Slacker

"Doo... doo..." The melodious wake-up call sounded from the loudspeaker outside. The clean, orderly barracks immediately stirred to life. All five sets of bunk beds—ten beds in total—moved at once, except for one bed that seemed not to have heard a thing and remained completely still.

The raised quilt remained exactly as it was. Clearly, this was not the first time, because the other soldiers simply ignored it. In little more than ten minutes, the barracks had fallen silent again.

More than two hours after the wake-up call, the raised quilt finally moved again. A bleary-eyed young man sat up in bed, utterly unsurprised by his surroundings. He got up lazily, dressed lazily, and washed up lazily.

His quilt was casually piled into a heap, with dirty clothes and worn socks tossed on top, forming a stark and glaring contrast with the neat tofu-block quilts around it. It was like two different worlds.

This was the farm of the Iron Fist Regiment's Regimental Logistics Department. Jiang Yan Hai was a new recruit who had been assigned here just a month ago.

With a toothbrush in his mouth and white foam hanging from the corners of his lips, Jiang Yan Hai stared at his reflection in the mirror, his mind drifting as though he had recalled the past.

If anyone had come from the same place as Jiang Yan Hai, hearing the words "Iron Fist Regiment" would have made them realize that this was the Iron Fist Regiment from the TV drama I Am a Special Forces Soldier.

That was right. Jiang Yan Hai had not originally belonged to this world. He had transmigrated into the world of a television drama as an ordinary person.

What was more, he had transmigrated into this world ten years ago. Jiang Yan Hai had been only eight years old then, an orphan living in a small rural village. There, he learned that two people in the village roughly ten years older than him were named Cheng Cai and Xu Sanduo.

Back then, Jiang Yan Hai had possessed the mind of an adult, so he knew he had transmigrated. The instant he realized it, he desperately wanted to return to the real world.

After all, no one wanted to live in the world of a television drama, even if everything around him felt so real.

Perhaps it was a benefit of transmigration, but Jiang Yan Hai's brain was exceptionally sharp. Over ten years, with the help of an elementary school principal, he had completed his education by skipping three levels!

Just a few months ago, at only eighteen years old, he had received his diploma and degree certificate from Peking University!

Although he had only earned a bachelor's degree, he had completed a major in mathematics along with minors in physics and chemistry, obtaining degree certificates for all three fields.

After completing his undergraduate studies, eighteen-year-old Jiang Yan Hai resolutely decided to enlist. That was because he had happened to spot another name in the news that year: He Chen Guang! That was also why Jiang Yan Hai had firmly decided to join the military.

Other than the timeline seeming a little off, everything about He Chen Guang matched the television drama exactly.

He figured that if he wanted to leave this world, he might need to enlist. After all, this world had Soldiers Sortie before I Am a Special Forces Soldier. Perhaps only by becoming involved with these people would he have a chance to return to reality.

Who knew it was all fucking bullshit! He had successfully enlisted. Well, obviously—with his intelligence, even if he had joined through the most ordinary recruitment process, he would surely have drawn the attention of those above. When he enlisted, he had undergone the process alongside He Chen Guang and the others. He had even met Fan Tian Lei!

But things never went as one wished. He had joined the army, yet nothing unusual happened. This world had not changed, nor was there anything special about it. It continued along its predetermined path.

So Jiang Yan Hai deliberately became a slacker. If he was destined to remain in this world, why should he stay in the army? Wouldn't it be easier to go out and become a scholar? So he had slacked off throughout the entire period of recruit training. In the end, he had been assigned to the Regimental Logistics Department farm to raise pigs, and he had already been there for a month.

He wanted to coast through his two years of compulsory service, then go out and make something of himself. Since he did not intend to develop a career in the military, he naturally had to find somewhere comfortable.

But Jiang Yan Hai knew that the military valued highly educated people like him. Fan Tian Lei had definitely spoken to the people in the Logistics Department, probably to provoke him—or rather, because he did not want to waste such promising talent.

Otherwise, why would the old squad leader say nothing when a newly assigned recruit like him did not get up for the wake-up call, did not eat on time, and did not even work properly?

Even if this was the Logistics Department farm, which was far more relaxed than a regular unit!

Although Jiang Yan Hai had only just enlisted, he was no innocent fool. If no one had put in a word, let some ordinary recruit try acting like that. If the old squad leader didn't beat the shit out of him, Jiang Yan Hai would lose.

His brain worked exceptionally well in this world. From the old squad leader's occasional concern for him and all those chats and heart-to-heart talks, it was clear that the army truly regarded him as talent.

But if he could not return, Jiang Yan Hai truly did not want to develop in the military. In a peacetime army, even with his sharp mind, after struggling for decades, he might not even become a general... So he had no motivation at all. He decided to coast through two years, then develop his career outside.

And as of today, it had already been a month. Over the latter half of the month, the old squad leader had barely chatted with him. He had probably given up, right? Jiang Yan Hai shook his head. Once Fan Tian Lei and the others gave up on him, he would probably remain here for the next two years.

Just as Jiang Yan Hai was about to spit out the foam in his mouth, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded in his head. "A problem has been detected in the target's mental state. Red Star Auxiliary Engine activated ahead of schedule. Scanning data."

Name: Jiang Yan Hai

Age: 18

Authorization: New Recruit (0/100)

Attribute scan complete:

Physical Fitness: 80

Neural Reaction: 120

Brain Activity: 180

Based on the above standards, the average values for all three attributes of healthy adults aged eighteen to forty are 100. Individual values may vary.

Basic Data Scanning Auxiliary Recording System activated according to military rank level.

Mission system activated. Current mission: None.

Data scan complete.

The mechanical voice vanished only then.

With a clang, the rinsing cup in Jiang Yan Hai's hand slipped free and fell into the sink. His mouth hung wide open. Only when the toothbrush slipped out of his mouth as well did he suddenly snap back to his senses.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" Jiang Yan Hai could not help blurting out three curses after coming back to himself.

Holy shit! Jiang Yan Hai nearly bit his tongue. I had already decided I didn't want to muddle through in the military, so my cheat ability appeared? And it was activated ahead of schedule?

Jiang Yan Hai could not help pondering it. Before coming to this world, although he had been a shut-in and an orphan in his previous life, had he also been someone with a system?

After all, he had always felt that he was someone with a system. It was just that even after reaching his thirties, the system had not had time to activate. But damn, it really was good at hiding! Couldn't it have appeared earlier? Then he would not have slacked off during recruit training! Maybe he would already have been assigned to Sharpshooter Fourth Company.

After tossing the chaotic emotions in his mind aside, Jiang Yan Hai began to think about the information brought by the voice in his head.

Red Star Auxiliary Engine? Was this actually a system?

Forget it. Never mind that for now. Activated ahead of schedule? Didn't that fucking mean this auxiliary engine was originally supposed to activate much later?

Thinking of how He Chen Guang and the others would become special forces soldiers in the future... following the normal procedure, would it not have activated only after he became a special forces soldier himself?

Jiang Yan Hai could not help grinning. You really had confidence in me. It would only activate after I became a special forces soldier?

Served it right that it activated ahead of schedule! Were special forces soldiers really that easy to become?!

Jiang Yan Hai felt a little smug, but before the emotions in his mind could fade, a "ding" rang out, and the mechanical voice of the Red Star Auxiliary Engine instantly sounded again.