Chapter 346: What Is a Scout?
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation
“Quick, quick-”
Outside the camp, on the last few hundred meters of the road, a row of people holding guns were jogging slowly along the road together.
Even though the squad leader kept urging them, it didn’t help much.
Their feet couldn’t move any faster, and they could hardly lift them off the ground.
Scouts weren’t made of iron either.
Although everyone had only covered about eight kilometers in cross-country this morning.
But the two kilometers of armed swimming at the beginning really consumed a lot of energy.
Moreover, they were still wearing wet clothes and shoes, carrying nearly thirty kilograms of equipment and backpacks on their backs.
So far, Wang Ye was panting heavily, not to mention the others.
They were all gritting their teeth and hanging on with sheer willpower.
But at this moment, there was a sound coming from the other side of the road.
Wang Ye and the others turned their heads to look, and then, a row of leaders shouted even more fiercely: “Quick… run, run!”
“All! Charge!”
In an instant, the group of people felt a surge of energy, and their originally heavy legs suddenly gained new strength.
Because it was the third squad.
In fact, not just the third squad, after running another hundred meters ahead, another team appeared on the right side of the road.
The second squad had arrived too.
“Charge!”
“Brothers, we can’t… can’t make it alone, come on… charge!”
No need for further words, at this moment, the people from all three squads were like they had been injected with chicken blood.
Even though they were exhausted, in this moment, they were squeezing out the last bit of their strength.
Of course, even so, their speed didn’t increase by much.
But they were really giving it their all.
Wang Ye had even snatched the guns of two soldiers from his squad by now.
“Come, grab my backpack!” Wang Ye turned around and, in the brief moment of catching his breath, spoke to the soldier behind him who had just had his gun taken away by him.
No… no need!” The soldiers from the back of the line shook their heads in refusal.
The gun had already been handed over to Wang Ye for help, and he couldn’t carry the backpack and the gun at the same time; it just wasn’t something he could do.
Even though he was the only private in the squad, he still cared about his image.
After all, he was one of the best among the trainees at the Division Training Camp this year, which was why he could enter as a private.
“Don’t talk too much, hurry up! And… you too, Luo Yong, come up here!”
Wang Ye couldn’t afford to speak long sentences now; there was no time to catch his breath.
“Together, you… you guys grab our… our two backpacks!” The assistant squad leader joined in.
Immediately, Qi Zhenfei stopped struggling, and there was a little color on his face from the assistant squad leader’s slap.
One hand grabbed Wang Ye’s backpack, and the other hand grabbed the assistant squad leader’s backpack, while Luo Yong grabbed his backpack from behind.
Then, the two of them, with Wang Ye and the assistant squad leader, immediately sped up by another three points.
Others did the same; those with some strength left were helping their lagging comrades.
Some were holding hands, and some were using backpacks to pull them along. Together, they shouted from time to time, running towards the camp gate.
At this point, the first squad was the fastest, but the third squad had also moved to the middle of the line, while the second squad had lagged a bit, falling about ten meters behind the first and third squads, who had just come down from the hill.
Naturally, they were now trying even harder because it looked like they would definitely make it before eight o’clock.
The biggest problem now was not falling behind.
If they fell behind, they would have to do a two-kilometer duck walk as punishment later.
“Charge… charge-”
“Quick… brothers… brothers, hurry…”
When they were less than three hundred meters from the camp, Wang Ye and the others could already see it.
Outside the camp gate in front, Captain Jiangnan was standing there with a few people.
“Charge-”
“Keep… keep going!” Everyone shouted again, and their steps pushed forward with a bit more force.
In the short three to four hundred meters after they merged, they were actually even more exhausted now, and their voices when they shouted were weak.
Mainly, it was because the merger had caused everyone to explode instantly, using as much strength as they had.
Even Wang Ye, who was now as tired as an old ox, was running with someone, feeling half-dead from exhaustion.
But Wang Ye was also persisting.
Finally, in the last 300 meters, the first squad managed to run ahead of Captain Jiangnan with a slight advantage.
Needless to say, the second squad was naturally the last to arrive.
Although they were only about ten meters behind the first and third squads.
But at this moment, everyone was pushing themselves to the limit, and the mere ten meters felt like an insurmountable gap.
“Not bad, the first squad arrived at 7:56, the third squad was a bit behind, and the second squad had the worst performance. Second squad leader, remember to do the duck walk after dinner!”
Seeing the soldiers sprawled on the ground around him, Captain Jiangnan didn’t shout them up, but he didn’t let them rest either. He just said this.
In an instant, the second squad leader, who was sitting there like he had eaten a bitter pill, looked over with a weak response, “Yes!”
Losing was just losing, and in the reconnaissance company, this kind of thing was common, and internal competition was even more routine.
After hearing the second squad leader’s response, Captain Jiangnan smiled and looked around at everyone. Then he kicked a soldier who was lying down with his foot, “Alright, stop playing dead. Get up, let’s go to the cafeteria for lunch!”
Wu Jianfeng shouted.
Then, the deputy company commander, the clerk, and the communicator beside him all started to pull and drag, helping some of the soldiers who were really out of strength to stand up.
After stumbling and staggering, the soldiers of the second squad, who had run and then got up again, no longer had the aura of reconnaissance troops.
Each one seemed to be stumbling around like a drunken person.
“These lunatics, going out so early in the morning and coming back like this!”
It’s probably because they went hiking again. But why do I feel like 1 saw Wang Ye?”
There were two sentries at the gate, and although they were supposed to be on duty and not slack off while on guard duty, they didn’t move at the moment. They were just moving their mouths and making a little noise.
