"Holy shit, where'd this monster come from? He looks more like a villain than the villains in movies!"
"Even sitting down, he's three heads taller than me. He's almost as tall as I am standing up!"
The new recruit stared in shock, then asked timidly:
"Bro, do you like the window seat? If you do, I'll give it to you."
As soon as he finished speaking, he scrambled out of his seat and climbed across the dining table to the seat opposite.
"Uh, no, I don't want the window seat?"
"You're a pretty nice guy."
Lü Qinglong scratched his head. Even he was surprised by the new recruit's thoughtful gesture.
He'd only wanted to see what anime the guy was watching on his phone. He was an anime fan himself and had liked watching anime back in high school.
He hadn't expected the other guy to scramble all the way across and sit down opposite him.
Sure enough, most people who liked anime were good people.
Still, the seats were arranged in groups of three, and he'd only felt somewhat comfortable once he sat down.
While Lü Qinglong was reflecting on that, other passengers trickled into the carriage. Most of the seats had been purchased in groups, according to the number of people.
Two new recruits saw that only one person was sitting across from Lü Qinglong. They immediately hoisted their black duffel bags onto the overhead rack.
"You..."
One of them had just started to greet the recruit sitting by the window when he caught sight of Lü Qinglong's fearsome face and his body, built like a giant bear.
"Huh? I..."
"Hey, are these two seats next to you taken?"
They'd already put their stuff on the overhead rack, so changing seats now wasn't really an option. In the end, they could only steel themselves and ask the recruit.
At the same time, they frantically blinked at him, hoping he'd understand their signal.
The two recruits desperately hoped he'd say, "Someone's sitting here."
But things never seemed to go their way.
When the recruit saw that two people wanted to sit beside him, he nodded excitedly again and again.
"No one's sitting here! Come on, sit down!"
Great! Someone was finally sitting beside him. Otherwise, he really wasn't sure he could take the weird guy staring at him from across the table.
The two men had no choice but to sit down. Their hands trembling, they took out their phones and tried not to look at the weird guy's intense gaze.
"Did I drink too much milk this morning? I shouldn't have had so much."
Lü Qinglong suddenly felt a pang of discomfort in his stomach. He got up and headed for the restroom at the end of the carriage.
But as soon as he left, the two newcomers across from him immediately asked the recruit sitting by the window:
"Come on, man! Who is that guy? His head nearly hits the roof of the train. Does he have to bend over to walk through the carriage?"
"He's over two meters tall, right? I thought soldiers weren't allowed to be taller than 1.98 meters?"
"My God, when did Yangcheng get a monster like that? At first glance, I thought there was a terrorist sitting across from us!"
"Yeah! His arms are so thick it's scary. They're almost as big as my head!"
The two new recruits took turns chiming in.
It was clear how much Lü Qinglong had stunned them. It was like running into a celebrity on the street—one who even waved at them.
"I don't know either. I was just sitting here watching anime when that guy sat down next to me. I was scared shitless."
"I'm not sure. Maybe he enlisted through a special recruitment program? With that build, he's obviously not normal."
"Hey, do you guys know where we're headed? We're going to the Army's 82nd Group Army. That unit's a big deal."
The recruit's casual remark immediately piqued the curiosity of the others.
Even the recruit sitting by the window took off his headphones and asked curiously:
"What makes it such a big deal?"
He only knew he'd been assigned to the Army. As for which specific unit he'd be joining, it was still a mystery to him.
Now that someone who knew a little about it had turned up, he wanted to learn more too.
"Hey, let me ask you guys first: what do you think is the most badass kind of soldier?"
"Special Forces, obviously! They're the coolest! They take on all kinds of dangerous missions. Just thinking about it sounds awesome!"
"Exactly! The 82nd Group Army has a Special Operations Brigade, and that brigade has an elite squad—one of the best of the best."
"That's the Sounding Arrow Squad."
"You've heard of them, right?"
"What? The famous Sounding Arrow Special Forces Squad belongs to our Group Army?!"
At the name, the two recruits who'd been lounging back in their seats jolted upright.
They might not have known much about the 82nd Group Army, but the Sounding Arrow Special Forces Squad was famous enough that practically everyone had heard of it.
They'd been involved in a major incident the previous year.
And the main players in that incident had been none other than the famous Sounding Arrow Special Forces Squad.
With the situation exceptionally tense at the time, the Sounding Arrow Squad leader had taken two other team members thirty kilometers into enemy territory to eliminate a key figure and prevent things from getting worse.
They'd then fought their way out through hundreds of enemy troops who had them surrounded. But while protecting the other two members, the Sounding Arrow leader had been hit by several bullets.
Even in that condition, he'd forced himself to make it back to base.
Everyone was stunned by his courage.
He'd only thrown his head back and laughed twice before collapsing in front of all the soldiers.
The recruit who'd been speaking ran a hand over his camouflage uniform, his eyes full of longing, as if he could attain that same strength himself.
"I've made up my mind! I'm going to train hard once I join the army. I'll do my best to get into the Special Operations Brigade—or even the Sounding Arrow Special Forces Squad!"
"Me too! I had no idea the Sounding Arrow Special Forces Squad belonged to our Group Army!"
Their voices carried, and nearly half the recruits in the carriage heard them.
In that moment, it wasn't just the three of them. The others were fired up too, ready to give it their all.
When they had a role model before them, what excuse could they possibly have not to strive for the same?
Serving in the military and defending the country was only right!
Now that they'd put on these camouflage uniforms, they had to carry on the will of those who'd come before them!
Chen Tianjian sat at the end of the carriage, listening to the recruit's story. His expression was also moved, as though it had stirred up some memories.
"Why's it so lively in here?"
"I only went to the restroom. How'd the temperature in the carriage go up so much?"
Lü Qinglong struggled to squeeze out through the restroom door.
Sometimes he wondered why the restrooms on trains and high-speed rail were designed to be so small.
And he didn't just mean the space. Even the fixtures inside were tiny. He'd nearly clogged the train up.
Before you continue