Chapter 142 Here come the recruits
There was no time for Pan Lei to be sentimental. He was only gloomy and stifled for one night. The next day, he received a list of recruits and collaborated with the other deputy instructors to prepare a four-week devil training camp. Tian Yuan trembled when he saw him as he returned to the dorm. Why is he laughing in such an odd manner? He appears really menacing. What terrible schemes did he devise to torment the recruits?
Pan Lei was super excited. He particularly assured Tian Yuan before going to bed that there will be a fantastic show to watch tomorrow and in the next month. He was confident that Tian Yuan would have a great time.
What’s the plan? What’s he up to?
They awoke early the next morning. One by one, fresh recruits reported for duty at 8 a.m. Pan Lei sat at the recruits' reception desk, his knees crossed. He smiled when he saw these recruits holding luggage rolls. His smile inexplicably made the recruits nervous.
They were not, in reality, recruits. They were all soldiers who had served for a year or two. They had been trained in the general military region for a year, and those who excelled in the assessment were chosen for the special forces.
The special forces were a hallowed temple in the hearts of all soldiers, and they were thought to be in a different league than the other branches of the military. All of the troops wished to enter this holy land, but none of them were fools like Xu Sanduo[1], thus fortune would not favor them. They could only join the special forces after undergoing hard training and outperforming the others. Being picked for special forces did not guarantee that they would remain there. No matter how good they were as men of iron, they needed to be tempered by the special forces to become men of steel. Their skill had to be molded into a saber. Only then would they be a lethal weapon.
They could actually go to the battlefield, carry guns, and assist in the most brutal conflict. What does it mean to be a member of the special forces? It entails completing impossible missions with minimum losses.
Whether they had one or two years of army experience, when they joined the special forces, they were recruits. And the Team Leader Devil Pan had to train these clowns.
Pan Lei glanced at his watch.
"If you fail to register by eleven hundred hours, you will be disqualified."
Tian Yuan was perplexed. What was the point of putting a time limit on it when they were all qualified to come here? Many comrades would be kept out of the door as a result of this.
"You can't live by the clock if you don't have a sense of time. Such people are not welcome in my special forces."
When a countdown sign was posted on the door, everyone who was waiting to report became tense.
Pan Lei slipped the sunglasses into his pocket and took Tian Yuan out.
"Let's go have something to eat. Pay attention to what I'm saying. Don't raise your eyes when eating in the canteen from now on. Don't think about anything else but burying your head in your own bowl. If I am not present when you are hungry, eat first and then return to our dorm room. Don't be bothered with what you see. Don't be concerned even if you see someone starving and eating from a swill bucket."
Tian Yuan stared at him as if he were an alien. Even if he had come from Prison Zhazi near the White Mansion[2] he should not mistreat soldiers in this manner. He had to have been a notorious bandit who committed every imaginable wrongdoing.
Pan Lei went to the logistics department and obtained a camouflage uniform for Tian Yuan. He wore the same clothes as the deputy instructors, complete with black army boots, a black vest, and grass-green camouflage pants. He even gave Tian Yuan his own sunglasses. Everyone would think he was a frail assistant instructor as long as he didn't say he was visiting family. Tian Yuan's arms were a little thin, his body was frail, and he was gentle. So he looked like a secretary or something while wearing this camouflage suit.
A brief whistle blasted at one o'clock in the afternoon, and everyone assembled.
The old special forces were training at another location, while the new special forces recruits were assembled beneath the stands.
As Pan Lei stood there lazily, hands clasped behind his back, the bandit aura on his body became more and more obvious. With a toothpick in his mouth, he stood with one leg on a Taishi chair[3] covered in tiger skin. He was a real-life bandit.
Tian Yuan was standing beside him. He stated that he wanted Tian Yuan to accompany him. "You are not allowed to go. Stay by my side."
"Didn't you say the special forces only needed 20 soldiers this time? There are more than a hundred rookies below."
"The elimination rate is one-fifth, possibly higher. Then there are some who voluntarily leave, and those who do not fulfill the standards and are dismissed. Those who can endure till the bitter end are the best and the soldiers I seek. Why don't you train alongside them? Toughen your body so I don't have to worry about you staying up late and becoming sick?"
Pan Lei lowered his voice and teasingly laughed in Tian Yuan's ear.
"I'll definitely die long before the month-long training is over."
Pan Lei stretched his hand back and groped Tian Yuan's buttocks while making sure no one noticed.
"You’ll be ‘exercising’ with me and experiencing the little death; dying beneath me, dying in my kiss…are you ready?"
Tian Yuan would have kicked him off the observation platform by now if it hadn't been for saving some face for him.
"F**k off."
Pan Lei was beaming with joy. Every time he acted coquettishly, his hubby told him to take a hike, which made him laugh joyously each time. Look! Look! His ears have turned red again.
Everyone there knew who Team Leader Devil Pan was, and they all looked at him with dread. They had no idea he'd burst out laughing so unexpectedly. What kind of routine is this? they wondered.
Pan Lei coughed, wiping away the smile on his face. His smiles belonged to his family's husband and could not be shared with anyone else.
Pan Lei's face became solemn.
"I’ve heard that there are quite a few talented people in this batch, including master’s degree students, intellectuals who have published articles in the military district’s periodicals, martial arts champions with exceptional skills, and heroes who have made outstanding contributions. Talented individuals are emerging in big numbers. Not bad."
Pan Lei's voice was languid, and the recruits couldn't tell if he was praising them.
