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The recruits' training far surpassed the intensity they experienced aboard the troop transport ship.
Those new recruits who had complained about the rigor on the transport ship were now reminiscing fondly about their easy life at sea.
By the afternoon, the new recruits didn't just lack the strength to stand; they didn't even have the energy to sit. One by one, they were dismissed back to their quarters to lie down and 'study the Soldier's Code.'
Du Peng finished his training session, his mental state still excellent. He immediately broke into a light jog toward the recruit camp’s gravity room.
Qin Fen had intended to follow, but Squad Leader Hao stopped him with a sharp call.
“You come with me,” Squad Leader Hao tossed out the instruction, turning coolly to walk deeper into the barracks.
Qin Fen followed behind, deeply puzzled. Was Squad Leader Hao calling him for another spar? If so, should he use a burst of speed this time? Or perhaps the Raging Tide?
Ever since their last exchange, Qin Fen had been eager to get his own back. Even knowing the man was a Meteor-grade master, he desperately wanted to force Squad Leader Hao to elevate his power to Meteor-grade.
For a Three-star master to push a Meteor-grade master up from Four-star into Meteor-grade itself felt like slapping a Meteor-grade master across the face.
After a period of silent following, Qin Fen arrived at a vast room.
Five people were already waiting inside. Including Squad Leader Hao, there were six veterans.
Excluding Squad Leader Hao, the other five veterans scrutinized Qin Fen from head to toe as if he were at a matchmaking session. Several of them wore distinctly malicious grins.
If this weren't a strictly disciplined military camp, Qin Fen would have suspected some unscrupulous man had led him to some shady establishment to entertain guests.
“Excellent! Very good! Kid, from today forward, I am the master who teaches you how to kill! You can call me Teacher Butcher!”
With a broad frame and eyes sharper than a falcon’s, Chen Yuantu made no attempt to hide his strength in front of Qin Fen, radiating a dense, palpable killing intent.
Qin Fen’s mouth opened slightly in surprise. Though this man wasn't as powerful as the Light Man Turbidity Monarch, he exuded an ineffable, practiced lethality.
Master? Qin Fen was momentarily confused. Since when did the army use the title 'Master'?
Another man leaned close to Qin Fen, examining his hands from left to right, circling him once before declaring, “Kid, you can call this old man Gun King. As for whether I’m your master, we’ll see in a bit.”
The others also stepped forward to appraise Qin Fen. Squad Leader Hao smiled and stepped forward to speak. “Qin Fen, I heard you want to participate in the Federal Military Techniques Competition, correct?”
“Yes.” Qin Fen wasn't surprised; what had surprised him was that Squad Leader Hao hadn’t heard about it during yesterday’s phone call.
“These are the dregs of the army,” Squad Leader Hao said with a sly smile. “They can train you into an elite! If you want good results, you must learn from them. Consider this my repayment to your older brother.”
Qin Fen now understood a little. He nodded slowly. Beside him, Butcher’s smile broadened. “Kid, there’s an old saying: a brother’s debt is paid by the brother. The care your brother showed me back then, I will repay you a hundredfold.”
Qin Fen’s scalp tingled. He thought inwardly: I wonder what trouble this fierce man had with my brother back then; he seems more here for revenge than instruction.
The smiles on the faces of the others varied widely, further unsettling Qin Fen. Where had Squad Leader Hao found this group?
“This is your aerial combat teacher, Captain Li of the army’s Wasteland Aerial Combat Team.” Squad Leader Hao pointed to a man who was even scrawnier than a monkey.
“Kid, I’ve heard a little about you. Very interesting.” The monkey-like Captain Li said, “From now on, you can call me Teacher Wasteland. Of course, being a wasteland isn't easy these days! If you ever qualify someday, you can join the Wasteland Aerial Combat Team.”
Next up was a hefty man. Squad Leader Hao introduced him: “Expert in camouflage, Grel. He will teach you tracking, counter-tracking, assault, counter-assault, concealment, counter-concealment…”
“Hello!” The stout man was the most outwardly soldierly of the group. He extended his hand to Qin Fen with utmost seriousness.
A handshake? Qin Fen truly didn't know what to say. Didn't soldiers salute in the army?
Instinctively reaching out, Qin Fen immediately realized that this serious-looking fat man’s internal deviousness could rival Squad Leader Hao’s own cunning.
