The Times Have Changed

Does knowledge count as a skill?

If it does.

Then can knowledge enhance practical abilities?

After mentally cursing the System with at least 1MB worth of content, Fang Huai finally began to calm down and study the System's capabilities.

First, he searched through all the knowledge. There was no "Ascension" or "Cultivation" category; it was all within the scope of social sciences at most.

Secondly, this knowledge seemed to come with practical abilities. Otherwise, he didn't know what use the cheapest "Beginner Hairdressing and Styling" knowledge, which only cost 1 Merit Point, would have.

Would his brain learn it and his hands would automatically follow?

And what about the equally cheap "Manual Tile Leveling"? That shouldn't rely on knowledge alone, right?

If! If all of these were knowledge!

Then, how would one deal with "Standard Egg-Filled Pancake Production" from the "Culinary Arts" category!

Would it just give a recipe?

Flour, chopped scallions, eggs, salt, peanut oil...

Would these also need to be exchanged for Merit Points??

Therefore, Fang Huai concluded that this knowledge should be considered skills with practical abilities.

This Merit System had great potential.

For example, by spending just 5 Merit Points to exchange for "Advanced Experience in Simple Repetitive Work," he wouldn't starve. At least he could get a team leader position at Foxconn assembling screws.

And there were quite a few more practical skills than this.

Fang Huai had just seen that the highest mastery level for a field of medical knowledge, such as Neurosurgery, required 200 Merit Points.

The cheaper "First Aid Knowledge (Basic)" required 30 Merit Points.

The mastery levels for musical instruments varied quite a bit, from the lowest Harmonica to the highest Cello, Violin, and Erhu, costing 20 to 200 Merit Points respectively.

The Piano was slightly cheaper at 180.

As for the calculation method for Merit Points, he had already seen it.

Commendation (Outstanding Soldier): 20 Merit Points.

Third Class Merit: 50 Merit Points.

Second Class Merit: 100 Merit Points.

First Class Merit: 200 Merit Points.

Each Merit Point could be exchanged one-way for Merit Points.

Additionally:

1. For top three finishes in individual events during competitions and assessments held by units at the Regimental Level or above, depending on the scale, 2-10 Merit Points would be awarded.

2. For each incident response, 0.1-10 Merit Points would be awarded based on the severity of the disaster and the host's contribution value (merits already earned would not be counted again).

Responding to incidents also counted towards Merit Points, Fang Huai felt more secure.

The frequency of fire department responses was high. On average, a Battalion responded to nearly two incidents per day, sometimes as many as ten in one night, and over twenty during heavy rain.

Assessments for Regimental Level and above units, like the Provincial City Detachment, seemed quite frequent, but getting into the top three in the Provincial City Detachment was way too difficult.

However, even if he couldn't get ranked, and without earning any Merit Points, he could still accumulate a good number of Merit Points by serving five years in a grassroots company.

Even a weakling like Fang Huai in his previous life responded to over 700 incidents in three years in a grassroots company.

But there were many small, minor incidents.

With a lower limit of 0.1 Merit Points and an upper limit of 10, during normal incident responses, it was likely that the points would be closer to the lower limit.

He currently had only six Merit Points, so his options were limited to some beginner-level items.

But Merit Points didn't seem hard to obtain.

According to Hao Chengbin, he was first in both the single bar and parallel bars during the new recruit training's first physical fitness test, which earned him six points, three for each event.

So, if he served five years, he could accumulate at least three to four hundred Merit Points.

Calculating it, that would be enough to master a musical instrument and gain expert-level abilities in a medical field.

But without a medical license, exchanging for it seemed useless.

However, there were quite a few strange and unusual skills in this System, especially in the life skills section. There were even "Basic Intervention Technique," "Spit Bubble Blowing Technique," and "One-Minute Hiccup Technique"...

There was even a "Deception to Persuade Parties to Withdraw Lawsuits" skill...

This skill was categorized under life skills. Forget about needing a lawyer's license, not even a law degree was required; all it took was a good talk.

Roughly calculating, with just twenty to thirty Merit Points, Fang Huai could acquire all the skills possessed by a typical Tianjin Uncle.

Clapper Talk, chess, card games, everyone's a negotiation expert.

While Fang Huai was lost in thought, almost everyone had arrived.

"Ten minutes!"

The Chief of Staff walked to the front of the formation, taking the lead.

"An emergency assembly, ten minutes! You're all something else! Is there any squad leader who hasn't taught how to pack a backpack, or hasn't explained what an emergency assembly is? Raise your hand, let me see!"

As he spoke, some people came out from behind the Chief of Staff from the New Recruit Building, reporting. They were taken aside by the regimental staff officers to have their names recorded.

The Chief of Staff's gaze swept across the entire field, and he let out a chuckle.

"No one, right?

This emergency assembly, I called it myself, just in case you couldn't hear!

