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

After dinner, the atmosphere in Class 1's dormitory became a bit tense.

The air smelled of gun oil.

The smell left over from the afternoon's maintenance of the training gun has now become a catalyst for tension.

Liu Hai sat on the edge of the bed, holding the water bottle strap in his hand.

He opened the buckle on the strap, closed it, and then opened it again.

Chen Jingxing couldn't resist listening to the "click-clack" sound any longer.

"Comrade Liu Hai, with your hands shaking so much, you won't be able to get a decent amount of food at the cafeteria tomorrow."

Liu Hai placed his hand on his thigh.

"I'm afraid of missing the target."

"So what if you miss? It's not like you're going into battle hand-to-hand combat. The gun's locked up in the armory; what are you going to do with it now?"

"I'm afraid of hitting someone else's target. The instructor said this afternoon that jumping over the target will result in zero points."

Chen Jingxing sighed and leaned over to put his arm around his shoulder.

"You're worrying too much. At a distance of 100 meters, as long as you don't point your gun at the sky, the bullets will always land on the embankment. Zero points is zero points, the squad leader will just scold you for half an hour at most."

Liu Hai turned his head and looked at Xiao Longteng in the corner.

Xiao Longteng was packing his belongings.

The movements weren't fast, but every step was precisely timed.

Liu Hai lowered his voice and asked Chen Jingxing, "How many rings do you think Brother Xiao can score tomorrow?"

"Him?" Chen Jingxing stroked his chin. "I reckon he'll at least get an excellent grade, and might even get a perfect score. Didn't you see how enthusiastic he was about wind drift this afternoon? He really knows his stuff."

Li Lei, who was wiping his shoes on the opposite bed, chimed in.

"Understanding the theory doesn't necessarily mean you can be accurate in practice."

Chen Jingxing waved his hand.

"Just you wait and see, Brother Xiao is definitely hiding something."

The dormitory door was pushed open.

Wang Dashan walked in, holding a roster in his hand.

The conversation inside the room stopped abruptly.

"Is everyone packed up? Fill your water bottles, check your belts. If anyone messes up tomorrow morning, I'll make them carry the whole class's gear to the shooting range."

The new recruits immediately stood up straight.

Wang Dashan's gaze swept across the entire class and landed on Xiao Longteng.

In front of Xiao Longteng's bed, all the items were arranged perfectly.

It's flawless.

Wang Dashan tapped the roster twice on his lap.

"Xiao Longteng".

"arrive."

"Come out for a bit."

Xiao Longteng followed Wang Dashan out the door and closed it behind him.

The window at the end of the corridor was open, and the night breeze blew in, carrying a slight chill.

Wang Dashan walked to the window, took out his cigarette case, pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth without lighting it.

He turned to look at Xiao Longteng.

"Live-fire tomorrow, how far are you prepared to go?"

They laid their cards on the table directly. There was no build-up whatsoever.

Xiao Longteng stood ramrod straight, his gaze level with the front of him.

"Forty-five rings."

Wang Dashan took the cigarette down and held it between his fingers.

"Forty-five rings. Starting at the excellent level, but not so dazzling as to be overly ambitious. Pretty accurate calculation."

Xiao Longteng did not respond.

Wang Dashan took a step forward and lowered his voice.

"The shooting range is not a playground, much less a classroom."

"You have good physical fitness, so you can run at a slower pace. You understand the theory, so you can memorize the textbook."

"But guns are different."

Wang Dashan stared at Xiao Longteng's hand.

"Real guns and ammunition, recoil, the sound of the bolt returning to its original position, the smell of gunpowder. When these things come out, the body's instinctive reaction is something the brain can't suppress."

"You've handled guns before, quite a few times. Don't give me that logistics support brigade nonsense; logistics soldiers can't develop the kind of intuitive sense you had this afternoon."

Xiao Longteng still did not refute.

He didn't need to refute it; Wang Dashan had already seen through half of it.

"I can control it," Xiao Longteng said, giving four words.

Wang Dashan snorted.

"Control? When a veteran goes to the firing range, the stance of his gun and the rhythm of pulling the trigger are so clear that the company commander can see it clearly through binoculars."

"If you miss, that's called deliberate. If you hit the target perfectly, that's called making a mistake."

Xiao Longteng glanced at the pitch-black night outside the corridor.

"Which group will Class 1 be in tomorrow?" he asked an unrelated question.