Smack, smack, smack…
The immense strength of the Dragon-Elephant Prajna Skill immediately manifested in his grip. After a brief contest of strength, the stout man let go with satisfaction. “Very good. Excellent endurance.”
“This one will teach you about Mechanized Armor…”
“Mechanized Armor?” Qin Fen couldn't help but question him. “Squad Leader, I’m in the Army…”
“You are Army, I am Squad Leader! Obey orders! I must repay your brother!”
Squad Leader Hao followed up a military directive with a plea for personal favor. Faced with this combination of hard and soft tactics, Qin Fen could only feel admiration.
“Alright, introductions are over,” Squad Leader Hao announced. “Who’s first?”
“Me!”
The five veterans responded in unison, their eagerness palpable. Immediately, intense sparks of fighting spirit ignited in the glances they exchanged.
“I say, you old runner-up, I saved your life on the battlefield back then, or you’d be dead! And you dare argue with me?” Butcher declared with righteous indignation.
Gun King didn't even look at Butcher, instead addressing Grel: “Fatty, if it weren’t for my single shot back then, would you even be here today?”
Grel sneered with disdain: “That’s because I was carrying the waste you shot down! If I hadn't saved him, would you even owe me a shot?”
The 'Wasteland' beside them was displeased. “Wasn’t I just charging forward recklessly, getting surrounded while I was enjoying myself rescuing you in the Mechanized Armor?”
The man teaching Mechanized Armor, the 'Reckless Charge,' had a refined, gentle smile. It was hard to imagine such a person becoming overexcited in battle.
“Butcher…” The Reckless Charge’s smile was exceptionally mild.
“I won’t argue with you. I know I owe you a life!” Butcher didn’t look at the Reckless Charge, his gaze fixed solely on Gun King.
Qin Fen listened from the side, noting how tangled the relationships among these five were—everyone seemed to owe a debt to someone else.
As the argument continued unabated, the five men finally focused their attention on Squad Leader Hao: “Old Hao, I seem to recall you…”
“I owe all of you a debt,” Squad Leader Hao sighed helplessly. “It wouldn’t be right to favor any one person, would it?”
In this knot of complicated relationships, the decision ultimately fell to drawing lots. The two longest slips would allow their holders to give Qin Fen his first experience today.
Chapter Fifty-Four
In the end, Butcher and Gun King happily secured the two longest slips and won the right to train him first.
Gun King, who owed Butcher a life debt, graciously yielded the spot for the first session to Butcher.
“Kid! Come here! Let’s get acquainted.”
Butcher stripped off his military uniform, revealing a torso crisscrossed with dozens of scars. Each one was shocking to behold.
To get acquainted with the master who taught killing naturally meant a fight.
Qin Fen had been brimming with fighting spirit lately, and hearing someone wanted to fight, he immediately stepped into the fighting circle.
The moment his foot touched the ring, a figure lunged forward. A ferocious, chilling aura instantly made the hairs on Qin Fen’s back stand on end.
Three-star!
This was the first time Qin Fen had encountered an opponent of the same rank who could make the hair on his body stand up. He took half a step forward and unleashed a fiercely explosive Single Whip move.
A true expert shows their skill with the first move. The other soldiers, though not the strongest in martial arts, had all faced life and death. Their eyes immediately lit up. Qin Fen had chosen the correct fighting style, but…
Qin Fen had watched thousands of battles, but Butcher had personally fought thousands. There was a vast gap in their experience.
Knife! As Qin Fen whipped out his strike, his superb martial intuition suddenly generated an utterly absurd thought! Butcher, bare-chested with nowhere to conceal a blade, somehow possessed a knife!
The Single Whip halted inches from Butcher’s chest. A gust of air from the punch even made Butcher’s close-cropped hair tremble slightly, illustrating the sheer ferocity of the blow.
But the fiercest punch is useless if it doesn’t land! At some unknown point, a cold, sharp knife materialized in Butcher’s hand, now resting chillingly against Qin Fen’s throat.
Fast! Choking fast!
Butcher, bare-chested with nowhere to hide a blade, somehow conjured one midway through his attack, like a magician.
Qin Fen’s martial intuition was exceptional, but by the time he registered the threat, he was half a beat too slow. His combined Dragon Concealment and Single Whip technique, which he hadn't fully mastered, was rushed and too slow. He could only watch as the knife pressed against his throat.
