After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

"Squad One, who’s coming up!"

Dead silence.

The Squad One Leader smiled, gave a fierce slap on the first-row desk, and threatened with a shiny glare.

"No hand raising, evening exercise tonight!"

All ten raised their hands.

All ten stepped forward, which was the same as not stepping at all.

But the feeling of internal competition had kicked in.

For a moment, everyone wished they could turn back the last thirty dull minutes.

"Then I’ll pick one! First row, third one!" Wang Jian pointed to someone casually.

The lucky guy stood up with shaking legs.

"Hel... hello everyone, my name is... my name is..."

"Wang Fangcai, you forgot your own name?" Squad One Leader slammed the desk again.

Wang Jian’s face was easy-going, "Come on up and talk."

Wang Fangcai approached the podium and swallowed hard.

"My name is Wang Fangcai."

His voice was as small as a mosquito’s.

"Can’t hear you!" Squad One Leader challenged loudly.

"My name is Wang Fangcai!"

Silence.

Wang Jian broke the silence, "What else?"

"I... watched the news! Today... very happy!"

The atmosphere below relaxed a lot, many people started laughing.

Mostly because everyone felt like they now had a buffer - no matter how bad, it couldn’t get worse than this.

Wang Jian’s face fell, not at Wang Fangcai, but at the new recruits.

"What are you laughing at? It’s his first time speaking. It’s natural to be nervous. What’s so funny? Whoever laughs next is coming up to talk! Now, let’s give Wang Fangcai a round of applause!"

The audience immediately started clapping awkardly.

Wang Fangcai swayed a bit, his chest heaved violently, then he mustered up the courage to say loudly, "After watching, I feel that everyone is living happily! I’m really happy! Before I enlisted, the cadres in my village helped my family finish planting pumpkin seeds, saying they’ll help when it’s time to harvest them, too! They won’t let my dad work so hard alone! They told me to serve well and not worry about home! I will serve well to repay my village! To repay the state! That’s all I’ve got to say."

This time, everyone was silent.

Despite the semi-dialect of the Northwest, everyone understood it, and it felt like a bit of sand was in their eyes.

"Well said! Although Wang Fangcai didn’t talk about today’s news, he told a touching story. Let’s applaud!"

After Wang Jian finished, he started applauding.

The applause was thunderous.

Fang Huai also felt a lump in his throat.

Sincerity is the ultimate killer move, huh! This speech, it’s going to be hard for anyone to top today.

"Next up, fourth row, third one!"

This time, a delicate-looking one came up – Wang Jian probably wanted a contrast.

"Hello everyone, my name is Chen Huaibing, I saw a news story today, about Chang’e-1 going into space..."

"Chang’e-1 went to space last month! It’s an in-orbit test! And it’s been successful!" Wang Jian corrected.

Below there was a scattered laughter again.

"In-orbit test... I think, our country’s aerospace project is progressing! I believe the next step, we’ll be moving into outer space..." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"You don’t even know what Chang’e-1 is for, step down!" Wang Jian said with frustration.

...

"Next, Squad Eight!"

"Report!" The pride of Squad Eight, Battalion Commander Zhang, stood up.

Fang Huai’s eyes narrowed.

Old Pan was indeed well-prepared, this guy didn’t seem to have a slick tongue at first glance, so him volunteering probably meant he had prepared in advance.

The previous few were not quite up to scratch; what they said was off-topic. You couldn’t say there was no content, but it was off the mark.

Old Pan was on duty this evening, and when the company arranged this activity, he had his mind set on standing out from the crowd.

Battalion Commander Zhang went up to the podium and gave a salute.

His Squad Eight immediately provided supportive applause, and Wang Jian also showed a smile.

"Hello everyone, my name is Zhang Yizhang. Today, I’d like to talk about the new socialist countryside. The news just now mentioned Tangta Village, which is a typical example of a new rural area. The increasing wealth of rural people shows that our country’s issues with agriculture, rural areas, and farmers are being addressed..."

He rambled on for more than two minutes, a bit stammering but the content was substantial.

After Zhang Yizhang finished, he saluted again and stepped down to warm applause.

"Very good, the issues with the countryside were deeply discussed by Zhang Yizhang," Wang Jian nodded, but his face was as unruffled as if he had expected the outcome.

Old Pan had come to him after lunch, saying to let the new recruits talk about the news in the evening, so he had guessed it already.

It was a nod to the old soldiers.

