veteran soldiers would sneak in and take our guns while we slept, but how did it turn into pulling down our pants?

Uh......

LiMin was momentarily unable to answer.

He had indeed memorized the standard answer by rote.

But who knew the topic would suddenly change, leaving him also somewhat caught off guard.

Moreover, we didn't notice anything throughout the whole process—it's utterly unbelievable!

You guys say, could there have been drugs put in this fried noodles?

Impossible, I saw the Company Commander and them also eat it, and nothing happened to them.

Could it be that the food from the strong-army locals has a problem? You guys say, is there a possibility......

Don't talk nonsense!

As soon as this idea was raised, LiMin shot it down.

Fish-and-water relations between military and civilians, the strong-army locals and our unit help each other and complement each other—how could they possibly harm us?

Besides, their stuff is so affordable, hot water is free; even if we get an upset stomach, we can only blame our own weak guts.

From now on, don't randomly spout such talk that harms military-civilian unity; it's bad influence, got it?

Others awkwardly touched their noses; they were just speaking off the cuff, not really thinking along those lines.

Besides, those two young guys look fine; they don't look like bad people—how could they possibly drug him?

Just when everyone was racking their brains and still couldn't figure out where the problem lay...

LiMin suddenly thought of something: 'I know, I know the reason!'

Come on, spit it out!

It's miasma; there must be miasma in the woods, which lowered our alertness!

The veterans originally wanted to take our guns, but finding none of us awake, they switched to pulling down our pants!

As the senior of this batch, LiMin's words quickly gained agreement from many.

This logic then made sense, and it had a certain plausibility.

Moreover, doing something like spur-of-the-moment pants-pulling is exactly the sort of thing those mischievous veterans would do.

QiDelong chimed in from the side: 'You say, when those veterans were pulling down our pants, wouldn't they take the chance to yank a little chicken?'

Everyone fell into silence, instantly feeling unclean: '......'

Meanwhile, in the small van parked one li away...

Gao Feng and He Zhen Tao opened the car door and climbed in.

Lu Yang was already waiting in the vehicle: 'Both commanders, how did it go?'

He Zhen Tao chuckled: 'These kids are still reviewing over there, racking their brains but can't figure out what the problem is.'

Gao Feng shook his head and sighed: 'They're still too naive, lacking social experience; but speaking of which, who would suspect the strong-army locals? Your trick is basically entrapping the veterans—you'll get them every time.'

Hahaha, then we'll keep it, and use it in training to entrap the veterans later.

Well, I'll thank you on their behalf first!

What's next, and how should we cooperate on our end?

Next up is a simulated artillery barrage attack......

I know, this is still an old project; the Training Section has done it before. What we mean is, what have you turned this item into with your tampering?

Lu Yang made a check mark on his chin, grinning wickedly, and said: 'I plan to simulate an artillery barrage attack when they're at their most vulnerable, to test their rapid response in sudden situations.'

Gao Feng and He Zhen Tao exchanged glances, and even Kang Changyi only half understood: 'Their most vulnerable moment?'

Lu Yang asked: 'When are people at their most vulnerable?'

Asleep.

No.

Then when is it?

When taking a dump.

The three of them collectively fell into silence.

At this moment, they felt this wasn't a new recruit assessment.

It's basically hell week, damn it—probably no worse than this.