You've already received a first-class merit award, why are you pretending to be a new recruit a

The new recruits' dormitory is on the third floor.

The room contained five bunk beds, a long table in the middle, and the cement floor was polished to a shine. The air smelled of disinfectant and soap mixed together.

"Put your backpacks on the bed. Now, I'll teach you how to tidy up your rooms."

Wang Dashan stood by the table, pointing to the neatly folded quilt on his bed. The quilt was perfectly square, without any wrinkles, like a standard tofu block.

"In the military, housekeeping is combat effectiveness. If you can't even fold your own blankets properly, how can you fight a war?"

As Wang Dashan spoke, he unpacked his backpack and spread the blanket on the ground.

"Watch closely, I'll only demonstrate once."

He squatted down and skillfully pressed, folded, and tucked the corners of the quilt with both hands. His movements were quick, and two minutes later, a neat quilt reappeared.

"Did you understand?"

Wang Dashan stood up and clapped his hands.

The new recruits looked at each other in bewilderment.

Chen Jingxing muttered under his breath, "How is it possible to fold this up?"

"What are you muttering about?"

Wang Dashan glared at Chen Jingxing and said, "You have half an hour. I'll check in half an hour. If you don't fold them properly, you'll be sleeping in the corridor tonight."

After saying that, Wang Dashan turned and walked out of the dormitory.

The dormitory immediately descended into chaos. The new recruits hurriedly spread their blankets on the floor and folded them frantically, but the newly issued blankets were very fluffy, and no matter how hard they pressed, the folded blankets looked like steamed buns.

"Brother Xiao, you must have been folding these every day when you were in the army, right? Can you help me?"

Chen Jingxing looked at his tattered quilt and asked Xiao Longteng for help.

Xiao Longteng didn't speak. He squatted down in front of his bed, spread the quilt flat on the mat, pressed it down with both hands, spread his fingers, and pressed down evenly. His movements weren't as fancy as Wang Dashan's, but each fold was extremely precise, as if it had been measured.

Xiao Longteng measured the width with his palm, then folded it in half. He gently ran his fingers along the edge of the quilt, and a straight crease immediately appeared. Then he pinched the corner of the quilt and pulled it inward, creating a perfect right angle.

The whole process took only one minute and forty seconds.

Chen Jingxing, who was struggling with the blanket, turned his head and stopped.

"Holy crap."

Several new recruits gathered around, staring at the blankets on Xiao Longteng's bed.

"This is even neater than what the class monitor folded, isn't it?"

"Brother Xiao, are your hands made of rulers?"

Xiao Longteng stood up and patted the wrinkles on his pants.

"Just press it a few more times."

He walked to Chen Jingxing's bedside, reached out to help him smooth out the quilt, and pressed a line down the middle of the quilt with his elbow.

"Bend it from here, and use a heavy force."

With Xiao Longteng's help, the new recruits in the first platoon managed to fold their blankets into shape within half an hour.

Half an hour later, Wang Dashan pushed open the door and walked in, holding a small wooden ruler in his hand, his face serious.

He walked to the first bed, measured the side of the quilt with a wooden ruler, and shook his head.

"The corners aren't sharp enough; they overlap."

He walked to the second bed and directly pulled the blanket off onto the floor.

"This is supposed to be a quilt? It's a pigsty! It's all piled up!"

The new recruits held their breath, afraid to even breathe too loudly.

Wang Dashan walked to Xiao Longteng's bedside and stopped.

Xiao Longteng's quilt lay quietly on the bed. The green military quilt had distinct lines, with all six sides being perfectly flat. The four corners were so sharp that they looked as if they had been cut with a knife. The entire quilt was without a single extra wrinkle, and even its height was completely parallel to the headboard railing.

Wang Dashan squatted down and carefully examined the folded corner. He measured it with a wooden ruler and found that the error was no more than two millimeters.

He looked up at Xiao Longteng, who was standing to the side.

"Did you fold this?"

"Yes."

Wang Dashan stood up and reached into the quilt to feel around. There was no cardboard, no safety pins, only fluffy cotton inside.

"good."

Wang Dashan managed to utter two words. His gaze lingered on Xiao Longteng's hands for a moment. Those hands had thick calluses on their palms, not from holding a pen, but from holding a gun.

He didn't say anything more and turned to check the next bed.

~

At 3 p.m., the sun was still scorching. The soldiers from the three platoons of the recruit company assembled on the parade ground. The track was a 400-meter-long synthetic track, and they needed to run seven and a half laps.

"Three kilometers is the first hurdle you will face when you enter the army."

Company Commander Lei Zhan stood on the platform, holding a stopwatch in his hand.

"The passing standard for male soldiers is 14 minutes and 30 seconds. Today, I'll see how solid your foundation is."

"On your marks!"

The soldiers of the first squad stood on the starting line, while Xiao Longteng stood in the middle of the line.

"Snapped!"

The starting gun fired.

The new recruits surged out, with Chen Jingxing running at the very front, his steps long and hurried.

Xiao Longteng did not rush. He maintained a steady pace, his arms swung naturally, and his breathing was adjusted to one inhale and one exhale every three steps. His steps were large, but his landing was very light.

"Slow down, you'll run out of energy later."

As he passed by Chen Jingxing, he whispered a reminder, but Chen Jingxing was too excited to listen.

At the end of the first lap, the recruits' line stretched out very long. On the second lap, Chen Jingxing's speed noticeably slowed down, and he began to pant heavily.

By the fourth lap, new recruits were already walking on the parade ground, many of them pale-faced and clutching their stomachs.

Xiao Longteng maintained his initial pace, his stride frequency remained unchanged, and his breathing remained steady. He overtook one recruit after another, as if he were taking a stroll.

He could have run much faster, but he kept his pace within a certain range—outstanding among the recruits, but not to the point that people doubted that it was a human's ability to run.

On the last lap, his body automatically switched rhythms, his thighs exerted force, his stride lengthened, and his speed increased, but not by much, just a little.

"Sprint! Sprint!"

Wang Dashan shouted from beside the finish line.

Xiao Longteng crossed the finish line, and Wang Dashan pressed the stopwatch.

"11 minutes and 15 seconds."

He was the top recruit, but Wang Dashan had seen the training records of the entire brigade. There were quite a few veterans who could run under eleven minutes. This result showed that he had a good foundation, but it was still within the normal range.

Xiao Longteng stopped walking and didn't sit down immediately. He walked slowly along the track, adjusting his breathing. Thirty seconds later, his breathing returned to normal.

Wang Dashan walked up to him and handed him a bottle of water.

"You ran quite easily."

He looked at Xiao Longteng's face, which was covered with only a thin layer of sweat, and the rise and fall of his chest was barely perceptible.

"Reporting to the class monitor, I used to run a lot at school."

Xiao Longteng took the water, unscrewed the cap, and took a small sip.

Wang Dashan didn't speak. His gaze fell on Xiao Longteng's arm. When he was running, Xiao Longteng kept his elbows close to his sides and his center of gravity low. People who run at school don't have this posture.

Wang Dashan looked away and circled Xiao Longteng's name on the roster.