After Being Reborn, I became a firefighter again?

Hao Chengbin saw that Jiang Peng didn’t answer and walked straight up to him, bellowing.

"Everyone stand up!"

In this tense and hostile environment, although everyone was exhausted, they didn’t dare to breathe heavily.

Jiang Peng stood up too but now faced Hao Chengbin even more closely, his lips tightly pressed together, clearly determined not to say a word.

Behind them, He Zhijun’s expression also became serious, and he said again, "The squad leader asked you a question! Why won’t you answer?"

"Report!..." Jiang Peng struggled for half a day without being able to speak, and because he held his breath, he ended up taking even deeper breaths.

Hao Chengbin raised his hand and yanked him out, pulling him to the front of the lineup.

"Jiang Peng, I’m giving you a chance to compete, five kilometers, parallel bars, and..."

Hao Chengbin pointed to a tall building by the side of the playground.

"Training tower weight-bearing rush upstairs; you choose one."

Everyone couldn’t help but look in the direction Hao Chengbin was pointing.

The squad leader competing with a new recruit!

And from the squad leader’s words, if there’s "weight-bearing rush upstairs," then they might also get the chance to enter that mysterious building in the future!

These past days, everyone had been curious about that building by the playground that looked like an unfinished residential building.

About 10 stories high, with protruding steel frames on the fourth and top floors.

When asked, the squad leaders were all very consistent in their response: This has nothing to do with you! It’s not for your use! You’ll find out when you go down to the squadron! Every squadron has one!

So it’s called a training tower!

"Hurry up and choose! What’s with the dawdling?"

Hao Chengbin glanced at his watch, somewhat impatiently said.

"I’ll take the three kilometers!" Jiang Peng, seeing that there was no avoiding it and confident that an old soldier couldn’t run well, chose his strongest event.

"There’s no three kilometers! I just said it’s the standard for after you are assigned to a unit! In this squad, it’s only five kilometers!"

"Then five kilometers it is! I need to rest for a few minutes first!"

"You have ten minutes," Hao Chengbin said calmly.

Then he turned his head to He Zhijun, "He, take them to assemble by the side of the playground, and in a bit, you can lead them to warm up, do some parallel bars and push-ups."

He Zhijun, however, chimed in, "Squad leader, how about I have a go with him?"

Jiang Peng panicked, "I don’t want to compete with Squad Leader He! I just want to take you on!"

But Hao Chengbin seemed to ignore him altogether, not even turning his head as he waved, "No need. I’ll play a couple of rounds with him. Haven’t run for a while, it’s like walking the dog."

The others wanted to laugh but didn’t dare to do it out loud.

This old squad leader; truly a comedian.

Jiang Peng, provoked, became red in the face, breathing even more rapidly, his teeth grinding.

During these days, he had heard quite a bit about things in the military; some parts greatly interested him.

For instance, several old soldiers with bad tempers, who liked to hit and scold, were ambushed by new recruits with sacks before their discharge, and retiring veterans getting beaten up before they left.

Anyway, after this, they would not meet again, no longer worrying about offending the squad leader.

Just you wait, before I leave the unit, I’ll be sure to gather some people and beat you up!

...

The few large lights on the playground were blazing passionately, illuminating the distance with a clarity even greater than that of daytime.

By Fang Huai’s side, Yue Tao, like a chicken that gets easily amazed, had to exclaim about everything he saw.

"Wow... Fang Huai, look! These lights, in stripes, they’re like rainbows!"

Someone beside them confidently explained, "Haven’t you learned? This is called Pythagoras’ theorem!"

Immediately someone disagreed, "Bullshit! This is called the Dali Garden effect..."

"Oh, no, the Holiland retribution!"

"Haha, Chang Kun! I think you’re the real retribution!"

He Zhijun, who was leading the team, seemed very pleased with their hearty laughter before training and did not interrupt.

On the playground, two people had already taken their places at the starting line.

Hao Chengbin bent down to stretch his legs, while Jiang Peng stood by, smiling faintly.

After a few movements, Hao Chengbin stood up, raised his hand and said, "He, time us!" 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

He Zhijun turned around, jogged next to the two runners, glanced at his watch, and declared in a serious tone.

"On your marks!"

Hao Chengbin raised his hand to signal readiness, and only then did Jiang Peng start to shake his body nervously.

"Ready..."

