Chapter 93: Buy Big, Buy Small, Settle and Let Go (Extended)

"Subject!"

"Various stances, Gun-Pivot Aiming fire!"

"First drill, standing Gun-Pivot Aiming, one hour!"

Guo Yongwen's voice hit the ground, and more than thirty trainees instantly lifted the guns in their hands.

The stock rests in the shoulder hollow, the right cheek pressed against the cold barrel, expression focused and solemn, eyes locked on the sight's reticle and the distant target.

Lu Yang is an outlier; his barrel is a segment shorter than everyone else's.

Moreover, he has no sight, so he can only use mechanical aiming.

That is, the so‑called eye, front sight, reticle, target—a single line.

Company Commander Guo Yongwen did not give him special treatment just because he can quickly disassemble and reassemble the Type 81 Automatic Rifle.

Because for any excellent shooter, this is basic basics, and even a few veterans present can do it.

Reality is not a military drama, nor a brain‑dead Soldier King novel; you won't be singled out just because you disassemble weapons quickly.

Lu Yang's early excellence was limited to the New Recruit Company; he was merely the best‑growing among his batch of raw recruits.

But once he left the New Recruit Company's gentle comfort zone and his competitors became veteran Non‑commissioned Officers, his advantage faded.

Especially in this sniper training unit, those sent here—even a chatterbox who likes to act goofy like Wan Baoshan—are top of their company.

Therefore, Lu Yang must adjust his mindset and be ready to be "treated differently."

Because he must learn the real stuff here to prepare for the upcoming lower‑level unit's fundamentals.

Suddenly, Lu Yang's muzzle dipped forcefully, his arm muscles tensing instantly, preventing his shoulder and the gun from dropping.

Guo Yongwen attached a 1 L field water bottle—filled to the brim—to his muzzle.

"Do you know why I'm putting a water bottle on you?"

Wan Baoshan and the others shifted their sidelong glances toward Lu Yang.

Instinctively they felt this was a deliberate targeting, trying to force him to leave on his own.

Lu Yang's features tightened, clearly straining, yet his arms powered to hold steady.

"Got it!"

"Say?"

"The Type 85 Sniper Rifle, with a sight attached, weighs about 8.5 jin! The Type 81 Automatic Rifle itself weighs 7 jin!"

"Yo, looks like you've actually read a lot of books, you remember it quite clearly?"

Guo Yongwen teased playfully, his tone just like Zhou Kaidong once mocked him as a 'bookworm.'

Then he tapped his muzzle with a finger, signaling him to maintain the posture.

Guo Yongwen wasn't deliberately targeting him; he added the load to Lu Yang for training balance.

The Type 81 Automatic Rifle is over a jin lighter than the sight‑equipped Type 85 Sniper Rifle, meaning he'll expend less effort than others in the same drill—where's the fairness in that?

"Being sent here by the Company Commander shows you're superior to your fellow new recruits."

"I know you have backbone; since you don't want special treatment, show me your real skill!"

"Two days: if you can endure all the veterans' training, I'll let you use the Type 85 Sniper and permit live‑fire training with it!"

"But if you can't endure it, you must honestly stick with your Type 81; that shows you aren't qualified to learn how to become a sniper yet!"

"Yes!"

Lu Yang roared extremely loudly.

Spittle sprayed out, splattering Guo Yongwen's face.

It made him uncomfortable, he wanted to kick Lu Yang twice, but ultimately he held back his irritable temper.

Because Lu Yang isn't a troublemaker and hasn't done any explosive acts; such absolute obedience leaves no excuse for reprimand.

In the unit, they don't punish the diligent, don't punish the lazy, they only punish the short‑sighted...

Standing Gun-Pivot Aiming with a water bottle attached is new knowledge and a new experience for Lu Yang.

The system naturally provides feedback, helping him accelerate improvement of all shooting‑related abilities.

But this training process is many times more agonizing than the sniper aiming in the New Recruit Company.

Only those who have gone through the training unit understand why veterans always mock the New Recruit Company as a 'preschool class.'

Before coming here, Zhou Kaidong led their Gun-Pivot training, usually starting at fifteen minutes and at most twenty‑something minutes before letting them lower their arms to rest.

Just like that, new recruits would whine incessantly, shouting that their arms were about to break, that they wanted to divorce their newly‑wed wives.

