People Don't Fear Scarcity

Fang Huai cursed under his breath.

Pan Old Ghost was so good at tearing people down, he was practically qualified to join the Yun generation.

The Eighth Squad recruits had already begun cheering when they saw Zhao Bing, Ninth Squad's top performer, fall five behind.

Who else was there?

Behind him, Jiang Peng rubbed his hands together as he watched Fang Huai ahead, imagining himself as the hero who would appear at the very end and save Ninth Squad.

It didn't look that hard! Just swing back and forth, a couple dozen times.

He'd only failed before because he hadn't known how to do the Giant Swing!

As a college student, he could tell at a glance that this was based on a principle of mechanics! Inertia! Newton's... which law was it again?

In fact, Jiang Peng went up first.

Fang Huai had secretly cut in line to speak with Zhao Bing. On the roster, he was several places behind Jiang Peng.

"Jiang Peng! Get ready to mount the bar!"

Jiang Peng widened his eyes and pointed at Fang Huai in front of him, toward the Sixth Squad leader.

The meaning was obvious: the people ahead of him hadn't even gone yet!

He was planning to be the grand finale!

Hao Chengbin simply didn't know what was going through his mind. Otherwise, he would definitely have cursed, "Grand finale my ass."

"When I tell you to get up there, you get up there! What are you dawdling for?!" Hao Chengbin shouted, arms folded.

Hu Deli, who was ahead of Jiang Peng, was, like Zhao Bing, a rural recruit used to doing manual labor at home. Hao Chengbin had placed high hopes on him too. But after getting on the bar, Hu Deli spent ages trying to do the Giant Swing, wriggling like a maggot without managing it and wasting all his strength. He only managed three strict pull-ups.

Pan Zhaohui immediately launched into another round of mockery.

"Old Hao, your recruits' brains are practically growing muscles. I've watched recruits do the Giant Swing for years, but this is the first time I've seen someone swing the wrong way. From the way he was going just now, was he trying to swing up from the front? Even a Giant Swing isn't done like that!"

Hao Chengbin wasn't one to lose a war of words.

"Hmph. If this were a standard pull-up test, there wouldn't be more than two people in your squad who could outdo Hu Deli! All their brains are spent on sneaky little tricks!"

As they spoke, Jiang Peng mounted the bar.

His first swing rose high, nearly up to his neck, showing that his explosive power was pretty good.

"Good!" the Sixth Squad leader praised.

Jiang Peng gradually lost himself in it.

The second one was pretty high too.

Hao Chengbin realized something was wrong and shouted, "Why are you swinging so high? Conserve your strength! Keep it fluid!"

But it was already too late. Instead, his words threw off Jiang Peng's rhythm even more. By the seventh, he was already running out of steam.

He barely made it to ten. For that tenth one, his old face turned bright red from the strain.

"Another one without a brain." Pan Old Ghost folded his arms and rendered another verdict.

Chen Zhongqiang got four, while Yue Tao somehow managed five.

Peng Yingqirui got zero, but he looked like he was about to faint when he came down. It was clear he'd given it his all.

"Squad leader, we're at forty-three now, right? The ones left probably won't amount to much," Fang Huai said.

Hao Chengbin glanced at the roster in his hand, where he was tallying the numbers, and nodded.

"How many does Eighth Squad have? How far behind are we?" Fang Huai continued.

"Tch... however far behind you are, you'll make up for it?" Pan Old Ghost curled his lip. "Our squad has sixty-six!"

Sixty-six to forty-three. The advantage was theirs.

The Sixth Squad leader's voice came at just the right moment. "Liu Yue, get ready! Next, Fang Cone!"

"...Report, Squad Leader! Fang Huai! Huai as in the Huaihai Campaign!" Fang Huai's face darkened.

Damn it... Fang Cone? Why not Fang Cylinder while you're at it?

People from Guizhou were born sharp and only recognized half of every character.

"Fang Huai! Get ready to mount the bar!"

Fang Huai stepped forward, raised his hands... rose onto his toes and rubbed them against the bar, then wiped his hands on his clothes.

Old Pan burst out laughing. "Just getting on the bar, and you've got quite a few steps!"

Fang Huai ignored him and raised his hand. "Ready!"

"Mount the bar!"

The first, the second, the third...

Hao Chengbin and Pan Zhaohui both realized something was wrong.

