Fu Siheng’s hand froze on the doorknob as he looked at him skeptically.
“I’ll just sleep quietly. I won’t do anything; I can even sleep on the floor,” Yan Xun’s voice grew lower, tinged with a slight hoarseness.
Seeing how pitiful he looked, Fu Siheng stepped aside to let him in. “What happened?” he asked.
They spoke softly to avoid waking the others outside.
After entering, Yan Xun closed the door behind him and stammered, “I… I’m not used to sleeping with so many people.”
He glanced around. Fu Siheng’s room was impeccably clean. The pine flooring exuded a sense of tranquility, and the single bed was covered with a cool mat and a thin, dark gray quilt. It looked much more comfortable than the outside.
Yan Xun looked at him. “Can I stay?”
Fu Siheng was a bit speechless. “Not used to sleeping with others? Then what did you do during the military drills?”
Despite his words, he didn’t kick Yan Xun out. Instead, he laid the air-conditioned quilt across the middle of the bed, clearing a spot on one side.
Yan Xun conscientiously hugged the pillow and got into bed, offering a flimsy excuse: “I slept with the Company Commander.”
That sounded… a little strange.
Only after they lay down did they realize the bed was a bit too small, especially for two very tall guys.
Their arms and legs kept brushing against each other. Fu Siheng wore long pants, while Yan Xun, who ran hot, wore shorts. He felt the cool silk fabric glide across his calf, and a pleasant scent- Fu Siheng’s scent- wafted to his nose.
At first, Yan Xun didn’t think much of it, but as time passed, he grew inexplicably tense.
The man beside him had a cool body temperature and steady, quiet breathing. But the mere thought that this was Fu Siheng kept him completely awake.
A dry, parched feeling surged up his throat, and his Adam’s apple bobbed.
“Instructor Fu, are you asleep?” Yan Xun finally couldn’t hold back, whispering in a low voice.
No answer came from beside him. He waited expectantly for a moment, then closed his eyes in disappointment.
In the darkness, Fu Siheng stared at the ceiling. Only after a long time did he finally close his eyes.
The next morning, the mountain area, which had only been clear for a few hours, began to drizzle again.
Everyone in the training camp put on protective raincoats, and the trainees shouldered their rifles, preparing to run halfway up the mountain.
Just as they were about to set off, Fu Siheng took the lead position, sending the original lead class monitors back into the ranks.
The Alphas began to buzz with discussion.
“No way, Instructor Fu is going to do the morning run with us?”
“Holy shit, a ten-kilometer run in full gear? Isn’t he supposed to take the car to the finish line and time us? I was planning to take a shortcut, damn it!”
“Oh my god, he’s really going all out just to stop us from slacking off! Is he trying to kill us?”
Fu Siheng secured his whistle and spoke to Yan Xun, who was driving past in an off-road vehicle. “You take the team to the finish line to time them. Anyone who exceeds the time limit will have extra training tonight.”
“You’re not coming with us?” Yan Xun asked in surprise.
“I’m running with them,” Fu Siheng said simply.
The trainees groaned in unison, while those in the car, tasked with recording the scores, gloated and told the runners good luck.
Before arriving, Fu Siheng had carefully studied the map of the area and knew there were many small paths within the mountain range. These paths were not only unsafe but would also drastically reduce the running time. He figured they had already planned to slack off.
But he never expected this to happen on the very first day.
Fu Siheng blew his whistle. “Everyone, shut up. Attention! Fall in and run.”
Everyone simultaneously raised their fists to their waists, and the ground rumbled with the sound of synchronized footsteps as they marched away into the rain.
Yan Xun shook his head and smiled as he drove. “Instructor Fu is the real ruthless one.”
A trainee in the car said, “He really is. This morning, the trainer descended the mountain with a big bag of communicators, following the car.”
Yan Xun fell silent. My communicator is gone too, he thought, a wave of anguish washing over him.
But he couldn’t show it in front of his junior. Instead, he scoffed, “This is nothing. When I was in college, they were even stricter with us. They confiscated our communicators right after we enrolled. You only got to use yours once a month if you behaved well.”
The students exchanged resentful glances.
Shortly after they drove to the finish line, the formation of trainees came marching over, chanting slogans.
Fu Siheng ran all the way from the front to the back. He was pushing the slowest trainee, his brow furrowed. “Hurry up! You’re already two minutes over the time limit. The five of you in the front, do you want extra training tonight?”
Despite chanting slogans and running ten kilometers, his voice didn’t tremble in the slightest.
The last few Alphas were panting heavily, gasping for air as they were urged by him to reach the finish line. But when they checked the time, they were still over the limit.
Fu Siheng took a breath, accepted a towel from Yan Xun, and wiped his hair. “The three of you who exceeded the time limit will run another ten kilometers tonight. If you still don’t meet the standard, you’ll run tomorrow night again.”
His short silver hair, wet with sweat and rain, clung to his slightly flushed cheeks, making him look a bit less like a formidable instructor.
Yan Xun glanced at him for only a moment before averting his gaze, unconsciously scuffing the grass on the roadside with his foot.
Someone who was truly exhausted beyond endurance complained, “Instructor, I really can’t run anymore. Can we skip the extra training?”
“Are you trying to haggle with me?” Fu Siheng’s tone turned cold.
The person flinched and muttered, “You don’t have to do the extra training yourself, so it’s not like you’re tired…”
If this had been in the Marine Corps, Fu Siheng’s whip would have already landed. He took a deep breath and said, “Of course I, ”
“You fucking need the instructor to run with you for training? Don’t you all reflect on how goddamn useless you are?” Yan Xun interrupted him.
