Promotion?!

"We're screwed. Damn it, now we're all in this together."

At the order to crouch, Ji Baichang's face went pale, and he obediently lowered himself into a crouch.

From all the posts and information he'd found online, he'd learned a few simple ways New Recruit Company squad leaders made life miserable for recruits.

They could be summed up as the Five Tortures:

Salute without finishing the salute; swing your arms without letting them drop; kick your legs without lowering them; crouch without standing up; and lower yourself into a push-up without pushing back up.

And the one they were about to experience was the crouch without standing up.

"Wait."

Squad leader Chen Ting suddenly called a halt. Just as Ji Baichang thought he'd had a change of heart, Chen Ting said evenly:

"Since Song Si was the one who just raised the objection, how about this? Song Si, turn your little stool upside down and crouch on it."

Song Si's face stiffened. He stood up, picked up his stool, and obediently braced himself against the bed frame before crouching down.

But his defiant expression made it clear that he wasn't convinced.

So what if he had to crouch? He'd been squatting over a pit latrine since he was a kid. He could sit there for an hour without a problem. Did he really think the army could scare him with this?

Watching Song Si stubbornly refuse to back down, Ji Baichang was so frustrated he could barely stand it.

If not for that guy, they wouldn't be getting worked like this!

But before long, as time passed, all the recruits realized something was wrong.

The problem was with their own bodies.

It was their right legs. With their full body weight pressing down on them as they crouched, their legs began to ache and swell.

If it had only been an ache, that would have been manageable. The worst part was that, as time went on, the pain became increasingly unbearable.

It was a deep, bone-searing pain, as if their thighs were being torn apart, then stabbed again and again with countless needle tips.

The sensation nearly made them collapse onto the floor.

Song Si had it even worse. He was crouching on a little stool, and if he swayed too much, he'd fall right off.

In the ten minutes that had just passed, he'd nearly toppled over twice.

To keep his balance, he had no choice but to hold himself rigidly in position.

The other recruits in his squad kept shooting him resentful looks, as if asking why he'd had to open his mouth in the first place.

And now look: they were all suffering along with him.

Under the other recruits' hostile stares, the pain spread from Song Si's right leg to his entire lower body. Pressed by both mental and physical strain, he could only keep his eyes fixed straight ahead and avoid looking at the others.

Maybe it was all in his head, but his right leg didn't seem to hurt as much anymore. Instead, it had gone numb.

Maybe that was because the leg wasn't getting enough blood.

That was what he thought.

"All right, I won't torture you any longer. I don't want you saying an old soldier like me is beating or punishing you. We're supposed to train recruits in a civilized way these days."

"The training regulations say you can crouch on one leg for no more than fifteen minutes at a time. You're nearly at fifteen, so switch legs."

At Chen Ting's words, the recruits switched legs with palpable relief.

The ache and swelling in their right legs disappeared all at once. The relief was so good that some recruits couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

Of course, Chen Ting had served in the army for nearly sixteen years. He must have had a reason for doing this.

Their right legs felt better, but now all their body weight was pressing down on their left legs.

It wasn't long before their left legs began to ache just as badly as their right ones had.

After putting them through another fifteen minutes of torment, Squad Leader Chen Ting finally let them stand.

"Go press your blankets. You can think about getting lunch break once you can fold them to Lü Qinglong's standard."

Only then did the recruits struggle to their feet. Their legs shook so wildly that they could barely feel them anymore.

Lü Qinglong, on the other hand, stood up steadily as if nothing had happened, then went right back to fiddling with his grip trainer.

"Seriously, Qinglong, are your legs made of iron? How come you don't look bothered at all?"

Leaning against the bed frame, Ji Baichang asked with an expression that made it look like he'd rather die.

"Huh? Isn't this just like going to the bathroom? I was going to ask why all of you look so miserable."

Lü Qinglong looked genuinely confused.

He hadn't felt muscle soreness in a long time.

From a purely physical standpoint, that crouching drill had been nothing to him.

They called it punishment, but compared with squatting with six hundred kilograms, it was a piece of cake.

"You really are a freak."

Leaning against the bed frame, Ji Baichang muttered weakly.

"Hey, how about we go have a smoke? Lü Qinglong, come with me and keep watch?"

Ji Baichang suddenly lowered his voice and asked him.

Once the idea of smoking took hold, he couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Huh? You're going again?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down!"

Lü Qinglong frowned. This was the second time Ji Baichang had wanted to sneak off to smoke in the bathroom today, wasn't it?

There was an old saying: if you keep walking by the river, sooner or later you'll get your shoes wet.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before Ji Baichang got caught.

Since Ji Baichang was his friend, Lü Qinglong felt he ought to try to talk him out of it.

"It's fine, it's fine. Once I finish this pack, I'll quit."

"All right, then."

Lü Qinglong nodded and finally agreed to go out with Ji Baichang and keep watch for him.

They informed Squad Leader Chen Ting. Once he gave them permission, they left the squad room together and headed for the bathroom.

As Ji Baichang passed the other squads, he wanted to see what their recruits were doing and whether they were the only ones who'd been put through the wringer.

He glanced through the window of the neighboring squad room and immediately saw something that made his eyes widen.

The neighboring squad's recruits were all crouching on the floor, their faces twisted in pain just like theirs.

One recruit, who looked defiant, grumbled a few words.

Their squad leader responded by kicking him straight to the floor.

The recruit tried to get up, but his squad leader didn't give him the chance. He kicked him again, then slapped him twice. The two men standing outside the squad room heard the smacks loud and clear.

Then the squad leader grabbed the recruit by the collar with one hand and pinned him hard against the wall.

(Figure 1)

"Oh my god, compared to that, our squad leader's so much better than theirs."

"You can tell at a glance that their squad probably got caught climbing into bed during nap time too. That's why their squad leader's giving them the business!!!"