Armored First Company, restroom on the west side of the military camp.
A first-class noncommissioned officer wearing a white helmet and a diamond-shaped military police armband carefully edged out of the restroom.
Zhou Lei moved with barely a sound, bent forward with his entire body, his eyes on high alert as he rapidly scanned left and right. His gaze swept over blind corners and corridor turns, missing no place where someone could hide. Every movement of his was wary.
After repeatedly checking and confirming that the area was completely empty, with not a single person in sight, Zhou Lei’s nerves, taut for two days, finally relaxed.
Just as he was congratulating himself and letting his guard down a little, a deep, unhurried voice came from behind him without warning. “Zhou Lei, long time no see.”
Every hair on Zhou Lei’s body stood on end. His mind went blank, and bone-deep terror swept through him.
He had no time to think or turn around and check. His body reacted on instinct: he let out a scream, pushed off with his feet, and took off running.
Just as he had rushed two or three meters away, a burst of laughter erupted behind him.
“Hahaha! Stop! Don’t run!”
“I’m dying! Zhou Lei, you reacted way too fast!”
The laughter sounded unusually familiar to Zhou Lei, and he immediately turned to look.
Beneath the shade of the trees, two familiar military police stepped out. It was Old Li and Xiao Yang, his squadmates.
Both were doubled over with laughter, one hand on a hip and the other pointing at him, their faces full of amusement. They had clearly been hiding behind the tree, enjoying the show for quite a while.
At the sight of them, his bone-deep terror immediately faded, only to be replaced by frustration and anger.
He hurried back, his face dark with anger. “Are you two crazy? Why scare me for no reason?”
Old Li reined in his laughter a little. “And that’s our fault? You’re acting like you have PTSD now, jumping at every little sound and seeing enemies everywhere. One casual remark is enough to scare you out of your wits. Isn’t that a bit much?”
Xiao Yang nodded along, barely holding back a laugh as he added, “Exactly, Brother Zhou. Lin Yi’s already left the military. Your aftereffects are way too severe. Aren’t you making a mountain out of a molehill?”
“A bit much? How is it a bit much?”
Zhou Lei irritably brushed their hands away, sounding both angry and helpless. “You’ve never been beaten to a pulp by him! The first two times he left the military, didn’t he say goodbye properly during the day, then sneak back and ambush me before nightfall? He’d beat the crap out of me, then tell me he was back!”
“Damn it, how could I not panic? You’d be scared too if you were in my shoes!”
The trauma from those two incidents had long since become the biggest psychological scar of his military career.
Even though everyone said Lin Yi had left, he still didn’t dare let his guard down completely.
Both times, Lin Yi had left in the morning and come back that same afternoon! Like a ghost!
Now that this was his third time leaving the military, who knew if Lin Yi would pull the same trick again?
He stared at Xiao Yang and pressed him in a serious tone. “I’m asking one more time: Lin Yi really left? The bus really drove away? He didn’t turn back halfway or have some backup plan?”
Xiao Yang nodded emphatically, his tone certain. “He really left. One hundred percent.”
“I was on duty at the camp gate this morning. I watched him get on the bus for discharged personnel, watched it leave the military camp and reach the main road. All the paperwork was done, and his files were handed over. There’s no way he’s coming back.”
Only after hearing that definite answer did Zhou Lei’s nerves, taut for two whole days, finally relax completely.
He let out a long breath. It felt as though all the strength had drained from his body, and his back was already soaked with cold sweat.
Good that he was gone. It was good that he was gone!
At least he wouldn’t have to live in fear anymore.
Seeing this, Old Li patted him on the back reassuringly. “All right, all right. Lin Yi really has left this time. There’s no way he’s coming back.”
Zhou Lei rubbed his throbbing temples. “I hope so… Just please don’t come back again this time.”
Old Li and Xiao Yang looked at him and exchanged a glance. Unable to hold it in any longer, they burst into hearty laughter.
“Hey, why are you still laughing?”
“I just remembered something funny.”
“What?”
“My wife is having a baby today.”
“What the hell? You don’t even have a wife! Stop laughing!”
…
Y City, Meet You Café.
Lin Yi leaned back in the leather seat by the window, looking outside with an expression full of helplessness.
He didn’t want to be here at all. To be precise, he should have been outside Yancheng No. 1 High School this afternoon, handling the paperwork to repeat a school year.
He had chosen to repeat a year there partly because it was his alma mater, and partly because there were some old acquaintances he wanted to see.
Most importantly, before he joined the military, he had left behind quite a few legends at the school.
It would also be a return to an old haunt.
But ever since he had laid down the law at home and insisted on returning to the military and enlisting again, the two big shots in his family had become truly furious.
The Old Master sat in silence with a cold expression, while his dad slammed the table and absolutely refused to let him go through the trouble of enlisting again.
To put an end to his thoughts of returning to the military, they had simply rushed things through, moving the blind date originally scheduled for tomorrow to this afternoon.
They had even said that if the blind date went well today, he would meet the family tomorrow, they would set the wedding date while they were at it, and the two of them would start trying for a baby the day after that, aiming to have the next generation as quickly as possible.
Then Lin Yi could get lost and disappear from their sight, and do whatever he wanted.
Thinking of this left him speechless, but on second thought, he could understand.
After all, he had enlisted three times and left the military three times. The Old Master and his dad had long since become a laughingstock in the military, while he had become an exceptional case widely talked about throughout the country’s military.
If he enlisted for a fourth time… Heh. He didn’t even need to imagine what would happen.
But he had to enlist for the fourth time. The System’s activation requirement was for him to step into a military camp, put on a military uniform, and enlist again!
Besides, he could see that Grandfather and Dad were determined to make him get married and have children. Their talk of giving him freedom was impossible.
Who could guarantee that he would be free after getting married and having children? That they wouldn’t make any other demands?
He might as well return to the military. At least he could have some peace and quiet there.
As for this blind date, he had already worked out what to do.
He would just go through the motions. If the other party showed even the slightest interest, he would lay his cards on the table and turn her down. They could part on good terms, without wasting each other’s time.
As long as the blind date fell through, his family would have no reason to force him to settle down, and he would have a chance to enlist again.
Just as Lin Yi’s thoughts were wandering, someone gently pushed open the café’s glass door.
A tall, graceful figure walked slowly into the café, immediately drawing the attention of many people inside.
The woman wore a simple, tasteful light-colored dress. Her long, smooth black hair was gathered at the back of her head, revealing a slender, fair neck with clean, elegant lines.
Her features were exquisitely beautiful, her eyes and brows cool and distant, her lips pale. She carried an aloof air that kept strangers at a distance, with the classic looks of a mature, commanding woman.
At first glance, she was stunning—truly a heavenly beauty.
Lin Yi looked up instinctively, his gaze pausing for a moment.
He had spent six whole years in the military, seeing nothing but rough men and iron-blooded comrades day after day.
As the old saying went, “After three years in the military, even a sow looks like a beauty,” but his mind was perfectly sound, and his taste had never gone astray.
It wasn’t that he had gone so long without seeing a woman that he was looking at her through rose-colored glasses. The woman before him was genuinely beautiful, with an impeccable bearing, figure, appearance, and character—far beyond the ordinary.
The woman walked at an unhurried pace and came to a stop at the table in front of Lin Yi.
She looked down at the seated Lin Yi, her voice calm and cool. “Are you Lin Yi?”