The next day, five in the morning.
The sky was still pitch black, and the Cheetah Special Forces Brigade’s dormitory area was silent.
Suddenly.
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
Several clear and loud gunshots broke the tranquility of dawn.
The sound was like it exploded right next to their ears.
“Ah!”
Screams rose and fell in the female guests’ dormitory.
Guan Xiaotong shot up from her bed, her heart pounding non-stop.
“What’s wrong? What happened? Is it war?”
The lights in the dormitory were frantically turned on.
Several female guests were groggy, their faces filled with terror.
“Emergency assembly! Everyone, to the training ground!”
Outside the dormitory corridor, Instructor Lu’s cold roar came, accompanied by urgent whistles.
Only then did the female guests realize that this was not an exercise, but a surprise training.
For a moment, the dormitory was in chaos, a complete mess.
People were looking for clothes, putting on shoes, bumping into each other, a scene of utter confusion.
By the time they stumbled out to the training ground outside the dormitory building.
Many were still disheveled, their hair messy.
On the training ground, Lu Mingyu stood like an ice sculpture.
He stood there expressionlessly, holding a stopwatch.
His gaze, like a sharp sword, swept over every late-arriving female guest.
“Emergency assembly time, five minutes.”
His voice was not loud, but it sounded exceptionally clear and exceptionally cold on the empty training ground.
“Look at yourselves, how long did you take!”
“The slowest one, seven minutes and twenty seconds! Are you here for an outing?”
Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to meet his gaze.
Guan Xiaotong panted heavily, bravely explaining:
“Reporting, Instructor, we… we were just putting on clothes, it was too sudden…”
Lu Mingyu didn’t even glance at her.
He took out a thin manual from his pocket and held it up.
“Entry Manual, given to you on the first day, one for each person.”
He asked coldly, “Has anyone read it?”
There was silence in the ranks.
Guan Xiaotong guiltily lowered her head and whispered:
“…Haven’t had time to read it yet.”
Lu Mingyu’s lips curved into a sarcastic arc.
His clear, cold voice sounded again, calling out two names and two times.
“Gu Lina Zha, time taken, one minute thirty seconds.”
“Bai Lu, time taken, one minute thirty-five seconds.”
He raised his eyes, his gaze finally falling on Guan Xiaotong’s face.
“Answer me, do those two not need to wear clothes?”
Guan Xiaotong’s mind buzzed, and her whole body froze.
She instinctively turned her head to look at the front of the line.
Gu Lina Zha and Bai Lu were standing ramrod straight.
Their combat uniforms were neatly worn, and their tactical belts were impeccably fastened.
Their expressions were solemn, as if they had been ready all along.
One minute thirty seconds?
From the gunshots to the assembly, it only took one minute thirty seconds?
Guan Xiaotong’s eyes were filled with disbelief.
How was this possible?
Gu Lina Zha and Bai Lu, whose names were called, both blushed involuntarily.
Under everyone’s surprised or envious gazes, they instinctively straightened their backs.
Guan Xiaotong’s gaze swept back and forth between the two of them, her mind full of huge question marks.
Lu Mingyu seemed to see through everyone’s thoughts.
He closed the thin manual and casually put it back in his pocket.
“Entry Manual, page three, second rule.”
His voice had no fluctuations, as if he was stating a fact unrelated to himself.
“During emergency assembly, one must sleep in clothes. This is to cope with any possible sudden situations.”
He paused, his gaze sweeping over Gu Lina Zha and Bai Lu.
Gu Lina Zha had previous overnight stay experience before entering the camp.
And she had seriously read the manual, so she remembered this rule and always slept in her clothes at night.
As for Bai Lu, her father was a soldier, and she had been influenced by him since childhood; this was a habit ingrained in her bones.
Guan Xiaotong’s face alternated between green and pale, so ashamed that she wished she could disappear.
Lu Mingyu withdrew his gaze, no longer looking at them.
He turned and gave an order to Zhou Chenguang, the team member behind him.
“Go, get the backpacks, one for each person, twenty kilograms.”
Zhou Chenguang was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood Instructor’s intention, and quickly turned to prepare.
Soon, heavy tactical backpacks were placed in front of the female guests.
“All present!”
Lu Mingyu’s voice sounded again, carrying an undeniable authority.
“Five-kilometer armed cross-country, starting now!”
“Finish within half an hour, the last one gets no breakfast!”
The female guests looked at the backpacks, which were taller than half their bodies, and their faces lost all color.
Yang Zi and Zhang Zifeng, who were slightly weaker physically, already felt their legs trembling.
Zhou Chenguang walked to Lu Mingyu’s side, lowering his voice, still a little worried.
“Captain, won’t this be too harsh?”
“Especially Guan Xiaotong, I’m afraid it will be too much stimulation.”
Lu Mingyu’s eyes remained cold, looking at the dark track in the distance.
“I just want to stimulate her.”
His voice was very soft, but it carried a sense of certainty.
“If I don’t grind away her pamperedness and self-righteousness, she will never know where she went wrong.”
Zhou Chenguang said no more; he knew that what Captain decided would not change.
At Lu Mingyu’s command, the female guests gritted their teeth and put on the heavy backpacks.
The weight pressed on them, almost making them unable to straighten their backs.
Guan Xiaotong said nothing; she used all her strength to heave the backpack onto her back, the straps digging deep into her shoulders.
She didn’t cry out in hardship, nor did she complain, but just bit her lip tightly and was the first to rush out.
That shame and unwillingness, at this moment, all transformed into the power to run.
Half an hour later, the sky was already faintly lit.
At the finish line, a figure stumbled across.
Then she fell to the ground, gasping for air.
It was Guan Xiaotong.
She was actually the first to reach the finish line.
Lu Mingyu looked down at his stopwatch: twenty-nine minutes and fifty seconds.
He walked in front of Guan Xiaotong, looking down at her.
“Not bad, you have a spirit of not giving up.”
This was the first time he had praised anyone today.
Guan Xiaotong lay on the ground, sweat and tears mixed together.
She raised her head, looking stubbornly at Lu Mingyu, her eyes for the first time without resistance.
Instead, there was something unexplainable.
Lu Mingyu only glanced at her before shifting his gaze.
He instinctively glanced at Gu Lina Zha, who was still persevering in the line.
He was afraid, afraid that his girlfriend would be jealous because he looked at someone else for an extra moment.
Although he knew that Gu Lina Zha was not that kind of person.
At nine in the morning, training ended.
The exhausted female guests finally arrived at the cafeteria.
The cafeteria’s breakfast was exceptionally rich: white rice porridge, meat buns, boiled eggs, and several refreshing side dishes.
Gu Lina Zha, Bai Lu, and Guan Xiaotong’s trays also had an extra box of milk.
This was a reward for their excellent performance this morning.
Several female guests sat together, devouring their food.
Yang Zi mumbled softly while drinking her porridge:
“Is that Instructor Lu schizophrenic?”
“During training, he’s like a living Yama King, and now he’s giving us extra food.”
“Yes, yes,” Zhang Zifeng echoed.
“He even praised Guan Xiaotong just now; I thought I misheard.”
Guan Xiaotong silently drank her milk, saying nothing.
