Chapter 19
“Look in front of you. Your comrades are doing push-ups and getting punished. Do you feel good?” asked Wu Jianfeng with a straight face, not letting anyone off after shouting at them. With his hands behind his back, his words made the recruits below feel their scalps go numb.
The next moment, he commanded, “All of you, get down and do 100 push-ups. Hurry up!”
The veteran squad leaders immediately got down and roared at the recruits in their respective squads to follow suit. Though the recruits were helpless, they still did push-ups with tears in their eyes. Everyone in the army was eighteen or nineteen years old, had fiery tempers, and many were not honest children. However, the army wouldn’t allow a real fool to join it.
A wise man picks his battles, and doing 100 push-ups was better than 200 or 300. Therefore, the recruits quickly got down together under the shouts of their respective squad leaders forming a large group of people planking on the cement road in front of the dormitory building.
“Make it standard!”
“I told you to do push-ups, not to swing your butt.”
“Get down! Hurry up and do it.”
“Why are you bending your waist? Do you not know how to do push-ups? Do you even know how to eat?!”
Curses flew everywhere as the squad leaders yelled at their companies to make their recruits do their push-ups correctly.
…..
Curses and insults were everywhere, and the warmth and enthusiasm from the previous night had disappeared. The veterans were all harsh now, and many recruits labeled them as bastards and a bunch of assholes.
…
Wang Ye, who was also doing push-ups, tried to turn them into a skill. He successfully transformed push-ups into a skill
“Skill transformation successful!”
It was very smooth. The skill transformation was successful in an instant.
[Host: Wang Ye.]
[Strength: 0.9]
[Speed: 1]
[Stamina: 0.9]
[Vision: 0.9]
[Memory: 1.3]
[Reaction:1.1]
[Storage space: 1 cubic meter]
[Skills: Duplication Duvet Level 1 (5/10), Light 3km Off-Road Level 1(5/10), Push-ups Level 1 (0/10)]
With a single thought, Wang Ye was able to see the skill information for push-ups. However, leveling up required more than just doing a single push-up; he needed 10 experience points. Wang Ye had done over a dozen push-ups, but hadn’t seen any increase in experience. “I wonder how many more I need to do to level up a little,” he thought, but he couldn’t focus on it because he was still being punished.
The punishment mainly consisted of push-ups, which made Wang Ye’s arms a little sore. Although he had awakened the system, it hadn’t yet brought any substantial improvement because it had only been active for a short time and none of his three skills had been upgraded. Given his current physical fitness, it was fortunate that Wang Ye had been training frequently for more than a month. Otherwise, he might not have been able to finish a hundred push-ups given that the original body had been sitting and surfing the internet every day without exercising his physical fitness.
As time passed, some of the new recruits had begun to lose their strength. While a hundred push-ups might not be a lot for a soldier or even a warm-up for some veterans, for these new recruits it was a challenge. Among them were those with good physical fitness from sports schools, like Wan Baojiang, who could finish 300 push-ups if he wanted. But there were also those whose physiques were not as good and who struggled to keep up.
Passing the physical examination didn’t mean that the person’s physical strength was good. These were two different things.
As a result, the curses around everyone became even more vicious. “If you can’t do a hundred push-ups, why are you even a soldier? Go home and be a young master!” shouted some. Others yelled, “Hurry up and move! I don’t need trash in my company! Even a hundred push-ups won’t do. If you’re not even trash then your shit!”
The orders were clear: “Don’t stop, move!”
…
The new recruits were enduring a double torture of their bodies and minds, doing push-ups while enduring the scolding of the veterans around them. Despite the hardships, many of them felt a flame burning in their chests. They remembered why they had joined the army and knew that leaving wasn’t an option, especially since they were far from home and didn’t know which way to go even if they wanted to leave.
One of the recruits from Squad Five, who had completed 50 push-ups, asked quietly, “What should we do now?” Gu Yingnan urged them to continue, while Wang Ye glanced at them but said nothing.
In Class Five, Deng Hai was the first to be singled out and had to do 100 push-ups. Wan Baojiang had to do 300 push-ups, while Wang Ye had to do 100. The rest of the students only had to do 50, which was the initial order, and the company commander hadn’t targeted them.
Now that they had finished, the students from Class Five didn’t dare to get up. Gu Yingnan urged them to continue, but Wang Ye just glanced at them and ignored them. He looked at his skill list again and saw that his proficiency in push-ups had increased by one. However, he didn’t know how many push-ups he needed to do to gain one experience point. He estimated that it was around 50 push-ups.
Wang Ye did some calculations and realized that if he only gained one experience point for every 50 push-ups, he could level up in an hour if he had enough time to rest and repeat the exercise. However, he knew that he didn’t have an hour of free time in the military camp. Feeling helpless, he continued to do push-ups.
Suddenly, Ye Sanshi, one of the veterans, spoke up and said, “If you say 50, then 50 it is. If you’ve done 50 push-ups, you can get up!”
Gu Yingnan and the other students from Class Five looked at each other, and then Song Yuejin was the first to stand up. Soon, all of the students who had finished 50 push-ups, except for Wang Ye and the other two who still had more to do, stood up.
Ye Sanshi squatted beside Wang Ye and asked, “Are you convinced?” Wang Ye had already done more than 70 push-ups and his hands were a little sore, so he decided not to do anymore. He took a few seconds to catch his breath and then replied while panting, “Class monitor… Do you want to hear the truth… or do you want a lie?”
“Nonsense, of course I want the truth!” Ye Sanshi replied, curious about what Wang Ye had to say.
A smile appeared on Wang Ye’s face, which was slightly flushed from his exercise, “The truth is that I’m a little unconvinced, but I’m also convinced!”
“Oh?” Squatting beside Wang Ye, Ye Sanshi revealed an interested expression. “Tell me what you mean. Also, don’t stop!”
“Yes, sir!”
Wang Ye had rested for a few seconds. When he heard what the other party said, he immediately pushed down again.
After getting up again, Wang Ye said, “I’m a little unconvinced. I mean what I said. I know that in the army, obeying orders is the most important thing. Even if the order is wrong, you have to obey it.”
Ye Sanshi was surprised by Wang Ye’s answer and asked, “Did someone in your family serve in the army?”
Wang Ye replied, “Yes, my great-grandfather fought against the Japanese and was captured by the national army.”
Ye Sanshi was speechless.