I enlisted four times! My former unit blacklisted me.

Liu Zhen put down his pen, turned to look at Song Yizhou, and asked, "What are you going to do while we're here? Tear up the inspection report? Eat the notebook? Or destroy the paperwork while he's asleep?"

"Do you think you're in a TV drama? Just because a military policeman is asleep, you think you can do whatever you want?"

"Can't you think straight? What will happen after you wake up? Our fate will only be worse than it is now!"

Song Yizhou gave a wry smile: "I was just saying it offhand."

"Don't just say it offhand! Hurry up and write it down! How much more do you need to write?"

"About six thousand words."

"Damn, you've already written six thousand words?" Liu Zhen exclaimed in surprise, looking down at the densely packed words on his notebook.

He silently counted, a pained expression on his face. "I only have a little over four thousand. My hands are about to break."

"I have seven thousand," Qin Gang said.

Everyone turned to look.

The captain actually overtook them?

Liu Zhen quickly said, "Let's all say less and hurry up and write, and try to finish the self-criticism before dawn."

"When it gets light... ha, things will be reversed."

As he said this, his eyes suddenly sharpened.

"When it gets light, he'll be the trainee, and we'll be the instructors," Liu Zhen said, emphasizing each word. "Today on the training field, I'll teach him what it means to pay the price for what you've done."

Cao Meng raised his head, rubbing his numb arm, a fighting spirit also burning in his eyes.

"Yes, let's settle the score with him properly when it's light."

"I refuse to believe that a second-term veteran like him, no matter how fast he runs, can outrun the stopwatch in my hand!"

He Yong chimed in, "Yes, when it's light, I'll make him squat on his own inspection mat!"

"Let his handwriting, like him, learn what 'devil training' truly means!"

"Alright," Qin Gang interrupted the group of guys who were practically blown silly by the night wind. "Write your self-criticisms first, we'll talk about what happens after dawn."

"For now, let's try to get past him before dawn."

"Yes."

The playground fell silent again.

A while later, an even louder snoring sound came from under the poplar tree.

This time, the snoring was mixed with a few smacking sounds, as if he was eating something delicious in his dream.

Qin Gang looked up, his expression extremely complex.

This kid can sleep way too much.

Our hands are about to fall off from writing all this, while he's sleeping like a log, smacking his lips.

What kind of mental fortitude is that?

"I really want to know if Wu Hanfeng has ever been beaten up before."

"Captain, with his skills and silver tongue, he's probably the one who beats others up."

Qin Gang sighed, "He's keeping us up all night. Who's really being trained? Who's the trainee here?"

"Captain, stop talking." Song Yizhou shook his head with a wry smile. "It's all tears if you keep talking about it. Just write it down."

………………

At four in the morning, there was still no sign of dawn on the eastern horizon.

The six people under the lamppost had completely lost the energy to bicker; all that remained were their mechanical movements.

Holding a pen in his right hand, he scribbled out blurry words on the paper.

I held the notebook down with my left hand to prevent the night wind from blowing the paper away.

Their faces were etched with exhaustion, and their eyes were bloodshot.

But the worst thing isn't the soreness in your wrist.

It was the sound of snoring that came from under the poplar trees in the distance, one snore after another.

"I swear..." He Yong muttered to himself as he wrote, "If I ever touch my phone after lights out again, I'll... I'll chop off my hands and feed them to the dogs..."

"Don't make such useless oaths," Cao Meng replied weakly. "In all these years of service, when have you ever truly changed your ways after making a solemn oath?"

"I remember last time you said you'd sew your mouth shut if you smoked again, but the next day I caught you puffing away in the bathroom."

He Yong: "..."

Song Yizhou estimated the number of characters left and then gave a relieved look: "I'm almost done writing."

"How much?"

"I just counted, it's about nine thousand. I just need to write a few hundred more words and I'll have enough."

"You...your hand...doesn't it hurt?" He Yong looked at the blister on Song Yizhou's hand with a shocked expression.

"It hurts." Song Yizhou looked down at his hand, then wrapped the pen in the corner of his clothes and continued writing. "But the sooner I finish writing, the sooner I can escape this misery. I really don't want to squat under this lamppost anymore."

His perseverance inspired others, and they all buried themselves in their writing again.

………………

Finally, as the first hint of dawn appeared on the horizon, the six people almost simultaneously put down their pens.

"I'm done writing..." Liu Zhen threw the notebook on the ground, lay back on the cement floor, limbs outstretched. "I... have never... written so many words before... In my entire life... I've never even written this many words in a love letter to my wife..."

Cao Meng slumped to the ground, legs outstretched: "I'll wake him up later, hand in the report, and then I'll go back to my dorm... I'm going to sleep for three days and three nights..."

"You wish." Qin Gang slowly stood up. "It's almost dawn, and you still want to sleep for three days and three nights? Morning exercises are on as scheduled today!"

"Cheer up, everyone! We're instructors; we can't show weakness in front of our trainees!"

"Captain..." He Yong pitifully raised his head, "I'm so embarrassed... I really can't stand up... My legs are numb like wood, and it hurts like being pricked with needles whenever I move them."

"Who doesn't feel pain? I feel pain too!" Qin Gang glared at him.

Song Yizhou carefully put away the completed self-criticism page by page, checked the number of pages and words, then stood up, took a few deep breaths, and tried to look more energetic.

"Let's go wake him up." Liu Zhen also stood up, stretched his stiff back, and looked at the figure under the poplar tree.

The figure was still asleep.

The snoring continued at a steady pace.

The six people straightened their clothes and walked towards the poplar tree.

Upon closer inspection, they discovered a fact that left them both amused and exasperated—Wu Hanfeng was indeed fast asleep.

The helmet was placed to one side, the head was tilted slightly to the right, and there was even a trace of drool at the corner of the mouth.

He placed one hand on his stomach, while the other hand hung naturally on the ground.

His breathing was steady and his complexion was rosy.

If you ignore the navy blue uniform he's wearing, the scene before you is exactly like an old man from the countryside sleeping under a big poplar tree at the village entrance.

"I give up," Cao Meng said in a low voice. "Was this guy never awake the whole time?"

"I've been listening to his snoring the whole time, and it hasn't stopped," He Yong said.

"So that means... while we were frantically writing self-criticisms, this bastard was sleeping like a log?"

"Moreover, he slept much more comfortably than we did. I suspect he was already asleep before I came down, and it's almost dawn now, and he's still sleeping."

"Was this person the reincarnation of the god of sleep in his past life?"

"Never mind what he was in his past life." Qin Gang interrupted the crowd's discussion impatiently, then took a deep breath, walked to Wu Hanfeng's side, and called out in a low voice, "Wu Hanfeng!"

no response.

"Wu Hanfeng! Get up!"

Still no response.

Qin Gang raised his voice: "Wu Hanfeng! It's dawn!"

The only response he received was a snore that was even louder than before.

The six people looked at each other in bewilderment.

Liu Zhen leaned close to Qin Gang's ear and whispered, "Captain, how about... we kick him?"