I enlisted four times! My former unit blacklisted me.

"So," Wu Hanfeng continued, "I'm giving you the same choice as everyone else."

"Go down to the playground, find a lamppost, squat down, and write a 10,000-word self-criticism by hand."

"The content must be insightful, the attitude must be sincere, and it must be delivered to me before dawn."

"Hand it over, and that's the end of tonight."

Qin Gang's eyelid twitched.

"The same choice as everyone else? Everyone else?"

Oh, I forgot to tell you.

Wu Hanfeng closed his notebook and gestured for people to enter through the door.

"Captain Liu Zhen, Captain Cao Meng, Squad Leader Song Yizhou, Squad Leader He Yong, and Squad Leader Zhou Ming, who just went down not long ago—"

"They're all squatting on the playground now."

"Captain Qin, you don't need to look for it after you go down. Just look for the brightest spot under the lamppost."

Qin Gang's expression finally cracked completely at this moment.

He opened his mouth, then closed it, then opened it again.

Finally, he managed to squeeze out just three words through gritted teeth.

"They've all...arrested?"

"Not all of them," Wu Hanfeng smiled modestly. "Most of the class monitors were asleep, and I was too lazy to look through their things."

Qin Gang took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly.

His chest heaved several times.

He bent down and pulled out his notebook and pen from under the bed.

Then he pulled out an unopened pack of printing paper from the drawer.

Ten thousand words—those few pages in my notebook simply weren't enough to write them all.

He took a pen and paper, wore slippers, and silently walked to the door.

As he passed by Wu Hanfeng, he glanced at the soldier who was unfathomable during the day and made him feel ashamed at night.

Wu Hanfeng was leaning against the door frame.

The silver-gray helmet gleamed coldly in the dim light.

The same unwavering smile still lingered on his lips.

"Captain Qin," Wu Hanfeng nodded to him, "be careful to keep warm, it's windy outside."

Qin Gang: "..."

On the playground, four tall streetlights illuminated the concrete ground in a stark white light.

Under the lamppost, five people were huddled around a cement platform, their buttocks sticking out high, their pens scratching against the paper.

Liu Zhen squatted in the very center.

When he was pulled out of the recreation room, he was still chewing half a spicy snack.

The spicy snack is long gone, replaced by a belly full of resentment.

He had written nearly two thousand words in his notebook, and the handwriting had gone from neat and tidy at the beginning to a chaotic mess now.

"I have come to a profound realization..."

He muttered to himself, his pen scribbling across the paper, "Gathering to eat snacks after lights out..."

Where were you in your writing?

Cao Meng, who was next to him, leaned over and tilted his head to look at his notebook.

Cao Meng's progress was even worse than Liu Zhen's; he had only written a thousand words, and the characters were large with sparse lines, with only a few words on a single page.

"Write my ass," Liu Zhen said irritably. "I got stuck on 'betrayed the organization's trust,' and I just couldn't make up any more words after that."

"Why are you making this up? Just copy it." Cao Meng nudged him with his elbow. "Let me copy what you wrote, and we can just change the wording."

"You're a military officer, for goodness' sake. Copying my report? Aren't you ashamed?"

"Shameful? Is there anything more shameful than squatting on the playground writing a 10,000-word self-criticism?" Cao Meng looked around, his face full of vicissitudes.

He Yong squatted on the far side, his posture the most cramped.

Both legs were completely numb, from my toes all the way down to my thighs.

He had to change positions every few minutes, switching from his left leg to his right when his left leg got tired, and from his right leg to his left when his right leg got tired.

He swayed back and forth under the light.

"There's something I just can't figure out," He Yong said, rubbing his leg. "How did he even manage to bring the disciplinary uniform in? Wasn't his backpack checked?"

"You still have the mind to think about this? Didn't we just discuss it?" Song Yizhou scolded.

He is the fastest progressing of the six.

I've already written over three thousand words, although the content is just the same few repetitive phrases.

