Chapter 338: You

Kong Long laughed cheerfully, "Brother Lu Yang, these are all for you. Aren't you recovering now? These are just right!"

Lu Yang sensed a different flavor in their flattering smiles: "You two know full well I don't like drinking these things, yet you brought so many? Be honest—what trick are you playing?"

"Look, I'll say it: even if the two of us combine our brains, we still can't fool Brother Lu Yang."

Before Wan Baoshan could argue, Kong Long, blunt as ever, openly admitted it.

Wan Baoshan stepped hard on his foot, constantly trying to find a way to make up for it.

"Lu Yang, don't listen to his nonsense. What bad intentions could we have? It's just simple…"

"Simple what? Brother Lu Yang has already seen through it. What else is there to hide?"

"Kong Long, can you shut your mouth?!"

"Can't, can't, can't. I have to say, who's the fool— you or me; Brother Lu Yang is clever and resourceful, he saw through our little tricks the moment we entered, he just chose to expose us!"

Kong Long turned to Lu Yang and asked, "Right, Brother Lu Yang?"

Lu Yang's mind hadn't fully turned yet, but he nodded firmly with a resolute expression, his eyes sharp and steadfast: "Right, I knew it from the start. You can't hide anything from me!"

Kong Long clapped his hands, "Ha, ha, what was I saying? I said he already knows!"

Wan Baoshan slapped his own face, covering it with his hand while his head shook like a tambourine.

With his sharp eyes, how could he not see that Lu Yang was still being kept in the dark?

Originally, a slight detour and the two of them coordinating would have covered this up.

Now it's over; they can't hide it!

Sure enough, the old saying holds true: strong limbs, simple mind!

"Sigh......."

Wan Baoshan sighed helplessly; under the teammate's reckless outburst, he could only honestly confess, "Our intention was indeed good—we wanted to help speed up your recovery."

"We just hoped that after you're discharged and return to the unit, if someone asks how you recovered so well, so quickly…"

Lu Yang cut in, "So you're saying it's because I took your protein powder, creatine, vitamins?"

Kong Long thumped his thigh, "Exactly, exactly—that's the point, that's the point!"

"I refuse."

"Why?"

"Because it's a lie. I don't take those myself, and my quick recovery has nothing to do with them."

"I know, which is why I brought some samples for you to try, right?"

Lu Yang casually grabbed a can of protein powder from the table, glanced at the production date, manufacturer, and the ingredient list.

He suddenly recalled the small packets of fitness supplements confiscated from Zhang Tifa earlier; that guy had said the seller was a burly bald strongman.

Back then he suspected that Kong Long's brain alone couldn't have devised this; Wan Baoshan must have been involved too. Now it seems confirmed.

"Tell me honestly, are the two of you secretly running a small business in the unit, selling these fitness nutrition supplements?"

"Um......"

The two stammered, their expressions awkward.

Lu Yang asked again, "Do you know that the unit strictly forbids soldiers from engaging in any commercial activities? Also, do these nutrition supplements have proper certification, are they produced by legitimate factories, and are the channels and quality guaranteed?"

A barrage of questions slammed at him, causing Kong Long's brain to freeze, and he fumbled for ages without being able to answer.

Wan Baoshan, fearing a misunderstanding, could only answer truthfully: "Lu Yang, since you already know, we won't hide it any longer. This matter, our Company Commander and Instructor actually know about it."

"Although they don't fully support it, they don't oppose it either; on one hand, because our operation is small, the quantity and amount are limited, we only trade among acquaintances."

"On the other hand, half of the profit goes to improve the company's meals, a quarter to repair barracks and infrastructure, and the rest is our hard‑earned wages."

Lu Yang was surprised: "Your company is really short of money?"

Wan Baoshan chuckled wryly: "Given your question, in the Special Third Regiment, aside from your Sixth and Seventh Companies which are proper elite units, which other company isn't short of cash?"

"First Company farms vegetables, Second Company raises chickens, Fourth and Fifth grow fruit trees, Eighth and Ninth produce a lot of manure, which is sold to fertilizer plants for organic fertilizer…"

Lu Yang's eyes widened; he really wasn't that familiar with these details and hadn't paid much attention.

However, the fact that the Eighth and Ninth Companies produce so much did make him a bit uneasy.

But since the conversation was serious, he could only press his lips together and cover his nose and mouth with his hand.

Wan Baoshan continued, "The unit does forbid commerce, but what we do is at most self‑sufficiency, so strictly speaking it isn't a violation."

Kong Long added, "As for these supplements, we source them from trustworthy old brands, established factories; the quality is definitely fine. I've been drinking them for years, and many people in our circle do too."

"Actually, when you first earned a first‑class merit, we wanted to approach you, but we were tied up with preparation drills. Now that we have some downtime, we hoped you could help us advertise, to promote the product."

Realizing he had wrongly blamed them, Lu Yang felt a bit embarrassed.

If it's self‑sufficiency that helps the unit solve problems, that's a good thing.

