I enlisted four times! My former unit blacklisted me.

Not long after, Liu Zhen returned with several squad leaders.

Each squad leader carried several red bricks in his hand, red, yellow, gray, all sorts of colors, clearly hastily put together from the pile of old building materials behind the barracks.

"Top Class, get the bricks ready!" Liu Zhen placed the bricks by the flower bed and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Anyone else need more? Come and get some! Plenty!"

Qian Kun's eyes lit up instantly.

He reacted like a dog that hadn't eaten for three days seeing a meat bun; his legs acted before his brain could.

He darted out in a flash, even faster than when he was grabbing the bricks.

"Mine! Mine! Those three are mine!" He rushed to the pile of bricks, squatted down, and started picking through them. "This one's good, this one's square! This one's not bad either, even though it's cracked, I can still carry it by wrapping it in my raincoat!"

As he picked through the items, he stuffed them into his backpack, occasionally turning back to give Zhao Yihang and the others a smug smile.

"Old Zhao, so what if you run faster than me? This time I'm going to carry a heavier load than you! I'm going to take sixteen yuan, one yuan more than you! Hahaha!"

Zhao Yihang rolled his eyes: "Give me a break, you're going to complain to the brigade leader? Do you think this is the village committee mediating a neighborhood dispute?"

"As long as it works!" Qian Kun patted his backpack, grinning so wide his back teeth were showing. "Now I have a neat sixteen pieces, that's great!"

The students in the regular classes below, witnessing this scene, were at a loss for words, unsure how to react.

"This person... is still laughing? He... he's really laughing?"

"He collected all sixteen bricks, so why is he smiling like he just received a year-end bonus?"

"Do the people from those three groups have some special attachment to red bricks? Like some kind of folk custom or something?"

"I'm from the Second Regiment, which is next to the Third Regiment. I guarantee with my integrity that the Third Regiment doesn't have this custom. We locals don't have this custom either."

"Then they're just... simply mentally ill."

"He's quite ill."

Hao Qiang stood at a distance, watching Qian Kun contentedly stuff bricks into his backpack.

A strange feeling suddenly welled up in his heart.

Like a husky that has wandered into a wolf pack, watching the pups fighting over a bone, it is both afraid of being torn apart and has a vague feeling that...

These guys really don't seem to care about those bricks.

They snatch it because they really want more.

They laugh because they are genuinely happy.

As for myself, just thinking about running 10 kilometers with a 25-kilogram load makes my calves start to ache.

"Who...who exactly am I following?"

Hao Qiang looked up at the sky, which was already bright.

The sun rose over the eastern hilltop, illuminating the cinder track on the playground with a golden glow.

Those guys, carrying bricks and all smiles, looked exceptionally tall in the morning light.

No, it doesn't make you look tall.

It is really tall.

He himself was like a deserter who wanted to go home even before he set off.

Hao Qiang obediently filled in the missing bricks, making exactly ten.

He felt he had to keep his mind sharp and not pretend he was mentally unstable just because he had joined this group of lunatics.

…………

With about ten minutes to go before the official start of the race, the students from the four squadrons were warming up.

Some people were twisting their waists, some were stretching their legs, and some were jumping in place.

There were also three or five people gathered together to discuss how to allocate their energy later.

On the west side of the playground, in the horizontal bar area, a bizarre scene is unfolding that leaves everyone baffled.

Apart from Hao Qiang, the other five guys from the top class were gathered in a loose semi-circle, stretching and chatting, their atmosphere as relaxed as that of elderly people doing morning exercises in the park on the weekend.

To be precise, five guys were laughing and one guy was crying.

Hao Qiang's expression was priceless.

I tried to cry, but there were no tears in my eyes.

Just kidding, the corners of his mouth turn down so low you could hang an oil bottle on them.

He mechanically performed chest-expanding exercises while glancing at the five people next to him out of the corner of his eye.

With each glance, a greater sense of despair grew within me.

While stretching his legs, Zhao Yihang asked Hao Qiang with concern:

"Brother Qiang, have you stretched your hamstrings yet? We're going to do a 10-kilometer run later, you might get cramps if you don't stretch properly."

Hao Qiang's lips twitched: "Thanks for your concern, I had diarrhea."

"That's good." Zhao Yihang nodded, then asked, "By the way, Brother Qiang, do you have enough bricks? If not, I can lend you two. I carried fifteen, so lending you two won't be a problem."

Hao Qiang: "..."

Again.

Since he finished repairing the bricks, this is the fourth person to ask him if he has enough bricks.

Qian Kun asked, Ma Teng asked, and Sun Dawei also asked.

Now it was Zhao Yihang's turn. The four of them took turns, as if they had planned it beforehand, each doing one round, showing great care.