"Go!"

The two took off running, and He Zhijun turned back to the front of the lineup.

Seeing the new recruits looking at the playground with excitement, he couldn’t help but joke, "Today we’ll give the playground to them. Don’t worry, tomorrow you can all run too, and from then on, we’ll do it every other day."

The new recruits, upon hearing this, started to look terrified.

What the heck?

Squad leader, please don’t get the wrong idea! We just want to watch the show! We’re not looking to run!

"Squad leader... five kilometers... every other day?" someone asked, swallowing hard.

"Yes," He Zhijun nodded and said.

"Running too much is bad for the knees. In the training team, we did a light run in the morning and a weight-bearing run in the evening. You haven’t had much training, so running every other day is enough for now.

Once you get used to it, we’ll add weight-bearing. Below the training tower, there are some old air-breathing devices, the air has already been released, they weigh less than ten pounds."

He spoke with an understanding demeanor.

This is truly killing without a knife; Squad Leader He might have had a smile on his face, but the words he spoke were inhuman.

Some people immediately wanted to opt out, but the option to leave was no longer available.

"Alright, don’t just stand there; do a set of jumping jacks and push-ups to warm up. Let’s say 20 jumping jacks, and push-ups... 100 of them. Do it on your own, and after that, we’ll move on to the parallel bars."

Oh my god, 100 push-ups for warming up!

This is insane!

But everyone could tell He Zhijun hesitated when he said that, so they quickly got started, hoping to avoid any increase in the count.

After completing the jumping jacks, they were already somewhat warm and starting to lie down quickly to do push-ups.

Squad Leader He finally began to patrol and instruct.

"Second row, third one! Your back, raise it a bit!"

"Third row, numbers three, four, five, not up to standard! Put force into your arms!"

New recruits began to howl, "Squad Leader! If we keep this up, we won’t have the strength to do the pull-ups and parallel bars later!"

He Zhijun waved and said, "It’s okay, it’s okay, today is just to get familiar with the pull-ups and parallel bars! Training does not count toward your score, it’s fine, as long as your arms are positioned correctly!"

Everyone sighed in relief.

If it won’t count toward the score, then it’s manageable.

Everyone pressed on with difficulty, their eyes also fixed on the situation unfolding on the playground.

Hao Chengbin placed his hands on his lower back, his upper body steady, running with what appeared to be a leisurely pace but actually covering a good stride length, with Jiang Peng following behind, also seemingly without too much difficulty.

On the second lap, Jiang Peng surpassed Hao Chengbin, taking the lead. Hao Chengbin trailed by about ten meters, casually following.

The third and fourth laps remained the same.

One by one, the push-up line also began to stand up.

Everyone still wanted to pat off the dust on their hands and dawdle a bit longer to watch another lap, but He Zhijun turned around for a glance and then said loudly.

"400 meters per lap, twelve and a half laps! You won’t see the end! Let’s move on to the pull-ups and parallel bars, or you’ll all cool down!"

After He Zhijun finished speaking, he started to organize the team, commanding everyone with military orders towards the pull-up and parallel bar area.

"Look right, look forward, turn right! Target, the pull-up and parallel bars, marching... forward!"

A moment ago, he was gentle as a drizzle. Even though he clearly saw someone slacking off during the push-ups right under his watch, he didn’t chastise them, conveying an aura of indifference toward everything.

But as soon as he started calling commands, he exuded an air of authority that seemed impossible to resist.

This was the seriousness bestowed by proper formation.

...

The pull-up and parallel bar exercises were clearly not as He Zhijun had said, just getting into position.

Especially the pull-up bars.

He Zhijun indeed did not count repetitions, but it seemed he could tell the limit of everyone’s strength.

Pushing hard, no slacking allowed, completely different from the new recruit evaluation standards.

Get up there, pull however you want, just don’t stop, but you can’t come down from the bar whenever you like; you need his command.

Only when he believed you truly had no strength left would he allow someone to come down; otherwise, you would have to go up again.

Three bars operating simultaneously, six people spotting, each person getting up there had to hang for at least two or three minutes.

It wasn’t a training session; it was more like a performance class. To come down from the bar, it was a battle between the acting skills of the new recruits and the discerning eyes of audience member He Zhijun.

By the fifth group, Hao Chengbin’s voice came through.

"He Zhijun! Time it!"