"This recruit is from Chongqing, right? You took him in? Did you feed him extra meals?"

Pan Zhaohui started looking for outside factors.

There was no need to wait until he was exhausted. The way he had smoothly knocked out seven or eight in one go already showed his level.

He was absolutely no worse than Zhang Yinzhang!

The key was that smile on his face. It really looked fucking... punchable.

You were doing pull-ups. Fine, you were good at them—but why the hell were you smiling?

Smiling at me?

Old Pan felt like he was being toyed with. The more he watched, the angrier he got, and as Fang Huai reached fifteen, the people helping count grew louder.

"Twenty!" Yue Tao shouted excitedly.

Even those at the parallel bars turned to look, and even the squad leaders were a little surprised.

Twenty again??

There were only four squads—Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth! And that made four people already! In previous years' first fitness tests, each company only averaged two or three people who could do more than twenty pull-ups in Exercise One!

"Twenty-three! Come on, Fang Huai—you've passed Zhao Bing!"

"He's still got strength left! Look, he's still smiling! He hasn't stopped swinging!"

"Damn... ah!"

The recruits had begun discussing this dark horse.

Meanwhile, Pan Zhaohui had already lost. His old face was about ready to be wiped off and stuffed into his pocket.

Hao Chengbin, meanwhile, broke into a smile. Watching the figure on the bar, he pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and lit one.

By the time he took a drag, it was twenty-eight.

He muttered in his hometown dialect, "That's fucking awesome. Damn good."

"Old Squad Leader, you're smoking all by yourself?" Several squad leaders had already crowded over.

Hao Chengbin snapped back to himself, gave a chuckle, looked around at the gathered heads, and pulled several black-tipped cigarettes from his pack of Hard Zunyi, handing them out. "Just happened to have a few Fortune cigarettes. Confiscated them from the recruits. Here, have one."

The moment Old Pan saw the cigarettes, he got even angrier. "Fuck, Hao Old Ghost, are you showing off to me? Fine, fine, I'll go buy you some right now!"

"Thirty! Thirty already! Ninth Squad is definitely taking first!" Ninth Squad did not know the combined totals of the other squads, but they were all certain now. This time, victory was secure!

Then an abrupt voice rang out.

"This kid must have trained before! His swinging technique is better than ours! Ah, if only I knew how to swing..."

Hao Chengbin looked toward the voice. It was Jiang Peng.

This college graduate... he simply could not acknowledge someone else's strengths. His inferiority was too deeply rooted.

"Thirty-four! Hold on for one more!"

"Thirty-five!"

Seeing that Fang Huai was nearing exhaustion, Hao Chengbin could not help tossing away his cigarette butt and shouting.

"Fang Huai, give me two more!"

The smile on Fang Huai's face had started to look strained, just like Cao Peng's earlier.

He still had strength... but his hands were sweating, and he could barely grip the bar!

Fang Huai gritted his teeth, shifted both hands sideways to a drier spot, then swung hard.

"Thirty-six!"

"Thirty... seven?"

Fang Huai could not hold on any longer and dropped from the bar.

The Sixth Squad leader's voice came over. "Squad Leader Hao, he didn't get over the bar on that one. Does it count?"

Hao Chengbin had seen it clearly too. He had fallen just a little short.

"Forget it. Count it as thirty-six."

After getting down from the bar, Fang Huai caught his breath and returned to Hao Chengbin's side, wearing a rather odd smile.

"Squad Leader, the bar really was too slippery. I couldn't get a firm grip."

"That's enough!" Hao Chengbin was extremely pleased. "Still got strength? Want to do parallel bars?"

Fang Huai shook his head. "I'll go in the second round. I want to rest for a while, so I'm giving up the first round directly... Is that okay?"

Hao Chengbin nodded. "Fine, rest during the first round! Go with your strategy! Don't do the second round of pull-ups either—let's see how you do on the parallel bars!"

"You're pretty good, huh?" Someone slapped Fang Huai on the back.

Fang Huai turned around and saw Xiang Zhiyuan, his squad leader from his previous life.

"Squad Leader Hao, you took this guy from our squad. Shouldn't his score count for us?" Xiang Zhiyuan said with a grin.

Hao Chengbin immediately scowled. "Xiao Xiang, when you were picking recruits, first this accent was unacceptable because you couldn't understand it, then that height was unsuitable because it would affect formation training. I took every last one of them in for you."

