After wildly swinging the wooden stick around to confirm that two snakes had escaped and no other venomous snakes were hiding in the shadows, the instructor finally reached down to pull up Ji Jiangyuan and the others. Of course, his main focus was on helping the other male students, as Ji Jiangyuan and Xiong Baiyan could climb up on their own using the leverage provided.

The three bloody snakes still lying at the bottom of the pit served as a stark reminder of the danger they had just faced.

Xiong Baiyan was particularly regretful. While he had been correct in saying there were no large wild animals in the area, he had forgotten that the more remote a location, the more likely it was to harbor venomous snakes. Chasing after a wild chicken, all three of them had fallen into a snake pit. If Zhou Cheng and the instructor hadn’t arrived in time, who knows when the venomous snakes might have lost patience and attacked!

“Instructor…”

Xiong Baiyan looked embarrassed. The instructor was so angry he wanted to slap the boy right back into the pit.

The instructor first gave all three of them a severe scolding, even cursing, before waiting to see how Zhou Cheng would handle it. What could Zhou Cheng say? The instructor was deliberately scolding them for Zhou Cheng’s benefit!

“After the field training ends, you’ll run 20 laps around the track!”

They couldn’t even gather firewood in this area – beyond the woods was all grassland. Zhou Cheng couldn’t be bothered to question them further; running laps was the simplest and most effective punishment.

Twenty laps meant eight kilometers!

Many people could barely lift their feet after today’s field training. Even Xiong Baiyan, with his track and field background, felt his legs weakening at the thought of running another twenty laps.

“Zhou—”

Xiong Baiyan wanted to argue with Zhou Cheng but remembered how Zhou Cheng had just saved them and swallowed his words.

Zhou Cheng walked ahead alone, with the instructor following behind, constantly nagging. Ji Jiangyuan unusually didn’t talk back. Xiong Baiyan nudged him, “Old Ji, were you scared?”

“No, I’m thinking about those three shots Instructor Zhou made earlier.”

Xiong Baiyan was confused. If Zhou Cheng could hit the center of distant targets, surely hitting three snakes at close range wasn’t particularly impressive.

Different fields truly were worlds apart. Ji Jiangyuan explained it bluntly:

“Well, I couldn’t do it!”

This wasn’t shooting at stationary targets. The Ussuri mamushi moves at high speed. Zhou Cheng’s first shot hit a stationary snake, the second one had already changed position, and the third snake was unexpectedly sliding away. In that extremely brief moment, it required exceptional comprehensive skills! The precision and judgment… Ji Jiangyuan practiced combat shooting, but that wasn’t the same as actual combat. This situation was real combat, and while he had previously thought he could match Zhou Cheng, today he realized he was far behind!

Moreover, what Zhou Cheng had demonstrated might not even be his highest level of skill.

For Zhou Cheng, supervising military training for a group of students must be like child’s play.

Zhou Cheng was here because of student Xia Xiaolan – this secret was known only to Ji Jiangyuan, besides the parties involved.

Xiong Baiyan was skeptical. In his view, Ji Jiangyuan was already impressive enough, so to hear him admit defeat was surprising.

The instructor chuckled: “Captain Zhou just couldn’t be bothered to make a big deal of it. You university students might be brilliant at studying, but Captain Zhou annually… never mind, there’s no point telling you this. Better think about how you’re going to run those 20 laps when we get back! When Captain Zhou gives his word, it’s set in stone. Even if you have to crawl, you’ll complete those 20 laps!”

Zhou Cheng entered the woods with a stern face and returned looking no better.

He came back alone first.

The campsite was noisy, but no gunshots had been heard. When Xia Xiaolan saw the instructor leading Ji Jiangyuan and the other two back, she knew they must have done something wrong. Whatever had happened, Zhou Cheng must have resolved it.

Indeed, after eating slightly undercooked rice and overly salty boiled cabbage, before breaking camp to depart, Zhou Cheng again emphasized the discipline of not leaving the group.

Going up the mountain was easy, coming down was hard. When they climbed up in the morning, everyone was energetic, reaching the campsite by noon.

Now they had to return the same way in the afternoon.

Though their stomachs were full, walking on blistered feet was excruciating.

Some female students started crying halfway down.

No matter how good their grades were, they were only seventeen or eighteen years old, with the youngest freshman being just sixteen.

They could endure academic challenges, but physical hardship was different.

Moreover, for these top students, studying wasn’t necessarily all hardship – solving difficult problems brought a sense of achievement and enjoyment. They were more adept at mental challenges, and few had experienced this kind of physical suffering.

Xia Xiaolan could handle it!

Despite appearing the most delicate, while everyone else’s skin had darkened considerably during military training, Xia Xiaolan showed the least change.

Looking delicate but possesses formidable physical strength and willpower.

“Xiao-Xiaolan, aren’t you tired at all?”

Chen Yiyi, nicknamed “Little Seven” in their dormitory, was a girl from the Jiangnan Watertown region. She always spoke softly and had a quiet personality, maintaining a low profile in the dormitory.

If others didn’t speak to her, Chen Yiyi would usually be absorbed in her world, and no one could guess what she was thinking about. It was rare for Chen to show concern, and Xia Xiaolan nodded vigorously:

“Exhausted!”

But she had to persist even when tired – she couldn’t let others carry her back.

Although several female students could no longer continue without support from others, Xia Xiaolan was accustomed to not troubling people.

Zhou Cheng watched from behind, worried about his wife falling while feeling immensely proud.

Xiaolan had said everyone should strive to be excellent, and she was living up to those words.

Did this mean Xiaolan had to excel at everything? Her outstanding performance in military training came from her efforts to adapt and persevere. Zhou Cheng was deeply moved, not just by Xiaolan but by other students too – like among the male students, where two companies had major conflicts, and their instructors had even fought publicly, but now they were helping each other walk. When one male student sprained his ankle, it was the students who had previously been in conflict who carried him.

Cowards weren’t necessarily forever weak.

Intelligent people could have surprisingly impressive specialties.

Since military training began, Zhou Cheng couldn’t help but ponder about these Huaqing students.

Though he was the chief instructor, it seemed he was also being “trained” in a way.

Instructor Li approached, “We have two female students who performed exceptionally well this time. Can’t we have more than one outstanding graduate for each gender?”

Instructor Li was referring to Xia Xiaolan and Ning Xue.

Ning Xue needed no explanation – she was this year’s Huaqing freshman representative. The teachers at Huaqing had said she was promising material who definitely wouldn’t disappoint during military training. From childhood to now, Ning Xue has always been first in everything. What surprised Instructor Li was Xia Xiaolan – he had thought someone as delicate-looking as her wouldn’t last, but over these ten-plus days, Xiaolan had proven to be exceptionally outstanding!

Moreover, Xia Xiaolan’s spirit now was different from when military training first started. Instructor Li felt particularly accomplished, feeling as though he had transformed a delicate girl into a pre-service female soldier!