Following the direction of the crying, Lü Qinglong figured it was coming from a lower bunk near the door.
That recruit was just like him, having only turned eighteen.
But it was obvious this was his first time so far from home, and after two days of training, he was struggling to handle it, both physically and mentally.
Lü Qinglong looked around. It seemed most of the recruits in the squad had already fallen asleep. Even Squad Leader Chen Ting was asleep.
He quietly climbed out of bed and went over to the recruit.
The recruit was curled up under his blanket, so Lü Qinglong couldn't see what he was doing.
But there was no doubt he was crying. Once Lü Qinglong got close, he could hear it clearly.
The intermittent sobbing was coming from his bunk.
Lü Qinglong moved a little closer. The sobs grew noticeably louder.
Unable to listen to it any longer, he couldn't help poking the recruit under the blanket.
The crying stopped at once. A few seconds later, a recruit's head emerged from beneath the blanket.
Though the lights were off, Lü Qinglong could still clearly make out the tear tracks on the recruit's face.
"Ah, Brother Long!"
In the darkness, the recruit saw Lü Qinglong's terrifying face and couldn't help letting out a cry.
Luckily, Lü Qinglong reacted quickly. He hurried over and clamped his other large hand over the recruit's mouth, then gestured for him to come outside and talk.
The recruit nodded, obediently got dressed, and followed Lü Qinglong out of the squad room.
"What's going on with you? Why are you crying over there in the middle of the night instead of sleeping?"
Once they reached the hallway, Lü Qinglong lowered his voice and asked him.
"S-sorry, Brother Long. I didn't mean to."
Hearing the reproach in Lü Qinglong's voice, the recruit shook his head again and again, promising he wouldn't do it again.
"No, you've misunderstood me."
Lü Qinglong frowned. He wanted to know why the recruit was crying, not tell him he couldn't cry again.
Otherwise, wouldn't he just be picking on him?
They were all recruits. Lü Qinglong felt that if he could help someone, he should. It never hurt to make friends!
"Huh? Then what do you mean, Brother Long?"
The recruit clearly hadn't caught on yet. He stood there blankly for a moment.
"I mean, why are you crying?"
"What happened?"
"We're all grown men. I hate seeing people cry. Is someone picking on you or something?"
Lü Qinglong's two massive pectoral muscles shifted. If someone had picked on the recruit, he'd stand up for him.
Who did they think they were, picking on a recruit in his squad?
"No, Brother Long. Sob..."
"I'm crying because... sob... someone stole the uniform I hung up at the drying area. I only have two sets of camouflage uniforms, and he stole one. I don't have another one to change into!"
"Sob!"
When the recruit heard Lü Qinglong was going to stand up for him, the tears he'd just managed to hold back started pouring out again.
Training had already been exhausting. After formation drills every day, his back felt like it was about to snap.
After physical training and running, his legs felt like they were about to give out.
He'd finally managed to take a shower, wash his spare camouflage uniform, and hang it up at the drying area. But when he went out to check today—
Guess what?
It was gone!
All sorts of complicated feelings welled up inside him. And since nighttime made it easy to overthink things, he couldn't hold it in any longer and had sobbed into his blanket.
He hadn't expected Lü Qinglong to hear him, let alone offer to get justice for him. He was so moved he could barely contain himself.
This big brother really was something.
A tiger at heart, yet gentle as a rose!!!
"Someone took the camouflage uniform you hung up at the drying area?"
Lü Qinglong was stunned. A saying immediately came to mind:
"On the battlefield, you can trust your comrades with your back, but not at the drying area!"
"It's just that? No big deal. Leave it to me. I'll find it for you!"
Lü Qinglong thumped his broad chest, assuring the recruit he'd handle it.
"By the way, what size is your uniform? I'll go look for it properly."
"Brother Long, mine's size 175 (92–96)."
The recruit answered honestly.
"Right, wait here. I'll go find it now!"
Lü Qinglong strode toward the barracks exit, but the recruit hurriedly stopped him.
"You can't, Brother Long. There's an old soldier on duty in the barracks right now. He won't let us recruits go out. Maybe they're afraid we'll run away at night."
The recruit shook his head, his eyes full of dejection. He seemed to have wanted to go out and look for it himself, but clearly that wasn't realistic.
"It's fine. Just stay here."
Lü Qinglong waved for him to step back, then strode toward the barracks entrance.
An old soldier sat in front of the barracks door, dozing.
Usually, it wouldn't be long before they had the recruits guard the barracks entrance, so the old soldiers weren't supposed to be put on the duty roster.
That was why the old soldiers were so unwilling to stand watch. Sometimes they even dozed off.
After all, even if the company commander or Political Instructor saw them, they'd only give them a token scolding.
"Hm? Who turned off the light by the entrance?"
Half-asleep, the old soldier, a First Class Sergeant, got up to turn on the light. Instead, he bumped into an exceptionally broad wall, and the impact jolted him fully awake.
"Who?! Who put a wall here?"
But when he looked up, he saw that it wasn't a wall at all.
It was a person!
"You're... Lü Qinglong, right?"
"What are you doing out so late?"
The First Class Sergeant rubbed his sore forehead and asked in confusion.
Don't tell me this recruit, built like a bear, is trying to run away. He wouldn't be able to stop him.
He knew why they had old soldiers stand guard during the early days of New Recruit Company: they wanted to stop recruits who hadn't adjusted to military life after just a few days from deciding the army was no place for a human being and trying to sneak off in the middle of the night.
"I'm getting my squad leader's clothes from the drying area. I'm worried someone might steal them, so I'm going to check."
"Oh, you're going to get your squad leader's clothes? Go ahead."
Once the First Class Sergeant heard Lü Qinglong was going to get Chen Ting's clothes, he happily let him pass.
The drying area was on the open ground directly in front of the company. From inside the company, he could see it.
If Lü Qinglong tried to run away, he could blow his whistle right away and wake the old soldiers in the whole company to catch him. So he had no worries.
"Thanks, Sergeant."
Lü Qinglong replied and strode toward the drying area across from the company.
Quite a few washed camouflage uniforms hung at the drying area. Lü Qinglong went through them one by one, checking the sizes.
"Tsk..."
"I think I forgot to ask whether he wrote his name on the uniform."
"How am I supposed to find it among all these uniforms?"
Lü Qinglong scratched his head. He was at a loss about what to do.
"Maybe I should just... coordinate one?"
His eyes lit up. He'd come up with a very daring idea!
Before you continue