"However, when you enter my domain, you must obey me. Let me tell you something: the dragon must be coiled, and the tiger must lie down[4]. There is only one unified name for you here, and that is FNG[5]. I don't care how cocky you were in your previous companies. You must obey my commands here. I'll just remember your numbers, not your names. Each day's performance is documented. The ones with the best results will be retained after four weeks. Those who don't reach the scoring line can get the f**k outta here. You won’t have any respect here. No life, no appeals and protests, no ultra vires, and no forming small gangs. There is martial law in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and night patrols carry loaded firearms in case of an emergency. You will be shot if you attempt to flee or go outside without authorization. I don't give a f**k what the reason is. If you leave the barracks at night, you will be held accountable for the repercussions."
Pan Lei unhurriedly came down from the grandstand and walked slowly in front of the soldiers, his gaze sweeping over everyone's face.
"I've been given three death quotas for training commando recruits. That is, regardless of how I train or whether you can handle it, as long as I don't let four people die, I will not be punished. If you still don't understand, I'll make it clearer. In other words, how I drill is entirely up to me. If I declare you're not up to par, even if you're at your limit, you'll have to start over. Continue training as long as you have one final breath. I'll drill you thoroughly over the next four weeks."
He lifted his foot and slammed it against a soldier's knee, causing the soldier to kneel on the ground with a thump.
"What? You refuse to accept it? Do you still want to glare at me? Are you happy now? Laozi will then properly treat you."
Pan Lei placed his foot on the shoulder of the soldier kneeling on the ground. It was an absolutely humiliating gesture. Some people were gritting their teeth, while others were restraining themselves.
"You! 1000 push-ups, 500 leapfrogs, and a 10 km run. If you don’t finish it within an hour, you won't be able to eat tonight."
Pan Lei was exuding arrogance, brutality, strength, and aggressiveness to the utmost at the time. He was the king here, the discipline, the rules, and anything he said was law. Anyone who arrived here was treated as a managed person, with no dignity, no right to speak, no right to complain; they were stripped of all rights.
Pan Lei indicated the open area.
"I only require 20 of the best recruits. It's evident that there are currently far too many. You can stop here if you are not satisfied with my training method. Withdraw your name, turn around, and march out. I urge all of you to think carefully. Team Leader Devil Pan, you've probably heard of me. I've devised a four-week devil training regimen. You don't have to suffer if you quit now. Go to your post, relax in your bed, and eat steamed buns. You don't need to struggle here. You don't need to be humiliated by me."
No one moved, not even the soldier who had just been kicked by Pan Lei. They were all standing at attention, their faces resolute and their gazes firm.
Pan Lei smiled.
"It's really weird. There's a bunch of fools here who aren’t afraid of getting toyed to death by me. OK!"
Pan Lei went onto the grandstand, and he was majestic at that moment.
"Go and change. Training will begin in ten minutes."
Pan Lei stretched out and interrupted a deputy instructor who was going to command "Dismissed."
He drew back his hand and tugged Tian Yuan to his side.
"Whatever happens, don't go to him. It's fine to accuse me, it's fine to get thrashed, and it's fine to scold me behind my back. No one is allowed to approach him or go to him for anything. If someone defies my orders and asks him to intercede on their behalf, I will immediately kick that individual from my special forces. No one is permitted to bother him. This is my absolute order."
Their training was harsh. The heating, refining, forging, and casting processes were quite cruel. He didn't want anyone who knew about his relationship with Tian Yuan to take advantage of Tian Yuan, pleading for leniency in his ear, and making Tian Yuan sick with worry for them. He'd only come to visit him. It was alright for him to observe, but he was not allowed to engage in any way. He didn't want Tian Yuan to be concerned with anything.
Pan Lei drew Tian Yuan and started the automobile as the recruits dispersed to change their clothes. The other instructors piled into another car as well.
"I can treat them. Injuries are unavoidable in training."
"Don't even think about it. All you have to do is stick with me. You think I haven't understood you yet, eh? You have a tender heart. You're a competent doctor, but you're not a qualified soldier. When you see someone who is bleeding and hurt, you will undoubtedly protest that my training is too difficult. What should I do if you pull a long face? We don't have enough time to adore each other. Don't tell me you want to squander our limited time arguing. We have military doctors on hand to treat them if they sustain injuries. Don't be bothered even if someone passes out in front of you."
"Pan Lei, I believe you really have come out of Zhazidong[6]. You’re far too vile. How can you humiliate others so much?"
"I'm tempering their willpower. Haven't you ever heard the expression "no pain, no gain?" Some of them have too many rough edges. They will never become exceptional commandos unless I polish them. This is not the time to flaunt individualism in American blockbuster movies. They aren’t Zorro, aren’t Batman, and they most certainly aren’t Superman."
"Just admit you're a bandit."
"Didn't you find out about this a long time ago, honey? Of course, I'm a bandit."
Footnotes:
[1] A character from the TV show "Soldier Assault." He is a foolish coward who is forced into the army by his father. It tells the narrative of his time in the army.
[2] A former concentration camp in Chongqing, China, that is now a tourist attraction. Read more on Wikipedia.
[3] A chair that indicates the owner's social standing. When placed in a home, it serves as the seat of the family's head/patriarch. It is the seat of the person with the highest authority in a palace or government office.
[4] He's essentially saying, "Forget who and what you used to be. I'm the Boss here."
[5] F**king New Guy. A derogatory term usually used to describe newcomers.
[6] There's a little wordplay going on here. Remember how TY compared PL to the jailers of Zhazi Prison? The words are zhāzǐ = residue; dregs; disreputable people. dòng = cave; hole. So he's implying that PL is a scumbag who climbed out of a hole/cave.
Translator:
I intended to take a break, but instead ended up translating extras for CG's project The Daily Life of Being the Campus Idol's Fake Boyfriend. It's a sweet narrative with no drama or angst. Check it out on NU.
Oh i love your work. And I really enjoy it. Thanks so much.
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