Qin Fen watched the instructors deep in reunion chatter and gave a deliberate cough, "Excuse me, are we continuing the lesson today?"

"No more teaching! With Phoenix here, how could we teach?" Squad Leader Hao waved his hand dismissively. "You're dismissed to rest."

"Really?" Qin Fen looked at Squad Leader Hao with some uncertainty. This man taught the art of deception; who knew which of his words were true and which were lies?

Squad Leader Hao glared, "Of course it's true!"

"Oh."

Qin Fen plopped down onto the ground, gently regulating the Zhenqi within his body. The attack style of [Raging Torrent], which consumed fighting capacity so heavily, left even his sturdy body feeling fatigued after the offensive ceased.

Squad Leader Hao glared, and the others started laughing. This Qin Fen truly wasn't the least bit dull. Faced with Squad Leader Hao, whose words were always correct whether spoken directly or inverted, he simply chose to superficially believe him and then sat right where he was to rest, thereby dealing with the Squad Leader's statement, lest he leave and be called back by Hao for being tricked again.

"A little interesting..." Squad Leader Hao chuckled, rubbing his nose lightly. "This kid, though he doesn't possess the cunning of his older brother to turn the tables and deceive me back, this tactic of meeting every change with no change—it actually possesses a bit of a general's demeanor."

"Old Hao, about you slandering my appearance in front of Qin Fen just now, shouldn't we settle that score now?"

Phoenix's mood instantly brightened, and her wild streak immediately returned. Her boxing style had deeply absorbed the essence of the snake form. In a fight among peers, her offensive power wasn't the strongest, but she was absolutely one of the most tenacious and inescapable opponents, and also one of the most venomous. To be caught in her entanglement was guaranteed suffering.

"Phoenix, come on, I'm the one who scouted this kid," Squad Leader Hao took a cautious step back. Fighting her was worse than fighting the Butcher. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you."

"You scouted him?" Phoenix looked at Qin Fen with confusion, timing it just as Qin ফেন finished circulating a cycle of Zhenqi and opened his eyes.

"Yes, Squad Leader Hao is my squad leader."

Qin Fen slowly stood up, clenched his fist hard, and felt quite a bit of his strength return.

"Is that so? Then forget it!" Phoenix’s decisiveness surpassed that of many men. She looked at Qin Fen again, "Having fought you just now, I feel you should go practice in the Gravity Room."

The other instructors nodded in agreement, their faces showing deep concurrence.

"Understood."

Experts all started from being novices. Qin Fen knew well to absorb the experience of others. Without saying goodbye to Squad Leader Hao, he silently walked out of the room.

The instructors looked at one another, and then burst into laughter.

"That silent kid is actually quite formidable," the Waste Captain shook his head while laughing. "He chose direct ignoring to dismantle Old Hao's trickery."

Outside the room, Qin Fen looked up at the last remnants of daylight in the sky, a slight smile touching his lips. This mission was a success! Finally, he had managed to gain an advantage over the cunning old Squad Leader. It seemed deception was a very interesting thing; even if not used to trick others, it could at least prevent one from being tricked.

Passing through many barracks, he arrived at the mess hall. Almost everyone from the company was present, save for Du Peng. Those who entered the Gravity Room generally expended much more energy, and the Gravity Room had a special annex to the mess hall specifically to replenish the nutrients of those undergoing voluntary special training.

"Old Qin, over here, over here."

Deng Biao, standing at a towering one meter ninety, was as enthusiastic as ever, showing no sign of harboring resentment from having been beaten by Qin Fen that day.

Qin Fen had been curious about this earlier. This morning, upon waking, he happened to overhear Deng Biao answering this very question posed by another comrade.

"Fists and kicks are one thing, comrades are another. Back then, I just wanted to fight for the top spot, so that later if anyone gave our squad trouble, I'd be the one looking out for him. Since he's stronger than me, it makes sense for him to look out for me now."

After hearing that answer, Qin Fen felt he had been somewhat reckless that day.

Sitting down at his own squad’s table, Qin Fen immediately plunged into the battle for food.

When many people eat together, their appetite tends to be better; Qin Fen deeply felt this iron rule.

After eating until about eighty percent full, Qin Fen stopped eating. Although he had lived on the edge of poverty his whole life, he had always paid attention to his body; eighty percent fullness was the best state for the body, being completely full was actually detrimental.

Perhaps, precisely because he lived on the poverty line, he needed to ensure a good physical condition even more? Qin Fen put down his bowl and chopsticks, watching his comrades who were still wolfing down their meals. The army providing food was truly a wonderful thing.

"Everyone, I have something else to do, I'll be going now," Qin Fen stood up and excused himself from the meal.

"What's up, Old Qin?" Deng Biao said, his mouth full of rice and vegetables. "Stay and head back to the barracks together later, it’ll be livelier."

"No thanks, I think I'll go check out the Gravity Room."

"The Gravity Room? You're going to the Gravity Room that Du Peng goes to?"

"Yes."

The new recruits at the surrounding tables, while eating, all looked at Qin Fen as if he were a monster. Comparison truly is the killer of joy. After the same grueling day of training as everyone else, when all were longing to collapse onto their beds for rest, someone actually proposed adding extra training for himself—and not just any extra training, but heading to the Gravity Room for it.

"Go for it!" Deng Biao said proudly. "Break through and advance sooner. I heard today that the Taekwondo master from Hanzhou, Park Jong-hwan, is really strong! If that guy finishes his seclusion, we'll have a better chance against him."

Park Jong-hwan? After such a busy day, Qin Fen had almost completely forgotten about this young master.

Giving a quick greeting, Qin Fen left the mess hall and walked all the way to Military Gravity Room Number Four, which was the closest one to the barracks.

The Gravity Room was a special building that altered atmospheric pressure within a specially constructed artificial space.

Forcefully changing the gravity in a specific area or room was no easy feat, and building a Gravity Room was also difficult. The sheer amount of money spent on it alone was enough to make Qin Fen curse the extravagance.

Expensive, high-end fitness centers in the civilian world also had such equipment, but Qin Fen had always lived at the lowest level and refused financial assistance from his two good brothers, so he had never entered one.

Waste time and energy sweating in such a space?