Chapter 404: I fuck your mother, you bastard!

Hiss!

Everyone sucked in a breath of cold air.

Xu Ce and Jiang Dahai were startled.

Even Lu Yang hadn't expected that Number Ten, who had been shouting and yelling at him earlier, would suddenly curse at the instructor.

"What did you say?"

"I said, I fuck your mother, you bastard!"

Tu Hongwei angrily pointed at Bai Yuan and let loose a string of hometown curses.

Even though he didn't like Lu Yang, he was still on their side, a teammate who had been oppressed and humiliated together.

He would never let Bai Yuan use him as a pawn over such a trivial gain!

In his eyes, the instructors who didn't treat them as humans and trampled on their dignity were the most hateful!

"You're rebelling against me, huh?!"

Lao Mao was fuming and about to go teach him a lesson, but Bai Yuan raised a hand to stop him.

After Bai Yuan's expression briefly stiffened, he returned to calm: "It seems you have a bias against me."

Tu Hongwei shouted back: "First, this isn't bias—it's disgust, revulsion, and anger!"

"Second, we are soldiers and have human dignity; we're not the rotten fish and shrimp you call us!"

"Third, I gave up a promotion chance in my old unit, watched my comrades fall at the finish line, and came here carrying the old unit's hopes!"

"I thought I'd be valued and get professional military training. Instead, you treat us like livestock, ordering us around, trampling our dignity and insulting our character!"

He pointed at the distant lighthouse and shouted: "Why do you instructors get a place to live, instant noodles to eat, mineral water to drink, while we have to sleep out in the wild and eat wild meals and insects?"

Bai Yuan: "This is part of the survival training."

Tu Hongwei roared: "As far as I know, wilderness survival training usually lasts only seven to ten days, but we've been stranded on this island for half a month!"

"By rights, we've passed the assessment, passed the extreme survival test, yet now we're just aimlessly surviving on this island!"

"I can't help but ask: is this really part of the training, or are you deliberately trapping us in this sea‑surrounded cage to satisfy your perverted desire for control and your twisted psyche?"

Tu Hongwei's spit droplets sprayed onto Bai Yuan's face.

Lu Yang saw this and thought that after so many days without brushing, the spit must reek.

He also roughly figured out the reason for Number Ten's extreme agitation.

After passing layer upon layer of selection, we came here from the regular forces with difficulty, expecting to be valued, only to be trampled underfoot like trash.

From the moment we enlisted, we were the regiment's finest soldiers, a model in others' eyes, yet here we became nameless rotten fish and shrimp.

This huge gap crushed Tu Hongwei's self‑esteem and left him seriously doubting his self‑worth.

Adding his arrival, the far‑beyond‑normal survival time, and the relentless harsh training, his body and mental defenses were gradually worn down.

But Lu Yang guessed that the survival training hadn't ended because they hadn't found that crucial key.

As for what the key is, he already had the answer in mind.

Now it all depends on Bai Yuan's attitude and how he will respond.

Bai Yuan didn't get angry at the other's arrogance; he simply glanced at him indifferently.

"This isn't your old unit; your old ways don't apply here."

"This deserted island is an ecosystem; here the rule is survival of the fittest."

"On this island, I stand at the top of the food chain, while you are at the bottom, so you must submit to my control."

"Of course, you can also choose to step out of this circle; if you can't endure it, you may quit at any time, and no one will stop you."

"You could go back to your old unit, clutching your milk bottle, and become whatever deputy company commander."

"I will absolutely not withdraw, and I could never bow my head to you!"

Tu Hongwei shouted at the top of his lungs: "I came here carrying my comrades' expectations, but he doesn't know this place is utterly rotten!"

Bai Yuan: "Then what do you want to do?"

Tu Hongwei: "I want to challenge you and prove that your so‑called top of the food chain is just a paper tiger, all bluster! People like you aren't fit to be instructors, and you don't understand what being a soldier means!"

Xu Ce urged: "Number Ten, don't act rashly."

Tu Hongwei waved his hand forcefully: "I'm not being impulsive! From the moment my comrade voluntarily forfeited, leaving me the sole promotion chance, I've wanted to do this!"

"What gives them the right to lord over us? What gives them the right to use a stopwatch to decide others' fates and trample their dignity?"

"I just can't swallow this anger today; I want to take back all the resentment I've endured over these two months!"

Bai Yuan: "What do you want to compete in?"

Tu Hongwei: "Let's compete in shooting! I know you have an 81‑bar rifle there, so let's compare that!"

"All right, what if you lose?"

"If I lose, I'll leave!"