When everyone looked, Hao Chengbin had already reached the last half lap, sprinting toward the finish.

He Zhijun also ordered everyone to stop and hurried across the playground to the other side.

Jiang Peng was not far ahead of Hao Chengbin, also running hard. Hearing the footsteps behind him, he picked up the pace even more.

The starting line was at this end of the playground, with the finish line at the opposite end. When He Zhijun left from the parallel bar area, a hundred meters from the playground, Hao Chengbin was less than a hundred and fifty meters from the finish line, and He Zhijun was at least two hundred and fifty meters away. But He Zhijun’s speed far exceeded Hao Chengbin’s, and he even had time to adjust his watch before Hao Chengbin reached the end.

The new recruits watched with gaping mouths.

"Damn... that’s badass."

Jiang Peng also arrived a few seconds later, standing there, panting heavily. But a few seconds later, under the shouts of the two squad leaders, he started running again.

"Haha, turns out he still had one lap to go!"

"This is hilarious!"

The new recruits all started jeering.

A cold voice came through, "What’s so funny? Jiang Peng is a new recruit, Hao Chengbin is an old soldier. So what if he’s a lap behind? If I went to run, I could certainly beat him!"

Fang Huai turned around and saw it was Zhang Yizhang.

Wow, the deputy squad leader of Squad Eight is not bad, even sticking up for Jiang Peng.

He couldn’t help but laugh, "Battalion Commander Zhang, do you know the army’s five-kilometer assessment standards are divided into three categories: under 25 years old, 25 to 28 years old, and over 28 years old?

After reaching 25, overall physical strength begins to decline. Squad Leader Hao is 29 this year, his physical assessment standards are different from ours. You want to compare yourself with him? Why don’t you compare yourself with Squad Leader He?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yizhang immediately choked up, "How about I compare with you then?"

"Yo yo yo, sure, sure, I’ll referee for you!" Immediately, someone from the Fifth Company got excited.

Fang Huai shook his head and chuckled, "Five kilometers? You can ask the squad leaders. If they agree, I’ll compete with you, but if you want to compare on the pull-up bar, go ahead while the squad leader is still away. I can give it a try with you right now."

Fang Huai, of course, knew the squad leaders would not let them compete today, so he made an excuse.

Running now, even if he pushed his lungs to the limit, he would still most likely lose. For the sake of bragging, he would also need to borrow heavily on his strength to enhance his legs, and it wouldn’t be worth it.

Zhang Yizhang had long been unsatisfied with Fang Huai’s reputation and knew that Fang Huai was not good at running. He wanted to humiliate him on the track, but upon hearing Fang Huai’s dodging response, he became somewhat provocative.

"I think you’re just scared to compete, right? You were so tough when it came to snitching just now, weren’t you? How come you turned into a coward when it comes to a comparison?"

Yue Tao, who was nearby, didn’t like this one bit and confronted Zhang Yizhang, "Who are you calling a snitch? Who can snitch better than Jiang Peng from your squad?"

Zhang Yizhang immediately folded his arms and tilted his head at Yue Tao, "Little punk, stop yapping at me, or I might have to beat you up!"

"Oh?" Yue Tao immediately bristled, leaning forward with his face.

"Come on, hit me then? The squad leader is right there. Try hitting me and see!"

The bystanders, seeing a scene unfold, suddenly started smiling with ill-intent.

Those who had entered the military in excellent physical shape were previously troublemakers, always up to no good.

"Hit him, go on!"

"Yeah! His face is right there, and you still won’t hit him!"

They were all eager for a spectacle.

Seeing things were getting out of hand, Fang Huai immediately intervened.

"Smack!"

"Smack!"

Two consecutive sounds.

One slap was Zhang Yizhang’s hand on Yue Tao’s face.

The other slap was Fang Huai’s hand on Zhang Yizhang’s hand.

They were separated by two steps, and Fang Huai, trying to intervene, was not in time.

Yue Tao’s expression quickly turned to one of grievance, his face scrunching up into a wrinkled mass. He touched his cheek, and when he looked up, he did something that everyone found unbelievable.

"Ptooey!"

A spit landed on Zhang Yizhang’s face.

Precise and perfect.

Zhang Yizhang’s eyes were sprayed, and he quickly bent down to touch his eyes, feeling them moisten. When he looked up, his face was furious.

"Fuck!"