Hao Qiang took a deep breath, trying to make his voice sound calm: "That's enough. I've added ten yuan, no more, no less."

"Only ten yuan?" Qian Kun looked at you with concern, as if to say, "How can you eat so little?" "That's not enough! We're the top class!"

"The regular class carries 15 kilograms, but our elite class only gets an extra 10 bricks! How embarrassing would that be if word got out! I carried 16!"

You call this shameful?

Hao Qiang almost blurted it out.

He gritted his teeth and forced a stiff smile: "That's quite a lot. I think... it's just right."

"What's appropriate?" Ma Teng said, "Look at the average level of our class—Feng Ge gets thirty yuan, Dawei gets twenty yuan, Yihang and I get fifteen yuan, and Lao Qian gets sixteen yuan."

"Tell me, what does your ten yuan look like? It's like when everyone else gets three dishes in the cafeteria, and you just bring a bowl of white rice."

"Yes, yes, yes, Lao Ma's analogy is great!" Qian Kun laughed. "Brother Qiang, you're like that bowl of white rice, it looks white, but there's not a bit of meat in it."

Hao Qiang's expression was beyond ugly.

He felt like a husky that had wandered into a pack of wolves.

The wolves were discussing which cut of meat from the deer they had caught that day was the fattest, while he frantically wagged his tail beside them, clutching his only bone in his mouth, as if afraid it would be stolen.

"Alright, alright, stop teasing Qiang Ge." Zhao Yihang smiled and smoothed things over. "Qiang Ge is different from us. He's the top runner in the whole team for the 5km race. He relies on technique, not brute force. The amount of weight he carries doesn't matter; the key is that he runs fast."

"Brother Qiang was in the first group yesterday. He was so fast, I couldn't even catch his dust while I was following behind."

"We'll be in the same class from now on, so you'll have to take good care of us, Qiang-ge."

Ma Teng said, "Of the six people in the top class, only Qiang Ge wasn't trained by Feng Ge."

"What does this mean? It means that Brother Qiang was chosen by the captain based on his own abilities! We're all connected through connections, while Brother Qiang is a true talent!"

Hao Qiang's lips twitched as he listened.

A person with connections? A person with real power?

I was killed by that cigarette, okay?!

His biggest regret now is that he accepted Wu Hanfeng's cigarette this morning.

If Qin Gang hadn't seen him, would he have been able to get into this damn elite class?

Talented actor? Talented my foot!

I was scared into going five kilometers per hour by Wu Hanfeng!

Try being chased by a fraudster who might faint at any moment, and you'd better hurry!

But he couldn't say that.

He could only swallow his grievances and force a smile that looked more like a grimace: "Not at all... let's help each other... let's help each other..."

"Brother Qiang, your fly is open."

"Huh?" Hao Qiang hurriedly looked down to look, only to find that the zipper was fine.

"Hahaha, just kidding!" Qian Kun laughed so hard he almost fell over. "But Brother Qiang, your reaction was really quick. That level of alertness is perfect for a reconnaissance soldier!"

Hao Qiang: "..."

He just wants to slap himself twice right now.

No, three slaps.

No, ten slaps.

Forget it, it'll be more painless to just hang myself.

"But seriously," Zhao Yihang said, putting away his joke and becoming more serious, "Brother Qiang, from now on we'll be in the same class, training, eating, and sleeping together every day."

"If you need anything, just ask. Don't be shy. We're all family here, once we're out in the world."

That's a really heartwarming thing to say.

Hao Qiang felt a little better and was about to nod and say, "Then I'll have to trouble everyone from now on."

Qian Kun then added, "Yes, yes, especially when you're hanging out with Brother Feng. Brother Feng is the most loyal guy. Look how much good stuff he brought when he arrived yesterday."

"Although it was confiscated, it's okay, we can get it back in three months."

"We'll share it together then. Qiang-ge, you have a big appetite, so I'll save you a couple more chicken legs."

Hao Qiang's heart sank again.

Who the hell would dare eat the food he brought?!

I want to live a few more years!

I don't want to eat chicken legs.

I just want to stay away from Wu Hanfeng.

The farther the better.

It was so far that an entire camp was in between, so far that you couldn't even see a shadow of it.

But Qian Kun then asked, "By the way, Qiang-ge, what snacks did you bring? Did the class monitor confiscate them too? Or did you hide them well enough not to be discovered?"

Hao Qiang: "...I brought half a jin of braised duck necks."

"Duck necks! Good stuff! They were confiscated too?"

"Take it."

"Oh dear, what a pity. But it's okay, we'll bring them back on graduation day and have a snack party, reminiscing about these three months of grueling training while we eat. How delightful!"

Hao Qiang nodded slowly: "Yes...it has a certain charm."

He just wanted to slap himself for talking to this bunch of lunatics.