"You'd better think it through; it hasn't been easy getting here, and after struggling this far you might be about to succeed—don't ruin your future on a momentary impulse."

Bai Yuan's well‑meaning reminder sounded to Tu Hongwei like sour mockery.

He leaned in close to Bai Yuan, almost nose to nose, and said through clenched teeth.

"I just want to take you down, I just want to beat you!"

"I want to make you lot, who are used to being high and mighty, open your eyes and see that the soldiers who come out of our basic units are never inferior to you special forces!"

Things having come to this, Bai Yuan stopped urging and told Lao Mao to fetch a gun.

Lao Mao hesitated a bit, shook his head at him, but was angrily scolded by Bai Yuan.

"Are you deaf? Go get the gun!"

"Yes!"

During the wait, Bai Yuan said nothing, just walked aside, lit a cigarette, and began to puff out clouds.

Tu Hongwei then crouched on the ground, picked up a berry and examined it carefully, then closed his eyes and gave a helpless, self-mocking laugh.

He picked up the scattered berries one by one from the ground and returned them to Lu Yang, saying sorry.

After his knot was undone, he became less irritable, and his expression softened considerably.

"Before, I had always been prejudiced against you; because you were forced in, I worried you would take up the already scarce living space."

"Over these past few days, I've found you're actually not bad; you train quietly, do your own things quietly, with no airs of a privileged class."

"Perhaps I was wrong, or perhaps...... forget it, it doesn't matter; Number Twelve, I'm not targeting you, I simply resent that they don't treat us as people."

"Number Nine, rest assured, I will win; I will vent this foul air for all the suffering and frustration we've endured these days."

Xu Ce helplessly tried to dissuade him, could only pat him encouragingly, not knowing what to say.

Jiang Dahai still wanted to speak but held back, his face showing more guilt.

Lu Yang bluntly said: "Give up, you'll lose."

Lu Yang actually appreciated this guy's frankness.

One who dares to get in a trainer's face and still be bold is usually straightforward, with little guile.

But someone who can't even control his temper will hardly achieve a high level of marksmanship.

For example, Lu Yang yesterday, while searching for food and water, encountered "obstruction."

He could have taken it by force, but he didn't, because there was no need to.

On this island, an ecological chain does indeed exist, but it's not that only the strongest fist can become the boss.

If Lu Yang were to act and break the balance, then each following day they would all fight over a scrap of food, ending up with broken heads and blood.

It's even possible that each day Lu Yang would have to be on edge, constantly wary of being ambushed while taking a dump.

Violence can sometimes quickly solve problems, but here it only expands the conflict, making the situation spiral out of control.

Facing Lu Yang's reminder, Tu Hongwei confidently shrugged: "You haven't seen me shoot, nor have they; our company commander is a sharpshooter who came out of the Yang Gen S Company, and I have inherited his true marksmanship."

"I've already won first place in precision shooting at three martial competitions; later I'll use my skill to teach him how to be a person, letting these instructors see what a sharpshooter king in the grassroots units looks like!"

Upon hearing that his marksmanship came from the true transmission of that legendary sharpshooter company, everyone instantly gained confidence.

Seeing Lu Yang that he was composed in his chest, he no longer tried to persuade him, thinking he must have some skill.

At that moment, Lao Mao had already come over with a Type 81 Rifle.

Bai Yuan finished his cigarette and walked over: "How do you want to compete?"

Tu Hongwei: "Two hundred meters, shoot wild fruit."

He picked up a berry about the size of a coin.

Just as he was about to find a place to set it down, Bai Yuan's teasing voice sounded.

"If we're going to play, let's play something exciting. How about shooting it while holding it in your hand?"

Tu Hongwei hesitated a moment: "Then let's compete!"

Bai Yuan: "Then I'll go first."

He walked toward the distance, stopping when he reached roughly the right spot.

Tu Hongwei looked at the berry in his hand, feeling inexplicably nervous.

He was afraid the other would shoot through his palm or break his fingers, in which case his military career would likely end here.

Tu Hongwei carefully extended his hand, exposing the berry pinched between two fingers, and slightly turned his head, not daring to look.

Suddenly, his fingers went numb, followed by the sound of a gunshot.

The berry burst open before everyone's eyes, turning into a mass of purple-red juice mixture.

Tu Hongwei's pupils dilated, his mind went blank, and his whole body stood frozen as if turned to stone.

Lu Yang narrowed his eyes, turned his head to look at Bai Yuan far away, who had hardly aimed, and with a casual shot hit the target; inside he inexplicably felt the urge to measure himself against him.