A Show of Force? Turning the Tables!

Why would a soldier still have to mind his hometown dialect?

The officer in front of them offered no explanation on this point, nor did he say anything else.

Without even introducing himself, he merely raised his wrist to check his watch and then uttered a single sentence.

"Let's go, time for lunch!"

The cafeteria was the same one Chu An and the others had visited every day, but the scene from just last night, when nearly two hundred people dined here together, was gone for good.

Even the four veteran cooks from the mess crew had been replaced.

They were substituted by two unfamiliar veterans.

Soon, the meal was over.

Chu An and the others were led back to their dormitory.

......

"Are these the results of your three months as recruits? Is this how your squad leader in the recruit company taught you?"

Inside the First Squad's former dormitory in the First Recruit Company, only ten minutes after Chu An and the others had returned from breakfast, the veteran whose name they still did not know threw a tantrum.

The reason was simple: right after bringing them back, he had ordered everyone to fold their quilts within ten minutes.

Now that the ten minutes had passed, he began his inspection.

As for the result, one could tell just by listening to the scolding.

Sun Dajiang, one of Chu An's fellow provincials, had the quilt he spent ten full minutes folding tossed straight onto the floor.

And Sun Dajiang, whose quilt had been thrown, didn't even dare to let out a fart; he could only lower his head and stand by the edge of his bed.

At this moment, everyone else stood by their beds with solemn expressions, not daring to utter a sound.

Inside, Chu An couldn't help but exclaim silently: What a guy!

Old Wang had truly foreseen this!

Look at that, the first words out of this squad leader's mouth were: Is this how your recruit squad leader taught you?

He wondered if his fellow provincial's squad leader had given him any warning about this.

"Go and apologize to the quilt!" Suddenly, the veteran glared and roared at Sun Dajiang once more.

Sun Dajiang's expression instantly turned awkward.

Apologize to a quilt!

Some recruits in the recruit company had seen it, and others had heard of it, but he had never done it himself.

When squads were first assigned, some squad leaders would indeed pull this kind of stunt.

There were even more perverted ones; Chu An had once witnessed the squad leader of the neighboring Fifth Squad making his recruits coax a quilt.

Yeah, not apologize, but coax it!

His squad leader claimed his quilt was heartbroken from being folded like that, and demanded that the recruit hold the quilt in his arms and pace back and forth in the hallway like comforting a crying baby...

"S-Sorry!"

Sun Dajiang had never done such a thing before. Although three months had instilled in him the mindset that orders must be carried out, doing this for the very first time clearly lacked finesse.

Standing in front of the quilt, his speech was stuttering, and his voice wasn't loud enough.

"Is that an apology?

Where is the sincerity?

Where is your voice?

Where is your attitude?" the veteran roared.

His words were delivered with such a bellow that Sun Dajiang almost dropped directly to his knees in front of the quilt.

"I'm sorry, quilt, I was wrong!"

This time, he shouted out loud at the quilt.

At that, the veteran ignored him.

He moved on to the second person: "Is this your quilt?" he asked, looking at a soldier who had transferred from the Second Company.

The recruit's body trembled, but he immediately replied in a loud voice, "Report, yes!"

"Do you think you folded it well?"

"......"

The recruit didn't dare to make a sound.

A minute ago, he had felt his quilt was folded quite well, but Sun Dajiang's fate served as a warning.

The quilt Sun Dajiang had folded was no worse than his, yet what was the result?

Everything from the creases and corners down to the slightest smoothness had been heavily criticized.

"Humph, get ready for push-ups!"

Thinking he was being punished with push-ups, the recruit's expression relaxed as he hurriedly dropped to the ground.

After three months of training, push-ups were as simple as eating and drinking for them now.

However...

"Did I tell you to move?"

"Get down on your fists!"

With that roar, the veteran picked up the recruit's quilt and placed it squarely on his back.

"Keep it balanced! If the quilt drops, you can just stay in a push-up position until lunch!"

The face of the recruit who had just dropped down instantly turned bitter.

Fist push-ups!

And if he had to hold it until noon, he might as well not live.

The veteran, however, paid him no more mind and swept his gaze across the others.

