Ye Jian knew better than to ask why he had chosen her. The army had its own reasons for selecting her.
She listened to Xia Jinyuan’s instructions quietly. When he finished speaking, Ye Jian nodded lightly, “All right, I will pay attention to him.” after a pause, she added, “That’s it. I’m leaving. Bye.”
She turned around immediately after saying goodbye, with no hesitation at all!
Xia Jinyuan raised his hands to straighten the brim of his military cap. The faintly discernible smile on the corner of his lips seemed like a gentle breeze stroking the surface of the water and was about to vanish instantly.
Did the girl see me as a dreadful monster?
Xia Jinyuan jumped into the car that had arrived beside him. From the rear-view mirror, he saw the backs of Grandpa Gen and Ye Jian shrinking further away. Eventually, they disappeared from his view.
The noise of the car vanished among the trees. As Ye Jian entered the military camp, she turned around and looked at the meandering road on the mountain. All she could see was the luxuriantly green forest and some birds flying beneath the blue sky dotted with white clouds.
In the military camp, every soldier they encountered would salute to Grandpa Gen with the utmost respect.
Ye Jian behaved herself and followed Grandpa Gen closely. She didn’t look around or ask questions out of curiosity. She acted like she had visited the military camp many times.
“Soldiers of Squad Five, ask your leader to prepare the roster of the soldiers who have been receiving training. I’m going to test them tomorrow night.” Grandpa Gen ordered the soldiers in front of him with an extremely serious look on his face. Every word he said contained an unquestionable authority.
Suddenly, a series of deafening gunshots were heard from the front.
Ye Jian, who had been keeping her head low, raised her head abruptly. Her heart was beating at a rhythm similar to those gunshots. It seemed like something had awakened from deep inside her and was about to break free.
“It’s gunshots. The soldiers are conducting shooting practice,” said Grandpa Gen. He motioned for the soldiers to leave and turned sideways to look at Ye Jian, smiling. “I will show you the shooting range next time. Today, I’m going to take you to another place.”
But their destination for today was in the same direction as the shooting range. They didn’t stop walking until they arrived before a room guarded by soldiers. It was the firearms room where the soldiers with ordinary-level clearance could access only twice a week.
PRECISE AND PROFESSIONAL, WITH PROFOUND COMPREHENSION.
The slogan was hung in front of the firearms room. Every soldier could read it as they entered and exited the room.
The moment Ye Jian walked into the room, her eyes lit up as if there were flames in her pitch-black pupils.
Ordinary people would have been frightened if they saw rows of black pistols glistening with cold and metallic incandescence in front of them.
As for Ye Jian, all she knew was that a desire was burning in her blood! It was a desire to become stronger. She was longing to touch them urgently!
She turned around and looked at Grandpa Gen behind her. With a bit of an excited quiver in her clear voice, she asked, “Grandpa, can… can I touch them?”
A voice was shouting in her head, telling her to reach out her hand to pick up one of those guns glowing with chill light!
She wanted to hold it. She wondered what kind of sensation it would be like when a bullet was fired from the gun!