Chapter 488: Blowing Hair, Drinking Blood, Cold-Eaten Rabbit Meat

"Panpan, you, you......"

Kang Changyi watched Chen Panpan squatting on the ground, already beginning to gut the wild rabbit, her hands covered in fresh blood, unable to speak.

Chen Panpan turned her head, her face still wearing that standard innocent smile: "Oh, that's how it is. My mother used to work at the meat-poultry farm, and when I was little I'd help out there, plucking chickens and ducks."

"My grandmother's from Sichuan-Chongqing; she used to sell cold-eaten rabbit heads back home and raised many rabbits, so I'm not scared of this."

After saying that, Chen Panpan turned her head back and continued busily removing the rabbit's heart and lungs.

The sight made people's scalps tingle and their whole bodies feel uneasy.

Although their explanation was reasonable, the contrast was too great, making it hard for them to accept this situation at once.

Always harmless to humans and animals, timid and fawning, the kid who used to worry about being bullied and would voluntarily wash the old soldiers' socks and underwear could, from a young age, slaughter chickens, ducks, geese and other poultry.

As a result, the soldiers of the Sixth Company could barely look at this, the former "company mascot".

"Thirty seconds have already passed."

Lu Yang's reminder rang in their ears.

Everyone hurriedly fumbled to squat down and pick up their knives.

Except for Zhou Kaidong and Wu Sida, veterans with strong inner resolve who could dive right in, the others still struggled to overcome their psychological fear.

Knives hovered over the rabbits' necks, trembling, unable to strike; especially when they saw the rabbits' pitiful gazes, they grew even more reluctant.

"Instructor, I really can't bring myself to do it......"

Ding Tengfei's face showed difficulty; after hesitating a moment, he shouted a report.

Just when everyone thought he, unable to bring himself to do it, wanted to voluntarily withdraw, he said something astonishing.

"Instructor, I really can't bring myself to do it; this is too cruel."

"So what?"

"So, could I first knock it dead, then use the knife?"

"......"

Lu Yang fell silent for a moment, thinking Ding Tengfei still had a bit of dark humor, and so nodded his agreement.

Ding Tengfei grabbed the rabbit's ears with one hand, covered his eyes with the other, saying sorry while he swung hard at the ground.

"......"

Seeing this, Ma Qing'an, Pan Yuan, and He Zhen Tao all turned their heads to look at Gao Feng.

As if asking, "Is this the soldier you trained?"

Saying they didn't dare, yet when they swung they showed no hesitation.

With Ding Tengfei taking the lead, those who didn't dare to slit the rabbit's throat with a knife also began to follow suit.

First knock the rabbit dead or unconscious, then when they acted they wouldn't feel such strong guilt.

But the laughable part was, Kang Changyi had just knocked the rabbit unconscious, then when he went to slit its throat and bleed it,

because he kept being afraid to really strike, the knife sawed back and forth, painfully waking the rabbit.

As the rabbit seemed about to break free, Kang Changyi yelled, lifted it up and slammed it down again—like smashing a firecracker—making Lu Yang unable to watch.

Another guy, in the process of swinging the rabbit, lost his grip; the rabbit on the ground flipped and ran off.

Apparently from the intense fright, the rabbit ran at extreme speed; that soldier, crawling and stumbling behind, could not catch up.

In the end, he could only return, dirty-faced and panting, having accomplished nothing.

"Instructor, the rabbit got away—what do we do?"

"Cold dressing, you're out."

Thus, of the ten people, only nine remained.

They were racing against time to gut the rabbits, skin them and remove the tendons.

Aside from Chen Panpan, almost everyone was killing a small animal for the first time.

The slimy feel, the foul smell of the organs, and the hands stained red with blood continually stimulated the senses, driving the heart rate up.

Especially, being able to clearly feel the rabbit's internal temperature and directly see its beating heart made the physiological discomfort even worse.

Outside the drill field, crowds of soldiers had gathered to watch, some holding buckets, others holding rags and brooms; watching Kang Changyi, Ding Tengfei and the others' clumsy moves, nobody spoke.

If it were them instead, there's no guarantee they'd do any better than those nine.

Some even thought they might quit outright because of their soft hearts.

Liking to eat rabbit and actually killing a live rabbit, then skinning and gutting it, are two completely different concepts.

Ma Qing'an and Gao Feng, one with hands in pockets, the other arms crossed over chest, engaged in a spontaneous discussion.

"Catching the rabbit isn't the goal, killing the rabbit isn't the goal—training courage is the ultimate aim."

"A soldier who never sees blood is forever no different from a raw recruit."

"This is a necessary step on the path of growth; someday, when they truly step onto the battlefield, they won't be so frightened by blood and corpses that their legs go weak and they can't walk."

"However, that kid Chen Panpan really impressed me; since joining the Navy, he's changed the most, his execution is strong, and he's completely different from before."

"Find the right path, find the right method, put in the effort and success will come naturally; this is great—we're all progressing and growing, so in the future we'll be able to stand firmer, stand higher, and go farther!"

"Time's up!"

Lu Yang called a halt.

Everyone immediately stopped and stood up.

But not everyone had completed the task Lu Yang assigned.

Skinning the rabbit is a technical job; most people trying it for the first time find it hard to finish.

Even Chen Panpan, who had experience slaughtering poultry, ended up tearing the rabbit's hide to shreds, far from intact.

Lu Yang scanned the crowd; most wore unnatural expressions and their breathing was uneven—mainly because it was their first time seeing blood, with blood still on their hands.

"How do you feel?"

Well, alright...

Everyone answered rather reluctantly.

Lu Yang: "Then, shall we play another game, okay?"

Okay!

Except for Chen Panpan, everyone else remained silent.

Because everyone has gradually grasped the pattern, the difficulty will surely increase step by step.

Lu Yang smiled at the cheering Chen Panpan, then said to the others: "You didn't speak, I'll take that as your agreement, right? The next item is called cold-eaten rabbit; as the name suggests, cut off a piece of rabbit meat the size of a fingernail cap and swallow it."

"Don't worry, although these are wild rabbits, they have been pre-fed with deworming medicine, so you don't need to worry about parasites."

Now, everyone's faces changed; even Chen Panpan finally panicked.

As a genuine Sichuan-Chongqing person, Zhou Kaidong naturally has eaten cold-eaten rabbit before.

But this way of eating, he has never heard of it, and he really can't bring himself to eat it.

On the ground, the skinned rabbit's muscle texture is clearly visible.

It looks quite ferocious, like a hairless big rat, its bloody appearance makes people unable to bring themselves to touch it.

Seeing no one move, Lu Yang simply stepped forward, took the lead with a knife to cut off a piece of bloody rabbit meat, tossed it into his mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed.

This scene made the onlookers' hairs stand on end; the four words "blow hair drink blood" instantly came to mind.