But his handwriting was neat and his layout was orderly, making it look the most plausible.

"I'm not just pondering, I just can't figure it out," He Yong said. "You, Sergeant Song, personally searched his backpack, and you even said you took out the insoles. How come you didn't find the military uniform?"

"What's the point of saying this now?" Song Yizhou paused, his pen poised. "So what if you found it? Can you confiscate the uniforms and identification of the military police? Do you have that authority? Do you have the guts to take it?"

He Yong: "...No..."

indeed.

Even if he had found it back then, he wouldn't have had the authority to confiscate it.

The equipment of the military police is equivalent to law enforcement equipment. Let alone a squad leader, even if Battalion Commander Qin Gang came, he wouldn't have the authority to confiscate it.

"So he was in an invincible position from the very beginning."

Song Yizhou sighed, "Whether we investigate or not, whether we confiscate or not, he always finds a way to bring things in. The more we investigate, the deeper he hides them. The more we try to get to the bottom of his business, the more airtight he becomes."

Liu Zhen felt a pang of heartache: "What's the use of saying all this now? Why didn't you analyze this during the day?"

"What am I supposed to analyze during the day?" Song Yizhou countered. "He behaves better than anyone else during the day. His formation is impeccable, his housekeeping is impeccable, and his physical fitness is impeccable."

"He even got full marks for cleaning the outhouse. What am I supposed to analyze? I can't just suspect he's a military police officer because he performed too well, can I? Does that logic hold?"

Cao Meng sighed: "That's definitely not true."

Zhou Ming squatted in the corner, without saying a word.

He was the last one to come down, wearing only thermal underwear and a training jacket, shivering from the cold.

The training team was located in the mountains, where it was unbearably hot during the day.

It's cold and windy at night.

Compared to others who were punished for stealing snacks, his crime was the most aggrieved—he was caught playing video games in bed.

What bothered him most was that when Wu Hanfeng was arguing with him, he also commented on his game skills.

A military police officer caught him playing video games during a midnight room raid and then taught him how to play team battles.

Who would believe that if I told them?

"Squad Leader Zhou." He Yong suddenly turned around and looked at him with a look of sympathy. "How did you get caught? Was it also about the snacks?"

Zhou Ming's expression was blank: "Playing games. My phone was confiscated; I bought it on a 12-month installment plan, and I just paid off the first installment."

Several people gasped at the same time.

Liu Zhen couldn't help but ask, "What kind of phone?"

"Huawei's latest model."

"How much?"

"More than eight thousand."

He Yong shrank his neck.

He suddenly realized that he was lucky to only be punished by having to write a self-criticism.

At least his phone is still there.

"Over eight thousand, that's a month and a half's allowance! You're really fucking generous!"

"He's spent all his money on this; no wonder he can't find a wife."

Zhou Ming glared angrily, "Is this some kind of discussion about whether or not to get married?"

"Alright, stop chatting." Liu Zhen picked up his pen again. "Hurry up and write. If we don't hand it in before dawn, who knows what new tricks that guy will come up with."

No sooner had the words been spoken than the sound of slippers slapping on the concrete floor came from the entrance of the playground.

All six people looked up at the same time.

Under the streetlights, a tall figure was walking this way.

Wearing training uniform and slippers on his feet.

The old scar on his face, running diagonally from his brow bone to his cheekbone, was particularly noticeable under the light.

The pupils of all six people contracted simultaneously.

Qin Gang.

Captain Qin.

Their captain, holding a notebook and pen, walked towards the lamppost with a blank expression.

Qin Gang walked to the lamppost and glanced at the six people gathered in a circle.

The six men stood up in unison, about to salute, when Qin Gang waved his hand.

"Stop offering toasts. Squat down."

Liu Zhengang wanted to admit his mistake, but then he saw the pen and notebook in Qin Gang's hand.

The other four people saw it too.

Is it...

Team Leader Qin also...

The six people looked at each other in bewilderment.

silence.

Dead silence.