Everyone turned to look at him. He curled his lip in disdain. “Back when we were in the intensive training, who would have dared to talk back to the instructor? If he didn’t kick you off the side of the mountain, it would be a disservice to eighteen generations of your ancestors. Tonight, all of you will do the extra training with me. I just don’t get it. Is ten kilometers that hard? Run it for a month and see. If you still can’t pass, drop out early. Don’t bring shame to the Imperial Military Academy.”
The group immediately fell silent. Fu Siheng glanced at him and said, “Class monitor, take the squad back. The next drill starts in ten minutes.”
Everyone boarded the bus, leaving only him and Yan Xun to get into the off-road vehicle.
Fu Siheng sat in the passenger seat, drying his hair, when Yan Xun tossed him a thermos.
“What’s this?”
“Ginger soup. Drink it while it’s hot.”
Fu Siheng unscrewed the lid, puzzled. He’d only asked the cookhouse to make ginger soup this morning; how could it be ready so soon?
As if reading his mind, Yan Xun said casually, “I made it last night. The news said it was going to rain today.”
Fu Siheng didn’t say anything else. He took a sip, and the sweet warmth of brown sugar covered the ginger’s spiciness. His gaze softened; he hadn’t expected Yan Xun to remember he liked sweet things.
The mountain road was rough, so the car didn’t move very fast.
Yan Xun kept his hands on the steering wheel and asked, “Managing students must be hard, right? Is it a lot tougher than the Marine Corps?”
This was the first time he’d mentioned the Marine Corps. Fu Siheng stared ahead and replied, “They both have their own difficulties. You’ll understand once you join the unit.”
Yan Xun fell silent for a moment, then suddenly turned to him with a smile. “Let’s do this from now on: I’ll play the bad cop, and you can focus on training them.”
He glanced at Fu Siheng for only a few seconds before turning back to focus on the road. Yet those few seconds of a smile were enough to leave Fu Siheng feeling dazed.
He couldn’t help but ask, “Weren’t you opposed to me joining the ‘Excellence Program’ before?”
Yan Xun fell silent for a moment, then said, “As long as it’s something you want to do, I’ll help you.”
Fu Siheng watched the trees blur past and said no more.
The words, a promise they both thought was just casually tossed out, drifted away into the moist, sweet air, carried by the fine, dense rain.
The ten-kilometer run was just the morning warm-up. The real training for the rest of the morning was target practice.
But this was no ordinary target practice. Fu Siheng had hung a ten-pound weight from the bottom of each trainee’s handgun.
A normal person would struggle just to lift it, let alone hold it steady for so long.
He moved from one trainee to the next, correcting their posture. “If one person can’t hold out, everyone adds another half hour to their training.”
This was the most common method used by the Marine Corps to train arm stability. Only with a steady hand and a calm mind could one ensure a flawless shot.
The rain began to fall harder. Despite their hooded raincoats, the water still washed over their faces, making it impossible to keep their eyes open.
Not a single person on the training field held an umbrella.
Fu Siheng paced back and forth, his voice booming, “Eyes open, all of you! Are you trying to fall asleep?”
“What, you think this is the hardest part? Let me tell you, this is just the beginning.”
“If you can’t even endure this much training, how do you expect to become the Empire’s strongest weapons? How do you expect to fight across the stars with the bravest army in the galaxy?”
Finally, one recruit couldn’t hold on any longer. His body swayed, and the stone on his arm fell with a dull thud.
“Add another half hour,” Fu Siheng said mercilessly. Yan Xun restarted the timer.
A deathly silence fell over the field. Not a single complaint was uttered.
The recruit who had dropped his stone silently picked it up and, with his comrades’ help, resumed aiming at the target.
Perhaps fueled by resentment over training in a torrential downpour, or perhaps by a simmering grudge against the instructor’s words, they all gritted their teeth in defiance. No matter how violently their arms shook, no one let another stone fall.
They were not the worst class!
If they had managed to get into the Imperial Military Academy, it proved that none of them were cowards!
Fu Siheng said coldly, “Think about why you came here. Never forget your original intention. If your conviction can be so easily shaken, then you are merely a useless waste who belongs at home.”
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through everyone’s minds. Some recalled the grand declarations they had made when they first applied. Others thought of their mothers, waiting at home, hoping they would serve the Empire.
“We won’t give up!” someone roared.
The rest were swept up in the momentum, shouting in unison, “We won’t give up!”
The rain poured down in torrents, yet all thirty of them stood as still as statues.
“Unity, Dedication, Loyalty to the Army, Service to the Nation, ”
The cadets chanted the Imperial Military Academy’s motto. Though their eyes were bloodshot from the stinging rain, they kept them wide open, staring fixedly at the targets.
Beep, beep, beep. The timer went off.
But still, no one budged. It wasn’t until Fu Siheng said, “Lower your weapons,” that they finally lowered their rifles, utterly exhausted.
The result of holding their rifles all morning was that when they sat down for lunch, no one could even lift their arms. Their hands trembled violently as they struggled to bring the food to their mouths.
But before they could even recover, the afternoon brought an even more brutal training exercise: the barbed-wire crawl.
The crawl was divided into high-profile and low-profile, and the standards for each were strictly enforced. The barbed wire was strung with actual inverted hooks; if you rose just a fraction too high, your back would be shredded.
The trainees had never faced such training at the academy. Their instructors had always prioritized their safety above all else.
Fu Siheng shed his jacket, revealing a navy blue short-sleeved shirt beneath. “I will demonstrate for you,” he announced. “Yan Xun, go to the finish line and time me.”
The trainees exchanged stunned glances. None of them had expected him to take the course himself.
Yan Xun glanced at Fu Siheng’s bare arms and frowned. “Instructor Fu, let me do the demonstration instead.”
“Go to the finish line,” Fu Siheng said, his gaze steady and calm.