Right now, Lu Zexian was the tallest in our class at 184 centimeters, while Sun Lianhai was the shortest. Look at him—see how short he is? There was over twenty centimeters between them!

Back when we were training squad leaders, Old Hei said I got first pick of the recruits, right? I've been fucking cleaning up after you all, and I only picked this one recruit—and he was the one who volunteered to follow me! And you still dare complain?"

Xiang Zhiyuan looked disgruntled and said nothing more.

Fang Huai couldn't help laughing either, but quickly reined it in.

Pan Zhaohui noticed, though, and took the chance to point at Fang Huai. "Kid, what are you laughing at? You were laughing when you got on the bar just now too. Mocking me?"

Fang Huai froze.

Did I trigger the Mockery skill again by accident?

"No, Squad Leader... our squad leader said this morning that we should smile during training! He said... we should face training with optimism!"

Hao Chengbin was stunned for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Right! Why listen to him? The tougher the training, the more you should smile! You're a soldier in our squad. Just listen to me!"

Pan Zhaohui laughed as well, then spat to the side. "Old Ghost, you really are fucking good at making people sick!"

"Hahaha..."

Several squad leaders who had no idea what was going on began laughing too.

Mission complete.

After finishing the second round of pull-ups, Fang Huai received the system notification.

He couldn't help feeling delighted.

That meant there was a much greater chance that the second round's results would be calculated separately as well.

There was no helping it. Battalion Commander Zhang seemed to feel that he had lost face. When it came time for the parallel bars, he gritted his teeth and stubbornly ground out twenty-five reps before coming down.

Twenty-five wasn't a particularly high score. As long as you had enough strength on the parallel bars, you could lean lightly against them and switch hands to rest. Back when they had first joined the unit, the badass recruits from their intake could grind out over a hundred reps of Exercise One on the parallel bars before getting down.

But the parallel bars also required the pectoral muscles to work in coordination. He had already burned through plenty of energy, so Fang Huai wasn't confident either. He could only shake out his hands quickly and recover as much as possible.

Still, his treatment was clearly much better than before. The Ninth Squad recruits now regarded him as their hope for suppressing Battalion Commander Zhang. Zhao Bing had instead become a middling performer, while Yue Tao and Sun Lianhai, after finishing the parallel bars, stood on either side of Fang Huai and kneaded his shoulders.

"Brother Huai, you've got to do us proud! Beat Eighth Squad!"

Yue Tao looked toward Pan Zhaohui in the distance and spoke quietly as he rubbed Fang Huai's shoulders.

He hadn't thought much of Pan Zhaohui's kick that morning. But Old Pan had just mocked him in front of the whole company, bringing up the beating he took that morning. That had left him extremely irritated, so when he did pull-ups just now, he had used every last ounce of strength he had—and somehow ranked fourth in the squad.

"Hey, don't hold that much of a grudge. If he hadn't provoked us, would everyone in our squad have gone all out? Could you have done five pull-ups and three parallel-bar reps?"

Fang Huai couldn't exactly say that the two Old Ghosts had deliberately been putting on a double act, lest this guy run his mouth and spread it everywhere.

Those who were supposed to understand had understood.

"I know! But he even talked shit about our squad leader! We can't back down!"

Fang Huai laughed, rubbed Yue Tao's head, and teased him.

"Mm, so filial. I'll pass that along to the squad leader and have him name you the Crown Prince. All right, I need to get on the bars."

With that, he shook out his hands and headed straight for the preparation area.

Yue Tao froze and looked at Sun Lianhai.

"Fuck, what did he mean?"

Sun Lianhai grinned. "He said you're the squad leader's good big son!"

"Fang Huai, fuck your mother!!"

The moment he got on the bars, the result far exceeded Fang Huai's expectations.

The parallel bars over there had an unstable base, and a squad leader was helping hold them in place. Since the bars weren't very wide apart, Exercise One wasn't particularly strenuous.

And he could even game it a little, using some minor tricks.

As long as he lowered his arms slightly and dipped his head, it counted as one rep.

By the time Fang Huai came down, he had ground out a full fifty reps and received the second mission-complete notification at the same time.

Hao Chengbin was beaming. He said Fang Huai's physical condition no longer required synchronized training with everyone else. When he came in for extra training on Saturday, Hao could teach him Exercise Two.