Wang Dashan frowned.

"Sixth group. What's wrong?"

"Which target position is the bangs on?"

"He's in front of you. You're number five, he's number four." Wang Dashan stared at him. "Why are you asking this?"

Xiao Longteng looked away.

"He gets nervous easily. I'll keep an eye on him when he plays tomorrow."

Wang Dashan was stunned.

He thought Xiao Longteng was figuring out how to control the number of rings, but it turned out that the kid was figuring out how to cover the losses for the new recruits in the class.

At the same time, in the company commander's office.

Lei Zhan sat behind the table, staring at the shooting group assignments for tomorrow.

Discipline stood at the table and handed over a shooting range safety plan.

"Company commander, the first three groups are all new recruits, handling real guns for the first time. I suggest adding double guards behind each target position to focus on the muzzle and finger movements."

Lei Zhan took the plan and signed it at the end.

"Do as you say. Anyone who dares to interrupt, no matter how well they perform, will be taken off the field."

Discipline put away the contingency plan and glanced at the group assignment list.

"Class One is in the sixth group?"

Lei Zhan leaned back in his chair.

"right."

"The sixth group is around 2 PM, which is when the wind direction on the back mountain is most unpredictable." Discipline reminder.

Lei Zhan tapped on the table.

"Just let the wind blow."

"That Xiao Longteng this afternoon, his wind direction calculations were too good. I want to see if he relies on theory or instinct when it comes to real fighting."

Discipline did not raise further questions.

He only focused on inspection, not on probing.

"The disciplinary team will be monitoring the situation tomorrow." The discipline officer saluted and turned to leave.

In the corridor.

Footsteps came from the stairwell.

Instructor Zhou Zhengguo walked up with his notebook.

Seeing the two people by the window, Zhou Zhengguo slowed his pace.

"Old Wang, are you giving psychological counseling to the new recruits?"

Wang Dashan stuffed the cigarette in his hand back into his pocket.

"Instructor, let's chat for a bit and see if he's nervous."

Zhou Zhengguo glanced at Xiao Longteng.

Xiao Longteng's posture was impeccable, and his face was expressionless.

"It's getting late, get some rest. We'll see how it goes at the firing range tomorrow." Zhou Zhengguo smiled, didn't ask any more questions, and went straight back to his room.

The corridor fell silent again.

Wang Dashan looked at Xiao Longteng.

"Did you hear what the instructor just said? The true test will be at the firing range."

"The company commander assigned you to the sixth group, when the wind is strongest. He wants to see your true abilities."

Xiao Longteng nodded.

"I know."

Wang Dashan crushed the empty cigarette box in his hand, and his tone changed.

It was no longer a test, but rather carried the protective instincts of a squad leader.

"Xiao Longteng".

"arrive."

"Tomorrow we'll be on the field, so safety is the top priority, and the rules are paramount. As long as we pass, it doesn't matter what our score is."

Wang Dashan stared into his eyes.

"If something really goes wrong, or if you accidentally break your skin."

"As long as you don't violate safety regulations, I, as the squad leader, will take care of the rest for you."

The wind in the corridor blew on Xiao Longteng's face.

He spent six years lying low overseas.

If something goes wrong with the mission, he can only solve it himself, or simply disappear into the top-secret files.

No one had ever said those four words to him.

Xiao Longteng looked at the corporal in front of him and remained silent for two seconds.

"Yes."

The voice was not loud, but the pronunciation was extremely heavy.

Xiao Longteng pushed open the door and returned to his dormitory.

Chen Jingxing had already climbed into bed and was arguing with Li Lei across the aisle.

Liu Hai was still fiddling with the kettle.

Xiao Longteng walked to his bedside.

He bent down and re-examined his gear.

He straightened the kettle strap and aligned the buckle with the vertical line of the bed edge.

The edge of the shoulder bag should be perfectly parallel to the water bottle, with a distance of about two fingers' width between them.

The belt lay flat at the head of the bed, the metal buckle not crooked.

Before each extremely high-risk mission, he needs to use this almost demanding object alignment to suppress his combat reflexes to the minimum.

Tomorrow will be live ammunition.

He had to fit those hands, which were used to drawing a gun and killing the enemy, into the mold of the recruit training camp.

Xiao Longteng sat on a small stool and opened his palm.

The thick calluses on the gun gleamed yellow under the light.

He slowly closed his five fingers, hiding the calluses inside his fist.