And you? What were you doing?

I don't want to lecture you with platitudes anymore! You're tired of hearing them! But even construction workers know to start working when they hear the whistle. Some people, they clearly hear the whistle, are woken up, and what's their reaction?

They curse! They roll over! And go back to sleep!

Indifferent!

Some squad leaders don't even care! They're just waiting for them to embarrass themselves!

Go ahead! If you're going to embarrass yourselves, do it together!

Today! Those who reach the entrance within five minutes, I've noted their names, and their squad gets one point! Those who arrive after ten minutes, I'll note them too, and they'll lose a point!

Third Company, Third Squad, Fourth Company, Sixth Squad, Fifth Company, First Squad, Fifth Company, Third Squad, Seventh Company, Ninth Squad, Eighth Company, Second Squad—if the entire squad descends in an orderly manner within eight minutes, the squad gets three points!

The rest of you should reflect properly!

This squad point system starts at 80 points, and there will be a monthly evaluation! The average score of all squads in a company will be that company's total score!

I've prepared banners for the companies with the highest and lowest scores!

The Corps Leader has been informed and will be paying attention to this point evaluation, and there will be reward and punishment measures! Don't be afraid of losing face, just go ahead and deduct points!

Whether you show your face or embarrass yourselves depends on your own performance!

That's all I have to say, you're on your own!

Everyone, on my command, backpacks on shoulders, high-knee marching in place, begin!"

The entire formation quickly began to move.

The Chief of Staff and several staff officers patrolled among the company formations, and scolding could be heard continuously.

"Why isn't the backpack on your shoulder? Where are the backpack straps? One point deduction!"

"Zhang Xing, Second Company, Sixth Squad! Two backpacks have come undone! One point deduction per person!"

"Seventh Company, Fifth Squad! One backpack has come undone!"

At the front of the formation, a staff officer was constantly recording the point deductions.

Hao Chengbin felt a cold sweat break out on his back.

This squad point system was a new regulation implemented this year, and he wasn't really sure how it worked.

But now he understood that if he had let them do as they pleased today, let alone gain points, it would have been good if they hadn't lost three or four points.

Late, messy backpacks—thinking back on the entire process, Peng Yingqirui alone could have been deducted two points.

And Lu Zexian, Liu Yue...

Wouldn't that be a deduction of four points?

Reliance on past experience is deadly!

How could they make up for so many deducted points?

If they really ended up at the bottom and the Corps Leader saw it, or even issued a notice... would his own transfer be affected?

In the past, when he led new recruits, he used the old methods. He would deliberately let the new recruits make mistakes to find opportunities to educate them, so that they would pay close attention to his every word in the future.

That's why yesterday, when he taught them how to pack a backpack, he only casually taught it twice. He asked if everyone understood, and when everyone nodded, he glossed over it lightly, waiting for them to slip up so the regiment could criticize them.

Once criticized, he would have the proper reason to fly into a rage when he returned to the squad.

To summarize: entrapment.

He couldn't use this method of leading soldiers anymore.

It might even affect him.

Times had changed.

This time, although the higher-ups didn't repeatedly mention beating or scolding new recruits, the Chief of Staff and staff officers had started to wander around the training grounds for no reason during training hours.

It was no longer like before, where everything on the training ground was left to the veterans, and no matter what they did, they would turn a blind eye.

Hao Chengbin keenly realized at this moment: the higher-ups' thinking had changed. They were using various methods to link the interests of the veterans with the performance of the new recruits, subtly changing some of the barbaric educational methods, and allowing the new recruits to suffer less and take fewer detours.

The leaders didn't want to affect the effectiveness of new recruit training, so they tried not to upset the veterans' feelings. However, some reins had been silently placed on them, the squad leaders.

But in the entire regiment, there weren't many veterans like Hao Chengbin who thought so thoroughly. The army's changes still needed to be achieved through increasing pressure and constraints on the veterans.

The Chief of Staff instructed as he walked.

"Company commanders, tomorrow... no, it's Friday today! At noon, distribute the dress uniforms! Tomorrow night, organize the washing of the camouflage uniforms and the clothes inside them! Every single one of you smells!

Also, you must wash your face and feet before sleeping at night! Socks, new recruits have at least three pairs, and they must be changed every two days! Your hallway, with shoes and socks all placed outside, the smell is enough to kill a person! I have to take the back stairs to get to my office! You guys can stand it!

Once you're in the army, those lazy habits from before must be changed! I've already spoken with the bathhouse, and every Saturday, each company will queue up to take a bath!"

As soon as he said this, the new recruits started whispering amongst themselves.

"Finally, we get to shower!" someone exclaimed excitedly.

"Oh my god... do we have to wash?" another asked hesitantly.