That immediately gave the game away. The recruits behind them all clenched their legs together when they heard it.

What? There was extra training on Saturday too??

Seeing the dumbfounded expressions on the recruits' faces, Hao Chengbin realized that he had let something slip. He gave an awkward chuckle without explaining, swept his gaze around, spotted Pan Zhaohui, and left with his hands behind his back.

He was probably going to collect his spoils of war.

Yue Tao stared blankly ahead, then pulled a miserable face again. "It's over, it's over. I was hoping to get a good rest on Saturday. Now there goes the easy life..."

"Man, I never should've come here to be this lousy fucking soldier!" Jiang Peng began complaining too.

Today had probably made him fully recognize reality. He felt there was no hope of standing out, and that as a new recruit in the army, his status was far lower than he had imagined. So-called equality between officers and soldiers was nothing more than a slogan.

Zhao Bing actually started complaining too. "Damn, I'm exhausted. I pulled like my life depended on it today, but my hand slipped. Then the Eighth Squad leader laughed at me, and our squad leader didn't even say a word to comfort me."

"You're tired?" Peng Yingqirui rarely widened his eyes. "If I had your strength, I'd wake up laughing from my dreams! Just now, everyone in our squad who didn't get even one pull-up had to do extra push-ups!

The company commander even said he'd hold separate weekend training sessions for us from now on!

Fuck, this is cruel! The company commander is a smiling tiger too! He looks all cheerful, but he's rotten inside!

Those who managed one pull-up don't need extra training. Isn't that just one more than us? Why?"

"Exactly! I clearly got over the bar, but that Sixth Squad leader said it didn't count!" Sun Lianhai was equally indignant.

Lu Zexian was the one who had managed a single pull-up. He wore a smug, knowing smile as he patted Peng Yingqirui on the shoulder.

"Because managing one pull-up at least means your strength has reached a certain level. But if you can't do even one, there's no telling just how weak you are."

Peng Yingqirui shook himself hard, shrugging off Lu Zexian's hand. "You're only getting away with it because you're tall! When you jumped up, you got a little boost! You think I didn't see that?"

Watching from the side, Fang Huai suddenly realized that while he had been focused entirely on the Parallel Bars and Horizontal Bar, it seemed a lot had happened to everyone else.

He wanted to say a few words to smooth things over, but he did not want to separate himself from the group either, so he joined in the complaints.

"Enough, stop talking. I got first place in the whole company today, and didn't Pan Old Ghost still chew me out so badly I couldn't even talk back?

That mouth of his—nothing but sarcastic nonsense. He singled me out and cursed me up and down. I clenched my fists listening to him, but I didn't dare say anything. What could I do? He's the squad leader!"

Redirecting the trouble was undoubtedly the best way to handle things right now.

Sure enough, Yue Tao immediately got fired up when he heard that.

"Exactly! Fang Huai's physical fitness is so good, and he still got scolded! He even did it in front of so many people. Fucking shameless! That Pan Zhaohui—short and fat, looks like a sweet potato. Right! He's the Big Sweet Potato from Old Master Q! Hey, have you guys read Old Master Q? It's hilarious! Fang Huai, have you read it?"

"I have, I have." Fang Huai could not help rolling his eyes.

He really had to admire Yue Tao. Even if a zombie apocalypse broke out, this guy would probably survive. His ability to adjust his own mindset was truly maxed out.

The others had all been harboring grievances, but seeing Fang Huai—the star of the whole company that afternoon—complaining too, they immediately felt much more balanced.

People did not fear having less; they feared being treated unfairly.

Big shots, fellow readers, comrades-in-arms—this is a critical moment. If you have the time lately, please help by reading along and staying until the last page. Please don't stockpile chapters, okay?

I know updates have been slow lately, but I can't help it. A new book leaves its new-release period at 200,000 words, so I can only take it slow and drag things out on the rankings with a little over 4,000 words a day.

The author can't write short chapters. It feels like I can't explain a whole segment of the story properly before I have to start another chapter, and that would be frustrating for everyone to read. That's why I haven't split them up, but the update volume really isn't that low.

I won't go into the reasons too much. This concerns recommendation advancement. If the results are good, I'll do my best to add more updates. The author works very long hours every day. After it goes premium, normal updates are guaranteed to be no fewer than 8,000 words a day. On busier days, it could be 10,000 or even more.

I'm currently building up a backlog. Thank you.