Was the Squad Leader Special Forces?

"Squad leader, I broke the pull-up bar."

"That was my fault. You can punish me."

Lü Qinglong walked up to Squad Leader Chen Ting, lowering his head like a child who'd done something wrong.

If only he'd known the pull-up bar was so fragile, he wouldn't have tried muscle-ups like Xue Daochao. He should've just stuck to Pull-up Practice One.

Now he'd gone and broken the pull-up bar on the parade ground. He'd probably made a serious mistake.

"Uh..."

"It's fine. The bar broke, that's all. There are plenty of others, aren't there? Just go practice on another one."

Chen Ting's mouth twitched.

Unexpectedly, Squad Leader Chen Ting didn't seem to blame Lü Qinglong. Instead, his tone was full of praise.

"Huh? Squad leader, shouldn't we do something about it?"

"I can push the bar back into the ground by hand."

Lü Qinglong looked over the bar's structure. The problem was that the steel cables holding it in place hadn't been secured to the ground, which was why he'd pulled it out.

All he had to do was put the ground anchor back in, and the bar would be as good as new.

"You can put it back in? All right, go ahead."

Chen Ting nodded at Lü Qinglong.

Lü Qinglong eagerly went over to the fallen bar, lifted it with one hand, and pushed it back into the sandy ground.

Then he used his enormous size 65 Prison Foot to stomp on the ground anchor several times.

After making sure it was buried completely, he did two pull-ups to test the bar. It didn't wobble at all, so he let out a sigh of relief and returned to the ranks.

"It's fixed, squad leader. It's back to normal—and sturdier than before."

Like a child, Lü Qinglong broke into a smile again.

"Mm. Thanks for the effort."

Squad Leader Chen Ting nodded, his expression strange. Then, in front of the recruits, he began loosening up his arms, muttering to himself:

Was every member of the Lü family a freak?

Just as the recruits were starting to wonder what their squad leader was up to, Chen Ting walked beneath the pull-up bar.

He gave a light jump and grabbed hold of it with both hands.

To the recruits' bewilderment, Chen Ting began doing muscle-ups with easy, unhurried movements.

The old soldier, who'd been serving for sixteen years, held his body taut, almost perfectly straight. He looked as if he were flying above the bar.

He did a full twenty muscle-ups, then Pull-up Bar Two Practice, Pull-up Bar Three Practice...

He went all the way to Pull-up Bar Eight Practice.

Finally, he landed steadily on the ground, breathing just a little harder.

"Unbelievable! Squad Leader Chen Ting is incredible!"

Second Squad's squad leader, Wang Yuan, had appeared beside the pull-up bar at some point. He burst into applause.

The other recruits instinctively joined in.

"No wonder Squad Leader Chen gets top marks in every annual assessment! Still as sharp as ever!"

"Your movements are still so smooth and precise, from one through eight. How could a bunch of rookies like us ever compare, squad leader?"

Even Wang Yuan, a corporal, called himself a rookie in front of Chen Ting.

The recruits could see the admiration in Wang Yuan's eyes.

"Is our squad leader really that amazing? Even the squad leader next door looks up to him."

Ji Baichang asked Xue Daochao, looking dazed.

They'd never have guessed. Their squad leader usually seemed like an old man focused on staying healthy, yet he was a monster on the pull-up bar.

"Your squad leader's incredible! Who in the whole Special Operations Brigade hasn't heard of his nickname, Thunder?"

"He's the best assault trooper in our brigade. If he's not number one, who could be? Treasure your squad leader while you can!"

Wang Yuan seemed to have overheard Ji Baichang. He turned around and spoke quietly, his admiration plain in every word.

"Our squad leader is that amazing? One of the best in the whole Special Operations Brigade?!"

Ji Baichang looked as if he'd discovered a whole new world. His eyes widened.

Did that mean their squad leader was Special Forces?!!

"You're spouting all sorts of nonsense again. I'm about to retire, and you're bringing up my old exploits."

Chen Ting spoke to Wang Yuan with a hint of reproach.

"Hey, squad leader! You're so amazing. I just don't want the rookies in your squad to forget that. What if they stop respecting you?"

Wang Yuan chuckled, then ran back to his own recruits and began directing them as they practiced on the pull-up bars.

"What are you standing around for? New Recruit Company requires twelve pull-ups to pass, eighteen for good, and twenty-four for excellent. You've all met the standard, have you?"

"Those who can't do them, go hang from the bar. The physical fitness of soldiers these days gets worse every year."

Chen Ting turned toward the recruits who hadn't passed. They immediately jumped up and obediently hung from the bar.

After hearing about Chen Ting's past and his nickname in the Special Operations Brigade, Ji Baichang and Xue Daochao were fired up too. They both said they wanted to train more.

Of course, the pull-up bar was only one of the recruits' current training exercises. After they'd practiced on it for over ten minutes, Chen Ting led them to the parallel bars.

The parallel bars were obviously much easier than the pull-up bar. Many recruits who could manage only one or two pull-ups could still do four or five parallel-bar dips.

Ji Baichang managed around thirty dips, which was just enough for a good rating.

Xue Daochao did exactly one more than him. He'd done it just to taunt him, and Ji Baichang was furious.

When it was Lü Qinglong's turn to do dips, the other recruits—and Squad Leader Chen Ting—fell silent.

"Ji Baichang, go adjust the spacing between the bars for him. Set it as wide as it'll go."

"Then check the base and make sure it's secured."

"After that, get two people to hang onto the other side of the bars and add some weight. We don't want the whole thing flipping over."

A veteran was a veteran. He directed the recruits through a series of preparations in an orderly manner.

Anyone who didn't know better would've thought they were preparing for some high-risk operation. All they were doing was getting ready for Lü Qinglong to train on the parallel bars.

"Squad leader, it's all set."

"Qinglong, come over and see if the spacing feels right. We've set it as wide as possible."

Ji Baichang called out. Lü Qinglong walked over to the parallel bars and tested the distance, gripping them with both hands and bending his legs up behind him.

The adjusted width was just right. Before he began his dips, Lü Qinglong decided to ask what had been on his mind.

"Squad leader, with my fitness, could I join the Special Operations Brigade?"

"I want to become Special Forces too!"