But here, standing Gun-Pivot training starts at one hour, then kneeling, sitting, and prone each for an hour.

During the process, the commander and deputy commander will devise extra tricks.

Lu Yang's muzzle has a water bottle attached, adding load to train arm muscle strength.

Veterans like Wan Baoshan place upright shells on the muzzle tip, training precise control of muscular strength.

If anyone shakes during training and the shell falls, sorry, everyone gets an extra fifteen minutes.

Sometimes they even stack two or three shells like building blocks on the front of the muzzle; any slight sway nullifies the effort.

Thus, a one‑hour standing Gun-Pivot drill stretched to a full one hour forty‑five minutes before ending.

When it ended, the veterans wailed continuously, all complaining with each other.

"Spicy neighbor, did you over‑do the hand‑rush shooting last night, your hand's damn weak now?"

"It's almost over, and you still manage to shake the shells off, making us add extra time for no reason!"

"Wan Baoshan is the biggest fool, dropping that damn thing, stinky and noisy, making us laugh and the shells all fell!"

During the break, Lu Yang sat aside, smiling as he watched the veterans bickering and playing.

Although no veteran excluded or despised him, his newcomer status made him a fresh arrival.

Wanting to instantly become one of them was clearly unrealistic.

After all, Lu Yang hasn't even undergone proper live-fire shooting training yet.

But thinking about it, it's actually kind of interesting—he hasn't hit a stationary target, but he's pretty good at shooting a wild boar running at full speed.

Lu Yang's throat felt dry; he unscrewed his canteen, about to take a sip, when he noticed Guo Yongwen squatting not far away on the curb, chewing grass and basking in the sun, giving him a nasty, sidelong glance.

As if waiting for something funny to happen?

Lu Yang froze for a moment, then lowered his head to glance at the canteen's opening.

As expected, what was inside the canteen wasn't water at all, but full of sand.

No wonder it felt off earlier—sand of the same volume is much heavier than water.

Lu Yang just stared at him, raised the canteen, and slowly tipped the mouth downward, pouring out all the sand.

Seeing his plot fail, Guo Yongwen's eyelids twitched; he had wanted to tease the other side, but instead ended up getting a spiteful retort.

Especially, when Lu Yang poured the sand onto the ground, he even dragged a horizontal line, as if he were mourning him.

Deputy Squad Leader Cheng Jun's mouth was twisted from laughing, he slapped his thigh and kept saying, 'Pay up, pay up!'

Guo Yongwen's face turned green; reluctantly, he pulled out half a pack of cigarettes and slapped it hard into Cheng Jun's hand.

He muttered things like, 'You must have packed too much sand in there; otherwise you wouldn't have been caught.'

It's obvious this wasn't Guo Yongwen's solo work; it was a bad idea cooked up by a few old timers.

But Lu Yang was sharper, so he didn't fall for it.

If it had been Kong Long or Ding Tengfei instead—those two lack any guile—

By now they'd probably have turned into a human shotgun, spitting out a mouthful of sand.

At the same time, Lu Yang saw Wan Baoshan over there, actually arranging to collect 'favors' from others!

In other words, this bunch were taking him as a bet, launching a round of 'buy big, buy small, place your bets and hands off'?

Before, he only thought Zhou Kaidong was a bit wicked and devious, often messing with them.

Only now did he realize that the veteran soldiers were basically all the same—full of nasty tastes.

Stuffing sand into bottles, hiding cockroaches in pockets, digging a hole in the ground to piss in—aren't these just kids' games?

Grown adults like this, still so childish...

"Hehe, Lu Yang, we've struck it rich!"

Wan Baoshan came running over, a pile of steel coins and paper money cradled in his hands, grinning from ear to ear.

Lu Yang glanced at it—looked like only twenty or thirty bucks—could that make him this happy?

Wan Baoshan praised Lu Yang a couple of times, then said, "Don't say I won't look out for you, fellow veteran—after training tonight, let's hit the commissary; I'll set you up with a deluxe meal!"

Lu Yang: "Deluxe meal?"

Wan Baoshan raised his chin and gave him a clicking tongue: "Forgot your New Recruit Company has no commissary—you'll find out when I arrange it later! It's absolutely an otherworldly treat; you wouldn't even want to toss it away after a slap!"

Lu Yang was actually quite curious—what kind of deluxe meal could have such appeal?