Butcher wore a smug, triumphant smile. A bead of cold sweat rolled down the back of his neck. He secretly congratulated himself for learning Qin Fen’s signature move from Squad Leader Hao beforehand; otherwise, subduing this recruit in one move would have been impossible.
“You are dead,” Butcher declared, retracting the knife and straightening up with a cool pose.
A flicker of suspicion crossed Qin Fen’s brow. The fight had felt strange, as if he had stumbled into a trap dug long in advance.
“Your fighting style is clean and direct; that is very good,” Butcher said, picking up his uniform from the floor. “But it’s not enough. You only want to win, but you don’t want to kill. On the battlefield, you only win when you kill the opponent. Even if I hadn't used tricks just now, you couldn't have beaten me, a Three-star master. Facing a group of enemies on the battlefield, I would have a much higher chance of survival than you. Because I use the least energy to kill the most people. You can’t! You might manage one-on-one.”
Qin Fen offered no rebuttal. He realized that the thousands of simulated matches he had watched were all one-on-one duels. This was the primary reason he hesitated about participating in the Three-star God of War arena, where he might face one-on-one, one-on-two, or even more chaotic engagements.
“Alright, alright! It’s my turn!” Gun King approached Qin Fen, carrying a black case nearly as long as a person and half as wide, which he unceremoniously dropped before Qin Fen. “Kid, pick one you like from inside.”
When the case opened, Qin Fen’s heart rate accelerated significantly.
Gun King was indeed the Gun King. The box was filled entirely with guns!
Even though this was a world of martial arts, which young man truly didn't love firearms? If a soldier had never even touched a gun, he’d be laughed out of the barracks.
Qin Fen flexed his hands, controlling his impulse to snatch a weapon, and looked up to ask, “What is the target?”
Gun King’s eyes, along with those of the others, lit up. Good boy! Most people, upon seeing so many guns, would immediately grab their favorite and start handling it, forgetting to ask why they were choosing.
“Shoot me!” Gun King pointed to his own chest.
Qin Fen didn't ask why he should shoot the man; since this was training, there must be a purpose.
He quickly scanned the firearms in the box and naturally chose a compact pistol: the Night Hawk T3!
Qin Fen didn't know the exact model, but he felt the gun was rather compact, suggesting it would be fast for close-range firing.
Grabbing the gun, Qin Fen adopted the surprise-attack method used by Squad Leader Hao and Butcher. He immediately raised the weapon and fired at Gun King!
Since he was the Gun King, and the target was specified as himself, he surely possessed some skill. Qin Fen didn't believe that a complete novice like himself could kill the Gun King with a single shot.
Click…
The firing pin struck the primer, but the pistol emitted no flash or bullet.
Gun King smiled meaningfully, flicking his wrist. An identical Night Hawk T3 was drawn from his waist, its muzzle locking onto Qin Fen.
“Kid, strange, isn't it?” Gun King chuckled. “What I want to teach you today is that not every gun is ready to use just because you pick it up. Sometimes a gun that looks fine on the outside may already be ruined internally. If you want to learn to shoot, you must first learn how to identify whether the gun in your hand is scrap metal or a murder weapon.”
Having been tricked! Qin Fen nodded thoughtfully, realizing that none of these veterans were easy to handle.
“There’s still some time left today,” Gun King said, glancing at Butcher. “Learning to kill clearly isn't enough. Learning about guns with me still leaves some time.”
Butcher didn't contest the spot with Gun King. Qin Fen’s performance in those few previous encounters had highly satisfied everyone present.
Though he didn't possess the unparalleled genius of Qin Zhan—who burst onto the scene as invincible—Qin Fen was undoubtedly a rare, excellent material. With proper training, he might not fall short of Qin Zhan.
All of them held a shared drive against Qin Zhan. Even if they couldn't defeat Qin Zhan, they would ensure their student surpassed him.
The group dispersed, and Qin Fen followed Gun King to a small firing range.
Gun King held a training pistol. “Martial artists have intuition; during combat, you can predict others' movements based on superhuman instinct. Just like you sensed Butcher’s knife just now. Unfortunately, Butcher has dealt with those possessing overly strong martial intuition before; he has his own unique field of counter-intuition. The fact that you sensed his blade midway was already remarkable. So, there is no need to feel bad about losing to him.”
Qin Fen was slightly surprised. The Gun King, who was teaching firearms, was actually discussing martial theory.