But the two trying to swindle him into free advertising is still a bit excessive.

Lu Yang set the protein powder down: "Alright, I'll start drinking it gradually, see how it works. If I test it and see some effect, I'll later help promote it for you."

"But promotion comes at a cost…"

Wan Baoshan's face fell; there wasn't much to give to the Company in the first place.

At most during meals, each table gets an extra chicken or maybe some drinks.

Now they have to share with Lu Yang, so they make no profit at all—just losing money while shouting.

All because of Kong Long, the big fool, his mouth as slack as the crotch of cotton pants, not tight at all!

Lu Yang: "The price is that everything on the table belongs to me. No extra fees may be charged to me. No problem, right?"

The two paused, then instantly burst with joy, lunging to tightly hug Lu Yang.

"No problem, no problem, not a single issue, thank you! If I may say, you shouldn't be a first‑class merit recipient, you should be a special‑class merit; you have such great vision and generosity!"

"Brother Lu Yang, you're literally my god, you're so great! From now on, you'll be our brand ambassador, our image spokesperson!"

Wan Baoshan felt a bit better, but when Kong Long's huge arm came around, it squeezed Lu Yang so tightly he could barely breathe, almost suffocating.

"Alright, alright, let go, let go, I'm about to be strangled to death by you two......"

"Release, release, my hand......"

The same suffocating feeling was felt by Ding Tengfei on the training ground at this moment.

Earlier, he had been pursuing at full speed an enemy sniper who had taken out two of our fire points.

But he didn't expect to lose track of him in a moment of carelessness; while he was searching, he was suddenly ambushed from behind and had his neck clamped by an arm.

Ding Tengfei collapsed onto the ground, his neck tightly constricted, his face turning flushed from lack of oxygen, and he could only flail his hands and kick wildly in struggle.

It wasn't until the smoke‑sensing device above his head was forcibly triggered, spewing smoke, that the opponent finally released the locked arm.

"Cough, cough, vomit......"

Ding Tengfei rolled over, lying on the ground, inhaling deeply while violently dry heaving.

He grabbed the opponent's trouser leg and angrily demanded, "You, you want to kill someone, using such huge force?"

The sword‑eyebrow, star‑gazing sniper turned his head, expressionless, and said, "The force used for killing is far greater than this."

Ding Tengfei's mind instantly sparked like a short circuit, and he immediately caught on.

"You, aren't you a soldier of the 441 Regiment?"

"Who are you? Which unit are you from?"

Ding Tengfei recalled something Lu Yang had told him before.

A soldier who has fought on battlefields and killed is on a completely different level from regular troops.

Earlier, on this guy he truly felt a crushing pressure born of sheer strength.

It was as if the opponent only needed a single thought to easily snap his neck or strangle him to death.

"You're already dead; there's no need to know."

"Since I'm already dead, you don't need to hide; when this exercise ends, everyone will know."

"Zhencha Daitui."

Ding Tengfei's face was shocked; hadn't it been said the opponent was only from the 441 Regiment? How did the Zhencha Daitui get involved?

None of these guys are soft; they're almost all elite, and some have even seen combat and killed enemies.

No wonder I had no chance to fight back against this guy; now it sounds reasonable.

Ding Tengfei hurriedly asked, "How many of you came?"

Lan Li gave no answer, turned and left.

"You're impressive!"

"I know."

"But you're far inferior to the person I know."

"......"

Lan Li stopped, turned back and looked at him.

He knew the person Ding Tengfei mentioned was Lu Yang.

He also knew Lu Yang was injured and couldn't take part in the exercise.

That was Lu Yang's regret, and also his own, because in a previous mission he was once again outpaced by Lu Yang.

Lu Yang received one of the highest military honors, a First‑Class Merit Medal; Lan Li, however, only fired two shots from afar and earned a third‑class merit.

Ding Tengfei resorted to provocation: "You're strong, but far behind my brother Lu Yang. If he came, you wouldn't even block a single move!"

Lan Li: "Even if he came, he wouldn't be my opponent; he relies on luck, I rely on ability."

"Nonsense, he has both strength and luck!"

"Provocation doesn't work on me."

"I will abide by the exercise rules; I'm already dead, can't reveal any more information. I just want to know, how many of you came?"

"One squadron."

Lan Li, with his gun slung on his back, quickly vanished into the woods.

Leaving Ding Tengfei alone, he sat dumbfounded on the spot.

A squadron of over a hundred elite reconnaissance soldiers entered the battlefield, their destructive power extraordinary.

Especially, the recon troops within the Zhencha Daitui are selected from the bottom as the most elite for cultivation.

Don't be fooled by the single company size; the combat power they can unleash is enough to equal a battalion, even more.

Ding Tengfei removed his helmet, punching the ground in frustration: "Brother Lu, if you were here it would be better; if you were here, you'd have foreseen this group's appearance and surely thought of a countermeasure."

"Over a hundred elite recon soldiers, and the Regiment hasn't noticed yet; this battle is going to be hard to win!"