“I think I saw him too, and he’s a lieutenant. What’s going on?”
The two sentries were quite puzzled.
It hadn’t been even two months since the competition, and some military reports were still reporting on Wang Ye’s achievements. In such a situation, it was unlikely that anyone wouldn’t recognize Wang Ye.
However, they weren’t absolutely sure if it was Wang Ye they saw now.
After all, in their memory, Wang Ye was just a private, and he wasn’t even a reconnaissance soldier in the Division…
Wang Ye had no time to bother with the sentries’ confusion right now.
Because Captain Jiangnan was causing trouble again.
“What’s the matter with all of you? You better run. If you’re not enthusiastic even about eating, what can you be enthusiastic about? Hurry up and run. I’ll give you ten minutes. If you don’t make it to the cafeteria in ten minutes, breakfast is canceled!”
With one sentence, the exhausted group of people who had just finished running had to muster their strength again and push their legs forward.
The second company was a bit far from the main gate, even though they were now crossing back horizontally. But there were only ten minutes, and if they didn’t run, they definitely wouldn’t make it.
Fortunately, they had just had a brief respite, so they had some energy left to run again.
However, when Wang Ye arrived at the cafeteria, he was dumbfounded.
Today, the kitchen had already prepared meals and placed them on the tables for everyone.
They just needed to sit down and eat.
But when Wang Ye looked at the plate in front of him, which still had a whole piece of red meat oozing red juice, he was really taken aback.
The meat wasn’t entirely bright red; there were some traces of searing on it, but those were very minimal.
If Wang Ye had to estimate the degree of doneness of this beef using Western cooking standards, it could barely be considered one-tenth done.
Wang Ye’s face turned a bit ugly.
In his two lifetimes, he had eaten beef steak at least medium-rare.
The beef Zhang Ping’an had given him in the fourth company was even braised to the point of being thoroughly cooked.
“But what’s this stuff now?”
“Hehe, can’t handle it?1
ii
Beside him, Ge Hui, the squad leader, had been paying attention to Wang Ye.
After all, he was a newcomer, and Ge Hui felt responsible for taking care of him.
Seeing Wang Ye sitting there in a daze, Ge Hui smiled and looked over, opening his mouth.
His words made the others, who had already started devouring their meals without a care, also turn their attention to Wang Ye.
Qiu Shuang, in particular, had a piece of beef in one hand, chopsticks in the other, his mouth was full of food, and even red juice was dripping from the corners of his mouth.
Looking at Wang Ye, he spoke with a mouthful of food, “Eat… Wang Ye, the taste… the taste is actually pretty good, eat more… you’ll get used to it after a couple of meals!”
“Just close your eyes and eat… eat, don’t worry about whether it’s rare or well-done, just swallow it!” On the opposite side, Qi Zhenfei said the same thing, with his mouth full of food, as he looked at Wang Ye and mumbled.
These guys were like starving ghosts.
Of course, Wang Ye was hungry now too.
Since last night until now, after going through such a high-intensity training just now, it would be strange if he wasn’t hungry.
But looking at them biting into the meat with red juice oozing from their lips, Wang Ye found it hard to put the meat in his mouth.
“What’s the matter? Can’t eat it?
■I
Suddenly, Captain Jiangnan came up from behind.
Wang Ye turned to look at him, not saying a word.
Captain Jiangnan continued in a serious tone, “We are reconnaissance soldiers. When we are out in the wild, not to mention having one or two pieces of rare meat to eat, at that time, even a piece of raw meat is considered a luxury.”
After a pause, he continued, “During wartime, we reconnaissance soldiers need to infiltrate deep into enemy territory alone. To avoid exposure, we can’t make fires. If we don’t have rations, we have to eat anything we see. Rats, snakes, insects!”
Saying this, he grinned, revealing a set of big teeth.
He slapped Wang Ye on the shoulder and leaned in, looking directly into Wang Ye’s eyes as he said, “Our all-around champion, Lieutenant Wang Ye, you can’t even handle this little thing, can you?”
At this moment, Wang Ye really wanted to punch him in the eye.
Such a basic motivational tactic.
But… he was also a man, and even more, a passionate man who had joined the military.
As basic as it was, the motivational tactic was effective.
“Hmph!”
Wang Ye snorted and didn’t care if he was the captain. He turned his head, reached out, and grabbed the piece of meat in his plate that weighed at least half a pound.
He brought it to his mouth and bit into it directly.
His right fist, which wasn’t holding the meat, clenched instantly.
At this moment, Wang Ye felt like he wanted to vomit.
He wasn’t used to eating raw meat, and when he bit into the meat that was at least one-tenth done, the moment the juice burst into his mouth due to his teeth biting together, he couldn’t stand the taste.
Even though he knew that this juice was called myoglobin in the mouths of some Western cuisine enthusiasts, he still felt like it was just blood.
*Gulp~
*
His throat moved, and Wang Ye’s face looked quite unpleasant, but he swallowed it.
Then, he quickly bit into another piece of meat and started chewing.
Well… the texture was really good, and the taste was still something he wasn’t used to, but immediately, Wang Ye picked up his chopsticks and quickly scooped up a mouthful of rice and side dishes, which made him feel much better.
“Haha, truly deserving of the all-around champion in the competition. Well… not bad!”
The hand on his shoulder patted him a few times, and then the person behind him walked away with a smile.
Wang Ye didn’t pay any attention to him, took the lead, and didn’t bother with the others.
He forced himself to swallow the food in his mouth, then closed his eyes, took another bite of meat, and continued to eat.
His stomach was indeed hungry, and he couldn’t afford not to eat..