"Li Xiaohe, if you don't wash, can you not sleep on my lower bunk? Your feet, when you sleep at night, aim straight for my head! And you sleep the other way, I feel like my hair has your foot odor!"

"You're exaggerating!" the one named Li Xiaohe looked a bit embarrassed.

Someone nearby covered their mouth: "Brother, you should really wash up! Don't lift your feet so high! Your foot odor has already mixed with Zhou Tong's body odor from our squad!"

Someone angrily retorted: "Nonsense! I told you I don't have body odor! We had physicals when we joined the army! The doctor even fanned and smelled it!"

"I'm dizzy, I'm really cold! That was the doctor tolerating it! Did you bribe the doctor? Big brother, it's fine if you stink, but can you stop covering it with cologne? That smell is already stewed!

Be a decent person, let me enjoy the pure smell of stink, okay? The sit-up squad leader even made me do leg presses for you, and when you stood up, that smell... if grenades were six yuan each, I'd put 100 yuan worth in your bunk!"

Fang Huai listened with great interest.

He hadn't heard these slightly naive internet phrases in a long time, and memories came flooding back in waves.

Fang Huai was very fortunate that he joined the army early, just in time to avoid the years when "non-mainstream" was still considered mainstream. If he had gone to college, he probably would have dyed his hair like a peacock, gone to an internet cafe, and furiously hammered the up, down, left, right, and spacebar keys.

He remembered the first time he went home on a family visit leave and went to an internet cafe with his friends to play CS. He happened to encounter a core member of the "Funeral Love Family" emerging from inside, lifting the curtain.

He still couldn't forget that look.

A man, with pitch-black eyeshadow drawn with eyeliner, the same color on his lips, his bangs reaching his chin, covering half his face. The hair on the back of his head, divided at the Baihui acupoint, was all styled up with mousse, like a fan. When he went outside, the wind would blow, and the wind resistance was so great that people had to walk sideways against the wind.

He was also wearing shorts, and on his feet were high-top canvas shoes that went up to his knees, the shoe uppers almost tucked into his shorts.

He asked a friend, and the friend said this was called "New New Humans," and looked envious, saying this might be the patriarch of some large family.

Fang Huai was bewildered at the time. He hadn't been in the army for long, and humans had already evolved twice. He hadn't even become a "New Human," and now there were "New New Humans."

It sounded like a settlement pattern of ethnic minorities, and there was even a patriarch.

In the days that followed, many of his friends also joined the "New New Humans," and some even joined "families" that were not recognized by household registration books. These families had patriarchs, queens, princesses, and even guards.

They also recognized fathers, mothers, older brothers, and younger sisters.

When two families fought, hundreds of people would verbally abuse each other in a small, broken room in "Audition," and the keyboards would almost spark.

When those people entered internet cafes, the managers had to collect an extra 20 yuan deposit.

Fang Huai later mocked those friends quite a bit.

Forget it.

If you love, love deeply. If you don't love, don't hurt.

[Task Complete.]

After checking his backpack, Fang Huai finally received the notification.

The Chief of Staff also gave an order.

"All company commanders, lead your troops to the training ground for a three-kilometer run! Everyone whose backpacks are scattered, wrap your blankets around yourselves and run!

If it weren't for fear of disturbing the public, I'd really want to have you run around the city streets to show yourselves off!"

A wave of groans went through the ranks.

Damn it, three kilometers in the day, three kilometers at night! The blisters on their feet hadn't even healed yet!

"What are you complaining about? Think it's too little? Four kilometers!"

This silenced them.

Ten minutes later, the new recruits were panting on the training ground, occasionally shouting slogans.

This kind of mass run with hundreds of people, four kilometers, was just longer in duration, not particularly fast. Most people complained, but their endurance was also increasing.

Of course, the three members of the Flying Tigers Squad remained the benchmarks standing in the middle of the training ground.

It could be seen that some people couldn't take it anymore. One of them was lifting his legs high, trying to explain something to the cadre who was "accompanying" them.

"One, two, one!"

"Come on, let's get you energized! We are pests! Sing!"

Seventh Company's duty Second Squad Leader, Xiang Zhiyuan, began to psychologically manipulate the new recruits.

The new recruits seemed to have gotten used to it. Here, there was no point in talking about dignity. If the squad leader called them pests, they were pests.

"We are pests! We are pests! The righteous old squad leader, the righteous old squad leader, must eliminate the pests! Eliminate! Eliminate!"

Xiang Zhiyuan's voice also became excited: "What are you?"

"Pests!"

"What are you?"

"Pests!"

Soon, voices from other companies began to join in.

"What are you?"

"Rookies!"

"Who named you?"

"Veterans!"

"Why do the veterans call you rookies?"

"Because we're clumsy! Because we're stupid! Because we're brainless! Because we're slow on the uptake!"

On the vast training ground, there were no people, no new recruits, only a group of pests and rookies with a strict sense of hierarchy.