"Squad Nine, who will speak?" Wang Jian looked at Hao Chengbin.

"Report!" Jiang Peng stood up excitedly.

Fang Huai also sensed something in his heart.

But the system had no response.

It looked like today’s task reward was out of reach.

Wang Jian raised his hand, pointing at Jiang Peng, signaling for him to go up.

Jiang Peng marched onto the stage full of fighting spirit, also saluting in the same manner.

"The first piece of news today is... the livestream achieved..."

"The second piece of the news is about the new countryside in Tangta Village..."

"The third..."

Jiang Peng was awesome.

Once on stage, it was essentially a re-broadcast of the news.

This guy’s memory was undeniably one of the prides of the Squad, pretty much recounting the gist of the news broadcast.

There was no interpretation, just pure recounting; it seemed all the preparation was spent on memorizing content.

But he was diligent; absolutely diligent.

When he spoke for almost 5 minutes, Captain Wang finally ran out of patience.

"Go down, Jiang Peng."

Dammit, his endless talk could put me to sleep; even watching the original 30-minute broadcast wasn’t this exhausting.

"Everyone, let’s give a round of applause." Captain Wang couldn’t be bothered to comment any further.

Jiang Peng’s face showed he still had more to say, which made Hao Chengbin roll his eyes from below.

"Also?"

A sudden voice rang out.

Pan Zhaohui walked to the edge of the stage, tilting his head toward the direction of Squad Nine, smiling and saying, "The Wu Zhuangyuan (top scholar) from Squad Nine, aren’t you coming up to speak?"

Fang Huai stood up with a smile, frantically calling out in his mind.

Big Brother System, it’s my time to shine; how about a reward?

Where is the cheekiness?

"Come on, get up here and talk!" Pan Zhaohui called affectionately.

Finally.

[Task: Go ahead, go show off.]

Fang Huai: @¥&%#???

That direct, huh?? No task content??

This system, it’s pretty cheeky!

Hao Chengbin watched silently with his arms crossed, and for some reason, seeing Fang Huai stepping forward willingly, he wasn’t too worried.

Fang Huai took to the stage and added a complete set of moves: marching, halt, turn right.

Quite fluid, even Wang Jian was surprised.

New recruits on their first day, everyone was buckling down; such things that hadn’t even been taught yet.

"All the leaders and squad leaders present, my name is Fang Huai from Squad Nine."

He paused for a moment and, noticing no applause, continued.

"The news today was well-covered by everyone. Captain Wang said to speak our mind, so I will also make a summary."

"Regarding today’s news, on domestic issues, it ranged from rural economic development, to aeronautics and astronautics, energy conservation and emission reduction, to the Spirit of the Seventeenth Congress. There were many topics discussed, but in my view, they all revolved around the center reporting on economic development.

The main content of the Seventeenth Congress, which is to comprehensively build a moderately prosperous society, also highlights the importance and urgency of economic development, reflecting the primary contradictions in current state development.

Energy conservation and emission reduction demonstrate the persistent problems that should be avoided in the development process, implementing a scientific development approach.

Rural development emphasizes which class’s survival problems need to be resolved first for development.

Aeronautics and astronautics represent the primary direction of future scientific research funding. Technology is also a standard for national progress, and aerospace technology is even more so a future guarantee of communication, networking, and military forces.

At the same time, I have some personal thoughts regarding the advancement of comprehensive national strength, which cannot be separated from the protection of soldiers.

Political Commissar Zou spoke during the training initiation, and Squad Leader Hao reminded us at lunch today, that as a Firefighter Soldier, we should shoulder the heavy responsibility of guarding people’s life safety and property safety in economic development, providing escort for the upcoming five-year development plan.

Life comes first, then property.

I’m very proud to be able to take on this development responsibility, and I should actively engage in training, striving to join in my professional duties as a Firefighter Soldier as soon as possible.

I am done with my remarks, thank you all."

The speech was very steady, without too much rise and fall, as if delivering some kind of report.

Captain Wang felt like he was in a meeting.

The squad leaders felt like they had returned to the day of initiation, listening to the speech by the Head of the Corps.

Dammit, this gotta be on the level of a Battalion Instructor!

Squad Leader Hao was very proud; his face all smiles.

All because of Fang Huai’s words "As Political Commissar Zou has said, as Squad Leader Hao also mentioned."

Wait a minute, when did I say that?

Old Pan had already left through the back door, and from outside came a series of lighter clinks.

"Damn it! Why won’t this fire light?"