Chu An frowned slightly after the veteran's gaze passed over him.

Was this really necessary?

A show of force to break their spirit?

The recruit company training was already over; they weren't fresh boots stepping into the military for the first time. What was the point of playing this game?

Soon, one recruit's quilt after another was tossed to the floor.

Yet, the unfortunate soul who had to apologize to his quilt remained the only one; everyone else after him was forced into fist push-ups with a quilt loaded on their backs.

Finally, the veteran arrived in front of Chu An.

When they were in the Fourth Squad, Chu An's bed had been the lower bunk of the first bed on the right as you entered the door.

This time, however, Chu An had seized the initiative and chosen the lower bunk furthest inside by the window.

Sleeping right by the door was terrible; besides everything else, being able to turn your head every day to see the gloomy face of the opposite squad leader just felt unnatural.

"So you're Chu An!"

Unlike before, when the veteran reached Chu An, he didn't immediately inspect the quilt, but instead looked straight at him face-to-face and asked.

"Report, yes!"

Chu An replied in a loud voice, opening his mouth wide enough that a bit of spit almost sprayed onto the squad leader's face.

The squad leader's face darkened even further on the spot.

He strongly suspected Chu An had done it on purpose, but he had no proof.

Tightening his jaw, he didn't wipe his face, but simply locked eyes with Chu An and demanded, "Is that how you used to speak to your squad leader?"

"Report, yes!" Chu An replied loudly once more, though this time he held back the saliva.

The veteran said nothing more, merely staring straight into Chu An's eyes. After about ten seconds, he suddenly barked, "Get down! Push-ups, ready!"

"Report, may I ask why?"

Chu An did not comply.

He wasn't lacking in obedience, but he wasn't lacking in temper either.

This veteran was acting like a big shot, and since no one knew his name or what his background was, he was pulling this power trip right out of the gate.

Chu An had no intention of spoiling him.

Of course, Chu An had grounds for his confidence.

Although they only had ten minutes, Chu An knew his quilt was exceptionally well-folded.

And the truth was, the veteran had actually glanced at Chu An's quilt earlier.

Finding no surface flaws whatsoever was precisely why he had resorted to this tactic.

"Didn't your squad leader teach you what a soldier's bounden duty is?" The veteran widened his eyes.

Truth be told, he had wanted to deflate Chu An's arrogance today; the others were merely collateral damage acting as cannon fodder.

The Reconnaissance Training Class had just been established, but Chu An had excelled in every category during his three months as a recruit, even sparking a bidding war between two battalion commanders that required the regimental commander himself to step in and suppress it.

He was worried someone like this would become spoiled.

That was why he had orchestrated this little drama.

And clearly, in his eyes, Chu An's current attitude proved he was indeed spoiled—he actually dared to question him.

"Report, my squad leader taught me, but my squad leader also said that we have the right to question his decisions and reserve the right to report upward to higher authorities afterwards!"

Chu An wasn't intimidated by the man's bulging eyes.

It wasn't a contest of who could stare wider.

"Very well, then let me tell you: right now, you are a collective. The others are being punished, and as a part of this collective, you must bear it together. Do you accept this?"

"Report, I accept, but I want to ask: Comrade Veteran, are you our squad leader?"

"What are you trying to say?" The veteran glared again.

Still unfazed, Chu An raised his voice and shouted, "Report, back in my recruit company days, we all ate from the same big pot, and the squad leader was no exception. He was part of the squad too!"

With that, Chu An dropped directly into a push-up position.

He was actually just making things up. Unless a squad committed a serious infraction and was caught by the company commander or platoon leader, how could Old Wang possibly punish the others while voluntarily suffering alongside them?

Besides, he had no way of knowing anyway.

Moreover, as long as the logic held up, that was enough.

You used the principle of sharing the communal pot to punish me, so now that I'm doing it, let's see if you join in or not!

At that exact second, the other recruits who were holding push-up positions with twisted necks to watch wanted nothing more than to give Chu An a thumbs-up.

Too fierce! Too much spine!

He truly lived up to his reputation as the top-performing powerhouse across the entire recruit camp!